WiiU

[Benstamania]

Buddy of mine said that the tablet actually forms to your palms pretty well so it's not a bother at all.

 

[the dmg]

Buddy of mine said that the tablet actually forms to your palms pretty well so it's not a bother at all.

I've heard nothing but good things about the GamePad's final form.

And I just found this mockup, which looks awesome:

 

[The Squirrel]

I would by that version in a heart beat. Make it happen Nintendo!

 

[Duke]

That NES classic style is awesome!!

 

[the dmg]

I would by that version in a heart beat. Make it happen Nintendo!

I remember the NES GBA SP, which I exchanged for my plain SP. I know that sold out quick. They should really try to capitalize on it.

 

[Lily Adler]

I've heard nothing but good things about the GamePad's final form.

And I just found this mockup, which looks awesome:

I would buy that in a heartbeat. Make it happen Nintendo!

 

[Benstamania]

I've heard nothing but good things about the GamePad's final form.

And I just found this mockup, which looks awesome:

Oh how I wish it were real.

 

[the dmg]

Oh how I wish it were real.

Same.

 

[rashad]

Nintendo Forms Wii U Partnership for Unity Engine
by Andrew Goldfarb
September 19, 2012

Unity technologies has announced a partnership with Nintendo for Wii U development. As announced today, Unity has entered into a worldwide license agreement with Nintendo for a version of the Unity engine that supports Wii U, which will allow Nintendo to distribute Unity to both first and third-party developers. A Wii U add-on for the engine will also be made available to current Unity users, allowing the current 1.2 million registered users to bring their existing titles to Nintendo’s new platform.

“The rapid growth of incredible games coming from the experienced and talented developers in our community makes Unity the new development platform of choice for AAA console developers,” said Unity CEO David Helgason. “Nintendo’s unfettered access to Unity will produce a wealth of insanely good games from knowledgeable Nintendo developers and the Wii U deployment add-on will create an amazing opportunity for our massive community of developers to showcase their incredible creativity on one of the most anticipated and innovative gaming platforms to date.”

Unity is a fully scalable engine that allows for an "author once, deploy everywhere" philosophy, letting developers make everything from browser games to AAA console titles. Unity notes that its 1.2 million registered developers include "large publishers, indie studios, students and hobbyists." One example of an upcoming title using Unity is PlayDead’s follow-up to Limbo, though whether or not that means it could come to Wii U is anyone’s guess.

A full list of games created with Unity is available on Unity’s official site. Unity Technologies reports that the Wii U development add-on will become widely available in 2013 and will offer “the same powerful, intuitive, and efficient engine and tools that the vast community of Unity developers has come to know and love.” We’ll be talking to David Helgason about the announcement later today, so keep checking back to IGN for any additional information we receive.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/19/nintendo-forms-wii-u-partnership-for-unity-engine

 

[terry78]

Power to the indie.

 

[zenith16]

Turtle Beach producing Wii U headsets

(1 hour ago)
9

Turtle Beach has obtained the rights to market officially licensed Wii U headsets, revealing a pair of nice-looking devices that plug directly into the Wii U GamePad.

The $35 Ear Force NLa includes stereo sound, in-line volume control, and a microphone, and comes in black or white. The Ear Force N11 has "acoustically angled 50mm speakers" for "extended bass," a series of words that we are assured explains the higher $50 price. Both headsets can work with the 3DS and DS as well, for the rare chat-enabled game, and both will be available in Q4 of this year.
Via: Engadget

 

[rashad]

SEGA’s Demon Tribe coming to Wii U?

SEGA has been teasing gamers with a brand new title previously known as “Project Omega” with some hot teaser pics over the past few weeks. Now it’s gotten an official title, it seems, which will be “Demon Tribe”. Not only that, the source code for the official website lists the Wii U, PSP, and PlayStation Vita as platforms. SEGA currently has two Wii U games in development: Sonic & All-Stars Racing, and Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Not much is known about Demon Tribe, besides some rather provocative images SEGA has been teasing us with, like the one below. The game is said to be developed by the team behind Jet Set Radio HD. You can find the official Demon Tribe site here.

http://wiiudaily.com/2012/09/demon-tribe-coming-to-wii-u/

 

[Benstamania]

I do want to hear a bit more about the online/chat functions of the WiiU. Will it have party/group chat ala 360? I'm getting it regardless but I do want to hear more on that. On the very rare chance my friends and I play a game on the PS3 online (Uncharted for example) we just party chat on the 360 while playing the PS3.

I hope I don't have to do that with the WiiU.

 

[terry78]

Now I'm not too clear on this, but is the tablet supposed to have a built in dvr once you input your cable information, or do you already have to have DVR available for that to work?

 

[Benstamania]

I've actually heard BOTH. I've heard if you put in your cable information, lets say it's Comcast, and they support DVR you'll have it.

But I've also heard that you have to have a DVR and service.. The WiiU will be able to connect to your DVR and stream anything you have on there on the tablet. I think Reggie himself said this one...So..I'd probably believe him.

 

[KALEL114]

Now I'm not too clear on this, but is the tablet supposed to have a built in dvr once you input your cable information, or do you already have to have DVR available for that to work?

You have to have a DVR. The tablet just streams the DVR content.

 

[zenith16]

This is interesting


Latest PS3 challenges Wii U memory philosophy; EU, US disparity explained

(10 minutes ago)
4

​

The new, slimmer PS3 comes in two forms in the US, 250GB for $270 and 500GB for $300. There's just one version in Europe and Hong Kong, a 12GB Flash-based system for $389 (€299). All of these consoles support Flash memory expansion via USB, and the US version allows internal HDD replacement.

The US gets a larger system because its consumers demand more "out of the box," according to SCEA VP of marketing, handhelds and home consoles John Koller, speaking to Engadget.

"The smaller Flash drive isn't coming to North America, and a lot of that reason is the digital consumer," Koller says. "We really want to make sure, out of the box, that there is an option for them to be able to download that content. That is really critical for us, very very important."

Nintendo is taking a different approach to memory with the Wii U, launching 8GB and 32GB models with the ability to easily attach any form of external memory, even "a full-on three terabyte hard drive," says Nintendo America CEO and president Reggie Fils-Aime.

"The reason we did it that way is that the cost of that type of storage memory is plummeting," Fils-Aime continues. "What we didn't want to do is tie a profit model to something that's gonna rapidly decline over time. We'll let the consumer buy as much as they want, as cheaply as they want."

Sony sees US consumers are more willing to buy a new console with a larger memory than to purchase external memory.

"When you look at some of the earlier chassis, and the really early adopters – the 20GB, and the 60GB – that consumer had a choice," Koller says. "They could either go out and buy another hard drive – and it's an easy install, so we make it easy for the consumer if they want to take a hard drive off the shelf and plug it in, they can do that. They had a choice of doing that, or purchasing another PlayStation 3. And what's been happening is we're seeing a lot of adoption of second consoles in-house."

Besides, Sony doesn't make any money if you buy a Western Digital hard drive. But neither does Nintendo.

Source: Engadget

 

[Benstamania]

I'm not missing a thing from the small memory space of the WiiU. I have some External HDD's that I can easily hook up to it. It's seriously a non-issue for me.

 

[Benstamania]

On a side note: I hate the PS3 redesign. Looks like mini blinds.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

I really don't get the cries of outrage, even if you don't have an external harddrive lying around almost everyone has an SD card or two lying around their house.

I just don't see it as that huge of an issue.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

I don't like having to rely on external storage because it's slower.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

I saved a ton of stuff on a SD card for the Wii.

It really really wasn't so slow that it was a major inconvenience.

 

[the dmg]

So, I've been reading various articles about how Smart Glass (everyone owns a phone, so it's usefulness can actually be of value if people take advantage of it. A smart move on M$'s part) and Vita (too expensive) will allow you to do the same thing that the GamePad does, and while that's very true, the problem is that those are optional.

If you look at a lot of Nintendo's past projects, you will see that they've tried on multiple occasions to incorporate GB, GBA, and even DS to their home consoles. GCN had a ton of games that utilized GBA perfectly for connectivity and cross play, while others, not so much. Since it was only optional, there were few games that took advantage of using a handheld as your controller, but the problem was that people without a GBA couldn't take advantage of it (hidden items, can't 100% complete a game without crossplay).

Now they have taken the ideas of what they have done in the past, in addition to seeing the uses of tablet functionality, and provide the experience out-of-the-box, without the need to buy a separate device to access the experience.

On a side note:
I've read that it will be possible to play games with the Pro Controller and still utilize the GamePad for it's second screen, which I think is a great idea. I also hope that there will be games that utilize the Wiimote and Nunchuck for FPS's again, as it's my favorite setup next to keyboard and mouse.

 

[WolfCypher]

I really don't get the cries of outrage, even if you don't have an external harddrive lying around almost everyone has an SD card or two lying around their house.

I just don't see it as that huge of an issue.

It also reminds me of how people complained about any game system that didn't play DVD at the time (Bluray to a lesser extent is understandable).

"What? The Gamecube can't play DVDs? That's so dumb!" - says some guy who lives in a house with four TVs, a DVD player on each of them...

 

[the dmg]

I do want to hear a bit more about the online/chat functions of the WiiU. Will it have party/group chat ala 360? I'm getting it regardless but I do want to hear more on that. On the very rare chance my friends and I play a game on the PS3 online (Uncharted for example) we just party chat on the 360 while playing the PS3.

I hope I don't have to do that with the WiiU.

Nintendo is holding another conference closer to launch, so I would assume and hope that these are what will be highlighted.

On a side note: I hate the PS3 redesign. Looks like mini blinds.

I liked the design up until I saw how the games are inserted, what garbage.