But that did not stop its first party ips from looking next gen at the time,something Nintendo has failed to do even with their own ips for the wiiu. And on top of that its allot easier to develop for compared to how hard it was to develop for the ps3's launch. And even the harder to develop for ports on ps3 looked better for its time compared to wiiu,wiiu looks like it plays last gen games ( battlefield 3, metro , or any 3rd part title playable on a 360) Though those games may be next gen looking for a Nintendo gamer, allot of gamers had this quality 5 years ago and suspect better. Your just making excuses for it and you know it, yes the ports aren't exactly optimized but there not even close to ps3 unoptimized. Ive seen brawl and mario 3D land, does not even come close to looking as good as what my pc or ps4 can do.

You cant name a single 3rd party game on wiiu that's not on ps3 or 360,true next gen games like the division is stuff that CANT run on the wiiu. If its not on a ps3, it wont be on wiiu and so far that stands for every 3rd party title lol.

Actually Nintendo's efforts like Pikmin 3, Super Mario 3D World, and Mario Kart 8 look extremely "next gen." Two of those 3 games are 1080p 60fps to boot.

Muffins - Project Cars perhaps? (assuming this game ever sees the light of day)...

Pikmin 3 is 720p. So is Mario 3D World.

That leaves us with Mario Kart 8, which hasn't been released yet, so the jury is still out on that one.

Don't spread misinformation, please. Anyway, 720p or not, Mario 3D World is still a marvel to look at, both artistically and technically. So, who cares?

for new development it won't be an issue. I was merely referring to games that are developed with multiple platforms in mind. Assassin's Creed, CoD, BF4, etc, were all holding back the PS4 and XB1 versions because the code was not being built for the ground up for the next gen versions. They basically upgraded the resolution and added a few bells and whistles, but the game still didn't run flawlessly because x86 architecture is nothing like the Cell processor / 360 architecture.

Oh okay. Thanks for the clarification Neonrdr.

It was not my intent to spread misinformation regarding the resolution of Super Mario 3D world. I should have checked my facts. Super Mario 3D worlds is indeed 720p 60fps. My mistake. I'd edit my original posting if I could.

They've already brought lots of games, certainly more than Sony or Microsoft have brought to their next-gen offerings.

Yes, they do need to buy third party support (or defray development costs), until the install base increases to the point that developers can make money on AAA games.

Let me put it this way - games sells for $50 retail, which means that the developer/publisher is at best getting $25. With an install base of 5MM units only, they have to sell to 40% of the install base, an impossibly high number. That is before I even start to factor in marketing costs.

Realistically the install base has to be >20MM to make money. A "hit" would sell to 10% of the install base and that would only cover a $50MM development budget.

I think I would actually play a Mario world city builder.

Most new 3rd Party games cost $70.

Then a port with optimizations doesnt cost the developers 50million. We are talking about multiplatts here and not an exclusive game. Nintendo has enough exclusives, the problem is the 3rd party support.

I read somewhere, that for devs a console starts to become profitable, if the install base reaches around 9 million consoles, not 20.

Then again, if I were a baker, who makes great bread and get 3 different orders, one for 50 breads, 1 for 100 breads and 1 for 150 breads, I still make profit on all of them, yes I make most on the third order, but I am in the business for profits and not for, I gain more here, yes, but you gain even more, if you do all.

If Nintendo are going to guarantee $10MM (likely $5MM cash and $5MM cross-marketing promotions) then they are also going to specify the parameters of the game (ie. it is "AAA",)that the game must be "native" to the Wii U, and that it be exclusive to the Wii U for an initial period.

Ten million sounds like a lot, but if it drives consoles sales, it is a drop in the bucket.

Nintendo likely recovers 25-30% from sales of 3rd party IP on its console too, so what Nintendo would really be doing is eliminating their profits on 3rd party IP in favour of gaining console sales. Nintendo is still earning on their own IP on the added consoles sold.

In fact, I'd argue it is the ONLY realistic course of action for Nintendo to take to generate console sales.

Do it a dozen times on AAA 3rd party IP, particularly with some timed exclusivity, and Nintendo will rocket. 3rd party, particularly in what I'd call the "hard core adult" genre, is something Nintendo needs to push, particularly given "stigma" of the Wii in the "hard core adult" marketplace.

PC doesn't have Super Mario 3D World, and that's a huge loss.

@ Metallox

"PC doesn't have Super Mario 3D World, and that's a huge loss."...Not until the Wii-U gets emulated just like all the other Nintendo consoles before it.

Well as a pc gamer I agree with all you said there.

All this next gen talk is just a fantasy. These games are only aspiring to be the same as maxed out pc graphics. It's no magical, phenomenal leap. Yes 1080p has been the household standard for years now so it's sad to see game consoles who have standardized hardware still not achieve this level. Granted games like mario 3D World are lovely buy being 720p or 1080p probably would look no different. But really there isn't much excuse to go around in this day and age.

Still I think people have this dream of "next gen" graphics that simply isn't reality. Look at videos of a few pc games on ultra. That's all there is. Even a lot of the fancy E3 demos we saw with all the hype and fanfare have already been dumbed down. The next gen fairy isn't coming. Sorry.