Hardware Gamecube 1.5?

[VmprHntrD]

Ultimately no graphics do not matter except to those elitist technophile/phobic types who can't get passed their own level of self satisfaction to understand fun can be found in many more ways than wrapped 10lbs of shit in one hell of a pretty 5lb wrapper.

So what...Wii don't do HD. In reality on that one...BFD. The technophobic jackass here would now step in and say, well then it sucks, or it's of the past, it can't be fun, it gives me eye tumors, or some other line of horseshit mentality excuses. Fine, they're snobs...they think because they're that 10% of society that own a HD set that everything should damn well cater to them or it isn't good enough.

Nintendo basically waggled the big ol' bird to those types and said F'it, it isn't worth it. This will raise the cost of my system double and cause me to sell at a loss which in itself is dumb, and in our position (remember they were in last albeit profitable) would be potential suicide. They decided that people need to be re-engaged and to do that was again stepping up to the plate and offering a new type of control to move things forward. They did this on the N64 pad, and prior the NES controller...and well the DS too over the GB line and the like.

So in the end...so fucking what if it only is 2x powerful, 1.5...negigible, or perhaps they're all full of propagandist shit and you'll learn what is really true in a few years...who knows. Honestly...I could and many could really give a fuck. What people want on the whole are games, good ones, enjoyable ones, something their personal tastes desire. If the game is there and it isn't a shitty port, shoddily done on the controls, halfassed in some other way such as shovelware, etc...then good...and it will sell. The Japanese market has gone insane, write them off, most dev'rs appear to have. Check this market and the UK area...you got things like Red Steel, Rayman Ravin Rabbids, RE4 Wii, Mario Galaxy, Zelda(meh) and more doing a million+ in sales...and many other have breached that 250-500k mark too which means damn good profit considering how cheap the titles are. And what's this mean to us? More games...it develops 3rd party confidence and you see better shit like Zack and Wiki, MOH Heroes 2, Geometry Wars, RE: Umbrella Chronicles, NiGHTS 2, and more.

Thing is...look at those I listed (minus GW obviously) they're showing shit above the Cube level for sure or doing some form of something it couldn't take. Those right there are the 'damn shame not at launch' real 1st generation 3rd party efforts...and that's where you can look to the Wii and go...mmmkay, now what in the 2nd gen, 3rd, and beyond.

Think of it that way, then tell that next guy who wants to be a technophile bitch to cram it in their ass and that you enjoy what you have, it does more than the last gen, and can do it with some incredible style thanks to the non-gimmicky control setup. And if you like...poke fun letting them know you can get your games with some at a 2:1 ratio over theirs.

...or raise that level higher if you go into startup costs for just 1 person.

 

[Pamela]

From what I had researched the Wii is 1.5 times as powerful as the Xbox was, although I could be wrong but that's what I researched. I have to say though when I play some Xbox games there are textures that look much better than most of the Wii games, Mario Galaxy easily looked 80% of the time like a Gamecube game and in reviews it was credited to be the best looking Wii game to date. But the Wii was never about the graphics everyone knows it is what it is and if it was as good as the 360 or PS3 there would be more competition so it has it's own genre with it's own games and no competition as far as that goes. I just hope the next Nintendo system is pushed further and built with more quality parts.

 

[CockroachMan]

The Wii is like 2 or 3 times more "powerfull" than a Xbox, which was the most powerfull console of last generation. Still.. the 360 has at least 10 times more processing power than the Xbox.. the Wii is missing a lot of good games because of that.. I think Nintendo should have made a hardware in the same price range as the 360.. people would still buy it!
Anyway, like it or not, the money these days is in the casual market, and Nintendo is dominating that, and the casual market don't care about graphics.. so.. I don't think Nintendo is interested in changing this right now..

 

[754boy]

Anyway, like it or not, the money these days is in the casual market, and Nintendo is dominating that, and the casual market don't care about graphics.. so.. I don't think Nintendo is interested in changing this right now..

Nintendo is on top for that reason. No one gives a shit about screen killing graphics anymore. Well, I do but theres still fun to be had in casual games I guess. My girlfriend loves her Wii. Its way more fun to play with friends. We have a blast and totally forget about how the games look.

 

[cubin']

The Wii is basically a gamecube 1.5. Which is fine by me, it could just be a little cheaper.

I'm not an expert on Nintendo's hardware but as far as I know the architecture is pretty much the same. Many of the same components are used but a moderate upgrade to the memory, graphics and CPU have been made.

We've seen that if developers put the time in they can get pretty good results with graphics, particularly if the art design is also nice.

Can Wii produce graphics on average as good as xbox1? No. I don't think it can. You can compare the hardware specs all you want but the proof is in the pudding (what you actually see on screen).

 

[cubin']

Ultimately no graphics do not matter except to those elitist technophile/phobic types who can't get passed their own level of self satisfaction to understand fun can be found in many more ways than wrapped 10lbs of shit in one hell of a pretty 5lb wrapper.

Graphics matter to some extent

or else we'd all be playing games that look like pong.

 

[Jaejae]

How about we end this now, before it turns into a flame war.
When someone criticizes your beloved Wii/360/PS3, remember that you are having _fun_, and their opinion has a negligible effect on how much fun you will have.

 

[apd]

who cares. If I wanted the best graphics I'd just play my PC.


Wow, what an incredibly well though-out reply. Thanks.

I judge games on how well they play and not on how well they look. Look at the first super mario bros game it's still as good today as I first remember playing it years ago. Graphics my arse peice, give me gameplay any day.

 

[dsbomb]

this post has been removed by a moderator
reason: Yeah off topic

dang, and I spent a long time making such an insightful, witty comment about the different market types...

But yes, live life enjoying yourself. Don't get all caught up in what other people think you should be enjoying...

 

[Deleted User]

I always wondered if something could be done by connecting the GC to a GBA and then use a flashcart like the SCSD to do something special to the firmware. Guess everybodys moved on though.

 

[jumpman17]

The Gamecube had many games that blew the graphics out from under the Xbox and the PS2. I'm happy that Nintendo didn't decided to force a bunch of high end crap in the Wii and jack up the price.

 

[JPH]

The Gamecube had many games that blew the graphics out from under the Xbox and the PS2. I'm happy that Nintendo didn't decided to force a bunch of high end crap in the Wii and jack up the price.

But if Nintendo had of decided to make the graphics comparable to those of the XBox and PS3 - it would have been worth it to pay an extra 50 to 100 dollars, IMO.

I think Nintendo is doing a good job at making games fun - but they should really start to integrate better graphics in their games.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

From what I had researched the Wii is 1.5 times as powerful as the Xbox was, although I could be wrong but that's what I researched. I have to say though when I play some Xbox games there are textures that look much better than most of the Wii games, Mario Galaxy easily looked 80% of the time like a Gamecube game and in reviews it was credited to be the best looking Wii game to date. But the Wii was never about the graphics everyone knows it is what it is and if it was as good as the 360 or PS3 there would be more competition so it has it's own genre with it's own games and no competition as far as that goes. I just hope the next Nintendo system is pushed further and built with more quality parts.

Agreed. Xbox 1 had better or same graphics. Ninja Gaiden looked incredible, as good, maybe better than any Wii game. There are a ton of others like Doom 3 and even Manhunt 1 looked as good as Manhunt2.
There's actually a video on the internets somewhere of in-game footage from SMG compared with in game footage of SMS from the GC and they look basically identical.

Still a good system. Especially when you look at the price and all that it does.

 

[iritegood]

^And considering they're making a profit with their console.
The Wii is awesome for Nintendo. It costs a fraction of what it costs to manufacture the PS3/360, and it's making a lot of money for Nintendo.
Very smart move IMO. They could've gone with better graphics/hardware, but then they'd have to rely on profits from games.
And you know thirdparty games is not Nintendo's strong point.

 

[st0nedpenguin]

Quite frankly I couldn't give two hoots about the hardware side of the Wii, it's the only console that's gonna see the triple A Nintendo releases (nobody does pure unadulterated fun like Nintendo) no matter how few and far between they may be, and it's the only console that causes me to leap around my living room like a slightly retarded chimp.

A quote by Miyamoto himself sums up the Wii perfectly and always makes me giggle:

"The consensus was that power isn't everything for a console. Too many powerful consoles can't coexist. It's like having only ferocious dinosaurs. They might fight and hasten their own extinction."

It takes guts in today's market to not spend all your time chasing the top performance mark, hats off to Nintendo for focussing on what really matters, people playing games.

 

[cubin']

Yeah well said by the last few posts. Only way to get the quality nintendo goodness is to get a Wii. The graphics aren't a big factor as long as it's fun.

I think nintendo should start a training school for developers to make awesome games. Just make it very prestigious and very hard to get into. Then the graduates can work for nintendo when they're good enough.

We need more good games

im drunk

 

[Hadrian]

The Gamecube had many games that blew the graphics out from under the Xbox and the PS2. I'm happy that Nintendo didn't decided to force a bunch of high end crap in the Wii and jack up the price.


But if Nintendo had of decided to make the graphics comparable to those of the XBox and PS3 - it would have been worth it to pay an extra 50 to 100 dollars, IMO.

I think Nintendo is doing a good job at making games fun - but they should really start to integrate better graphics in their games.

I pretty much agree with that though I have a 360 it would've increased the library but then chances are we'd have some bad ports of 360 games like the PS3 has but this time with motion controls that don't work. Would have been nice for emulation too if the Wii was a bit more powerful.

Also would the Wii done as well being 50-100 quid/dollars expensive?

Anyway its all done now, I reckon Nintendo will go for something more powerful with the next console now that their "brand" is back on track.

 

[GeekyGuy]

If everything in Croal's report is basically true, then Wii owners have to ask themselves whether or not the control system is enough to carry the Wii in terms of gamer satisfaction. Great games aren't enough, because we could have just as easily had more great games on a last-gen system, minus the Wii remote.

Now, if you look back at the first promos for the Revolution, the folks in that first video were flinging their controllers around, doing all sorts of exciting stuff -- playing air drums, slashing swords, conducting an orchestra, etc. But most of the Wii games that "work" have very minimal motion control gameplay. The only exception to that seems to be coming from the FPS genre.

If Galaxy, Brawl, Strikers and other games could have been done on the Cube, and the only differences are a bit of waggle, how can someone justify having to purchase a new console with all of its trappings?

 

[Veho]

Now, if you look back at the first promos for the Revolution, the folks in that first video were flinging their controllers around, doing all sorts of exciting stuff -- playing air drums, slashing swords, conducting an orchestra, etc. But most of the Wii games that "work" have very minimal motion control gameplay.

If Galaxy, Brawl, Strikers and other games could have been done on the Cube, and the only differences are a bit of waggle, how can someone justify having to purchase a new console with all of its trappings?
I don't believe either of these games could have been done without the Wiimote. True, most games are nothing more than PS2 ports, with Wiimote features glued on at odd angles, but you should blame developers for that, not the console itself, or Nintendo.

As I elaborated (at length) here, the Wii hardware is capable of much more than the current titles offer, but that's entirely the fault of the developers, who are too impatient to release a game and milk the "gimmick" while it's still popular. And even more importantly, they are bound by all the constraints that a conventional gamepad forces on games, even though, with the Wiimote, such constraints are only in their heads.

QUOTEThe hardware is more than enough to make great, revolutionary games, but what the developers are doing with it is criminal. It's like a command-line-adventure-game developer seeing a touch screen for the first time, and saying "cool, now you can write commands by hand instead of typing them", and completely and utterly failing to see the possibility of a point & click system. Thinking outside of the box was never been the mainstream developers' strong point, to the point where they try desperately to follow the same old ruts even when the box has changed its shape to something completely different. "Pushing the envelope" becomes very wrong when the envelope has turned into an origami frog around you, and you failed to realize it (because you've been too busy pushing).

 

[GeekyGuy]

...True, most games are nothing more than PS2 ports, with Wiimote features glued on at odd angles, but you should blame developers for that, not the console itself, or Nintendo....

Well, I'm not really interested in playing the blame game at all, but Beyond3D does make one very good point: certain questions should be asked. Like you said, there's ample opportunity with the Wii to make all sorts of creative games, but will publishers invest in those ideas? Will enough Wii owners demand better, more Wii-centric games, or will third parties continue to rake in cash off of less savvy "casual" (ew, hate the term) gamers?

Thing is, if we don't get a satisfying collection of great games that utilize the Wii remote's evolutionary gaming possibilities, well, there's really no evolution that will have taken place here on the system. And thus the big question will again arise: What's the true advantage of the Wii over the best of what last-gen had to offer?

I'm guessing the happenings of 2008 will answer that question, and I'm hopeful that my investment in the idea of an evolutionary gaming approach will pan out. Right now though I think that isn't something that has truly been answered. I also think that, regardless, Nintendo must share in the responsibility of making it "happen" on the Wii. They can simply take their cash to the bank, or they can choose to not take the complacent approach and go on the offensive, actively seeking third-party support.