Official Wii U Thread!: Pokemon Rubmle U coming to Wii U

[JEMC]

Joelcool7 said:
Man WiiU is looking amazing. Though I am now a bit afraid it will be hit hard in 2013. Microsoft should have released their console this winter I am now at a 50/50 thought on Nextbox being at E3. I hate to sound like Pachter but the hardware should have been on the market this winter with the rumored specs.

Seems Microsoft if they are launching late 2013 are specifically targeting Nintendo as their primary competitor. If they had launched in 2012 with power 6x the 360 it would have been close enough to WiiU to port software back and fourth. Sony would have to either go big power wise and have titles not multi plat capable or release a similar powered system a year late.

Microsoft had a chance to kill PlayStation but it appears instead they are targeting Nintendo. If Microsoft's next console is 10x the power of 360 like Epic has suggested they want. Then once again Nintendo's console will not be able to get ports. Once again Nintendo will receive shovel ware.

But most importantly the Nextbox is supposedly going to have a tablet controller. A Vita request controller. Such a device would make the Nextbox WiiU with super power. Microsoft and Sony will both have a year to steal all of Nintendo's features.

I fear that Microsoft will offer a far more powerful WiiU with Kinect 2.0 late 2013. They certainly won't kill Nintendo but they will hit them hard. Nintendo will suffer from almost all of the same things they did this generation but this time instead of Nintendo fighting two peripherals Microsoft and Sony will both be using default controllers that offer much of the same features WiiU will.

So if Microsoft launches Nextbox in 2013 it is clear Sony is no longer the threat. They have a chance to land a crushing blow and instead are choosing to help Sony.The 6x powered console would have been Microsoft's best chance at stopping PlayStation4.

While I agree with some of your observations, there are a few things where I disagree.

The original Xbox360 launched at 299 - 399 $/€. If, as you guess in your post, they launch the Nextbox with x10 the power of the 360, with Kinect 2.0 and a tablet controller, how much will that cost? More than those 399 of the original Xbox360 for sure given that the PC Kinect, which is a Kinect 1.5, costs $249.

Then there is the time. If they launch it late 2013 that will give Nintendo 1 vital year to gain marketshare, something that both Microsoft and Sony know is very important. Not only does it give Nintendo enough time to do a price cut if necessary, but it also gives them enough users to make 3rd partys think twice about not developing for it.

And third there is the power. What killed the Wii for 3rd partys was the fact that its harware was old, but the fact that is was incompatible with the way modern games are programmed. That won't happen with WiiU.

Let's put aside the fact that we still don't know how much powerful it is (and developers don't help here as some are happy with it while others aren't), maybe it won't be able to run the Unreal Engine 4, but so what? It will be more than enough to run the best version of the UE 3, the Cryengine 3 or the Frostbite 2 engine. Or even using the UE 4 but going 720p instead of 1080p and leaving some effects in the drawer.

So don't be scared about Microsoft launching in 2013. And remember that by then, we will start seeing the 2nd generation of games designed for WiiU, games impossible to run on the PS360.