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

[nickmitch]

Just remember why Nintendo didn't make the top screen on the 3DS touch screen: it ruins the effect. Not being about to touch through ruins the illusion and smudges, don't even get me started on the smudges! MY GOD! THE SMUDGES!!!

[Kytim89]

Stereoscopic 3D Touchscreens:
 
http://lcd.ezinemark.com/sharp-developed-the-3d-stereoscopic-display-touch-screen-31ca812946f.html
 
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20091225/ive-seen-future-of-ui-and-its-stereoscopic-3d/
 

[nickmitch]

No one is disputing that 3D touchscreens exist. You may have heard of the Evo 3D. Some people have those. They take better pictures than the 3DS, that's for fucking sure.

[Kytim89]

I am too tired to write an entire paragraph, so I will just use bullet points instead. Reasons for a DS/3DS player for the Wii U:
 

• Cut production costs of the current 3DS system, which would make the base model cheaper to purchase.
• Nintendo could gain access to consumers that would be turned off by the 3D due to lack of interest or inability to see the effect. Also, Nintendo could gain access to consumers that just want one Nintendo console at a time and might prefer a home coneol over a handheld, or visa versa.
• Home Consoles and handheld console are going to merge in the future, so get over it.

[Spak-Spang]

I have been predicting Nintendo will actually have a new Wii Nunchuk Plus that will be used to sell those additional hardware units.  If you add that potential 3 new Nunchuks sold, the idea of a second Wii U tablet being sold...that is plenty of accessories already made right there.  Then of course you have people that have never owned a Wii before buying new controllers and the entire set up.  You have people finally completing their collection and getting a 3rd or 4th controller set.  You still have players buying Classic Controllers if they need them. 

No Nintendo will still have a lot of accessories to sell in the coming years of Wii U.

[Chozo Ghost]

Before the 3DS player comes out, I think we are seriously overdue for a DS player.

[tendoboy1984]

Before the 3DS player comes out, I think we are seriously overdue for a DS player.

The 3DS plays all DS games that don't use the GBA slot, so it's safe to assume that a "3DS Player" would also play DS games.

[Dasmos]

A DS/3DS player is a stupid idea. I don't even know how it would work.

Have one screen as the the TV and the second screen as the uMote? That could work for some games, but what about games that use the two screens as if they were one big screen, like Yoshi's Island DS for instance? Stream both screens to the uMote? Stupid. And I'm pretty sure the screen of the uMote is smaller than the 3DS, so why would I want to do that?

[Adrock]

Do any 3DS games use both screens as one? I'm only aware of game's that use the top screen for gameplay since that's the 3D screen. Obviously, a 3DS player would just forgo the 3D aspect and probably only work for 3DS, not DS. I remember bringing this up in an old topic and I think it could work but I have a 3DS so I would probably never buy it. The different aspect ratios (te 3DS's bottom screen is 4:3 and the tablet controller is 16:9) would likely affect the way games are played.

[Chozo Ghost]

A DS/3DS player is a stupid idea. I don't even know how it would work.

It is no more stupid than the GBplayer which does exist. Or the Super Gameboy for the SNES.

I get what you're saying about the two screens, but one of them being the TV and the other being the Umote itself would at least be doable, even if its not necessarily ideal.

[Evan_B]

I don't think marketing new uMotes every few years would be a good idea, unless they're easily synced and data transfer from uMote to uMote would be easy, as well. I am assuming that the uMote will have increased data storage, much more than the Wiimote, and I don't want to have to go through the hassle of data transfer. Also, what improvements could they bring to a uMote?

Also, I think a 3DS player for the WiiU would be a great idea, but it needs to be released later in the WiiU's life, after people have already bought their 3DS's.

[Louieturkey]

Since all the processing is done by the WiiU, I don't see how an upgraded Umote would work.  The only way they could do it is if they also upgraded the WiiU and that would alienate too many customers.

[MegaByte]

Have one screen as the the TV and the second screen as the uMote? That could work for some games, but what about games that use the two screens as if they were one big screen, like Yoshi's Island DS for instance? Stream both screens to the uMote? Stupid. And I'm pretty sure the screen of the uMote is smaller than the 3DS, so why would I want to do that?

I imagine they'd have options to put both on the TV, both on the Controller, or one on each. I'd be a little surprised if they do it for 3DS games at this point in time though, however, the Controller resolution (at last E3) was 853x480, so they could definitely fit the screens (3DS is 400x240+320x240)

[Ian Sane]

I want a DS player like yesterday and the Wii U actually makes that a possibility.  Yeah Yoshi's Island DS wouldn't work too well but a lot of games would and if you don't want to play DS games on the TV then just DON'T.  I remember the GB Player getting flack, too.  No one makes you buy it and no one makes you use it so why do you give a flying **** if I do?  It isn't even like it ties up a developer like a game you don't like can.  This would be done by Nintendo's hardware guys.

The GB Player had some games that didn't work well either.  Boktai and Kirby's Tilt 'n Tumble are good examples.  The Super Game Boy didn't even have link cable capability so it couldn't even be used to trade Pokemon.  Doesn't matter.  Both worked well enough to satisfy anyone that merely wanted to play those games on a TV screen.

[tendoboy1984]

I just figured out how a "DS Player" would work! The bottom screen is displayed on the Wii U controller (for touch-enabled games), and the TV would show both screens in one verticle box (similar to how DS games are shown in promo trailers).

[Louieturkey]

Nice mock up.  I think that would satisfy the requirements well.  Plus, if you could turn off the bottom screen on the tv as an option for some games, it would be even better.

[Ceric]

I'm fairly sure that is how the press units will work.

[Ian Sane]

I figure you could customize the layout and pick if you want both screens on the TV or one on the TV and one on the tablet.

Hell I figured they could have done it on the Wii with the Wii Remote pointer replacing the stylus.  You just add a cursor to simulate "hovering" over the screen with the stylus and pushing the B button is treated as pressing the stylus down onto the screen.

However I think the existence of the 3DS makes this even less likely to exist.  The TV can't do 3D and even though it's optional and people turn it off all the time, I imagine Nintendo doesn't want to de-emphasize this gimmick that they've promoted as being so awesome.  Nintendo didn't offer classic controller support for many games that could have used it (DKC Returns, Twilight Princess which is nutty considering the Cube version has a classic control scheme) and I think the reason is that they didn't want to promote the idea of not using the nifty new controller they had designed the entire system around.  This is the company that rarely lets you map buttons as if using B to jump instead of A is going to somehow ruin a Mario game.

If you can play 3DS games on a system that does not even permit 3D and you still actually have a good time that effectively exposes the shallow gimmicky nature of the feature.  Considering that's the big hook of the system to the point that it is even in the damn name, that wouldn't look good.

My suggestion of using the Wiimote as a replacement for the touchscreen also has problems - it makes the touchscreen unessential.  I know that a touchscreen, mouse, trackball and pointer are all essentially the exact same thing.  But the DS is supposed to be so awesome and innovative!  That touchscreen is ESSENTIAL and can't be duplicated in any way!

Though there is actually one thing we forgot about that a DS player needs - a microphone.  All that ever important blowing and yelling that Nintendo shoehorns into every game has to be supported and it certainly can't be a button map as that will expose the shallow gimmicky nature of the ever important essential feature that no one that doesn't work for Nintendo cares about or, as this thread demonstrates, even remembers is there.

[NWR_insanolord]

The remote pointer being used for the touch screen wouldn't work all that well, especially given that the touch screen would be taking up less than half the screen. Also, the 3D isn't the reason they wouldn't let it play 3DS games; they wouldn't include that functionality because they still want to sell 3DS hardware. The DS market is pretty well saturated, so they wouldn't be losing sales by implementing that, but they'd rather sell you a Wii U and a 3DS than just a Wii U with a presumably cheaper peripheral that plays 3DS games.

[Louieturkey]

And I don't think they'd release a DS player because there would be too much confusion.  Most casuals thought the 3DS was just another version of the DS when it was released.  So they may think a DS player would be able to play 3DS games as well.  Nintendo hates the confusion.

[Ian Sane]

And I don't think they'd release a DS player because there would be too much confusion.  Most casuals thought the 3DS was just another version of the DS when it was released.  So they may think a DS player would be able to play 3DS games as well.  Nintendo hates the confusion.

Losing out on an awesome product because grandma will get confused = TEH SUX.

insanolord has a good point about Nintendo wanting to sell us a 3DS instead of a 3DS player.  Still you figure a DS player at this point wouldn't eat into sales.  If anything they might sell some to existing DS players who like the idea of playing their DS library on a TV.

The GB Player was released while the GBA was still current but then Nintendo's logic might have been to entice GBA owners into buying a Gamecube to play their games on a TV.  The Super Game Boy just plain makes no sense from the perspective of trying to sell people on stuff but then that's pre-N64 Nintendo so they actually just released user friendly product and didn't try to find ways to make people dislike them.  That Nintendo actually had stuff like third party licence revenue as part of their business model.  Weird idea, huh?

Of course the big picture is games and no matter what Nintendo can sell 3DS games to any owner of a 3DS OR a 3DS player.  But that doesn't seem like how Nintendo thinks.

[MegaByte]

The Super Game Boy came out 5 years into the Game Boy's life cycle. It was just one of the many ways they revitalized the system before coming out with a real upgrade.

[Luigi Dude]

The Super Game Boy just plain makes no sense from the perspective of trying to sell people on stuff but then that's pre-N64 Nintendo so they actually just released user friendly product and didn't try to find ways to make people dislike them.  That Nintendo actually had stuff like third party licence revenue as part of their business model.  Weird idea, huh?

Oh not this sh!t again.  The Super Gameboy came out because the Gameboy hardware sales were actually down at the time and Nintendo wanted a way to at least boast the software sales.  Something people seem to forget is the original Gameboy actually had a sales slump around 93/94.  The Super Gameboy was a way to try and make the software more popular.  Then in 95 Nintendo released different colors for the system to try and increase hardware sales and then in 96 released the Gameboy Pocket, which was the first revision of a Gameboy which finally succeeded in helping to boast hardware again.

As you can see, from a business perspective the Super Gameboy actually did make sense at the time.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Nintendo files trademarks...
http://www.siliconera.com/2012/04/19/is-puyo-puyo-narabe-a-new-game-from-sega/

In related trademark news, Namco Bandai registered Pac-Man Smash, which we’ve seen before, Universe Accel, and Cosmic Drive. Nintendo filed Voice Forum and Step Forum.

[Evan_B]

I'm more than a little disappointed that Mario will be getting TWO 2D Bros. outings on both consoles this year. Booo.