Is New 3DS a Sign of Wii U's Future?

Hardcore Gamer: Could the 3DS overhaul signal the future for Wii U?

[ValKilmer]

Wii U with third analog stick incoming.

[shaw98]

I don't know how to respond to this. Lol.

[RAFFwaff]

that 'nubbin' though....Please understand.

[R00bot]

It'll actually be a nub, not a stick.

[NukaCola]

LoL. This C-thing-a-ma-bob looks like that nub they put in the center of a keyboard to act as a mouse. Looks completely inconvenient. Why not just ad a real second thumbslider.

[Godmars290]

Putting out "upgraded" versions of "current" consoles with games that are incompatible between the two versions?

How is the wrongness not apparent?

[Abash]

Its the lesser of two evils in all honestly. If they can sell an upgraded Wii U with a price drop, I'd take that than having to buy a $400+ new Nintendo console because they abandoned the Wii U after a couple of years

[Transporter47]

Nintendo tends to support their products sometimes it takes time but that is okay. I just bought a wiiU and i must say i really like it. Now i have a PS4+WiiU although i bought a 3dsXL which im just going to sell since i don't even play it at all.

[Dunban67]

What if the upgraded wiiu had games for it that the existing one did not? Would you still be ok w it?

I think Nintendo is probably trying to extend the natural life cycle of the 3ds and perhaps juice it up a bit so going forward they can more easily make games that can work for both the Wii u and new 3ds

[k-dillinger]

But its sellingg better then xbone how did they abandoned it???

[Concertoine]

The 3ds is popular enough that they can probably afford to do this and still turn a profit. The DSi for example did well because it offered enough incentive to get, although it never had retail exclusives, just digital downloads.

But the Wii U will probably never be popular enough for them to release a minutely upgraded version. That'd be the equivalent of the innumerable failed attatchments like the 32X or 64DD, except now for a less successful system. Theyd be better off riding the Wii U out until its clear that Sony and (maybe) MS are preparing successors, then release it a year earlier than them. Except actually PREPARE for their damn launch this time, have games in the pipeline years in advance. At least now they are over the HD hurdle.

Edit: I didn't consider this until now, but if they somehow made a RAM expansion like the N64 and bundled with popular software, that would have the potential to be successful... maybe...?

[Sly-Lupin]

You got me. Game companies have been getting increasingly anti-consumer, and some gamers (who I hope don't represent the majority) have been very vocal in their praise for each new anti-consumer move.

It took a long time for the 3DS to build itself up as a respectable platform. And almost as soon as it gets there, Nintendo wants to retire it.

This does not bode well for the New 3DS. Or the WiiU. Or any other Nintendo platform.

[Realplaya]

How are they retiring it?

[shaw98]

It is nothing new. Dsi did it. If it does not have a ton of exclusives like the dsi then it should be no problem.

[3-4-5]

Wait...does everyone actually think that ALL new 3DS games will only be playable on the new 3DS ?

It's only like less than 1% of games.

[Godmars290]

So somehow less than 1% of coming titles justifies requiring the whole of your established user base to have to worry about needing to upgrade?

This is almost, if not exact, like the time with the second analog stick where they made an add-on then almost immediately introduced a new, larger, 3DS model. But instead of holding back the new model, integrating the second stick in the design, they just dumped it on the market with another accommodating add-on.

[3-4-5]

Why do you say REQUIRE ?

Your literally making that up to fit YOUR REALITY.

Wake up.

You can play all 1,000 DS games and all current 3DS games on the 3DS.

* You can also play pretty much ALL of the future games on Normal 3DS's as well.

There will probably be less than 10 games overall that require the new 3DS, and most of those won't happen right away.

Are you complaining just to complain, or is this something you do daily ?

[Godmars290]

You will be "required" to own the new version of the 3DS to play one specific new game. With possible other new titles to follow.

Not seeing how such is my own "made up" reality?

[paul-p1988]

Let's say that, hypothetically, a new Pokémon game is released and needs the new features that the 'new' 3DS brings. That's an incredibly large portion of the fanbase who would not be able to play it and would then need to upgrade their 3DS to play it.

I'm sure Ninty wouldn't be stupid enough to make Pokémon only New 3DS compatible, but if the uptake isn't that great then my example above could be a reality with one hell of a fan backlash!

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

The N3DS's problem is that it IS a new console, it just doesn't have a name that DISTINGUISHES it as such.
Hence, people are getting their undies bunched up over the thought of a new system that has games their old system can't handle.

[Concertoine]

So you're saying this is Nintendo's new generation handheld? ...Nah.

This thing will have a few retail exclusives and maybe perks on universal 3DS games before it is forgotten in the wake of a new Nintendo handheld. It'll sell a few million units. Something tells me it'll be the proud new owner of the most expensive version of Xenoblade in 5 years, and that's saying something.

This thing gets dumber and dumbed the more i ponder it tbh. Instead of tweaking Xenoblade to work on 3ds or even the 3ds' successor, they slap it on here. "The game needs exposure, lets make people buy a console to play it!!"

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

"This thing gets dumber and dumbed the more i ponder it tbh. Instead of tweaking Xenoblade to work on 3ds or even the 3ds' successor, they slap it on here. "The game needs exposure, lets make people buy a console to play it!!"

Tweaking it would not have worked; the old model 3DS's are literally NOT POWERFUL ENOUGH for Wii games as big as Xenoblade Chronicles.

It IS the new gen handheld.
If Nintendo had been smarter about its name, we wouldn't even be debating this point.

[Concertoine]

Then they should've put it on the Wii U, or hell even the Wii U eshop. Or better yet, their real next handheld. Which by the way, theres no way they just gave the same name to their next gen handheld. This is equavilent to the DSi. I think they wanted to make it clear this wasnt the case and that they werent leaving the 3DS, and that's why this name was chosen.

[IonDestroy]

^ @Concertoine The DSi had a few retail exclusives IIRC, they came in these white cartridges and made is very explicit on the packaging that they can only be played on DSi.

As for my thoughts on this, it's good to see Nintendo unifying things, hopefully this means cross-compatibility with WiiU for certain titles, given how Nintendo wanted the NNID to be your ticket to entertainment across multiple platforms. As for the exclusivity of titles like the Xenoblade port, I'm sure that Nintendo wouldn't abandon previous 3DS owners, they will probably continue to develop for the standard model (with or without circle pad pro) until the time is right. For now I believe that there won't be too many exclusive titles, and the ones that do come out will be titles that absolutely must take advantage of the new features.

[nunley33]

They're following the apple model but they've done this for years with their gameboys, we'll see how it sells. Even with this confusion it'll still greatly outsell the Vita sadly.

[CouldHaveYelledUiiW]

Not sure what you are saying but

The Nintendo DS was before I-Phone and definitely before I-Pan.

The DS was inspired by PDAs and the Original Nintendo System "Game and Watch" which is as old as Pac-Man (1980).

Image of G&W Donkey Kong http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

[nunley33]

true @could but that's something entirely off topic. I wasn't talking about it's design, i bought an original DS then DS light and still like it. The apple model is to refresh your hardware every year or two, 3DS is only two years old. This will be good though since it'll play your 3DS games but also "new3DS" games too.

[Big_Game_Hunters]

Wii ports, games that already exist and wouldn't be on the original console no matter what.

Think about that for a second.
Xenoblade 3ds wouldn't work on the original 3ds, it would be impossible.

[Zodiac]

Not at all. The Wii U is still much too risky to do any tampering with.

[Metallox]

They would destroy both the original Wii U and the hypothetical new version in the instant of its announcement. That because I doubt the new 3DS for example is going to be successful.

[Chrono]

The n-U WiiU

[Reeze]

Wii N-U?

[Summons75]

Probably in cross comparability with virtual console and eshop games which would be awesome.

[Trolltroll]

If you watch the direct they directly compare the 2nd analog to the game cubes c stick...why you may ask? Game cube virtual console! Also it is a impressive feat to port xenoblade to 3ds yhat game is huge.

[Summons75]

Yeah GameCube VC is something I've been waiting for and the reemergence of the GameCube controller on wiiu and this gets me very excited. Xenoblade is great news and can be curious as to what other Wii games they may port, Skyward Sword, Last Story. People are complaining but I see nothing but great possibilities.

[AKR]

Slightly enhancing a handheld is MUCH simpler/less risky than a home console. I seriously doubt they'd end up doing it. I still don't get why they decided to upgrade the 3DS. Hopefully it won't shut out owners of the original versions to a great extent.

[Trolltroll]

I am betting on a RAM expantion pack like in the n64 days or a eRam partition update. Bring it on.

[LonDonE]

Actually if it could be done imagine if they released a usb thumb drive like 5 or 6 gigs of GDDR5 RAM which could be used to speed up bandwidth and give wii u faster and more ram for the gpgpu while the ddr3 ram 2gb already in the wii u could be for the cpu? and you just plug said thumb drive into the back usb port? lol i dont even think this could be done either way i doubt nintendo would ever release a add on since history has shown they have never been successful.

But if they did and it could be done then if they offered it to current wii u owners at a discounted price while newer wii u console came with it bundled in that could work? who am i kidding any how it cant be done and nintendo wouldn't do it with a console.
If it could of been done that would at least make the wii u more better for developers LOL
NEVER GONNA HAPPEN!!!!!!!!
But i for one would love it consoles were more modular and upgradable like pcs as long as the upgrades were not too frequent.

[shaw98]

The wii u is not healthy enough to take that risk. Dsi was successful in doing so because of how good the ds was selling.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

NO

[MSBAUSTX]

Yeah great job Nintendo. You got me to trade my 3DS in for a 3DS XL and after watching that video and seeing how you are updraging everything you have convinced me to trade my XL in for the LL. I am glad to see them making upgrades and improving the controls but still making it play everything we can already. Gotta love Nintendo. They do not like cheating people. I am buying this.

[DougLord]

I wonder if Xbone can do this. After 2015 release an addon that doubles or triples power, but still play the same games, just in a different resolution.

[Pillsbury1]

I have been wanting a 3ds and this might make me take the plunge(er). (Mario?plumber?ahh forget it..).

[Xb1ps4]

Ha ha... I liked that, as a plumber my self the pun is great.. Lmao

[Xb1ps4]

I miss the n64 days... Turok and Mario kart for the mother fn win.

And I will never understand why that expansion pak thing that upgraded the graphics like in turok never took off.. Why not build your console to be upgraded? Instead of starting all over again, I get you can upgrade so many times for a console but damn not even once after n64! And I remember being able to see a big difference with and with out that little cartridge..

Does anyone know what ever happened to that idea?

[Ck1x]

Because Nintendo at that time didn't do what they needed to do. They needed to release a new Super Mario or Mario Kart with that expansion pak bundled in. It just didn't move enough units to justify developers supporting it...

[DC777]

Amen. I don't know why they have not done this all along. In the end they would make way more money selling upgrades/add ones and interchangeable parts.

They never seem to have an issue doing it with their HDD size.

[fatneal]

if you can buy a cellphone every 2-3 years then u shouldnt be complaining about a gaming console that actually cost less than most smartphones

[Segata]

I have the same cell phone from 2010. I buy things to last not to be ADD about it.

[DualWielding]

smartphones companies fool people into paying for a monthly plan and then they get a new phone every 2 years, most people don't buy 500-800 phones every 2 years without carrier subsidy

[DC777]

You still pay for the phone in hidden fees.

[fatneal]

they 'fool' people but millions of people buy new phones yearly...iphones and galaxy have new phones every year and everyone buys em...my point is a phone is entertainment just like a gaming console. i hate that gamers think every console that releases needs to last 7 years or else they were cheated lol. its a ridiculous way to view things especially when you compare it to other forms of entertainment that people more frequently spend money on.

[Segata]

Traditionally this is how Nintendo works.
Handhelds upgrade over time with a new iteration or not a upgrade but smaller.

COnsoles it's different. Smaller less features. So a future wii U is likely going to have features removed like Wii BC.

Since Nintendo has been making hardware this is how it always is. Handhelds new features and/or smaller. Consoles get a revision with a bunch of things removed.

N64/2DS exception to the rule.

[Artemidorus]

No it's a new sign for the new 3DS how dumb can you be?