The 'Other' Wii U Thread

[Caris]

Haha I was waiting for something like that.

[Captain Falcon]

Oh. I thought there was some disadvantage the premium had over the basic.

 

It has two disadvantages - it's £50 more expensive and it comes with NintendoLand.

[Happenstance]

Do you still get that money off scheme through the eshop if you buy the premium?

[Captain Falcon]

Do you still get that money off scheme through the eshop if you buy the premium?

 

You do get the discount thing but it's not as great as it sounds in reality.

 

First, you collect points on purchases and only when you reach a certain threshold can you redeem them for a £5 voucher toward your next purchase. So if you don't hit the limit, you won't get anything back and the same goes for amounts over the threshold that never reach it a second time.

 

Second, it's not the 10% they first claimed but is closer to 8% meaning you have to spend £60 before you see something back.

 

Of course, you can argue point two isn't so bad because the games are full retail price on the eShop to help you get there faster. Of course that still means spending a lot more than games can be picked up for at retailers - £50 in the eShop and still not enough for a reward or £35 in store is not a difficult choice for many.

 

The final point is that there isn't much on the eShop really that necessitates you get it from there. Also, given the game sizes, even with the Premium unit, you will need a seperate HDD sooner rather than later. Lego City, for example, is too big to fit onto the system storage on Premium even with nothing else on there.

 

The promotion is only set to run until the end of this year - whether they will extend it is unknown.

 

 

It sounds good but when you break it down, the incentive is incredibly minimal to all but the people who can afford to waste money on the most expensive way to enjoy their pastime anyway.

Edited May 3, 2013 by Captain Falcon

[Happenstance]

Yeah I think I only bought one game from the eShop when I still had my Wii U and I doubt I would have ever spent enough to be able to use the discount.

 

I guess the other 2 things you get with the premium are the regular and charging stands.

[Captain Falcon]

I guess the other 2 things you get with the premium are the regular and charging stands.

 

And in the UK, you also get the Wii Remote Sensor Bar. It comes with both SKUs in the US but only our Premium version has it.

[Serebii]

You do get the discount thing but it's not as great as it sounds in reality.

 

First, you collect points on purchases and only when you reach a certain threshold can you redeem them for a £5 voucher toward your next purchase. So if you don't hit the limit, you won't get anything back and the same goes for amounts over the threshold that never reach it a second time.

 

Second, it's not the 10% they first claimed but is closer to 8% meaning you have to spend £60 before you see something back.

 

Of course, you can argue point two isn't so bad because the games are full retail price on the eShop to help you get there faster. Of course that still means spending a lot more than games can be picked up for at retailers - £50 in the eShop and still not enough for a reward or £35 in store is not a difficult choice for many.

 

The final point is that there isn't much on the eShop really that necessitates you get it from there. Also, given the game sizes, even with the Premium unit, you will need a seperate HDD sooner rather than later. Lego City, for example, is too big to fit onto the system storage on Premium even with nothing else on there.

 

The promotion is only set to run until the end of this year - whether they will extend it is unknown.

 

 

It sounds good but when you break it down, the incentive is incredibly minimal to all but the people who can afford to waste money on the most expensive way to enjoy their pastime anyway.

To clarify, the 10% is always pre-tax. However, unlike America, our prices are post-tax, so we get 10%'d on the amount that isn't VAT.

 

It's also noteworthy that the money back isn't just for games, but for DLC and everything as well so we'll get it for every game that has DLC, including third party games which go crazy with it.

[Kav]

To clarify, the 10% is always pre-tax. However, unlike America, our prices are post-tax, so we get 10%'d on the amount that isn't VAT.

 

It's also noteworthy that the money back isn't just for games, but for DLC and everything as well so we'll get it for every game that has DLC, including third party games which go crazy with it.

 

Crazy on other consoles, not so much on Nintendo ones... I don't see any Black Ops 2 DLC on WiiU.

[Jimbob]

32gb HDD for the WiiU is shocking to say the least, but the 360 at launch came with 20gb HDD before the various upgrades to the memory. Ninty should really have made the 32gb one the basic and something like 100gb (maybe higher) as a premium model.

 

I've not downloaded anything since the WiiU stupidly large update (got my Wii stuff on an SD card) but i can see myself getting a large HDD by years end.

[Serebii]

Crazy on other consoles, not so much on Nintendo ones... I don't see any Black Ops 2 DLC on WiiU.

Black Ops 2 was done without them seemingly have received the DLC infrastructure. Assassin's Creed 3 and numerous others have it in though

[Captain Falcon]

Black Ops 2 was done without them seemingly have received the DLC infrastructure. Assassin's Creed 3 and numerous others have it in though

 

The entire Wii U library isn't even worthy of being called numerous, let alone the pitiful amount of games that support DLC.

 

That could very well change in the future of course, even if the odds are against it, but it certainly isn't the case right now and to claim otherwise only serves to undermine any genuine points you may be making.

 

Which companies have been big suppliers of DLC over the years? Activision, EA, Bethesda, Take 2 and Capcom. EA aren't supporting the machine and neither are Bethesda. Take 2 have been very quiet and none of their studios devs are speaking up for the machine. Activison have their doubts and Capcom seamingly have no intention of porting anything already in development to the machine outside a handful of small projects and not those likely to see massive amounts of DLC - I believe RE:R is due some but one doesn't constitute many. Projects that are already on the slow down as the console generation transition takes effect.

 

If you want to keep the blinkers on, there is another thread for that - the whole purpose of this thread was to escape such nonesense.

 

32gb HDD for the WiiU is shocking to say the least, but the 360 at launch came with 20gb HDD before the various upgrades to the memory. Ninty should really have made the 32gb one the basic and something like 100gb (maybe higher) as a premium model.

 

I've not downloaded anything since the WiiU stupidly large update (got my Wii stuff on an SD card) but i can see myself getting a large HDD by years end.

 

And it launched over seven years ago when 20GB was a) considered a lot, b) expensive, and c) before the downloadable content had anywhere near the level of content/maturity it has today. It was a lifetime ago in the technology world which explains why Nintendo has only just reached that point.

 

The real difference of course is that storage for flash devices starts off cheap but increases in cost quite rapidly as you want more. A traditonal harddrive with a motor cost more to produce but don't scale as much with size. 100GB of flash drive space would have been a bit expensive. Really, they should never have had a machine with 8GB as it's a bit of a urine take in todays market. At least you don't have to use a propriety storage device, so points there I guess.

[Rowan]

Alex Navarro (Giant Bomb) has written an article about some of his feelings and expectations for E3. He talks about all 3 major companies but I wanted to highlight his thoughts on Nintendo as he's managed to summarise completely my current thoughts on the Wii U. Obviously after the Nintendo Direct I hope I have a reason to buy a Wii U.

 

http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/the-guns-of-navarro-let-the-games-begin/1100-4653/

[dwarf]

Heralded as game of the generation by some, Super Mario Galaxy actually left me feeling a little jaded. Some of the levels were indeed fantastic, majestic in moments even, but many of them were too simplified and failed to take the gravity mechanic to the places it did in my imagination before the game was out. The scale of the worlds was cosmetic; there weren't any incredible mountain-scaling missions or deep ocean dives of the likes we saw in 64 or Sunshine, its ambition was tempered. However, I can't criticise it on the grounds that it didn't provide an evolution to the series. Galaxy 2 tweaked a couple of things and raised the difficulty which the original was much in need of, so that's all fine and dandy. Those two games thoroughly deserved recognition. Progression is what we're looking for.

 

So can someone explain to me why Super Mario 3D World was green-lighted?

 

I'd like the think the designers behind the non-Fludd levels in Sunshine are still employed by Nintendo. I really would.

[drahkon]

So can someone explain to me why Super Mario 3D World was green-lighted?

 

It's easy money.

 

I'd like the think the designers behind the non-Fludd levels in Sunshine are still employed by Nintendo.

 

You are not alone, Sir.

 

Starts at 2 minutes.

 

I would gladly pay 60€ for a game that consists solely of levels like this one.

No enemies, no time limit. Just pure, unadulterated platforming.

[Agent Gibbs]

I might have to play sunshine on my dolphin emulator tonight now after that, such an awesome game

[Hero-of-Time]

It's easy money.

 

Pretty much.

 

It's the same reason why they churn out the NSMB games. 3D Land sold stupidly well on the 3DS, which is why they are probably going this route rather than the Galaxy one.

 

Shame really. I did enjoy 3D Land but it wasn't even close to being the same game as Mario Galaxy 1 or 2.

[Nolan]

And it launched over seven years ago when 20GB was a) considered a lot, b) expensive, and c) before the downloadable content had anywhere near the level of content/maturity it has today. It was a lifetime ago in the technology world which explains why Nintendo has only just reached that point.

 

The real difference of course is that storage for flash devices starts off cheap but increases in cost quite rapidly as you want more. A traditonal harddrive with a motor cost more to produce but don't scale as much with size. 100GB of flash drive space would have been a bit expensive. Really, they should never have had a machine with 8GB as it's a bit of a urine take in todays market. At least you don't have to use a propriety storage device, so points there I guess.

 

20GB was not a lot 7 years ago or expensive. http://www.anandtech.com/show/1866

They list a WD drive as 250GB for $109. $0.43/GB

 

So yes, they were more (1TB is less now...) expensive 7 years ago but MS just liked to gouge on their proprietary drive.

 

As for Flash memory, a 128GB SD card can be had off of Newegg for $80. $0.60/GB They're not that expensive either, Nintendo has no excuse for their console having such low storage space. Especially considering the fact that products sold to consumers are marked up comparatively.

[madeinbeats]

20GB was not a lot 7 years ago or expensive. http://www.anandtech.com/show/1866

They list a WD drive as 250GB for $109. $0.43/GB

 

So yes, they were more (1TB is less now...) expensive 7 years ago but MS just liked to gouge on their proprietary drive.

 

As for Flash memory, a 128GB SD card can be had off of Newegg for $80. $0.60/GB They're not that expensive either, Nintendo has no excuse for their console having such low storage space. Especially considering the fact that products sold to consumers are marked up comparatively.

 

An SD card isn't an SSD drive. SD cards aren't made for a constant stream of read/write commands without dying quickly. SSDs aren't cheap.

[Nolan]

An SD card isn't an SSD drive. SD cards aren't made for a constant stream of read/write commands without dying quickly. SSDs aren't cheap.

 

Yeah, which is why no Console uses SSDs (though they are finally around the $1/GB point) Wii U uses standard Flash memory to my knowledge which is why I talked about SD cards.

 

But you know what, just for the fun of it I'll humor you.

120GB Samsung SSD $99. $0.83/GB

 

More expensive yes, drastically so compared to a large SD card, no. In fact most 128GB SD cards tend to be closer to $100 themselves.

[madeinbeats]

SSD is a flash memory, it isn't the same though. For the very same reason Nintendo tell you on their website not to use memory sticks or memory cards plugged into a USB reader, because their life is very finite after a certain number of read/write cycles.

[drahkon]

Super Mario Sunshine. Those 'secret' levels...let me say it again: These were amazing.

 

 

I mean, just look at it. Beautiful.

 

But no, we need 4 player 'co-op'.

[Cube]

Super Mario Sunshine. Those 'secret' levels...let me say it again: These were amazing.

 

We got more than enough linear Mario in Galaxy and Galaxy 2.

 

We needed a return to the Super Mario 64 style.

[Nolan]

SSD is a flash memory, it isn't the same though. For the very same reason Nintendo tell you on their website not to use memory sticks or memory cards plugged into a USB reader, because their life is very finite after a certain number of read/write cycles.

 

Yes, I know all that, but thanks!

[madeinbeats]

Yes, I know all that, but thanks!

 

Righty-o...

[drahkon]

We got more than enough linear Mario in Galaxy and Galaxy 2.

 

"We" as in 'the majority of gamers'; I know.

I want more of those amazing stages, though.

Lock away this 'co-op' crap,

Don't dress up like a silly cat.

 

No idea, why this had to rhyme,

but I think Nintendo's committing a crime.