Gaming What I'd like to see from the Wii U in the future

[Foxi4]

It doesn't matter the means of playing the hardware be it a micro console or an add-on to the current console, some sort of competing solution is my point. And making it an addon could potentially push more Wii U sales given the large DS/3DS ownership base.

The 3DS player wouldn't really be a competing solution to the PSVita TV for several reasons.

Firstly, the 3DS is not meant to be a streaming box - the PSVita TV will take advantage of PlayStation Now and all of the media-related solutions, Nintendo has no alternative services to most of those.

Secondly, the PSVita TV is a budget system, the 3DS player would not be because it'd require the expensive add-on of a Wii U or a Wii U gamepad. 3DS and DS games require the use of two screens and a touchscreen, so no controller short of the gamepad would be sufficient - this means that the minimum config for it to be a mini-console would be the price of a 3DS (minus the screen expense and whatnot, but the 3DS's guts would still have to be inside there) plus the price of the gamepad, which is $140 - all in all, we're in the $250+ ballpark, and at that price nobody's going to bother. As an add-on solution, you'd have to pay even more... so... no, no competition for the PSVita TV.

If USB wont cut it. Then I say Nintendo could release it as an alternate Gamepad that you can buy. They already said you could use 2 gamepads on the Wii U, why not make the extra gamepad that you'll eventually be able to buy have a slot to insert your DS/3DS games in the top, meaning if necessary the inner workings of a 3DS could be built into the controller. Granted this would boost the already not cheap extra gamepad price, but I know I would personally shell out the money. And at least having it built in a second gamepad would kill 2 birds with one stone. Future games that will utilize 3 screen would be playable and you could play your favorite DS and 3DS games on the Wii U through it.

We're not talking "slightly more expensive gamepad", we're talking "gamepad more expensive by the price of the 3DS's guts", which is aproximately $100. If Nintendo's statement about the Wii U gamepad's price holds any water, we're talking about a $240-or-so controller - that's insane. Even if it wasn't insane though, it would cause a de-standardization of gamepads - it's not like in the case of the WiiMotes that could either be bought with the WiiMotion Plus module integrated or expanded by the WiiMotion Plus add-on - you'd want them to release a whole new gamepad with new features that the old gamepad couldn't match. This isn't Nintendo's style - they would sooner release an add-on than stray away from the standard and release gamepads with unequal features.

Aspect on past handheld players was never an issue, Nintendo always just put in some sort of border to accommodate, don't see why the same couldn't happen here.

On previous systems this was less of a problem due to SD resolution TV's - we're in the HD era now. Sure, you can use a border or stretch the screen, this is an okay solution, but it's still going to look arse.

Or alternatively, we know the 3DS can communicate with the Wii U, surely there could be a way to have the Wii U communicate properly with a turned on 3DS (probably would have to plug it in to an outlet so it wouldn't die) and have the top screen streamed to the tv and have the bottom screen streamed to the gamepad.

I don't think the 3DS has nearly enough juice to stream its framebuffer and sound to the Wii U.

 

[duffmmann]

I'd quickly pay 200+ dollars for a controller that would do that. You can explain away the Vita TV as something completely different than what I'm saying, and yes that is true, but that doesn't make it any less of something that could be competed with on some level. Again it could help boost Wii U sales given the strong DS/3DS install base.

It could be possible in my opinion, in one way or another. Maybe it would cost a lot of money, maybe they could find a way to make it not so. Regardless, I'd be all about it no matter the price points or practicality.

"I don't think the 3DS has nearly enough juice to stream its framebuffer and sound to the Wii U." - Nintendo could surprise you on this front, just cuz you don't think its possible doesn't mean its not. Firmware updates could certainly find ways to make this happen.

 

[Bladexdsl]

1. the 3ds is still popular
2. 3ds games are still selling
3. the 3ds still makes nintendo $

so 3ds games WILL NOT be on the wiiu.

SIMPLE LOGIC!!

 

[trumpet-205]

"I don't think the 3DS has nearly enough juice to stream its framebuffer and sound to the Wii U." - Nintendo could surprise you on this front, just cuz you don't think its possible doesn't mean its not. Firmware updates could certainly find ways to make this happen.

Actually it never will. Unlike Wii U, 3DS does not feature an ASIC H.264 real-time encoder.

Wii U works by utilizing ASIC to encode video on the go and stream it Gamepad, where it has ASIC decoder to decode the video. Problem is 3DS does not feature such dedicated encoder, cause it was never intended to do such a thing. Without ASIC encoder, it is impossible to stream video without serious lagging in 3DS game (which some of them already lags on regular gameplay).

Without ASIC encoder, the only way to do video encoding is by letting CPU to do it. By letting CPU to do video encoding gameplay performance will take a serious hit.