Official Wii U Discussion Thread

EA Have two more games to reveal this summer. EA's Frank Gibeau:

“We’ve got a couple of more games in development for Wii U and we’ll have a bigger line-up for Wii U than we did on the Wii.”

“It is the first next-generation platform coming out so we’re really supporting it.”

“Just looking at E3 and where we’re at, we wanted to hold our fire a little bit on a couple of the other games that we’re working on. We’ll have more announcements this summer on the rest of the Wii U line-up.”

(EA will) “do some new, unique things with (Mass Effect 3) on the Wii U controller and the second screen that we’re innovating on”.

“You’ll hear more later this summer.”

Hm you know what? I've never been interested in Mass Effect (and I doubt I'll ever play it), but a 'special edition' for Wii U interests me. It might lure in quite a few extra gamers.

On the other hand... What's the target audience for the Wii U version? People who played 1&2 but not 3 yet, or gamers who already bought 3 on PÇ360 and want another version, or gamers who are new and will play 1&2 on PC or so??

Canyarion said:
Hm you know what? I've never been interested in Mass Effect (and I doubt I'll ever play it), but a 'special edition' for Wii U interests me. It might lure in quite a few extra gamers.

On the other hand... What's the target audience for the Wii U version? People who played 1&2 but not 3 yet, or gamers who already bought 3 on PÇ360 and want another version, or gamers who are new and will play 1&2 on PC or so??

You should give it a chance. It may be a little slow at times, but it is definitely one of the best series this generation (One of my favorite game series ever).

As far as audience, I think it is probably geared towards people that bought only a Nintendo console and haven't played any of them, because it does update you on what has happened in the previous entries. I'm sure there will be some people that have played the series that might buy it just to get the extra content that will most likely be on the WiiU edition. I will probably be one of the people buying it for the extra content and experience of playing it on the U, since I've played them all on my 360 already.

( Edited 12.06.2012 22:33 by Hawk )

Canyarion said:
On the other hand... What's the target audience for the Wii U version? People who played 1&2 but not 3 yet, or gamers who already bought 3 on PÇ360 and want another version, or gamers who are new and will play 1&2 on PC or so??

I can't figure out who the target audience possibly is. If you're the type of gamer to be at all interested in Mass Effect, I imagine you already own an Xbox 360, a PS3, or a gaming computer. Maybe it's for people who were prison for the past seven years.

I'm guessing it was just easy to port over to the WiiU.

Sidenote:
The first Mass Effect is cheap nowadays (especially used). If you like a good plot and good characters, the first Mass Effect is one of the best and you'll probably love it. If you don't care much for that, the game will probably feel slow and clunky. Mass Effect 2 plays better, but I didn't like the story or characters as much. I still enjoyed it, though. Haven't played 3 yet.

Nintendo Network on WiiU will allow account holders to log into their accounts via any WiiU console, whether you have access to your full catalogue of download games, is currently unknown, but I'm guessing not by the nature of this VP's reply:

GeekMom Is there a way you can play your games on another Nintendo, for example if I go to my parents house and want to play on their console?

Cindy Gordon (Vice-president of corporate affairs at Nintendo of America): Youll have an account system so youll be able to access your account anywhere.

http://mynintendonews.com/2012/06/13/play-your-downloaded-wii-u-games-on-any-wii-u-console/

No built-in storage - SD card included?

http://mynintendonews.com/2012/06/13/wii-u-has-no-built-in-storage/

Linkyshinks said:

No built-in storage - SD card included?

http://mynintendonews.com/2012/06/13/wii-u-has-no-built-in-storage/

Personally, I love this! It means that I can get an external hard drive for cheap, instead of having to buy a more expensive Nintendo branded hard drive that would most likely hold less.

I see people complaining about this and it just doesn't make sense. I think this is a great choice by Nintendo, as it will keep the cost of the system down whilst giving more choice to the consumer in terms or storage.

So people think flash memory is a hard drive now?

That's a misquote and a half, he said there's no hard drive which we all knew anyway, not no built in storage. Even the Nintendo E3 site says built in flash.

We haven’t said anything about a hard drive that we’ll be including with the system itself. But we have said, through the USB connection, consumers will be able to take advantage of a wide range of the hard drives that are available on the market, and for quite cheap now, to add memory to their system however they like

Notice how he says Nothing about internal storage, sounds more like he's talking about people asking if it'll come with an external hdd.

( Edited 13.06.2012 18:57 by Stulaw )

Hawk said:

Linkyshinks said:

No built-in storage - SD card included?

http://mynintendonews.com/2012/06/13/wii-u-has-no-built-in-storage/

Personally, I love this! It means that I can get an external hard drive for cheap, instead of having to buy a more expensive Nintendo branded hard drive that would most likely hold less.

I see people complaining about this and it just doesn't make sense. I think this is a great choice by Nintendo, as it will keep the cost of the system down whilst giving more choice to the consumer in terms or storage.

Yup. I'd certainly hate to see another Vita situation at the very least.

On a related note; Amazon have a preorder page up for the Black Wii U at £199.99, and their price promise means that it'll only decrease with what competitors offer, plus you don't pay anything until they ship it near release day. Go for it.

Oh yeah, I agree, it's great to have the choice, and the people complaining seem to think there'll be no internal storage at all due to how the journalist in that article has misquoted it because they think the internal storage would've been a Hard drive.

Also, I'll be getting a Black Wii U, especially at that price. I still don't get how the EU ruled Nintendo's Wii RRP as price fixing, otherwise we might get a clear price, but it could work out for the better.

( Edited 13.06.2012 19:39 by Stulaw )

Amazon UK WiiU Listing £199

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nintendo-Wii-U-Black/dp/B008B5YB4W/ref=sr_1_2_bnp_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1339612272&sr=1-2

Gearbox designer on controller uses:

http://www.destructoid.com/aliens-colonial-marines-producer-hides-things-from-us-229436.phtml



( Edited 13.06.2012 20:06 by Linkyshinks )

Retro Studios isn't the Retro Studios we once knew, not when it's lost so many notable employees. I assumed it was only a handful, but it now appears they've lost far more over the year.

Rumour:

http://emilyrogersblog.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/trouble-brewing-at-retro-studios-rocky-development-for-wii-u-project/

That's really disheartening, honestly.

But you do have to keep in mind that Retro has always been in turmoil since day one. It's a company that had a notoriously rough start and has never really had "peaceful" days. I wonder if that constant turmoil tempered by Nintendo's guiding hand is what makes their games so refreshingly different and yet still absurdly polished.

I'm not going to doubt them until we've seen a bad game from them. If what they're making now turns out to be a dud, then maybe we have to worry about declining talent. But given their history, and the quality of games they've consistently produced, they've earned a bit of faith.


( Edited 14.06.2012 05:27 by Jacob4000 )

I'm confident Nintendo doing everything they can to support them, I can easily believe they've sent people over when needed in the past. I think it's particularly important now considering the new technology they're required to use. They should definitely hire, get some young talent in, there's little risk given what's at stake.

Digital Foundry vs. Wii U at E3

DF looking at the apparent technical merits of Nintendo's new machine. Long story short - the Wii U is current-gen in terms of power. Lots of stuff at the show was 720p30, with no anti-aliasing at all and slowdown. Even on some really simple looking stuff. They mention that the handheld screen is probably makes a significant hit in overall performance.

I suppose we all guessed as much, but yeah. There you have it.

Yeah, it's abit humorous that some folks (like the guy in that video) keep trying to say the system will be significantly more powerful. It simply can't be. Modest gains here and there and an increase in RAM, sure. But once you add on the Wii U pad screen and the demands of the more robust OS, you're just not going to see massive gains. E3 proved that, as DF noted.

Indeed, and as I recall many here predicted just as much quite a while back. Still, it's a potential point of concern. Obviously it depends how the next generation pans out. Nintendo might find that their attempts to reel in the core gamers fail due to lackluster hardware.

Maybe the Xbox 3 and PS4 won't be as much of a difference as we all think. Who knows. The feeling is that we'll have a sort of repeat of this gen. Nintendo with it's loyal fanbase, plus all the casuals, MS and Sony with all the others.

It's too early to call at this point really. The 360 launched first and established itself as the lead development console of this generation, that might have been a different tale had Wii made it to market first.

I can't imagine the 360 and PS3 successors will be as big a gap as they have been this gen, costs are high enough for development as it is now. Unless developer tools become cheaper and easier to work with or game prices increase at retail the returns won't warrant the effort.

Either way, I'm certainly interested to see what Microsoft and Sony have cooking behind closed doors. MS will probably further the Kinect concept further, and god knows what Sony will try.

That is kind of disappointing not gonna lie.
The fact Nintendo haven't focused on the machine itself.. barely shown any pictures of the console kind of makes you think the console is the controller rather than the tiny box.

And.. the box is pretty tiny, so maybe it's not surprising it's not exactly a powerhouse.
I really do hope it's not left too in-the-dust.. either way it'll be nice to finally get HD Nintendo games.

Phoenixus said:
It's too early to call at this point really. The 360 launched first and established itself as the lead development console of this generation, that might have been a different tale had Wii made it to market first.

I think that's got little to do with the graphical fidelity of games on Wii. Had the 360 launched after Wii, I doubt we'd see a particularly different landscape. You wouldn't have seen multi-plat games with the Wii as the lead-development platform, for example.

If it is a similar scenario to this gen, then regardless of who lands first Nintendo's console will be too underpowered to be in the same 'development-pipeline', if you like. Basically, Xbox 3 and PS4 versions will be developed in tandem with much the same assets and content, then there will be an entirely separate and downscaled Wii U version.

If that makes any sense. I just kind of hoped it wouldn't be like that, this time. It may yet not be, but the impression one gets is that that is going to be the case.

Retro Studios Hiring

http://www.zeldainformer.com/news/comments/retro-studios-hiring

I think by this time next year, everyone will be happy with it and wonder why they were so negative about the system. Just like 3DS, a lot of people complained about it before it came out, now they love it and there's loads of great games that's come out within just a year.

Of course, if Nintendo can get a whole heap of awesome games coming to the system, then it'll be an awesome system. Let's just hope those games aren't 'b-sides' to the ones found on other platforms.

Found this a interesting read http://www.zeldainformer.com/news/comments/the-legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword-why-it-failed?utm_source=crowdignite.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=crowdignite.com

Not Wii U per se, but was Skyward Sword doomed to fail. A lot of points are quite accurate.