Nintendo Announce Wii U at E3

Motley Crue

OK, don't know where to start with this one, a new console that can also be played portably (through the controller) on a 16inch screen. That is pretty revolutionary and the console will be hitting the stores in 2012

Launch titles will include Tekken and Assain's Creed (they have also confirmed Smash Brothers for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U) and they have said Arkham City will be coming to Wii U

Wii games will all be backwards compatible with Wii U

This could be the console that saves Nintendo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38qFbmU5Ytc

And, there is more, because Nintendo are promising something very special. The Nintendo Network is going to give an in-depth look at the new controller as well as the new titles and game guides.

e3.nintendo.com

TeddyTedson

Motley Crue wrote: »

OK, don't know where to start with this one, a new console that can also be played portably (through the controller) on a 16inch screen. That is pretty revolutionary and the console will be hitting the stores in 2012

Launch titles will include Tekken and Assain's Creed (they have also confirmed Smash Brothers for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U) and they have said Arkham City will be coming to Wii U

Wii games will all be backwards compatible with Wii U

This could be the console that saves Nintendo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38qFbmU5Ytc

And, there is more, because Nintendo are promising something very special. The Nintendo Network is going to give an in-depth look at the new controller as well as the new titles and game guides.

e3.nintendo.com

That is going to be one big ass controller

Shred

Or it could be their Dreamcast, not overly impressed so far tbh, naff name to boot. But I'll reserve full judgement until I can see more I suppose. Once again Nintendo can release all the new hardware they want, but if they're gonna let 3rd party support slip after 2-3 years YET AGAIN they can keep it imo. I say this as someone who's been something of a Ninty fanboy in the past (back to the NES), but I've gotten fairly pissed off with them the past few years and moved to a 360 about 18 months ago.

Stuxnet

looks quality, the whole build up tho, I got a fright, I thought the controller was just an addon for wii...
I was shouting at the laptop cursing nintendo !!

but they really have impressed me. promised third party support also. Battlefield 3 looked good ! full HD !

It wont replace my ps3 online gaming, but it'll be a great accompaniment

TeddyTedson

Console to fail, no analogue sticks, two circle sticks instead. Failing, much.


Also reading comments, people asking if it streams content to the wii....:rolleyes:
Why do people keep assuming the controller is the console, are people that stupid?
New controller AND new console.

red_fox

Motley Crue wrote: »

OK, don't know where to start with this one, a new console that can also be played portably (through the controller) on a 16inch screen.

That's probably a typo, but it's 'only' 6". Too early to say I think, but it has some potential. One the rumours was that the controller could be used as a portable console, but that's not quite true, it acts as a wireless display for the Wii U, so you have to be somewhere nearby. i.e. not on a bus, but you can use it as a portable while you're at home.

Also it was pointed out elsewhere that the PS Vita + PS3 could possibly do a very similar thing, an interesting coincidence.

Dman001

No Blu Ray support which is disappointing. Interesting idea for a console, but again only appeals to casual gamers.

Dozen Wicked Words

TeddyTedson wrote: »

Console to fail, no analogue sticks, two circle sticks instead. Failing, much.


Also reading comments, people asking if it streams content to the wii....:rolleyes:
Why do people keep assuming the controller is the console, are people that stupid?
New controller AND new console.

Yeah I have seen that in a few places, not very bright!!

I don't think I will be getting it, controller looks far too big to be playable for the kids, or possibly me. They would find a PS3/360 controller easier than that beast. Plus the price of the controller on its own will surely be over €100.

So, conservatively, four players with the new console is going to be around €700+ /complete guess.

Assassins Creed being a big announcement? FFS.

Why can't they just make a console and controller to play games on, cramming as much sh*t into the controller doesn't make it appealing, it makes it look like the way Homer Simpson would design a car.

Dean820

Will definitely try and buy this when its out.

Dozen Wicked Words

http://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu297/dooferoaks/screenshot_37410.jpg
http://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu297/dooferoaks/screenshot_37405.jpg

Sorry, those pics are massive

Controllers a Kindle with shoulder buttons.

Azure_sky

Nintendo's motto: Expect the unexpected.

partyatmygaff

Am I the only one who thinks they drew some inspiration from the tablet computer craze?

I wonder what Sony and Microsoft have in store for the same generation.

Ol' Donie

Wow. I really dont know what to make of this. I will get one for sure, but based on the fact that i love my other nintendo consoles. And the assumption that there will be a mario galaxy effort at some stage. Need to know more about it. Like, why is there a screen in my controller?? :-P

maquiladora

So much unknown about the specs.

The Zelda & Nature tech demos looked interesting.

pdbhp

red_fox wrote: »

PS Vita + PS3 could possibly do a very similar thing, an interesting coincidence.

I like your way of thinking and would like to subscribe to your news letter:D

That_Guy

I wish they had been clearer about the actual console itself because for ages I kept thinking, "is this just a new add on controller for the existing Wii".

I think they announced it all wrong really.

It looks like a pretty big controller all the same and I'd really like to know the exact specs of the console/controller.

I'll need to actually hold one for a period of time to gauge how comfortable it is because it looks slightly awkward and I'd be afraid I'd drop the bloody thing. :pac:

Dman001

The more I think about it, the more the WiiU starts to resemble a huge DS. With the TV acting as the "Top" screen, while the control is the "Bottom" touch screen. You can imagine the screen on the control displaying your inventory or map for the likes of Zelda. I can't imagine it being too comfortable using the control either.

Princess Peach

If anyone needs me, I'll be freezing myself in the mountains until this comes out.

readyletsgo

Just watching on gametrailer, Blu-ray support on 'Wii U' confirmed from Reggie himself!

I have to say (and I dont care what anyone says) at 5.30 when they started to talk about the 'Wii U' and showed the controller, it REALLY DID look like a new add on to the Wii, not very clear at the start.

I myself have no idea what to think, it seems to be a little bit stronger than X360 so will be out dated in 3 or so years.
The name, god, I thought they wanted to move away from the casual thing? As in drop the Wii name for this new console and keep the Wii going too for a little while but Wii U? Meh...

And how is this Wii U anything like a SNES??????? lol

Dman001

readyletsgo wrote: »

Just watching on gametrailer, Blu-ray support on 'Wii U' confirmed from Reggie himself!

I have to say (and I dont care what anyone says) at 5.30 when they started to talk about the 'Wii U' and showed the controller, it REALLY DID look like a new add on to the Wii, not very clear at the start.

I myself have no idea what to think, it seems to be a little bit stronger than X360 so will be out dated in 3 or so years.
The name, god, I thought they wanted to move away from the casual thing? As in drop the Wii name for this new console and keep the Wii going too for a little while but Wii U? Meh...

And how is this Wii U anything like a SNES??????? lol

Do you have a link for that, because non of the blogs are stating it to have Blu Ray support, but "proprietary high-density optical discs". I'm not sure if that mean BR discs?

readyletsgo

Dman001 wrote: »

Do you have a link for that, because non of the blogs are stating it to have Blu Ray support, but "proprietary high-density optical discs". I'm not sure if that mean BR discs?

Yeah gametrailers.com 's live feed had it up there a little while ago, now its changed to the "proprietary i'density optical discs" so i'm guessing thats kinda the same lol

ríomhaire

Dman001 wrote: »

No Blu Ray support which is disappointing. Interesting idea for a console, but again only appeals to casual gamers.

I beg to differ. I think this could be extremely cool. Could do a lot of interesting stuff with the extra screen, much like how OoT 3DS has all the inventory, HUD and map stuff seamlessly on the touchscreen with no need to interrupt the game or screen to access it.

wes

Well, I taught it looked cool. Its definetly an interesting idea, and its nice to see Nintendo try something new with this. Also, the idea of being able to use the controller to continue to play away from the tv is great. The PS3 and PSP did that with remote play but no 2nd analogue on the PSP made it a bit useless.

readyletsgo

wes wrote: »

Well, I taught it looked cool. Its definetly an interesting idea, and its nice to see Nintendo try something new with this. Also, the idea of being able to use the controller to continue to play away from the tv is great. The PS3 and PSP did that with remote play but no 2nd analogue on the PSP made it a bit useless.

But now the PSVita can do this with the PS3.

Funny, its mad the way both sony and ninty have 'kinda' the same idea now, except that you cant use nintys controller to far from the console.

I love nintendo, but tbh, I'm not impressed with this at all, but I guess only time will tell.

What price you all think it will be? I'm thinking its going to be between €300 and €350, an extra controller(with screen) will be like €80.

Dozen Wicked Words

From Twitter
NGamer Mag

Wii U will only come with one controller. You will not be able to buy more - one controller, one machine.

So no local multiplayer??????

aeonfusion

Sony own the copyright on Blu Ray, therefore having Blu Ray would push up the price of the console and all the games for it. That list of third party backing was insane, anyone who says otherwise obviously hasn't got a good knowledge of nintendo's third party history

The controller can be mapped completely from an xbox or ps3 controller so, if developers so desire they can put nothing in the screen and just lazily port the games which will increase third party support an absolute ****load, instead of having to think of an innovative way to use the controller like they were forced to with the wii.

With EA backing this so much Activision will defiantly join in for fear of not making all the money they possibly can, Bobby Kotick has a 6th sensory organ that detects the possibility of profit. If that happens pretty much everyone will follow suit.

This console is already covered in that nintendo 'innovation' that they like so much, they know at this stage what they really need to do is to attract the hardcore gamer, something nintendo constantly fail at except for the 'hardcore nintendo gamer' who gets their consoles purely for first party content and usually as a second console or an addition to a gaming pc. If these people can be convinced to buy only one console it stands to reason they'd spend more on it. If they can attract hardcore gamers who don't usually bother with nintendo with decent exclusive titles and better controls than the wii's jiggle and hope affair and the power to play new titles well into the future they will absolutely destroy microsoft and sony in the next generation.

DL Saint

dooferoaks wrote: »

From Twitter
NGamer Mag



So no local multiplayer??????

Yes local multiplayer, however it appears to be using the wii-mote as the other player controllers.

To answer the above question re: blu-ray, no it does not support blu-ray in name, however it runs 25GB discs so basically the same thing.
http://kotaku.com/5809701/wii-u-discs-will-be-25gb-in-size

Overall I was very impressed by the WiiU. I really liked the controller interface and I think that the tech demos displayed some of its capabilities very well. Then when I saw the quality of the HD graphics that it can produce with even fan favorites like Zelda I was hooked. The announcement of a new Smash Bros had me drooling further. Finaly when I saw the 3rd party support that Nintendo has lined up for this thing it really made me believe that they can once again dominate the hardcore gaming market like in the days of the N64.

Welcome back Nintendo you have been missed

Fysh

It sounds interesting to me, but tbh I've never been one for buying on launch day. Greater engagement with third-party developers can only be a good thing - there are some great mature-audience Wii games from third parties but a lot of them suffer from the Wii's image as a kiddie-only half-assed approach to gaming. I thought Madworld was great, for example, but Sega took enough of a bath on it that we're very unlikely to see something like it from them again.

aeonfusion

DL Saint wrote: »

Finaly when I saw the 3rd party support that Nintendo has lined up for this thing it really made me believe that they can once again dominate the hardcore gaming market like in the days of the N64.

Welcome back Nintendo you have been missed

I really hope they get the proper third party support that other consoles get and not this 'nintendo third party' type thing where none of the good games are released on the console, instead you get 'different' games released than on the 360 and ps3.

I'm pretty confident that they're going to release a normal controller something like the classic controller but designed around the Wii U controller which will essentially be nintendos carbon copy of the 360 controller and DS3

Fysh

DL Saint wrote: »

Overall I was very impressed by the WiiU. I really liked the controller interface and I think that the tech demos displayed some of its capabilities very well. Then when I saw the quality of the HD graphics that it can produce with even fan favorites like Zelda I was hooked. The announcement of a new Smash Bros had me drooling further. Finaly when I saw the 3rd party support that Nintendo has lined up for this thing it really made me believe that they can once again dominate the hardcore gaming market like in the days of the N64.

Welcome back Nintendo you have been missed

I have some disappointing news for you on that front...we haven't, in fact, seen any examples of actual HD output from the Wii U so far. I'm surprised they did something that stupid rather than just put together a showreel of in-house tech demos...I presume they couldn't produce something shiny-looking enough in time for E3.

Star Lord

Fysh wrote: »

I have some disappointing news for you on that front...we haven't, in fact, seen any examples of actual HD output from the Wii U so far. I'm surprised they did something that stupid rather than just put together a showreel of in-house tech demos...I presume they couldn't produce something shiny-looking enough in time for E3.

Really?
http://ie.ign.com/videos/2011/06/07/e3-2011-wii-u-zelda-hd-demo?objectid=110801

The showreel of the third party software that will be coming to Wii U was Xbox 360 and PS3 footage yes, that's all that article says.

Fysh

DamoElDiablo wrote: »

Really?
http://ie.ign.com/videos/2011/06/07/e3-2011-wii-u-zelda-hd-demo?objectid=110801

The showreel of the third party software that will be coming to Wii U was Xbox 360 and PS3 footage yes, that's all that article says.

D'oh! I stand corrected . Despite coffee my reading comprehension is failing me today I'm curious to see how the PS3 and Wii U will compare on the same 3rd party titles, particularly once we move beyond the initial "crap-how-do-we-best-use-this-hardware?" phase.

Star Lord

It think it's just a matter of the xbox 360 and PS3 versions are already well in development, and the Wii U ones would be only starting out and not in a presentable state just yet.

According to some of the rumourmill spiel that's been doing the rounds though, the Wii U possesses a 'considerable' bit more grunt than the 360 or PS3. But then again, what a developer sees as 'considerable' might not be that considerable on the telly, and will be more like the differences between the PS2 - Xbox - GCN, where the differences are there alright, and can be pretty big sometimes, but often unless you see side by side comparisons, then you won't really notice.

Also, multi-platform development may result in games not being developed to be quite as impressive graphically as they could be.

That_Guy

DamoElDiablo wrote: »

It think it's just a matter of the xbox 360 and PS3 versions are already well in development, and the Wii U ones would be only starting out and not in a presentable state just yet.

According to some of the rumourmill spiel that's been doing the rounds though, the Wii U possesses a 'considerable' bit more grunt than the 360 or PS3. But then again, what a developer sees as 'considerable' might not be that considerable on the telly, and will be more like the differences between the PS2 - Xbox - GCN, where the differences are there alright, and can be pretty big sometimes, but often unless you see side by side comparisons, then you won't really notice.

Also, multi-platform development may result in games not being developed to be quite as impressive graphically as they could be.

While it may be powerful than the Xbox 360 and the PS3, you have to remember that Sony and Microsoft have yet to unveil their new consoles and the specs of that could easily match/better the Wii U's graphic capabilities which look stunning it has to be said from the various demo videos.

Dozen Wicked Words

That_Guy wrote: »

While it may be powerful than the Xbox 360 and the PS3, you have to remember that Sony and Microsoft have yet to unveil their new consoles and the specs of that could easily match/better the Wii U's graphic capabilities which look stunning it has to be said from the various demo videos.

Did I read somewhere that the next gen PS and Xbox aren't scheduled until 2015, or, have I plucked that figure out of my imagination (which is a distinct possibility)

Gunmonkey

DamoElDiablo wrote: »

Also, multi-platform development may result in games not being developed to be quite as impressive graphically as they could be.

Aye, a lot depends on how the WiiU's CPU, RAM and GPU are distributed. If its closer to the 360 it will look a bit better than those, but not much. If its closer to the PS3....well, developers then have 2 consoles that are similar and might move away from the 360 being the dominant dev platform. Could even see them make games for the WiiU and downgrade to the PS3 and 360 :P

dooferoaks wrote: »

Did I read somewhere that the next gen PS and Xbox aren't scheduled until 2015, or, have I plucked that figure out of my imagination (which is a distinct possibility)

Sony have stated they have a 10 year life cycle for the PS3 and they are just 1/2 way through right now. Doesnt mean they wont relese a new console in the next 2 or 3 years. Microsoft said they kinect would help prolong the 360's lifespan :rolleyes: but I would say the weight is on them with what could be the weakest console now, if the WiiU spec rumours are true.

billyboy01

At £399/500 yoyo's, fook you Ninty! Maybe 5 years ago. But that kind of money now for a Nintendo! Then wait years for decent mario games to be released. Fudgetdabout it! I'll wait a few years for it to drop in price and for exclusives to be released first!:rolleyes:

cherryghost

Rumours are circulating that the AMD GPU chip will be based on the DX11 enabled 5770 card or equivalent. Since the Wii U supports mulitple displays, you can deduce to the point that its either a 5xxx/6xxx series modified GPU for sure. Compared to the 360's Xenos card, which is equivalent to an ATI X1950, its about twice as fast and much much less cool than the 360's.

IBM's processing speed is another story though. There's a lot of speculation what the speeds are etc, but apparently it'll be using a new technology. Exciting stuff. Pity we cant see any REAL footage apart from that tech demo.

enfant terrible

DL Saint wrote: »

To answer the above question re: blu-ray, no it does not support blu-ray in name, however it runs 25GB discs so basically the same thing.
http://kotaku.com/5809701/wii-u-discs-will-be-25gb-in-size

Maybe HD-DVD's

That_Guy wrote: »

While it may be powerful than the Xbox 360 and the PS3, you have to remember that Sony and Microsoft have yet to unveil their new consoles and the specs of that could easily match/better the Wii U's graphic capabilities which look stunning it has to be said from the various demo videos.

Rumor is Sony is using IBM's Power7 CPU.

6-8 cores, 24-32MB shared L3 Cache, Quad threading per core, and a double precision performance approaching 200GFLOPS.

The CELL chip which powers the PS3 is capable of 15 GFLOPS double precision. This would give the PS4 a performance leap of over 10 fold over it's predecessor.

http://www.ps3news.com/PlayStation-3/rumor-sony-chooses-ibm-power7-cpu-for-playstation-4-in-2012/

Nollog

enfant terrible wrote: »

Maybe HD-DVD's

Reggie said it's proprietary.
That means they made it themselves.

SK1979

In hindsight, that was about as much of a reveal as we were ever going to get at E3. Nintendo attempted to showcase the innovation that they are bringing with this new console to give us a flavour of what its about. Then their other key pillar was emphasising strong third party support (kind of successful I guess).

However, I would imagine that they still have a huge amount hidden under their belts. When is the Tokyo Games Show, or the next major show on Japanese soil? Its at that that you might actually see some real fireworks. One would have to imagine that Nintendo themselves have a fair few 1st party titles in development for launch and they weren't shown at all. It'll be interesting to see its next appearance to be honest, and I'll certainly be waiting for that before passing any judgement.

nitromaster

/\/ollog wrote: »

Reggie said it's proprietary.
That means they made it themselves.

No...it's based off a standard format...Same way Wii Discs were based off DVDs...but they were too cheap for the license fee for playing dvds (can be done on older wiis using homebrew)

Fysh

nitromaster wrote: »

No...it's based off a standard format...Same way Wii Discs were based off DVDs...but they were too cheap for the license fee for playing dvds (can be done on older wiis using homebrew)

You know what's tedious? I found out about the Panasonic Q about 2 weeks ago. Why Nintendo didn't push this more is beyond me, and the subsequent decision to not include DVD playback in the Wii was baffling given the wider-audience focus. I assume the licencing fee was the issue, because any other reason would be beyond stupid.

Star Lord

cherryghost wrote: »

Rumours are circulating that the AMD GPU chip will be based on the DX11 enabled 5770 card or equivalent. Since the Wii U supports mulitple displays, you can deduce to the point that its either a 5xxx/6xxx series modified GPU for sure. Compared to the 360's Xenos card, which is equivalent to an ATI X1950, its about twice as fast and much much less cool than the 360's.

IBM's processing speed is another story though. There's a lot of speculation what the speeds are etc, but apparently it'll be using a new technology. Exciting stuff. Pity we cant see any REAL footage apart from that tech demo.

Looks like there are some things that are part way through development enough to show/play demos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k6KcMxKIo0

[edit]
Looks like a quick port for demonstration of how the Wii U could work.

nitromaster

Fysh wrote: »

You know what's tedious? I found out about the Panasonic Q about 2 weeks ago. Why Nintendo didn't push this more is beyond me, and the subsequent decision to not include DVD playback in the Wii was baffling given the wider-audience focus. I assume the licencing fee was the issue, because any other reason would be beyond stupid.

Apparntly fees were about $15-20 per unit....They could have easily sold a media remote for dvd playback which included the charge.....

And Blu-ray licensing fees seem to be about $9.....major chance they skip over that as well. :mad:

Sometimes i don't get this company.
(I'd say a lot would be happy with a paid 10 euro purchase on the estore to enable bluray playback.....Would pay the fee for those who want it and leave them with a couple of dollars.)

Irish Halo

DL Saint wrote: »

Yes local multiplayer, however it appears to be using the wii-mote as the other player controllers.

As aeonfusion says I assume the WiiU can only support running one controller with screen but you will be able to buy a screen-less version (it is suitably different from the Wiimote/nunchuck combo that some games will control very differently). The screen version will be like "one controller to rule them all". The idea of being able to play without the TV is interesting as I don't get enough game time on my Wii and not arsed getting a second TV and having to move around the Wii between the 2 (used for iPlayer on the main TV so needs to be there).

I am feeling a little fanboy-ish but really looking forward to how this pans out and further details.

Nollog

nitromaster wrote: »

No...it's based off a standard format...Same way Wii Discs were based off DVDs...but they were too cheap for the license fee for playing dvds (can be done on older wiis using homebrew)

Yeah, that makes it proprietary.
Completely with the fellow what said DVD playback would've made sense with the wider-market approach of the Wii, but Nintendo are idiots in a lot of ways so it's not surprising.
Blu-Ray I don't think is coming into it's own on the level of DVD, because Internet is so good now that we don't need physical media for movies anymore.
Ireland needs it, sure. But that's because nobody's going to take the chance streaming movies here because the audience is so small.

DamoElDiablo wrote: »

[edit]
Looks like a quick port for demonstration of how the Wii U could work.

Ubisoft said they were able to port a 360/ps3 game to wiiU in just 5 weeks.

DL Saint

billyboy01 wrote: »

At £399/500 yoyo's, fook you Ninty! Maybe 5 years ago. But that kind of money now for a Nintendo! Then wait years for decent mario games to be released. Fudgetdabout it! I'll wait a few years for it to drop in price and for exclusives to be released first!:rolleyes:

Where are you getting this pricing from?
Iwata said that it will cost around 20,000 yen=$250=€172
so nowhere near 500 bills.

Nollog

DL Saint wrote: »

Where are you getting this pricing from?
Iwata said that it will cost around 20,000 yen=$250=€172
so nowhere near 500 bills.

Iwata said it would not be the same price as a Wii or 3DS at launch(20,000yen/25,000yen).
It'll likely be 30,000 yen (300 usd 300 eur) unfortunately.
Could be more.

Also, she got the price from zavvi probably:
http://www.zavvi.com/games/consoles/wii-u-console/10475210.html?affil=BUYAT

DL Saint

/\/ollog wrote: »

Iwata said it would not be the same price as a Wii or 3DS at launch(20,000yen/25,000yen).
It'll likely be 30,000 yen (300 usd 300 eur) unfortunately.
Could be more.

Also, she got the price from zavvi probably:
http://www.zavvi.com/games/consoles/wii-u-console/10475210.html?affil=BUYAT

Hmmm Article begs to differ http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-06-08-iwata-wii-u-price-likely-over-USD250

Anyway ye I am just being a tad bit optimistic over it, but sure nothing is written in stone just yet so why not.

Nollog

DL Saint wrote: »

Hmmm Article begs to differ http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-06-08-iwata-wii-u-price-likely-over-USD250

Anyway ye I am just being a tad bit optimistic over it, but sure nothing is written in stone just yet so why not.

Iwata was talking to Nikkei, not eurogamer.
Everything is lost in translation.
I don't see how it differs really, except in the fact he didn't say the price, he was asked how it would compare with other Nintendo hardware launch prices, and the value was extrapolated from that.