Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Wii U unveiled, first hands-on experiences

Finally, Wii U has been unveiled and we have learned a number of things. Firstly, all those fakes were just that. The rumours regarding the touchscreen were true. My expectations regarding an unusual form factor were in vain. But the gameplay I predicted earlier today - using augmented reality and tracking - was spot-on.

As far as the name is concerned, Nintendo chose to stick with the Wii brand, which may be clever. But for the same reason, the console may also not be perceived as a new console generation, but rather as an upgrade to the existing Wii. In fact, it may simply be such an upgrade.

No sign of Rockstar being on board with ´GTA V´, but Irrational Games (´BioShock´) are. And it looks as if ´Battlefield 3´ will be on the system. ´Batman: Arkham City´, ´Darksiders II´, ´Tekken´, ´Assassin's Creed´, ´Ghost Recon Online´, ´Ninja Gaiden 3´, ´Aliens: Colonial Marines´ and ´Metro: Last Light´ are all confirmed. It appears as if Nintendo is ramping up third party support yet again. The mantra of uniting casual and core gamers may actually materialise.

The controller may be compared to tablets like Apple's iPad. But it has two features that make the device far better suited for games: physical buttons and a stylus. Strangely enough, the actual console has not been the focus of the presentation. In fact, it has been strangely absent. A more critical point we have not heard about tonight is pricing. The controller will have to be rather expensive. My guess is $100. But these details will be revealed at E3 2012, for sure.

For now, let us read what the lucky people wrote who already got to play with the Wii U.




The Guardian



Our first glimpse of anything running on the console was emphatically that: a lengthy fly-through in an immaculately constructed virtual Japanese garden, from the viewpoint of various birds, designed to show off Wii U's graphics-processing power.

Which was impressive if not jaw-dropping – on a par with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, running in full HD, with depth of focus and convincingly modelled water and weather effects. We had established that Wii U will be able to run the sort of third-party titles that currently only make it onto the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (...)

So will Wii U eclipse the Wii? Initial impressions would leave us answering that question with a resounding "Yes". In typical Nintendo fashion, Wii U is one of those objects that you have to get your hands on before you get what it is trying to achieve.

The new controller is such an odd, unlikely-looking thing that it will undoubtedly generate a wave of early cynicism. But the joyously unusual nature of the gameplay experiences that even a couple of hastily assembled tech-demos can engender bodes more than well.

And its sensible amount of under-the-bonnet grunt (an area in which the underpowered Wii suffered from its inception) gives it much more hardcore appeal than its predecessor. (...)

It will be the oddest console ever, and possibly the best, too. Or it may turn out to be a complete cul-de-sac. But one thing is for sure: it won't just be another generic games console.




Game Informer



The demo was not hyper-realistic, nor was it the greatest thing I’ve seen in the current generation of consoles, but it was definitely beautiful, crisp, and far above the visual quality possible on the original Wii. Also of note, the same visuals that appeared on the TV were being emulated on the controller’s screen. (...)

After this brief first hands-on experience with the new Nintendo system, I’m equally excited and anxious for the prospects of this unique controller. As they did previously with the Wii’s motion controls and the DS’s dual touch-screen innovation, Nintendo is introducing something wildly unique to the industry. If developers are able to wrap their head around this technology, it could lead to some incredibly interesting gameplay mechanics that simply won’t be possible on current competing consoles. With the DS, that put Nintendo ahead of the competition. With the Wii, it got them behind in third-party support because developers struggled to put the motion controls to good use. With the new system, it could go either way.

There are tons of questions left. With the amazing technology in the controller, how much will the system cost and (perhaps more importantly) how much will extra controllers cost? What about online? Will Nintendo finally become a major online player or will they remain stuck in the past? Where are the full games from Nintendo? Hopefully most of these issues will be cleared up one way or another on the march to the system’s current broad launch window of April 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012.




Joystiq



What's the thing feel like? In an artificially extended word, awwwwkwaaaaard. It's designed so that the players holds sort of the top area of the controller, and my (admittedly small) hands were placed such that my thumbs fell naturally onto the analog sticks. But not the buttons. Though the Shield Pose demo didn't require buttons, I tried it, and I had to make a very conscious effort to actually hit the face buttons instead of unconsciously tapping the circle pads while I was going to do something.

The demo also didn't make use of the touchscreen, so I can't speak of its quality or ease of use at the moment. Other demos did use this feature, and I will get hands on as soon as the opportunity arises, along with more detailed impressions of the rest of the functions. I will say that while the display on the touchscreen looked really similar in quality to the Shield Pose demo, it didn't appear to be HD itself -- and the Shield Pose game was extremely graphically simple, in the style of first-party "Wii" series games.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

what an unbelievably sad showing by Ninendo UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!

IM SO NOT IMPRESSED!!!!!!

Falafelkid said...

Okaaaayyyy... care to share why?

Dougie said...

Because they are Sony fans... I thought it was a good presentation but they left waaaayyy too many questions unanswered. I was a little pissed about that. Otherwise I think Nintendo had the best press conference.

Anonymous said...

Nintendo doesnt really ever make bad games or consoles. In my opinion.

I think us gamers have a ton of awesome new games coming.

Anonymous said...

wiiboy101... RIGHT AGAIN AS FUCKING USUAL

the first few posts are sad act blind sony fans yet again talking out the ass hole

remember you guys said nintendo was going 3rd party SHIT HEADS sony going bust more like

fps control options...... classic pad classic pad or new pad tablet/wiiu analog and gyro mini screen aiming /analog stick and touchscreen stylus/zapper/zapper and mini screen/wii remote and nunchuck/wii remote and nunchuck and mini screen as a side kick

that is near endless control options im hoping for continued wii remoter support and touchscreen cam-aim support of fps games


dualshock go back to 1996 seriously and that dildo thing move go lag on someone elses tv

nintendo is a light year ahead of everyone else


reggie has confirmed every wii u game is running in native 1080p in a g4 interview ITS 1080P 0 frames that zelda demo

go suck them eggs sony fans

dualshock hahahahahahahahahahahha fucking get out of dodge sony

jan said...

One word:
Rear view mirror in Gran Turismo via the PSP!
Now we'll have rear view mirrors in every game.
But as long as it has a stylus, everything's fine, haha ;)

Anonymous said...

Falafel I dont care about Wii u I want Viewpoint 2 for NGP with the same amazing jazzy soundtrack the neo geo version had!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeLi

1lcBiAQ

RGB said...

And we dont care about you wanting Viewpoint 2 :P

Anonymous said...

WIIBOY101 STATED MONTHS AGO WII CPU FAMILY NOW AT 45NM AND HE ALSO STATED IBM EDRAM WOULD BE USED IN WII 2

NOW LOOK WHAT IBM CONFIRMED TODAY

ARMONK, N.Y., June 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it will provide the microprocessors that will serve as the heart of the new Wii U™ system from Nintendo. Unveiled today at the E3 trade show, Nintendo plans for its new console to hit store shelves in 2012.

The all-new, Power-based microprocessor will pack some of IBM's most advanced technology into an energy-saving silicon package that will power Nintendo's brand new entertainment experience for consumers worldwide. IBM's unique embedded DRAM, for example, is capable of feeding the multi-core processor large chunks of data to make for a smooth entertainment experience.

IBM plans to produce millions of chips for Nintendo featuring IBM Silicon on Insulator (SOI) technology at 45 nanometers (45 billionths of a meter). The custom-designed chips will be made at IBM's state-of-the-art 300mm semiconductor development and manufacturing facility in East Fishkill, N.Y.

The relationship between IBM and Nintendo dates to May 1999, when IBM was selected to design and manufacture the central microprocessor for the Nintendo GameCube™ system. Since 2006, IBM has shipped more than 90 million chips for Nintendo Wii systems.

"IBM has been a terrific partner for many years. We truly value IBM's commitment to support Nintendo in delivering an entirely new kind of gaming and entertainment experience for consumers around the world," said Genyo Takeda, Senior Managing Director, Integrated Research and Development, at Nintendo Co., Ltd.

"We're very proud to have delivered to Nintendo consistent technology advancements for three generations of entertainment consoles," said Elmer Corbin, director, IBM's custom chip business. "Our relationship with Nintendo underscores our unique position in the industry -- how we work together with clients to help them leverage IBM technology, intellectual property and research to drive innovation into their own core products."

Built on the open, scalable Power Architecture base, IBM custom processors exploit the performance and power advantages of proven silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. The inherent advantages of the technology make it a superior choice for performance-driven applications that demand exceptional, power-efficient processing capability – from entertainment consoles to supercomputers.

CHECK OUT WIIBOY101 CPU ARTICLES AT WII2BLOG.COM

RGB said...

We dont give a fuck about Wiiboy and/or what his claimed. No one was even listening so stop referring to yourself in 3rd person. Only nutters do that.

Gadgets and Gizmos said...

This is good that it is possible that the Wii U might be able to play with more than one controller, but I agree it would probably be able to go only up to two which is not that bad. The most things I hope is they will let retailers sell the controllers alone.

Anonymous said...

pumped for Wii U

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