Wii HD

[Comrade]

I find this very interesting - specifically, that IGN are pushing a collection of unsubstantiated rumours and speculation so hard. Being wary of IGN's journalistic standards, what this suggests to me is that they're extremely desperate for traffic. Perhaps there's a sudden impetus for Murdoch-owned web properties to prove their value?

Also, they're not fussed about patronising their readers:

Scott Lowe's logic can be picked apart trivially easily. If they did have some 'deep throat' giving them information (from across the whole organisation, supposedly, from R&D to developer relations to manufacturing), Nintendo would be firing off cease and desists, not declining to comment. If the mole was at a third party, there'd be an even bigger shitstorm.

Can you imagine a legitimate journalist putting their reputation on the line for a rumour, and asking you to just trust them? This suggests to me that Scott Lowe, 'Executive Editor', doesn't have anything riding on this. They're probably a marketing department wonk. Or just a freewheeling tit. If this all turns out to be a load of bullshit, they can just make up some excuse about their information being from 'early in the design process' and stroll off to another dept. of IGN to work their 'empowering the community' traffic-building magic again.

The fact that multiple articles from multiple authors at IGN have covered this (with 'artist renders' etc.) suggest that there's been a strategic decision to present their narrative as fact. (And perhaps there are some nuggets of truth floating around in the bullshit stew - 'Nintendo are planning to unveil a new console' and 'developers have been shown/given dev kits/target specs' are fairly safe things to speculate - although the entire 'screens on controllers' thing is preceded by so many laughably obvious fakes and makes so little sense that I seriously doubt it.)

I think IGN are desperate for their own version of Gawker's stolen iPhone 4 media circus, and games journalism is being dragged through the gutter (once again) as a result.

Hmm, not looking too good.

[Oh Danny Boy]

i hate touch screens and the fact that since the DS everthing has had to have one; handhelds, mp3 players, mobile phones, pc's. Fuck off and keep your touch screens away from my home consoles

[Pikkewyn]

Sounds awful. I'll pass.

[Harsin]

Have fun until the end of 2012 Wii owners, you think Nintendo neglected it this year...

[Comrade]

Gah, I'm out. Fuck it with your control gimmicks and start making decent consoles again, pleeease. I want to play mario and zelda again

If only the Wii was home to the best Mario game...

[Oh Danny Boy]

If only the Wii was home to the best Mario game...

if only. Too bad it ain't a snes then

[scottcr]

I'm really confused

This has to be seen to be understood...

A 6" touchscreen is fucking huge especially when you add sticks and buttons

Assuming they'll have a killer app game to show it off - probably from Retro and probably starfox related

[Not Thread Owner]

Who said anything about sticks and buttons?

[___]

If only the Wii was home to the best Mario game...

Isn't it home to (just about) all the console Mario games?

Nintendo will doubtless come up with games which make interesting use of whatever the hell hardware they're releasing, but I'll be sad to see the bestest control method for console FPS go if that's it for the pointer

[Roboplegic Wrongcock]

Sounds interesting...

Can't wait to see this controller.

[SMD]

Sounds interesting...

Can't wait to see this controller.

And seemingly it can't wait to see you.

[scottcr]

Isn't it home to (just about) all the console Mario games?

Nintendo will doubtless come up with games which make interesting use of whatever the hell hardware they're releasing, but I'll be sad to see the bestest control method for console FPS go if that's it for the pointer

portability and 3rd party support is, apparently, a key consideration of the thing. It's going to have sticks and buttons.

If it's a touch pad only

I WILL KILL MYSELF*

*(not really)

[Paulando]

Who said anything about sticks and buttons?

Using a touch screen without looking at it, for anything other than one input at a time, is pretty impossible.

[Alex W.]

Optional controller. I'm calling it.

[barkbat]

Yah, I think this is to be used alongside the wiimote and nunchuck, like a souped up classic controller, and carve out its own series of games. Wii franchises will continue on Cafe, but be clearly indicated as for use with wiimote, perhaps even have different packaging and colour schemes. Screen games will have their own branding and require the screen controller. I wouldn't be surprised if Wii stuff is white, and generally harking back to the Wii generation of fun familly sports and fitness stuff, while Screen stuff is black and 'edgier' and more 'hardcore'.

I guess nintendo R&D ran out of viable ideas for the Wiimote, and realised the casual market was saturated with games aping the same old mechanics, so now we have a screen controller to play with as well.

[Major Britten]

Im sure Nintendo will have some games that uses the unique controller perfectly but the problem will be with 3rd parties. To be honest even if this thing is more powerful than the 360/PS3 I doubt 3rd parties will even bother with it, it will be like the Gamecube all over again. And those that do port their games to the system wont bother to make any use of the unique features for the system.

[barkbat]

Actually, having thought about it some, I don't think the wiimote is going to play a major role at all - it would be too confusing for the consumer, and make the screen controller seem niche rather than a core component of the new console.

Seeing as E3 is a few days away, I'm going for a full on prediction post.

The fact that the screens are 6", far larger than the DS screens, makes me think this will be the primary screen of the console, with the TV a lavish expansion for those playing alone or online.

The name of the dev kit is cafe, and I think the USP will be social gaming - games built for four players to play on four seperate controllers.

The obvious precursor to this console is the Gamecube/GBA link, and the game Zelda Four Swords, which was apparently fantastic but ignored due to the complexity of buying all the components. I also think the Ipad succesfully positioning itself as a living room appliance exclusive of a TV or monitor, but capable of suppling the content of both, has given nintendo the green light for this.

The console will be called Nintendo Four Screen, and come with four controllers. Every game tailored for the system will have strong multiplayer bias, and where you cannot find real life players to play with, you will be encouraged to go online and find people.

As well as the classic four-player competitive play we are used to in say Mario Kart, Nitendo will be taking a leaf out of Valve's book with games like L4D - games where nuanced player co-operation is key, and where players may even control enemies, environments, or game rules to help or hinder other players. Many games will have single-player components that compliment the main event of multi-player games - things like track builing for racing games, basic level editing software, avatar creators. These will primarily use the controller screen as a touchpad for the TV, aping a laptop style interface for detailed manipulation. There will be ways of uploading this to online communties hosted by nintendo servers.

With all this in mind, I predict the following launch games.

New Super Mario Bros.

Zelda - Four Swords Redux

F-Zero

Mario Kart

Mario Artist/Animation software

Pikmin

Left 4 Dead or similar

Animal Crossing

[Oh Danny Boy]

With all this in mind, I predict the following launch games.

New Super Mario Bros.

Zelda - Four Swords Redux

F-Zero

Mario Kart

Mario Artist/Animation software

Pikmin

Left 4 Dead or similar

Animal Crossing

you've forgotten nintendo's recent history of launch line ups which mean the following is more likely:

-touch sports (or cafe sports or wii sports 2)

-another monkeyball game (cheers SEGA)

-random half arsed ports of a third party 360/ps3 games with gimicky touch controls thrown in (swipe screen to make Lara scratch her butt!)

-something for the fanboys to lap up but its just basically a port or update from another format (aka twilight princess, mario 64 DS and pilotwings 3DS)

[Major Britten]

Optional controller. I'm calling it.

I agree with this but in a different way, it will be vital for some games but most (3rd party games at least) wont need the touchscreen. In fact thinking more about it, one way it could work is the controller being split into three parts, two parts are like the wiimote and nunchuck (but this time being completely wireless) which would then be able to clip onto the sides of the 6" screen transforming that into a touchscreen controller. This would cut down on the cost of additional controllers for people who dont want the touchscreen as well as keep third parties and gamers happy by having a familiar control setup for people used to the Wii setup, it would also allow Nintendo to have their new innovative controller for the games that will use it.

This makes the most sense imo as EDGE said about the new controller having a more accurate pointer than the PS Move.

[Major Britten]

As for games, one game I would bet some bollocks on making an appearance would be a new Smash Bros game, although this time it could be without any major involvement of Sakurai. Nintendo has shown off/announced a Smash Bros game for the Gamecube and Wii when both of those consoles were first shown in public, the series is a perfect demonstration of their new hardware, perhaps even more so than a new Mario game.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Go on, Nintendo ... Alienate me a bit more.

[Cyhwuhx]

None of those words even slightly rhyme with Wii though.

Beem kind of means the same though. That is, if you add 'of piss' to it.

[Massive Invisible Dog]

It's Stream.

[Massive Invisible Dog]

Optional controller. I'm calling it.

You're going to be wrong. Why would they do that? If anything the optional controller will be the Wii remote.

[mogawoods]

It really does sound shit, doesn't it? I hope so much that it turns out to be amazing ... somehow.

[Massive Invisible Dog]

It sounds like a powerful Nintendo console with a controller that's relatively normal in terms of inputs but also has a big touch screen.

[Ketchup]

Why bother releasing the 3ds if you can take this controller and play it outside? Either it streams aka psp or it has it's own graphic chip. Neither of which make much sense.

[Avuncular]

Why bother releasing the 3ds if you can take this controller and play it outside? Either it streams aka psp or it has it's own graphic chip. Neither of which make much sense.

It won't be 3D.

[Harsin]

Thing is Nintendo never ever sell hardware at a loss (usually have a pretty hefty markup in fact). I dread to think how much this thing is going to cost.

[mogawoods]

Thing is Nintendo never ever sell hardware at a loss (usually have a pretty hefty markup in fact). I dread to think how much this thing is going to cost.

Well, if it's not much more powerful than a 360 ... presumably it won't cost much more than a 360. Unless you mean OMG SCREENS ON THE CONTROLLERS IT'S GOING TO COST TWO HUNDRED POUNDS PER PAD.

I'm sure they've learned from the rather awful 3DS launch that a reasonable price is important, no matter how hyped people are by a fancy new system.