Topic: The NEW Wii U (Predictions)

If Nintendo were to release a New Wii U, this is my guess on the new stuff:
-slightly redesigned system, maybe slightly smaller.
-64GB internal storage
-RAM boosted from 2GB to 4GB
-GPU clockspeed boosted from 550 Mhz to 700 Mhz
-CPU boosted from 1.24Ghz Tri-Core to 1.6Ghz Quad-core
-Ethernet port
-Built -in advanced wii remote tracker
-Slightly slimmer GamePad with longer battery life

Oh please no. I absolutely do not want New Wii U exclusive games, and I think most of the small install base agrees with me.

New 3DS has boosted specs. New Wii U would too.

Then don't call it the New Wii U and just give it the other things you listed.

If they were to make a new, more "premium" Wii U SKU then yes. This would make sense for such a SKU.

To be frank I don't understand the need for these things and I have absolutely no idea what an "advanced wii remote tracker" would be. I guess these things aren't bad ideas more that they're largely pointless. Neither here nor there.

So basically a boost in the spec that won't bring about much of a graphical leap. Purely it'll get a nicer number that won't be printed on the box. Put it this way, the Wii got almost a 2x boost in spec over the GC and the Wii U is quite a bit more than 2x more powerful than the Wii. You're talking about a ~20% boost in performance and a rather unnecessary boost in RAM + CPU capacity for said actual boost in performance.

And no, it's not like the 3DS. With the New 3DS they're upgrading a personal device that's basically at the end of its life. People are used to upgrading their 3DS for new colours or bigger screens. There aren't any parallels with the Wii U. My guess is that when the Wii U gets towards the end of its life they'll head in the other direction with their revision. Go more of the 2DS/Wii Mini route and release a paired down revision at a lower price. No WiiMode, no SDCard, less USB ports, smaller GamePad etc, etc.

Two totally different things...why don't people understand this? One is cheaper, smaller, portable, and way more successful. It's also at the end of it's life cycle, and they did the same thing with the DS, making the DSi. It was a waste of money, the DSi, unless it was the very first version of the DS that you got.

The WiiU is a home console. More expensive, less popular and in the middle road of it's life cycle. No one is going to buy a New WiiU, it makes no sense at all. Some of you guys need a magic potion for some common sense, or something. Also the games developed for the home console tend to take longer, and be more involved. Adding more powerful hardware halfway through is much harder for them to handle when dealing with massive console projects, like Zelda U, Xenoblade X, etc.

Think about it. What is the only exclusive game so far announced from Nintendo that can only run on the New 3DS. Xenoblade, a port. Cheap. Common sense tells you that this is for prior owners of the 3DS. They aren't trying to really build new users, like they are with the WiiU. They are selling to current users, since they expect sales to slump from here on out, slowly but surely. The next gen handheld is closer than you think.

The next gen console is not.

I'm not sure Nintendo has incentive to refresh either platform soon, or even 2 years from now. What is the benefit to them? Each successive handheld generation's install base shrinks further and further due to the advent of smart phones. I mean, new hardware could open up new possibilities for the games.

Are system sales worth that much to them compared to game sales? All signs point to the fact that $300 is close to the cost of production for the Wii U as, despite low sales, Nintendo has been reluctant to lower the price below $300. That and the playstation and xbox generations started only about a year ago; will Wii 3s sell well in the middle of the other consoles' 6-8 year generation? I don't know, and I really don't know what a more powerful Wii U would allow outside of slightly prettier games. If they want third party support then they need a larger install base AND equivalent hardware specs, which would incentives them to release an equivalently powerful new console nearer to the PS5 & XB2's release date.

What I expect is for Nintendo to try to unify their accounts, sell more Wii Us, make this a long generation, and release a second wave of games in the next few years. Then, nearer to the next PS & Xbox's release date, they will release a console that can play the next handheld's games natively (without requiring the purchase of the handheld hardware). There will also be some PS Vita-style remote play feature that allows streaming to the handheld for console games.

And if they can't sell THAT hardware then they'll have to start publishing on other platforms. Nintendo gotta eat.

@Octane
so from the previous thread, glad you pointed out that im off on my dates but the fact remains, they like to build up hype. They being Nintendo.. and when they just have games at E3, those E3's have a trend of being flat. But when they do some reveal of a new upgrade to a system, there's more buzz. Right now the Wii U is not doing so well. I would think they might play a new hardware card at this point... Every E3, to just get people excited to buy a Wii U. I mean my local Target is full of Wii U's, they are not moving much at all. Now the NEW 3DS is moving quite well and all they did was add the word NEW, to get people excited about upgrading or trading in or joining in for the first time on the 3DS band wagon. I can see them also needing to match the "NEW" branding between the 2 systems.

Also, someone mentioned that they should use a name like "The NEW Nintendo Entertainment System" instead of my proposed "The NEW Wii U" because of how much the wii u name isnt accepted well. But I am not proposing a new system that can't play Wii U games. It would still have to be the same Wii U but just a bit better, and mostly backwards compatible.. With exception to 1 or 2 games that might come out exclusively to that console. LIke Xenoblade for new 3ds.

Also, by unifying the 2 systems with "The NEW" branding, you can phase out the 2 older variants over a year or two and have only THE NEW systems sitting on the shelves. Then people will know that these 2 systems are in the same generations of gaming. doesnt matter what you do to the ending of the console. if it starts with The NEW, then you can put anything after that and both portable and home consoles are of the same generation.

And i'd like to correct myself.. I think i do have a hole in my thinking.. so we have

The NEW Nintendo 3DS XL
which means the wii u paired following this branding convention would actually be
The NEW Nintendo Wii U (instead of The NEW Wii U)

I also believe that by unifying the 2 systems at this current generation, they could be mentally preparing us for the next gen console/portable device. They both have the same branding. Thats all i suppose i have to say about this.. sorry for yapping but im pretty passionate about my predictions/speculations.. and thats all they are.. just trying to have fun, make people think about the possibilities.. which actually mess me up cause im delaying a purchase of the wii u because of this topic.

I just had one more crazy thought.. What if The NEW Nintnedo 3DS games could play through the NEW Nintendo Wii U so that you could use your TV as the main screen and enjoy games like Kid Icarus Uprising on the big screen? some games i agree would not work so well like games that require you to look down at the touch screen but those games that you mostly are looking at the 3D screen .. what if the new hardware allows for viewing larger? so the pros of allowing for 3DS replacement of GamePad is that you could use 3DS as a controller, and also play 3DS games up on your HDTV. CONS would be that you can not see the 3D obviously unless maybe you have a 3D TV.. which would be sort of cool.. also, you would not be able to do offscreen play. because it was not deigned to do so. So you loose some functions but also gain some as well.

And imagine party games where people who visit you bring their New 3DS to your house and the possibilities of gaming where you can secretly do things on your screen for games like Mario Party or Football choosing plays.. etc..

@mushroomer Where to start...

E3 presentations without new hardware are flat? I think you might've missed last year's E3. A New Wii U isn't going to help. The New 3DS did okay (do we even have actual sales data on this?), because the original 3DS did very well. Nobody's going to buy a New Wii U for the same reason as they're not buying the current Wii U. Splitting the current Wii U userbase with ''New Wii U'' exclusives isn't going to help either.

Hardware doesn't sell hardware, the software does. If anything, they should keep releasing games and support the system, I think we all know that Wii U isn't going to sell 50 million units.

Nobody wants their 3DS games blown up full screen on a TV, and nobody wants to use their 3DS as a controller. It's fine as a handheld system, but it doesn't work as a home console controller. It doesn't even have all the functions a regular Wii U GamePad / Pro Controller has.

I find it incredibly ironic that when I read the title of the other thread, I thought it might be better to have predictions in the title...looks like someone was thinking ahead.

This idea is right up there with WiiUSeeker wanting King Boo in Smash. Just saying.

I could see a slimmer model of the Wii U getting announced at E3 with the basic model being 16GB instead of 8GB, but it wouldn't have any exclusive features that the Wii U we have now doesn't have.

Here's what I would like to see.....

Wii U successor:

• 2018 (frankly, I personally don't feel the need to upgrade this thing for quite a while)
• First talked about at next years E3 at the earliest, more likely 2017
• Two SKUs, one with "they still don't get it" 128GB and the other with 512GB of flash storage. USB HDD expansion.
• Just slightly above the power of the PS4, enough to reliably do 1080p 60fps. Same low power, small footprint design
• get people all snooty because it's ignoring 4K in the same way that the Wii ignored HD (we won't be ready for 4K)
• Be ready at launch with Mario, Zelda or Metroid. Preferably Metroid to show what Nintendo can do with that hardware
• Stick with the GamePad idea but bump up the resolution (wireless AC!). People hate on that thing but who cares

3DS successor:

• 2016 (people who think even the New 3DS can still be interesting past then are kidding themselves)
• 3DS is losing momentum anyways, I reckon they'd say something at this year's E3
• Just under the amount of power of the 360/PS3
• 720p display and dual circlepads because that level of power demands it
• Really push the wireless connectivity. Dual band N at least
• With that extra horsepower... full VC support upto the N64 including cross-buy
• launch with a fairly faithful port of a Wii U title that'd suit it. DKC:TF for example

another a price cut would be nice. considering the XBone is just a mere 50 bucks more expensive w/o Kinect. Manufacturing costs should have dropped a bit more by now not that I'm expecting it to happen but competition is there. People love value. I don't expect a new revision of the Wii U or a successor to show up anytime soon.

It's no need for a new Wii U.
The system has about the same capabilities as PS3/360 which is good enough (for me at least). What I like about the Wii U is the new way I can enjoy games (TWW was amazing!).

Wii U still has ways to go before retirement.
When Nintendo decides to make a new console I hope it's not a new Wii U, but a whole new console which is independent from last generation.

In regards 3DS as gamepad, I don't see it happening.
What Nintendo needs to do is making all VC games available regardless of which platform you own (Wii, Wii U or 3DS).

Late to the party here and don't have time to read through it all, but here's my two cents: I think the biggest problem with a New Wii U concept is that owners of the old Wii U couldn't be expected to get a New one just because it exists. Home consoles are a much bigger investment than handhelds, meaning that Nintendo's audience won't be too happy, if they see that their new Wii U is now obsolete. Nintendo really is best served just trying to ride this generation out with minimal losses while they take their best efforts to making sure the console launching in two or three years will really be able to compete. Not just with the PS4 and XO, but with their eventual successors, which Nintendo should expect to see within two years (possibly one) of their new console. The LAST thing Nintendo wants is a Dreamcast situation where the system has only a couple of years to sell before Sony drops something that just completely outclasses everyone. (Unlike SEGA, Nintendo's in no condition to die off from something like that, but Nintendo doesn't need that situation to occur.)

What Nintendo needs to focus on is continuing this trend of quality title after quality title. They need to support their Wii U fanbase for at least a couple more years before making a big deal about the next generation of gaming.

IMO, if they rebrand the Wii U, the best bet is to rebrand it as a successor system to the Wii. Cut the Gamepad and replace it with a Wiimote/Nunchuk. Boom, the Wii U has regained a substantial portion of the Wii's casual and kid audience

Not likely. For one, that'd make it an entirely different system, it would remove compatibility with nearly all pre-existing Wii U games, and on top of that, they'd be banking on a very unstable and hard-to-capture audience with a model that really doesn't suit said audience. This is the last thing they'd wanna do.

It's way to late for that. One of the biggest sales for the Wii U is the backwards compatibility, there are tons of games from last generation that still are playable for the Wii U, since everyone already most likely own a Wii.
The Nintendo Wii was a revolution in gaming consoles and to be honest, Wii U did not have the same impact. The biggest reason for the poor sales is the non existing marketing and the consumers (which is not the core fanbase) saw it just as a upgrade for Wii that they didn't need.