Monday, April 25, 2011

About those Project Café/Wii 2 rumors ...

Well, the folks at Nintendo of Japan finally admitted that the successor to the Wii--supposedly codenamed "Project Café"--will be revealed at the upcoming E3 event (June 7-9 in Los Angeles) and will be released sometime next year.

Unfortunately, that's about all they admitted during a press conference held earlier today in Osaka, Japan.  (Another will be held tomorrow in Tokyo.)

Sure, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata shared that the company "will offer something new for home game systems," but that's hardly a shocking statement given its forward-thinking DS, 3DS and Wii systems.

The question is, will the "something new" Iwata refers wind up resembling any of the rumors that have been swirling around the Interwebs for the last week or so? (Read about them here.)



Will the system's controller really have a six-inch touchscreen in the center of it (as depicted in the mock-up above), for instance? If so, will it really allow users to stream games and other media to said screen without turning on their TVs?

Also, does this mean Nintendo is turning its back on the Wii remote and the motion controls that were popularized by it--or will this new console be backwards-compatible with its predecessor?

That last question has me feeling a bit edgy at the moment, I have to admit. I've really enjoyed using the Wii remote--its pointer functionality, especially--and I'd hate for Nintendo to give it up just so they can offer the masses something new and exciting.

What do all of you think? Are you curious about Project Café, or could you care less about it?

4 comments:

Viewtiful_Justin said...

I'm curious as always, but I wouldn't mind seeing them do something that puts them graphically up to speed with everyone else. I'm sick of every Game Informer article about a Wii game mentioning how the graphics aren't comparable to the rest of the net gen systems. And I know that graphics don't make a game. In fact, most of my favorites are some of the least graphically amazing. But...seriously, Nintendo...get with it.

And if they don't fix this crappy online service, I'm going to cry. Friend codes and game codes and patchy reliability...ugh. IT's gotta stop here.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Well, Justin, the rumor is that this system will be "better than the PS3 and 360," graphically, so there's hope. How much better, though, is the question. Because you know MS and Sony will release their own successor systems in the next few years, and if Project Cafe is only a smidge better than the current systems, it will be blown out of the water when the next PS and Xbox are released.

I actually don't care too much about graphics myself. Every Nintendo system has better graphics than the last one, and those graphics always seem to be good enough to me. What I care about is the controller, the online service and the selection of first-party games.

Like I said earlier, I've really liked the Wii remote, so I'd really like it if this next system features some sort of evolution of that controller. Right now, rumors suggest that won't be the case. Also, like you said, they *really* need to get over the hump in terms of their online services. There's no excuse now not to have an online system than can compete with MS and Sony.

Anyway, I'm excited about Project Cafe -- just like I'm excited about the next PS and even Xbox. Hopefully Nintendo will have plenty of pleasant surprises for all of us come E3 :)

Viewtiful_Justin said...

I'm sure it'll be good. I'm not worried about amazing first party games, since they've never failed me on that front. I also hope the Wii controllers will be compatible, although if they're not, maybe the shovelware will be less prevalent. I dunno...time will tell.

Bryan Ochalla said...

I don't know, Justin, there's always going to be shovelware, I think. Hopefully it'll be less prevalent, like you said, though...