If you haven't heard of Wonder before, don't worry, neither have I!

This cryptic new device comes from a secretive tech startup of the same name based in Los Angeles. Unlike gaming smartphones like the Red Magic or the Black Shark or even the Android-powered OUYA home console, the Wonder plans to be something different, somewhat bridging the two...

Their eventual product will consist of a smartphone, dock, controller, and access to software services that will allow access to games and other media features. What about the Nintendo Switch competitor part? That has to do, as you might have guessed, with the dock. The latter will allow gamers to enjoy their game on big screens by placing the smartphone into the dedicated slot on the controller. While Android-based, the smartphone will run a custom version, called WonderOS, allowing the company to overclock the phone’s graphics processor to beam the display to a television when docked, à la Nintendo Switch.

The Verge had an exclusive first look at a prototype of the device and described it as "what looks like a standard Android smartphone [...], sleek, square cornered, and sports a massive screen". Unfortunately, no pictures were available at the time of writing.

The company has quite the ambitious vision for its product, hoping that the Wonder device "will be the centerpiece of an entertainment ecosystem for gamers and gadget heads who are fans of forward-looking tech".

However, with all that has been revealed, there is still a lot of information missing about this ambitious device. For one, it does not even have an official name. No news about the device's and services' cost whatsoever nor did they reveal the specs of the phone itself. What we do know is that Wonder is on track to come out next year.

Andy Kleinman, the CEO and co-founder of secretive startup Wonder, further adds that the phone might not even be developed and branded by Wonder either. “We’re talking with companies that are making high-end flagships about putting out software on them, similar to Roku,” he says, speaking to The Verge. “It’s more like an OS, which is why we can’t say that anyone with a smartphone can do this. There are still ways that we can have other devices be Wonder-enabled and there are certain threshold of specs that you have to have.”

“The Switch did a really good job starting with the idea of portability, but there’s a lot of limitations on the Switch,” he says. "With Wonder, think about building a portable gaming and entertainment type platform that can deliver any type of game.”

Kleinman says further added that his team has been in talks with Valve about Steam support and game streaming. With the recent announcement of the upcoming Steam Link app which will allow gamers to stream their Steam library games to any smarthphone running the app, this might entice a wider audience. In the interview with The Verge, Kleinman said that his team is in talks with game developers about making Wonder-optimized versions of console and PC titles that run on Android and support both controller and touchscreen play.

As such, rather than being an actual hardware, Wonder aims to build a mobile-console hybrid gaming ecosystem that is potentially not restricted to one hardware manufacturer but available to Wonder-ready devices that suits the user's needs and unleash further power with its peripherals.

“What we’re doing is not super hard. We’re not trying to create Magic Leap-style revolutionary tech nobody has ever seen,” Kleinman says confidently. “We’re just trying to put together a great experience, in the way Apple does it.”

I wonder... is it reminiscent to the OUYA to you or do you think that the time has come for a true Android-based home console-handheld hybrid?

SOURCE

 

[slaphappygamer]

Wonderboard?
I’ll stick to my shield tablet and my mini hdmi cable. Thanks

 

[Foxi4]

Even I think the joycons look better

Let me explain to you precisely why you're wrong about the Joycon duet "controller":

1. Vertical orientation of function buttons and the analog sticks as opposed to diagonal which is much more ergonomic
2. Baby-sized analog sticks with poor grip - great if you're a toddler, virtually unusable for the average gamer
3. No D-Pad, a problem mostly caused by the fact that you can use joycons individually, but there were better solutions out there which would allow for a more suitable shape for when they're used in tandem
4. Horrific triggers from hell with no analog input
5. Overall small size, especially the thickness

The controller above, assuming it's sectioned like the Switch controller, comes together into a much more compelling and traditional package compared to the "dog face" pad of the Switch, no question. It's not designed by an industry nobody either, it's from the mind of Yves Behar. You can make fun of it all you want, but it looks like a far more functional controller than Nintendo's square monstrosity that fits in your hand about as well as a brick.

 

[kuwanger]

I though the turbo graphic 16 was known for the shooter dominating their console.

Not a console, but also the Sharp X68K. There's definitely several systems where shooters dominate the console. Anyways, it's the reason I said "one of the best". It'd be interesting to see a sort of face-off to see which console/system is actually king. I think one could argue that there's a pattern to it, too: consoles that focus too heavily on arcade ports, especially shoot'em ups, tend to be pushed to the side by other consoles/systems that offer more variety and a more lasting experience through longer game play. I'd say a corollary is that those who heavily play shoot'em ups (and probably racers) are some of the more hardcore gamers; anyone willing to devote hundreds of hours to play a game that in total takes less than 20 minutes to finish is pretty hardcore.

PS - I only dabble in shoot'em ups. I'm not hardcore.

 

[Foxi4]

Lol, that is hilarious.

You know the true reason behind Switch success wasn't it design, right? From the start Switch is just normal tablet with ability to stream on tv, even joy-con are just "very creative bluetooth controller" so there is nothing special about Switch design.

The true reason for it success is Nintendo™ games. That is the sole reason people want it, for thing like BotW, Bayonetta, Splatoon, Kirby, Mario, Pokemon... not for a glorify tablet that can stream on tv. I would love to see who would want to buy a basically an OUYA with worst game library on the market.

The Nintendo catalog is not what's propelling the Switch, otherwise the Wii U which had a similar library wouldn't be a giant bomb. The console is appealing due to a variety of factors, not just the library - one of those factors is the much more modern design, both inside and out.

 

[anhminh]

The Nintendo catalog is not what's propelling the Switch, otherwise the Wii U which had a similar library wouldn't be a giant bomb. The console is appealing due to a variety of factors, not just the library - one of those factors is the much more modern design, both inside and out.

It didn't have Pokemon though.

I also blame the marketing for Wii U. Most of it first year was spend to make people not think that it was an Wii upgrade instead. Switch have way better marketing and the short supply own make people want it more.

 

[Foxi4]

It didn't have Pokemon though.

I also blame the marketing for Wii U. Most of it first year was spend to make people not think that it was an Wii upgrade instead. Switch have way better marketing and the short supply own make people want it more.

Neither did any successful Nintendo home console, and neither does the Switch besides Pokken, which is an enhanced Wii U port. Now, to be clear, I'm one of those people who would buy a console for literally one game, I have many times in the past, but there's not a lot of people like that. If you want to reach the general audience, you have to sell them on the premise. The premise of the Switch is "home console-level gaming anywhere and seamless transition between a portable and a home console". That's what people are buying - the premise, the games come as icing on the cake that swings them to a particular manufacturer.

As for marketing, the idea that the Wii U failed because of bad marketing and a stupid name is ridiculous and has no foundation in fact - we know this because the equally stupidly-named and poorly-marketed Xbox One sold 36 million units in a much shorter timeframe, and that console doesn't exist in Japan/other Asian markets while the Wii U and the PS4 very much did. The Wii U is a textbook example that if you only have the library to offer, only the hardcore fans will buy the systems, and there's only 10-odd million of those folks. Bad marketing and the poor name choice might've been an issue early on, but the Wii U had a quite successful launch which disproves that theory. Two years in there was no more confusion - people saw games that they couldn't play on the old Wii and they didn't upgrade.

 

[MiguelinCrafter]

Let me explain to you precisely why you're wrong about the Joycon duet "controller":

1. Vertical orientation of function buttons and the analog sticks as opposed to diagonal which is much more ergonomic
2. Baby-sized analog sticks with poor grip - great if you're a toddler, virtually unusable for the average gamer
3. No D-Pad, a problem mostly caused by the fact that you can use joycons individually, but there were better solutions out there which would allow for a more suitable shape for when they're used in tandem
4. Horrific triggers from hell with no analog input
5. Overall small size, especially the thickness

The controller above, assuming it's sectioned like the Switch controller, comes together into a much more compelling and traditional package compared to the "dog face" pad of the Switch, no question. It's not designed by an industry nobody either, it's from the mind of Yves Behar. You can make fun of it all you want, but it looks like a far more functional controller than Nintendo's square monstrosity that fits in your hand about as well as a brick.

I am not wrong, my opinion can't be wrong because it is just an opinion

But I will try to explain

1. not really if you play handheld
2. What? my hands are big and I have no problems with the joycons
3. not a problem, you just think it is one
4. you mean like holding the trigger to accelerate to a certain degree in racing games for example?
Hate that shit
5. same as point number 2

 

[Kioku]

Neither did any successful Nintendo home console, and neither does the Switch besides Pokken, which is an enhanced Wii U port. Now, to be clear, I'm one of those people who would buy a console for literally one game, I have many times in the past, but there's not a lot of people like that. If you want to reach the general audience, you have to sell them on the premise. The premise of the Switch is "home console-level gaming anywhere and seamless transition between a portable and a home console". That's what people are buying - the premise, the games come as icing on the cake that swings them to a particular manufacturer.

As for marketing, the idea that the Wii U failed because of bad marketing and a stupid name is ridiculous and has no foundation in fact - we know this because the equally stupidly-named and poorly-marketed Xbox One sold 36 million units in a much shorter timeframe, and that console doesn't exist in Japan/other Asian markets while the Wii U and the PS4 very much did. The Wii U is a textbook example that if you only have the library to offer, only the hardcore fans will buy the systems, and there's only 10-odd million of those folks. Bad marketing and the poor name choice might've been an issue early on, but the Wii U had a quite successful launch which disproves that theory. Two years in there was no more confusion - people saw games that they couldn't play on the old Wii and they didn't upgrade.

The N64, Wii and GameCube all had Pokémon games... If we're counting Pokken anyways (WiiU)...

 

[Foxi4]

I am not wrong, my opinion can't be wrong because it is just an opinion

But I will try to explain

1 - not really if you play handheld
2 - What? my hands are big and I have no problems with the joycons
3 - not a problem, you just think it is one
4 - you mean like holding the trigger to accelerate to a certain degree?
Hate that shit
5 - same as point number 2

How does handheld mode magically change the physical orientation of the input on the controller? Your thumbs don't magically jump out of their sockets just because the joycons are attached to the tablet, the placement is awkward and requires uncomfortable travel between the buttons and sticks, it's not optimal. If you're comfortable with how small the puppytroller is, you have no frame of reference. I can't think of a less comfortable modern controller on the market right now, it's clearly a giant lump of trade-offs to allow modularity. A lack of a D-Pad is a gigantic issue for games that use one - you don't want to push four directions simultaneously and you don't want to travel across buttons as opposed to slide your thumb across a nice pad. Analog triggers are a staple of gaming and the fact that Nintendo divorced with them is a big deal for games that do use pressure-sensitive input, whether you like or dislike that is irrelevant, it makes porting games to the platform all the more difficult. Again, I have man-hands, the PS3 controller was hell for me, the Switch controller is a joke.

The N64, Wii and GameCube all had Pokémon games... If we're counting Pokken anyways (WiiU)...

I assume he meant a mainstream Pokemon RPG title, and those are exclusive to Nintendo's handhelds. If we count spin-offs, all Nintendo consoles since the birth of the Pokemon IP have one, but that's clearly not what he meant, which is why I said that the Switch doesn't "have Pokemon" either as of yet, although a game is in development. The closest thing to a main entry would've been Pokemon DX, but that's not quite the real deal either, plus the GC bombed anyways, further disproving the theory.

 

[Zabhahs]

OYUA 2.0 boiiiis

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

Even Nvidia set out to make Android gaming hardware and quickly realized that the real Android TV market is in set-top boxes. No one's buying an Android device as a gaming hub. I bet even those who bought Nvidia Shield devices used them for streaming their Steam games a majority of the time. How many more Android gaming devices do we have to see before people realize that this concept doesn't work?

I remember when people thought dedicated handheld gaming systems and consoles in general would die thanks to smartphone gaming. But look at what happened -- the 3DS was a success, consoles are doing hotter than ever, and Switches are flying off shelves. Clearly, dedicated game systems exist in a completely different market than mobile-based devices. I don't believe you will ever see the day where an Android gaming system can properly compete with a dedicated gaming system.

 

[MiguelinCrafter]

How does handheld mode magically change the physical orientation of the input on the controller? Your thumbs don't magically jump out of their sockets just because the joycons are attached to the tablet, the placement is awkward and requires uncomfortable travel between the buttons and sticks, it's not optimal. If you're comfortable with how small the pupoytroller is, you have no frame of reference. I can't think of a less comfortable modern controller on the market right now, it's clearly a giant, walking lump of trade-offs to allow modularity. A lack of a D-Pad is a gigantic issue for games that use one - you don't want to push four directions simultaneously and you don't want to travel across buttons as opposed to slide your thumb across a nice pad. Analog triggers are a staple of gaming and the fact that Nintendo divorced with them is a big deal for games that do use pressure-sensitive input, whether you like it dislike that is irrelevant, it makes porting games to the platform all the more difficult. Again, I have man-hands, the PS3 controller was hell for me, the Switch controller is a joke.

it is not akward the placement makes sense in portable mode because the DS consoles were like that

not like that but you get it, pressing plus and minus shouldnt be hard I think you are exagerating it is not uncomfortable either

dude I currently game on PS4 and the joycons are fine for me, I also have big hands

I don't see what the problem of not having a d-pad is it works the same way

I really think you are overreacting, it is just a controller, I don't see how not having anlog triggers make porting games harder either, cant think of many games that use that shit

 

[Foxi4]

Even Nvidia set out to make Android gaming hardware and quickly realized that the real Android TV market is in set-top boxes. No one's buying an Android device as a gaming hub. I bet even those who bought Nvidia Shield devices used them for streaming their Steam games a majority of the time. How many more Android gaming devices do we have to see before people realize that this concept doesn't work?

I remember when people thought dedicated handheld gaming systems and consoles in general would die thanks to smartphone gaming. But look at what happened -- the 3DS was a success, consoles are doing hotter than ever, and Switches are flying off shelves. Clearly, dedicated game systems exist in a completely different market than mobile-based devices. I don't believe you will ever see the day where an Android gaming system can properly compete with a dedicated gaming system.

That's very short-sighted. The smartphone market will eventually absorb handheld consoles which is precisely why neither Sony nor Microsoft wants to touch that market with a 10-foot pole and even Nintendo is hedging its bets with a hybrid. The 3DS only just passed the 70 million units threshold, currently sitting at 72 (as of March 2018), which sounds impressive until you realise that the PSP sold 80 within the same timeframe, and that console was considered the underdog. The 3DS's performance pales in comparison to the miraculous sales of the DS and there's no denying that the market is shrinking. We can't forget that a portion of those sales isn't really to new users, it's to users who are upgrading across the 98 iterations of the 3DS Nintendo has planned out. I have no doubt that we won't see another mainstream pocket console after the 3DS, Nintendo will go full-steam Switch and the PSP isn't coming back. That's sad because I like pocket systems, but this very well could be an end of an era kind of moment for gamers.

 

[kuwanger]

The premise of the Switch is "home console-level gaming anywhere and seamless transition between a portable and a home console". That's what people are buying - the premise, the games come as icing on the cake that swings them to a particular manufacturer.

That's what the PSP offered and it lagged behind the NDS. That's what the Wii U offered with its own tablet/gamepad and it failed pretty horribly too. So, I think you're right in at least that the hardware has come far enough to support a home console experience in a tablet form factor without any auxiliary equipment, horrible battery life, or any other substantial compromises. Yet it's fundamentally the software that's motivating people to buy the system.

So, yea, it's not just "Nintendo" software. It's third party developers as well. It's the developers who skipped over the Wii U for bigger consoles and avoid Android because piracy is rampant and the deployment environment doesn't promise a consistent experience. It's also the consumers who seem to think every even number Nintendo console is good.

The 3DS only just passed the 70 million units threshold, currently sitting at 72 (as of March 2018), which sounds impressive until you realise that the PSP sold 80 within the same timeframe, and that console was considered the underdog.

You're off by like 7 years. The NDS and PSP came out in 2004. The 3DS came out in 2011 (the same year as the Vita). In comparison, the Vita sold 10-15 million. You're not wrong though that there's been a push from basically the beginning for a hybrid or simply outright portable console.

 

[Foxi4]

it is not akward the placement makes sense in portable mode because the DS consoles were like that

not like that but you get it, pressing plus and minus shouldnt be hard I think you are exagerating it is not uncomfortable either

dude I currently game on PS4 and the joycons are fine for me, I also have big hands

I don't see what the problem of not having a d-pad is it works the same way

I really think you are overreacting, it is just a controller, I don't see how not having anlog triggers make porting games harder either, cant think of many games that use that shit

DS consoles didn't have a ginormous screen in the middle and until the 3DS they didn't have analog sticks either. You're also implying that the placement of the analog stick on the 3DS is comfortable, which it isn't, but that system had different space considerations - ones that did not apply to the Switch because the thing's enormous in comparison and didn't need to be so cramped. I'm also not "overreacting", I'm just calling the controller poorly-designed from an ergonomics standpoint because that's what it is, there's a reason why no other controller uses a layout like that just for fun - when they do, it's due to space constraints or other considerations, not by choice.

 

[gnmmarechal]

Meh. I don't see anyone jumping on this.

 

[MiguelinCrafter]

DS consoles didn't have a ginormous screen in the middle and until the 3DS they didn't have analog sticks either. You're also Implying that the placement of the analog stick on the 3DS is comfortable, which it isn't, but that system had different space considerations - ones that did not apply to the Switch because the thing's enormous in comparison and didn't need to be so cramped. I'm also not "overreacting", I'm just calling the controller poorly-designed from an ergonomics standpoint because that's what it is, there's a reason why no other controller uses a layout like that for no reason - if they do, it's due to space constraints or other considerations, not by choice.

whatever dude

and yes, the 3DS feels comfortable

 

[Foxi4]

That's what the PSP offered and it lagged behind the NDS. That's what the Wii U offered with its own tablet/gamepad and it failed pretty horribly too. So, I think you're right in at least that the hardware has come far enough to support a home console experience in a tablet form factor without any auxiliary equipment, horrible battery life, or any other substantial compromises. Yet it's fundamentally the software that's motivating people to buy the system.

So, yea, it's not just "Nintendo" software. It's third party developers as well. It's the developers who skipped over the Wii U for bigger consoles and avoid Android because piracy is rampant and the deployment environment doesn't promise a consistent experience. It's also the consumers who seem to think every even number Nintendo console is good.

As I said, it's a number of reasons that come together, not just the library. I would also dispute the idea that the PSP offered home console-level gaming - it purported that it did, but it most certainly did not.

You're off by like 7 years. The NDS and PSP came out in 2004. The 3DS came out in 2011 (the same year as the Vita). In comparison, the Vita sold 10-15 million. You're not wrong though that there's been a push from basically the beginning for a hybrid or simply outright portable console.

The PSP came out in December 2004, but only in Japan - the worldwide release was March 2005. It was officially discontinued in 2014, which means it was on the market worldwide for about 9-10 years during which it sold 80 million units. Really, I should be counting 9 because I'm not going to consider 2004 as a fiscal year if the system spent two weeks on the market, and only in one region - we're literally talking 11 months and two weeks into 2004. The 3DS was released in February 2011, we're half-way through 2018, it's been 7 years and we're at 72 million units. This is not heartwarming news unless Nintendo can conjure an extra 10 million units within the next year or two while the system is cannibalised by the Switch, which we both know they can't. If the two end up as a draw, that'll be an adequate result for the system and still, an indicator of a shrunken market, further underlined by the catastrophic failure of the Vita. A generation ago there were 80 million PSP's and a 154 million DS'es in the wild, totalling to 234 million portable consoles sold. This generation you have 15 million Vitas and 72 million 3DS'es, a grand total of 87 million devices, and 15 million Vitas is an optimistic estimate. You would have to be an idiot to invest in a market that shrunk by more than half within the last decade.

 

[CMDreamer]

View attachment 123706​

Kleinman says further added that his team has been in talks with Valve about Steam support and game streaming.
SOURCE

No thanks... I don't like that junk called Steam, so it's a no-no from me. Next!

Looks like it will need full time WiFi connection to work, à la Ouya. Touchè.

 

[kuwanger]

I would also dispute the idea that the PSP offered home console-level gaming - it purported that it did, but it most certainly did not.

Neither does the Switch, relatively to what actual home consoles offer today. That's almost an inherent principle of physics--you're not reasonably going to carry around a 100W+ handheld even if you had a power source to supply it because it'd be literally too hot to handle.

If the two end up as a draw, that'll be an adequate result for the system and still, an indicator of a shrunken market, further underlined by the catastrophic failure of the Vita.

Granted, it's obviously a shrunken market. That's why I was pointing out the PSP was an older generation. The point is that the total market for the 3DS + Vita is around the PSP alone.

You would have to be an idiot to invest in a market that shrunk by more than half within the last decade.

You don't have to be an idiot so long as you (1) don't plan to make games exclusively for that system--a lot of publishers are pushing to port to the Switch or releasing smaller, stand-alone games--and/or (2) your objective is primarily to make money in a market and not really dominate the field. So, I guess the real story is the success of the Switch is yet another step in the downfall of Nintendo: they're moving to corner a niche market.