Might the Wii U be a cross-platform compromise?

[Esperahol]

I mean considering the usage of a tablet might not things that are traditionally for the PC crowd or the Tablet crowd not be swung over to the Wii U? And in the end might not that be what Nintendo is looking to do since Xbox and PS are busy trying to beat each other to death over who can have the most apps or internet l33tness? Actually might not Wii be trying to capitalise in much the same way PS has with their Vita? I mean how much of a difference is there between the tablet and the 3DS? Sylus are sylus right? Eh, perhaps I'm overthinking it.

 

[Smokey]

I get what you're saying. Personally, I think Nintendo kinda shot themselves in the foot with the Wii-U having a "Tablet" for a controller. Not only does it jack up the price for the console, it seems so redundent and un-necessary. If they went the same route as Sony and used the 3DS as a pathway to the Wii-U like Sony is doing with the PS4/Vita, it'd probably work much better but the fact that they have a touch-screen handheld and also a tablet-sque controller, it's just not looking good for Nintendo.....

 

[Esperahol]

But my point is that because tehy have a touch-screen handheld and a tablet controller setup it makes it easier for cross-platforming or would seem to from my perspective. On top of which even with the tablet their price is still going to be more reasonable then either the PS4 or the Nextbox. And that reasonable quality may well give them a boost as it did this time. A lot of people if they have to put out for a console and have no real concern about it's capabilities will go for the cheapest one on offer... which is generally Nintendo.

 

[BTCGuru81]

I'm not claiming to be an expert or have any inside info, but my guess would be that Nintendo has severly isolated themselves from cross console titles.

First off, from PC-Wii U? Not very likely unless the publisher is particularly adamant about it. The NextBox and PS4 are VERY likely to see tons of cross platform titles with PC simply because they have adopted a x86 architecture, essentially birdging the rest of the already small gap between game consoles and home pc's. It's very fair to call the ps4 a pc. Granted it's a specialized pc, but there's little that places it firmly in the realm of the "game console" as we have understood that term in the past. Nintendo, on the other hand, very much still is.

And the other issue I'd bring up is the potential that I somewhat expect to see far less cross platform title PERIOD. Until more is known about the next xbox for sure, we can only make these arguments based on rumors. However, this gen is shaping up to be very strange. It looks like we're going to have three consoles with actually very different hardware specs. We have an industry that is already very unwilling to take risks with their games simply because the price of game design has become exorbitant. Look at the problems facing cross console titles from xbox360 and ps3. Most of them were native xbox games that were then ported (poorly) to the ps3. THis is because ps3 architecture was so different, and the cost of making very specific changes so detracting,t hat publishers were unwilling to do it. Nintendo has positioned itself this way, this gen. Sony and Microsoft have consoles coming that are pc's, Wii U is still very much it's own proprietary device and software.

I'm not saying you'll see none, but, if I had to wager a guess, I would say this gen is going to be all about first party games and third party exclusives. And frankly, I'd bet dimes to dollars Nintendo will be the console of choice this gen for that reason. It will be out of left field if either SOny or Microsoft suddenly have super high quality first party franchises break out the way Nintendo already does.

Of course,we'll have to wait and see.