"Host game dead" era came when Nintendo became a lone dancer

"Host game will eventually go extinct." "This is Peter Wistberga, the CEO of Angry Birds," said Peter Vesterbacka, who made a bold prediction of future host games after 42 million dollars in funding. Many people may think that Wistberga is "crazy", but there is no denying that, with the rapid popularization of mobile terminals and social networks, mobile terminals ' games and social games do begin to nibble the entire market quickly. The Rovio company, which was unknown until 2010, had a revenue breakthrough of $5 million in just 6 months in the second half of 2010, and Rovio's valuation reached 200 million dollars after receiving 42 million dollars in funding. Even a few big game host vendors do not deny the impact of mobile terminals and social networks on traditional host platforms, at the end of the first two months of the United States E3 game show, Microsoft and Sony did not follow the usual practice of publishing their next generation of host platform, chose to bide their lives, and released its own next generation of game host--wii U's Nintendo is also seen by many people as a helpless move.

With the popularity of mobile devices and smartphones, especially after Apple's frequent success with its iOS products and low-priced games sold on the App Store, Nintendo's dominance has begun to fade. Currently, game apps are still the main source of revenue for Apple's iphone and ipad apps. Even the nation's leading gaming publishers have admitted that the ipad has become the fastest growing platform for the company. He also points out that dedicated gaming machines like Nintendo have fallen from 80% in the global gaming market to 40% per cent. More importantly, the current game on the mobile terminal is very similar to the smart, concise and puzzle-taking course that Nintendo played in the past. The Wii has attracted a large number of non-core gamers with a simple operation and a high degree of interactivity, but today this part of the player is being absorbed more by companies like Apple and Rovio, and the real core players are switching to others because they can't stand the Wii's rough image. This once put Nintendo into a tiger's dilemma.

Before the launch of the Wii U, Nintendo has a high-profile launch of its own new generation of palm machine 3DS, with the naked eye 3D technology for the biggest selling point of 3DS initially looks cool, but the need for perspective to achieve the 3D effect of the way has become a limited perspective. In short, if you want to play 3D games secretly in class, you may need to bury your head under the table. More importantly, after the launch of 3DS, Nintendo has not been enough to impress the consumer's heavyweight game, the technology and content of the disconnect so that the naked-eye 3D technology has become almost a device.

3DS first landed in the U.S. market in March 2011, the price was 249.99 U.S. dollars. But only 4 months later, Nintendo's first-quarter earnings report showed the company's losses amounted to 25.5 billion yen ($ 324 million trillion), and Nintendo announced that the price of 3DS consoles would be slashed to $169.99 since August 12, 2011. In such a short period of time to the company's new products so large price adjustment, this can be said that Nintendo has suffered a unique impact of history. Iwata, the Nintendo president, also made a public apology to all players on the official website: "We are sorry for the players who have supported 3DS from the outset, even if they have been criticized." ”

So even if rock Iwata the Wii U as "unique" and "ideal", more people see Nintendo's reflection and transformation from the Wii U. Wii u The most eye-catching is not the host itself, but installed on the 6.2-inch touch screen handle, which may also be the best picture, the most full-featured one game handle. It was so large and thick that it was half the size of the ipad, with a camera in the middle of the screen, a microphone in the middle of the front, a video call, and a loudspeaker in the front and right. After docking on the television, the WII U handle on the implementation of the relevant operations can be synchronized on the television.

Shooting game has always been a Wii sense of a wasteland, the past bad infrared targeting and can not pinpoint the high-speed shooting game. and the Wii U will be the control part of the star shift to the handle of the 6.2-inch screen. However, this does not mean that you just have to focus on the screen that is smaller than the ipad, and you must calibrate the screen star to the object on the TV. Unlike Wiimote and other hand body sense, such a target operation requires the entire upper limb and even the movement of the footsteps to cooperate.

In addition, although this handle looks much thicker than the ipad and other tablets, but in fact the Wii U handle weight and only "a plastic mold" weight equivalent. This means that the Wii U is no longer like the traditional host can only be placed at home, but can carry. In addition to television, the Wii U handle can also be at any time with 3DS, Wii, or even a computer screen docking, the real realization of the game everywhere.

In addition, Nintendo has reopened its 6-year-old high-definition technology. 6 years ago, when Nintendo was ready to launch the Wii, High-definition video technology was the most popular one at the time, and since then Microsoft and Sony have developed xBox360 and PS3 on the basis of this technology. Compared with these two host games, the Wii picture is simply a product of the previous generation. While the simplified gameplay and body-feeling approach attracts a large number of atypical gamers, it also loses a large number of core players.

Therefore, the Wii U return to the ranks of HD game is to make up for 6 years of regret. The WII u employs IBM's newest multi-core processor, "Watson," although it is not high-end but strong enough. The core chip uses the latest 4890 equivalent R770 of AMD, which supports Direct X 10.1 and multiple-screen display technology similar to Eyefinity. If so, the WII u visual performance is absolutely stronger than the active two high definition host.

Even so, Nintendo is aware of its own hardware development gap with Sony and Microsoft. You know, after the performance of the Wii U, can only and xBox360, PS3 performance of a higher, no one knows what Microsoft and Sony's next generation of hosts in the end is what appearance. Although the mode of dual-screen game is novel, and using "tablet computer" to play video game, whether can achieve 1+1≥2 effect is still unknown, Nintendo's advantage is still by skillful win. However, in this era of the sabre-free, the performance of the machine itself and the game can be played by all the host factory is a threshold. For Nintendo, which has always lacked third-party gaming support, finding more game content and resources to match its host will be key to the future success of the Wii U.