Nintendo's Project Cafe

been following this story all week, so their next console debuts at E3 soon, in playable form. so what are they doing different this time? a personal touchscreen on every controller, with the possibility of taking those controllers on the go (it's a genius idea, but one would think it would hobble their DS business). the hardware surpasses the 360 and PS3, and does 1080p resolution (it will also play all Wii games and use Wii remotes as a control option).

http://www.gossipgamers.com/rumor-project-cafe-concept-design/

http://wii.ign.com/articles/116/1163764p1.html

this is a pretty great idea. i hope it has some decent games unlike the wii though. here's hoping it's a step away from shovelware

I can't see point of having a touch-screen on the contollers?

But i'm interested in this. I haven't owned a Nintendo console since the N64 (which is probaly my all-time favorite gaming console).. I really wanted to try those Mario Galaxy games, but i never bought the Wii because it's not a HD console.. So this could finally be my excuse to buy a nintendo product again.

Kinda reminds me of the Dreamcast memory card/lcd screens that you could load mini games onto.

Looking back & forth from the tv screen to the controller screen sounds like it would get annoying, but I don't really play video games so maybe not...

those controllers look shit. i wish nintendo would quit it with the gimmicks and go back to making real games.

  On 4/26/2011 at 1:47 AM, Cryptowen said:

Looking back & forth from the tv screen to the controller screen sounds like it would get annoying, but I don't really play video games so maybe not...

is that the way it would work? i got the impression that you could take the game on the go or play it @ home (on your big screen)

  On 4/26/2011 at 1:14 AM, Dropp said:

I can't see point of having a touch-screen on the contollers?

 

But i'm interested in this. I haven't owned a Nintendo console since the N64 (which is probaly my all-time favorite gaming console).. I really wanted to try those Mario Galaxy games, but i never bought the Wii because it's not a HD console.. So this could finally be my excuse to buy a nintendo product again.

  On 4/26/2011 at 1:47 AM, Cryptowen said:

Looking back & forth from the tv screen to the controller screen sounds like it would get annoying, but I don't really play video games so maybe not...

Rumors are that it will be able to stream the games to your controller screen. Also inventory, who knows what else. Better kb/pointer input too. Rumor has it as a 6" screen

impressive - nintendo figured out a way to charge even more for every controller you will have to purchase separately...

Super Mario Galaxy in HD is a bit tempting though, but they gotta do something about game prices to compete with apple/PC/internet games. These console games are not worth 10 - 20x the price of ipod/ipad games imo.

  On 4/26/2011 at 2:11 AM, AcrossCanyons said:

those controllers look shit. i wish nintendo would quit it with the gimmicks and go back to making real games.

Well, at this point, no one actually knows what they look like obviously, those are just mock ups and

the "Project Cafe" design leak is also a mock up, most probably fake. Remember that before the release

of the Wii, hundreds of insane fake "leaks" of what the Wii-mote was going to look like did the rounds

for ages and none of them got close to the finished design. Knowing Nintendo, this thing will be pretty sleek after the dainty size

of the Wii and not a monster "the size of the original xbox" as other rumours are suggesting.

As for gimmicks, I've read Nintendo are specifically targeting hardcore gamers or trying to entice them back with Project Cafe,

which means less Shovelware, better online support this time around (bye bye friends codes hopefully) and a ton

of Excellent Third party support again due to the much higher Spec of the machine. Rockstar are supposedly already

working on a new Title for this thing.

project cafe is a working name I'm assuming?

  Quote

project cafe is a working name I'm assuming?

Nintendo usually does that

Dolphin = Gamecube

Revolution = Wii

Cafe = ???

I heard the system is going to be called Wiiii

I don't think I'll buy it. I'll just wait for a PS4.

Funny. This is pretty much what I thought the Wii controller was going to consist of before it's design was revealed.

at first glance this sounds pretty gimmicky. After some thought I can think of some advantages to having a personal screen though. Best example is for privacy and screen real estate in local multiplayer(vs. or co-op). Making plays in a football game, strategizing forces for some kind of shared screen multiplayer strategy, playing a hand of poker with friends. Playing virtual versions of magic: the gathering. A local multiplayer action rpg, managing weapons, inventory and magic spells on your personal screen while you friend fights back monsters on the main screen. If used in this way, I could see it adding to the gaming experience. I really miss the plethora of local multiplayer games we used to have on consoles, it's fun to sit in a room with friends, gather round the console, and play against each other, and I think this may be what nintendo is going for with this design. We get the privacy advantages of online play with the social benefits of local multiplayer, if the right games were developed for this, it could be loads of fun and even offer new experiences and opportunities for games that we haven't been able to pull off before.

You might be waiting a while, Sony head Kaz Hirai, said that they aren’t even thinking about next the PlayStation and that they believe that the PS3 is only half-way done, reckoning it has at least a 10 year life cycle. It will be updated along the way with further add-ons etc. It's likely the same senario can be said for Microsoft. There won't be an Xbox720 or whatever for at least another 4 years. If Nintendo's new Project Cafe does turn out to be more powerful than both PS3+360 then they could have

an interesting open field to their own for a while.

  On 4/26/2011 at 3:18 AM, Dissolvedpaul said:

You might be waiting a while, Sony head Kaz Hirai, said that they aren’t even thinking about next the PlayStation and that they believe that the PS3 is only half-way done, reckoning it has at least a 10 year life cycle. It will be updated along the way with further add-ons etc. It's likely the same senario can be said for Microsoft. There won't be an Xbox720 or whatever for at least another 4 years. If Nintendo's new Project Cafe does turn out to be more powerful than both PS3+360 then they could have an interesting open field to their own for a while.

Last I heard the next cycle would be 2014.

  On 4/26/2011 at 3:10 AM, abracadabra said:

I heard the system is going to be called Wiiii

 

I don't think I'll buy it. I'll just wait for a PS4.

Yeah, what will be the point of playing current generation games, on a system post 2012. Nintendo already pissed me off enough with the wii(horrible GRAPHICS, and mostly shitty titles, or titles that might have been nice, hobbled by running and looking shit), i don't think i'll ever go back to that platform.

A nice article on DigitalFoundry.

I think they have a point. I don't think Nintendo has much interest to make a console that has more power than PS3/X360 since they want to stay price competitive and have special controllers. Their target audience probably doesn't really care that much for fancy HD graphics. That said, the Wii is really low-specced and it has probably kept the multi-platform developers away from it. So it might attract more third party developers that aren't pushing out shovelware like we've seen in the past years. But they've struck gold on the casual gamer market so I'm guessing that'll remain their primary focus.

I agree that there are some interesting things to do with a screen inside a controller. But it'll depend on the games and the content on the Wii never came close to convincing me it would be worth my money.

  On 4/26/2011 at 12:48 AM, ganus said:

this is a pretty great idea. i hope it has some decent games unlike the wii though. here's hoping it's a step away from shovelware

no joke! i'm sick of all this shit that's simply made for motion sensor exploitation. i don't wanna knock nintendo for trying anything, but i want regular controllers back. a couple years ago i just stopped paying attention to what's new in the world of games. but up until the wii's release i was rabid about video games news

  On 4/26/2011 at 4:29 AM, Calx Sherbet said:

  On 4/26/2011 at 12:48 AM, ganus said:

this is a pretty great idea. i hope it has some decent games unlike the wii though. here's hoping it's a step away from shovelware

 

no joke! i'm sick of all this shit that's simply made for motion sensor exploitation. i don't wanna knock nintendo for trying anything, but i want regular controllers back. a couple years ago i just stopped paying attention to what's new in the world of games. but up until the wii's release i was rabid about video games news

How is the decline of your personal interest in games related to the Wii? PS3 and 360 still have tons of great games. Unless you got a Wii and are now jaded?

i'm just saying stuff got less interesting, because it was the same exploitation junk over and over. and i guess i meant nintendo specifically. you can obviously disagree with me, but i think the wii was trying to be more of a toy than a system.

and i'm not at all jaded of stuff i LIKED. i'm not asking for some crazy, otherworldly new gaming concept. and i wouldn't say the wii was bad at all. i certainly don't have any desensitization that needs nourishment

all game systems are toys. they are for playing games