This is one of those threads where everyone is right. Yes the wii u surely could have slightly altered versions of games that cater better to its audience and the hardware but no, in certain circumstances you would want the full game experience and not something cut back or simplified for wii u.

I think double-dipping isn't really considered as an industry that much. Yes they have exclusive features that favour one platform or the other but you don't see games released on multiple formats that you actually will buy for multiple consoles because the experience is different. I think if they realised that many ps3 owners also own 360's for example they might make the game a slightly different experience so the owner buys both if he really likes the game and fancies playing a slightly different experience of the same game on another console.

Generally though I think for weak hardware publishers cut back the experience and yet often charge the full price. In the past some games were developed on ps2, psp and wii. They were the lesser formats and got a cut down gaming experience compared to 360, PS3 and PC.

I didn't take it as flaming the 3DS, and you're right about Liberation. The important bit was "a major production taking full advantage of the Vita's power would have trouble running on the 3DS, but few companies seem willing to invest in such an effort on handhelds these days." There aren't many Vita exclusives that fully utilize its power, and many of the multiplats (Arkham Origins Blackgate, Conception II, Time Travelers, Virtue's Last Reward, etc) wouldn't benefit much (if at all) from the bit of extra power they would have access to if they weren't restricted by the 3DS. That's just not the kind of game they are.

2D platformers, RPGs, visual novels -- basically anything outside of full-blown action-adventure games, open world RPGs, and multiplayer shooters -- don't really need the extra power provided by the Vita. And there aren't a whole lot of such games being made for Vita, because few publishers want to make that investment. Gravity Rush and Killzone wouldn't be easy to get on 3DS, but those are first-party, anyway. There isn't really any reason Persona 4 couldn't be on 3DS, nor any reason SMTIV couldn't be on Vita. Maybe they wouldn't have seen many more sales regardless, but I doubt the tech is what's holding Atlus back from doing that. For lesser-known indie developers, multiplatform releases should be a no-brainer as long as they have the manpower to make it happen.

Main problem with this argument is that even Nintendo, which took the lead on motion control last gen, doesn't seem that interested in pursuing the second screen concept. Whether it's Tropical Freeze, MK8 or Smash U, they've made little effort to explain how those games are enhanced by the Gamepad outside of off-screen play. A standard feature that has done nothing for the console up to this point.

If Nintendo itself won't push the concept as much as possible, why would third parties see any incentive?

I don't see how my point isn't still valid. If it were simply due to different architechture, why wouldn't that game have been, you know, the same game? Would you ever see something like that now? Imagine two Frozen games releasing on PS4 and Xbone. Would we EVER see one with completely different levels, story, music etc? No, we wouldn't. And the reason why is because the studios are owned and controlled by greedy, heartless CEO's in suits who know nothing about games at all.

Unfortunately people don't care about Indies.

The company that made the SNES game, had NO connections with the company that made the other versions. Why would they share anything at all? The SNES version from Capcom was actually a completely separate project. Different developer and different publisher.

If Capcom had cloned Virgin's game, it would actually have been a copyright infringement. Everything about the game had to be different.

Take a look at Rayman Origins on Vita, and Rayman Origins on 3DS and you'll see just how limited the 3DS is in comparison. There's a reason Rayman Legends didn't come out on 3DS.

Persona 4 would mainly have just had to have had much lower resolution artwork however, it was a port of a PS2 game. Toukiden, Ys, Dragon Ball Z etc would need massive reworkings in order to be able to pull them off on the 3DS.

"FYI", I never stated Destiny would fail. I pointed out the fact that so many developers and publishers within the last 10 years have been sunk by just ONE game that didn't sell enough to make back it's enormous budget. The list is long and growing.

Of course Destiny is going to do well, it's made by the makers of Halo, people will buy it in Halo-like numbers, and it will inevitably be the first of a great many sequels, because that is the formula to follow now adays, "AAA Blockbuster Franchises". That is all the big publishers, with few exceptiosn, seem to support or be interested in. They seem very much afraid to be creative and take risk anymore, and those risks would be FAR less severe if they didn't try to make games with Hollywood film size budgets in the first fucking place. It's a problem that is only going to get worse before it ever gets better.

Tell that to Steam, and the healthy eShop sales figures Wii U has, in spite of a relatively low install base.

How is that not functionally replicated by 6-Axis swivelling of the controller to bring up/dismiss HUD and/or larger map?

Swivelling your head away from the TV to look at 2nd screen showing HUD isn't much different vs. swivelling the controller itself.

Especially when PS4 also has a touchpad allowing that mode of touch interaction.