Wii U....What are your first impressions?

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  • BinaryDadBinaryDad Posts: 3,988
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    But you have to consider what he is including in all this, he is more then likey factoring in other external costs and splitting that across the board against the total cost of the actual units, shareholders are not interested in the small detail just the overall gains and losses. There are many one off costs in developing soemthing new, R&D, marketing, advertising, the list goes on and on.
    My comments earlier are that I dont believe the physical cost of each unit to nintendo is more than they are selling it for.

    Look, it's being made at a loss. The loss isn't huge, but it's still a loss no matter how you look at it or what factors come into play. And when you think about the components in the machine and the controller, it's easy to see how the costs add up.

    This isn't simply an iteration of an old hardware design. It's something new, and as such, the manufacturing costs for now, are fairly high.
  • Black HughBlack Hugh Posts: 1,070
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    First impressions are very positive. My son's wii gave up just before Christmas and rather than buy a new one I went for the upgrade. Skylanders Giants looks great and Nintendoland is good family fun. Lovefilm works very well and the Tablet is surprisingly comfortable to use
  • BinaryDadBinaryDad Posts: 3,988
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    And I'll add; my first impression of the machine at home, were great. I really love the MiiVerse aspect of it, and I could just watch the Wara Wara screen all day.

    I'm looking forward to playing quite a few games on this over the coming months, as time allows.
  • fastest fingerfastest finger Posts: 12,862
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    My only experience of playing Wii U so far has been a quick blast on Rayman, and to be honest I wasn't that impressed. The graphics looked sharp enough, but when you ran the backgrounds blurred horribly. This was on an In-store demo unit. Has anyone experienced this at home?
  • CoolboyACoolboyA Posts: 10,447
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    My only experience of playing Wii U so far has been a quick blast on Rayman, and to be honest I wasn't that impressed. The graphics looked sharp enough, but when you ran the backgrounds blurred horribly. This was on an In-store demo unit. Has anyone experienced this at home?
    I didn't notice this when I was playing the demo. None of my other games do this either.

    The only game where the graphics are a bit of a let down is Sonic.
  • crimez83crimez83 Posts: 333
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    Mien arrived today - I feel I have spent most of the time updating and setting up (though the Wii transfer data sequence is sickeningly adorable for a simple process bar!) but I'm very impressed with what I've seen so far!
  • fastest fingerfastest finger Posts: 12,862
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    CoolboyA wrote: »
    I didn't notice this when I was playing the demo. None of my other games do this either.

    The only game where the graphics are a bit of a let down is Sonic.

    Maybe they just use crappy, blurry LCD screens in their display units then.
  • seejay01462seejay01462 Posts: 290
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    I love the Wii U so far. Nintendoland is favourite among all games at the moment! Rabbids Land is hysterical! Super Mario is awesome! Not too keen on the sports game though by Ubisoft. Hope Nintendo will bring out Wii U Sports or something similar. Can anyone tell me if there is any bad language in Zombie U or is it just the violence that gives it the 18 rating? I'd like to get it but depends on the language.
  • fastest fingerfastest finger Posts: 12,862
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    . Can anyone tell me if there is any bad language in Zombie U or is it just the violence that gives it the 18 rating? I'd like to get it but depends on the language.

    According to the PEGI rating it contains "strong language"

    http://www.pegi.info/en/index/global_id/505/?searchString=25458#searchresults
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 10,019
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    BinaryDad wrote: »
    Look, it's being made at a loss. The loss isn't huge, but it's still a loss no matter how you look at it or what factors come into play. And when you think about the components in the machine and the controller, it's easy to see how the costs add up.

    This isn't simply an iteration of an old hardware design. It's something new, and as such, the manufacturing costs for now, are fairly high.

    As I said in my earlier post it depends on what was included in that loss. No company will make a product that consistantly loose's money, the shareholders would go apeshit. The physical unit itself will not be making a loss but with any new thing you can bet R&D and the various other "one off costs" have been factored into it resulting in this "loss" that the nintendo guy is on about. My point was the physical unit is not making a loss.

    But even this "overall loss" is still no excuse for putting a below par performing battery in a unit in this day and age. The Wii never had these problems you could pick it up and play it whebever you wanted without fear of how much life the battery has left. Also when the battery light comes on the time left is very low where with the Wii when the battery meter went into the red you often still had a few hours left. I think nintendo have seriously underestimated the battery situation with the gamepad.
  • fastest fingerfastest finger Posts: 12,862
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    As I said in my earlier post it depends on what was included in that loss. No company will make a product that consistantly loose's money, the shareholders would go apeshit. The physical unit itself will not be making a loss but with any new thing you can bet R&D and the various other "one off costs" have been factored into it resulting in this "loss" that the nintendo guy is on about. My point was the physical unit is not making a loss..

    How many times? The physical unit IS making a loss.

    They don't factor in R&D costs. How can they work our R&D costs per unit when they don't know how many units they are going to sell? :rolleyes:

    They will get an overall profit margin, and all such expenses will come out of that.

    Companies do R&D that never becomes actual products all the time. It will be classed as a separate business expense. Along with salaries, stationary, hospitality, utilities, rents, rates etc etc etc.......

    I've spent years working with P&L accounts, and have had an interest in the video games market for even longer. Trust me, you're wrong.
  • BinaryDadBinaryDad Posts: 3,988
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    As I said in my earlier post it depends on what was included in that loss. No company will make a product that consistantly loose's money, the shareholders would go apeshit. The physical unit itself will not be making a loss but with any new thing you can bet R&D and the various other "one off costs" have been factored into it resulting in this "loss" that the nintendo guy is on about. My point was the physical unit is not making a loss.

    But even this "overall loss" is still no excuse for putting a below par performing battery in a unit in this day and age. The Wii never had these problems you could pick it up and play it whebever you wanted without fear of how much life the battery has left. Also when the battery light comes on the time left is very low where with the Wii when the battery meter went into the red you often still had a few hours left. I think nintendo have seriously underestimated the battery situation with the gamepad.

    The difference is; you weren't given a special battery for the Wii mote. It was just AA batteries that the user could easily replace.

    The Wii U controller, is a different beast. If you take off the battery cover, you'll find that the battery case is quite a bit bigger than the battery itself. Why is that do you think?

    I can tell you why. Because it was designed with a bigger battery in mind, and I've seen Wii U controllers with the larger battery. So the power demands of the controller were never underestimated. They were a "known thing" because working how much power something consumes is a pretty exact science.

    The smaller battery is a cost saving measure, nothing more.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 10,019
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    BinaryDad wrote: »
    The difference is; you weren't given a special battery for the Wii mote. It was just AA batteries that the user could easily replace.

    The Wii U controller, is a different beast. If you take off the battery cover, you'll find that the battery case is quite a bit bigger than the battery itself. Why is that do you think?

    I can tell you why. Because it was designed with a bigger battery in mind, and I've seen Wii U controllers with the larger battery. So the power demands of the controller were never underestimated. They were a "known thing" because working how much power something consumes is a pretty exact science.

    The smaller battery is a cost saving measure, nothing more.

    And your point is:confused:
  • BinaryDadBinaryDad Posts: 3,988
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    And your point is:confused:

    You're kidding me, right? Do you really have to have it spelled out for you?

    The larger battery compartment means that the Wii U controller was always means to have a larger battery, at the very least as an option. The smaller battery was put in as a cost saving measure; after all, why have the larger compartment?

    So it kind of knocks your little theory on the head about the unit not being manufactured at a loss. Unless you can provide some sort of evidence to the contrary?

    I understand you being skeptical, but you couldn't be more wrong about the manufacturing costs of the Wii U. It's a bit hard for me to point out why I know you're wrong and provide more evidence. Maybe I can PM you.
  • fastest fingerfastest finger Posts: 12,862
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    BinaryDad wrote: »
    It's a bit hard for me to point out why I know you're wrong and provide more evidence. Maybe I can PM you.

    I'm guessing your location is a clue?
  • SimonB79SimonB79 Posts: 3,135
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    GL will never admit she's wrong so what's the point of arguing? :confused: just agree 2 disagree guyz!!! :rolleyes: (this thread has totally gone waaaaay off topic)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,077
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    SimonB79 wrote: »
    GL will never admit she's wrong so what's the point of arguing? :confused: just agree 2 disagree guyz!!! :rolleyes: (this thread has totally gone waaaaay off topic)

    Some people on here have never heard the definition of a troll :rolleyes:
    I gave up on the Skyward Sword thread last year...:sleep:
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 673
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    I'm really not sold by the Wii U at the moment. There are not enough wii-u exclusive games and the hype for future ones isn't there yet. If they gave us some details of a Zelda/Mario (kart or 3d)/Metroid game, I'd be happy but nintendo land and new mario bros u just don't cut it for me.

    I really want a Wii U but not until we get a larger selection of games and some epic first party games.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 10,019
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    Nemokins wrote: »
    I'm really not sold by the Wii U at the moment. There are not enough wii-u exclusive games and the hype for future ones isn't there yet. If they gave us some details of a Zelda/Mario (kart or 3d)/Metroid game, I'd be happy but nintendo land and new mario bros u just don't cut it for me.

    I really want a Wii U but not until we get a larger selection of games and some epic first party games.

    I agree partly, the lauch day games were very average. I also have not seen anything graphic wise to blow me away, not seen all the games but most I have seen appear lower quality to simular games on the xbox36/ps3. Hopefully the gampad wont result in all the effort being put into gimmicks using that rather than the actul game graphics.
    I think one of a proper mario, zelda or metroid should have made a release day lauch, but nintendo took the easy route of a port of a 2D mario game but guess with their console making a "loss":rolleyes: guess there is no money in the pot to actually spend on new game development.

    But with the gamepad the console is pretty good albeit overpriced but its always the same, anyone who buys new consoles early on always end up paying extra.
    Its going to be interesting to see if we get any proper quality nintendo games this year, and lets be honest most buy nintendo hardware for those classic nintendo only specific games dont they?
  • CoolboyACoolboyA Posts: 10,447
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    Considering you could pick up the 32GB Premium bundle for only £225, compared to £150 for a standalone 12GB PS3 it's very good value for money.

    My only issue is the RRP of the games, or lack of. The prices are ridiculous in store.
  • gdjman68wasdigigdjman68wasdigi Posts: 21,705
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    i feel like this argument has been going on since xmas 2011,

    skyward sword anybody?
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,077
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    CoolboyA wrote: »
    Considering you could pick up the 32GB Premium bundle for only £225, compared to £150 for a standalone 12GB PS3 it's very good value for money.

    My only issue is the RRP of the games, or lack of. The prices are ridiculous in store.

    And on e-Shop, it's even worse!! £40 for NSMBU in store and online, but £50 as a digital download. Saw Zombi U in Sainsburys for £35, but e-Shop you pay £55.. Absolutley bonkers!! :eek:
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 10,019
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    CoolboyA wrote: »
    Considering you could pick up the 32GB Premium bundle for only £225, compared to £150 for a standalone 12GB PS3 it's very good value for money.

    My only issue is the RRP of the games, or lack of. The prices are ridiculous in store.

    Not on release day you couldn't unless your talking about buying it out of the back of a van:D
  • unclekevounclekevo Posts: 20,749
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    Not on release day you couldn't unless your talking about buying it out of the back of a van:D

    He means currently, you couldn't get the PS3 for £150 on launch day either, it'd have been a lot more expensive
  • CoolboyACoolboyA Posts: 10,447
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    redlight79 wrote: »
    And on e-Shop, it's even worse!! £40 for NSMBU in store and online, but £50 as a digital download. Saw Zombi U in Sainsburys for £35, but e-Shop you pay £55.. Absolutley bonkers!! :eek:
    The prices GAME and HMV are charging are ridiculous. £55 for ZombieU and £45 for NSMBU. Then they are charging over £300 for console bundles and not letting you buy the consoles separately...

    Is it any wonder that software sales are down 26% on last year? They just seem to keep bumping the prices up and up. A few years a go you were looking at £35 tops for a game, now that's cheap!
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