Iwata Is Aware That People Believe That WiiU Is Underpowered And Says This Is A Misunderstanding

[DaRev]

gigantor21 said:

DaRev said:

pezus said:
He fails to mention the consoles that most people WiiU is underpowered compared to. WiiU being underpowered compared to PS4 and most likely Nextbox isn't a misunderstanding, it's fact.

Iwata doesn't fail to do anything, because what he's saying is that you can develop games on the WiiU (yeah it's that simple). He is not comparing the WiiU to any other console - you might want or expect him to to that, but he is not. For example, NBA 2K 14 will come out eventually for all consooles, including the WiiU, so the console is not underpowered. Similarly, the next Modern Warfare and other 3rd party games (Watch Dogs) should be on the WiiU as well, so the console is not underpowered.

What I think Iwata is saying as well is that there is this a seed of crazy thinking being cultivated by people like Epic and Sony and MS, that games have to look a certain way to be a game - this is the misunderstanding Iwata is talking about. I assume the way he plans to change this misundertsnading to make sucessful games on the WiiU (from the second half 2013), and once developers see that their games can sell well on WiiU, regardless of how they look, they will understand that the WiiU is not underpowered.

But that's just it, though. The Wii is proof positive that a console that IS clearly underpowered can still do incredibly well--that had stuff like Call of Duty and most sports games, too, but it was still clearly a weaker (and ultimately more succesful) device. Games selling well on a console and said console not being as powerful as the others are two different things. I really don't think the latter is an argument worth pursuing for Nintendo.

And of course the power comparison is with other consoles. Otherwise my first cellphone which didn't even have a color screen still isn't underpowered either. I played the hell out of Snake and Tetris on that. :p

I think it is an excellent argument for Nintendo to put forward, and certianly just as good as any argument it had that made the Wii successful. Nintendo needs to sell the idea or the UNDERSTANDING that you don't need to make games that look like an UE 4 tech demo for your games to be successful. This idea or UNDERSTANDING is well received in the handheld market, i.e. you don't need your handheld games to look like your console games to be successful.

Nintendo needs to sell this UNDERSTANDING to 3rd parties that the WiiU actually maximises their game in how they look feel and play, without breaking the bank. Developers like Epic and Cryteck might be void this kind of understanding, obviously, but I think if Nintendo does a good job they can get other 3rd parties to understand the WiiU is not underpowered.

By the way, is the 3DS underpowered?