By Luke Kirby
There's no arguing that the launch of the Wii U could have gone better, but Nintendo have been sitting on a mountain of gold since the early nineties and have suffered console failure before (a certain Virtual Boy springs to mind). Whilst the Wii U has proven itself to be anything but a failure in 2014, Nintendo have already set their sights on its successor, and everyone knows that they have the fortune to do it. I mean let's face it. They have enough cash to purchase a moderately-sized country, and then Sony afterwards, if they so chose to. The lifespan of the Wii U might only be a short one, but that's not going to stop Nintendo's next console from rising from the ashes...
There's no arguing that the launch of the Wii U could have gone better, but Nintendo have been sitting on a mountain of gold since the early nineties and have suffered console failure before (a certain Virtual Boy springs to mind). Whilst the Wii U has proven itself to be anything but a failure in 2014, Nintendo have already set their sights on its successor, and everyone knows that they have the fortune to do it. I mean let's face it. They have enough cash to purchase a moderately-sized country, and then Sony afterwards, if they so chose to. The lifespan of the Wii U might only be a short one, but that's not going to stop Nintendo's next console from rising from the ashes...
The man himself Miyamoto confirmed that a new home console is in the pipeline at Nintendo in an interview with Associated Press:
“Nintendo as a whole has groups working on ideas for new hardware systems… We have production lines that are working on ideas for what the next system might be.”
This is great news for any Nintendo fan, or just gamers in general, and while I love my Wii U I feel that the next piece of hardware produced needs to meet certain requirements or hit a particular standard. In light of the Wii U the main aspect being the components that are inside the hardware being at least as powerful as the competition but realistically more powerful. To do this I think Nintendo has to make a more traditional console, and by this I mean no motion-controlled Wii remote or unique touch-screen Wii U game pad. Focus on hardware that third party developers can get behind and create games for, which is really what the Wii U is lacking at the moment. This is mainly due to the lack of power the console has and the different architecture it has to the x86-based Xbox One and PlayStation 4. In an article by KitGuru they explain that there are reports citing industrial sources, all saying that Nintendo’s new hardware will be powered by AMD graphics and IBM Power general purpose processor. They state that by coupling an IBM processor with AMD graphics developers will have to write separate codes for the console unlike rival consoles using x86 processors… Although with games like Assassin's Creed: Unity it seems making their jobs easier has also made the more sloppy. It’s expected that the processor and graphics on the new Nintendo hardware will be dramatically more powerful than the current home console which is needed.
Towards the end of the article the author suggests a 2016 or 2017 release of the new home console would be a smart move for the big N. It could certainly put them in an advantage as it’s unlikely that Sony or Microsoft will be releasing anything new soon so Nintendo could produce a more powerful system in the middle of the PS4 and Xbox One’s lifespan. It could also prove disadvantageous as the Wii U was launched a whole year before either of its rivalling systems and has yet to pull up any competitive sales by comparison, save for perhaps the recent launches of both Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros.
Hardware aside, Nintendo need to incorporate a party chat system and focus more on online play and party chat, which they have done more to incorporate recently. Times are changing and they need these features as a priority if they want to be competitive in the western market. That said, there are quite a few things I’d like to see unchanged from the Wii U, starting with the user interface (UI). It’s by far the cleanest and aesthetically pleasing of all consoles out today and, with the addition of organising everything into folders, it’s about as close to perfect as I think a UI will be for a console at the moment. There’s also the quick start screen which lets you bypass the main Wii U menu for access to last used pieces of software. Being able to use Wii remotes and the game pad with the new console would also be a nice touch and more importantly would offer at least some backwards compatibility for Wii U games, which would make it unique against its competitors (which are lacking in this ability.)
“Nintendo as a whole has groups working on ideas for new hardware systems… We have production lines that are working on ideas for what the next system might be.”
This is great news for any Nintendo fan, or just gamers in general, and while I love my Wii U I feel that the next piece of hardware produced needs to meet certain requirements or hit a particular standard. In light of the Wii U the main aspect being the components that are inside the hardware being at least as powerful as the competition but realistically more powerful. To do this I think Nintendo has to make a more traditional console, and by this I mean no motion-controlled Wii remote or unique touch-screen Wii U game pad. Focus on hardware that third party developers can get behind and create games for, which is really what the Wii U is lacking at the moment. This is mainly due to the lack of power the console has and the different architecture it has to the x86-based Xbox One and PlayStation 4. In an article by KitGuru they explain that there are reports citing industrial sources, all saying that Nintendo’s new hardware will be powered by AMD graphics and IBM Power general purpose processor. They state that by coupling an IBM processor with AMD graphics developers will have to write separate codes for the console unlike rival consoles using x86 processors… Although with games like Assassin's Creed: Unity it seems making their jobs easier has also made the more sloppy. It’s expected that the processor and graphics on the new Nintendo hardware will be dramatically more powerful than the current home console which is needed.
Towards the end of the article the author suggests a 2016 or 2017 release of the new home console would be a smart move for the big N. It could certainly put them in an advantage as it’s unlikely that Sony or Microsoft will be releasing anything new soon so Nintendo could produce a more powerful system in the middle of the PS4 and Xbox One’s lifespan. It could also prove disadvantageous as the Wii U was launched a whole year before either of its rivalling systems and has yet to pull up any competitive sales by comparison, save for perhaps the recent launches of both Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros.
Hardware aside, Nintendo need to incorporate a party chat system and focus more on online play and party chat, which they have done more to incorporate recently. Times are changing and they need these features as a priority if they want to be competitive in the western market. That said, there are quite a few things I’d like to see unchanged from the Wii U, starting with the user interface (UI). It’s by far the cleanest and aesthetically pleasing of all consoles out today and, with the addition of organising everything into folders, it’s about as close to perfect as I think a UI will be for a console at the moment. There’s also the quick start screen which lets you bypass the main Wii U menu for access to last used pieces of software. Being able to use Wii remotes and the game pad with the new console would also be a nice touch and more importantly would offer at least some backwards compatibility for Wii U games, which would make it unique against its competitors (which are lacking in this ability.)
'How U will play next!'
...That's one of the Wii U's taglines in Japan...
We're two years into the Wii U's life and Nintendo are already spitballing ideas for its replacement. Do you think this is a good idea, or do you think Nintendo should invest more in making the Wii U more competitive with its western counterparts? And what do you want to see from Nintendo's next console?
Let us know in the comments below!
We're two years into the Wii U's life and Nintendo are already spitballing ideas for its replacement. Do you think this is a good idea, or do you think Nintendo should invest more in making the Wii U more competitive with its western counterparts? And what do you want to see from Nintendo's next console?
Let us know in the comments below!
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