Nintendo Announces Wii U
Alright, E3 is in full swing and Nintendo has announced a new piece of hardware. It is called the Wii U. Basically it is a controller that hooks up to your Wii. It will have a 6.5 inch touch screen, and you will be able to use the touch screen to interact with a game on your television screen. This new controller will be hooked up to the internet and you will be able to send videos and pictures from the controller to your Wii. There is no release date, or price as of yet. Nintendo is basically showing off a prototype. It looks really cool, and it will be neat to see how it works.
Charlie
Actually its a bit of the reverse. The system will be just like the Wii, but will feature one hell of a stunning controller that will allow you to take the game with you. Let's say that you're playing a game on the Wii U but then you have to vacate the TV, no problem, you can take the action on to the controller, which is basically a pimped out tablet. The Wii U will be compatable with Wiimotes and Wii games, but will also have a large library of games to get yourself lost in as well.
Charlie
Alright here's some more details for all of you out there. It would appear the controller will be able to show 480i to 1080p. Also the actual console will be giving you HDMI output. Now of course the big question has been storage, and at first glance they are sticking with the memory sticks, but have no fear they are also allowing USB connections, which means external hard drives, and with that you can have a hard drive that rivals the PS3, and is so much larger than the 360's.
Zealeus
Turns out that the demo footage shown by Nintendo at E3 was actually play from the PS3 and XBox 360. While I can understand the reasoning- namely that the games on display haven't been made yet so it's kinda hard to show them off- it still feels misleading to use them during your press conference and pass them off as footage from your own console.
To be fair, all indications are that graphics will be up to par with the PS3 & XBox 360 so the footage shown is indeed an indication of what the Wii U games will look like. If the graphics are only on par with that of consoles that have been out for years, it will be interesting to see the new Wii U controller really is as innovative as advertised since Nintendo will need to give consumers a reason to purchase their new console.
Charlie
Well there's some slightly sad news to report about this new console, and that is that while the Wii was able to play Gamecube games, the Wii U will not have that functionality. So all of those out there hoping to sqeeze just a little bit more out of Mario Golf, Tennis, Skies of Arcadia, etc. will have to just get your fill on your Gamecube or your Wii.
Charlie
As E3 has gone on and now past more and more information is coming out about the system, the lastest tidbit surrounds the "WiiPad" the tablet controller that in my opinion has some serious potential. Well it turns out that at this time that you can only have 1, that's UNO, WiiPads per system, so my dream of playing split-screen without the split in the screen is now completely destroyed.
Charlie
Is it just me or does this story continue to feel like it is now filled with "buts". The latest bit of info coming out of the Nintendo's camp is the fact that the Wii U will continue with the Nintendo tradition of not being able to play movie discs. So no DVD or Blu Ray movie playing with the device. I understand that its a liscensing thing, but people, I think, are now expecting more of an all around experience, Media-centric, device. Not being able to play their collection of DVDs and Blu Ray discs aren't going to sit well with some.
Charlie
This has got to be a record, at least for Altered Confusion to be still posting updates to this on-going saga from Nintendo. So here's the latest, apparently with the passing of the torch for most MMOs from subscription based to free-to-play, it turns out that Nintendo wants no part of it. Iwata has come out and stated that he has no interest allowing free-to-play games onto his system.
Now that is a really odd comment to make as the Ghost Recon Online game is suppose to be on the Wii U and it is definitely going to be free-to-play for the PC. I'm not sure what will happen with that product, or other products in the future. It is really odd though that he would come out and say something like that. I know that this definitely decreases the chance of developers really pumping out a bunch of stuff and giving it out for free, and then finding out down the line that its really a program that creates a backdoor into the console, but with a huge studios game, that's just wierd.
Reader Comments (5)
This device actually looks a lot more innovative that I thought Nintendo would be coming up. I was honestly expecting some lame new controller that doesn't add any real useful extra functionality.
To be able to play games on the controller is a pretty sweet option, especially if usefully implemented by the content creators. I'm hoping Nintendo comes out with a Killer Game that will show off its awesomeness, much like Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii.
The one thing I didn't notice is if publishers will need to utilize the Wii U or if all games will support the running on the controller functionality.
The other thing is I've mentioned on the Podcast how cell phones will someday make dedicated game devices obsolete. I wonder if this is a step in that direction, only from an unexpected source. Take for instance Sony's Vita. Why purchase a device for $250-300 that functions only as a portable gaming device when you can purchase a Wii U which allow "real" games on the big screen and a controller that double as a gaming device.
Just to confirm for the massed (and myself), will it play Wii games?
Yes it will play Wii games but there will be no upscaling of the games.
I saw that news today about the lack of physical media playback. Though I'm all about the digital content, that still makes me sad.
In light of Steam now offering Free to Play games via their PC-store service, it's interesting to see Nintendo deciding to go the opposite route. Perhaps Nintendo doesn't see as much money in that system.