Today while skydiving something struck me, why did Nintendo make low power consumption such a high priority for the Wii U?  The Wii U runs at or under 33 watts even while in game & while reading off of a high capacity optical drive?  Why make low power consumption so important?

  Another question, why did Nintendo recently merge their home console and portable divisions?

  I did a quick bit of research & learned that most laptops consume 2-3 times the wattage of a Wii U, so even if the Wii U also needed to power two screens with a battery the power draw would still be lower then your average laptop.  If they removed the disk drive & made an eShop only model with no optical drive the power consumption could go even lower.

HDMI out as well as bluetouth for Wiimotes & an AC adaptor for optional home use could make it a true home and portable system.

  Could this be Nintendo's secret strategy to keep the Wii U relevant when the next generation really gears up?

Thoughts?

Why wouldn't they just keep it the same but have it work over wifi? Sounds cheaper.

Also Sony is expected to do PS4 streaming to Vita so if true we are in for a very interesting handheld market.

Do you mean like cloud gaming but having the console at home steaming to the Wifi enabled Wii U Gamepad on the go?  That's interesting, but you would need to be in a wifi hot spot & you'd have at least some lag.  To convoluted for the mass market IMO.

EDIT: You'd also need two screens on the go for full compatablity with Wii U software.

Was it sore? The reason for the low power consumption is this is all the rage in Japan right now and the Wii was also the King of saving power. The logistics of a portable console with a full size dvd type drive in it is just rediculous, one slip and you would destroy the spinning game inside.

edit - I see you said to remove the drive... but.. downloading all full wiiu games? and rebuying them like happened with the pspgo? no I don't think anyone would go for this idea.

Best opener ever.

Anyway low power consumption is actually an appeal to the Japanese market and plays a role in purchases, surprisingly enough. Especially following the power grid issues after the Fukushima meltdown, the whole 省エネ concept has especially been taking off.

The merge between the home console and portable divisions was a cost cutting measure and a matter of efficiency. If you haven't been keeping up, Nintendo's projected hiring for this year has been reduced by around 50%, especially in the technology and engineering department.

I had the same idea strike me when I was performing open-heart surgery on someone!

I don't think Nintendo will want to replace the 3DS, though. That's what is currently keeping them afloat. Later on I can see them totally merging the two, though. Duct-taping a Hand Held and a Home Console together could happen.

CD Diskmans were all the rage in the 90's, even portable DVD players are still around.  But I do realize the issue's with moving parts on the go, which aside from power consuption is why I suggested a PSPgo like eShop only model.

Oh now I understand you better. Much more similar to Nvidea Shield than Vita/PS4. In that case then no. If you need to plug it into a TV, why not just keep it as is?

Great minds think alike.

I'm not saying do this next week, that would kill 3DS, in 2-3 years though it could be a second "pillar" to go along side the 3DS, then replace it.

/

So low power consuption is all the rage in Japan, fair enough, I've also heard that many people in Japan also game exclusively on handhelds mainly while commuting.  It just seems like merging the Wii U into a 3DS, or WiiDS type portable is a thing that could catch on.

"JoeTheBro said:

Oh now I understand you better. Much more similar to Nvidea Shield than Vita/PS4. In that case then no. If you need to plug it into a TV, why not just keep it as is?"

No, it would have both screens built in like  a 3DS, it would just have the option to also comect to a TV to act like a home console aswell.  Maybe I wasn't clear enough.

"BaldrSkies said:

The merge between the home console and portable divisions was a cost cutting measure and a matter of efficiency. If you haven't been keeping up, Nintendo's projected hiring for this year has been reduced by around 50%, especially in the technology and engineering department."

Could it be that they are reducing hiring because they already have a lot of the R & D done for a portable Wii U (at least the Wii U portion of it anyways).  Anyways, this is just mad speculation!

Since n64 i remember reading articles that remark at how small the console internal design and how it could become portable. Facts are that Nintendo always produces compact and efficient hardware.