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Is Wii U powerful enough to compete with Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4?
Nintendo is ready for a new generation of hardware, and it's not really concerned with what its competition is doing. That much has been true for decades, but does the company think Wii U will stand alongside whatever Sony and Microsoft are planning for the future? I asked Nintendo's legendary designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, for his thoughts.
"If the conversation is only really about whether the power is going to match up to another generation of hardware from, say, Sony or Microsoft, I can't answer that question yet," Miyamoto told me, when I asked if he felt Nintendo's upcoming system would be powerful enough to deal with what's likely just a year away. "[Wii U] might not be as powerful as those systems when they eventually do come around. But I think that the more important question is... It's not just about power alone, but how to balance what you're offering in terms of power with cost."
We've heard Nintendo bring up the issue of cost many times in the past year. The publisher clearly pays attention not only to how much hardware will cost to build, but how much its customers will pay. And while Nintendo was willing to take a loss on its 3DS hardware to save the system from sinking, that's certainly not its usual guiding principle.
"The cost to performance ratio is something we do spend a lot of time thinking about," Miyamoto said. "We also think about the environment that we're designing for. So in today's living room, where there are a lot of HDTVs, but they're not yet mostly 3D TVs, I think the console is certainly adequately powerful to create gaming experiences that will look really good on those displays. But whenever we talk about who's winning in a power competition, I think it's easy to lose sight of whether a game is fun or not. Which is certainly going to be more important to me."
The GamePad clearly speaks to this idea. It's both complicated and simple. Intimidating yet charming. But once you've played it, you can immediately tell Nintendo is focused on the game experience first and foremost. At an E3 where most companies seem preoccupied with stabbing enemies in the neck and swearing, Nintendo wanted to change perspectives on gaming, focusing on tiny animals stealing candy and a plumber leaping through colorful landscapes. It wants to fundamentally change the relationship between the television and the game console in a way other hardware makers can't, because their configurations are optional. Nintendo also views the move from standard definition to high definition as a key moment for its own development, regardless of the fact that others made that leap several years back.
"I think that we have enough power here to bring the kind of advanced games you see on other hardware in a totally unique form, that is different from the way it's realized in other places," Miyamoto continued. "In the case of Wii, we had a really clear decision, because we did not go HD on that platform, we stayed SD. That decision was based on the number of HD displays that were actually in people's homes, and that number has certainly changed since then as well. But at the same time, like now, we're thinking about how to balance our ability to bring a completely unique experience to consumers along with the cost that they'll have to pay to be able to have that experience in the first place. I'm very happy with the balance that we've been able to strike. What's left is how developers use it."
Despite that comfort, Nintendo is clearly paying attention to outside comments. Though the publisher demonstrated Wii U's bold controller at E3 2011, the device changed in some considerable ways during its 12-month absence. I asked Miyamoto if the same revisionist approach applied to the system itself. Were any changes made during the past year?
"The system itself hasn't really changed. In order to maintain a consistent development environment, you really have to fix your specs at one point and let people know what they're designing for, so they can make good progress," Miyamoto said.
As for the controller itself, the changes were numerous. Sliders became clickable sticks. More comfortable grips were added. Buttons were moved. What was the logic behind these alterations?
"Yes, the GamePad itself has changed a lot," Miyamoto told me. "One of the things we've focused on was making sure it would be very easy for players who are accustomed to the 3DS to pick it up and find it comfortable to use. So to that extent, we lengthened the sticks a little bit, we added the ability to press down on the sticks, and overall I feel like we really were able to improve the quality of that hardware a lot. I'm excited about the prospects of people using the gyro to look around as a second monitor in somewhat hardcore games. That was something we really wanted to add. We spent a lot of time doing hand-holding tests, to make sure that the hardware felt really comfortable. And as a result, we improved the grip and how it feels when you access the L and R buttons, which resulted in a very different overall shape, I think, that is very comfortable."
Nintendo remains confident in its direction for the future. Despite moves that Sony and Microsoft will make in the coming months, not to mention whatever Apple is developing, the publisher believes its vision will push it back to the success it enjoyed for a good part of the past decade - and in decades past. There are so many uncertainties. So many variables. But all Nintendo can do is push forward. Like Miyamoto said, some questions just can't be answered yet. It will be interesting to see those answers take shape.
Nintendo is ready for a new generation of hardware, and it's not really concerned with what its competition is doing. That much has been true for decades, but does the company think Wii U will stand alongside whatever Sony and Microsoft are planning for the future? I asked Nintendo's legendary designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, for his thoughts.
"If the conversation is only really about whether the power is going to match up to another generation of hardware from, say, Sony or Microsoft, I can't answer that question yet," Miyamoto told me, when I asked if he felt Nintendo's upcoming system would be powerful enough to deal with what's likely just a year away. "[Wii U] might not be as powerful as those systems when they eventually do come around. But I think that the more important question is... It's not just about power alone, but how to balance what you're offering in terms of power with cost."
We've heard Nintendo bring up the issue of cost many times in the past year. The publisher clearly pays attention not only to how much hardware will cost to build, but how much its customers will pay. And while Nintendo was willing to take a loss on its 3DS hardware to save the system from sinking, that's certainly not its usual guiding principle.
"The cost to performance ratio is something we do spend a lot of time thinking about," Miyamoto said. "We also think about the environment that we're designing for. So in today's living room, where there are a lot of HDTVs, but they're not yet mostly 3D TVs, I think the console is certainly adequately powerful to create gaming experiences that will look really good on those displays. But whenever we talk about who's winning in a power competition, I think it's easy to lose sight of whether a game is fun or not. Which is certainly going to be more important to me."
The GamePad clearly speaks to this idea. It's both complicated and simple. Intimidating yet charming. But once you've played it, you can immediately tell Nintendo is focused on the game experience first and foremost. At an E3 where most companies seem preoccupied with stabbing enemies in the neck and swearing, Nintendo wanted to change perspectives on gaming, focusing on tiny animals stealing candy and a plumber leaping through colorful landscapes. It wants to fundamentally change the relationship between the television and the game console in a way other hardware makers can't, because their configurations are optional. Nintendo also views the move from standard definition to high definition as a key moment for its own development, regardless of the fact that others made that leap several years back.
"I think that we have enough power here to bring the kind of advanced games you see on other hardware in a totally unique form, that is different from the way it's realized in other places," Miyamoto continued. "In the case of Wii, we had a really clear decision, because we did not go HD on that platform, we stayed SD. That decision was based on the number of HD displays that were actually in people's homes, and that number has certainly changed since then as well. But at the same time, like now, we're thinking about how to balance our ability to bring a completely unique experience to consumers along with the cost that they'll have to pay to be able to have that experience in the first place. I'm very happy with the balance that we've been able to strike. What's left is how developers use it."
Despite that comfort, Nintendo is clearly paying attention to outside comments. Though the publisher demonstrated Wii U's bold controller at E3 2011, the device changed in some considerable ways during its 12-month absence. I asked Miyamoto if the same revisionist approach applied to the system itself. Were any changes made during the past year?
"The system itself hasn't really changed. In order to maintain a consistent development environment, you really have to fix your specs at one point and let people know what they're designing for, so they can make good progress," Miyamoto said.
As for the controller itself, the changes were numerous. Sliders became clickable sticks. More comfortable grips were added. Buttons were moved. What was the logic behind these alterations?
"Yes, the GamePad itself has changed a lot," Miyamoto told me. "One of the things we've focused on was making sure it would be very easy for players who are accustomed to the 3DS to pick it up and find it comfortable to use. So to that extent, we lengthened the sticks a little bit, we added the ability to press down on the sticks, and overall I feel like we really were able to improve the quality of that hardware a lot. I'm excited about the prospects of people using the gyro to look around as a second monitor in somewhat hardcore games. That was something we really wanted to add. We spent a lot of time doing hand-holding tests, to make sure that the hardware felt really comfortable. And as a result, we improved the grip and how it feels when you access the L and R buttons, which resulted in a very different overall shape, I think, that is very comfortable."
Nintendo remains confident in its direction for the future. Despite moves that Sony and Microsoft will make in the coming months, not to mention whatever Apple is developing, the publisher believes its vision will push it back to the success it enjoyed for a good part of the past decade - and in decades past. There are so many uncertainties. So many variables. But all Nintendo can do is push forward. Like Miyamoto said, some questions just can't be answered yet. It will be interesting to see those answers take shape.