Topic: Wii U - e3 is over... now what?

[NWR_insanolord]

Weren't those all Wi-Fi games, though, and it was a restriction because of how Nintendo built the online system? It's amazing how much they were able to **** themselves over in the design of that system, but based on the 3DS they seem to have gotten better about stuff like that.

[TJ Spyke]

Not sure why it was, but it pretty much fucked me when I had to replace my Wii since I lost the game saves for those games.

[MegaByte]

Probably delving too far off-topic, but here's an interesting view on where AI could go. http://www.acceler8or.com/2011/07/from-gamification-to-intelligence-amplification-to-the-singularity/ It's not really something to look at for next gen, though the Wii U interface is probably more apt for educational interaction.


The thing about modern AI is that it's based on calculating probabilities across large numbers of variables (vaguely like the massively parallel computation of simple signals in the brain), compared to the strict, scripted behaviors of older AI. This is rather analogous to the parallel processing performed by modern graphics compared to earlier methods. It's in that way that even improving graphics processing could help AI, but in the current gen, there really aren't enough resources to do both.

[NWR_insanolord]

I don't think you understand, Aaron. You're staff, which means the topic is whatever you say is.

[SixthAngel]

Insanolord is the best moderator.

[Ceric]

Yeah,

Cloud Computing is for more then just saving data.  That's the simplest form.  Another example is that your desktop is weak and you need to do some really large number crunching fast.  You can send the equation up to the cloud and let its vastly more powerful machines crunch the numbers and come back to you in a fraction of the time.  OnLive does game rendering in the cloud and it just streams to your PC by my understanding.  Their is a lot you can do with cloud computing.

[Ian Sane]

How does this cloud stuff work ten years from now when Nintendo has taken the Wii U server down?  Oh right, you're fucked.  Well I can see exactly why a company would be into that sort of thing.  It's a remote off switch.

I think as an option it's a cool idea.  If you want to save to a remote location, why not?  But I should also be able to save to the console itself or to an SD card.  What if my interent is down?  So I can't reload my save?  There's enough of a pain in the ass where an offline game requires you to go online for DRM purposes.  Something like the PS3 network fiasco occurs and the game is more or less disabled.  I only want online for online features like downloads and multiplayer and such.  Otherwise you're delegating functionality to something else that might not be there years from now.  I don't want my Wii U to be a worthless hunk of plastic at some point in the future when Nintendo decides they don't want to support it anymore.

One thing I like about my old SNES or Genesis is that it just WORKS.  All of the functionality is contained within the system itself so as long as I take good care of the system, I can still use it.  Cloud gaming means that the company can decide whenever they want to brick your system.  Not like in a way that they intentionally disable it with a firmware update but just in the sense that the remote actions are disabled, making many of the games (or possible all of them) nonfunctional.

[TJ Spyke]

OnLive does game rendering in the cloud and it just streams to your PC by my understanding.  Their is a lot you can do with cloud computing.

OnLive is niche and will never be a huge success. No one wants to pay full price for a game that they are doing nothing more than renting (once OnLive shuts down, you lose access forever to all of your games you bought. You also can't play your games if your Internet goes down).

[Ceric]

OnLive does game rendering in the cloud and it just streams to your PC by my understanding.  Their is a lot you can do with cloud computing.

OnLive is niche and will never be a huge success. No one wants to pay full price for a game that they are doing nothing more than renting (once OnLive shuts down, you lose access forever to all of your games you bought. You also can't play your games if your Internet goes down).

Its just an example of what you can do with the cloud.  Still pretty impressive when you think about it.

[TJ Spyke]

Yes, it's impressive from a technical level. I just hope the console makers never do it (TBH, it's also one of the reasons I never bothered with MMO's because they are in the same situation).

[Ceric]

Yes, it's impressive from a technical level. I just hope the console makers never do it (TBH, it's also one of the reasons I never bothered with MMO's because they are in the same situation).

*shrug* MMO's are about the people/Community.  Your really signing up for a glorified Chat Client with an RPG.  A lot of people would get more from a traditional RPG.

[ThePerm]

heres the future of internet, but first lets contrast it with the internet today.

The internet is supposed to be a web of connected computers. One connected to the other in a grid, because they are all connected information is available from all the computers. This isn't how it works though. Right now you connect to an ISP which is a middle man.

In the future there won't be a need for an isp because everything will work as one big cloud, cloud is just a fancy way of saying actual internet, only the difference is opposed to simply exchaning data, their sharing processing. The only way this super future internet with no middleman is going to work though is some sort of wiireless connection.

[Ceric]

heres the future of internet, but first lets contrast it with the internet today.

The internet is supposed to be a web of connected computers. One connected to the other in a grid, because they are all connected information is available from all the computers. This isn't how it works though. Right now you connect to an ISP which is a middle man.

In the future there won't be a need for an isp because everything will work as one big cloud, cloud is just a fancy way of saying actual internet, only the difference is opposed to simply exchaning data, their sharing processing. The only way this super future internet with no middleman is going to work though is some sort of wiireless connection.

Ironically, Plan 9, a Research OS that has brought us a lot of things, was like that where you could put computers into groups and it would just use the processors as it sees fit between them.  That was how you got any resource if memory serves.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Epic "very interested" in WiiU; "It's a powerful box"
We will have to wait and see if that materializes into game support or just dev support
http://www.industrygamers.com/news/epic-confirms-theyre-very-interested-in-wii-u/

“We haven't made an official announcement about that platform. And while we loved the Wii, it just wasn't a fit to make a game that would go across Xbox 360, PS3 and the Wii. It just wasn't possible. So going forward, we're working with those folks and we're very interested in the Wii U,"

"We find that the best way to support a platform is to be making a game for it and we don't currently have a game in development for that platform. For example, we don't officially support Android, although we have demos that work on Android... But we officially support iPhone because we've made a game and we know it works. We know how to get through the certification process – we know it cold. That's sort of important to me; as a game developer who's selling an engine, I want to make sure that I can ship a game on it myself, which is why we have very clear public support of PS3, Xbox 360, PC and iPhone but not as clear when it comes to Android or Wii U."

"At the launch event at E3, some of the products that you saw running on Wii U were based on Unreal Engine technology. So that kind of gives you an idea of where we are in that space. You can certainly use our engine on that platform – it's a natural fit from a technology perspective,"

"It opens up some doors that weren't open before on current generation consoles because it is going to be a powerful box. I'm sure [Epic VP] Mark Rein would love anyone who's interested to know how official our support is to get in touch with him!�

Infinity Blade port incoming?

[Ceric]

Epic "very interested" in WiiU; "It's a powerful box"
We will have to wait and see if that materializes into game support or just dev support
http://www.industrygamers.com/news/epic-confirms-theyre-very-interested-in-wii-u/

Mark Rein would love anyone who's interested to know how official our support is to get in touch with him!�

Look, I think this is a Job for Insanolord - Virtual College Football Coach and News Editor.

[NWR_insanolord]

Well I am one kick-ass virtual college football coach.

[BlackNMild2k1]

http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/29002/harvest-moon-creator-working-on-3ds-and-wii-u-games/

"I've got a 3DS game in the pipeline right now, and I've got another game that we haven't decided the platform on, but which I am hoping to bring to Wii U."

"Right now it feels like a home console version DS and I mean that in a good way,"
"I think there is a lot of hidden potential there, so I am right now thinking up new modes of play. I really enjoy times like this!"

[Ceric]

http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/29002/harvest-moon-creator-working-on-3ds-and-wii-u-games/

"I've got a 3DS game in the pipeline right now, and I've got another game that we haven't decided the platform on, but which I am hoping to bring to Wii U."

"Right now it feels like a home console version DS and I mean that in a good way,"
"I think there is a lot of hidden potential there, so I am right now thinking up new modes of play. I really enjoy times like this!"

Wii U Dora Game.  Hidden Potential found.  Selections on the screen.  Call out for map and get swiper to go away with the mic.  In fact just translate the whole first season into a game.  Dora the Explorer:  Season One Game Edition.  You need to add some simple branching.  Little kids will love it.  E for Everyone like Strider 2.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Japanese WiiU Devs Talk WiiU
Devil's Third & Layton Ports on the way!?
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/07/27/wii_u_creator_commentary/

Tomonobu Itagaki (Valhalla Game Studios)
Said that he has a lot of ideas. He'd like to bring not just Devil's Third to the system, but a variety of other things.

Akihiro Hino (Level-5)
Said that because stylus-based games like Professor Layton can now be played, they can consider ports. He also said that the system could expand the type of game that can be played in the living room, so he'd like to think about these types of game in the future as well.

more at the link


Also....
SquareEnix: "Water is Wet, Sky is Blue"
http://www.videogamer.com/news/wii_u_needs_a_strong_launch_line-up_says_square_enix.html

"I'd say, don't write off the console,"
"For every console it's the same thing: one of the most important things is going to be the launch line-up. We see that every time there's a great title shipping on PSP, the PSP sales go up, and every time there's a great title shipping on 3DS, the 3DS sales go up.

"If the audience and players can see that there are products for them, there's definitely going to be wide adoption of Wii U. The things of utmost importance are going to be the pricing at launch, and the line-up."

"They're trying to do their own thing. Generally they don't seem to look for breadth, in terms of the things [features] they are supporting with their console. They seem to be focusing a lot, and trying to make sure the things they are focusing on are going to be at the top."

[BlackNMild2k1]

EA: WiiU can do anything PS360 can do, better. WiiU can do anything PS360 can do too
Yes U can... No U can't. Yes U can.... No U can't. YES U CAN!!!
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-27-ea-wii-u-can-do-anything-ps3-360-can

"The short answer is yes [we have a better idea of Wii U's power]; the longer answer is not quite,"

"As every new piece of hardware and every new development library comes through we get a greater understanding of the power. With our early research we had been very happy with the output of the box and we expect that that will only go up moving forward.

"There are added challenges for us as developers when you think about rendering on two screens and what that might mean, but we're looking forward to that challenge.

"It's still moving, but I think we'll be able to do anything that we can do on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on the Wii U."

"I think that's our hope, but again we're still in the early stages."

"[Online is] something that we're working very closely with Nintendo on, We are highlighting to them what we believe are the most important elements to that infrastructure to deliver a connected experience that we think is the future of gaming."

"They have demonstrated an openness and willingness to work with us and work with developers that I think will only land us in a positive place.

"We're working through the development with them now. We have a series of people who are under very strict NDAs as you can imagine, operating with them, building that system out."

On a side note FIFA '13 is aimed at a WiiU launch, but has not entered actual development yet as FIFA '12 is still being worked on.

[MaryJane]

I really hope each developer or publisher has get its own online environment from Nintendo where they can set their own rules and parameters under Nintendo's overarching rules.

[Chozo Ghost]

EA: WiiU can do anything PS360 can do, better. WiiU can do anything PS360 can do too

Well, one thing it cannot do better is allow for more than 8gb of internal storage.

[TJ Spyke]

Isn't that only a rumor that the Wii U will only have 8GB of internal memory?

[NWR_insanolord]

It may have been on the Wii U fact sheet in the E3 press kit, but I don't remember for sure. Either way, it could easily change between then and launch.

It's also expandable via SD and USB, and given the several large download titles announced or strongly hinted at, it doesn't seem to be affecting software support, so I don't see how it's that much of a problem.

[MegaByte]

No numbers have been confirmed whatsoever.