10 Days With The WiiU: An Update

A week or so ago I wrote about my first experiences with the WiiU console (http://www.denofgeek.com/games/23685/our-first-48-hours-with-the-nintendos-wii-u) and having explored it for a further eight days I felt it would be a good time to update you on how it’s going.

Spending more time with Nintendo’s new console has allowed me to appreciate its elements much more. The Miiverse – the WiiU’s social plaza – has become much more apparent, mostly thanks to its neat integration within ‘New! Super Mario Bros U’ where comments from other game players appear scattered around the world map. It really does feel like the console is part of a bigger picture and though it does feel like the other players are on the end of a long road and not really accessible, it’s a neat feature.

I’ve also experienced much more of my three games. ZombiU – as seen through my other review at http://www.denofgeek.com/games/23777/zombiu-wii-u-review – is a delight, even if a scary one. NintendoLand is a great multiplayer game with lots of depth but feels lacking if you don’t have lots of friends round: it feels like a one-player game or a many-player game, not suited for two or three players. The Mario game is as nostalgic and as familiar as every other recent game in the series but the controls are slick, the platforming surprising tricky, the graphics a treat for the eyes and the world map and alternative pathways a delight.

It’s not all been plain sailing though. The console has hung up three times so far, requiring a switch off at the wall, and the console has had trouble reading a disc once, and just a few days after the first mammoth one hour update the console got another one, this time coming in at under fifty-minutes. Nintendo have been a little cagey on what it did other than fixed some stability issues, but reported faster loading menu times are not particularly apparent as the moving between them still takes an age, and the only evidence of a change is in YouTube asking to be updated. I hope these regular large updates aren't going to be a regular occurence.

The GamePad is still winning me over as a great tool to use and I have no regrets in buying the console. I’m still ploughing through the three games and taking in all they have to offer and looking forward to Nintendo TVii and games like Rayman and Scribblenauts Unlimited on the horizon.

Nintendo E3 in a Nutshell

Tonight, after a brief thirty-minute preview of what the Wii U can do technologically and socially on Sunday, we got the full seventy minute Wii U experience at E3 announcing many games for the new console, alongside a sample of 3DS games with a further broadcast on Wednesday night to give more insight into these.

So what did we get? Well it was a very enjoyable presentation with a few surprises. It was arguably Mario-centric, especially when it came to 3DS games, but there was much to whet the appetite of those interested in what the Wii U has to offer and overall was a very enjoyable presentation packed with promise.

Two of the most exciting games shown have to be the latest entry into the Mario franchise and a surprise finish with a not-heard-of game (I’ll talk about these in more detail at the end) but there was a lot to take in, even if Reggie’s suggestion they had a lot to get through in an hour not stopping him waffling and re-capping what we already knew about the tablet.

Though I’ve not played a game in the franchise yet, God-sim sequel Pikmin 3 looks to be a step-up both graphically and in game play with a stronger multi-player focus and more depth and challenge.

There were also a few other reveals including the console being available in black and white – though no confirmation whether at launch; compatibility with Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Video; and how it can support two game pads in post-launch games with rumble and speakers confirmed in the individual game pads.

Games revealed include a special edition of Batman Arkham City using the game pad as an inventory selector among other things; Scribblenauts Unlimited for both the Wii U and 3DS with the former at least boasting touch-screen combination of items to create your own unique objects; Wii Fit U which can work with just the screen and a piece of technology called the Fitmeter, which looks like a pedometer-style device that works with NFC with the game pad to upload your work out through the day to the system; and SiNG, a new franchise that sees the game pad become a lyrics screen, allowing you to face the crowd rather than away from them to sing, whilst your friends can take part in a dance game. All these look very promising titles. Even if they had to play Carly Rae Jepsen as part of the last one.

Also given more information were 3DS games including ‘New! Super Mario Bros 2’ released on August 19th in the USA with a strong gold collector theme (no real explanation though) and the return of raccoon Mario; a new Paper Mario game with a brief explanation of the sticker power-ups; and the Luigi Mansion sequel for the portable console featuring multiple mansions. More will be revealed for the handheld at tomorrow’s demonstration including, one presumes, games that don’t involve Mario and what the gold theme means for the new handheld game, not that we have long to wait for it.

Lego City Stories, also shown in the Wii U version and ending with a funny Mario joke, looks like a Lego version of Grand Theft Auto with its city-based mission-based gameplay; and the inevitable Just Dance sequel. There was also quick previews of games such as ‘Aliens: Colonel Marines’; ‘Ninja Gaiden 3’; ‘Darksiders 2’; ‘Assassins Creed 3’, ‘Rayman Legends’, ‘Trine 3’ ‘Tank! Tank! Tank!’; ‘Tekken Tag Tournament 2’, ‘Castlevania’ and ‘Mass Effect 3’ on the video screens during the presentation, all with more information on the website that was announced at the end.

After a comment that may get Reggie sacked – “Being the puppet-master is like being in charge of NOA” – we got a bigger focus on ZombiU, a Left-For-Dead style shoot-em-up first teased on Sunday night’s video that looks promising and also includes an interesting, but possibly gimmicky, camera application to turn you into a zombie, that at least moves with you as you do.

The presentation ended on the very promising Nintendoland game, see below, though it doesn’t seem like it will be packaged with the console, but will at least be available at launch.

Reggie advised people to find out more at e3.nintendo.com and there’s certainly more to be seen then from concept art to videos and other games such as Project P-100 (a Pikmin-style superhero game); Panorama View (a play on augmented reality in your living room using the game pad); and ‘Game and Wario’ which looks to be the party game successor to the ‘WarioWare’ franchise.

Overall it was a very promising presentation for Nintendo and possibly the strongest line-up of games revealed for any console launch, with the technology to back it up. There are still questions to be answered relating to the power of the console and how much it will ultimately cost, and whether the announced “hardcore” games will be enough to satisfy the naysayers and build a strong foundation on top of the aging PS3 and Xbox 360, but in the wake of E3 I feel that Nintendo are definitely in a strong position for a festive launch this 2012.

And here is some more on two games in particular I can’t wait for...

New! Super Mario Bros U

A new 2D platform game set in the Mario Universe. From the title card displayed, showing Baby Yoshis and the sea-mine type squid monsters, but with a more art-style feel with moving, texture-rich backgrounds, it looks like a cross between the New! Super Mario games and the two Super Mario World releases. One background resembles Van Goth’s night-sky paintings.

With the hints from the Nintendo Direct show, there is a new power-up that turns the playable characters into a flying squirrel, demonstrating similar movements to the hover abilities of the SMW cape. Also with power-ups you can feed the baby Yoshis, but no evidence that they grow up into full Yoshis but this will be likely. Yoshi can also receive a balloon power-up, similar to the one from Super Mario Galaxy 2, that allows a character to grab onto him and float around. It also seems that baby Yoshis can trap enemies in bubbles.

There is also four player co-op play using the Wiimotes – with Miis playable and is more assist play than verses play. The two Toad characters return as players three and four. The player in charge of the Wii U game pad can place blocks, platforms and freeze enemies to assist the others.

Star coins and red coins also return as does a Giant-style world from Super Mario Bros. 3 and the moving Boo ghost circles from Super Mario World. Moving platforms, time-sensitive platforms (including some resembling Electroplankton leaves), dark underground limited-light sections and underwater levels are also present.

New! Super Mario Bros U will be a launch game with the Wii U console.

Nintendoland

Nintendoland is the Wii U equivalent of Wii Sports set inside a theme park populated by Miis with a series of mini games including ones set in the Mario, Donkey Kong (“Crash Course”), Animal Crossing (“Sweet Days”), Metroid and Zelda (“Battle Quest: Archery and Swordplay”) universes.

One game – “Haunting Hijinks” heavily shown was based on Luigi’s Mansion, a top down Pacman-style game where the game pad player controls ghost scaring the other four players, who have to explore the maze and shine their torches on the ghost to weaken it and ultimately destroy it, but their torches have limited batteries, replenished by batteries available in the maze. Meanwhile the ghost can cause players to faint who can be re-animated by other players shining their torches on them. The ghost wins if all players are knocked out at the same time, or defeated if worn down by torch light. Only the game pad player can see everyone’s locations and the players can’t see the ghost.

Another game is one based on a tech demo for last year which is a game based on shooting metal weapons at targets.

Nintendoland will be a launch game with the Wii U console.

Nintendo Direct Report (3rd June 2012)

Over thirty minutes last night Iwata-san of Nintendo revealed some new information about the WiiU – Nintendo’s next generation console – ahead of tomorrow’s E3 press conference.

So what did we learn about this Christmas’ console release? Well the Wii U tablet – the stand-alone controller featuring a touch screen – is now known as the “Game Pad”, has clickable analogue sticks rather than circle pads (which will make many games much easier to control) and new buttons on it including confirmation that it will be compatible with NFC (Near Field Communication, interacting with cards or devices placed near the device) and that you can use it as a limited universal remote with your television. They also confirmed the presence of motion and gyro controls alongside a slight re-tweak of the body form.

The game pad is looking to be an exciting piece of tech, one that can control the Wii U in different ways, working independently so you’re no longer shackled to your television but also working with your TV to create new entertainment experiences. Granted very little truly revolutionary information was revealed on this Nintendo Direct broadcast that we didn’t see last year but it was fun to see some clarification.

The rest of the broadcast was taken up with a description of the Miiverse which, for all the positive banter online, is really an exercise in catch up on services such as X-Box Live. When you boot up your Wii U you see a massive version of the Mii Plaza with descriptions of what your friends and other console players are doing with speech bubbles explaining their activity or what they are doing. It’s basically a huge Nintendo social network with the ability to write comments on the game pad and send them to friends or out to the general throng of players, for instance asking for help in a game as shown in perhaps the cheesiest American video game promo in a long time. It won’t be long before ‘none-specific action figure’ is set up on Twitter, I bet you.

(It comes just ahead of the explanation that Miiverse is Mii + Universe, which was a little bit of stating the bleeding obvious).

What is exciting about this network, though, is that you’ll also be able to access it on your smart phone or PC or, in fact, any internet-enabled browser, which definitely ticks the box of Nintendo’s convergence. Here’s hoping it can also connect to Facebook and Twitter for true integration.

A few other tit bits were also revealed such as the ability to take and post screen shots of games and a map from the new Mario game showing comments on levels by friends. In fact, this new Mario game shown looked gorgeous and with a Super Mario World-style map, so I’m definitely looking forward to playing that!

Throw in the new Wii U Pro Controller (many comments correctly compared it to the X-Box controller in looks) and hints at games to be revealed tomorrow the Wii U does look like a strong contender for Nintendo. The heavy focus on social networking is a definite step in the right direction but it will live and die on how much it integrates with the real world Facebook and Twitter universes and, of course, how much power the game has under its bonnet to take a leap forward from the current generation PS3 and X-Box 360 ahead of whenever Sony and Microsoft release their next consoles.

Did we learn much more from the Direct broadcast? Not really. We learnt the rumour of changing the name to avoid confusion with the Wii is not true, but the inclusion of analogue sticks is. We saw that there doesn’t seem to be an upgrade to the Miis – they don’t look particularly any more detailed – and no real clue on how powerful the console is. Hopefully this will be resolved on Tuesday.

The new Mario game looks exciting and the social aspects will be fun, and the relationship between the game pad and the tablet looks to be an inspired decision and with video chat and much more possible should make up for the weaker aspects of the internet connections of the Wii. Plus, we’ll be getting an update to the 3DS to the Miiverse. It would also be great if they could do it for the original Wii, too, so players with the older console could be part of the buzz and make it an even bigger global experience.

I’m excited now for E3 for the games and what Nintendo will do with these new powers and hope there’s something big and fresh they’ve yet to announce.