I know I haven't had enough time spent on what all Nintendo fans have been buzzing around but I can't say that I'm too thrilled about the new Wii U. It doesn't seem like a next generation console to me. Apparently,
I'm not alone in thinking this way either. Don't get me wrong, the console does look amazing and it gives us a very different look on how interactive the controllers can be to a console. It does have a lot of options that the Wii does not but it also doesn't go that far beyond today's consoles. The graphics and processing power are just about on the same level as both the PS3 and the Xbox 360. On top of that Microsoft may be debuting a possible next-gen console next year at E3! So why all the fuss?
I guess what we should be looking at are the other tidbits that the Wii U is bringing us. Hardware wise it is offering some great changes besides the new control scheme. This time around Nintendo decided to have HD graphics viewable up to 1080p. This has been a long time coming as the Wii was never able to offer this for us. Something about playing Mario or Metroid on standard definition always left me feeling like I was missing something in my life. The graphics give us
something we have never seen on a Nintendo console with water textures and the details to how sunlight is distributed through out the environment. Even though the Wii U will be backwards compatible with Wii games
it will not upscale the graphics to HD. This is a poor decision on the part of Nintendo. It's understandable seeing that Wii games were written for hardware that was vastly different than the Wii U but surely Nintendo could have foreseen this years ago. HD was the future. Microsoft and Sony were able to see this and made sure that Xbox 360 and PS3 games would be able to handle all resolutions.
The new design on the controller has been what everyone has their eyes on. It's more of a tablet than anything else. It sports a 6.2 inch 16x9 touch screen smack dab in the middle of it. The design is definitely interesting as it streams visual information from the Wii U but doesn't actually do any processing on it at all. It's handled by the unit itself and the controller is just the display with minor touch sensor abilities. It has a built-in rechargeable battery so no need to replace those AA's anymore. The layout looks kind of like an upside down PlayStation controller with an LCD in the middle. There are added buttons meaning that there will be more control over some games.
On a plus side, the Wii U will be able to use all your current Wii peripherals and devices. All controllers will be usable that are available for the Wii and so will the balance board. Gamecube compatibility is although gone. But this is to be expected as you can only support so much before it just gets ridiculous.
It just feels that Nintendo is too late to this caliber of gaming consoles and to early to bring about a next-gen console. Sorry almighty Nintendo but I just feel that you failed us here. Hopefully you can find a way to blow me away before launch.
No comments:
Post a Comment