| Mummelmann said: Bolded: This is true, to some extent. But the main problem was Nintendo's woeful online infrastructure, which is the bread-and-butter of Indies and small developers. |
The Nintendo eShop for the 3DS and Wii U were actually pretty good for their time IMO. They're way better than the Switch's eShop if that's anything for you. And the eShop that gen was also considered a huge improvement over WiiWare/DSiWare at the time, which had some awkward file size and work-from-home restrictions.
| I agree that the Wii-mote is a better example overall, now that you mention it. But I did also find that most developers had trouble utilizing the Wii U remote in any meaningful way. I remember Zombi U having inventory screens on the controller, but it just made it an extra step for me. The PowerPC issue was one that I brought up often when discussing these matters during the Wii U's lifetime, but it was usually countered with "if developers want to make it work; they can". Which sort of ties into the horsepower portion of it all - we don't necessarily think like developers. The Wii U's choice of components was a big deal. I also remember the PS3s Cell Processor, where a unified developer front dubbed it a hassle to work with due to its structure. |
The thing about Nintendo's gimmicks is that third parties aren't going to make effective use of them until Nintendo themselves sets an example. Look at the Nintendo DS for instance. A lot of developers weren't quite sure how to use its features like the touch screen, dual screen, mic, or wireless in its early years. It wasn't until Nintendo released Nintendogs, followed by Mario Kart DS, Animal Crossing, and Brain Age that laid the ground work for what could be done with the DS' hardware. Shortly afterwards, more and more third parties began using the DS' features in ways that surpassed Nintendo's efforts. In fact, most DS fans will tell you that third party games regularly outdid Nintendo's own releases on the system.
Wii U never had any defining title that justified the GamePad for much of its life, and by the time it did (Splatoon and Mario Maker) it was too late. So if Nintendo doesn't have any good ideas, why should other developers? I also think Dual Screen gaming was a concept that only truly made sense for the DS systems. On that hardware, both screens were small and low-res, so the extra display really helped with freeing up game play and UI real-estate. Plus, both displays were within your field of view, so it was easy to glance back and forth between them. With the Wii U, you can only focus on one screen at a time, which makes having two screens kind of superfluous in a home console environment, especially since both the GamePad screen and TV are more than large enough to house most on-screen elements and menus.
And yeah, PowerPC for Wii U was a huge issue, far more than being under-powered. I feel like people on forums constantly over estimate how much developers actually care about having the most powerful hardware. Yeah, more power is always nice, but having a simple architecture, with an easy-to-use, modern development environment are much more important to devs IMO. You can just look at the Switch. Yeah, it's under powered compared to PS/XB/PC, but you can still make modern games on it pretty easily. They just won't look or run as nice as on more powerful systems.
Last edited by TheMisterManGuy - on 18 August 2024
