Pick a song not from a video game. What game console, handheld or home computer comes to mind first?

Roger Miller - Engine, Engine No. 9

The Wii U.
Thing could not even get companies to port a single then relevant engine to it. Hilarious.

 

Imagine if instead of the Wii, the Wii U was Nintendo's new system after the GameCube to directly compete with the PS3 and 360. It would have almost certainly been a completely different success story for the system (not that the Wii needed a substitution to be successful, but it's hard not to see how much better the Wii U would have done if it actually were directly competing with the systems it's just about as powerful as with the unique at the time features of optional motion control and the GamePad controller).

Of course it would have almost certainly cost more than the other guys (well maybe not the launch prices of the PS3, but it'd probably have been up there for the time, especially with including the controller with the screen), and naturally it wouldn't have had the vWii since the Wii never happened, but maybe instead they'd have made it natively compatible with GameCube discs for backwards compatibility).

 

I don't know.
While the gamecube was not as atrocious a failure as the N64 they were not exactly flying high and well beloved by game devs and gamers at large.
Cost per unit would likely not have been that low.
Processor would still have been junk (360 and PS3 might have both been powerpc as well but the former was a solid workhorse and while the latter was odd it was never the less extremely potent it you could tame it).
Internal storage probably still wanting (though compared to PS360 then maybe)
Online services would have been junk. Not a great problem for me but online was a somewhat popular thing during all this. Whether they would have continued to give it away for free I don't know. Maybe though.
Most devs used to the sorts of investments warranted for mid tier games if doing basic game development would have had very little else to look at.
Motion control was a gimmick and while secret information is a great concept in games (see most of PC multiplayer, or more pure examples in tabletop efforts) I am still not predicting much would have happened.

I would have been an interesting time had they decided to once more try to rock up with some power enough to go head to head but I doubt we would be seeing some kind of Nintendo domination or industry leading efforts (which for home consoles has not really been since the SNES at this point).

 

Reference to Nintendo in general.

 

Well flying high has little to do with the success of the next system. Gamecube flew low, Wii flew high, Wii U flew low, Switch flies high. If anything the pattern seems to illustrate that the system to followup the GameCube was destined to be a success. Of course I don't think the success of the previous system makes much of any difference in this regard, so I give that thought very little credence in any direction.

Online would be junk, but its junk on Switch too, and that system is still quite a success. At the end of the day it's gonna be the games that matter most, and I have to imagine a LOT more of those third party games at the time would have come to the Wii U and not in the compromised state that any multiplat third party games that the Wii typically saw.

At the very least it would certainly have sold better, I have little doubt about that.

 

I was thinking more nobody was excited to be working with Nintendo (the exodus for the PS1 when Sony did not lord if over its devs, and arguably Sega before them to a lesser extent, being nice examples) and the gamer public at large was none too excited either (Mario Kart is fun for as long as other devs seem to hold it up as a gold standard rather than trying to beat it like they used to, first party CPR though...).
Wii flew high but on the back of those wanting a second console and an unexpected market (granted they will claim they were pursuing it and all signs point to that being true) that did not deliver in the long term -- game sales for such things, and later year game droughts, tending to bear that one out, made more palatable for some devs by the virtue of them being able to crank out the games for far less than those competing with COD on the PS360 for reasons known only to them.
Switch I am not seeing lead us to the land of milk and honey either, be it in general or as a thing to bring me new and interesting things. If the PS4 and xbone had not been as stunted and weak as they were (not entirely sure what happened for that one) then even worse.

Online did not have to be junk. Nintendo have a lot of money and no real legacy support to worry about and online is a known and largely solved problem. If games matter then online was the mantra of the day, sucks for me but hard to argue it was not driving force there. Would have been interesting to see the PS3 vs 360 vs PC debate meaningfully include the Wii save for those few that seemed to actually enjoy COD on it for not entirely bad reasons but nobody really considering it a viable substitute like it might have been in the "what version of soul calibur do I get?" in the generation prior.

As far as third parties I do fear you are underestimating the awfulness of the Wii U processor vs what was available for the PS360.

 

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EDIT: lol how to embed youtube like the cool kids?

 

Dragostea Din Tei makes me think of GBA. Probably because they were relevant around the same time...

— Posts automatically merged - Please don't double post! —

Commodore? That's an interesting one!

 

I mean the PS3 was apparently a nightmare to develop for, yet it saw just about every third party game that the 360 did. I think the fact is, if the system sold, the devs would find a way, if developing for the PS3 is anything to go by. And I didn't say online had to be junk, I just said it IS junk for the Switch and that system still sells great, clearly great or bad internet services does not mean your system is guaranteed to be a success or not. Again, I stand by my point, if the Wii U launched at that time it would have been a bigger success than it was. Keep in mind the Wii U still packs support for Wiimotes, so that motion control boom was likely to still happen for Nintendo regardless, especially if they had still included Wii Sports (preferably Wii Sports Club in this alt reality, but you get my point).

 

This song really reminds me of Silence from the F-Zero on SNES.

EDIT: Oh shit...what console it reminds you of...uh...

...I'll have to get back with you on that after I'm done with my 10 hour work day....

 

Abba - Dancing Queen. The console it made me think of was a Pong cabinet console.

 

"Popcorn.mod" playing on my Dad's Amiga 2500 in 1998.

 

EDITED.

 

Gameboy Advance SP Blue Edition - song