Minecraft Is Finally Headed To Wii U

[Fanghawk]

Minecraft Is Finally Headed To Wii U

Mojang is finally bringing the popular Minecraft game to Wii U, complete with off-TV play and unique content packs.

Minecraft isn't just popular - it's insanely popular on every platform Mojang decides to release it on. Whether we're looking at consoles, the Pocket Edition, or the classic PC version, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/135752-Minecraft-For-Consoles-Outsells-Minecraft-For-PC>sales number in the millions for each individual platform. The only exception is Nintendo's Wii U, the one system still lacking a Minecraft of its own. Well, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130889-Notch-Squashes-Minecraft-Wii-U-Rumors>after years of rumors that's finally about to change: Not only is the Minecraft: Wii U Edition on the way, it launches next week on Thursday, Dec. 17.

Admittedly, this does seem like an odd time to release Minecraft: Wii U Edition. This will be the first Minecraft console release since <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/137435-Microsoft-Buys-Minecraft-Developer-Mojang>Microsoft purchased Mojang for $2.5 billion - meaning a portion of every sale will go directly to Nintendo's competitor. On top of that, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/165267-Nintendo-NX-New-Console-2016>Nintendo's new console is coming out next year, and it's not clear which games will be compatible with the new system.

On the other hand, it's Minecraft for the freaking Wii U, the most requested version since console editions became a thing. Minecraft: Wii U Edition will have an off-TV feature, allowing you to play directly from the gamepad. It will also come bundled with six addons, while another 16 will be available as DLC. Nintendo is also working with Mojang on special Wii U theme packs, presumably adding characters from Super Mario or Legend of Zelda to the game.

Included:
Battle & Beasts Skin Pack
Battle & Beasts 2 Skin Pack
Natural Texture Pack
City Texture Pack
Fantasy Texture Pack
Festive Mash-up Pack

Add-ons available at launch:

Festive Skin Pack
The Simpsons Skin Pack
Doctor Who Skins Volume 1
Doctor Who Skins Volume 2
Star Wars Classic Skin Pack
Star Wars Rebels Skin Pack
Star Wars Prequel Skin Pack
Mass Effect Mash-up Pack
Skyrim Mash-up Pack
Plastic Texture Pack
Candy Texture Pack
Cartoon Texture Pack
Steampunk Texture Pack
Pattern Texture Pack
Greek Mythology Mash-up Pack
Halloween 2015 Mash-up Pack

Minecraft has long been considered a natural fit for the Wii U gamepad, since it could let players craft and manage inventories without taking up space on the TV display. Mojang will be releasing more Minecraft: Wii U Edition details soon, so here's hoping any gameplay changes will be worth the wait.

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Source: Mojang, via <a href=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-12-07-minecraft-wii-u-edition-confirmed-out-next-week>Eurogamer

Permalink

 

[gigastar]

Ok. Wheres that big announcement they promised yesterday?

 

[Dragonbums]

As nice as it is that Minecraft is coming to the Wii U....if this is Nintendo's big announcement I kind of feel trolled.

 

[Barbas]

This doesn't seem all that big, but I'm not a Wii-U owner. The more good games you have on your system, the better, and I can imagine this one alone is good enough to merit buying a Wii-U for some. Pretty varied library of texture packs on release, too, which is good.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Is this the big announcement? The game that has been out for 7 years and everybody already owns is getting a last-gen release?

 

[CaitSeith]

Is this ithe big announcement? The game that has been out for 7 years and everybody already owns is getting a last-gen release?

It sounds like another Wii U port story to me. Most third-party titles in the Wii U felt like the publishers were throwing a bone to Nintendo; everyone else had already taken a bite from the games before porting them...

 

[xaszatm]

Ok. Wheres that big announcement they promised yesterday?

As nice as it is that Minecraft is coming to the Wii U....if this is Nintendo's big announcement I kind of feel trolled.

Is this ithe big announcement? The game that has been out for 7 years and everybody already owns is getting a last-gen release?

Here's the thing. The person saying there was a "big announcement" wasn't the official Nintendo channels or the president. It was Nintendo's Indie relationship developer. Talking in a podcast about Nintendo and Indie games. On a Nintendo enthusiast podcast. Really, in context this makes perfect sense but everyone grabbed this "big announcement" and made it seem like this huge thing. Honestly, it's not Nintendo fault for things getting out of hand here.

OT: Yeah, this actually is good news. Minecraft despite all these years still gets put on the monthly top 10 games sold lists in America and in the weekly top 25 games sold list in Japan. This will make money for both Nintendo and Microsoft.

 

[Weaver]

Is there a gamer left on earth that doesn't have a copy of minecraft in one way or another?

 

[omega 616]

Is there a gamer left on earth that doesn't have a copy of minecraft in one way or another?

Me ... never saw the appeal, never got caught in the hype and after the initial "isn't it charming", I was really bored of it. The fact it is still in the news and (I bet) has millions and MILLIONS of active fans (anybody get the reference?) is bewildering to me ... it's become a "I'm not even mad, it's amazing" situations for me.

At first it was "this is ok" and then the "will this thing get outta my face!1" but now it's simply a "damn! This thing is still going!?".

 

[Dragonbums]

Ok. Wheres that big announcement they promised yesterday?

As nice as it is that Minecraft is coming to the Wii U....if this is Nintendo's big announcement I kind of feel trolled.

Is this ithe big announcement? The game that has been out for 7 years and everybody already owns is getting a last-gen release?

Here's the thing. The person saying there was a "big announcement" wasn't the official Nintendo channels or the president. It was Nintendo's Indie relationship developer. Talking in a podcast about Nintendo and Indie games. On a Nintendo enthusiast podcast. Really, in context this makes perfect sense but everyone grabbed this "big announcement" and made it seem like this huge thing. Honestly, it's not Nintendo fault for things getting out of hand here.

OT: Yeah, this actually is good news. Minecraft despite all these years still gets put on the monthly top 10 games sold lists in America and in the weekly top 25 games sold list in Japan. This will make money for both Nintendo and Microsoft.

Ah, I see then. I guess that's why some people gave it merit. After all they have relations to Nintendo. But even so, a 6 year old at that time indie game shouldn't even be a 'big' announcement even by indie standards at this point.

I would of been more hyped if it was something like Fez on the Wii U.

 

[weirdee]

lemme summarize the series of events:

1. Okay, now that we've finally confirmed that people will literally buy Minecraft even if it was printed in a children's novel form, we'll take the chance of putting it on the Wii U, even though the Wii U has a reputation for being a bad console. This will in no way backfire due to Minecraft's release date being so far back that it has a review written by Jesus.

2. Sales are low. We blame this entirely on the Wii U's disappointing performance due to lack of sales interest because the Wii U's reputation for being a bad console. After all, Minecraft is a great game and it's not our fault, even Jesus said so.

 

[Covarr]

I'm curious about the Gamepad integration. It could be really nice for handling the inventory, but still having a proper controller for movement and actions. But what I really wonder about is what limitations this version will carry, since the Wii U sits firmly in between the last gen and current gen in terms of power. My guess is that it'll have the 2000x2000 world size of the Xb1/PS4 versions, since the Wii U has considerably more RAM than the PS360, but it'll have the smaller draw distance and flat items of the last-gen versions.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Callate]

[spit-take] Holy crap, I was right?

...Huh!

Well, I think my daughter will be glad to hear it.

 

[JagermanXcell]

Well that is big news for the platform... the unfortunate thing is I and the audience who doesn't care for Minecraft, don't care.

Call me when the Smash Direct is Nintendo, i'm going back into Cloud release/NX deets/Metroid hibernation.

 

[Micah Weil]

This is fantastic news for those of us who have to sell the blasted things to the parents. I'm stoked.
Gonna certainly cut down on hearing whines about the XBox and Playstation "being too violent"...

 

[DudeistBelieve]

I mean this might be big news for the like... 3 people that still haven't played Minecraft yet.

It's only interesting because a Microsoft owned franchise is appearing on a Nintendo console.