That is why I think it would have been a success, if it were marketed properly to our generation. .... or at least sold considerably more and extended the life of the system for a year or longer.
I also have an Xbone. Good system, but I really don't play it much bc it hogs up that TV in the living room. I also have the Switch. I pretty much only play that and my 3ds.
@rockodoodle Well, I was born in 1970 myself, and the Wii U's graphics, both on the TV and on the Game Pad, still look wonderful to me. I compare Nintendo systems in their own bubble, so going from the Wii to the Wii U really was a MASSIVE improvement, and one that still stays with me to this day.
I don't have a Switch (yet), but I do have an Xbox One S, and even though the graphics on that system surpass the Wii U's by a considerable margin, I can still appreciate it in it's own right, because I don't use illogical comparisons to superior systems, like so many people do.
And I still enjoy it very much, so no past tense for me. I recently picked up Darksiders: Warmastered Edition, for a bargain price, even though I had already bought and played the original on the Xbox 360, and it plays and looks just great. Tiny hiccups here or there, but nothing game breaking or worth moaning about.
But I also suspect, that in general, it's not people from your or my generation that do most of the complaining: it's today's kids, who have no knowledge of or respect for what has come before their current consoles, and who don't understand or appreciate the fact that without all those old, crappy consoles, with their "horribly outdated graphics", they would have never even had their purdy graphics producing machines...
Completely agreed on the horrible Wii U marketing campaign, though. As a long-time sales & marketing professional myself, it was an absolute horror to witness. Like nails on a chalkboard, or watching a train wreck happening and not being able to do anything about it, or something in that category...
Your opinions are really interesting, people. Thanks a lot.
You made me appreciate my Wii U even more, and I'm almost convinced to take my Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze listing down and forget about the Switch version. After all, it cost me 24,90 € and still was the original cover version, in that magical moment when games get re-released with the Selects awful cover and stores change the price of the regular still in stock versions too.
I could have bought Darksiders and Darksiders II on Wii U too, but they got discounted on Xbox 360 (digital), the first entry actually was free with Xbox Live Gold and the second one cost 1,99 -plus 0,84 for the DLC- and I'm weak.
Damn backlog, I'd love to play more on my Wii U, but so many systems with games unfinished or unplayed don't let me give it the time it deserves.
@Tyranexx What I actually meant is that 8K will not be here in 4 to 5 years, at least not as the default format. I'd sooner say that will at least take another 7 - 8 years. It's also about available content, of course, and 4K is still so new, with only two consoles and PC supporting it in video gaming, and only retail movies on disc and in digital download supporting it in the video entertainment sector.
Just think about it: Full HD TV's only became available to a larger audience after 2002, which is when the prices dropped so it became affordable, even though the format was already available in the USA since 1998, but at astronomical prices, obviously. The same is now true for 4K, so it will take at least another year for prices to drop, another 3 - 4 years for 4K to penetrate the market as the default screen in most households, and then there will be some early adopters of 8K, which will again take another 5 to 6 years to become mainstream and affordable, if it even ever becomes a format, so think more along the lines of 2025.
And there's even a possibility that it might very well stay exclusive to the cinema and computers, depending on how well 4K is doing, or whether or not that will remain a sustainable and sufficient format. There's of course also enormous costs coming with moving to yet another higher format, for a lot of industries involved. If those necessary investments aren't warranted because the target audience isn't ready or willing to dive in, then it's simply not going to happen. At least not for a long time.
I also have these, but I already had the physical edition of the first game, but having it installed on my 360 was more convenient than having to browse through my considerable collection of physical games (almost 200 titles), and it was free, so I installed it anyway.
But that was the standard edition, as was Darksiders 2, and the Wii U edition is the Warmastered Edition, and it was on sale for only 12 euros, so I still bought that anyway, regardless of already having two copies on the Xbox 360. It was a nice initiative from THQ Nordic to still put that on the Wii U, so I decided to support that effort.
And I still have most of my systems connected. I don't mind the slight clutter it creates. The biggest mess is all the cables, but those are hidden behind the screen, so they're out of sight anyways...
Currently, the systems that I've got hooked up are GameCube, Wii, Wii U, SNES Classic Mini, Xbox 360, Xbox One S and my Sega Dreamcast.
As for backlog: I've only ever played a level or two, three of most of my games, except for a handful of the greatest games like Zelda and the easy to complete games, like shooters and such. All the grinding and collect-a-thon games are still largely uncompleted, because I just don't have the time.
But I've bought these games nonetheless, because they're the titles to have for the systems I have, and if you'd have to buy them years later down the line, they would probably cost WAY too much. Just look at how expensive some old games are now. So, better buy them while the console they're for is still relatively recent, so you can collect all you want at prices that are affordable...
The Wii U/Switch situation is unique in the way that the Switch isn't just a more powerful Wii U, it can do stuff the Wii U can't (i.e. be played anywhere). So if you have both consoles and a game is on both platforms or you think will be both platforms, don't get the Wii U version if you don't already have that version.
So like say you wanted to buy the following games for the first time:
Hyrule Warriors
DKC Tropical Freeze
Super Mario Maker
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Star Fox Zero
Paper Mario Color Splash
You'd be best off buying the Switch version of the first 2 (Hyrule Warriors, Tropical Freeze), wait for a Switch version of the middle 3 (Super Mario Maker, Smash, XCX) and buy the last 2 for Wii U (Star Fox Zero, Color Splash).
@Grumblevolcano I wouldn't be waiting for a Switch version of Mario Maker. That's always going to be an inferior version because of the loss of the second screen, so I'd definitely add that to the "buy for Wii U" list.
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
Apparently Japan are looking to push 8K (and their domestic tech in general) when they host the Olympics in 2020 - but, even then, I think that the state broadcasters' aim is only to stream 8K Olympic footage to a select few 'open air' sets dotted around certain public locations in Tokyo (with no plans to stream to homes as the current infrastructure will be unable to support it) ..so, two years from now, 8K broadcasts will still only really be at the 'proof of concept' stage - and several years from a wider roll-out, you'd imagine
I do think that it seems to be a more tangible step forward than 4K perhaps is though - I've read that 8K displays have such great and dense pixel counts that the human eye is unable to differentiate between any of the individual dots that make up the image (even with your nose pressed against the screen!) ..which would surely represent something of a 'ceiling' for TV tech (with 4K essentially being a mere 'stepping stone', a notch below 'perfect' 8K picture quality)
Exciting stuff! ..it's on the horizon, no doubt - and is almost certainly 'the future' in waiting - but still a long, long way off at this point in time!
@ThanosReXXX The Switch version would be better in other ways like if extra things were added such as slopes. Also there's the situation about the servers, Mario Maker is a game which a lot of the fun is reliant on the servers being up. So despite the game being more natural to use on Wii U, the Switch version would still be the definitive version.
I have seen several pretty good 4k 60 TVs for 899 or so. the main thing that keeps them from really spreading is that the old 1080 ones from circa 2010- and beyond are still good enough for most people's needs.
@Tyranexx Yeah, maybe I should have put a bit more nuance to it. Obviously, not ALL teens and twenty-somethings loathe or disrespect anything that isn't current gen, but it is certainly true that a majority of the complainers is of a younger generation that has never had access to or experience with an N64 or a GameCube, let alone a NES and/or a SNES, and all of the other pre-HD systems from the other parties.
On a side note: I wouldn't hold my breath for 8K yet. Market penetration projections for 4K TV's worldwide as they stand now, with the current rate of sales, is set to reach around 35 - 40% in total at the end of this year, if the trend shown in this graph will continue at the same pace: https://www.statista.com/statistics/461086/4k-tv-shipments-pe...
And considering that the prices for 4K TV's are still somewhat on the high end, they'll have to drop first for those numbers to rise in any drastic fashion. When that happens, 4K can start to take over as the new default offering for target audiences, but that is still going to take at least a couple more years, and then, and only then, will 4K have become mainstream. For now, it's still a relatively small, but growing market.
And the same will happen once 8K TV's will be available to the general public: they will cost thousands of dollars to begin with, so it'll probably take at least 4 to 5 years for them to reach anything near the same market penetration as their predecessors...
And besides: a lot of people, much like you, still have a perfectly fine Full HD TV that is still in good working order, so they're in no rush to upgrade anything, unless they have the money and desire to spend the extra cash for their hobby.
Your opinions are really interesting, people. Thanks a lot.
You made me appreciate my Wii U even more, and I'm almost convinced to take my Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze listing down and forget about the Switch version. After all, it cost me 24,90 € and still was the original cover version, in that magical moment when games get re-released with the Selects awful cover and stores change the price of the regular still in stock versions too.
I could have bought Darksiders and Darksiders II on Wii U too, but they got discounted on Xbox 360 (digital), the first entry actually was free with Xbox Live Gold and the second one cost 1,99 -plus 0,84 for the DLC- and I'm weak.
Damn backlog, I'd love to play more on my Wii U, but so many systems with games unfinished or unplayed don't let me give it the time it deserves.
@NaviAndMii Meanwhile I'm watching 1080p and can not see how any higher resolution will yield any superior picture quality from any reasonable sitting distance. At a certain point instead of real improvements (the blurry mess of old analog TV with snowy static up to solid crisp digital pictures) they've started pushing tech for the sake of tech. Does 4k have a place? Sure sitting close to a PC monitor the PPI matters a lot...not really for the detail but for the density. Does 8k have a place? Sure 200ft IMAX displays and medical imagine where high resolution can seriously matter, especially for capture.
But were talking about TVs with higher resolutions than biomed displays have worked on microbial genetics, on, and higher res and higher camera res than a few short years ago was more than enough for highly defined enlargements and sub-pixel photo editing for gallery showings.....we're really crossing into the absurd now with this stuff. Excess for the sake of excess.
Where the real gains for that would be isn't in having an 8k screen, but in having extraordinarily dense PPI for VR purposes to eliminate screen door when pressing it to your eyeball, and of course medical and scientific application, though even there' it's questionable....enlargement and high res CAPTURE matters there, I'm not sure high res display matters at all.
@ThanosReXXX: Fair enough. It seems that some of the information that I found was premature speculation then. That said, some TVs seem to be quite long-lived before they kick the bucket, at least I'm terms of my family. I suppose it's slightly more likely that my next set will be 4K, but we'll see.
Currently playing: Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr's Journey, Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (Switch)
@Grumblevolcano Better with slopes? I've no idea what that means. No offense, though. It's just that I haven't played the game, only seen videos of others playing, so perhaps I'm missing something that experienced players would know about. Care to elaborate?
As for the rest: you should probably (or more than likely) replace all your would's with could's. It's not to say at ALL that because of the things you mentioned, that the Switch version would be better.
The only thing I could personally think of (and which would be the most logical benefit in most cases), is better/cleaner graphics, but those don't really apply for Mario Maker, since the differences would be minimal. Servers can be moved/reallocated/shared. I used to sell server parks, so I know what's possible.
Reserving server space in a rack that is mainly for Switch games is relatively easy, just think of how Xbox 360 games are played on the Xbox One: it's the same principle. All cloud-based, and as long as there is a big enough target audience, Nintendo will have enough reasons to keep those servers alive.
@rockodoodle $899 is not a mainstream/affordable price.
It's a step in the right direction, but affordable means attainable for the average Joe, without having to save up or having to forego something else that his or her salary should also be used for. The affordable price point is what Full HD TV's are now: around $400 - $450. For the average Joe, $899 is more than half of his salary, so that's not an option, unless they take out a loan or secure a monthly payment arrangement with the dealer.
So, the main thing that keeps them spreading is still the price point, and the second factor is the still working Full HD TV's in a lot of homes. I'm not completely certain, but I'm kind of expecting a price drop around the summer, or at the latest in some of the holiday periods that follow after.
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
@ThanosReXXX Sure, but when I downloaded the first one for free the second was on sale and bought it right away. Maybe later was given for free. Too late.
I agree, games must be bought in their time, just in case. Especially in Nintendo consoles. I was out of video gaming (but just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in) for 5 years and when I returned I started buying consoles and games I had missed, and boy, a lot of the games I wanted were expensive, and a decade later I've given up on them.
But I agree, and have almost all of my video game systems plugged to 3 different TVs or ready to do it in seconds because the connection ports are not enough. You're right, there is a mess of wires, it must be dangerous and someday I'll have a problem.
But that's the magic of playing video games with the actual hardware and software.
@ThanosReXXX You can't create levels with slopes in the versions currently available. Slopes would allow for more interesting possibilities when creating levels.
As for the servers, it's more a case of does Nintendo want the paid online service to be competing with a free online service that is also theirs. Maybe I'm wrong but I think the Wii U servers are going to be shut down around August 2018.
@Moroboshi876 I use two TV's: one non-HD for the GameCube and Dreamcast, and all the other consoles on my big, full HD screen. And I use an HDMI hub. I also didn't have enough ports, but no TV I know has, so a hub is more or less a must-buy.
@Grumblevulcano Aha, I see. Well, I don't know if adding slopes is going to change an already good game into a must-have. It does sound a bit like it's a personal taste thing, since I haven't seen people mention this before. And the original Mario games also didn't have slopes, which is what Mario Maker supposedly is all about: making your own levels with existing Mario assets, not with new ones, but then again: I'm not a player, so I'll take your word for it.
As for the servers: that is not exactly what I was saying. I meant migrating the server space INTO the serverpark that will now be supporting the Switch. That costs virtually nothing, and happy customers are future paying customers, so it would definitely be something that they will take into account if the game is still very much alive on its current servers.
That is also what Microsoft has done with their Xbox 360 titles on the Xbox One. They all still support online gaming. Of course there's the difference that on Xbox 360, it was already paid online, but still. It is entirely possible.
And Nintendo only needs to migrate those servers that are relevant, so it's not like they have to keep the ENTIRE Wii U serverpark alive. In fact: they don't have to keep any of it alive, if they re-allocate some space into the new serverpark, so they can pull the plug on the original Wii U serverpark.
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
@ThanosReXXX Slopes have been around since SMB3 so it's not exactly a new thing but it was an example, there's plenty of other things that could be added to allow Mario Maker to be an even better experience.
As for the Microsoft example, don't forget about backwards compatibility. Shutting down the Xbox 360 servers would directly negatively affect Xbox One players too whereas shutting down the Wii U servers wouldn't directly negatively affect Switch owners.
I often struggle to see much difference between HD and 4K resolutions - similarly, I barely notice any difference between 30fps and 60fps frame rates in games (if the frame rates are locked) - so I don't tend to get too hung up on such things, personally! ..the most noticeable enhancement (for me) with modern 4K TV's is with features like HDR - seeing such a vibrant array of colours is truly a treat for the eyes! ..and, as it's pretty much at the limit of the range of colours that we can actually see, in theory, we've kind of 'hit the ceiling' in that department
I'm just assuming that 8K will become 'the norm' over time as TV tech seems to follow a familiar pattern: new higher res set hits the market as a niche product aimed at early adopters > price comes down over time > eventually becomes the common format ..I'm not much of an 'early adopter' myself (and struggle to even relate to the mentality if I'm honest!) - but I'm guessing that they'll be all over 8K when it properly hits the market and that the cycle will repeat itself once again!
I totally agree that (at this stage) it could be argued that such 'innovations' are just improvements for improvements' sake - but, I don't think it'll just stop at 4K - especially if the next step (8K) is pretty much at the limit ..as we're so close, we may as well take that one extra leap to hit the max!
I'm not sure where the industry would go after that mind you - they're already selling us 'all the colours' and 'perfect frame rates' - if 'maximum resolution' is on the horizon, it really leaves them little room to tangibly improve displays in the future...
...they'll just have to try to convince us to buy in to 9K (for no apparent reason) I guess!
"Why did you decide to buy a 9K TV over an 8K, Nigel?"
@ThanosReXXX Well, in the case of HDMI connected consoles I have no problems, because I have one TV with 4 ports and another one with 2. Problem is with the old systems, with SCART or Composite connections. I have to switch.
Anyway, video game systems have to be connected or ready to. Always.
Gamepad gets used a ton for youtube here too. Born 1970 here too! Maybe prefer the chunky gamepad cos it reminds us of 70s plastic toys. Talking of graphics, my turbo grafx on the gamepad seem sharper than my neo geos on the Switch (which I love). However that may be my mind playing tricks as the gamepad is alot more user friendly as a handheld. I always think I'm gonna snap the Switch whereas the gamepad happily bounces off the carpet!
@Grumblevolcano The Xbox 360 servers are already down, or more exactly: migrated to the newer server parks that cater both to current gen and previous gen games. That's what I've been trying to explain all along. And shutting down the Xbox 360 servers would not really disadvantage Xbox One gamers, unless they want to use the backward compatibility, but that was always Microsoft's plan, backwards compatibility and getting all different Xbox owners on one platform.
Come to think of it, that's probably also their intent with the console's confusing and weirdly non-canon name: the Xbox One. The One console to play all them games...
And shutting down the Wii U servers wouldn't hurt Switch-only gamers, but it WOULD hurt Wii U gamers that still play certain games that they don't want to re-buy on the Switch. And if a number of these communities is still very much alive and thriving, then Nintendo, or any company for that matter, would at the very least consider doing something with that.
The solution I proposed is viable, cheap, and certainly a possibility. And just think of all the user-made levels in Mario Maker that would be lost. If anything, these could certainly be migrated as a minimal effort to meet all these creators halfway...
Either way: whatever happens, guess we'll find out before the year is over.
@Moroboshi876 Haven't they got SCART boxes in your area? Alternatively, you could use a SCART to HDMI converter, works great for both old consoles and videorecorders...
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Topic: Feeling sad about Wii U, but also loving it very much
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