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Socoder -> Off Topic -> A Little Bit More

Mon, 19 Nov 2012, 08:31
9572AD
WiiU does what Wii does, and a bit more, so is technically better. Wii already did what Wii does, and WiiU doesn’t really do much more, so I’m not sure what the point of it is.

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Mon, 19 Nov 2012, 08:31
spinal
Same as any other console v2, it does what the last one did and a little extra. It's been like that from day one. The PS2 did what the PS did and a little more, the PS3 did what the PS2 did and a little more, the SNES did what the NES did and a little more...

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Mon, 19 Nov 2012, 09:32
rockford
The Wii U doesn't play GameCube discs, so actually offers less than Wii at the moment and is significantly down on the number of games that it can play out of the box. However I understand that you will be able to buy GC games to download (as in Virtual Console) at a significant price-point, no doubt...

It's still technically much better though.
Mon, 19 Nov 2012, 13:36
CodersRule
I was messing around with its internet browser a few minutes ago, and it's really not that bad. It supports HTML5 video to an extent, so I was able to watch YouTube in-browser without the built-in app. Video works nicely, too, in that I can toss it up onto the TV screen and continue to browse the page on the tablet.
Mon, 19 Nov 2012, 16:20
Jayenkai
That sounds handy. Hadn't considered how useful it's browser might be.

How about PlayMyCode?

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Mon, 19 Nov 2012, 16:23
rockford
Sounds neat
Mon, 19 Nov 2012, 19:15
CodersRule
I didn't test PlayMyCode (I'll try it tomorrow), but I know that it does support 2D canvas. No WebGL, though.

edit: Tested it. I got around 10 FPS with SpikeDislike, a bit lower while running HTML5 video in the background.

Major problems: when I scroll the page, even a little bit, which happens inevitably when I try to drag something in a game, it pauses the game.
When I tap the canvas (only noticed this in the IDE, but it might happen in both), it pops up with the canvas's innerHTML ("This browser does not support canvas elements!") in an editable box. Holding on the canvas, like in SpikeDislike, does not provoke the behaviour, and when I played Chain Reaction outside of the IDE I didn't experience the problem.
Mon, 19 Nov 2012, 21:21
9572AD
I had heard they put GC support back in - guess I was lied to.

It's got a few new resolutions to play around with, and I know the processor speed is tweeked up a bit, but does it throw around significantly more polys than the Wii, or just enough more to not look primitive?

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All the raw, animal magnetism of a rutabaga.
Tue, 20 Nov 2012, 02:49
rockford
The Wii U does support GC games, but not via GC discs. Download only. Nintendo aren't stupid where it comes to making money.
Tue, 20 Nov 2012, 04:20
CodersRule
From what I've seen, the graphics are significantly better (though that could just be because Nintendo knows what they're doing when it comes to aesthetics). It's certainly disappointing that GC discs aren't compatible, because GC games are some of my favourites.

The second we got it home and plugged it in on Sunday morning, we noticed that the entire image looked somewhat zoomed in. Apparently our shitty TV has overscan that can't be disabled, so 5% of the image is cropped out no matter what. Nintendo did not think of this when they designed the Wii U, so some of the margins look horrible and buttons attached to the side of the screen get pushed past the edge. Most other devices have the option to adjust screen scale and position so that these things can be fixed console-side, but the Wii U doesn't seem to have any of those options. On the plus side, switching to the GamePad makes everything visible, and since most things are cloned or easily switched back and forth, it's never a huge problem.

Do you know if anyone has messed around with the GamePad yet? I've read that it's a proprietary 802.11-based protocol, but do you think it's crackable with existing hardware? If so, I can think of lots of fun things to do (Android tablets acting as GamePads could be pretty cool, especially those with NFC).

Even if no one's cracked the GamePad, I'm certainly going to be writing a few sneaky Android apps to toy around with NFC once games that use it start to appear.
Tue, 20 Nov 2012, 04:53
rockford
AFAIK the gamepad is just a viewing screen and controls. I don't think it has a processor or memory etc. of its own, so you can't put Android onto it. Everything is beamed from the Wii U to the gamepad IIRC.
Tue, 20 Nov 2012, 09:29
spinal
I think he meant the other way around, using an existing android based tablet to control the WiiU.

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Tue, 20 Nov 2012, 11:16
rockford
Ah, Yes. I could see the point as a replacement/extra Gamepad, but without the controls why would anyone want to? Perhaps you could tether a Bluetooth controller to the Android pad, but the cost of that set-up would be more than the cost of a proper Gamepad, surely?
Tue, 20 Nov 2012, 13:07
CodersRule
I'm interested in the automation (scripting/macros) that would be possible with an emulated GamePad, as well as the alternative control options (like tethering a bluetooth controller, like you said) that could make it easier to play certain games on the Wii U. It'd bring in the potential for a 360 controller if you don't like the Pro controller, as well as all sorts of cool custom controllers that you could use if you used some other device as a relay.
Tue, 20 Nov 2012, 13:20
spinal
but the cost of that set-up would be more than the cost of a proper Gamepad, surely?


Not if you already have all of the parts

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Tue, 20 Nov 2012, 14:06
rockford
True, but most people don't and there are unlikely to be many games that require 2 Gamepads for a while. Some might support them, but few will require them.

But it could be cool, especially seeing as the Gamepad looks a tad large.