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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Does the new miiverse update pretty much prove Nintendo is putting out a gamepadless Wii U this Christmas?

Cream147 on 23 July 2014
Xenostar said:
But if they were making a padless sku they could easily but an NFC Chip in the console for Amibo

Yes, but when you consider that nearly every single Wii U game Nintendo announced at E3 used the Gamepad in a fundamental way, I think you're being short-sighted to just look at Amiibo.





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Jumpin on 23 July 2014

Dropping 3D on 3DS didn't invalidate any of the 3DS library, a Wii U without a gamepad would in invalidate almost all of the library.



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siavm on 23 July 2014

The controller is the system here. And with amiibo coming that's not going to happen. Microsoft and nintendo are not the same here.

Kinect was a late add on to the 360 that just gave it a boost for a little bit. They thought they made it better but it still is flawed tech that does not need to be added to gaming yet. And it put Microsoft at a major disadvantage this gen so far. The ps4 is ahead because all the stupid things Microsoft thought they could do and be ok.

Nintendo had motion for all that gen. Even when so games did not use it all the way you get a game at the end of the gen working pretty awesomely with it (skyward sword). And this is year two for them and with a less powerful machine the gamepad is the only thing they have that separates them from the competition.



bigtakilla on 23 July 2014

No, not at all. It just means you don't have to switch controllers if you are using the pro controller to navigate the menus.



Arkaign on 23 July 2014

A redesigned lower BoM tablet and pricecut combined is far more likely. The original has been on the market for an eternity in terms of display tech, so an updated model could be improved and notably cheaper to make.



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Xenostar on 23 July 2014
Cream147 said:
Xenostar said:
But if they were making a padless sku they could easily but an NFC Chip in the console for Amibo

Yes, but when you consider that nearly every single Wii U game Nintendo announced at E3 used the Gamepad in a fundamental way, I think you're being short-sighted to just look at Amiibo.

LOL i just said a simple solution to Amiibo so thats a poor example, what i can see is all there biggest games the 2 Marios and Mario Kart, have really useless features tied to the Gamepad and could easily be played without it. 

Im not saying they will, but the possibility is still there, even if they did i will probably still get it with the pad as i like remote play.



Screamapillar on 23 July 2014

Amiibo toys require the NFC chip that is only in the GamePad, and in no other Wii U compatible controllers. With Nintendo lauching Amiibo the same time as Smash Wii U this year, I really doubt they would choose that opportunity to take the GamePad out of certain Wii U SKUs. That would make it harder for people to adopt Amiibo toys, and Nintendo desperately needs Amiibo to be successful, unless they want to risk four years of straight losses.



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Mandalore76 on 23 July 2014

3DS was a completely different situation. The 3DS was always built with the option of not using the 3D function. Therefore, making a 3DS unit without the 3D function entirely was always possible from day one. The Wii U, however, was never intended to function without the Gamepad, as that would render not just MiiVerse, but many of the other apps and Games themselves to be completely broken. Besides, why would anyone want to navigate Miiverse without the Gamepad? Does anyone really prefer typing lines of text with a directional pad or point and click with Wiimote over being able to type each letter/draw with the stylus? Seems like a step backwards in functionality to me.



burninmylight on 23 July 2014
super_etecoon said:
Lucas-Rio said:
super_etecoon said:
Lucas-Rio said:
The main problem for this is that in some games, you need the gamepad like W101 where some actions only appear through the second screen.

It would split the base between suer who can play all games and others who can't. And there is nothing on the box of older games indicating if gamepadless customers could buy it.

While it would allo great pricing at less than 200$, it may create more confusion. That's sad because if Nintendo had not used the gamepad at all, the Wii U would have probably been over 10 millions at this point.

Proof for this?  Without the Gamepad, people would ask, why should we get a new system.  HD would not be enough.  More power wouldn't be enough, either.  Nintendo is not the system people buy for Multiplats or amazing graphics.  You can't change that with one hardware release.  The sales simply support your own feelings about the machine.

The Wii U would have been at least 100$ cheapest, and price count for Nintendo consoles.

Wii and GC were priced lower at launch and Wii U was priced quite high (350$ for the main model). Without the gamepad, the Wii U would be priced at 200$ with a game now.  The gamepad wasn't worth it (speaking in term of sales).

Just because the Gamepad costs $100 to manufacture, doesn't mean you can just save $100 by not including it.  You still have to put some kind of controller in there.  What would they have done?  Used the Pro Controller?  Hmm...people would have said, just buy a 360 instead.  Put in a WiiMote plus?  Hmm...if you think Nintendo has trouble differentiating the box from the Wii now, could you imagine that?  Honestly, as a gamer, I love everything about the WiiU gamepad.  It doesn't do anything less than the other controllers and just enhances the experience.  It is worth the investment and more than makes up for teh price difference.  I ended up getting a handheld and a console controller.  

People pay ridiculous amounts of money for tablets.  Ridiculous.  Far exceeeding their value.  Price really isn't the issue.  It is appeal.  And removing one of the WiiU's only selling points just reduces that appeal.


I'd like to add a couple of  things.

  1. The GameCube was $200 after a year in the market, how did that wind up? And if you take away the GamePad, then what is the Wii, essentially? A GameCube: other than Wiimotes, virtually nothing to distinguish it from every other console, only with less third party AAA games. It becomes "two PS3s duct taped together" with a smaller library.

  2. What exactly would put the Wii U at over 10 million without the GamePad? Would a ton more first party games suddenly have came out of nowhere? Other than Nintendoland, what first party games really make mindblowing use of the GamePad? I can't think of any, so I'd imagine the pad is not what took Ninty so long to get games out. It was HD development, which the controller has nothing to do with.

    If you go back in time and stick a Pro Controller in every box instead of a Upad, the Wii U would still have struggled, because there still would have been a massive drought. Only this time, there would be no unique hook to get consumer attention. Publishers like EA would have still put out their shamelessly shitty ports and sent games to die. Ubisoft would still be witholding games like Rayman, and would have never had a reason to make it the definitive version at all, because how could Rayman be unique on the Wii U? Now that I think about it, what would be the point of making Zombi U exclusive? It would have been ported to PS360 already, because no unique Wii U features. Do I need to keep going on and on about what a GamePadless Wii U would have meant?

 



burninmylight on 23 July 2014
Lucas-Rio said:
super_etecoon said:

Just because the Gamepad costs $100 to manufacture, doesn't mean you can just save $100 by not including it.  You still have to put some kind of controller in there.  What would they have done?  Used the Pro Controller?  Hmm...people would have said, just buy a 360 instead.  Put in a WiiMote plus?  Hmm...if you think Nintendo has trouble differentiating the box from the Wii now, could you imagine that?  Honestly, as a gamer, I love everything about the WiiU gamepad.  It doesn't do anything less than the other controllers and just enhances the experience.  It is worth the investment and more than makes up for teh price difference.  I ended up getting a handheld and a console controller.  

People pay ridiculous amounts of money for tablets.  Ridiculous.  Far exceeeding their value.  Price really isn't the issue.  It is appeal.  And removing one of the WiiU's only selling points just reduces that appeal.


Price has always been the issue for underpowered hardware who isn't based on the latest technology. That's why 3ds flopped harcore at 250$ as well. Nintendo shoot himself in the foot by wanting to make the consumer pay their hardware more than 300$ for a tablet like controlled that people don't care about. People were interested by the Wiimote, they couldn't care less about the gamepad.

As a new Wii U owner since the release of MK8, I can say that I did not buy the Wii U for the gamepad, it looks cool, it is quality, but I don't need it. If Wii U had the classic pro controller in the box, i would have been fine.

I buy the Wii U for MK8 and future Nintendo game, not for a tablet like controller and especially not for things like Nintendo Land. I also did not bought the 3DS for the 3D effect, eventough I quite like it in some games.


You stated the Wii U's problem with your own testimony: it didn't have the games you wanted. Once the games started rolling in, you went and got one, despite the Upad and the price.

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