The article recognizes that it isn't an issue now and users can get a hardrive if it becomes an issue in the future. Not mentioned in the article is that cost of storage and tech like ssd are reduced and become even more reliable over time. My synthesis would be that increasing storage at a later date and when needed is the best and most cost effective strategy.
@rjejr The price of the starter pack is proably pretty close break even on distribution and manufacturing for Disney. The distribution chain takes a huge portion, then the added overhead for producing hardware and figures and more on global shipment. And I doubt the extraordinary store-exposure both online and in shops is free (altough I don't know the market segment well enough to gauge financial impact).
Good stuff, it highlights the two most factors. Backward compatability wasn't mentioned, but then again nintendo could have made it easier to use the massive wii library of games.
@mii-gamer: So since the sales were poor in previous months, we could interpret the figures as retailers selling out their inventory and restocking with 160 000 units ?
I think it's great that they're not considering shoveling XBox 360 onto the WII U, the hardware is unique with the gamepad and they should be making games when it's appropriate to allocate enough game developers to make awesome games tuned to the platform.
XBox One and PS4 appear to be identical platforms in terms of controls, and even hardware capabilities. PC games has shown that the range of scaling can be pretty wide, but when the controls are different the game needs to be designed for the platform (Just like Civilization V cannot be exactly the same on PC and XBox).
Source: http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=197249
"Vidyo is the company involved with Nintendo for Wii U Chat. While that experience exists in and of itself right now, it seems like there might be multiple expansions in the future. The followingg info comes from a Vidyo PDF.
Focus on social networking around gaming
Now: video chat in Miiverse
Next: video-powered game experiences
Extending to mobile devices soon
Now: between Wii U consoles
Next: between Wii U and mobile devices
In-game video along with Wii U video chat connecting to other devices? Both sounds like great ways to expand the service. I'm more about games, but I'll take services as well! Thanks to all that sent this in."
Nintendo and Google is allready working toghether with street view, so why not integrate Wii U and google hangouts and video chat
I wouldn't read too much into these numbers. The game lineup is fine, the timing isn't optimal.
1. Some of the PS3, Wii and Xbox are just replacement purchases and other sales due to the installed based. The installed base is huge on these systems !
Example from twitter:
"Ashton Brooke-Thorne @AshtonBrookeT 23h
Pissed off Matts bought himself a new PS3! Gunna have to break this one aswell now! ...P.S Don't tell him I broke his last one!"
2. Some people might want to check out what MS and Sony is releasing first.
3. With summer approaching, it's more likely the nintendo-fans are buying portable systems like the 3DS's. Consoles is an indoor activity.
4. Birthdays aren't evenly distributed. More people have their birthdays in the fall.
EAs Need for Speed most wanted is really great, and I'll probably be getting Mass Effect 3 in a few months.
It's understandable that they don't develop games if the volume isn't there yet, they're welcome back at some point. I've never liked the EA Sports franchises, but it would have been nice to se ME4 being ported over.
The DS games sales cycle seems a bit stretched out in time compared to for example PC games. Need to accumulate over a 1 year period to fully compare sales figures i think.
I'm sort of looking forward to nfs, but I got very quickly bored with NFS Carbon on the WII because the motivation to win was somewhat lacking. I'll have to read up on some reviews first ... I might play RidgeRacer on the 3DS some more instad, which is a great speed experience (Although it should have had online multiplayer like MK 7)
@Kyoto Last I read wsa that shinen said on twitter that the US release has been approved and the EU relase in under approval but the release date has not been confirmed yet. Hopefully Nintendo has a slot for it next week or so
It's really anoying that the European release only has Japanese voice acting, while you can choose in the US release. Region locking sucks big time !
I've learned that the Publisher for europe Rising Star Games is owned by Bergsala, which also distributes Nintendo in scandinavia which is also the reason why there's no Nintendo Club in Scandinavia.
The problem isn't the speed but the fact that the UI is a simple press of a button, if they'd provide a hand crank instead to start a new application it would be more natural to spend a few seconds
This one has a nice balance of being on rails and being able to fly around. I also liked the fact that the easiest route allows for some casual gameplay and go for a better score and medals. And when you're done there is alternate routes which demands some skill to explore.
A weakness with this game is the characters and storyline.
1. You can use the game on multiple 3DS's. 2. You get a box with box-art and manual. 3. If you loose your DS you still have most of the the games in your collection. 4. Storage memory for the game is included on the cartridge. 5. You support your local game store. 6. Games on physical media will grow extinct, so we're in the last few years where we can obtain new games in this form.
Download benefits: 1. You can have multiple retail-games available without bringing along extra cartridges. 2. Higher profit margin for developers and nintento, pushing more money twoards the people who make the games and the platform.
The 3DS XL is a wonderfull handheld, and for me a worthwhile upgrade to play . Marvel Pinball 3D, but i totally understand those who stick with their original 3DS because all games will work fine on both. For new buyers I think the 3DS XL is a must.
My initial tought was that this would be even less fun than the Machine language assembler cartridge on the Philips Videopac G7000 console, but then again it might be very cool if there was a sensible way to type in programs. Anyone know if a bluetooth keyboard would work on dsiware titles, or is that just 3DS ?
This 3DS XL thing is a hard choice since system transfer doesn't allow for splitting up the eShop games. The original 3DS is a lot more portable, but then again the larger screen would be nice for home use and some trips. decisions, decisions.
IMHO I think the score is a bit high, I think the touch controls should have be punished harder, in fact with some play-testing and tuning of a few hit-margins they could have made the game much more playable. If this had been an iPad game it probably is the right score due to eye-candy, but as a nintendo 3DS game, playability needs to carry more weight .
Comments 276
Re: Talking Point: The Wii U's Limited Hard Drive Space and Future Install Headaches
The article recognizes that it isn't an issue now and users can get a hardrive if it becomes an issue in the future. Not mentioned in the article is that cost of storage and tech like ssd are reduced and become even more reliable over time. My synthesis would be that increasing storage at a later date and when needed is the best and most cost effective strategy.
Re: EnjoyUp Games Bringing Shmup, Codenamed Project Aguraki, to the Wii U eShop
i'd love more shooters, but this doesn't look too hot right now.
Re: Six Ubisoft Games Get a 30% Discount on the 3DS eShop
Ghost recon is great
Re: Disney Infinity Has Reportedly Cost "Well Over $100 million" to Produce
@rjejr The price of the starter pack is proably pretty close break even on distribution and manufacturing for Disney. The distribution chain takes a huge portion, then the added overhead for producing hardware and figures and more on global shipment. And I doubt the extraordinary store-exposure both online and in shops is free (altough I don't know the market segment well enough to gauge financial impact).
Re: Feature: Some Early Miiverse Favourites From Art Academy: SketchPad
Cool community as well My 6 year old drew a car (not very good looking even for his age) and got several yeahs anyway, he was thrilled.
Re: Satoru Iwata Cites Poor Basic Wii U Sales To Rule Out Price Cut Benefits
The Wii U is excellent value as is. AIn terms of hours of entertainment, it's almost free.
Re: Video: UK Comic Rufus Hound Explains The Wii U Difference
Good stuff, it highlights the two most factors. Backward compatability wasn't mentioned, but then again nintendo could have made it easier to use the massive wii library of games.
Re: Talking Point: Wii U and Third-Party Inconsistencies Pose Questions for Console Owners
The wii u was a natural replacement for my broken wii. I'm really happy with the additional games and features so far.
Re: Nintendo's First Quarter Financial Results Boosted By 3DS Performance
@mii-gamer: So since the sales were poor in previous months, we could interpret the figures as retailers selling out their inventory and restocking with 160 000 units ?
Re: Video: Codemasters Co-Founder David Darling Talks Game Genie, Micro Machines And More
The Last V8 was epic, and BMX simulator was awesome as well.
Re: Review: Farming Simulator 3D (3DS eShop)
I almost got this after playing the demo ... spent a couple of hours driving around and farming.
Re: EA Outlines Its Reasons for Lack of Wii U Support
I think it's great that they're not considering shoveling XBox 360 onto the WII U, the hardware is unique with the gamepad and they should be making games when it's appropriate to allocate enough game developers to make awesome games tuned to the platform.
XBox One and PS4 appear to be identical platforms in terms of controls, and even hardware capabilities. PC games has shown that the range of scaling can be pretty wide, but when the controls are different the game needs to be designed for the platform (Just like Civilization V cannot be exactly the same on PC and XBox).
Re: Poll: Wii U Hardware Revisions and Accessories, There's No Escape
iRobot remote
Re: Shin'en Multimedia Defends The Wii U Hardware
I'm using my wii u 140 hours a month, and the tablet controller is a huge reason for that.
Re: Need For Speed Rivals Not Screeching Onto Wii U
Get over it nfs undercover is still the game to play on wii u.
Re: E3 Nintendo Direct Date and Time Confirmed
I'm hoping to see some announcements
Source: http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=197249
"Vidyo is the company involved with Nintendo for Wii U Chat. While that experience exists in and of itself right now, it seems like there might be multiple expansions in the future. The followingg info comes from a Vidyo PDF.
Focus on social networking around gaming
Now: video chat in Miiverse
Next: video-powered game experiences
Chat today, conferencing soon
Now: point-to-point
Next: multi-party conferencing
Extending to mobile devices soon
Now: between Wii U consoles
Next: between Wii U and mobile devices
In-game video along with Wii U video chat connecting to other devices? Both sounds like great ways to expand the service. I'm more about games, but I'll take services as well! Thanks to all that sent this in."
Nintendo and Google is allready working toghether with street view, so why not integrate Wii U and google hangouts and video chat
Re: Talking Point: The Wii U's Next-Gen Challenge Starts to Take Shape
@ramstrong the wii u has better video conferencing capabilities than skype, but you can't sip-dial anywhere.
Re: Review: The Starship Damrey (3DS eShop)
From the looks of it I'm going to really enjoy this game
(It made me think of Suspended from infocom)
Re: Rumour: Wii U Sold Less Than 40,000 Units In North America In April
I wouldn't read too much into these numbers. The game lineup is fine, the timing isn't optimal.
1. Some of the PS3, Wii and Xbox are just replacement purchases and other sales due to the installed based. The installed base is huge on these systems !
Example from twitter:
"Ashton Brooke-Thorne @AshtonBrookeT 23h
Pissed off Matts bought himself a new PS3! Gunna have to break this one aswell now! ...P.S Don't tell him I broke his last one!"
2. Some people might want to check out what MS and Sony is releasing first.
3. With summer approaching, it's more likely the nintendo-fans are buying portable systems like the 3DS's. Consoles is an indoor activity.
4. Birthdays aren't evenly distributed. More people have their birthdays in the fall.
Re: FIFA 14 is Skipping Wii U Because of "Disappointing" FIFA 13 Sales
EAs Need for Speed most wanted is really great, and I'll probably be getting Mass Effect 3 in a few months.
It's understandable that they don't develop games if the volume isn't there yet, they're welcome back at some point. I've never liked the EA Sports franchises, but it would have been nice to se ME4 being ported over.
Re: Review: Pac-Man (Wii U eShop / NES)
The controls are not perfect for this game. It really needs a real stick.
Re: Review: Pac-Man (Wii U eShop / NES)
The game is simple, very hard and well documented:
http://gameinternals.com/post/2072558330/understanding-pac-man-ghost-behavior
Re: Kokuga Looks Set To Be Released In PAL Regions
I'm getting this when it surfaces Would have been nice with a wii u port as well.
Re: Criterion Has No Immediate Plans For More Need For Speed
No problem, NFS Most Wanted is excellent and with more than enough challenges.
Looking forward to a new racer on the "Nintendo Wii 2 U" in 6 years
Re: Luigi's Mansion 2 Refuses to Get Scared Out of the UK Top 10
A few games from 2008:
Mario Kart Wii: 33 million
Fable II: (XBox 360), 4 million
Fallout 3 (XBox 360+PC+PS3): 8 million
Re: Luigi's Mansion 2 Refuses to Get Scared Out of the UK Top 10
The DS games sales cycle seems a bit stretched out in time compared to for example PC games. Need to accumulate over a 1 year period to fully compare sales figures i think.
Re: Darksiders II to Disappear From The Wii U eShop After 31st March
I got it last week. Excellent game so far.
Re: Video: Wii U Menu Speed Upgrade Cuts Waiting Time By More Than Half
Cool, i hope there is some improvements jumping into miiverse and back into the game as well
Re: Talking Point: The Download or Disc Dilemma
Having all games easily available is great, but i'm running out of space too quickly. Looking for a good compatible ssd which doesn't need powersupply
Re: Gearbox: Future of Aliens: Colonial Marines in SEGA's Hands
I'd like a copy. Apparently it's packed with fan-service.
Re: Nintendo Download: 21st March 2013 (Europe)
I'm sort of looking forward to nfs, but I got very quickly bored with NFS Carbon on the WII because the motivation to win was somewhat lacking. I'll have to read up on some reviews first ... I might play RidgeRacer on the 3DS some more instad, which is a great speed experience (Although it should have had online multiplayer like MK 7)
Re: Nintendo Download: 7th March 2013 (Europe)
I'm getting nano assault ex i Wonder what the orher surprise shinen twitted about is?
Re: Nintendo Download: 28th February 2013 (Europe)
@Kyoto Last I read wsa that shinen said on twitter that the US release has been approved and the EU relase in under approval but the release date has not been confirmed yet. Hopefully Nintendo has a slot for it next week or so
Re: Nintendo Download: 7th February 2013 (Europe)
I won't buy a thing until after Nano Assault EX
Re: Review: Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (3DS)
It's really anoying that the European release only has Japanese voice acting, while you can choose in the US release. Region locking sucks big time !
I've learned that the Publisher for europe Rising Star Games is owned by Bergsala, which also distributes Nintendo in scandinavia which is also the reason why there's no Nintendo Club in Scandinavia.
Re: Nintendo Is Sorry For Wii U Load Times, Is Working On A Fix
The problem isn't the speed but the fact that the UI is a simple press of a button, if they'd provide a hand crank instead to start a new application it would be more natural to spend a few seconds
Re: Nano Assault EX Blasting Onto The 3DS eShop Soon
Looking forward to this, it was on my wishlist but was never released in europe.
Re: Meet Kokuga, The 3DS Shooter From The Man Behind Ikaruga
Looks like a very strategic shooter.
Re: Star Fox 64 3D
Excellent presentation and rewardning gameplay.
This one has a nice balance of being on rails and being able to fly around. I also liked the fact that the easiest route allows for some casual gameplay and go for a better score and medals. And when you're done there is alternate routes which demands some skill to explore.
A weakness with this game is the characters and storyline.
Re: Need For Speed Is Most Wanted On Wii U, But Is It Coming?
Ridge Racer would be a lot more fun.
Re: New Super Mario Bros. 2 Will Cost £39.99 to Download
This sounds like a truly rotten deal.
Cartridge benefits
1. You can use the game on multiple 3DS's.
2. You get a box with box-art and manual.
3. If you loose your DS you still have most of the the games in your collection.
4. Storage memory for the game is included on the cartridge.
5. You support your local game store.
6. Games on physical media will grow extinct, so we're in the last few years where we can obtain new games in this form.
Download benefits:
1. You can have multiple retail-games available without bringing along extra cartridges.
2. Higher profit margin for developers and nintento, pushing more money twoards the people who make the games and the platform.
Re: Nano Assault EX Blasting Onto 3DS eShop
Excellent news. Please push it in a slot next week Nintendo !
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Think of 3DS XL?
The 3DS XL is a wonderfull handheld, and for me a worthwhile upgrade to play . Marvel Pinball 3D, but i totally understand those who stick with their original 3DS because all games will work fine on both. For new buyers I think the 3DS XL is a must.
Re: Petit Computer Lets You Make Games on Your DSi and 3DS
My initial tought was that this would be even less fun than the Machine language assembler cartridge on the Philips Videopac G7000 console, but then again it might be very cool if there was a sensible way to type in programs. Anyone know if a bluetooth keyboard would work on dsiware titles, or is that just 3DS ?
Re: Marvel Pinball 3D
Looks cool. I might need to wait for 3DS XL for this one.
@dark-insanity The Ancient Beckons on dsiware is a pretty awesome table too.
Re: Major Retailers List 3DS XL at £179.99
This 3DS XL thing is a hard choice since system transfer doesn't allow for splitting up the eShop games. The original 3DS is a lot more portable, but then again the larger screen would be nice for home use and some trips. decisions, decisions.
Re: Bigger Nintendo 3DS Console Revealed
This will make zen pinball play better on the 3DS
Re: Rumour: Wii U Priced at €399.99 by Amazon Germany
My guess would be a lauch price of $349.
The rationale is the wii 249 lauch-price in 2006 + inflation + percieved added value of the controller + affinity for prices ending in 49, 79 and 99,
Re: Review: 3D Solitaire (3DS eShop)
IMHO I think the score is a bit high, I think the touch controls should have be punished harder, in fact with some play-testing and tuning of a few hit-margins they could have made the game much more playable. If this had been an iPad game it probably is the right score due to eye-candy, but as a nintendo 3DS game, playability needs to carry more weight .
Re: 3D Solitaire
This game is ruined by poorly tuned controls esp. for touch screen controls, there are much better implementations available on dsiware.
I liked the idea of scoring and some juiced up graphics, so if they released a fix my opinion might change