Don’t get me wrong. Most of the teardown techs do a pretty good job, and I am not alone in relying on iFixit’s work to keep me informed about the components appearing in the latest consumer gadgets. But sometimes, the media and tech blogosphere depend too much on everything the basic public teardown analyses provide.
In fact, the teardown of the Wii U highlights some other points related to the value of information on the Internet, especially seeking out original sources. In this case, Nintendo trumped all the RE and teardown folks by publishing their own teardown photos including components and side-by-side comparisons with the original Wii long before any streeters would have the chance. That’s some savvy marketing since it gave Nintendo the chance to explain every major the design and avoid the more difficult task of explaining away the speculations of the bloggers after the fact.
Unfortunately, there seems to have been something of a messaging glitch here as well. The difficulty was that this original Nintendo information seems to have been picked up by only a few sites like Extremetech which posted on October 12 just over a month before the North American launch. Perhaps Nintendo timed the release of the information too early before the major sites would be picking up on the console’s public release. Or Nintendo failed to push the information out to some of the high flying sites like AnandTech or Engagdet (or Electronics ;-).
Nintendo released the information through its own Iwate Asks blog. I admit that I came to this site through research for a more detailed look I have planned at the Wii U’s innards. Next time, I should think about asking my 12-year-old daughter for the best Nintendo sources.
Now you may think that mentioning my daughter was a gratuitous attempt to encourage compliance with the household chore list. I know by 12, kids are some of the savviest gamers out there, but I mention kids for another reason. The topic is the Wii, and it proved to be so popular with both tails of the age curve that it blew most pundits’ predictions out the window.
The Wii was supposed to fail because of its inferior graphics and lackluster performance compared to incumbent heavyweights Xbox and PS-3. Instead, the original Wii became wildly popular. It was not for the hard-core gamers, but the youngest and oldest to pick up a game controller took to the Wii like no other game system. Game play was intuitive with the controllers employing both MEMS-based motion input and infrared pointing.
As for the Wii U, I have to admit to being skeptical of the concept of its supplementary handheld touchscreen. I just did not understand the purpose. Was this just a gimmick to show some more tangible aspect to updated internals – something the less technically inclined could get their hands on so to speak?
After reading the interviews with the development team at Iwate Asks, I think I am guilty of underestimating the Nintendo game development mind. As Shiota-san suggested in the interview, Nintendo could be using the touchscreen to engender more bifurcation in its audience pushing even further into the tails of the age distribution. It could be simply brilliant strategy as I remember the younger kids having some difficulty getting the hang of operating the Wii controller as an onscreen pointer. Of course, these same kids had no trouble if you put an iPad in front of them.
For better or worse, neither the Nintendo release nor any teardown analysis answered my questions, so I will follow-up with my own speculation about the components powering what might be the next big thing in gaming.