Rumor: Nintendo to Use Same Technology For Wii Successor

[MR EPIC]

Kotaku (http://kotaku.com/5069619/nintendo-sticking-with-infared-for-next-wii)

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2008/10/infared.jpg Not the most exciting rumour surrounding Nintendo's next home console, but then, you take what you're given. And today, we've been given word from DigiTimes that - according to sources - Nintendo's "next-generation Wii device" will use the same infared technology the current one uses. Meaning cheaper tech for the console, less expenditure on Nintendo's part, and a happy continuation of the "please point your controller at the screen" reminders.

[MikeWolfskin]

Right there just going to improve the Wii Remote and up small specs as Nintendo always does. Why is that so shucking when that's what they've done from day one?

[Tanooki]

Sounds basically like what I told you before. The new one they'll keep the same tech with the motion plus, perhaps improve it some more or add another depth to it, and then on the rest of it kick it well into the HD realm with a box at least as potent as the 360 to stay competitive.

[chipotleattack]

I hope they learned their lesson with the Gamecube. They can't lag behind so far that other consoles have the advantage in graphics and online play or they'll be third place again.

[MikeWolfskin]

I hope they learned their lesson with the Gamecube. They can't lag behind so far that other consoles have the advantage in graphics and online play or they'll be third place again.

There third place only in our eyes, but first in the realty of there company and console this generation.

[Brian-AMN]

^ Yeah, not having HD graphics and a solid online system aren't really hurting them too badly are they? The fact is the masses don't really care about the horserace called the console wars. They buy what they like and enjoy it for what it is. If anything, it's the other companies who could learn a lesson from Nintendo, though I kind of doubt they will so don't panic too much. Personally, I like that we have a platform out there that is different as opposed to 3 that are practically the same (like last generation).

[Smokey]

I don't care if they keep the Wiimote tech. I just hope the gap in graphics, if there is one, isn't as drastic as it was this generation.

[Tanooki]

No, they're third in your little world mike, don't be speaking for the majority of the readers here. Brian is right, fascist video gaming fans are very much in the minority these days now and get so uptight about lame console wars. Nintendo bowed out of that crap 2 years ago and made that patently clear to anyone who wanted to not have selective hearing. They as a result are first in overall sales, first in largest cut of the pie, and first in consumer confidence which is huge in itself because without that last one you're hosed to a niche.

[JValone]

From all indications Motion Plus gives the technology a gigantic boost all by itself. I mean, Nintendo could have sat on that for another three years then rolled it out with Wii 2 and no one would have been the wiser. They're just releasing the tech now, presumably so developers can get accustomed to it and avoid as many waggle hiccups as possible.

[Boylicious]

Risky move for Nintendo. Id put money on Microsoft and Sony releasing their next consoles with motion controls (possibly a pointer). And those two arent afraid of puting the extra money in to get some really good technology behind it. Nintendo might have a head start on the others in this cater to non gamers, the people who wont support the industry till the end, but if they want to play cheap ass in the next round theyre risking the other two coming out with a decent priced machine that does what they do, and ten times more.

[chipotleattack]

There third place only in our eyes, but first in the realty of there company and console this generation.

They're definitely first this generation but I meant to say that they can't sit back and relax because MS and Sony will undoubtedly try to capitalize on Nintendo's success. If they keep thinking that they're going to win the next gen with the same technology, they're mistaken. I bet they'll just add an integrated camera, microphone, and Wii MotionPlus, bump up the graphics a little and be happy with that.

[MR EPIC]

I think both Coral and Chipotle make a good point. Iwata also stated (http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/07/28/game-consoles-nextgen-tech-intel-cx_cm_0729consoles.html) that it was going to be difficult for Nintendo to innovate next generation more than it has with Wii. If that is the case and I'm guessing that the hardware won't make a dramatic jump due to both the economy in general and the gaming economy taking a hit, we just might be in for another casual focused generation with Nintendo's successor.

Assuming this scenario is true, the only advantage I can see Nintendo having over it's competitor's next time around is a head start on creative software built around the Wii Motion Plus. They can't just make a Wii Sports 3 and allow third parties to not make specific efforts that put the controller in the forefront rather than tacking motion controls on as an afterthought. I'd say that out of all of the software released for the Wii thus far, less than 5% actually makes sense for the system and more specifically the controller.

[MikeWolfskin]

^ Yeah, not having HD graphics and a solid online system aren't really hurting them too badly are they?

From a hardcore game prospective not having the possibility of HD graphics or a solid online system does hurt them, but from a cash prospective it doesn't matter what hardcore gamers think as they have found a way to not become the falling Sega of this generation by appealing to a new style of gamers. However your right a better HD graphics console might have helped them but it also might have failed them like Sega a few generations ago.

Clearly the hardcore gamers would be happy as the games would be more sold looking or graphically capable but the budget of Nintendo would most defiantly take a nose dive like Sega a few generation ago who fail quint far.

The same goes for Online as peolpe do play it and it's not as bad as every cry's but it's not perfect or close to other competitors so yes it does hurt them and then again no it doesn't matter because of who there new style of gamer is.

Don't take me wrong I love my Wii just not as much as other Nintendo consoles let alone other consoles this generation. Personally that fills odd to me loving some other console more then my Nintendo console fills like sinning.

Jeff you can easy look around the whole Internet to find that most gamers are not major happy with Nintendo’s game quality this generation over all. So no I was not begin a fanboy or even speaking for my self-alone. It's just fact that Nintendo has a new style of gamer, and there budget has never looked this good in generation. With that there games quality and third party software quality have taken a nose dive. This fits perfect for the lazy gamer who doesn't understand the game with the name cats, baby's, etc, are solve ware. They don't care because they don't understand quality in games and Nintendo doesn't care because those lazy gamers and lazy games are making there budget.

This is however not to say that some Nintendo games don't come out good from time to time, I still own my Nintendo Wii after all. This only means those games come far and in between a huge amount of solve ware.

What ever happened to the Super Nintendo, Nintendo that forced companys to make only a few quality titles each year, per developer? That is clearly why Third party's gave it there all on that generation, it spoke the golden era to you in gaming quality! Developers would never allow the sear amount of lazy party games, casual gamers titles or low budget titles to be on the market let alone flood it masses if Nintendo was forcing them like they had in the Golden era of gaming! Those games where of the best quality because the developers where forced to make sold stuff out of there small amount of titles each year pear Dev team.

[MR EPIC]

Excellent post Mike. And regarding graphics, it's not that core gamers would want Wii to be more graphically capable only for the sake of looking at a prettier picture. Having a system fairly equal in power to the others would also ensure that Nintendo receive it's fair fare share of 3rd party multi-platform games and not some crap effort which has been the case so far this generation. Last generation a lack of online component hurt the GC's 3rd party multi-platformers and this generation it's been the lack of horsepower that hurt the Wii's, combined with a stubborn online effort.

To me though it no longer feels odd embracing other systems more than Nintendo's, because they haven't gotten it right for the past couple of generations now. I've become used to it starting with the PS2 and it's carried over to the Xbox 360 and to a lesser extent the PS3. It's funny because I've said here so many times that if Nintendo ever left the console business that I'd definitely hang up my controllers and retire from gaming, but the truth of the matter is that Nintendo's last two consoles have pushed me closer to retirement and the PS2s/360s of the industry have ensured that I stay.

[Brian-AMN]

I think My and Jeffs point is that while the hardcore gamers do consider the Wii to be the worst machine out there, Nintendo does not care what they think and say about them on the internet. Nintendo IS the most successful company this generation. Their goal is to make profits for the company and they are doing tha,t and considering their sales numbers the grousing of the hardcore fanbase is NOT hurting them AT ALL.

[MR EPIC]

I think My and Jeffs point is that while the hardcore gamers do consider the Wii to be the worst machine out there, Nintendo does not care what they think and say about them on the internet. Nintendo IS the most successful company this generation. Their goal is to make profits for the company and they are doing tha,t and considering their sales numbers the grousing of the hardcore fanbase is NOT hurting them AT ALL.

While this is obviously true, I think that Coral and Chipotle's point is that for the next generation if Nintendo tries to go for the same crowd using basically the same approach as they did this generation, Sony and Microsoft will be there to beat them at their own game. Iwata himself said that it would be very difficult for them to innovate like this again next time around and I don't think that anybody here expects Nintendo to make some all-powerful console either. If that turns out to be the case, what advantage will Nintendo hold over it's competition? And if the economy finds itself in a worse condition like many speculate, who do you think will be willing to buying up the bulk of the video games on the market? The hardcore that's who. And unfortunately for Nintendo that just so happens to be the same group that they've has clearly given the middle finger to over the past few years. So I think the point is that, while Nintendo clearly did something unexpected and highly profitable this generation, the chances of that happening again next time around are very slim. Lightning rarely, if ever, strikes the same place twice.

[Smokey]

I think if Nintendo just makes their system capable of 1080p and puts together an online system of at least PSN caliber, they'll do fine. Those have been two of the biggest gripes I've seen from people that compare the Wii to the PS360. Otherwise, I don't foresee any need for Nintendo to do as much innovation as they did for this gen.

[MR EPIC]

I completely agree about the 1080p thing. You'd be surprised at how little you actually have to focus on upgrading the graphics as long as you have an output like that. Sure it helps to have nice textures and shading effects and whatnot, but that amazing resolution can surely make up for a lot of graphical deficiencies. For example: Coral and I played Saints Row 2 cooperatively on the PS3. He played it in 720p and wasn't too impressed by the overall visual quality while I played it in 1080p and had to pick my jaw up off the floor every time we played the damn thing.

[JValone]

Historically speaking lightning always strikes twice in this industry, it's the third time when everything goes all to hell.

You make an excellent point about the economy slowing down but I think the shrinkage will occur within the hardcore just as much as anywhere else. The hardcore will just go from buying on average perhaps 15-20 games a year to on average 12-15 and used game sales within that segment of the market will increase. The core gamer has historically been prone to overestimating their influence, and that remains true. The casual players, the ones who made PS1/PS2 and soon Wii 100 million unit sold success stories drive this industry. The core gamers make up, perhaps, and I feel I'm being incredibly generous, 35 million individuals worldwide. The Wii will reach that number by the end of November.

We've got 22 million 360s and 16 million PS3s sold to date. If we do not account for any overlap whatsoever that puts us at 38 million core gamers and I'm being lenient for not accounting overlap and assuming each and every owner of those platforms is "core" which is clearly not the case.

Core gamers are living in a state of denial. First it was "the launch hype is driving sales, that won't last forever!", then it was "I bet they're creating artificial demand!" which was proven bogus unless you consider constraint selling at a faster rate than any other platform in history, and now it's "you just wait until next time, things will be soooooo different". The story remains the same: core gamers completely fail to realize that their opinion is the minority view and by a wider margin then they might care to admit. I'm not trying to rub it in, I've been enjoying my PS3 far more than my Wii so I'm actually a bit down about how things are going, but facts are facts. And the fact remains that Nintendo does not need any of you, or me, and we can kick and scream and deny it all day long but they are going to wipe the floor with HD competition due to their entire direction not just "waggle".

And that's the key. Microsoft and Sony don't get it at all, and neither do most core gamers. The non-gamers like Wii precisely because it is not a traditional game machine. They do not want 360 with motion controls. XBL does not interest them. Competition is scary and intimidating, not uber cool and 1337. Nintendo took them by the hand and said "here, play this, have fun, you won't struggle and we won't judge". That's what they like. Gamerscore, achievements, macho attitude, "rated M for mature", all of that is repulsive to the non-gamer demographic. Sony and Microsoft will have to do a complete 180 and piss off every single core player they have now in order to court the group Nintendo currently owns. If they give them half the attention they will lose. The core gamer thought process of "More Games+Online+Wiimote > Few Games+Friend Codes+Wiimote" is fundamentally flawed because this is not a bullet-point battle. It's all about perception and focus.

Whether the Xbox 3/PS4 are better or worse in feature set is of no consequence. The fact these platforms will have Halo 4 and GTA V actually works against them. The non-gamer feels like Nintendo works for them, and they do. The Wii only works because it shirks all conventions. Putting waggle on those conventions does not eliminate the primary cause of their disinterest.

[Boylicious]

Im not sure why you think so, but the PS1/PS2 casual gamer is not the same as the Wii casual gamer. Dont even try to debate that. The Wiis biggest sellers are Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Fit, Mario Kart, stuff like that. Most of them are barely video games, but rather interactive programs. Studies have shown that 60% of the people who bought Wii Fit dont even use it anymore. So your Wii casual grandma, and uncle ben, are not the same as Tiny Tim, and Billy the Jock who have PS2s.

We'll have to wait till the next generation to see who does what, but if you think Microsoft and Sony are blind to how Nintendo is succeding and are not considering a similar approach we'll i think you'll be surprised. If Nintendo launches Wii2, and the others release their own systems that do everything it does, and better at a competitive price, well then Nintendo has a problem. The Wii casual gamer doesnt think enough into things to form alliances with any company.

Call me an elitist if you want, but the Wiis direction lacks quality. Its quite sad to see some people on the forums pick up multiplatform games for it and claim that its better than the others because of motion controls. In stead of supporting the games that were designed around the controller, and are actually good (Zak and Wiki, Order Up, etc) You demand core franchises to be put on the Wii that dont suit the system and are 19 times out of 20 not as good as the PS3 or 360 version. Some of you even have access to both, but noooo the Wii version is soooo satisfying. Youre only fooling yourselves. Keep supporting the system and company that give you one AA game every 3-4 months, while the others churn them out monthly.

Ultimatly the markets, and what is offered by each company will decide who wins next round, by how much, and yadda yadda. To a core gamer, Wii is clearly not the best choice. The machine fails at things it should be able to do half decent. You really mean to tell me with all the money coming in you cant create a proper online network? Oh but according to JV having a ****ty one is good, because thats how you treat casual gamers. Theyll waggle for a bit then get back to the other things in their lives they enjoy more, so why bother. And you defend a company like that? And for the current casual gamer, the 360 and PS3 might not suit them, but as core gamers who post on forums daily and are always anticipating the next game why are you defending them. Clearly because of Nintendos direction the other two are going to have to do something a little different , and we're the only ones who lose. So if times really are changing, dont make it worse by promoting bull****.

[Tanooki]

JV that's fairly well the line of thinking I was on with my initial comments on the system upgrade and my poke at Mikey's comment. I'm not so in line there with Brian other than his point on the making the green is all that ultimately matters stance because they weren't making it well but were still profitable over the last decade. They made money, but they lost support. Now they're making money and getting better support both from total units sold and 3rd parties trying to do some things on the system for once...some stuff even unique.

Looking at the market blowing up in everyones face thanks initially to the Clinton fair housing act with those really bad subprime loans the entire credit and banking industry is in the toilet. This thing will weigh well in the next cycle, count on it. Sony today reported an over 70% profit loss, and this again plays into what I was saying before supplying proof now they're hurting bad and had to stifle R&D to try and ride this out, and this was even before the market implosion. Nintendo again will be semi-frugal, but they'll be mindful too. Sony from what I was led into knowing will stay long on PS3 and the PS4 is likely to use the Cell processor setup again, just beefed up like GC->Wii in relative comparative terms as a reference. Microsoft, no clue there, but I think they're liking they have a system they finally are profiting off of, so until someone else makes a move they may not either. With that in mind I see the Wii be like a good boost because the tech is cheap now compared and will be largely cheaper to release in 2011. You could fantastically put out a Wii2 with no game in box for $250 that's a 1080p device, large storage media inside, massively more memory and cpu (perhaps another IBM joint project again as they cut them great deals.) The system as I said already will be able to have ported over your WW and VC titles, so you'll have crap good to go day one, or newbs can buy stuff day one cheapo online too. They'll stay with motion, probably a motionplus controller setup but with another mechanic to keep things fresh and an edge over the other two. The disparity next time won't be as huge, and with 3rd parties having these years to re-warm up to them on the home front will open the doors to more fair distribution of the goodies, but in the same realm they (3rd parties) could distro some of that 'non-gamer' ware to the other places too if they go with pointers as well.

[MikeWolfskin]

I find it hilarious how everybody gives credit to JValone when I already said the very same thing over a page ago.

From a hardcore gamer prospective not having the possibility of HD graphics or a solid online system does hurt them, but from a cash prospective it doesn't matter what hardcore gamers think as they have found a way to not become the falling Sega of this generation by appealing to a new style of gamers.

[MR EPIC]

Don't feel bad Mike. It happens to the best of us. :)

It sounds like JV and Coral at least understand each other, it's just that they are looking at things from the completely opposite perspective. I can't wait to see how it plays out and who's prediction proves to be true.

[JValone]

I didn't mean to reiterate your ideas Mike, I just wanted to be as thorough as possible to avoid oversimplifying the situation.

Coral, I think you're assuming that everyone who bought a PS1-PS2 were what we would consider "core" gamers. Tons of people bought those consoles for Madden, GTA, and a myriad of other mainstream franchises. A lot of families own just one generic game system, barely used, that gets updated once every five years or so. The numbers suggest this is the case. You can believe one of two things: either the Wii has conjured up 75 million new gamers while another 70 million opted to sit out the 360/PS3 or a gigantic chunk of the 120 million PS2 owners bought Nintendo's machine as opposed to the competition.

Judging by the slightly irritated tone of your post you'd probably be surprised how much I agree with you with the exception of the point made above. I believe Sony and Microsoft know what's going on, and I believe both are seriously considering taking a headlong plunge into the casual market. I'm skeptical as to how far they'll go and I personally believe that when it comes to non-gamers it really is an either/or proposition. You either focus on them 100% or you get none of them. I don't doubt they'll do something, I just wonder if they're willing to abandon their core base to chase a more lucrative market as Nintendo has done.

I wouldn't call you an elitist for saying the Wii's lineup is lacking, I totally agree and noted that I have been getting much more enjoyment from my PS3 lately. I think objectively speaking a majority of "gamers" would prefer 360/PS3 at this moment, we're just a small percentage of the overall market. I also don't believe the quality of a console's software library makes a big difference with the non-gamer demographic. Those people want simplicity and fun gimmicks. If Sony/MS don't give them those two things, which are completely at odds with what core gamers generally want, I don't think they'll be successful in courting the group.

In the last paragraph you're assuming I am 100% supportive of Nintendo's strategy thus far. Clearly I'm not. I have bought one Wii title in the calendar year 2008. I doubt that number will rise. Why are you going after me for "defending" them? I didn't excuse any of the machine's problems, I only point out statistical facts and made a prediction based off of that. I never said their online strategy was acceptable, in fact I believe the opposite. And geez "don't make it worse by promoting bull****", where did that come from? I wasn't promoting anyone, did I say anything positive about Nintendo strategy from a gamer perspective? No, I didn't. I pointed out that gamers making predictions with gamer sensibilities are not an accurate indicator of what non-gamers will react to, that's it.

I realize you're frustrated by the current state of things. I am as well, so it's not necessary to jump all over me about it when we're actually in agreement on everything but sales projections. This isn't a thread about being unhappy with Nintendo, this is a thread about what may happen with their next generation platform so I tried to stay on point. But don't assume I'm satisfied, or a blind defender. I was happy with the SNES/N64/GC, I am dissatisfied with Wii though I do believe it has some excellent high points (SMG/MP3/Zelda:TP) it is clearly lacking in several ways.

So to conclude: Do I think Nintendo will take it to Sony/MS again next generation unless they commit to the non-gamer and forsake their base? Yes. Do I agree with everything Nintendo is doing and look forward to more of it? Nope.