There's another Wii on the Way...

Nobody said shit about the price so ninty keep it like that, neither did anyone said something against the virtual console prices, so ninty just keep going, and recently they announced that DVD playback will be in a standalone unit only, and again nobody said shit.......

Now, the aftermath: ninty announced plans for a 3rd Wii with HD capabilities, becos, you know, SD games look like crap...

"Tough choices about not including a DVD player at the start, tough choices about not including high-definition capability at the start. That's because we wanted a mass-market price, and we believe the market will validate those decisions come launch day on this Sunday," Fils-Aime

Indeed reggie, becos you know, a $150 profit (with an actual production cost of around $100) on every unit sold doesnt hurts the market price at all, right? but dont even think about $5 more for DVD playback or $30 for an upgraded GPU with HD capabilities...

The key phrase here is "at the start." Wiis currently cannot play DVD movies, but Nintendo has already confirmed that a new model will be able to in the latter half of 2007 (in Japan at least). If we apply this logic to the "high-definition capability" statement, it seems that this might only be a temporary setback as well.

And, since two wrongs dont make a right, game informer went and said:

This could be good news for Wii gamers looking for a sharper image on their HD sets. We'll keep you posted on any official announcements.

Just keep kissing nintendo's ass and you'll see whats going to happen....

 

a scaler is what he probably means, which i wouldnt mind. Scalers cost alot, so something like that would only come in force in 3-4 years from now.

 

We're talking about nintendo, so if its expensive for them they'll go for the cheaper option for them, not for you: a new Wii version.

If they did it with the DVD they'll do it for the HD, thats for sure...

 

in that sense, it would be the console that comes after wii, not the current hardware.

 

Well Wii2 better not be the same old crap against high end technology. I agree to a point that you don't need super high end technology that has a hefty price tag, but you also can't have a damn card board box vs. titanium.

But first they have to get through this generation.

 

You're dreaming. The next machine will be HD but they won't realise that with the current generation of the Wii system - what would be the point? You can't split a machine into 2 so dramatically, developers can't create games that will work well on two iterations like that.

Perhaps he is refering to the possiblity that the hardware can do some form of HD in the future, just like the PS2 does pseudo 1080i.

 

First is obvious the next system HAS to be HD, since 5 years from now everything will be HD.

And if they are going to make a HD Wii is becos they want to charge you more for the same crap. They can make "HD ready games" just like the colored GB games for the superGB.

"They cant" you say, but correct me if I'm wrong but arent they selling us an obsolete hardware as nextgen already? and the fact they are charging more than they did for the original? and what about the outrageous prices of virtual console?

They do it before and they will do it again....

 

in various interviews, nintendo representatives and employees (including Miyamoto) have shown a willingness to include HD in the next console.

I trust that after the Wii, the RnD and production cost of the controller will have gone significantly down, allowing for costs to be made in order to boost hardware performance.

 

Christ, do I've to repeat myself?

How could nintendo launch yet another SD system after the Wii? is almost unbearable for most people right now, just imagine how would it be 4-5 years from now...

And about costs, ninty did a killing with the GBA, yet the DS is barely a real succesor, more like an upgrade from it, so where's the boost hardware performance in there?

It was mere months ago when most people was still talking about a $170 MSRP for the Wii when ninty had already hinted it would be $250 yet most people had this "no way!" response like not even ninty would dare to do that, yet they did...

And they did it again with the VC and the DVD, so why wouldnt they do the same with an HD version?

 

To answer your question, I would say that there are limits in marketing policy. Uniformity of console and accessories is one of the keys of each console's success as a console (unlike the PC platform). Nintendo doesn't effect the "gamer" really by having a DVD playback Wii, since games will be played as they always have, DVD playback or not.

The closest thing to HD that they *could* include in a future revision, would be a scaler, i.e a chip that post-rendering, scales the image to any resolution. The same way the 360 is able 1080p games, when the games were designed with 720p in mind.

250 is not the real price of the wii. 211 dollars is more reflecting of the final package. That said, 60 dollars alone go to the controller, which is included, and I think about a 10 price for the sensor bar.

If we assume (and i m pulling these numbers out of my ass really) that the console costs them 100 dollars to make, including memory, dvd drive etc, add another 20 dollars for the 512Flash memory.

that sums-up about 190 dollars. And as nintendo has done with every console, they d never sell it at loss.

6 months down the road, a 50dollar discount should be on the way, the same way the GameCube went from 200 to 150.

 

Yup, that's why I'm waiting on the Wii. It's interesting, but I'm not getting sucked into paying that much for it.

 

WTF has this got to do with Nintendo releasing a HD version of the Wii? Are you saying that the next console will be a HD upgrade for the Wii, or that mid-way through the Wii's lifecycle we will see Nintendo release and upgraded "Wii2" system?

You seem to be obsessed with the idea that Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft will release upgraded versions of machines. First, you insisted that the PSP would be reinvented with a HDD inside any time soon - so far that hasn't happened and there is no sign it will either. What is your next prediction?

When have they done it before?

Every machine until the Wii has been a considerable upgrade (except the colour Gameboy) and Nintendo have taken a side step this generation because releasing another HD console would be suicide - the R&D for the XBox360 and the PS3 has been astronomical and Nintendo probably wouldn't sell enough to recover those costs. It would be crazy to compete with them directly. Gaming has taken a step beyond and is firmly into corporate big bucks territory. Sure, it would be nice to see something a little more advanced graphically from the Wii - shaders for instance could have made quite a difference to the look of SD games without much more processing power needed. That's where Nintendo have made themselves look bad IMO.

My beef with Nintendo is that despite the innovative input, I can't see them making full use of it with experimental new software, they'll most likely wrap it as a gimmick with the same old games. So far the DS has been a disappointment for me, and the momentum seems to be slowing on interesting new releases. Time will tell what will happen for the Wii.

Do you own a DS? The DS is not a long way off from the N64 - it's probably quite close to the PS. It is quite an upgrade from the GBA, especially with all its 3D capabilities. The problem is that developers don't have the ideas to make full use of the capabilities of the machine, something I think will continue with the Wii.

If you're going to rant on about things, at least be accurate.

Edit: The Wii controller won't cost Nintendo $60 to make. Nintendo are probably making about $75-100 profit per machine, not the $150 most websites are speculating

 

I'm with you on that. I've said before, it's not that Nintendo didn't go all out on a multi core 3ghz+ cpu and high end graphics core, it's that it seems like they barely even tried.

Also you're right about the DS. It is quite a step up from the GBA. Definitely don't make the mistake of the GBA and DS being nearly the same cause they are not at all that close. They share a cpu, and they have similar 2D graphics hardware. But the DS has much more.

 

I m with you on the shaders argument. Lame move from nintendo's side.

 

YES! dammit, an upscaler wont make games look better, but they can slightly upgrade the design to support HD. And after that most games will be offered with HD compatibility.

What? there's quite a difference between what nintendo did, an upgraded GC hardware with HD, and going against the PS3 and X360.

These consoles arent just HD, and even if the Wii had a new GPU and a G5 instead of the lame-o G4 it would still be way behind the X360 and the PS3.

The Wii is a GC, period, and as mottzilla said, it seems they barely even tried...

So? the Ngage has PS-grade 3D too, hell even some mid-end phones today have 3D like that, like the nokia 6131. I think you didnt read subbie's thoughts on the DS...

On the other hand, the PSP is not a long way off........from the PS2!. Now I'm not saying the DS should be almost a GC (specially becos this goes against nintendo's dogma) but as you said is pretty disappointing they didnt beefed up the console a little more.

Anyway, I want to make something clear: my point is that all these rumors about a DVD Wii and an HD Wii will definitely end in standalone versions of the console, and not addons, firmware upgrades or any other stuff...

And barc0de is good you mention the limits in marketing policy, becos it seems nintendo doesnt have any. They are already selling repackaged GCs, 20 to 10 years old titles to sometimes more than what you can find the real copy for, and now they make these announcements and you believe they wont try to sell us yet another piece of obsolete hardware?

Companies only change their strategy when consumer polls are against them and profits may be in risk, therefore as long as nobody says anything against nintendo and they keep buying their stuff, why would they change the roadmap?

I know I wouldnt, and even if I wanted to, no one in the company would follow me since there's a lot of money to be made by selling worthless crap over and over again...

 

I suggest you re-read what I said (carefully, including all the words).

So - what you said is wrong. The DS isn't a minor update of the GBA. That is the point I was making. Like I said before, accuracy is important rather than just a ranting out a brain dump.

 

I never said the DS wasnt an upgrade, just that it wasnt a true succesor, even nintendo said that.

 

They were referring to style of gameplay, clearly not power. That comment was most likely to ensure that people wouldn't be afraid of the GBA Micro.

 

Nintendo has commented on how the DS isn't the GameBoy sucessor and that there will be another in the GameBoy line. Not sure of anything but it was quoted very early on.

 

Yes but that leaves things in a weird position. Will we then have to keep our DS's to play DS games? Or would this new gameboy support it? Or would this new gameboy support GB, GBC, GBA, and it new GameBoy-Subtitle software? I'd hate for the DS games to sort of get ditched, although to get Nintendo off their ass and give GB a serious upgrade to compete against the PSP's raw power advantage, I'd be for leaving teh DS behind.

Ofcourse they'd probably rather have a console, the DS, and the gameboy all as product lines active at the same time.