Wii U launch dated and debut line-up announced
A second one of those tablet-like controllers is expected to cost more than £100.
In a series of press conferences, Nintendo revealed it will release its new console in the US on November 18, across Europe on November 30 and in its home Japanese market on December 8.
Unlike the Japanese release, the European release will come bundled with mini-game compilation NintendoLand, which has been designed to teach players how to use the touchscreen game-pad in much the same way that Wii Play did for Nintendo's previous console.
Titles available on the Wii U at launch include Mass Effect 3, Darksiders 2, Fifa 13, ZombiU and New Super Mario Bros. U as well as the as yet unreleased Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Additionally, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and Bayonetta 2 were announced as exclusives for the new console.
Nintendo has left pricing of the console up to the discretion of individual retailers, but it is expected to sell for approximately £210 for the basic version and £250 for the premium model.
The basic white Wii U features an 8GB hard drive whilst the black premium version comes with a 32GB hard drive and a year's subscription to the Nintendo Network.
A second Wii U controller is expected to retail for an eye-watering £105, with a more standard looking "pro" controller available for £40.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyPrices on Play are £259 for Basic, £309 for Premium and £349 for Premium with ZombieU.
Think I'll wait a bit before getting one.
Definitely. If I was a console gamer I still wouldn't be looking at one of these. There's something not very exciting about under powered hardware.
I think Nintendo will do ok on this one, but I can't see it being a runaway success like the wii was. They've taken an opposite approach with the WiiU in that the controller adds complexity rather than remove it, so the casual audience is immediately lost. In addition to that, they aren't about to win a lot of the hardcore by having such an underpowered machine. However, as boring and safe the New Super Mario Brothers games are they sell consoles for Nintendo every time. In addition to that, Nintendo somehow secured an exclusive Monster Hunter at launch which all but ensures huge sales in Japan. Publishing Bayonetta 2 was a smart move to get a few hardcore console gamers on board. I know a lot of people that lap up anything that Platinum put out, so 2 exclusives from them adds well. Of course all of the ports of older games like Arkham City and Mass Effect 3 are a complete waste of time, but I don't think any game available on PC is worth touching on console anyway.
Finally, they're going to be comparatively priced to the 360 and PS3 for the holiday season but have the advantage of being NEW. When the next gen finally comes out they'll be half the price and only a year or so old, which means a certain portion of the market will simply default to it because it'll be the cheapest "current' gaming system.
I'm undecided. The DS is a runaway success (not so much the 3DS, although it is slowly getting better with the release of the XL and change of focus away from the 3D and more on the games) which shows that developers have got to grips with games using a Touchscreen.
Although, I think that shifting your eyes a few degrees from top screen to bottom on a DS is a bit easier than switching your viewpoint from the TV to the tablet and then looking back (those few seconds to adjust your focus could get you killed in a fast passed game)
I want to see how the games implement the tablet before I bite (and I want to see what the exclusives are like too).
That's not the hardware power that makes a game is fun or not ! Unless player prefear poor gameplay but with eyecatching graphics. Well I'm not one of those.
Well if we took that attitude why bother building a pc for games. Why not just buy some piece of crap OEM model from dell and play all the funnest games at 640x480 with low detail. Besides there's no reason you can't have both. Unless of course the system you are playing on limits the quality of graphics. Frankly the wii's games always reminded me of casual flash games that I can get for free on miniclip.com or a multitude of other sites. They never seemed to have much complexity or depth. The social aspect was only ok once in a while, when playing drunk at a friends house, but even at that never held much interest for me.
Sure you can have both, but the power do not involves the fun you can have with the game. You're mixing the wii hardware and the wii games ... the wii could have nice games, seams like dev studio just didn't spent too much time on finding a good gameplay.
I think I should now quit this discution of "it's better coz it's bigger"
Based on the specs the WiiU is actually more powerful than the current gen by a nice margin, however, because it needs to render on AT LEAST 2 screens (3 screens later on, when the price for the tablet controller will drop), the graphics needs to, obviously be lowered. So they don't look much better than the PS3/XBOx 360. It's also difficult to say. While Nintendo best strength for developer is providing them with really good developer tools compared to other consoles, and is the easiest console to develop on, the game developers aren't used to the console capabilities. And from what I am seeing, A LOT of games are ports done by another studio.. and this is the problem. As it's another company that does the port, I don't think they have higher textures or know/understand the source code, as the original developers aren't there. So the ports while works well, doesn't look any better than the XBox 360/PS3. BTW, this is the exact same story for ANY new release of console. Look at the XBox 360/PS3 early games. They look like PS2/XBox 1 game.. just in HD, and a bit more polygons. The same for the WiiU.
So we have to wait and see over time.
Nintendo provides the best deals
-> Console is cheap. Considering that the tablet cost about half the price of the basic set console in Japan, it explains the price.
-> You have a downloadable store reward system on the Premium Set
-> Nintendo TiVii service at no extra cost
-> Wii accessories, controllers and games all work under the WiiU
-> Wii saves, Wiiware and Virtual Console games are all transferable on the WiiU at not additional cost
-> No proprietary SD card. You can use you own SD card
-> No proprietary HDD to increase the storage space of the console. Any HDD will do.
-> Video and audio chat service
-> All servers, including audio and video chat is free, no additional cost.
While the Xbox 360 you need to pay per month, else you have pretty much nothing, and beats the PS3 for what you get overall overall. And this is a new next gen console.
Still, I may be getting one of these things for my family for Christmas; we already have a Wii and HD cable for it. And a boatload of accessories.
*Not the tablet-thingy, not yet....
You mean like the Wii? The Wii could always have been described as "under powered hardware" and yet it sold a ton and made Nintendo a crap-load of money. I derided both it and the monumentally stupid name until everyone was buying them and they sold out everywhere. Then my mind just boggled at the reaction.
The Wii proved that a console isn't the hardware, it is the gameplay. Just like a game isn't its graphics but its gameplay.
We should be reserving judgement on the console until we can see how developers use it.
Now, having said all that I don't care about the WiiU or any other console or handheld. I don't own them, and I don't want to.
Conflict of Interest (Fanboy) Disclosure: I do own a Nintendo 64 (so I could play Goldeneye and Perfect Dark) and an original X-Box (because it cost me $30 and I got the GTA trilogy and Halo as a bonus).
And along the way I've somehow accumulated a box of anonymous/generic 80s/90s video game machines (I think there are a couple of PS1s in there as well) that has come with other vintage computer gear.
But bizarrely that doesn't explain the presence of a dead XB360. Where??!! Did it arrive seeking shelter? Do they breed? Am I legally required to possess at least one dead XB360 per household? There is no controller or cables, just the console itself. Hmm. No cables so I haven't tested it....what if it works? What if it is just playing possum? What if it just wanted into the shed for some
nefariousmurderouscompletely innocent purpose?Its a new experience.
Here are some ideas that was presented on what developer could do:
- Now when you look at your map or inventory, the game doesn't pause. A new level of challenge.
- Use the controller as a device in the game to look/scan/ point n shoot, etc..
- Use the controller as a second screen and void split screen so that you can play much better, enjoy the experience much better, have more fun, and no peeking.
- Use the controller as a chat system in a game
- Draw, map a strategy.
- Use as extra buttons. While I don't have the best example in my head. The screen can be used to display button to build units/building in a game or apply actions to them, kinda like a RTS style game for example.
- My idea: In a 2 controller configuration, the players can play against each other on the tablet (it has a high resolution display) , and the TV screen can display match stats and stuff.
and more..
I don't see it a s a gimmick. A gimmick would be more in the line of having the screen as being useless. Like you hit the inventory or pause game button, the game pauses, and the inventory would be on the controller screen instead of on screen. Now THAT is a gimmick. Where it provide 0 purpose, other than looking somewhat cool initially, even that.
Like some Wii games that interpreted a shake motion as a button, and nothing more. That is a gimmick.
For me, I am all for a console that provide me with an experience that I can't get from a PC. Else... I'll just play the game my PC in the first place.
It uses a high resolution display, using a really high quality resistive touch screen (actually, I am guessing here, as it's single touch and using the same stylus as the DS)
It need a really good and super fast wireless Bluetooth card for streaming video non stop. It has a built-in basic processor for some tablet only mini games (this is what Nintendo the tablet COULD do, not said they will), and you have a bunch of sensors, rumble, and NFC. And let's not forget microphone, speakers, sensor bar built-in for Wii mote, and to top things over a web cam, and let's not forget a battery. All that costs money, which all adds up to the high price.
Please tell me where this information of "under powered hardware" comes from.
Personally, I found more games I enjoy than other consoles. However, it must be noted that it's not the genre that I don't like... it's just that I can play the same game on the PC, and get a better experience in all aspects.
So I found a lot of value with the Wii, granted most games are first party games, which was a disappointment (I am not disappointed about the games... I am disappointed in the lack of third party support), but it looks like the WiiU rectify that problem, or at least Nintendo is pushing to rectify that problem.
Analysis hat:
I think that Nintendo will need to push to get exclusives, because when the PS4 and XBox 3 will come out, Sony and Microsoft will eat the market, leaving Nintendo with about nothing. Nintendo hope, if they really pursue not buying out studios for exclusivity, is that the WiiU sales well with gamers and that hard core games also sale well before the competitors enters with their next gen. This will make developer refuse Sony/Microsoft exclusivity purchases, as they'll see that they'll gain more money by selling to the WiiU.
Anyway, while my Wii did get a few months collecting dust here it there, it did get a nice collection of amazing games. Obviously, the collection was not as big as SNES games.. but so far no consoles beat that. I find that the Wii had something really unique: Metroid Prime 3. I think the controller was best way to play FPS games. Better than mouse and keyboard. The game with packed with customization to really adjust the controls to the way you like it. Yet, it was the only game on the Wii that had these controls so well implemented. I think WiiMotion Plus would have made it better, especially in tracking the movement of moving the controller forward, but that was a monitor thing. MotionPlus was not out at the time.
So for the WiiU it is a wait and see, but I do think that the WiiU is sold at a good price... not the best, but not PS3 700$ price tag, which at such price the console was REALLY not worth it, especially that it didn't provide anything above the XBox 360, not even graphics. Yes some games where better on the PS3, but the price difference, and for the percentage of difference between graphic levels, its was not worth it. It took several years before Sony found the sweat spot at the <350$ range. What I am impressed is the game library. While the majority of games are nothing more than ULTRA quick ports of older games, it still has 50 games! I don't recall any previous consoles having so many game at lunch or at their lunch window.
The wii was a lower spec machine than the other consoles. All consoles are generally a few generations behind pcs. Which is my frame of reference. I don't mean down clocked or something.
I'm not sure that is entirely accurate.
Example: The Uncharted series.
You know what he means...
It's not very powerful when compared to last gens low end gaming rigs.
... but it only has to run the game. Plus since the plateform is homogenous, it can be far more optimized than computer games.
http://www.gametrailers.com/full-episodes/bzugeq/invisible-walls-episode-224--350-us-dollars
Actually I didn't, when you compare consoles to PC's then yeah fair enough, not like it matters much until they get quite old since they can optimise a lot more for them. But he said even if he was a console gamer he wouldn't look at one. It is easy to jump on the bandwagon and say "The wii was weak therefore this must also be weak" but if it wasn't for the Gamecube's crappy 1.4GB discs it could've had much prettier games than the PS2 since it was more powerful. I'm just getting a tad sick of speculation about the Wii U being underpowered. First of all most launch games are PS3 and 360 ports, Pikmin 3, the main first party game was in development since before the Wii was released! Of course it looks like nothing spectacular, it was being developed for the Wii! Also new consoles never have good looking games, a good example is Rainbow Six Vegas on the 360, play that bad boy in Co-op and all of the textures look uglier than a PS2 to cope with the extra rendering.
Until somebody can take a look under the hood and say "This is the same hardware as the 360 and PS3 have" then the speculation is unfounded. Hell we won't even know if it is underpowered until Microsoft and Sony release their next consoles, something which won't even be that incredibly of a leap if they wish to reach the sweet spot of £250-£300.
Also, the GameCube, at least here in Canada, had virtually no advertisement of any kind, while Sony was pulling an Apple, where you have ads on about every commercial break on prime time, plus poster ads, plus Sony had their Sony retail store in shopping mall showcasing the console. PLUS, Sony bought exclusivity.
And of course, the smaller disks didn't help.
It sucks, especially that the GameCube, even today, has THE BEST controller, more power, small size, and the console had the ability for a LAN party setup, via network. Heck it even had a handle, that's how hard core it was. Not to mention that the GameCube had something that the other console didn't have. Super fast to no loading, despite using a disk.
This was thanks for Nintendo loading while gaming system. Where the console could load the next level or room or wtv, while you are getting closer to it, so when you pass through that door, you had 0 loading. Now today, consoles all have that features, or developers don't break their head and install the game on the HDD, but at the time, it was a big deal. Sadly it didn't make console movies until Resident Evil 4 and Super Smash Brothers... leaving Nintendo to make a nice profit but end in 3rd place.
Nintendo could no longer compete against 2 billion dollar companies: Microsoft and Sony.
No wonder Nintendo pulled out of the race with the Wii, and bet highly on casual gamers. and that move probably even made gamer.
It seams now that Nintendo wants to get back in the game, and it seams it has the funds for it, and now seams to be betting on going for innovation and new game experience to do the work for them. So we will see what Nintendo does.
I wonder if the Sony or Microsoft will make these ads like Sega did:
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Looks awesome! And this is CRAZY games for lunch games! You usually have crap games for about year. So this is going to be awesome:
Watch all trailer in HD - All trailers are new:
Warriors OROCHI 3 HYPER
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Toki Tori 2 (check out the map editor on the WiiU controller)
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Thank! Thank! Thank! (This is an actual arcade console game ported to WiiU)
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Rayman Legends
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Scribblenauts Unlimited (Object editor system and new feature: basic programming)
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Darksiders 2
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Aliens: Colonial Marines
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New Super Mario Bros. U
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LEGO City: Undercover (Looks like GTA style game for all ages, and a comedy)
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The Avengers Battle For Earth (If I am not mistaken, this game was on the XBox 360 with Kinnect that destroyed the game... now it's on WiiU, with proper controls)
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Injustice
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And,
The Best for last: :D
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Dubstep recap (you gotta have those) [not official]
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Sorry what? The D-pad on the GameCube controller is the worst in history.
I have, and the D-pad on those is shocking too..although you can mod them with a cut out from a Pringles lid I'm told.
Oh and the sega Saturn had the best controller.
Based on price, size, and gameplay footage, I can't see the hardware being much faster than the ps3/360.
Also, IMO a few gamecube games looked a lot better than stuff on the PS2. Metroid Prime for example.
Most of the launch titles are not ps3/360 ports.
Personally, I'm bored of consoles. I like having total control of my gaming experience so I suppose I will always stick to PC.
They better release that on PC. I paid full price for the pc version of Rayman origins and that game was superb. That's one of the things I hate about consoles. Exclusives. If I want to play rayman legends, it will essentially cost me nearly $400.
Do you have a touchscreen secondary screen? Cause you need this for the co-op mode, and clicking/swiping/drag to the mouse on a big screen isn't practice or fun.
Got a 360 and a Wii, and everyone in the family has their own laptop/PC. It'll be a loooong time before I consider buying another console - and probably never for the WiiU.
I haz new gadget release fatigue.
PC version has co-op. I played it with 2 other people.
Guess Nintendo and Ubi won't get my business then.
-> Microsoft: Media Center & living room entertainment.
-> Sony: Good old gaming console. Nothing but you, a standard controller that never really changed, where its staying true to its users and a powerful console, with prime focus is gaming. Everything else are bonus.
-> Nintendo: Toy company. Proving innovative game play and new experiences for all ages. Has tendency to make new features seen as gimmicky at first, which ends up the norm in the gaming industry.
Simple. Pick the console(s) that fit your need. If any.
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http://cdn.wiiudaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/wii-u-black-wiimote.jpg
http://cdn.wiiudaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/black-nun-chuck.jpg
http://cdn.wiiudaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/wii-u-set.jpg
http://cdn.wiiudaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/wii-u-microphone.jpg
http://cdn.wiiudaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/black-pro-controller.jpg
http://cdn.wiiudaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/screen-protector.jpg
http://cdn.wiiudaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/wii-u-craddle-set.jpg
Turtle Beach in collaboration with Nintendo, release a gaming headset for the WiiU:
Small ones, 35$ U.S
http://cdn.wiiudaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/turtlebeach-wii-u-1.jpg
Large ones (better sound, obviously), 50$
http://cdn.wiiudaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/turtlebeach-wii-u-2.jpg
Both can be connected directly on the GamePad, so less wires, and no short wire.
source: http://wiiudaily.com/2012/09/turtle-beach-wii-u-headphones/
They sold for the first 18 months then bombed. I lost count of how many threads I read about buyers remorse - myself included. I played all of 3 games on it and was unenthused with them all - even Zelda. In contrast the 360 and PS3 are still selling 10s of thousands a month.
I'm not anti-console. I went through N64, Xbox, 360 and a Wii. Now I'm just back to PC. It's all about the gameplay. I want to have fun. I've stared at enough benchmarks of shiny graphics in a lifetime! :P:D
But the CPU is seen by developer to be the same performance as current gen consoles, which makes some developers struggle.
http://www.arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/09/wii-u-developer-reports-struggles-with-slow-cpu/
http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/wzzto7/gt-tv-reggie-fils-aime-promo-clip
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/121025/04.html
Also, there will be a shortage of WiiU in the U.K on day one, but regular stock will be delivered to retail store afterwards.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/374838/wii-u-shortage-feared-across-uk-retail/