Wii U

[CheddarLimbo]

Nintendo dropped a TON of information today about their new console due out (hopefully) by Christmas of 2012!

The WiiU (pronounced wee-you) is being touted as comparable to existing PS3/XBox360 in terms of horsepower and graphics and uses a new control scheme unlike anything else we've seen.

I'll be posting some links shortly to some specs, as well as videos and pics of the new console in action.

I'm a life-long Nintendo fan, and this new console seems like an excellent way for them to continue to bring fun and entertainment to players of all ages and scopes.

8min hands on

a pretty good run-down of what is known at this point

Some ideas about how the new controller can be used to play games in a variety of ways.

[jschild]

Here's what I've posted so far...

http://kotaku.com/5809474/this-is-th...r-on-the-wii-u





http://cdn.static.viddler.com/flash/...=731d5323&ref=

http://wii.ign.com/articles/117/1173582p1.html

http://kotaku.com/5809566/this-is-su...rio-bros-games

and for tech info...

Some of the Wii U hardware capabilities came out, or at least as much as Nintendo was willing to divulge (and should be noted are subject to change). In dimensions, the Wii U will be 1.8“ tall, 6.8” wide and 10.5” long.

As for the controller, it will have a 16:9, 6.2” touch screen along with several buttons, two circle pads and a d-pad. Other built in features for the controller include a microphone, speakers, gyroscope, accelerometer, camera along with a stylus and is chargeable using one of the four USB 2.0 slots.

The Wii U has support for up to four Wii Remotes at the same time. All Wii controllers, including the Nunchuk, Classic Controller, and Wii Balance board are all backwards compatible.

Similar to the Wii, the Wii U will have a single self-loading disc bay, and will support a 12-cm proprietary disc format (again, similar to the Wii).

The Wii U will support 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p and 480i and will be compatible with composite, component, S-Video and HDMI cables. Audio out options include AV Multi out connector and PCM linear output through HDMI.

The console will come with internal Flash memory, confirming rumors that it will not ship with an internal hard drive. However, the console will have support for an external hard drive or for an upgradeable SD memory card.

Finally, the chip-set for the system is a custom IBM-Power based multi-core processor. Seeing as Nintendo has never confirmed the clock rates of the CPU and graphics processors for the Wii, they are unlikely to do so with the Wii U either.

and 8 min of hands on...

http://kotaku.com/5809693/8-minutes-...-to-play-wii-u

[Greyelephant]

Price will be its biggest factor. We also need to see more online commitment. I think it looks simply amazing, but not getting too excited until I see price.

[CheddarLimbo]

Originally Posted by Greyelephant

Price will be its biggest factor. We also need to see more online commitment. I think it looks simply amazing, but not getting too excited until I see price.

Agreed. Also, I'm sure it won't play bluray, but I haven't even seen any information as to whether or not this will play even DVD's.

Or maybe Nintendo is going to eschew all of that in favor of just streaming content through Netflix and the like...

[mad_wookiee]

Originally Posted by CheddarLimbo

Or maybe Nintendo is going to eschew all of that in favor of just streaming content through Netflix and the like...

The first non-game thing that I thought of for that controller was streaming netflix from the box to the small screen.

[jschild]

This is kinda funny....

http://kotaku.com/5809744/nintendo-u...ii-u-demo-reel

Might want to bet on closer to Dec 2012 than April maybe.

[Agent Minivann]

It seems like a Wiimote, Dreamcast controller w/VMU, and a tablet rolled into one. It could be a hit, but it could be an epic fail. I'm going to say that it is going to depend a lot more on the software than on the price. There is always going to be a Nintendo fanbois element that will buy it. The ones that will buy it after giving it a test drive are the ones that will really tell if it is a success or not.

[jschild]

Yeah, that's what's been hurting the 3DS - very expensive plus a horrible library. Also, it's of interest to go back and watch the videoes Nintendo put out. At no point do you ever see two of the new controllers in action at the same time. Only one controller and multiple Wii-motes.

[Aldin]

Originally Posted by jschild

Yeah, that's what's been hurting the 3DS - very expensive plus a horrible library. Also, it's of interest to go back and watch the videoes Nintendo put out. At no point do you ever see two of the new controllers in action at the same time. Only one controller and multiple Wii-motes.

True, but that's the nature of the demos which were "hunt a guy in a maze" things. I immediately thought of Madden and how excellent it will be to pick your plays off the touch screen.

~Aldin, fanboiishly

[jschild]

Originally Posted by Aldin

True, but that's the nature of the demos which were "hunt a guy in a maze" things. I immediately thought of Madden and how excellent it will be to pick your plays off the touch screen.

~Aldin, fanboiishly

That indeed is one of it's greatest strength's - any game that would be hard to play multiplayer locally because of people being able to see your moves can work around it to some degree now.

[jbbnbsmith]

Hmmm...what I've always enjoyed most about the Wii was the motion interface, especially with the Wii plus control. I know that "real gamers" don't like this as much, but to me that was what set the Wii apart; bowling, tennis, exercise and fitness software. I guess with the other two consoles now adding these functions to capture the "casual gamer" market, Nintendo is now trying to go after the "real gamer" market.

Where I see this type if thing working best is for multi-player games that typically split the TV screen. There is also the possibility of some veryt cool flight sims using the "shield" mode. The TV would be the view straight ahead, but with the controller you can look around you in all directions.

Still, I think this sort of thing will work best when they perfect LED virtual glasses with motion sensors instead of the tablet. Maybe that will be the Nintendo Us, 2016.

[EternalThanos86]

Originally Posted by jbbnbsmith

Maybe that will be the Nintendo Us, 2016.

I think you mean the Uus 2016.