Exploring Windows 8: RIP The Nintendo WiiU

Calling it now.

Before the Wii U is even released.

The Wii U will be nothing more than a party console with the same franchise games that its always had (Legend of Zelda series, Super Smash Bros and Mario Kart/Party) and will never crack the hardcore gamer market.

Why Jerry-Chan? Why do you break my heart so saying these nasty things about the Wii U? Why do you hate Mario so?

I had a chance to play a few Wii U games at the EB Games Expo in Sydney last weekend. (Yo dawg, I heard you liked EB Games, so we gave you a EB Games Expo, with a EB Games store inside of it, so you can buy yo games while at a convention about video games). The WiiU is going to be released later on this year and is going to retail for min $350 Au. The console itself is rather impressive and the idea of a touchscreen tablet controller isn't exactly original but Nintendo are the first to be tapping into its technology. The main idea about the Nintendo Wii U is its a console with a tablet attached to it as an extra controller.

The idea of adding a screen to a controller is nothing new. Not only was the Dreamcast the first console with online access but it also had a mini, digimon digivice sized screen as a optional add-on for some of its controllers. And the screen was interactive with some of the Dreamcasts games (I think in Sonic Adventures or some crap you could store power ups there. Whatever, nobody cares about that now, only Video Game trivia enthusiasts.)

Well over a decade has passed though between both consoles. In that time Nintendo has come to own Sega itself which is rather funny. Anyway I'm waffling on from my main point. So Nintendo's latest cash cow console that prints money has touch screen controller. What if I told you, there was already a current gen console with a touchscreen controller and the potential for so much more? 

At E3 this year, Microsoft announced SmartGlass for the Xbox 360. SmartGlass is an app on the 360 that allows for media streaming between the Xbox and Smart devices (Tablets, Smartphones including both iOS and Android). Maybe it was because Microsoft announced SmartGlass after the Halo 1 Remix, but it went largely unnoticed. I actually found out about it myself when I was mucking around with Windows 8. My point here is that Nintendo is about to release a console with a tablet attached as its main hook. Microsoft have already got one out there, it just doesn't have any decent video game support (in terms of controlling a video game using the tablet or interacting with it). That could easily change though, especially when Windows 8 actually comes out and Microsoft focuses more on the Xbox 720. Nintendo gave us the Wii, with the person being the controller and Sony/Microsoft caught up and gave us the Playstation Move/Xbox Kinect.

I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft released a similar dedicated touchscreen controller for the Xbox 720 with Windows 8 on it. And that device would have so much potential in itself. You could use it as an everyday tablet while at work or study and then take it home and play some video games on it with your 8th gen console. Add on a few Xbox Live games with achievement support and Microsoft could mass market sell tablets with Windows 8 OS, designed for Xbox 720 connectivity. It could easily cut into the portable games market which Nintendo has held such a massive monopoly on for years with a portable tablet that played bitching games. And I'm talking more than just Angry Birds. Think big. Like playing Battlefield and having the tablet act as the rear view mirror for your jeep that your driving through dust torn Iraq. Or playing the next sandbox game (Elders Scrolls, GTA, Saints Row etc) and never having to squint at the shitty on screen map when you can just look at your tablet next to you and see where you are. Just the ideas for this kind of stuff are endless and while Nintendo gets to explore them for now, its not long until Microsoft comes to crash the party in my opinion.

The main argument against SmartGlass would be that Nintendo by bundling the Wii U with a touch screen tablet controller has already taken the pain out of choosing a dedicated tablet for the consumer. I'd argue against this point though as its justifiable to say that if the consumer can afford the 8th gen console in the first place, they probably already have their own high end smart device that's already compatible with SmartGlass. Microsoft could later release a dedicated tablet as well for SmartGlass and to support those games. It worked for Kinect, it should work here.

Until Microsoft announces the Xbox 720, I'm going to hold off even considering a Wii U (especially after Nintendo screwed everyone that brought a 3DS on launch with the $100 price slash. If I really wanted crappy old NES/SNES games I would have emulated them on my pc thanks. Should have just given everyone $100 Nintendo store credit or something).

There is nothing wrong with a party console (a lot of my friends own both the Wii and either the Ps3/360), just my main point of this blog is while Nintendo is been innovative now, its not long until Microsoft sweeps in.

Anyway this is all just food for though. Here are some screen caps from SmartGlass from my Windows 8 craptop. So far you can only use SmartGlass to launch games, stream media and control the Xbox dashboard but like a Magikarp it has the potential for so much more.