WHY?!
Why HD on the Wii? The graphics are still crap and cartoony so whats the point?
A seemingly well-connected gaming executive claims to have discovered that Nintendo will launch its long-rumoured HD Wii next year, in addition to a Netflix-for-Wii film and TV streaming service. Dan Rayburn – self-styled “voice for the streaming and online video industry” and Executive VP of streamingmedia.com – said on his …
so, will it still be gamecube graphics just at an upscaled resolution? or proper HD and decent graphics? on a 42" tv my wii looks like a throwback to 15 years ago. hence its been in a cupboard for the last year.
that and the terrible controller for anything other than novelty games seals its death amongst hardcore gamers.
we are used to almost photoreality (drakes 2 for instance). the wii has a long way to go. especially now sony and m$ are working on their next iterations!
I'd bring out a higher res Wii, with much the same everything else, whilst working on a higher spec machine for 2011. Now that the prices for higher powered graphics parts has dropped, they could produce a machine with the power of a current 360 without too much cost. That would be good enough for their target market (not hardcore games - casual gamers. There are more of them....)
Wii HD would be a good stopgap as everyone can use HDMI instead of those painful composite connectors, and even at low rez is higher quality. Pretty low cost to bring to market as well - only a few quid on top of the current build price. Maybe stick a Blu ray player in it? Might be difficult given the current reversed drive though.
Seeing as most of the TV's from this point on will be sold as HD anyway, doesn't this just seem like them being able to work with newer systems as well as old? One of the common complaints is not being able to watch films on there as well, maybe this is being addressed? Same with possible future netflix subscriptions etc (who may or may not do HD subs, I don't know)...
Wii HD, just a slightly enhanced version of the exact same comsole, equipped with a more powerful full 1080p HD chipset and HDMI, mostly just for playing movies and streaming media though since the game engine will only include moderate qaulity imrpovements to existing games, it's not a whole new console, and doesn't have a new language for game generation. It will still be quite cartoonish, just with smoother curves, better shading and ligting effects, and naturally 1080p instead of SD resolutions. Odds are, a Blu-ray player will also make the cut and it will be sold side by side with the existing Wii for some time. Existing games will look a lot better, as will new ones, but the new games will also have to run on the existing Wii as well...
but I've been enjoying my Wii's 480p output upscaled to 720p for months, thanks to the Harman-Kardon AVR354. Looks pretty good to be honest.
@Citizen Kaned: I actually quite like the controllers - but it depends how they are implemented. Lego <insert title here> all work really well. So does Zelda and Mario Galaxy. de Blob is alright for the most part, but pointing down to jump is so totally f'ed up.
Oh and another thing: since when did "photo-realistic" become a mandate?? To be honest I get pretty sick and tired of it. Fresh, bright and cartoony graphics make for a change in a sea of browns and greys.
Oh fantastic, can't wait...
Seriously though, I enjoy my Wii as it is without HD thank you very much. If I'm having fun I don't notice things thing's like resolution, jaggies etc. Anyone who says their enjoyment is ruined by noticing such things is a bloody idiot with more money than sense. Games should be FUN, end of, and FUN is something that the Wii has got bang on.
I don't have a HD TV and I don't have any plans to buy one. Shit TV is shit TV no matter what resolution it's in. Who gives a flying fuck if you can see Pat Butcher's nose hair?
Sod that. You lot stick to your super-duper, hi-def, fps-come-racing-come-footy-come-whatever-tedious-rainbows-the-tech-companies-have-you-chasing-this-week. Me, I'll pass. I have things to get done and better things to spend my money on.
Well, I played Mario Galaxy extensivley when I stayed at a relatives house for a week. Got to admit it's probably the best, most inventive game I have ever played. And I'm a 360 owner.
Did I care about the graphics? No. I was too busy being amazed at the enginuity.
Will I buy a Wii? Nah, because all the other games bar Mario Kart suck.
"....having a Hard Drive."
What? A bulky, power hungry, heat generating HDD instead of cheap, fast, small and cool flash cards?
That'd be a really clever move now, wouldn't it? Before anyone trots out any bollocks about capacity, you can swap memory cards (and they're getting more capacious all the time for the lazy)......
This one bit the dust when they shipped the FW update that allowed you to run download content direct from memory cards rather than having to tediously copy to / from internal memory.