With the Wii 2 now officially confirmed by Nintendo to be under development for an E3 reveal, our minds can take a break from wondering if and when the company would finally get around to releasing a home console geared more towards the fans of their competitors as opposed to a more casual audience. But with Nintendo guilty of making some mistakes in the past, our thoughts aren't just filled with optimism over everything that 'Project Cafe' could be. We're also afraid of the Japanese manufacturer using this launch to make the past mistakes look like minor slip-ups.
Don't mistake our concerns for trolling, or betting against Nintendo's next console. If the hardware is advanced as some rumors suggest, the Wii 2/Nintendo Stream could be a dream come true. But with major opportunities come major risks.
While the DS and 3DS gambles seem to already be paying off, the scale of a home console is much greater, especially when your competition happens to be run by Microsoft and Sony. So while some would like to think that Nintendo is set to show the world why they were at one time the be-all end-all of video game makers, we've constructed a list of the potential Wii 2-disasters that keep us up at night.
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#8. Mario HD
We're certainly not going to suggest that Nintendo doesn't know exactly what they're doing with every Mario title, even though the simple mention of Super Mario Sunshine would prove that point to many of you. But we have yet to see Mario in a next-gen incarnation. More polished than ever on the Wii, sure, but you can't deny that the style and sensibilities that gave birth to the mustachioed plumber have evolved by leaps and bounds in the past decade.
Nintendo certainly wouldn't be obtuse enough to shoehorn Mario into a dark and gritty Western-ized action platformer. But even President Satoru Iwata acknowledges that worldwide tastes in games have shifted strongly towards photorealism. As far as side-scrollers go, Super Mario earns his title. He even showed with the Super Mario Galaxy series that he can own the third dimension like nobody's business.
But a game as segmented and stage-based as most Super Mario titles goes against nearly every law of modern gaming, which state that large scale environments and free-wheeling gameplay are king. The game could be fantastic, but whether you choose to accept it or not, Mario HD would be taking a flying leap into uncertainty.
#7. Backwards Compatibility
To say that fans get a little angry whenever a new console comes out that renders their previous games seemingly inferior would be fair, even if the games still work just fine on their intended console. But let's be honest, players want to see their favorite games in the best possible way. While backwards compatibility never worked out the way fans may have hoped for the Xbox 360 or PS3, the Wii's ability to play any and all official GameCube titles set it apart.
While there's no reason to think the same wouldn't be true for the Wii 2, if push comes to shove where hardware and costs are concerned, the feature may get the axe. If the new console only plays games intended for its system - more likely if the Wii 2 is intended to bring in multiplatform titles - then it stands apart from the rest of the Nintendo family. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but Nintendo has plenty of Wii users who expect new titles to come regularly.
If Nintendo suddenly had two different platforms to develop for, would it be realistic to think that one wouldn't receive more time and energy? The last thing the gaming industry needs is another rift between hardcore and casual gamers, and that might be just what we get if Nintendo tries to have their cake and eat it too.
#6. Zelda HD
There are few franchises as beloved by the hardcore gamer audience as Zelda, and the series hero Link. Not only the go-to series for just about every Nintendo console launch, but also the franchise that gave us one of the greatest video games in history: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Zelda has explored just about every possibility available in the various artistic styles and moods on past Nintendo hardware, from the paper-craft Windwaker to the more dark and gritty Twilight Princess.
Fans are still waiting to see if Skyward Sword delivers on the promise of actually being able to wield Link's sword and shield through the motion control of the Wii, but with a new console brewing, could a Wii 2 Zelda title be far behind? And more importantly, would it compete with other RPGs?
The fact of the matter is that while many still hold the Zelda games of the past on a pedestal, representing narrative and mechanical perfection, plenty of other lesser known games have achieved similar levels of success. With The Witcher 2, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Diablo 3 giving sizable doses of classic RPG narrative, item collection, and skill upgrading, gamers will be spoiled for choice where role-playing is concerned.
Zelda has every chance to be a fantastic title in HD, but with so many other games scratching the same itch, Nintendo putting the usual amount of emphasis on the game for release may not have the same impact it has had in the past.
#5. Generational Gap
Possibly the most obvious problem with Nintendo waiting this long to release their answer to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 is the effect it has on the overall race between the three major console makers. If Nintendo had waited this much longer before releasing the next home console to ensure that the Wii 2 was a truly next-gen machine, they would be ahead of the game. Microsoft and Sony would be blown away that the Wii was merely a feint, allowing them the time to lead the market into the next age of console technology and performance.
But by delaying this long, only to launch a system that was as capable and powerful as its competition, how could they possibly be ready for the inevitable leap forward that Sony and Microsoft will take in four or five years? Granted, the Kinect and Move may have injected enough new interest to convince the other manufacturers to postpone their next consoles for the time being. But will Nintendo have enough time to advance with them?
It seems unlikely, given how much development time and resources have been spent on launching two new devices in just over a year. We don't know how Nintendo plans to keep up, but this release schedule may just see history repeat itself a few years down the road.
#4. The Controllers
At this point, there are as many rumors as there are confirmed features integrated into the input devices of Project Cafe. From variable texture touchscreens to embedded video screens that will only be offering "modest" graphical performance, the leaked information on Nintendo's next controllers read more like a Frankenstein monster than comprehensive specifications.
Extra screens on gamepads can be an interesting way of adding mobility to a play experience - the Dreamcast showed that - but to build them into a console's very foundations is risky. How the extra functionality will drain battery life, increase the price of the console, as well as the size and weight, and impact the overall complexity of what should be the most intuitive aspect of a new system are concerns themselves, but those aren't our biggest fears.
If there is one aspect of the Wii 2 that already seems to be coming dangerously close to gimmicky, it's the controllers. Nintendo hasn't played it safe in the past when launching new input devices, but with the amount of rumors being tossed around, the Wii 2 could end up being one big mess. Satoru Iwata calmed some fears by denying that the controller will go the iPad route and remove all buttons, but we're still not convinced. Sure they're rumors, but where there's smoke there's fire.
The biggest question about the controllers isn't even about the screens or buttons it will feature, but the motion sensitivity. Which brings us to our next biggest fear...
#3. Motion Controls
It might be a common sentiment among the 'hardcore' that motion gaming is intended solely for the uninitiated and casual gaming public, and is therefore an abomination to serious game design. We won't go that far, but it can't be argued that the mandatory motion controls for many flagship titles on the system did a fair bit to stifle enthusiasm among some of Nintendo's past fans. After all, this was the system that set the standard for controllers for a great chunk of home console history, and it's no coincidence that all other game controllers still resemble that of the NES.
Those in the gaming industry are willing to point out that motion controller acceptance is a long way away, even if Kinect and Move have enjoyed high sales numbers. Motion gaming may be a big hit among a large portion of the gaming audience, but the most profitable, most marketable, and most well-financed game properties still start designing for the traditional twin-sticks first.
Make no mistake: Nintendo needs to go after the more hardcore audience with the Wii 2. Iwata has already recognized the importance of having western-developed titles, which implicitly means more mainstream and thus more traditionally controlled. But if Nintendo maintains its commitment to motion controls, or even allows the current Wiimotes to be plugged into the Wii 2, they risk appearing only half-committed to recapturing their base.
And if that's the case, the relationship between the Wii and Wii 2 just gets even more complicated.
#2. Online
No real explanation needed on this one. Since Nintendo first launched the Wii, the system has become famous for many things, but certainly not for its online community. Nintendo's Satoru Iwata has admitted that the company screwed up Wii's online functionality, and while they may be vowing to not repeat the same mistakes with the Wii 2, we're not so optimistic. Sure, they may be streamlining the 'friend codes' needed to connect with fellow Wii-users, and likely have plans to make other features like voice chat and invites far more intuitive.
But Nintendo has had a long time to improve their system, and the lack of major progress doesn't exactly instill confidence. They had a chance to get the 3DS off on the right foot with its online marketplace, but still couldn't have the system in place for launch. But the real point here isn't that we don't believe Nintendo can pull off online as well as Microsoft or Sony, but that it's hard to imagine that any company could at this point.
PSN has only recently caught up to the offerings of the Xbox Live Marketplace, and Microsoft has a major leg-up on the competition thanks to its subscription fees. Will Nintendo follow that model, and learn from Microsoft's past mistakes? Or will they go the route of Sony, and offer a free service?
Online has proven to be a challenge for Nintendo, and if they focus on games instead of the online modes, it could be an afterthought yet again.
#1. The Hype
Amidst all the various rumors, leaked images, hardware specs, and possible titles in development, the truth is we don't really know what to expect from the Wii 2. It could have hardware that is on par, slightly behind, or more advanced than the Xbox 360 or PS3. It could have a straightforward gamepad that has been poorly described and blown out of proportions, or mechanics and features that we haven't heard a whisper about. As for launch titles? That's anybody's guess.
And that's the problem. While skeptics and Nintendo fans alike are debating the various features of the Wii 2 that may not have any basis in reality, Nintendo is busy making a real console to be shown at E3. The exact hardware and components being used have been chosen for reasons only they know, and the overall design philosophy that's being put into developing the system is likely already fully-formed.
As the gaming public does with every console, we spend our time thinking of everything we would love to see, instead of everything we're likely to see. So the question becomes: can the Wii 2 possibly live up to expectations? If it arrives with a completely normal controller, unable to play Blu-ray, won't we be somewhat underwhelmed? Of all the fears we have about what the Wii 2 may or may not be, the biggest has to be that the dream console we've thought up over the past years that Nintendo would release to shame the Xbox 360 and PS3 is just that: a dream.
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The most likely result is that the Wii 2 will be on par with the other consoles, designed to attract more multiplatform titles, with a controller that incorporates some motion control and a touch surface of some kind. Nintendo could surprise us, but if the only fear of ours that turns out to be true is that the Wii 2 is a well-built, competitive next-gen console, we'll count ourselves lucky.
What do you think of our concerns? Are they the same doubts that haunt your own visions of Project Cafe, or do you trust that Nintendo has learned from every single one of their mistakes, and are preparing to blow away our collective expectations? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.
We'll continue to keep you up to date on any and all news on the Nintendo Wii 2, and let you know if our fears were without grounds when the system is opened to the press at E3 2011.