Tag: Video Games

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Business Technology

A Case for a Strong Nintendo

Nintendo Logo

The first commentator on my post about the Wii U stated that he sees gaming moving more and more toward a tablet-centric world. This got me thinking about the future of Nintendo because they are really the last video game console centric company in the world. While Microsoft and Sony still carry on with their respective platforms, they are huge companies with their respective hands in many  honey pots.

That means Nintendo is the one company most in danger of being destroyed if the gaming world shifts.

But we really need to keep around a strong Nintendo for that very same reason. They are uniquely positioned to really push the envelope in video games and, more precisely, video game hardware because they need to keep ahead of everyone else in different ways. The Wii might not have been the most powerful system in the world, but their motion-control remotes pushed other companies to release their own motion-control peripherals. I have a feeling that the Kinect would have sat in the workshop for a much longer time had Nintendo not pushed things just a little bit in a different direction.

A software-only Nintendo, having shed its home and portable consoles a la Sega, will be boring and, really, quite useless. The software won’t be as “fun” anymore and will truly lose its luster. It will be a sad day.

Not just that, but I have a feeling that ideas will be slow. What will be next? I don’t know, but I DO know that Nintendo probably has dozens of crazy things just flying around in R&D right now waiting for the right time to head out into the world. Will they all work? Well, HELLLLLOOOO Virtual Boy … no. However, they ARE all valuable experiments in what MIGHT work and helps people get more ideas to grow into possible new interfaces, or products, or … who knows what!?

Nintendo is unique and needs to be strong because they NEED to push video games forward. That’s all they do. If they fail, we’ll lose too much.

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Technology

Onward Wii U

So Christmas is past and through no fault of Christmas I have my hands on a Wii U. I’ll document some of my initial thoughts here.

Black Wii U

  • Hardware is nice. Really nice. I liked the Wii as just a piece of technology (and one that Nintendo really didn’t re-release like the slimmed-up Xbox 360 and PS3), and the Wii U continues the trend of really nice, slick, hardware that might not need a major revision in the future. Granted, the console itself is bigger, but it is quieter than the original Wii … so points on that. I do like the separate LED to show that a disk is loaded. A nice, simple touch. Bringing the sync button outside of the hinged door is another small change but makes it much easier to use the console.
  • The Wii U GamePad is going to take some time for me to get used to. After the Wii Remote + Nunchuck of the Wii, the GamePad seems very rigid because … it is. Not a knock against it, but it is something different. The screen looks really good and I can understand why they used resistive instead of capacitive touch for as well. No, it is not HD, but it works well enough for a controller with eleventy-billion different sensors on it.
  • I’m starting to think of the Wii U as a more powerful Wii plus the addition of the dual-screen nature of the Nintendo DS. I wasn’t even thinking that way before, but after using the console for over a day, I can already see what Nintendo was going after. The GamePad really opens up some avenues before restricted to just the mobile-focused DS and 3DS, which could be exciting. It took almost the entire generation of the Wii to get to a game that really harnessed the motion controls in such a way to deliver what everyone was hoping for in the beginning (I’m looking at you The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword), and the DS took a good, long while before games started to really take advantage of the dual-screen nature of that device. The Wii U will take some time as well as developers try and put the two together, but I think Nintendo has provided a decent game to showcase some ideas (Nintendoland), and I have a feeling that hey will be pushing things forward as they usually do. This is why we need a strong Nintendo and I cringe every time someone says that Nintendo should stop making hardware and start just publishing games for other platforms. How quickly we forget about Sega.
  • It is nice to see Nintendo properties in HD.
  • I’m very interested to see what Nintendo is going to do with the Zelda series. So far Zelda, Metroid, and 3D Mario have not been announced or even shown off … but with the GamePad, Remote, Remote + Nunchuck, and Pro Controller you have a plethora of options for controlling those games and who knows what will happen with the second screen available. I’m hoping they keep the 1:1 controls from Skyward Sword around but refine them just a little bit. The future will be interesting.
  • I’m planning on picking up one of the big-name 3rd party ports to try and get an idea of how those might do on the system. There is a huge backlog of high-quality ports that could now be brought over to the Wii U and probably do quite well. Mass Effect 3 is on the top of the list for now.

I think that is about it for now. Overall, I’m highly impressed with the system and even just the two games I have so far (Nintendoland and Just Dance 4). Having an HD Nintendo system should not be underestimated.

One thing I have not dug into is any of the online components. That will be for later (and for games that feature online play more prevalently).

Categories
Life

Shifting Games

I’ve primarily been a gamer in a number of categories:

  • PC
  • Console
  • Handheld

There are benefits to all three of them, and downsides as well. Basically, my console and handheld gaming has been restricted to Nintendo devices while Windows is, obviously, the king of PC gaming.

As I get older, my time becomes more constrained and so I have had to shift my gaming time from the easily segmented three above to something more akin to this:

  • iOS
  • Console

I’ve ditched the only Windows box in my house and I don’t pull out the Game Boy Micro anymore either, mainly because I carry at least one iOS device with me everywhere I go … adding another seems wasteful.

However, that leaves a HUGE catalog of games that I just do not have access to anymore. It is sad to leave those games behind, but time is tight and decisions need to be made. I still have my Wii sitting in my basement, waiting for the day when I find a cheap TV to hook it up to (and maybe a chair or something downstairs). Will I get a new console soon? Probably not, as I have a catalog of Wii games to work through once people pick up the Wii U, but I will probably stick with Nintendo until they go out of business.

This keeps me from spending too much money on games I will never play on systems I really don’t have a use or a place for. It is interesting to see the shift … but that’s part of the fun of getting older.

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Gaming

More Thoughts on the Wii U

After reading a few more articles on the Wii U, here are some more thoughts on the Wii U.

  • The Wii U is starting to feel like it could be the final gasp for Nintendo and console-grade hardware. Both Microsoft and Sony are working on the next-next-next-gen of their consoles and either Google or Apple decides to push gaming on their TV offerings it is going to get very crowded very fast.
  • Price might be more important than I originally thought. The gamepad is going to cost something, and if you want/need two of them, that’s going to cost even more. The number of controllers you can have for the system is only going to make it more difficult.
  • Would Nintendo move to mobile-only or software-only if the Wii U fails? Do they have cash reserves to be able to R&D another home console? What is Nintendo without their own hardware? What does that company look like?
Categories
Gaming

The Wii U

Wii U

Nintendo pulled back the curtain a little more on their next game console at E3 this year, and I still don’t know what to think of it.

The Wii U is, on hardware terms, basically a better Wii. Go ahead and just read all of the other relevant information from other sites. I’m going to go ahead and just post some random thoughts … as I usually do.

  • It is HD, but how much is the system going to really be able to push? It sounds like, at best, we are talking Xbox 360+ … maybe. Of course, new engines should take advantage of the system, but is it enough graphical power to propel Nintendo for the next 5 years?
  • So many control options! Along with the Wii Motion Plus and the new Wii U Gamepad  was announced the Pro controller. How much will these things cost? What games will use the controllers? Will just the Gamepad come with the system or will they toss along a Motion Plus controller or two?
  • I’m most excited to see future games. The hardware is obviously more powerful, and supporting any kind of HD output is going to be a huge plus, but really it is going to come down to the software and the use of the Gamepad more than anything else. Software is more important for Nintendo than any other console manufacturer right now.
  • I just don’t know what I’m going to do. It will probably end up a lot like the Wii for me … I’ll wait until it drops in price and the great titles from Nintendo are out.