Nintendo prez Reggie Fils-Aime: "Wii can have it all"

What most of you ignore is that the "6 year old hardware" (which is actually a lie, the Wii is more powerful than the 'Cube) already has good enough graphics. If you see N64 games you know the graphics aren't good enough because the 3D looks cheap. With the Gamecube's generation the games started looking very nice, with realistic face models and shit, RE4 is really nice, I don't see how you can call that "low-res" and "shitty graphics" even if there is better on the market. What I mean is graphics have reached a point where most people are satisfied, the 360 and PS3 graphics of course look nicer, but is that really needed? Also, maybe in America the HD craze has started, but back here in Europe it's not that widespread, with HDTV's being expensive as HELL. The SDTV's don't even support component cables, only SCART! The HD era hasn't even truly started yet, why buy a system now that for most people won't be running at full potential until at least 3 years? By then 1920p resolutions will exist and the 720 and PS4 will be promoting that, and when Nintendo runs at 1080p people will still call it low-res only because there is better? For example I've never had problems with my TV broadcasts being low-res, yet there are now HD broadcasts, does that mean that now suddenly all SD broadcasts are fugly? 'cause they look fine to me and billions of other people think the same. SD broadcasts are good enough, HD is just an expensive luxury.

Hey, where are my image royalties??

A lot of you here sound like the same people who though dial-up was good enough, or the same people who thought 1.44MB was enough on a floppy, or stereo is just as good as 5.1 Surround Sound.

As technology changes and evolves things get better. Whether you want to admit it or not HD is the wave of the future and just like every technology, it is expensive in the beginning but the prices usually come down to reasonable prices after a few years. These technologies also have to start somewhere. Take for example VHS vs. DVD. When DVD first came out it was at the forefront of video technology: better picture quality, better sound, and movie extras. It was also expensive. Nonetheless it had to start somewhere. It wasn't going to enter the market and acheive 100% adoption rates; no it took time. But look at DVDs now: they are more popular than ever, and today there are more players in homes than VHS players.

The difference between Nintendo's strategy and its competitors is that Microsoft and Sony have a more forward looking vision. They wanted to make sure when their respective consoles entered the market that they had room to grow and expand. Does the Wii have this? The answer is a simple and resounding No.

Five years from now are people still going to want to play the Wii when the games look like the games from 11 years ago? What about the HD penetration then? It most definitely won't be 17% as someone pointed out. It is reasonable to believe that even in 2-3 years HD penetration will have a least doubled. This of course will correspond to manufacturers continuing to produce SDTVs in limited amounts and HDTV dropping to prices that most consumers are willing to pay. But it has to start somewhere. The argument that the market isn't ready for HD is false. When TV buyers go into a store they are stimulated first visually. Who is going to want to buy a TV for the house that is priced $200 for a SDTV as opposed to $350 for an HDTV?

And as I said before the difference is like night and day. I tried, man did I try, to play GoW in 480i and it was just unacceptable. I hooked it up to my monitor and it was clear as day. Sharp picture and very clear. The same feeling occured when I watched an SD broadcast of the Championship Bowl Game (Go Florida!) versus the HD broadcast. The difference is astounding, and when people go in store and see these TVs and the prices coming down they will be compelled to buy HDTV sets. And I do believe in 2-3 years, perhaps even sooner, HD penetration is going to skyrocket. And Nintendo, just like with its sad attempt at getting together a solid online feature for the Cube back when it first came out, will be left behind.

http://img61.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gearscomparisonhdsdcopyhc4.jpg


So SDTV is still ok Wii Fanboys even when it looks muddy and bland?

"Five years from now are people still going to want to play the Wii when the games look like the games from 11 years ago? What about the HD penetration then? It most definitely won't be 17% as someone pointed out. It is reasonable to believe that even in 2-3 years HD penetration will have a least doubled."

You, my friend, are SORELY mistaken. I'm going to be extremely generous and compare HD (a simple increase in resolution) to the advent of Color (which is in reality a much more compelling upgrade). The first network color broadcast took place in June 25, 1951. But the number of color television sets sold in the U.S. did not exceed black and white sales until 1972, which was also the first year that more than 50% of households that had a TV had a color one. ATSC (the standard HDTV system used in the US) wasn't finalized until 1996... It stands to reason that it will be at least 20 years from then, or 2016, when more than half of homes will have an HDTV... Even giving the better economy we have now I'd say it will at least be 2010, by which point we'll be talking about the Wii's successor...

@51

Unfortunately, a lot of people playing GoW will be looking at the muddy and bland image because they don't have HDTV.

@ 54 - to add to your point...
I saw an article that shows that DVD players have only recently outnumbered VHS players. This despite the great advantage of DVD over VHS (not only graphical advantage) and that DVD didn't require people to upgrade their TVs. What more for Hi-Def gaming, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray which offers mostly graphical upgrades only and requires you to change your TV.

Nintendo's philosophy in gaming is "Wii should all be gamers." This is inclusive. MS and Sony says you can be gamers but first you have to have HDTV to join our club. This becomes exclusive. I know a lot of hardcores want gaming to remain exclusive but business usually doesn't succeed that way.

Nintendo will not become niche with this philosophy, it will be MS and Sony.

I'm all for better technology, but I am NOT for consoles that try to sell it before the technology has reached a mass market point, and when it does, I'm sure Nintendo will be there with their new HD capable console, and if they aren't and use slightly upgraded Wii hardware, then I'm all for flaming Nintendo, because THEN they are antiquated.

@LongshotX
Nice comparison, sadly it doesn't state what the hell "SD res" is, as far as I'm concerned that could be 480i over composite (composite is infamous for it's blurring), why don't they show 480p over component? That picture is made to spread FUD, it makes no sense they didn't put either 480i or 480p and put "SD res" instead.

@ 57

Why not? It seems that Phil and Ken earned the scrutiny. If they'd only stop crapping on other peoples' purchasing preferences rather than deal with their own problems, they wouldn't be getting slammed for things THEY did or caused.

Of course they have it all.. They are selling you the new controller with a console that is an entire generation behind. It rocks (why do you think they are making $50 on it)

For consumers to have it all they would have to sell an xbox360 + Nintendo’s their new controller.

Wow,Fred T,figboy,Longshot X, and several others


all in one article
man its like a sonyfanshit orgy

Nintendo defintely has a lot of momemtum right now. While some may say that there is a software draught, I think as promised they are adequetly supplimenting the wii software with well-timed VC games. I think the addition of Mario Kart 64 is proof of this.

I'm also looking forward to developers being able to push the graphical capabilities of the wii early in it life cycle. I think this will happen relatively early in the systems's life unlike the normal 2.5-4 years. I see this possible due to the hardware similarities of the GC and wii which means that developers will be able to use some of tricks that they learned when developing for the GC and scaled by time 2 for wii's increased hardware capabilites.

I feel that right now the only reason why we haven't seen surperb wii graphics (ie graphics the wii is capable of) is because developers are working out the kinks that come from developing for a totally new control scheme and trying to incoorperate it well. I predict even as soon Q4 2007 we will see some pretty awesome visuals on the wii.

Take that back! I was a Nintendo Fanboy, then a Sega Fanboy, but now its all 360. And Microsoft and Sony aren't forcing you to buy an HDTV to play their games. For me its just nice to play in HD, which I do through a VGA cable hooked up to a 19 inch Widescreen 5ms Hanns-G Monitor. It was only $200, but its an amazing monitor. Vivid colors and amazing picture quality.