Gearbox Software's Aliens: Colonial Marines is in the works for Wii U, and president Randy Pitchford has urged Nintendo to make the machine as powerful as it can afford.
Speaking to Nintendo-Gamer, Pitchford said:
Our hope at Gearbox is that the final specification for the hardware is much more powerful than the current competitive consoles so that studios like ours can bring a better standard of high definition image not only to television, but to the controller’s screen at the same time.
Pitchford didn't talk exact specifications, but was insistent on the need for Nintendo to pack the machine with as much graphical horsepower as possible to put Xbox 360 and PS3 in the shade:
We’ve been intrigued by what we’ve seen so far and are encouraging Nintendo to go as aggressively as they can afford with the performance specifications. We imagine that performance specifications are within affordable reach that would provide undeniable performance advantages over competitive platforms. Nintendo have a lot more experience than we do in managing the balance between performance and cost with their hardware, of course, so I do not want to be presumptuous.
Aliens: Colonial Marines is still in the R&D phase, according to Pitchford, so it's not certain when we'll actually get to see Gearbox's shooter running on Wii U, but we certainly hope it'll be soon.
[source nintendo-gamer.net]
Comments 43
I don't have a HD console so i'd be fine with graphics as good as on PS360 systems.
If the WiiU is a very good package it does not have to be as cheap as the Wii though. It all depends on what great new things it brings to the table beyond its controller and graphics.
Ludicrous speed! GO!
I'd go with cheap.. perhaps around $500 at launch?
$400 worth of Power (that I'll be playing with) and a boxed in copy of Pikmin 3 would sell me. We don't want this thing to go the way of the early PS3.
I'm not paying more than 400$ at launch. And that's the max amount to me. 300-350 seems reasonable for a new system though.
I doubt Nintendo will do a super strong system. That's just not happening,
@clubmini Are you serious?
$350 to $400 is at my max for paying
The developers are correct in saying that; The Wii U is seriously underpowered.
I wouldn't mind paying up to $600 for a Beast of a console for Nintendo.
@SomeBitTripFan
You do realize all of nintendo's consoles have been either the most powerful or 2nd moat powerful. The wii is an expection to the rule.
@shingi_70 Except for the handheld consoles ofc.
jeez people got the money now-a-days
Three words. Japanese garden demo.
Seeing as Wii U could handle that and render completely separate real time interactive instances of it simultaneously in real time in PROTOTYPE form a year back, I really dont feel I have anything to worry about in the graphics/power department.
Unless you want to render a real time AI operated digestive, nervous, and endocrine system inside all the birds and fish or something.
Is that a View to a Kill reference in the tagline? Awesome!
@speedfreak90: The Wii U is underpowered? I didn't realize you knew everything about it
It will be $250, Nintendo won't make the mistake of launching a $500 console.
@19Robb92 Why not? NES was more powerful than Master system, SNES was more powerful than Genesis, N64 more powerful than PS1, Gamecube more powerful than PS2 but for some reason everyone assumes that Nintendo consoles are always less powerfull than competitors...
@speedfreak90 Agreed.Nintendo need to adamently do something about their upcoming console. They dont want to be left behind again. 600$ max seems about right.
Expect around 400$, 250 is way too low and 600 way too high. Remember the Xbox 360 still sells at 300-400$ (greed!) I wouldnt expect anything lower than that, but well, I'll pay up to 500$ happily, and Nintendo might surprise me.
@Haxonberik
The only 360 that sells for $400 comes with the Kinect packed in as well as two games. I don't see how that's greedy.
Nintendo's original goal for the Wii was $99 but due to expensive flash memory they had to raise the price. Flash memory is much cheaper now so $250 is reasonable for the Wii U I think. R&D costs are probably much cheaper for the Wii U also since it uses the same Wii remote technology, sensor bar, etc...
Based on Nintendo's history of trying to be affordable, I'm expecting a $350 price, give or take $50. It's unlikely they'll sell the system for more than $400, and almost unthinkable at over $500. Have you forgotten how long it took PS3 to get off the ground with those prices? Nintendo is all about getting their systems to as many people as possible in as short a time as possible. Also, the supposed lack of an included hard drive would bring the price down substantially. And don't forget Iwata (or some other high-up at Nintendo) said they learned from their pricing mistake on the 3DS and won't let it happen again.
As for the pack-in games, I doubt they'll be anything more substantial than Wii Sports. Having specific games like Pikmin 3 as a pack-in complicates buying the system. You might have to search for the version that came with the game you wanted, or might end up with a game you don't like. Neutral games like Wii sports that serve as a demo for the system while also being fun are ideal. That, or a new Mario, because, c'mon, who doesn't like Mario?
It's really cool to see developers intrigued by the Wii U. I'd imagine they have so many innovative ideas the system could perhaps put to good use.
But as things evolve everyone wants to test their limits, try something new, alot of it requires more power and people always want to see advancements in all fields.
I hope Nintendo can deliver expectations or beyond, as we'll get alot of great support from a wide range of developers.
Price should be between $300-400, nothing more than $400 and that's talking US Dollars. In Europe it will be the same amount but in Euros so they can't make it too expensive. I bet $350 will be the ideal number, I mean PS3 sells for $250 these days, too much over that the system will be hard to sell. Additionally, Nintendo MUST launch with a popular Nintendo game, if not it will only be launched with 3rd party games that are available on Xbox and PS3.
£199 up to £250 is the most i'll pay for the wii U.
even if this is going to be a port, i'd still love to see aliens: colonial marines on the system.
Nice Home Improvement reference! (grunts like Tim Allen)
id say 250-300 cause Nintendo said they would sell it at a loss
Nintendo is smart.
They are not including a built in HDD, Bluray or even DVD support. The r&d costs are relatively low for a new system due to the support of all Wii devices & accessories. Even the look of the new system is based off the original Wii.
This will all drive costs down, leaving room for higher costs with the controller & power.
I'm guessing the Wii U will cost between 3 & 400.
If they sold below 400, they will be selling at a loss, something Nintendo does not have a history of doing. That said, it may not mean anything though and they may still do it. If any gaming company has the software to move hardware at a loss, it's Nintendo. They will still profit especially since the best games on the systems are always Nintendo made anyway.
I will buy a Wii U if it sold for $400, but I actually suspect $300 or $350 because I think Nintendo would be scared to launch a system that high...they would lose a large portion of the casual market who isn't willing to pay that much for video games.
But I do think Nintendo needs to heed Gearbox's urges..for the Wii U to really be NEXT gen, they can't simply play catch up to what's been out for 6 years already. They need to leave 360 & PS3 in the dust.
im guessing a reasonable price would be around 850 dollars or so id be suprised if they went any lower
the Wii U will be more powerful than the 360 and the PS3 so far from what I've heard of the specs, not alot more than the PS3 but the PS3 is 720P dominantly, Wii U will be 1080P so, that's a huge difference on it's own.
@19Robb92 may I remind you of the Nintendo 64? At the time, that was a LUDICROUSLY powerful console. If it had CD bassed games, it would have been EASILY in the $300 range.
We all know that developers are power mad these days, but with the Wii U being out first, it'll soon be toppled by the power of the Xbox 720 and the PlayStation 3. But it's all down to the games, but I don't think the Wii U will sell as much as the Wii (currently around 95 million units). I'm convined Microsoft and Sony will copy the Wii U, add extras, not forgetting they'll be more powerful. I don't even think they'll be room for 3 consoles this time either.
@mariosmyhero In the UK, the 3DS launched at £230 without a game, so I'm guessing it'll be well over £300, £400 tops. Nintendo messed up with the 3DS pricing, but I bet they'll be hard faced and try their luck with a high price. I can also see next gen games being £60 to allow for discounting (game prices are front loaded), so you'll be looking at £50 games.
M0Ar P0Wr!!!!
i say anything under 449.99 is worth it on realease day and games under 59.99
I am not paying over $300 for a game console. Anything over that and I could upgrade my PC to play the latest games at higher resolutions.
Whats with all this "Nintendo will never put out a powerful console" bull I keep hearing. The old norm was that Nintendo always had the most powerful or one of the most powerful consoles in the console race. You youngins need to read up on your video game history. I really hope Nintendo puts some muscle into this thing and makes it a true next gen system because I believe like Gearbox that it will help them out tremendously with third party support. And recently it seems like Wii U is getting a nice influx of third party support (Project C.A.R.S., Activision support, etc.) so lets keep it going Nintendo and make this one hell of a beast!
Isn't it a bit worrying that developers still not know how strong the device will be? You would think that by now Nintendo would say: This is all the power you can use!
Will we still get the Wii u this year, with some awesome games?
The pricing is like the 3DS.
The 3DS was priced to high so not many people got it. But, after the price drop, those 3DS's went flying off the shelves.
Nintendo would have to see what would be a reasonable price for the public and themselves.
I have a hunch that if Nintendo priced the WiiU very high, let's say $400 and not many were selling, they might have to force themselves to do another price drop to about $350 to $325. However, a price drop can be tricky/risky at times since people might buy it before the price drop. It could make people reconsider buying it in the first place (as well as making them angry/upset). Keep in mind that Nintendo has built this device that is "supposedly" to produce 1080p high-definition graphics. (Not saying it won't. Just saying will have to see when it comes out). Anyways, Nintendo (just like any other video game company) expects a lot of profit. Overall, Nintendo has to price it just right.
P.S. please feel free to correct/point out any mistakes I made.
m$ isnt gonna worry about charging for a 720 beast,i think it needs a minium of 4GB ram wacked in.
@CerealKiller062
Good luck trying to play the WiiU version of Zelda, Mario, Metroid, Donkey Kong or Kirby on your upgraded PC.
@The_Fox Last I checked, it was $199 USD for an Xbox 4Gb:
http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-4GB-Console/dp/B003O6JKLC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330518426&sr=8-1
@Swiket (grunts like Tim Allen)
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