Topic: The OFFICIAL Big N rumor thread *bring your own salt*

[TJ Spyke]

which is where the 3DO name came from.

Actually, no. The companies name came from standing for "3 dimensional object". The $3 thing is just a misconception because they picked that a their royalty rate (they probably did it on purpose).

[MrPhishfood]

Nintendo has to deal with a lot of stuff being both a publisher and a console manufacturer. If you live in the UK and went inside a GAME store did you ever notice how Nintendo products are always near the back of the store or some hidden away corner?

This is because Nintendo refuses to pay GAME for "premium" space, they have a weird antagonistic business relationship with each other. When GAME were starting to go bankrupt Nintendo were the first to refuse them stock of new games because they knew GAME wouldn't be able to pay for them at a later date, then Capcom did the same.

This talk of the 3DO is kind of interesting too. I think today's equivalent of the 3DO may just be the Ouya. You may eventually have to scroll through a ton of crap to find the real gems.

[Louieturkey]

This talk of the 3DO is kind of interesting too. I think today's equivalent of the 3DO may just be the Ouya. You may eventually have to scroll through a ton of crap to find the real gems.

Actually, scrolling through the crap to find the real gems can also be what the Wii was outside of 1st party efforts.  Ouya is an unknown quantity and can't really be compared to anything at this point.  If it never materializes, it'll be another Phantom.  If it does, we don't know exactly how popular it will be. 

[Chozo Ghost]

This talk of the 3DO is kind of interesting too. I think today's equivalent of the 3DO may just be the Ouya. You may eventually have to scroll through a ton of crap to find the real gems.

The Ouya will cost $700 less than the 3DO so that's an important key difference which should allow the Ouya to succeed where the 3DO failed. Also, the licensing fee to create a game on the Ouya is nonexistent because its a purely open platform. The 3DO was super cheap, but there's still a difference between super cheap and completely free.

[BranDonk Kong]

The Ouya is not today's 3DO...there is no today's 3DO.

[ShyGuy]

BranDogg is today's 3DO. I am today's Phillip's CD-i. Kairon is today's Neo Geo.

[Kairon]

Kairon is today's Neo Geo.

I...I am? Couldn't I be like... The Jaguar or something? (Wotta controller) Or the...the Pippin? (WOTTA CONTROLLER!)

[Shaymin]

You could be the Jaguar CD, and be a dental camera.

[MysticGohan]

You could be the Jaguar CD, and be a dental camera.

didn't that thing look like a toilet?

[BranDonk Kong]

I never really thought about myself as a 3DO, but I guess you're right.

[Spak-Spang]

Ok,  so someone who brags about their power but usually under performs compared to others is a PS3

Someone who is slightly inept but strangely popular is a Wii...

Someone who is different just to be different, and therefore thinks themselves superior is an iPad or any Apple product...

Someone who is an expensive date...but will never deliver of his/her promises is a Vita.

A person who is easy to chill with and someone that always want to have hanging around you is a Nintendo DS...

[Kairon]

You could be the Jaguar CD, and be a dental camera.

didn't that thing look like a toilet?

Oh man the Jaguar CD... it looks AWESOME! I love how when I was younger every video game console and their controllers doubled as space ship toys...

[Chozo Ghost]

The Jaguar was made in the USA by an American company. That sets it apart from all the other consoles of the era which were made by Japanese companies. The Xbox is made by an American company (Microsoft), but since its made overseas I'm not sure if that really counts. But anyway, the Jaguar was the last truly American video game console. Too bad Atari didn't appeal to patriotism when they marketed the thing because that might have helped make a difference.

[Ian Sane]

I think Atari did somewhat push the "Made in the USA" thing.  The Jaguar bombed because it just wasn't all that impressive.

[Chozo Ghost]

The Jaguar bombed because it just wasn't all that impressive.

It was the first 64 bit system, beating the N64 by 3 years. Although technically I think its more accurate to describe it as a 32 bit/64 bit hybrid because from what I understand there was two chips in it but only one was truly 64bit. Some of the games on it did look pretty impressive by 1993 standards.

[TJ Spyke]

Jaguar was not 64 bit at all, and they got ripped to shreds by the competition because of it. It did have 64-bit co-processors, but the CPU and GPU operated at 32-bit.

[Ian Sane]

I meant impressive in the sense of its games.  I remember when it came out and the initial games just didn't stand out all that well.  Games like Cybermorph or Trevor McFur were laughable.  Of course they later got games like Alien vs. Predator.  It did not make a good first impression during a time where the Genesis and SNES were on a major roll.  The Jaguar ain't like the Dreamcast where an incredibly impressive system with a great library flopped.

The Neo Geo was always more known as an arcade system and the home system was just some niche hardcore thing.  Unlike the Jaguar or 3DO, Neo Geo was regularly talked about among kids at my school (though a distant number four to Sega, Nintendo and PC games).  We all liked it, we all wanted one, but it was just too expensive.  But we all played Samurai Shodown in the arcade and talked about it.  Because of the arcade system, Neo Geo games were never obscure like Jaguar or 3DO games were (and still are).

[Chozo Ghost]

Jaguar was not 64 bit at all, and they got ripped to shreds by the competition because of it. It did have 64-bit co-processors, but the CPU and GPU operated at 32-bit.

That's why I said it was a hybrid 32/64 bit system. Whether it was 64bit or not is debatable. Some would argue it was, and others would argue it wasn't, but both are right depending on how you look at it. Its just like the Turbografix-16 which has 16 bit graphics but an 8 bit CPU, so was that really a 16 bit system? The answer is both yes and no.

[BranDonk Kong]

Do any of you even know what 64-bit means?

[ShyGuy]

Do any of you even know what 64-bit means?

Four times the power of the Sega Genesis. DUH!

[Ceric]

Do any of you even know what 64-bit means?

64 Bit registers.
Though IA64 Has many more registers as well shame AMD killed that by releasing x86 extended to 64

[Chozo Ghost]

Do any of you even know what 64-bit means?

Four times the power of the Sega Genesis. DUH!

That was how people who grew up back then seen it. The companies marketed more bits as being better, and we simply bought it without even really understanding why. It was a major selling point of the N64. So much so, that Nintendo deliberately included the number 64 in the name of the system as well as in many of the games to drive home the fact it was double the bits of the competition. Was it really that much superior than the PS1? Probably not, but as a kid you blindly believed it.

[Caterkiller]

http://gengame.net/2012/09/rumor-retro-studios-is-working-on-game-engines-for-wii-u/


The rumor is Retro is making game engines for Wii U.


It's an interesting read. I have no comment about the UE4 thing. As far as I know it was inevitable that it would be available for Wii U productions. Unless all this dates way the heck back and this is why UE4 is being supported on Wii U. Still expect UE4 all over the place.

[BlackNMild2k1]

As far as engines are concerned, Nintendo has licensed so many for use internally by 1st & 2nd parties, and externally for 3rd parties, that I would be surprised if they were really creating an engine from scratch, as the article made it seem more like they may have been tweaking an existing engine (such as UE4) to work with the Wii U and then showing other developers how to get the same results.


[edit: On second thought, I guess it's possible that Retro could have made an engine so nice, that they showed other engine creators, such as Epic, that Wii U can infact do most, if not all, the same effects they thought it not capable of doing, and therefore convinced them to reconsider their stance on Wii U support.


Really makes you eager to see exactly what it is that Retro is actually working on right now]

Rumor from before was that Nintendo was in constant back and forth talks with Epic about UE4 and there was some tweaking going on. Maybe it wasn't just final hardware specs that Nintendo was tweaking, but also engine code for the rough build of UE4 in an attempt to show Epic that with some official support, Wii U was capable of some amazing results.

Now I can't say with 100% certainty that UE4 is being supported officially by Epic on Wii U, but besides Caterkiller and his source, another source has shown me a little evidence that Wii U is officially supported as of earlier this year.

So regardless of whose rumors you decide to believe, it seems pretty clear to me that Nintendo is pretty serious about lowering the bar of entry for everyone when it comes to developing on the Wii U (we need all those 3rd party ports and support in general), so expecting that they would go above and beyond to convince the most popular 3rd party engine of last gen to get on board with the Wii U seems very plausible to me.

[tendoboy1984]

Retro has been an invaluable asset for Nintendo. Too bad they are Nintendo's only official link to the Western development world. Nintendo needs to buy (or startup) a second Western studio. It's surprising that a company as big as Nintendo tends to keep all their game development within Japan. Why not open up a few more European and American studios to diversify their portfolio?