Topic: Is this bad news for the Wii U?

Nintendo's problem with offering Cloud services isn't on the Wii U end. It's on the other side of the pipes.

You're right. iOS didn't have Cloud functionality until version 5. It took Apple, a company about 10 times the size of Nintendo and with masses more resources, that long to get its own already-advanced infrastructure ready for Cloud services.

Nintendo counts a somewhat improved online shopping experience as a win for its progress with digital offerings. Apple was doing that a decade ago.

Sony and Microsoft are both offering Cloud services already. I'll bet my house that both consoles will make the Cloud a focal point - perhaps even more so than the actual specs, and it will give both companies a solid five years head start on any Cloud services Nintendo ends up offering.

None of this is to suggest Nintendo is going to be outdated and so on. But, again, if Nintendo is able to offer a console that preferences features over power, to assume that Sony and Microsoft wont is underestimating both companies (or just being a fanboy, though I assume that's not the case with you specifically, Sean).

Game developers have barely scratched the surface of what they can do with Cloud. I don't think it's wise to assume that it won't fundamentally offer some new game experiences. People did that when Nintendo suggested using two screens simultaneously for a handheld console.

Since when was Minecraft a Microsoft game? Trials is RedLynx and originally a flash game, and Fez isn't a Microsoft property because it's going to other platforms.

Xbox is so successful for one reason and one reason only: Teenagers and college kids buying FPS', Skyrim, and Assassins Creed.
(Playstation's not bad though, wish i could play Ni no Kuni)

Also, Cloud stuff is a bunch of crap. Remember floppy disks?

Microsoft published all those games on the Xbox.

What? Cloud has nothing to do with floppy disks.

in several pages do read a lot of complaints about those hypothetical specs, calling them crappy, weak or things like that.

Kinda does. You clould essentially bring data with you where ever without bringing your whole computer.

No. That is not how Cloud works. You don't "bring" anything with you at all. You just access anything you like, from any compatible device you like.

If you want a primitive example of Cloud, don't look at floppy disks, look at webmail. Hotmail is more like a Cloud service than and disc will ever be.

umm.... why can't the Wii U do this... oh there's more?

yeah, you have no idea what you're talking about. Sorry. The Wii U can do all of these things period. As can the 3DS the Vita the iPhone the 360, PS3, Wii... anything with an internet connection really. None of the stuff you described was real time and the vast majority of it would be a few hundred KBs of data tops. None of the things you mentioned are not possible on the Wii U as is and some (level editing) would work better on the Wii U than they would with a cloud service anyways.

Well actually "by their nature" they are tied to hardware. Ignoring for a second that you physically have to buy new hardware to get these features anyway lets focus on the Wii U GamePad. The Wii U has a proprietary 5Ghz WiFi card in there specifically for communicating with the GamePad. Presumably because the standard 2Ghz band wasn't high bandwidth enough. I'll give you a little bit more room and assume the proprietary stuff doesn't matter and that what does matter is bi-directional ~40/40Mbps.

Immediately the original Wii is out of the race because all it has is USB2. There is no addon that would enable the Wii U GamePad to work on the Wii as well as it does on the Wii U because it lacks the bandwidth. You could do it on the 360/PS3 but you'd have to connect your console to your wireless router via an ethernet cable and trust that your router was good enough. And you'd have to be within the Wii U GamePad distance limit from your router rather than the console itself. So it really is tied to the hardware.

Now compare that to cloud features which require nothing but an internet connection and not a very fast one for a lot of the features. These are things the Wii could do with a firmware update. Hell these are things a developer could have done on the GameCube if they had thought it was worth the effort at the time. So I don't buy your argument that Nintendo has to worry about their competitors bringing this stuff up... when they are more than capable of doing the same in the blink of an eye.

The game's look kinda reminded me of Muramasa, so I'm pretty much required to get it at some point. Looks like a pretty cool thing.

I think Nintendo's doing a smart thing by not updating their specs so fast. If Sony/Microsoft are gonna push UHDTVs and crazier gadgets to happen, I would say that's a good thing overall for everyone, and even more the consumer to have nearly an infinite amount of buying options. I feel like companies now adays are more willing to go all out with their stuff since they're pretty much selling WAY better stuff for the same amount of money as a old model from the 80's. They like to advance gadgets, that's why they're in the business. I'm 100% sure my A/V reviever I have now would have costed 1000's even in the early years of 2000.

You know, I'm not surprised that Nintendo isn't into the most advanced tech. Apparently this all comes down to Gunpei Yokoi's philosphy, I believe it's called "Lateral Thinking with Withered Technology". Basically meaning that they avoid using the newest most expensive technology so much and instead use cheaper technology that's been around for a little while and try something new with it that's fun. I'm amazed I never knew about this until a few months ago considering how Nintendo has basically been defined by this since the DS.

Nintendo could just snap their fingers and be "in sync" with anything PS4/Xbox 1080 releases as soon as it comes out if they wanted. That's not Nintendo's way though. Once PS4/Xbox 1080 come out in a year or 2, Nintendo will see what the outcome is and make decisions of their own based on that. If PS4/Xbox 1080 are successful and reasonably push tech further, I'm sure Nintendo will follow suit with eqaul or slightly better tech, just like they did with Wii U.

This is actually how Nintendo has operated before they entered the gaming industry. While it wasn't obvious with the NES and SNES, it was very apparent with the GameBoy since it easily swatted down the GameGear and Atari Lynx. Of course this didn't apply to everything Nintendo made, like the Virtual Boy and the Gamecube, so when Nintendo took this philosophy to the max, they ended up with the DS and Wii and BAM! Success!

I know how cloud works. It makes rain... Haha.
Seriously though, Nintendo's not gonna add cloud. People already come on here asking how to get their Wii U online. Alot of people are up to date with gadgets, me being one, but I don't need cloud at all, and if they can make stuff actually better by omitting it, then so be it.

The only bad news for Wii U, is it not getting a multiplatform release of Devil May Cry.

They expanded control in those consoles though. They still took steps forward to make those consoles. Touch and motion controls have been around for along time, but making it easily accessible to a consumer is another. I used to have a '89 Buick that had a factory installed touch screen.

I know that, the philosophy does refer to taking existing tech and finding new ways of utilizing it.

yeah, you have no idea what you're talking about. Sorry. The Wii U can do all of these things period. As can the 3DS the Vita the iPhone the 360, PS3, Wii... anything with an internet connection really. None of the stuff you described was real time and the vast majority of it would be a few hundred KBs of data tops. None of the things you mentioned are not possible on the Wii U as is and some (level editing) would work better on the Wii U than they would with a cloud service anyways.

Nintendo can't even get the user accounts into the Cloud.

Even if the Wii U is Cloud ready (and it has all the bits required to make that happen, agreed). Even if Nintendo's infrastructure is ready (I doubt it, given that it barely offers an online shopping experience on par with the iTunes from ten years ago). Nintendo, the company, with the executives and the people working inside those brick walls, is not ready to offer Cloud services.

Sony and Microsoft already are. Early mover advantage. Simple reality. If Nintendo is going to offer Cloud services, it is going to be playing catch up. If it has no plans to do so, then Sony and Microsoft's consoles have an advantage over Nintendo's that has nothing to do with the hardware specs that produce the graphics, which seems to be the only thing people think Microsoft and Sony work on.

Just like the GamePad is an advantage to the Wii U that has nothing to do with hardware specs over the PS3 and Xbox 360.

when they are more than capable of doing the same in the blink of an eye.

Then you don't understand how businesses operate, if you think that. Adopting a Cloud offering requires a corporation to be culturally ready for it, and prepared to make some massive investments to transition to a different business model. I was at an internal Microsoft conference four (or possibly five, I forget which) years ago, and they were talking up this Cloud "journey" for years before the public started hearing the rhetoric or we started seeing more advanced applications. Sony's been moving towards Cloud services since Stringer took the company over, and a great deal of the financial burden it ended up with had to do with the organisational restructure that was required to get all of the business working towards the unified platform that is needed to leverage Cloud.

Nintendo could not just turn on random Cloud services tomorrow. It could start working towards them, but if Nintendo is to start offering serious Cloud services, it's years away yet. That's a business reality more than a technology one.

@Bankai
The cloud is nothing much more than a fancy way of saying "on the internet". MiiVerse is a cloud service as are high scores and other such features. My purchasing history is already "not tied" to my Wii U in a sense because I can see it by logging in with my NNID here:
https://p.nintendo.net/premium/

The fact that I can't move to another console with it is therefore purely a DRM issue. Nintendo scared of piracy and other such things. Nintendo has also confirmed that MiiVerse and Nintendo Network IDs will be coming to both the 3DS and future consoles. It's a really, really small step from there to cloud saves and the ability to login to your friend's console with a disk and finish the game. All of the other features you mentioned are already possible. Do I need to go on?

.... and again, your suggestion that the GamePad has "nothing to do with hardware" in the same sense that cloud features do is amusing. The GamePad is physically hardware and literally requires an extra piece of hardware at the receiver end also. The implication that it would be just as easy for Sony/MS to implement a GamePad as fully featured as the Wii U version as it would be for Nintendo to extend it's already existing "cloud services" is laughable.