Topic: Wii U Price and Release Date Guess Thread

[TrueNerd]

So the crazy outlandish rumor circulating the internets today is that the Wii U will drop November 18th. The Sunday before Thanksgiving. Talk about going out on a limb, yeah?

[Spak-Spang]

Why would they have a sleeker look to it?  That just costs a company more money to have two housing devices, and it hurts the image factor of recognizing the Wii U on sight.  No, it will definitely only have one form factor.  Hopefully, Nintendo allows for a hard drive to be dropped into the system...but I doubt it.  Best we can hope for is for a USB hard drive compatibility. 

[NWR_insanolord]

It has USB hard drive compatibility; that was on the fact sheet at E3 last year.

[Ceric]

I'm still holding out hope that it will be small enough that someone can make a shell it can plug into to allow for non-umote controllers to be charged, house a 2.5"/3.5" HardDrive, and add additional quiet temperature controlled cooling.

[nickmitch]

I think I'm gonna go with 8/26/2012 at $299.99 with a pack in of the tech demos from last years E3, if a little more fleshed out.

[gamercat]

For the hard drive thing, I think they might have tow versions of it. A cheaper model without a hard drive, and a premium model with a hard drive and a sleeker look. No HDD would be the ideal though. You could argue that you can find them really cheap, but are those the good ones? The 5400 RPM ones can cost you around $80, and those are internal ones and kind of slow with only 8MB of cache. The good ones would be the 7200 RPM ones with 16mb of cache. Those are faster but more expensive. PC parts are not as cheap when you want it to do something in specific.

So, what's the advantage of NOT having one? By having moving parts, the system requires a better power supply, which in turn generates more heat, and then you would need a better cooling fan, which then generates more heat and requires a better supply. Cooling systems and power supplies can make the price go up since those are crucial components on your system. It wouldn't be an issue with solid state drives, but those don't offer that much storage space with a ridiculous high price (over $100 for less than 300GB).

It would be better for them to keep the system small since that would help in dissipating the heat faster depending on the design. An inexpensive cooling system would do just fine and keep the cost down, specially if they use a dual core/2 GPUs the way I think they do.

[Ceric]

For the hard drive thing, I think they might have tow versions of it. A cheaper model without a hard drive, and a premium model with a hard drive and a sleeker look. No HDD would be the ideal though. You could argue that you can find them really cheap, but are those the good ones? The 5400 RPM ones can cost you around $80, and those are internal ones and kind of slow with only 8MB of cache. The good ones would be the 7200 RPM ones with 16mb of cache. Those are faster but more expensive. PC parts are not as cheap when you want it to do something in specific.

So, what's the advantage of NOT having one? By having moving parts, the system requires a better power supply, which in turn generates more heat, and then you would need a better cooling fan, which then generates more heat and requires a better supply. Cooling systems and power supplies can make the price go up since those are crucial components on your system. It wouldn't be an issue with solid state drives, but those don't offer that much storage space with a ridiculous high price (over $100 for less than 300GB).

It would be better for them to keep the system small since that would help in dissipating the heat faster depending on the design. An inexpensive cooling system would do just fine and keep the cost down, specially if they use a dual core/2 GPUs the way I think they do.

Thats a lot of the reason I think the Shell Idea is so elegant.

[Adrock]

For the hard drive thing, I think they might have tow versions of it. A cheaper model without a hard drive, and a premium model with a hard drive and a sleeker look.

I'm still unsure what you mean by "sleeker look." Besides the fact that that's subjective, having 2 designs right out of the gate is confusing. It looks like 2 different products. However, if you mean something like the slim 360s where the design is the same but the hard drive SKUs have a glossy finish and the base SKU has a matte finish, I could see that potentially happening. Still, MS pushes the glossy finish as the premium but I, personally, like the matte look.

So, what's the advantage of NOT having one? By having moving parts, the system requires a better power supply, which in turn generates more heat, and then you would need a better cooling fan, which then generates more heat and requires a better supply.

I was always under the impression that the chipset generates the most heat. Hard drives should be able to handle the heat that they create. If Nintendo were to create 2 SKUs (1 with a HDD, 1 without), I'd expect all the other parts to be the same. It costs them more to order different/extra pieces. Honestly, I'm just hoping for a HDD bay like the PS3 that allows for any HDD to be plugged in. It prevents clutter and doesn't use up a whole USB. I have my doubts that it'll happen though.

[gamercat]

I meant something like the 360 Slim, sort of. They could have a system that looks like the design we saw last year as a cheap offering while the more expensive one looks more attractive in terms of design (maybe black from the get-go).

As for the HDD, there are external ones that don't have a fan, but some part of the case is exposed to dissipate the heat. HDD don't generate as much heat, but they do require a power supply if they're internal or external to operate efficiently. There are external HDD that power off the USB port on your PC, but they are not meant for heavy duty stuff. Having said that, HDD still generate enough heat to cause problems with your system. Plus, an external one or no internal HDD would make it easy for them to get a low cost power supply, which is still an important factor in the cost of the system.

Then again, Nintendo has the tendency of creating reliable hardware (in terms of how long it lasts), so whatever they decide to do, I'm sure they will do it right. I just hope they offer cloud saving. I don't want to lose all my save data after a HDD crash.

[Evan_B]

As for launch titles, I really don't expect MUCH from Nintendo, though I would really, really, really like it if they had a nice gem in store for us. I really would love for the Wii U to hit the ground running with a solid Nintendo experience, though I'm not quite sure what that should be. I think Wii Sports 2 would be a little bit of a cop-out, especially if Nintendo is trying to reconnect with the "hardcore" audience. That's the only reason I suspect a meatier title.

[Spak-Spang]

Well how about a Retro game at launch.  I predict whatever game Retro is working on will be a launch game.  I am guessing they will rock out a F-Zero launch game.  Then we have the tech demos packed in and New Super Mario Wii U and Pikmin as launch games...and that would be a great lineup.  Pikmin will be a game designed to appeal to hardcore and casuals as will Super Mario Wii U...both will have online play ability.

[gamercat]

A Retro game at launch would be nice, although I would probably like a new IP from them. Maybe an adventure FPS? Or an FPSRPG like Borderlands? They've got quite the talent to pull that off, and a new IP has a better chance of being a success at the start of a new generation. Also, didn't they have two teams at Retro? I remember readying something about that a while ago. Monolith Soft just opened a new studio near Nintendo's HQ, and apparently they're working on a 3DS game while the main team is on a Wii U game.

Then again, if Pikmin is a launch title, then other big Nintendo games, like Retro's project, would be pushed back. I'm actually hoping for an adventure FPSRPG from Retro. Combine Metroid Prime with Borderlands, and you have a winner for me. From Monolith, I'd love a drop in/drop out co-op, open world RPG, but with a lot of color. I can never get into the Elder Scrolls games because of the lack of color. It just feels lifeless and depressing. They did say that Skyrim would be the inspiration for their next project.

[Evan_B]

I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Retro and their work, and I would greatly appreciate a Retro launch title. But just what Retro would make for the Wii U is the risky question. I personally don't need a new F-Zero, as racing games aren't my forte, and I don't really know what other Nintendo ip could have a new Retro twist on it.

I would enjoy a new First Person Adventure, but I worry about them doing their own ip. I dunno, I just don't see what Retro could bring to the Wii U launch. When's the last time we heard from them about what they were developing?

[gamercat]

Apparently they were working on something that everyone wanted them to do. Myamoto did say that Retro would be a nice collaboration for the next Zelda, but I think it's too early for that.

I think they have more than proven themselves to create their own IP for Nintendo in a western style. Monolith was allowed to make a new IP, Xenoblade, so I don't see how Retro couldn't go ahead and do so.

[Evan_B]

I mean, as much as I enjoy Metroid Prime, I also enjoyed Donkey Kong Country Returns, as hard as it was. I don't know what Retro is really GOOD at, so I'd be very interested to see them create their own ip.

[tendoboy1984]

I think Wii Sports 2 would be a little bit of a cop-out.

You mean Wii Sports 3, right? Wii Sports Resort is basically "Wii Sports 2". And I really really hate the term "hardcore / core gamer". It's a meaningless label that was perpetuated by the gaming media to differentiate us from casual gamers.

I'm a mainstream gamer, yet I love Wii Sports and WS Resort. I enjoy the Wii Sports games for their simplicity and charm. I also enjoy Super Mario its hop-n-bop action, Metroid for its sense of isolation on a desolate planet, Zelda for its adventure and dungeons, 8-bit Mega Man for its catchy music and difficulty, GTA for its freedom and open city, God of War for it's brutal violence and epic story, Halo for its shooting action and multiplayer, etc.

I don't want to be lumped in a demographic like "hardcore" or "casual". I love video games, therefore I'm a gamer.


/end rant

[tendoboy1984]

Damn double post.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I think Wii Sports 2 would be a little bit of a cop-out.

You mean Wii Sports 3, right? Wii Sports Resort is basically "Wii Sports 2". And I really really hate the term "hardcore / core gamer". It's a meaningless label that was perpetuated by the gaming media to differentiate us from casual gamers.


I'm a mainstream gamer, yet I love Wii Sports and WS Resort. I enjoy the Wii Sports games for their simplicity and charm, just like I enjoy Super Mario games for their hop-n-bop action, Metroid for it's sense of isolation on a desolate planet, Zelda for it's adventure and dungeons, etc.

Agree, but I don't think a Wii Sports title will be used to launch Wii U, they will want something that takes advantage of the new Umote, which would not work well at all for a Wii Sports title. I think it is going to be a more traditional title that will use the Umote in a way they feel enhances the title. People can say what they want about Wii Sports, but it was an important title to showcase what Wii could potentially do, kind of like SM64 was used to showcase how the analog stick would change things. The Wii U needs to have something similar, whether it be a casual game (I doubt it) or a more traditional title.


Also note I don't think of casual gaming as something bad, I just think of it as more as a reference to a game that is more "Pick up and play for short bursts" especially with other people.

[tendoboy1984]

Pikmin will be a game designed to appeal to hardcore and casuals.

I LOL'd. Pikmin does not appeal to "hardcore" gamers at all. It's a very basic RTS game featuring cute cartoony characters. It's typical Nintendo style, which definitely is not what most "hardcore" gamers are looking for.


No blood or guts, no guns, no deathmatches, capture the flag, swearing, killcams, perks, XP, etc.

[nickmitch]

Violence and kill cams don't make a game hardcore. A hardcore game is a gamer's game, something only people who really enjoy videogames as a primary hobby would like. Pikmin is far from having a casual appeal.

Anyway, I think Pikmin 3 is the perfect way to show off the Wii U's graphical abilities. Realistic world, with detailed looking creatures.

[Evan_B]

What is a "hardcore" gamer? Do they like ultra-violent games that feature healthy online communities (maybe healthy isn't the right word for it)? Or is a hardcore gamer someone who enjoys a damn good immersive, meaty gaming experience? Remember when it used to be the latter and not the former?

[nickmitch]

It still is the latter. At least on these forums.

[tendoboy1984]

What is a "hardcore" gamer? Do they like ultra-violent games that feature healthy online communities (maybe healthy isn't the right word for it)? Or is a hardcore gamer someone who enjoys a damn good immersive, meaty gaming experience? Remember when it used to be the latter and not the former?

It could be both? But in the media's eyes, "hardcore" gamers mostly enjoy online multiplayer shooting games, RTS games, and Western RPGs.

[Evan_B]

I pray that's what Nintendo thinks it is, rather than the CoD crowd.

God, I hate Western RPGs.

[NWR_insanolord]

"Hardcore gamer" is an abstract concept that can mean different things to different people. There's no one definition to go by, and it's important to be clear in what you mean when using it. Nickmitch is correct in what he says the usual meaning of the word is around these parts, unless someone is taking unnecessary shots at other platforms and groups of people.