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

[NWR_insanolord]

Kairon, you do realize that since you're staff you have the ability to give yourself whatever title you like, right?

[NWR_insanolord]

I just went through the list, and there may be 13 Wii U launch titles I'm interested in. I need to start cutting that list down, and also stockpiling money.

[Kairon]

Kairon, you do realize that since you're staff you have the ability to give yourself whatever title you like, right?

Yeah, but it's no fun that way...

I just went through the list, and there may be 13 Wii U launch titles I'm interested in. I need to start cutting that list down, and also stockpiling money.

Yeah, including download titles I'm staring at 13 games on my list already. And that's not even counting rumored titles I'd grab in a heartbeat (CoD: BLOPS2) or other games I'm still deliberating on (Sonic All-Stars Racing: Transformed). Ooog. I don't know if I can bear to cut it down any tighter than that...

[NWR_insanolord]

That wasn't counting download games for me, so it's probably 15 or 16 if you throw in Cloudberry Kingdom, Trine 2 and maybe Mighty Switch Force HD.

[Mannypon]

   Looks like I don't post enough to have earned my own personalized title lol.  I did get a sweet alteration to my name though in honor to my love of all things Riki the true Heropon so I can't complain.  I wear my screenname with pride lol.


Given we're talking about launch titles, this is the first time during a system launch where there are too many games I want.  Also, these games aren't light games they'll be polished off on a weekend, these games seem to have some legs to them.  I already know Ass Creed 3 will be long based on my playtimes with the previous versoins.  Darksiders 2 looks like it'll be a lot deeper and more in depth compared to the first one.  I'm still not sure about ZombiU's length but its still a purchase in my book.  I'm not even including Madden or NBA 2k or any of Nintendo's releases along with the downloaded titles AND whatever still hasn't been announced yet.  Sh*t, I think I just saw my wallet running out my front door in fear.

[Louieturkey]

I'm in the same boat Mannypon.  I think you have to make yourself memorable.  Whether that's good or bad doesn't matter.  I lurk too much to be memorable.  Plus my posts are boring.

[Sarail]

I'm in the same boat Mannypon.  I think you have to make yourself memorable.  Whether that's good or bad doesn't matter.  I lurk too much to be memorable.  Plus my posts are boring.

I helped record/make/edit a fill-in podcast on RFN. Is that not good enough for one!?

[Ceric]

I'm in the same boat Mannypon.  I think you have to make yourself memorable.  Whether that's good or bad doesn't matter.  I lurk too much to be memorable.  Plus my posts are boring.

I helped record/make/edit a fill-in podcast on RFN. Is that not good enough for one!?

Not till you respond to my tweets about this week

[Tamazoid]

The WiiU launch lineup is shaping up to be one hell of a lineup


I fail to see how detractors can continue to claim it's a crap launch. Compared to all other console launches in the last decade the WiiU's holds up.

[Caterkiller]

FIFA for Wii U has graphical improvements over PS360 versions.

http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/40530/fifa-13-looks-best-on-wii-u-ea/?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=ONM-General-RSS


This is only the start with the U's first generation games. With the Wii U's modern architecture it would be nearly impossible for the PS420 to 20 times more powerful than the Wii U. The Wii power difference is not happening again this gen.

[shingi_70]

Even though its using modern architecture Sony and Microsoft could easily just bring out some very beefy systems that let you code to the metal.

That and if the rumors are right the Wii U is going to probably be wii'd in the future as devs start using the other hardware more. I mean I think the Wii U has around 2GBs of ram. That isn't a lot and rumored is 720 is going to have 8GB.


But if all that matter remains to be seen. It mostly depends if nintendo is going to go with a ten year console cycle like the others.

[Mannypon]

Hmmm, I wonder what graphical improvements they are talking about.  Is it just some better lighting, higher poli counts on the character models, 1080p 60 fps, or just more  thinigs taking place and scattered about on the sidelines. 


At least we see that EA isn't just sitting on their ass and doing a quick port.  This bodes very well for Madden 13. I'm still holding out hope that they are using their next gen engine for Madden 13 but I'll take improvements over the current gen engine if need be. 


It does make me wonder though.  If EA is actually using their next gen engine for WiiU madden then I wonder if their reluctance to show it is so that their PS360 releases don't take a hit upon release.  If they put out a video of Madden on WiiU with a completely new and improved look that puts the current versions to shame, then people will either A.  be upset when they buy their PS360 version and it doesn't look like it does for the WiiU or B.   hold off on purchasing Madden until the WiiU version drops which could hurt Madden's sales in the short term. 


Now I know this is all wishful thinking on my part but EA testing their next gen engine on WiiU is a good idea for them particularly.  I know it sounds Fed up to say but EA can use the WiiU to as a testing ground for their next gen engine.  They can work out the kinks and have a better product ready next year when the next gen Madden becomes standard on WiiU and PS720.  If anyone is a Madden fan here, they'll remember that when the current gen Madden first released on 360, it was an unfinished hot mess missing features left and right.  If EA is smart, they'll begin the transition now with the release of the WiiU.  I will say this though, they can't put out another half assed job like they did initially on the 360, they'll have to put up a much better effort. 

[MagicCow64]

Hmmm, I wonder what graphical improvements they are talking about.  Is it just some better lighting, higher poli counts on the character models, 1080p 60 fps, or just more  thinigs taking place and scattered about on the sidelines. 

This is the big question, and I think it's going to come down to a matter of design. If devs start using the increased horsepower to make living open worlds with tons of destructible physics (not just chipping columns and concrete barriers), Minecraft-like materiality, time -control (Blinx the Cat on steroids), and other genuine gameplay advances, the WiiU could get orphaned. But if the major studios stick to their current favored methods of hallway simulators with primo effects, you'd think WiiU could scale sufficiently. That Star Wars 1313 footage, for instance, looked next-gen graphically but from what little was shown of the gameplay it looked like pretty typical third-person cover shooting stuff with quick-timey events. Same with Watch Dogs, but with a scripted sandbox veneer. I've seen some claims that AI will be opened up by better specs, but I frankly haven't noticed a huge leap in AI in the last two console cycles, other than that enemies will camp out more. It's still pretty bad, and the increasing concentration on multi-player and co-op would seem to deemphasize developments in this arena.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Even though its using modern architecture Sony and Microsoft could easily just bring out some very beefy systems that let you code to the metal.

That and if the rumors are right the Wii U is going to probably be wii'd in the future as devs start using the other hardware more. I mean I think the Wii U has around 2GBs of ram. That isn't a lot and rumored is 720 is going to have 8GB.

It's rumored that the dev kits have 8GB. Retail will likely have about half of that.

For reference, the Wii U dev kits were rumored to have around 3GB in them (maybe a little more, as supposedly there were a few different versions out there). We we told more than 2, but not more than 4, so that should put final retail units somewhere around 1.5-2GB.

Final units will

[shingi_70]

Nope I'm thinking the 720 will have 8GB of ram for a reason. While its rude that most consoles have at least half of what the de. Kits have the 720 wont be a console in the traditional sense. If you look back at the leaked document chromatic while back it talks about playing your favorite new AAA game while.

-Skyping
-Recording your favorite shows
-listening to streamed music
-while looking at a sports ticker on the bottom of the screen.

Also you have tto think about

1)Developers are going to want at least more than 2GB of ram to work with and Microsoft is known for bumping its specs for developers.
2)They are going to really oush the 720 is more than a game console angle. Going to have to want a lot of memory for the various apps and what not they are going to be pushing.
3)The 720 OS is going to be based on WinRT which needs a minimum of 1GB
4)they are going to want kinect to have its own piece of ram so it doesnt use resources from other areas.
5)To future proof it for another 10+ year cycle. Microsoft thought 512 was enough for the xbox and thats been stretching thin with 360 lacking obvious features it should have.

In total

4GB- Games
3GB-OS and non gaming functions
1GB- next gen kinect (though thats if kinect 2.0 doesn't have its own ram cache)


But who knows I could be wrong.

[BranDonk Kong]

3GB of RAM would be a crazy amount to have being used up by the OS and "non gaming functions." The XBox 360 only uses 32MB for the "non gaming functions." Would they really need 96x that much for the new console?

[oohhboy]

Of course not because Shingi has basically pulled numbers out of thin air to put it politely. Right now the OSX kernal on 10.6.8 uses about 350MB of RAM. With all the bells and whistles, related services and dashboard loaded it uses about 700MB. An RSS feed reader uses 100MB. TV recording software uses 50MB when it launches and would remain the same if it would flush it's cache once in a while. IM running 30MB. Web Browser, 200MB with **** load of tabs. Throw in e-mail for giggles and thats another 200MB.

Only by being really inefficient did I barely break a Gig at 1.2~3GB. The computer only reserves 465MB for absolutely essential services. A console is going to be massively slimmer. Brandogg is right, there is no way it would grow 96x over one generation.

As for Kinect using an entire Gig is a laugh. a 1080p 24Bit frame only uses 5.93MB. Even if it stores all 30 frames a second, that's still only 180MB, triple it for three cameras, that's still only 540MB after using completely unrealistic assumptions to grow the number.

RAM maybe cheap, but it's not that cheap.

[Sarail]

Of course not because Shingi has basically pulled numbers out of thin air to put it politely. Right now the OSX kernal on 10.6.8 uses about 350MB of RAM. With all the bells and whistles, related services and dashboard loaded it uses about 700MB. An RSS feed reader uses 100MB. TV recording software uses 50MB when it launches and would remain the same if it would flush it's cache once in a while. IM running 30MB. Web Browser, 200MB with **** load of tabs. Throw in e-mail for giggles and thats another 200MB.

Only by being really inefficient did I barely break a Gig at 1.2~3GB. The computer only reserves 465MB for absolutely essential services. A console is going to be massively slimmer. Brandogg is right, there is no way it would grow 96x over one generation.

As for Kinect using an entire Gig is a laugh. a 1080p 24Bit frame only uses 5.93MB. Even if it stores all 30 frames a second, that's still only 180MB, triple it for three cameras, that's still only 540MB after using completely unrealistic assumptions to grow the number.

RAM maybe cheap, but it's not that cheap.

Lawyered.

[ymeegod]

"EA also revealed that Mass Effect 3 will be a launch title for the Wii U. The Wii U version will pack a digital motion comic similar to the one that accompanied Mass Effect 2 for PS3. The comic will allow Wii U players to make choices and build their Shepard's history."

[Caterkiller]

Makes me happy! Mass Effect 3, definite buy!

[Shaymin]

Let's hope this one's actually *usable*, unlike the one they tacked onto the PS3 version of ME2.

[Caterkiller]

Medal of Honor for Wii U?

http://www.examiner.com/article/medal-of-honor-warfighter-preacher-story-trailer-released


Sorry thought this was the rumor thread.

[shingi_70]

Eh like I said I'm not into the nitry gritty of computing like that. Was just making guesses as mu current t phone eats up 1G. Of ram like that and my thinking was the more complex the machine or tasks the more ram it would use up.

Also looks like EA is half massing its support.

Beyond the gamepad functions the Wii U fifa and Madden seem to inferior in almost everyway. To the pint where they both (madden is confrimed) seem to be based on last years game.

I do like the game mode of 1 person playing the coach with the game pad while the other players are playing the game. Could totally see me and my roommates playing a season mode that way.

[TJ Spyke]

Beyond the gamepad functions the Wii U fifa and Madden seem to inferior in almost everyway. To the pint where they both (madden is confrimed) seem to be based on last years game.

I haven't seen that confirmed for Madden, and another reliable news outlet said the Wii U version is superior in every way. Even the GI article said it's basically the same as the other versions but with slightly better graphics.

[NWR_insanolord]

I'm pretty sure they said Madden has the Connected Careers mode, which wasn't in last year's game, so it's not totally based on last year's.