Here are a few more images of the Nintendo Wii U, straight from the Nintendo online press kit. Enjoy!
The Nintendo Wii U looks like a cross between the Wii and the original white Xbox 360. Sleek and curvy, looking right at home in any home theater or entertainment setup.
The Wii U controller is doubles as a tablet. Dual analog sticks, streamed video... very cool.
A view of the underside of the Wii U controller. Notice the L/R triggers and large battery bay.
The ability to draw on the Wii U's controller - and see it on the big screen - is fantastic.
Similar to the Nintendo DS systems, games can use the lower tough screen for inventories, maps, etc. Just more options for developers to consider and take advantage of.
What would a new Nintendo system be without its Mario franchise? Woo-hoo! Yippie!
The new Mario game also allows you to play as your Miis. I'm surprised this wasn't done before in the original Mario Wii game (instead of 2 generic Toad folk), but it's still neat.
So there you have it. The Nintendo Wii U. Overall, it looks pretty sleek. I hope those of you at E3 have fun playing with this. I know I'll be getting one someday... once I know how much one will cost. I have yet to hear any estimates of prices, but I would imagine the console to cost in the $300-400 range, and each controller to easily be $100, if not more. But then again, Nintendo may surprise us by taking a slight hit on profits from consoles and make up for it via software sales.
Update: it looks like you can only use one tablet-controller (tabtroller? Troller? Tab-wii? Tabby? Whatever) per console. So I guess worrying about 4 of these things isn't an issue anymore.
My guess is that the bottleneck preventing multiple handheld screen controllers (need an official name for these things) is the wireless transfer. I'm guessing that because I doubt they'd send 1080p to such a small screen. 720p would be fine for the application and save resources (monetary for screen itself & GPU usage). My guess is that they'd need four WiDi chips (or equivalent tech), which could increase the cost too much. It's too bad, because having two players each with their own hidden playbook or viewpoint would be pretty sweet.
As far as this thing being more powerful than the PS3 or 360, I think we'll have to wait until we know more about the CPU and memory. Not that it matters, though - it didn't for Wii.
I've heard that it's not backwards-compatible with Gamecube. Looks like I'll have to get an old one to play some oldies I still haven't gotten around to.
FWIW, I'm going to absolutely hate having to look down at my crotch to see ammo/health remaining - that'd be a pretty terrible decision to put that information on a controller. Modern shooters' HUDs don't take up THAT much room on the screen, and they're usually just an opaque number anyway. No visibility is lost as it currently stands.
I'm all for the handheld device showing you additional information that might be useful, don't get me wrong. I've been waiting for that step to occur for a while. But until third party titles appear that can actually prove that this console is worth picking up (WITHOUT constant gimmicky iterations of the new controller ala the Wii) I'll reserve my excitement for the console.
I agree with Nights. both the Wii and the U are very good IDEAS. but it takes more than an idea to make a good game. It takes creative developers. Its up to the devs to find a really good use for it, and not just a gimmicky addon for half-assed ports or minigame collections.
I like how the Wii was all about social, and now only one screened controller can connect at a time. Suddenly puts the focus back on single-person gaming.
Also: sleek white fits in with an entertainment center, Bandrik? Didn't you wonder why the 360 eventually migrated back to black?
Also: sleek white fits in with an entertainment center, Bandrik? Didn't you wonder why the 360 eventually migrated back to black?
I was referring more to the shape than the color. I'm betting there will eventually be a black version. For those that don't like white, buy an aftermarket shell or paint it yourselves.
I laughed my ass off when I saw that thing in the earlier mock ups. The controller looks ridiculous and uncomfortable for any real length of play. The Wii's title selection has been pretty much abysmal since launch in terms of developers utterly failing to take advantage of the hardware at a functional level or just simply figuring out how to make the controls work. Given that even the best controlled Wii games still have awkward moments to the motion control elements I don't think the fault is entirely with the dev's. Motion control just doesn't work beyond a gimic or very surface level. Though that isn't just a problem with the Wii, Move and Kinnect suffer similarly.
I'm sure the console will sell, I'm sure it will actually have some really good games. But it's not going to win the hardcore gaming crowd back and what will likely be a $500 launch price will keep the non-core wii fan base away.
Nintendo is obsolete on the console front and becoming obsolete on the portable front when compared to iPod, iPad and Android.
@Kryyst President Iwata said it would likely launch for around $250, oh ad your totally right, nintendo is totally obsolete, i mean just because the wii sold more copies than the 360 and the ps3 and that they introduced 3d handheld gaming doesn't mean that they are awesome. Oh and good luck playing one of your "Hardcore" games on an ipod/ipad because i hear thats a REALLY fun experiance
just because the wii sold more copies than the 360 and the ps3 and that they introduced 3d handheld gaming doesn't mean that they are awesome.
Oh and good luck playing on and .. ipod/ipad because i hear thats a REALLY fun experiance
Anyone that thinks Nintendo is obsolete is fooling themselves.
Nintendo has churned out many of the greatest successes in consumer electronics history. Nintendo single handedly made gaming mainstream. It all started with businessmen playing rounds of Tetris on their GameBoy's during business trips, and its culminated into nursing homes installing the Wii so the Elderly could enjoy a round of bowling. If you think this is bad for our hobby, you can't be looking at the bigger picture.
Its this innovation that drives the market and keeps it well invested in so we can still enjoy our "core titles" whatever that means.
I'll never understand the "core gamers" gripe with Nintendo. You should know, without them, the home and portable gaming market may have never taken off.
It's not about what nintendo's done it's what they are currently doing. Which is to say farming out 90% crap. Both on the console and on the hand helds. Other touch devices are full of crap too, but at least their crap often only costs $.99. Angry Birds on the DS would likely be a $30 cart. Just stupid.
I'll never understand the "core gamers" gripe with Nintendo. You should know, without them, the home and portable gaming market may have never taken off.
I too have issues with the idea of a "core" or "hardcore" gamer concept. I would rather enjoy a diverse set of games rather than just playing the same dusty brown FPS over and over. I enjoy those games, too, but it doesn't have to be hard-mode "championship edition" each and every time.
As for the idea of the possibility of video games not taking off without Nintendo, I propose that gaming still would have taken off. It just would have happened differently, and probably at a slightly later time. It may have been almost all on a PC, who knows. But as it stands, yes Nintendo played a huge role in bringing gaming to the masses, and I am grateful for it.
So nintendo puts out crap? Thats just your opinion, its not exactly a fact, personally i love nintendo games. I would rather play a decent side-scrolling mario or raise a team of pokemon than playing a shooter and no i am not 12,13 or 7, i'm 17 and nintendo is still big in my school. People get together to have mario kart races and battle pokemon AND play team deathmatch in CoD. Why can't people just accept that there are very different types of games and very different types of gamers and stop bashing one type just because they don't like it?
On a more recent note it looks like activision is fully supporting the wii u, maybe fps lovers and adventure lovers can finally bond over one console? (i apologize for the double post)
Activision has a reputation for growing or taking over franchises and driving them into the ground. See: Guitar Hero, yearly editions of CoD, etc.
Oh boy, and i think that they are in charge of mario kart for the 3ds, well i don't think they can mess that one up that bad...that wasn't a challenge people and thanks prime
They publish good games sure, but as soon as they're deemed good by us Activision then proceeds to milk that franchise for all it's worth. Call of Duty and Guitar Hero are prime examples of how Activision treats their games and their developers.
DS/3DS eats iPad/iPod/Android/PSP for breakfast. Nintendo has, and always will win that war. Real Talk.
I am strangely on the fence about this new system. I just haven't bought in like everyone else, and I don't know why.
the WiiPad looks clunky and uncomfortable. It's going to be fragile. And only one WiiPad per system.
Seriously, the one WiiPad / system is what broke me on this. I was extremely excited about the multiplayer prospects of this system when everyone had their own screen (like 4 swords did). Have one super sweet controller while everyone else is stuck with the crummy old Wiimotes just sucks.
Anyone could have predicted Nintendo's lineup for their conference. "Check it out guys, new Zelda, Mario, Kart, Smash, Metroid, Kirby! You still love those games!" I DO still love those games, and I would still buy and play them, but Nintendo is in dire need of something new. They've been releasing the same games for such a long time now.
Zelda is the perfect example. Those games haven't truly innovated (on console) since Ocarina came out. I don't expect skyward sword to buck this trend outside of adding better motion controller support.
I don't know, I was just really hoping that Nintendo would break away from the tired Wii paradigm. Instead, they've augmented it. The trailer of the Devs and third party games that they showed at their press conference gave me a glimmer of hope, but none of those games shown were actually playing on Wii U hardware. Until I actually see real third party titles being developed, I can't use this as an excuse to get excited. They did the same thing for the Wii, and all we got were crappy ports.
The Wii has gotten the least amount of playtime from me of any console I've ever owned. Sure, part of that is due to my changing life and such, but I haven't even considered buying a game for that system in over two years. I'm having way more fun with my PS3 and PC.
I just don't know. I'm still going to buy the Wii U, I haven't missed a Nintendo console in my life. I just don't think the Wii U is the answer I was hoping for.
I have a whole lot of negative, just because without further details, I don't have reason to be more positive yet. I have to admit, the controller will be an awesome interface (that will most likely be abused by 3rd parties). I just wish it would be more useful in the multiplayer use cases.
(Lynx said a lot of stuff, which was replaced by this drivel-fluff sentence.
It looks like UPSLynx and I are thinking along a very similar wavelength. As much as I love the Nintendo characters and all the games, my Wii console has scarcely seen the light of day. I don't even know my own friend code, as I just never had the need to look it up. I haven't bought a new Wii game in 2 years (last one was the Wario Land "Shake it up!" game, which I never broke the shrink wrap). Yeah, there's a lot of games I do want to buy, such as Kirby Epic Yarn, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, etc... but I'm going to wait for price drops or buy used.
I'm very excited about the Wii U system (aside for the name...), and what it could bring to the Nintendo lineup. A new Smash game sounds great. It all sounds like great fun and all. But time will tell if it'll be another case of "there's about six games worth playing... and a bunch of gimmicky fluff."
On a more recent note it looks like activision is fully supporting the wii u, maybe fps lovers and adventure lovers can finally bond over one console? (i apologize for the double post)
This guy has the most well thought out guest comments I think I've ever seen. Welcome home son.
As far as the one Wii U controller active per system I have a hard time believing that will be a permanent issue with the console. Give it time and I'm sure they'll find a way to make it work with more controllers. I will admit though that the Wii is the only console I've ever bought, played through one game (Twilight Princess), and then sold within a year of getting it. Regardless of how well it sold (like hotcakes) I saw very few games that looked interesting. It did however provide a huge potential for developers to come up with some great ideas and the Wii U looks like it will further that potential even more. I don't expect I'll be getting one anytime soon but I think we'll see some pretty neat stuff to come from it.
primesuspect
Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian
Comments
The Nintendo Wii U looks like a cross between the Wii and the original white Xbox 360. Sleek and curvy, looking right at home in any home theater or entertainment setup.
The Wii U controller is doubles as a tablet. Dual analog sticks, streamed video... very cool.
A view of the underside of the Wii U controller. Notice the L/R triggers and large battery bay.
The ability to draw on the Wii U's controller - and see it on the big screen - is fantastic.
Similar to the Nintendo DS systems, games can use the lower tough screen for inventories, maps, etc. Just more options for developers to consider and take advantage of.
What would a new Nintendo system be without its Mario franchise? Woo-hoo! Yippie!
The new Mario game also allows you to play as your Miis. I'm surprised this wasn't done before in the original Mario Wii game (instead of 2 generic Toad folk), but it's still neat.
So there you have it. The Nintendo Wii U. Overall, it looks pretty sleek. I hope those of you at E3 have fun playing with this. I know I'll be getting one someday... once I know how much one will cost. I have yet to hear any estimates of prices, but I would imagine the console to cost in the $300-400 range, and each controller to easily be $100, if not more. But then again, Nintendo may surprise us by taking a slight hit on profits from consoles and make up for it via software sales.
Update: it looks like you can only use one tablet-controller (tabtroller? Troller? Tab-wii? Tabby? Whatever) per console. So I guess worrying about 4 of these things isn't an issue anymore.
As far as this thing being more powerful than the PS3 or 360, I think we'll have to wait until we know more about the CPU and memory. Not that it matters, though - it didn't for Wii.
I've heard that it's not backwards-compatible with Gamecube. Looks like I'll have to get an old one to play some oldies I still haven't gotten around to.
I'm all for the handheld device showing you additional information that might be useful, don't get me wrong. I've been waiting for that step to occur for a while. But until third party titles appear that can actually prove that this console is worth picking up (WITHOUT constant gimmicky iterations of the new controller ala the Wii) I'll reserve my excitement for the console.
Also: sleek white fits in with an entertainment center, Bandrik? Didn't you wonder why the 360 eventually migrated back to black?
I was referring more to the shape than the color. I'm betting there will eventually be a black version. For those that don't like white, buy an aftermarket shell or paint it yourselves.
Here's another controller with a built-in back-lit LCD screen, with built-in speaker, and can stream video. And it comes in black!
I'm sure the console will sell, I'm sure it will actually have some really good games. But it's not going to win the hardcore gaming crowd back and what will likely be a $500 launch price will keep the non-core wii fan base away.
Nintendo is obsolete on the console front and becoming obsolete on the portable front when compared to iPod, iPad and Android.
I love it
Nintendo has churned out many of the greatest successes in consumer electronics history. Nintendo single handedly made gaming mainstream. It all started with businessmen playing rounds of Tetris on their GameBoy's during business trips, and its culminated into nursing homes installing the Wii so the Elderly could enjoy a round of bowling. If you think this is bad for our hobby, you can't be looking at the bigger picture.
Its this innovation that drives the market and keeps it well invested in so we can still enjoy our "core titles" whatever that means.
I'll never understand the "core gamers" gripe with Nintendo. You should know, without them, the home and portable gaming market may have never taken off.
Recognize Sucka!!
I too have issues with the idea of a "core" or "hardcore" gamer concept. I would rather enjoy a diverse set of games rather than just playing the same dusty brown FPS over and over. I enjoy those games, too, but it doesn't have to be hard-mode "championship edition" each and every time.
As for the idea of the possibility of video games not taking off without Nintendo, I propose that gaming still would have taken off. It just would have happened differently, and probably at a slightly later time. It may have been almost all on a PC, who knows. But as it stands, yes Nintendo played a huge role in bringing gaming to the masses, and I am grateful for it.
Why?
Oh boy, and i think that they are in charge of mario kart for the 3ds, well i don't think they can mess that one up that bad...that wasn't a challenge people and thanks prime
Edit: Snark beat me to it.
I am strangely on the fence about this new system. I just haven't bought in like everyone else, and I don't know why.
the WiiPad looks clunky and uncomfortable. It's going to be fragile. And only one WiiPad per system.
Seriously, the one WiiPad / system is what broke me on this. I was extremely excited about the multiplayer prospects of this system when everyone had their own screen (like 4 swords did). Have one super sweet controller while everyone else is stuck with the crummy old Wiimotes just sucks.
Anyone could have predicted Nintendo's lineup for their conference. "Check it out guys, new Zelda, Mario, Kart, Smash, Metroid, Kirby! You still love those games!" I DO still love those games, and I would still buy and play them, but Nintendo is in dire need of something new. They've been releasing the same games for such a long time now.
Zelda is the perfect example. Those games haven't truly innovated (on console) since Ocarina came out. I don't expect skyward sword to buck this trend outside of adding better motion controller support.
I don't know, I was just really hoping that Nintendo would break away from the tired Wii paradigm. Instead, they've augmented it. The trailer of the Devs and third party games that they showed at their press conference gave me a glimmer of hope, but none of those games shown were actually playing on Wii U hardware. Until I actually see real third party titles being developed, I can't use this as an excuse to get excited. They did the same thing for the Wii, and all we got were crappy ports.
The Wii has gotten the least amount of playtime from me of any console I've ever owned. Sure, part of that is due to my changing life and such, but I haven't even considered buying a game for that system in over two years. I'm having way more fun with my PS3 and PC.
I just don't know. I'm still going to buy the Wii U, I haven't missed a Nintendo console in my life. I just don't think the Wii U is the answer I was hoping for.
I have a whole lot of negative, just because without further details, I don't have reason to be more positive yet. I have to admit, the controller will be an awesome interface (that will most likely be abused by 3rd parties). I just wish it would be more useful in the multiplayer use cases.
It looks like UPSLynx and I are thinking along a very similar wavelength. As much as I love the Nintendo characters and all the games, my Wii console has scarcely seen the light of day. I don't even know my own friend code, as I just never had the need to look it up. I haven't bought a new Wii game in 2 years (last one was the Wario Land "Shake it up!" game, which I never broke the shrink wrap). Yeah, there's a lot of games I do want to buy, such as Kirby Epic Yarn, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, etc... but I'm going to wait for price drops or buy used.
I'm very excited about the Wii U system (aside for the name...), and what it could bring to the Nintendo lineup. A new Smash game sounds great. It all sounds like great fun and all. But time will tell if it'll be another case of "there's about six games worth playing... and a bunch of gimmicky fluff."
This guy has the most well thought out guest comments I think I've ever seen. Welcome home son.
As far as the one Wii U controller active per system I have a hard time believing that will be a permanent issue with the console. Give it time and I'm sure they'll find a way to make it work with more controllers. I will admit though that the Wii is the only console I've ever bought, played through one game (Twilight Princess), and then sold within a year of getting it. Regardless of how well it sold (like hotcakes) I saw very few games that looked interesting. It did however provide a huge potential for developers to come up with some great ideas and the Wii U looks like it will further that potential even more. I don't expect I'll be getting one anytime soon but I think we'll see some pretty neat stuff to come from it.