Nintendo to reveal new console at E3

[deanb]

I really DO hope it's significantly more powerful than the 360. I mean, we're talking about 6 year old hardware. I wouldn't find it impressive at all that in 2012 (or whenever it releases) Nintendo releases something even comparable to 2005 hardware. I'm not expecting bleeding edge, of course, but the current consoles are already showing their age.

 

From what I hear it's only a bit stronger than the 360. So it's going to play catch up for a couple years then be back in the Wii's position again. You really though the Nintendo of today would be the ones to lead the technological charge into 8th gen?

 

Whats silly is I'm mostly seeing sites excited at the news that it's going to be 5 years old in tech. Apparently none of them release that when Sony n MS upgrade their new consoles will be... well Moores Law x 5 or so. Well far in advance of what Nintendo are rumoured to be putting out. And the controller sounds like it'll once again make porting a fair bit of a nightmare unless it's got a Classic controller too.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

I really DO hope it's significantly more powerful than the 360. I mean, we're talking about 6 year old hardware. I wouldn't find it impressive at all that in 2012 (or whenever it releases) Nintendo releases something even comparable to 2005 hardware. I'm not expecting bleeding edge, of course, but the current consoles are already showing their age.

 

From what I hear it's only a bit stronger than the 360. So it's going to play catch up for a couple years then be back in the Wii's position again. You really though the Nintendo of today would be the ones to lead the technological charge into 8th gen?

 

Whats silly is I'm mostly seeing sites excited at the news that it's going to be 5 years old in tech. Apparently none of them release that when Sony n MS upgrade their new consoles will be... well Moores Law x 5 or so. Well far in advance of what Nintendo are rumoured to be putting out. And the controller sounds like it'll once again make porting a fair bit of a nightmare unless it's got a Classic controller too.

 

It seems that it totally depends on how serious Microsoft and Sony are about their 10+ year lifespan for their consoles. If they really do wait until 2015/2016 or later to release their next-gen home systems, we could be looking at a situation where Nintendo does have the most powerful console for 3 or more years. If this alleged new console from Nintendo forces its competitors' hands into releasing the Xbox 3 and PS4 early, then yeah, they could be in an awkward position once again. And who knows if the casual base can propel Nintendo to the top spot once again.

 

As for your point about the five-year old tech, it's frustrated me for a while now that multi-plats are targeted toward the 360 as the lowest common denominator. As a guy who games on the PC much of the time, it seems like we've stalled in graphical and level design progress for 3-4 years. Hopefully whatever consoles come next are significantly more powerful.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

Didn't they say the PS2 had a 10 year life cycle even though a large part of it overlapped with the PS3? So 10 years doesn't necessarily mean they'll wait 10 years to release a new console, just that they'll support their current one for 10 years.

[Mal]

It could actually be the case with the PS3 and the 360 though. Its the Wii that has been lacking in many many areas. With the two others, I can definitely see close to a ten year life span before a new console.

 

It could be worth a move on Nintendo part... they could release a better console and hope that Sony pulls a "$699! $699!" and Microsoft have a red and very dead console. (Yes, I'm that scared what problems the next generation might bring...)

[HotChops]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Here's my thoughts and predictions:

 

- images of the new hardware will be leaked prior to e3, but...

 

- Nintendo will have a strong e3 press conference nonetheless. However...

 

- I will continue to be very skeptical. I stood in line in the freezing cold for my Wii and since haven't invested a dime into it or played it. I also got very hyped for Kinect and that let me down. I don't care how spectacular their claims will be, I'm not buying shit until I see how the first year pans out, and I doubt I'm the only one who feels that way.

 

- Saying that the new system will be "more powerful than Xbox 360 or PS3" doesn't necessarily mean significantly better graphics. I think it's safe to say that the new system will utilize motion controls, and it's possible a great deal of the processing power will be devoted to it. Thus in the end, the graphics won't be that much better.

 

- "More powerful than 360?" "touch-screen controller?" That sounds like a lot of cutting edge technology along with what has to be a high price tag. This completely defies Nintendo's usual approach of affordable hardware with less emphasis on audio/visual prowess. Nintendo is a conservative company that has rarely changed it's business strategy over the last three decades. Something simply doesn't add up, and when something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is -- especially with Nintendo.

 

- The latest rumors point to the next Xbox and PS around 2013 or 14. Some people believe that will allow Nintendo's next console to reign for the next couple of years. Again, I remain skeptical.

 

Nintendo simply isn't an industry leader in the eyes of most developers. Sure, the Wii is a great console to make shovelware for and earn a quick buck, but do you really think Ken Levine, Todd Howard and Casey Hudson are going to make significant plans for Nintendo's new console?

 

And yes, Rockstar is apparently going to make something for the title. And just like with the release of the 3DS, you have all these developers who talk about how "innovative" and "exciting" Nintendo's new technology is. But do you believe all the best developers are going to switch gears to whatever Nintendo's doing? Or do you think they'll finish their next crop of current-gen titles and wait to see what the next Xbox and PS offer?

 

- Nintendo's next system will give any true gamer (myself included) a boner. But whatever Xbox and Playstation have to show in 2014 will look and sound far better. Putting out a new console may benefit Nintendo in the short term, but it could easily bite them in the ass in 2015 when the competition is superior. Plus, by releasing first, Nintendo is showing their hand for the next gen; leaving the competition to copy and emulate whatever features they have.

 

 

So yeah. I know most of that sounds pretty negative, but 25 years of gaming has made me into a prudent skeptic. The hype will be fun. A graphically-superior Zelda game would make me jizz. But I've been burned too many times to grab my wallet just yet.

[deanb]

- "More powerful than 360?" "touch-screen controller?" That sounds like a lot of cutting edge technology along with what has to be a high price tag. This completely defies Nintendo's usual approach of affordable hardware with less emphasis on audio/visual prowess. Nintendo is a conservative company that has rarely changed it's business strategy over the last three decades. Something simply doesn't add up, and when something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is -- especially with Nintendo.

 

I may be wrong in this but from my understanding the N64 n GC were more powerful than the other consoles of their gens.

Anyway a current base 360 is about £150. A Wii for £99. A 360-like consoles could cost abouwt £150-£200. The Wii launched at £180. So it could quite comfortably be in the same price range as a base 360. I'm sure for new tech folks wouldn't grumble if it cost even £250.

[RockyRan]

- "More powerful than 360?" "touch-screen controller?" That sounds like a lot of cutting edge technology along with what has to be a high price tag. This completely defies Nintendo's usual approach of affordable hardware with less emphasis on audio/visual prowess. Nintendo is a conservative company that has rarely changed it's business strategy over the last three decades. Something simply doesn't add up, and when something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is -- especially with Nintendo.

 

I may be wrong in this but from my understanding the N64 n GC were more powerful than the other consoles of their gens.

Anyway a current base 360 is about £150. A Wii for £99. A 360-like consoles could cost abouwt £150-£200. The Wii launched at £180. So it could quite comfortably be in the same price range as a base 360. I'm sure for new tech folks wouldn't grumble if it cost even £250.

 

Yeah, I was about to say. The NES, SNES, N64 and GameCube were all graphical powerhouses when they came out. It's actually the Wii and their handhelds that carry their affordable, more underpowered hardware mantra. I'd say having their next console be a graphical powerhouse is more of their traditional console approach than having more underpowered hardware.

 

As for your point about the five-year old tech, it's frustrated me for a while now that multi-plats are targeted toward the 360 as the lowest common denominator. As a guy who games on the PC much of the time, it seems like we've stalled in graphical and level design progress for 3-4 years. Hopefully whatever consoles come next are significantly more powerful.

 

Indeed. At this point I'd wager that the gaming industry in general has stagnated for that very reason the past 3-4 years. I really want the new generation of consoles to come out already. Not because I want new consoles, but because I want the gaming industry to collectively wake up and at least give the PC a better class of crappy console port. At this day and age, sloppy console ports to the PC platform hastily carried over from a console with hardware from 2005 is just no. If Nintendo's new console is significantly (not as in, "next gen", but not as little as "slightly", though) more powerful than the 360, I'm willing to bet that'd be enough of a kick in the pants for many devs to finally start working beyond 2005.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

GC wasn't as powerful as the Xbox but more powerful than the PS2 (which came out a year earlier anyways.)

[RockyRan]

GC wasn't as powerful as the Xbox but more powerful than the PS2 (which came out a year earlier anyways.)

 

True. "Graphical powerhouse" wasn't the best choice of words, as it implies they were the most powerful ones. I'd say at least they were competitive.

[Mal]

So, I saw some suppose leaked images of some info sheets of sorts of how the thing is like.

 

http://www.destructoid.com/huge-load-of-wii-successor-project-cafe-rumors-199298.phtml

 

I'm calling BS on this for now. I personally cannot call it a console if you don't even have to use your TV, if that is the case. Its an anchored handheld, with the "console" being the anchor.

[RockyRan]

So, I saw some suppose leaked images of some info sheets of sorts of how the thing is like.

 

http://www.destructoid.com/huge-load-of-wii-successor-project-cafe-rumors-199298.phtml

 

I'm calling BS on this for now. I personally cannot call it a console if you don't even have to use your TV, if that is the case. Its an anchored handheld, with the "console" being the anchor.

 

I was thinking it was going to be a whole different screen, complementary to the TV's output. Like a DS except the bottom screen is in your controller and the top is in the telly.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

So, I saw some suppose leaked images of some info sheets of sorts of how the thing is like.

 

http://www.destructoid.com/huge-load-of-wii-successor-project-cafe-rumors-199298.phtml

 

I'm calling BS on this for now. I personally cannot call it a console if you don't even have to use your TV, if that is the case. Its an anchored handheld, with the "console" being the anchor.

 

I assume game modes that wouldn't necessarily need to use the TV would be optional, and you'd be playing on the main TV with a complimentary items/map/menu screen on the controller.

[deanb]

Which both would be horrible.

Either you're tied to a kinda tidgy screen. Or you're expected to stare at your controller for part of the game. How many of you look at your controller?

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Which both would be horrible.

Either you're tied to a kinda tidgy screen. Or you're expected to stare at your controller for part of the game. How many of you look at your controller?

 

I dunno; it could go either way. I adjusted to the 2-screen DS, though obviously those screens are closer together. I don't see how there would be much difference between, say, pausing the game and selecting an item in an inventory menu on the big screen vs. glancing down to tap the one I want.

[Mr W Phallus]

How many of you look at your controller?

Somewhat of an irrelevant question since how many of us have a screen on our controllers?

 

Besides, you notice how everything else that the Dreamcast pioneered has been copied to great success? Shoulder triggers instead of buttons, online play, the trend suggests screens in controllers will hit off in a big way. I bet you Sega were in the process of designing motion controllers for the Dreamcast and just never got round to it before they went bust.

[RockyRan]

Which both would be horrible.

Either you're tied to a kinda tidgy screen. Or you're expected to stare at your controller for part of the game. How many of you look at your controller?

 

You're not "staring at a controller", but rather looking at a screen. Besides, the only reason why nobody looks at their controller is that there's nothing to look AT. Stick a screen in there and I'm sure people would look at it. It's not like looking down at a controller occasionally is going to give anyone eye herpes.

Edited April 22, 2011 by RockyRan

[deanb]

There's buttons. But part of the point of a controller is you don't look at it. The buttons are in such a way that once you've got the muscle memory you don't ever need to look at it thus enabling you to play the game without looking at it.

If you were having to look at your controller every now n then you'd hate the game. And as we know from touchscreen apps they're rarely uniform so you'd never develop muscle memory to use it, you'd have to look down all the time.

Something like the reverse touch panel on the NGP would work, but an actual touch screen built into the controller not so much.

[Mr W Phallus]

The touch screen I'm more sceptical about, but the screen I reckon could work. That's not to say it isn't somewhat unnecessary though, especially considering how much more expensive it will make the controllers. The only real benefit it would have is in a local split screen game where you wanted to give each player some information without showing the other players, like maybe a quiz game where you choose your answer from the controller screen so other people can't cheat. But that's an incredibly specific situation.

[Yantelope]

Didn't we try the whole screen in the controller thing with the Dreamcast VMU? Didn't we establish that there's not really a good use for it?

 

Edited April 22, 2011 by Yantelope

[deanb]

I'm wondering where the motion element will come in, cos they'd be mad to scrap the motion side of things now and move on to a "regular" controller. Folks are pretty cool with the whole moving about shit, stuff like Just Dance and it's ilk sells in the butt load. It's just it's pretty shit for regular titles.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

The touch screen I'm more sceptical about, but the screen I reckon could work. That's not to say it isn't somewhat unnecessary though, especially considering how much more expensive it will make the controllers. The only real benefit it would have is in a local split screen game where you wanted to give each player some information without showing the other players, like maybe a quiz game where you choose your answer from the controller screen so other people can't cheat. But that's an incredibly specific situation.

 

I would love an FPS where you couldn't see everybody's screen at once. Use the main TV for a scoreboard or map or replays or something.

[Mr W Phallus]

The touch screen I'm more sceptical about, but the screen I reckon could work. That's not to say it isn't somewhat unnecessary though, especially considering how much more expensive it will make the controllers. The only real benefit it would have is in a local split screen game where you wanted to give each player some information without showing the other players, like maybe a quiz game where you choose your answer from the controller screen so other people can't cheat. But that's an incredibly specific situation.

 

I would love an FPS where you couldn't see everybody's screen at once. Use the main TV for a scoreboard or map or replays or something.

It would be cool, although I doubt the screen would be big enough for it to be that feasible.

 

Gives me an idea though, using the 3D shutter type glasses they use in 3D TVs, you could alternate frames between each players view and the glasses block out the other player's screen instead of blocking out alternating perspectives in each eye. PATENT PENDING.

 

Speaking of which, has there been any mention of 3D for the Cafe/Stream/Urination or whatever they're calling it?

[deanb]

Gives me an idea though, using the 3D shutter type glasses they use in 3D TVs, you could alternate frames between each players view and the glasses block out the other player's screen instead of blocking out alternating perspectives in each eye. PATENT PENDING.

 

Speaking of which, has there been any mention of 3D for the Cafe/Stream/Urination or whatever they're calling it?

 

Sony already have it patent pending

 

As for 3-D I've heard it mentioned.

[CyberToyger]

I'd say everything on dat article ( http://www.destructoid.com/huge-load-of-wii-successor-project-cafe-rumors-199298.phtml ) seems plausible.

If the controller does in fact have a screen on it once this baby comes out, according to the blurry words on the pictures themselves: "The TV can then be turned off or left on to alternate camera views of the action", then I can see this selling like crazy as it would be great for people who live in small housing/apartments or who cannot afford an HDTV. Hell, you could plug the console into anywhere in the house/apartment/dorm/library/cafe (lolol) and turn any room into a game room since the screen(s) would be right there on the controller(s). I would also imagine it would take less electricity than a full-size tv + the console, so you've got a bit of green right there.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Speaking of which, has there been any mention of 3D for the Cafe/Stream/Urination or whatever they're calling it?

 

Stereoscopic 3D is rumored. Though this entire thing is a rumor anyway...