Nintendo of America's conference on the Wii U

[forrestcupp]

The conference starts in about 15 minutes. I'm pretty stoked to hear what they have to say. I'm hearing they'll have 2 bundles that will hopefully be around $250 & $300. I guess we'll find out in a few minutes.

I'd almost give my right tentacle to be able to play Zelda in HD. :)

[Jakin]

The conference starts in about 15 minutes. I'm pretty stoked to hear what they have to say. I'm hearing they'll have 2 bundles that will hopefully be around $250 & $300. I guess we'll find out in a few minutes.

I'd almost give my right tentacle to be able to play Zelda in HD. :)

Im ready for Wii U, wii being my favorite console of this generation. I dont think it'll be the traditional 250usd though :( maybe 300+

[forrestcupp]

I was wrong. $299.99 & $349.99.

c/net link (http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-57512103-235/nintendo-reveals-details-on-wii-u-launches-november-18/)


The company's COO Reggie Fils-Aime announced today that Nintendo will launch the Wii U on November 18. The console will come in two versions. A basic set will be offered, featuring the Wii U console with 8GB of memory, the Wii U Gamepad, an HDMI cable, and sensor bar. A Deluxe set will get all of the same features, but adds a charging pad, stands for the controller, additional memory of 32GB, and Nintendo Land.
Looking for Wii remotes? According to Fils-Aime, the console will work with those customers are already using on the Wii. That's probably good news for current Wii owners. According to Fils-Aime, Nintendo has sold over 100 million Wii remotes and 65 million nunchuks. Those who want Wii U-branded remotes and nunchuks will be able to buy them in the next few weeks, Fils-Aime says.
The Basic set will cost customers $299.99, while the Deluxe set will set customers back $349.99.

It's probably worth it to spend the $50 and get NintendoLand and the chargers along with the extra storage space.

[BigSilly]

Far too expensive imho. I'm a massive Nintendo fan, have been since the 80's, but I just can't see myself paying either of those prices for this in the near future.

To be honest I worry (well I don't, but you know what I mean) about their ability to be relevant in this age of cheap smart phone gaming and what have you. Looking at the price of 3DS games here in the UK and it's madness. Who wants to pay £39 for a portable 2D Mario game nowadays? I think the WiiU will struggle against the PS3 and 360, never mind whatever Sony and MS bring out next.

[forrestcupp]

Only time will tell, but I think you're totally wrong about that.

TVii looks freakin amazing.

[vexorian]

Far too expensive imho. I'm a massive Nintendo fan, have been since the 80's, but I just can't see myself paying either of those prices for this in the near future.

To be honest I worry (well I don't, but you know what I mean) about their ability to be relevant in this age of cheap smart phone gaming and what have you. Looking at the price of 3DS games here in the UK and it's madness. Who wants to pay £39 for a portable 2D Mario game nowadays? I think the WiiU will struggle against the PS3 and 360, never mind whatever Sony and MS bring out next.
Mario land 3ds is 3d and quite worth it. Just saying.

It is not like Microsoft and Sony's new stuff are going to much be much cheaper (and games are always such a pain).

For most people, I guess mobile is the future, but console giants and their over expensive stuff still have a market.

[BigSilly]

Mario land 3ds is 3d and quite worth it. Just saying.

It is not like Microsoft and Sony's new stuff are going to much be much cheaper (and games are always such a pain).

For most people, I guess mobile is the future, but console giants and their over expensive stuff still have a market.


I think what's likely is both MS and Sony will drop the price of their current systems as the Wii U launches, which could leave the Nintendo console struggling to get going, especially up against the 360, which is still going great guns despite (or because of?) how long it's been out. I don't think the Wii U is particularly technically ahead of those systems, and they already offer so much over what Nintendo is offering, that it seems to me it's not going to be easy for their new console.

[forrestcupp]

I don't think the Wii U is particularly technically ahead of those systems, and they already offer so much over what Nintendo is offering, that it seems to me it's not going to be easy for their new console.
Of course the Wii U is technically ahead. It has a much newer GPU, at least twice the RAM, and a much newer Power7 processor. Even if the processor is only 3 cores like the 360, it will be able to run at minimum 2 threads per core, which will in effect double how many threads the 360 runs. It will also have a more advanced instruction set. They have already shown a demo of Black Ops 2 running on the Wii U at 60fps in full HD, which usually means 1080p. The Wii U kicks the 360's backside.

Remember the difference between the 360's early games and how much better they got toward the end after they tweaked the crap out of it? Well the Wii U's crappiest showings at the very beginning of its life is as good as or better than the 360, and the games that they are actually putting effort into kick the pants off of the 360. Imagine what games will be like after they've had a little time to tweak the game engines for it.

Also, people are thinking inside the box with the 2nd screen. I foresee that some amazing concepts will come out of that. Imagine being able to play a FPS and using the 2nd screen to look around by moving your controller around, while the TV is still showing the direction you're facing. The Wii U is going to end up being a pretty awesome console.

[BrokenKingpin]

Not interested in this console at all. I don't understand why people think it is cool to have a screen on your controller. Sure it may be useful for a few things (not a lot comes to mind other than looking at a map), but most of the time you should be looking at your TV, not your damn controller. I have no interest using the controller to play games remotely, people already have tablets or phones for this.

Also, most of the videos I have seen the games look no better than PS3 games, so I have no problem waiting for the real next gen consoles. Sure the graphics will improve on the Wii-U, but but who cares as the PS4 will be out by then. I think at this price point the Wii-U will not be overely successful (at least to what the original Wii was).

EDIT: Zelda in HD might be cool, but hopefully they improve the gameplay as the last few Zelda games have been terrible.

[mips]

They have already shown a demo of Black Ops 2 running on the Wii U at 60fps in full HD, which usually means 1080p.

Got a video link for that?

[forrestcupp]

Got a video link for that?

Yep. The announcement from Activision came today at the Wii U conference that they are throwing their full weight behind the Wii U, and they were able to get it at 60fps in full HD. They're pretty much saying that the Wii U will be the go to console for high end games out of the consoles that are out right now.

Here's a link to an article that includes a video. (http://www.cinemablend.com/games/First-Call-Duty-Black-Ops-2-Wii-U-Gameplay-Footage-Released-46870.html) Hopefully some of the stuff we will start seeing will put the naysayers' FUD to rest.

Edit: the video isn't a high quality video, but it does have the speaker talking about what it will be like.

[vexorian]

Not interested in this console at all. I don't understand why people think it is cool to have a screen on your controller. Sure it may be useful for a few things (not a lot comes to mind other than looking at a map), but most of the time you should be looking at your TV, not your damn controller. I have no interest using the controller to play games remotely, people already have tablets or phones for this.

Also, most of the videos I have seen the games look no better than PS3 games, so I have no problem waiting for the real next gen consoles. Sure the graphics will improve on the Wii-U, but but who cares as the PS4 will be out by then. I think at this price point the Wii-U will not be overely successful (at least to what the original Wii was).

EDIT: Zelda in HD might be cool, but hopefully they improve the gameplay as the last few Zelda games have been terrible.
Skyward sword was the most fun I could ever get from a RPG.

[Jakin]

Skyward sword was the most fun I could ever get from a RPG.

Skyward Sword is beautiful.. the game was must more vast that i thought it was going to be.


Not interested in this console at all. I don't understand why people think it is cool to have a screen on your controller. Sure it may be useful for a few things (not a lot comes to mind other than looking at a map), but most of the time you should be looking at your TV, not your damn controller. I have no interest using the controller to play games remotely, people already have tablets or phones for this.

Wii U is supposed to be able to use the wii controllers and addons, possibly many game will be able to use the fallback functions of those wii-motes :)

[vexorian]

The Wii U controller with a screen is more like an extension of the console (and according to nintendo you are not supposed to have more than one), the real controllers will be the wii motes or the "pro" controllers.

I think the screen is excessive, but you got to consider the possibilities it will give to game designers. For starters, you could put the HUD on this controller's screen leaving the big TV for the graphics and models without those interface bits that remove game immersion. It is also going to be touch, which gives designers a lot of room for adding new controls. At the very least, I imagine it could be sort of cool to have an action game's inventory in this small touch screen.

It is really a shame nintendo hates home brew. If they were more flexible towards development, I imagine hobbyists doing amazing things with this screen. Like turning it into a remote control for when you make the wii U into a media center.

[forrestcupp]

It is really a shame nintendo hates home brew. If they were more flexible towards development, I imagine hobbyists doing amazing things with this screen. Like turning it into a remote control for when you make the wii U into a media center.

No need. Nintendo is including something called TVii (http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/13/nintendo-unveils-nintendo-tvii-for-wii-u/), which looks pretty amazing. The Wii U Gamepad is already set up to be a universal remote. TVii will link with things like Netflix & Amazon Prime, and also with your cable and DVR. If you're watching a football game, it shows stats and stuff on the 2nd screen, and if you're watching a movie, it brings up info from IMDB and Wikipedia on the 2nd screen. The link includes a trailer video about it. It looks pretty awesome.

I'm sure the controller will be pretty useful when playing media, like you could on the Wii, too.

[vexorian]

So here is another idea. Port Gameboy emulator, make it use small screen. Voila!