New 3DS Handhelds, Wii U Games Fuel Nintendo's Rebound

[scolaner]

Yesterday, Nintendo posted its financial report for March 2014 - December 2014, and looking over the results, the report in general is positive.

New 3DS Handhelds, Wii U Games Fuel Nintendo's Rebound : Read more

 

[FFH]

Good for Nintendo, but it really annoyed me that there are exclusive games that can only be played on the new 3DS system. Especially since I bought a 3DS last year. They also said they couldn't add an extra circle pad, but somehow added it in the new systems. I understand why they would do that because it would drive up sales. I guess I miss the old gameboy days. :/

 

[airborn824]

I hope that Metroid really is on Cryengine 3.5 like rumored. X looks great too. The only real issure with Nintendo is the online experience and lack there.

 

[coolitic]

While I would love it if metroid was on PC, that seems highly unlikely.

Still waiting for next metroid game =P

 

[SonSon1]

I hope that Metroid really is on Cryengine 3.5 like rumored. X looks great too. The only real issure with Nintendo is the online experience and lack there.

Actually, what is so enticing about Nintendo's consoles is that they are the closest thing to traditional videogame consoles that is available right now, although they do have an online component.

Seriously who in their right mind cares about sharing game time with the kind of stuff you find online, raging teenagers and keyboard commandos ruining your experience .

 

[Retrowire]

I just want that regular sized New 3DS to come over to NA. It was the only reason I would've purchased one. Not for faceplates, but for more power and portability. I have a NES Edition 3DS XL, but I would like a smaller 3DS for better on the go gaming.

 

[Ning3n]

Nintendo needs to embrace Android, and (much as I hate to say....) iOs. Rather than waste money developing "handheld console" systems against the front of MASSIVELY more capable mobile devices. Including (BUT not limited to), smartphones, tablets, and "phablets".

Nintendo is fighting a losing battle, posing their one trick "handheld console(s)" against a growing population of people spending their hard earned dollars on more capable, and more (financially) available platforms.

 

[jasonelmore]

so if america sales is much much greater than japan sales, why does america always get very delayed release dates?

that's like apple launching the iphone first in australia and then america 5 months later

 

[IInuyasha74]

@jasonelmore: Nintendo is located in Japan and seems to follow a since of patriotism with its products. It's hard to say for sure what is going on with it, but it is very common for Japan to get releases earlier, with better bonus options, better special additions with lower cost, better rewards in the programs available, etc. etc. This might be just because Nintendo America, who handles promotions and such here, is under funded relative to the Japanese branch giving them limited options, but it could also be they just do a worse job with the same funding.

The population and logistics likely plays into it also. Japan has a population of roughly 127 million, which is the entire audience for all those sales. While the sales for "Americas" at times includes the combined total of North and South America equaling roughly 1 billion people. The only time South America would be excluded is when games and platforms launch in North America before South America, which happens fairly often but regardless, they are still seeing a much larger population proportionally than they are sales. In addition there is all the difficulties of running the logistics throughout the multiple nations and the language issues to help hamper things more.

Long story short, its complicated.

 

[Jimmyboy77]

Financial report was for April 1, 2014, the beginning of the current fiscal year. The last one ended March 31, 2014, so the report was for April 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014

 

[turkey3_scratch]

I don't like the idea of a new 3DS, I'd rather have a whole new system not the same one with better hardware.

 

[Merry_Blind]

@FFH Yeah the best way to do this would be to keep the newer games compatible with the old hardware, but allow them to still make use of the newer hardware. As for the GameBoy part of your comment... Slight upgrades over a handheld generation has always been a thing. Gameboy to Gameboy Color. Gameboy Advance to Advance SP to Advance Micro. DS to DSLite to DSi/DSi XL. 3DS to 3DS XL to New 3DS/New 3DS XL. I'm puzzled as to why so many people react to this remodel as if it never happened before... What about all those smartphones that have upgrades every year?

 

[Merry_Blind]

@airborn824 There is no chance in hell that Nintendo would use Cryengine. No idea where you heard that, but it's BS. Nintendo use their proprietary engines, and if there's a Nintendo studio that are freaking geniuses in graphics techs and don't need to borrow someone's else engine, it's Retro Studios (the ones who made the Metroid Prime and recent Donkey Kong Country games)

 

[Merry_Blind]

@SonSon1 Totally agree with you. One of the reasons I got a Wii U was because I switched to gaming PC in recent years, but still craved the "console experience". The Wii U is the only one that still feels like a good old, fun, straight-forward, gaming console, rather than a social media center.

Also, people complain that Nintendo are behind in online features and hardware capabilities. Well... you can say that Microsoft and Sony are behind Nintendo in terms of local multiplayer and backwards-compatibility! What I hate about those complaints against Nintendo is that they're always one-sided arguments and rarely give credits to Nintendo where credits is due.

 

[IInuyasha74]

@SonSon1 Totally agree with you. One of the reasons I got a Wii U was because I switched to gaming PC in recent years, but still craved the "console experience". The Wii U is the only one that still feels like a good old, fun, straight-forward, gaming console, rather than a social media center.

Also, people complain that Nintendo are behind in online features and hardware capabilities. Well... you can say that Microsoft and Sony are behind Nintendo in terms of local multiplayer and backwards-compatibility! What I hate about those complaints against Nintendo is that they're always one-sided arguments and rarely give credits to Nintendo where credits is due.

Who said that Nintendo is worse with backwards compatibility??? It doesn't even make sense. The Gamecube, Wii, and Wii U all use very similar hardware for the CPU, and while the GPU has had significant change, inside of the Wii GPU, is a Gamecube GPU, and inside of the Wii U GPU is a Wii GPU, which again has a Gamecube GPU inside. For some reason, probably removal of the memory card slots, Nintendo decided not to make Wii U Gamecube compatible. However, Wii can play all Gamecube games without exception. Wii U can play all Wii games without exception. If you mod your Wii U, which is very easy to mod the Wii virtual console inside of the Wii U, it can play Gamecube games too without exception.

Long story short, it by far has the best backwards compatibility. Playstation has support for previous consoles in the initial versions of consoles, but then updated consoles lose this hardware. Xbox uses software to do backwards compatibility but only for certain games. Its crazy to think either have better backwards compatibility.

I completely agree about the Wii U feeling better as a purchase than the others, partially because most games on the others come to PC, Nintendo's best games are only on Nintendo. I wish the Wii U had some more media-center like features, for example I would love it if I could watch a DVD inside of it or off my flash drive, but that doesn't hurt it enough to make it fall behind the others to me.

 

[Merry_Blind]

@IInuyasha74 LMAO I think you should re-read my comment because you've obviously completely misread it hahaha

Hint* Hint* Here's where you failed (I'm just teasing you btw, you getting mad is not my intention):

"Well...you can say that Microsoft and Sony are behind Nintendo in terms of local multiplayer and backwards-compatibility"

Meaning that Nintendo have MUCH BETTER retro-compatibility and local multiplayer than both Microsoft and Sony.

As for wanting more media stuff implemented in Nintendo systems. I don't think it should be the case. What I like about my Wii U is the fact it's not trying to be anything else than a GAMING console.

Cheers mate!

 

[IInuyasha74]

@IInuyasha74 LMAO I think you should re-read my comment because you've obviously completely misread it hahaha

Hint* Hint* Here's where you failed (I'm just teasing you btw, you getting mad is not my intention):

"Well...you can say that Microsoft and Sony are behind Nintendo in terms of local multiplayer and backwards-compatibility"

Meaning that Nintendo have MUCH BETTER retro-compatibility and local multiplayer than both Microsoft and Sony.

As for wanting more media stuff implemented in Nintendo systems. I don't think it should be the case. What I like about my Wii U is the fact it's not trying to be anything else than a GAMING console.

Cheers mate!

lol no no I'm not mad, in fact I know you are saying others are wrong to think that Xbox and Sony have better compatibility, I just kinda went on a tangent cause the idea is so crazy I was amazed to hear people thought that. So we are in agreement, I was just amazed to hear that there were others who would argue the opposite.

For the additional features, I get what you are saying, I really do but I am just a bit more in the middle. I don't need or really want all the social networking stuff, news outlet, various other functions, etc. The limit to what I desire is DVD and video play back off a USB. Give me that, and I'd be happy basically if they pulled all other media center and socializing apps on there.

 

[MyDocuments]

I like Nintendo, love Zelda and recently bought the Windwaker pack with the extra scribbles on the touchscreen controller (I've no idea if there's any mesage to translate there - it's all written in a kind of Hyrule script much as on the opening screen of Windwaker)... and hopefully I will still be able to await the new Zelda this year, without some other special edition Zelda console turning up (money's tight at the moment). Also, the Skyward Sword golden Motion-Plus Wii controller goes nicely with the art-style of the Windwaker Wii-U so all in all I'm happy with the current state of events.
I'd have to agree with the above comments, it certainly does feel like a solid gaming(-only) console.

 

[Merry_Blind]

@IInuyasha74 LMAO I think you should re-read my comment because you've obviously completely misread it hahaha

Hint* Hint* Here's where you failed (I'm just teasing you btw, you getting mad is not my intention):

"Well...you can say that Microsoft and Sony are behind Nintendo in terms of local multiplayer and backwards-compatibility"

Meaning that Nintendo have MUCH BETTER retro-compatibility and local multiplayer than both Microsoft and Sony.

As for wanting more media stuff implemented in Nintendo systems. I don't think it should be the case. What I like about my Wii U is the fact it's not trying to be anything else than a GAMING console.

Cheers mate!

lol no no I'm not mad, in fact I know you are saying others are wrong to think that Xbox and Sony have better compatibility, I just kinda went on a tangent cause the idea is so crazy I was amazed to hear people thought that. So we are in agreement, I was just amazed to hear that there were others who would argue the opposite.

For the additional features, I get what you are saying, I really do but I am just a bit more in the middle. I don't need or really want all the social networking stuff, news outlet, various other functions, etc. The limit to what I desire is DVD and video play back off a USB. Give me that, and I'd be happy basically if they pulled all other media center and socializing apps on there.

Oh okok I understand. Don't worry, I doubt anyone dares to say that Sony and Microsoft are better at retro-compatibility. What I meant is that people omit that kind of details about Nintendo. So many people complain that Nintendo are behind, that they have less features than the others blah blah blah blah, but they never consider the features that Nintendo actually do have over the others. Such as incredibly fun local multiplayer in most of their games, and excellent retro-compatibility.

A similar thing happens concerning graphics for example. People complain the Wii U is not as powerful as PS4 and X1, well DUH it's cheaper. Not only is it cheaper, but it has a very expensive controller bundled in too. OF COURSE it's not as powerful... Same thing applies to 3DS. "It's so much weaker than my smartphone" WELL DUH your smartphone is like 3 times the price and runs all kind of stuff in the background so it better be more powerful, and it HAS to be more powerful.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

@IInuyasha74 LMAO I think you should re-read my comment because you've obviously completely misread it hahaha

Hint* Hint* Here's where you failed (I'm just teasing you btw, you getting mad is not my intention):

"Well...you can say that Microsoft and Sony are behind Nintendo in terms of local multiplayer and backwards-compatibility"

Meaning that Nintendo have MUCH BETTER retro-compatibility and local multiplayer than both Microsoft and Sony.

As for wanting more media stuff implemented in Nintendo systems. I don't think it should be the case. What I like about my Wii U is the fact it's not trying to be anything else than a GAMING console.

Cheers mate!

lol no no I'm not mad, in fact I know you are saying others are wrong to think that Xbox and Sony have better compatibility, I just kinda went on a tangent cause the idea is so crazy I was amazed to hear people thought that. So we are in agreement, I was just amazed to hear that there were others who would argue the opposite.

For the additional features, I get what you are saying, I really do but I am just a bit more in the middle. I don't need or really want all the social networking stuff, news outlet, various other functions, etc. The limit to what I desire is DVD and video play back off a USB. Give me that, and I'd be happy basically if they pulled all other media center and socializing apps on there.

Oh okok I understand. Don't worry, I doubt anyone dares to say that Sony and Microsoft are better at retro-compatibility. What I meant is that people omit that kind of details about Nintendo. So many people complain that Nintendo are behind, that they have less features than the others blah blah blah blah, but they never consider the features that Nintendo actually do have over the others. Such as incredibly fun local multiplayer in most of their games, and excellent retro-compatibility.

A similar thing happens concerning graphics for example. People complain the Wii U is not as powerful as PS4 and X1, well DUH it's cheaper. Not only is it cheaper, but it has a very expensive controller bundled in too. OF COURSE it's not as powerful... Same thing applies to 3DS. "It's so much weaker than my smartphone" WELL DUH your smartphone is like 3 times the price and runs all kind of stuff in the background so it better be more powerful, and it HAS to be more powerful.

If they design the graphics well enough and efficiently enough with a great engine it can surpass Xbox One and PS4. Wii U's Mario Kart 8 looks plain-out fantastic 60FPS. Also many Wii U games are 1080p Xbox One and PS4 are not.

 

[Merry_Blind]

@turkey3_scratch

Indeed! I game on PC too obviously since I come to Tom's Hardware, and even then, most Wii U exclusives really impress me! Most are rock-solid 60fps too! I wouldn't say "many" are 1080p, but yes there are a couple like Wind Waker HD and Smash Bros., both look amazing of course.

Nintendo developers really know how to make the most out of their hardware, and their art direction is as amazing as ever.

 

[IInuyasha74]

Yes I am with both of you on the games. Basically any games that come out you can play on PC, the biggest exceptions are Halo which is rolling down hill at this point, The Last of Us and maybe one or two other Playstation titles, then a dozen Wii U games, and thats just counting the Wii U exclusives I actually want to play and are already out. There are more I have no interest in that are already out and coming out soon.

Really on the game side of things anyone who takes the time to examine it will see Nintendo has a huge advantage.

I do wish they would do better with hardware though. I've done enough reading and examinations of it to know its not ungodly weak. It should be overall faster than the Xbox 360 and PS3, but there are still some things they could do to really improve performance. The biggest problem I have with it is that all functions excluding games aren't run on the triple-core IBM CPU. Everything, except games, runs on an ARM CPU similar to whats on the Rhasberry Pi. When gaming this is great cause the ARM CPU can still run basically everything else, but I wish they would have updated to a more modern ARM CPU. The boot time and time loading anything except games just takes way too long for my liking.

The main CPU for games though isn't really an issue when it comes to doing games, its super-short pipelined, runs at 1.24Ghz so it should get a lot done. Plus the Wii U has co-processors for the cache, and DSPs for audio, so that helps too. I do wish they would of sprang for 28nm lithography because that would of let them boost it probably to about 1.5Ghz on the same power, and it would be way faster than the older systems then, but its not bad as it sits.