Nintendo Wii U

[ocre]

I was afraid this would happen. Aside from what Nintendo's primary talent has done with Pikmin 3, I get the distinct feeling that the console and controller hadn't been finalized soon enough to have third party titles and partnerships exist at a mature enough level to show at E3. Underwhelmed, but at least I can enjoy The Last of Us, Pikmin 3, NSMBU, Luigi's Mansion, Paper Mario and Pokemon BW2 in the mean time. Oh well, I'm getting one.

Ah well, systems are expected to start slow, on the other hand, I feel sorry for people who love the Xbox.

Edited June 5, 2012 by ocre

[Toadofsky]

Yeah, pretty disappointing, aside from Pikmin 3. There are a couple unmentioned games listed at the Wii U website though:

http://e3.nintendo.com/games/#/wiiu/projectp-100

http://e3.nintendo.com/games/#/wiiu/game-wario

Reads about project P....

PROJECT P - developed by PLATINUM GAMES.

AND a new Wario party game, sounds good to me.

[GTAHater836]

I wasn't really impressed with any of the press conferences this year. If they wanted to help brighten the climate in the video game industry, I wouldn't say the big companies are doing the job. I can just see it already: Buying a Wii U a solid 3.2 years after launch (est. Fbr. 2016), with a lengthy library and half price, but unless all the game companies stop overpricing all their hardware and software, waiting a few years could be the wisest thing to do with any console in the future.

[Overflow]

Overall it was pretty disappointing. There were some high points, but they really needed to open with a sizzle reel of what the system could mean for nintendo games: show concepts of Metroid, Mario and Zelda in glorious HD, like the HD zelda demo last year. Seriously, just a short video like that would have satisfied most of us. After all, we're all still drooling over last year's Zelda vid.

I am a strong advocator of "gameplay over graphics," but even I wanted to see the graphical prowess of the new system. Luckily, Pikmin 3 didn't disappoint:

Yellow Pikmin: "Paint me like one of your french girls."

I really love these graphics. The polygons are very impressive, with beautiful rounds and very high res textures. The Apple and Orange look almost photorealistc, and the branch "slide" is wonderfully rendered. The depth of field effect is also really good, really giving the impression of how small these creatures are.

Definitely the best thing showed for Wii U, seconded by NSMBU. Nintendo Land looked fun, but they didn't show enough of the variety, and we really are past the point of being impressed by mini-game collections.

Personally I have very little interest in third party games period: AssCreed doesn't interest me at all, couldn't care less about ZombiU, even the Batman games are only appealing to me because of the gameplay, which Captain America Super Soldier mimicked and I found I really enjoyed. (although I am excited for Darksiders 2)

It's the first party games that people buy Nintendo systems for, so nintendo needed to give us something to look forward to on that front, even if what they showed weren't actual games. Like I said, just show us a snazzy video of the various Nintendo franchises rendered in HD and we'd have been pretty happy, right?

Edited June 5, 2012 by Overflow

[EC2151]

Pretty disappointing presentation. Nintendo Land, SiNG, Just Dance, Wii Fit U, large chunks of time dedicated to explaining how important their latest control gimmick is. Lots of time dedicated to third party games that most of us already own on another console or PC. Nintendo games are the reason I would buy a Nintendo console and this is just looking like more and more of a repeat of the Wii. Retro's mystery project is about the only thing left that could make me get a U early in it's life now I think, though that probably won't even be that early the way it's looking

MS and Sony weren't much better though sooo...pretty decidedly unhyped about consoles at the moment.

It definitely made me feel better about just getting a Dreamcast!

The P100 game looks pretty cool. I wish they didn't spend 15 minutes explaining a minigame in NintendoLand when it could have taken them a minute to do so.

Likewise, there is nothing that is making me itch to buy a WiiU at this moment.

[dfcentre]

On the whole, the games shown so far graphically do look a lot better than Nintendo's previous. Its nice to see HD games coming from the Big N finally. Having said that, yes, so far nothing is telling me I must buy the Wii U. I'm holding out for a BLOCKBUSTER Mario game or Zelda game or a killer 2D Metroid game or GTAV (perhaps bundled with GTA3, Vice City and San Andreas???) or even something truely WTF like a return of a cult classic franchise like Sailor Moon. Pikmin 3 is definitely a good supplementary game.

I kinda wish Nintendo would re-animate Mario for the next console. He's so boring and predictable to watch on the screen. His animations are stiff and haven't changed since the 90s. Even Rayman looks more alive than he does and Rayman doesn't even have limbs, lol. I hope that the NSMB-WiiU is more responsive when multiple people are playing. The previous version on the Wii had ATROCIOUS responsiveness, and although its hilarious for a while at parties, the hilarity does wear off when you realise you are constantly dying cos Mario jumps 200 milliseconds after you push the button.

RAYMAN here http://e3.nintendo.com/games/#/wiiu/rayman-legends

I am digging the depth-of-field blurring that is being used in the games now. Its classy. Project P-100 does have a certain charm and could prove a new franchise.

http://e3.nintendo.com/games/#/wiiu/projectp-100

Really interested in the panorama thing. Although its a gimmick I think it would be great for say filming an interactive MOVIE!!! Something I've been dreaming about for years.

http://e3.nintendo.com/games/#/wiiu/panorama-view

Also does anyone know how I can get HI RES un watermarked images of the artwork from e3? I enjoy collecting hi res artwork to blow up on my desktop. Maybe someone knows a "login" to Nintendo's Press site perhaps???

[Overflow]

The previous version on the Wii had ATROCIOUS responsiveness, and although its hilarious for a while at parties, the hilarity does wear off when you realise you are constantly dying cos Mario jumps 200 milliseconds after you push the button.

Really? I hadn't noticed this...I found it to be pretty responsive. Are you sure it's not a lag issue with your TV? All 120hz TVs (at least a year ago) have an amount of lag to them. I bought one and found my rhythm was completely off when playing NES games on Wii or Mario Galaxy. The final battle against Ganon in OoT was completely unplayable: my timing was off for deflecting the shots. I took the tv back to the store, along with my wii and hooked it up to various sets, trying them out to get a feel for the rhythm and I found that every 120hz and 240hz TV had lag. Out of desperation I hooked up my wii to a random 60hz TV and the lag was completely gone. I was lucky enough to find a 47" LED Samsung 60hz TV which has been great for gaming (although the darks and blacks drag a bit across the screen...is that called ghosting?).

Kinda got of topic there...basically, check whether it's TV lag or not.

[dfcentre]

It was obvious that the responsiveness was down in multiplayer, single player was MUCH better yes. We had four people playing and this was on two separate occasions with two different TVs and consoles. Most people don't notice 200 millisecond differences cos they are having a laugh, casual gamers don't take this stuff too serious but I do.

Back onto Wii U. Does ANYONE HAVE HI-RES ART ACCESS?? Finding High-res art is my second favourite things about e3, lol. First favourite is drooling over new footage or games but I'm not drooling over that (yet... I silently hope for a second reveal in the next few days, not holding my breath).

[Overflow]

It was obvious that the responsiveness was down in multiplayer, single player was MUCH better yes. We had four people playing and this was on two separate occasions with two different TVs and consoles. Most people don't notice 200 millisecond differences cos they are having a laugh, casual gamers don't take this stuff too serious but I do.

Back onto Wii U. Does ANYONE HAVE HI-RES ART ACCESS?? Finding High-res art is my second favourite things about e3, lol. First favourite is drooling over new footage or games but I'm not drooling over that (yet... I silently hope for a second reveal in the next few days, not holding my breath).

Ah, okay. I'm sure the higher power of the U will fix that.

Well, in 09 NIntendo did tease the next Zelda game in the roundtable, so I've still got some hope that some good stuff is yet to come.

People often forget this but the big E3 conference isn't for the casual, nor is it for the hardcore: It's for the investors. The companies show off what will make money, and I'll eat my work shoes if NSMBU, Wii Fit U and Nintendo Land don't make a crapload of money. The smaller conferences and presentations, such as the roundtables, are better suited for the more hardcore reveals.

Regardless they should throw gamers a bone in the conference. Still, E3's not over yet.

[dfcentre]

Investors have their eyes open for E3 but I tend to think that it all starts at the media responses rather than investors feelings. The investors have to look at what the responses are from the media surrounding the event. They'd have to somehow measure the excitement generated by the media in certain products to gauge what will be hot and what won't.

Although this may not be an exact science, alienating the hardcore gamer can't be a good idea anymore. People are wise to the gimmicks of the past now and perhaps even bored with them. Nintendo can't rely on fit gimmicks and mini-games anymore. If they do they may find themselves in some trouble this time around. I haven't seen people caring about that stuff anymore. They need to move on. In Australia there's an ad campaign that says, "There's never been a better time to fire up the Wii". Its sad. The Wii is history, although for some bizarre reason I do have a hankering to fire up Eledees (Elebit's in Australia) and toss random household items around...

[Overflow]

There's also Xenoblade, Last Story, and older games that may not have been played in a while, like Metroid Prime Trilogy, DKCR, Mario Galaxy, Deadly Creatures, etc. The Wii ended up with a pretty strong library.

EDIT:

so I thought Nintendo was having a Roundtable tonight but I haven't found any news of it. I'd expected there to be a live blog or something but there's nothing. I was hoping they'd make a few more announcements.

Edited June 6, 2012 by Overflow

[JackKieser]

They had a dev roundtable. It was also a big pile of nothing. The devs for NintendoLand just reiterated what the conference said, and any time a significant question was posed (like, "What about games bundled with the console?"), it was either flat-out ignored or punted.

[Ramaniscence]

If Wii U doesn't let me import Facebook friends and post to my Facebook feed...it's pretty much dead to me. That's the only reason I'm friends with half the people I am on XBL

[dfcentre]

They had a dev roundtable. It was also a big pile of nothing. The devs for NintendoLand just reiterated what the conference said, and any time a significant question was posed (like, "What about games bundled with the console?"), it was either flat-out ignored or punted.

As to be expected... hmmm. Maybe the Wii U is not as powerful as the PS3 and is only running in 720p. This article below is a rumor but I'm getting concerned that it has some truth to it.

http://gamingunwrapped.com/rumor-crytek-got-crysis-3-running-on-the-wii-u/

Perhaps Crysis' "port" to the Wii U is in its infancy and the developers haven't had a chance to fully take advantage of Nintendo hardware, or perhaps we are being led to believe 720p is HD when it isn't. Its all going to come out in the wash eventually. So far though, its not looking good for the Big-N in my book. To be honest I think Nintendo might be better off to ditch the console market and just make AWESOME games and controllers that can be played on PC and/or the other consoles. It would be much simpler for EVERYONE then. But that would mean swallowing pride so maybe not. We don't need Mr Iwata stabbing himself in the gut anytime soon.

[Troyificus]

ZombiU certainly has my interest, though I look forward to seeing how it's going to differ from, say, House of the Dead or similar.

New Super Mario Bros. U looks pretty much the same as the Wii version just on a larger scale with more Yoshi.

I'm still hyped for the Wii U, especially now we've the bastard offspring of an X-box and Onlive controller to play the 'hardcore' games with

[Swifthom]

It just felt like Nintendo was holding back...

I just needed one more 'proper' game to be announced at the end and I would have been happy. One wild card up their sleeve... Nintendo Land was not it. A proper, killer game that showed Nintendo understands EXACTLY how to use HD properly.

And there are Wii U games we KNOW are coming they haven't touched on. P-100 being one of them; perhaps they were scared that on first glance it kind of resembles Pikmin.

Also; what happened to Dragon Quest X? thats something we were told was going to Wii U...

[EC2151]

ZombiU - the Red Steel of the next generation!

[Calpis]

I don't think they're holding back. I think this is exactly what they have ready. At the Hardware Conference Q&A, they mentioned that their target audience is exactly the same as the Wii. I wonder if they're banking on the hope that the Wii U will become the phenomenon that happened last time. Whether it will or not, it means that Pikmin 3 and 3rd party games are all they've got ready for launch for the non-casual market. However, they can't repeat the same mistake of having a 10 month long (or whatever it was) drought of hardcore games like the Wii.

Even if their aim for the conference was for investors, they failed there as well.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/06/nintendo_shares_drop_after_e3_press_conference

I think they better have several aces up their sleeve or this isn't gonna happen for them. I somehow doubt that Mii minigame-apalooza is gonna sell systems, even in the casual sector.

I really want to be optimistic here, but this conference made me lose a lot of faith in the direction I thought they were going, based on last year's showing.

Edited June 6, 2012 by Calpis
grammar lolz

[Global-Trance]

It was obvious that the responsiveness was down in multiplayer, single player was MUCH better yes. We had four people playing and this was on two separate occasions with two different TVs and consoles. Most people don't notice 200 millisecond differences cos they are having a laugh, casual gamers don't take this stuff too serious but I do.

Back onto Wii U. Does ANYONE HAVE HI-RES ART ACCESS?? Finding High-res art is my second favourite things about e3, lol. First favourite is drooling over new footage or games but I'm not drooling over that (yet... I silently hope for a second reveal in the next few days, not holding my breath).

I have access to Nintendo's press site.

I've put everything that's currently up there here:

http://www.global-trance.com/E32012_Nintendo/

[PROTO·DOME]

There is definitely not enough hype in this thread for Scribblenauts.

THE BEST FUCKING GAME OF E3 HANDS DOWN.

[ocre]

I think they better have several aces up their sleeve or this isn't gonna happen for them. I somehow doubt that Mii minigame-apalooza is gonna sell systems, even in the casual sector.

I really want to be optimistic here, but this conference made me lose a lot of faith in the direction I thought they were going, based on last year's showing.

I'm not going to get into my shattered expectations but! I will say that we at least have Pikmin 3 and whatever the hell awesome thing Retro IS working on to look forward to. So there's that.

People act like system launches have always been spectacular. The games will come. They're just still cooking. I won't deny Nintendo didn't botch this E3, but there's a reason for that, and I think you're right on the money, the games just weren't ready yet.

[dfcentre]

ZombiU - the Red Steel of the next generation!

The thought crossed my mind lol.

I have access to Nintendo's press site.

I've put everything that's currently up there here:

http://www.global-trance.com/E32012_Nintendo/

You are awesome Global-Trance! The Luigi's Mansion art makes me laugh.

Ocre, you got a bit confuffled with your double-neg. I think you meant to say, "I won't deny Nintendo DID botch this E3, but... ". I think most people here have reached a surprising consensus that right now we won't be lining up like mad, crazy geeks at launch SO FAR. Unless something big is announced we can afford to wait to pick up a Wii U.

[EC2151]

Now the real struggle for me is whether to go for a 3DS or get a Vita.

[ocre]

Now the real struggle for me is whether to go for a 3DS or get a Vita.

Let me make that easier for you: Nintendo confirmed Fire Emblem Awakening will be released in North America.

[Swifthom]

Is the weird thing...

Pretty much EVERYTHING they've shown is Launch window material. I.E. they are ONLY making a thing about what is nearly done.

This is in stark contrast to the 3DS and Wii where they'd talk about stuff years down the line. Paper Mario was announced BEFORE the 3DS launched for god sake...

In this case though, i don't mind. I want to see what the future has in store before I commit to buying a console. Well done to them for not teasing a game and then holding it for 2 more years, but in this RARE case thats EXACTLY WHAT I WANT.

(as long as they were honest and said; "this wont be ready this year ....)