E3: Nintendo Preaches Wii U Gospel

[Sarah LeBoeuf]

E3: Nintendo Preaches Wii U Gospel

We get to see the Wii U in action during Nintendo?s E3 press conference, but no hardware details or a release window are given.

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[TIMESWORDSMAN]

Oh Reggie, will cleverness forever elude you?

 

[Sean951]

I just don't see the Wii-U solving any of the very real problems the Wii had;

The new control scheme is innovative sure but the only way to utilize it properly in a non gimmicky way would be to have exclusive games. No offense to Nintendo but ANOTHER "New Super Mario" is just not going to cut it. I hate to say it but the "Same old shit, different day" feeling is stronger than ever. In the age of multiplatform games a port is often an afterthought and with a another unique gimmick on their controller its just another opportunity for ports to be fucked up. I don't see the potential of the controller working to anywhere near its full within the console's lifetime.

In terms of online feature too they are still playing epic catch-up. All the Wii-U will do is bring potential technical parity. (whether systems stack up will be another matter looking at Nintendo's horrible track record in terms of online) All this still looks like to many skeptics is an I-Pad stapled to an Xbox 360. We already have the HD era of gaming. Trying to make a fanfare of it 7 years too late just rings a bit hollow.

Go check out ZombiU. It looks like it will take full advantage of the touch screen in a ways that no other system could do without one.

 

[Zer_]

I just don't see the Wii-U solving any of the very real problems the Wii had;

The new control scheme is innovative sure but the only way to utilize it properly in a non gimmicky way would be to have exclusive games. No offense to Nintendo but ANOTHER "New Super Mario" is just not going to cut it. I hate to say it but the "Same old shit, different day" feeling is stronger than ever. In the age of multiplatform games a port is often an afterthought and with a another unique gimmick on their controller its just another opportunity for ports to be fucked up. I don't see the potential of the controller working to anywhere near its full within the console's lifetime.

In terms of online feature too they are still playing epic catch-up. All the Wii-U will do is bring potential technical parity. (whether systems stack up will be another matter looking at Nintendo's horrible track record in terms of online) All this still looks like to many skeptics is an I-Pad stapled to an Xbox 360. We already have the HD era of gaming. Trying to make a fanfare of it 7 years too late just rings a bit hollow.

Go check out ZombiU. It looks like it will take full advantage of the touch screen in a ways that no other system could do without one.

The WiiU Gamepad Scope is pretty awesome man. I can just imagine the Ironsights and other neat functionality we'll see in future games.

 

[Sean951]

I liked the inventory where the game was still going on the main screen while you had to look down at the game pad, adds a lot of immersion (or so I hope). I was starting to get worried about the Wii-U since I hadn't heard much about games. Now, I'm super psyched for it, so I'm buy it as soon as the launch bugs are fixed, since that's always a problem.

 

[BrunDeign]

Oh Reggie, will cleverness forever elude you?

Man Reggie was saving all of his cleverness for the moment when he used the "My body is ready" meme on purpose. That was probably the non-gaming-related highlight of the show for me.

As for the show itself, ZombiU has me quite excited. Being a proud supporter of all things Nintendo I was going to get the WiiU day one regardless but this just bolsters my resolve. It's odd how the two best games of the show involved zombies (ZombiU with its "normal" zombies and The Last of Us with its fungus-headed zombies).

Also Ms. Leboeuf you said that Mass Effect 3 came out last year. Didn't it come out in March?

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

I liked the inventory where the game was still going on the main screen while you had to look down at the game pad, adds a lot of immersion (or so I hope). I was starting to get worried about the Wii-U since I hadn't heard much about games. Now, I'm super psyched for it, so I'm buy it as soon as the launch bugs are fixed, since that's always a problem.

This is basically what I've been thinking. There's a whole lot of wonderful things that can be done with all the multi-screen functionality that the big three are pushing, but I am absolutely certain that very little will be done with it. So far the only functions I've seen that would be useful would be either to have the extra screens function as just that, extra screens to play the game on, or to have them function as easy access menus or maps for games. The problem with what Sony and Microsoft are doing is that there is absolutely no way that their offerings can do that without being absurdly immersion breaking by forcing you to put the console down or someone else to do all the menu work for you, and certainly no way for them to function as independent screens to play the game on. Considering that literally everything that was mentioned with SmartGlass could be accomplished with a simple internet search I was very unimpressed, and Sony's Vita-PS3 connectivity is a console generation too old of an idea to be considered truly innovative. Not to mention that developers have next to no way to measure the install base that they are dealing with when considering SmartGlass or PS3-Vita connectivity.

 

[Atmos Duality]

. So far the only functions I've seen that would be useful would be either to have the extra screens function as just that, extra screens to play the game on, or to have them function as easy access menus or maps for games.

This is the distinguishing part between the Wii's "gimmick" and the DS's "gimmick".
Touch screens are practical and offer flexibility in design.
Motion "waggling" is awkward, and adds little to actual design space.

(pointing at the screen works; but just binding actions to the motion controls is no different than remapping the functions from a traditional controller)

That said, I'm still nowhere near sold on the WiiU.
The Wii was a colossal gimmicky piece of shit, sales figures be damned.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

. So far the only functions I've seen that would be useful would be either to have the extra screens function as just that, extra screens to play the game on, or to have them function as easy access menus or maps for games.

This is the distinguishing part between the Wii's "gimmick" and the DS's "gimmick".
Touch screens are practical and offer flexibility in design.
Motion "waggling" is awkward, and adds little to actual design space.

(pointing at the screen works; but just binding actions to the motion controls is no different than remapping the functions from a traditional controller)

That said, I'm still nowhere near sold on the WiiU.
The Wii was a colossal gimmicky piece of shit, sales figures be damned.

I agree completely. Most of the motion controls they've had other than pointing absolutely suck. Less responsive button pressing was all they added up to.

 

[him over there]

. So far the only functions I've seen that would be useful would be either to have the extra screens function as just that, extra screens to play the game on, or to have them function as easy access menus or maps for games.

This is the distinguishing part between the Wii's "gimmick" and the DS's "gimmick".
Touch screens are practical and offer flexibility in design.
Motion "waggling" is awkward, and adds little to actual design space.

(pointing at the screen works; but just binding actions to the motion controls is no different than remapping the functions from a traditional controller)

That said, I'm still nowhere near sold on the WiiU.
The Wii was a colossal gimmicky piece of shit, sales figures be damned.

I agree completely. Most of the motion controls they've had other than pointing absolutely suck. Less responsive button pressing was all they added up to.

Well the pointing was actually pretty great, probably the only thing the wiimote got right. I just hope that Nintendo takes this concept they've created and actually go somewhere with it. Right now it's just a severed ds that's two screens can't be seen at the same time.