Wii U

Just watched the Nintendo press conference.

Wii U is Nintendo's next console. It has a traditional-looking controller with a 6.x inch touch screen in the middle that can play what's on the screen, display additional content or display the only content. The image is streamed from the console.

The console is 1080p (confirmed by Reggie on G4) high definition, and the graphics looked pretty, especially Nintendo's graphics demo.

The EA CEO (or COO) praised the console for having improved online.

No first party games announced, which may be a good thing for 3rd party developers, but Iwata did promise a new Smash Bros for Wii U AND 3DS, saying Sakurai said it would happen. Perhaps Sakurai didn't say that at all and Iwata is just putting him on the spot again like in 2005.

From what I saw. This is definitely an amazing thing!

I'm a bit skeptical - but I will reserve judgment until I see more from it.   

The Wii Sports demo and multiplayer prototypes are where the new controller really shines. You can superimpose the controller on your TV screen and "see through" while controlling the game.

I'm skeptic.. I'll buy it though since it's nintendo.. looks expensive...

Wii U like to play with my Wii?

I'm pretty excited about it. Especially seeing some footage of a Zelda that we haven't even heard an announcement for. :3

Probably will wait though, as the old wallet's hurting. ._.

The Wii U looks to be the right direction. It hits three key things:

• Appeals to hardcore players: The powerful hardware and the good online that the EA CEO praised will appeal to third party developers and attract them to invest in developing "hardcore" titles that you'll find on other consoles, and perhaps some nice exclusives. In turn, this will appeal to what some know as the "hardcore" audience who currently spend most of their time gaming on the 360 and PS3. The Nintendo games will also be more appealing to this audience because of the gorgeous graphics.(Note: "Hardcore" is the worst way to describe this audience, but it's practically the only thing you hear them called)
• Appeals to casual players: Nintendo demonstrated a Wii Sports game where you would set the controller on the floor, and the screen would display the lie of the golf ball, and you'd hit the ball using the Wii remote. There's still the casual appeal of the Wii, enhanced by new features.
• Innovates: Nintendo gives you something different, which gives incentive to purchase the new console. The new touch screen on the controller provides the ability to pull off previously unachievable gameplay elements, like using the screen as a sniper scope and selecting and drawing out plays on the controller in Madden. You can also play the console game on the controller with the game actually showing up on the controller's screen, like if someone wants to watch TV while you're playing a game.

The touch screen on the controller is very interesting. It's funny that both examples I thought of for a touch screen controller were demonstrated at E3, that is, having a Zelda menu on the screen and selecting plays in Madden. They also demonstrated several other more gameplay-related elemtnts that I never thought of like using the controller as a sniper scope, moving the controller to aim at where you want to pitch a ball and throwing ninja star things at the TV by flicking them from the touch screen.

As I predicted, Nintendo didn't announce any new 3rd party titles for the Wii U, as to not take away from upcoming Wii and 3DS titles and to reiterate that 3rd party support will be strong.

The EA CEO spoke of the Wii U's online being good, which would be a huge change of pace from Nintendo's previous consoles. This is really exciting to me. Nintendo's online has been really lackluster in comparison to the online of their competitors. If Nintendo pulls this off, this could be big.

If the graphics are anything like Nintendo's demonstration of the graphics, then I'm extremely impressed. This is good, because I like looking at pretty things, like Crysis, Wind Waker and mountains. Reggie did confirm on G4TV that the resolution would be 1080p. Some of the games actually didn't look that good in the 3rd party games video, but I think most of them did. Probably the most gorgeous looking footage was from a Zelda game tech demo video.

Overall, I'm extremely impressed. Nintendo gets it. They're innovating and appealing to all audiences. I don't know what there is to be skeptical about. This is obviously a win.

I'm certainly intrigued. I think I want to see some more footage before I agree with the EA CEO that this is Nintendo's best console ever, though.

Can Nintendo please start calling their new consoles new names? It really annoys me
But yeah, looks pretty interesting. I'd like to have seen more information about the online and the actual console itself though.

I think this looks pretty spectacular. Wonder if they'll still include Wiimote/Nunchuk support or stick with making the screen on the new console the primary 'accessible' control system. In all honesty aside from the name I can't pick any fault with what I've seen.

It supports the Wii controller. Some of the game concepts utilized both controllers, like the golf game where the controller would display the ball's lie on the ground and you'd use the Wii remote as a club.

It supports the Wii controller. Some of the game concepts utilized both controllers, like the golf game where the controller would display the ball's lie on the ground and you'd use the Wii remote as a club.

Oh yeah I completely overlooked that bit. Well they've got tons of things to play with this generation then, rather than just point, waggle and 'controller without enough buttons'. Proper netplay for Nintendo games would be real bonus too, there are a lot of great games that missed out due to Nintendo's rubbish online support record.

The controller is interesting, but I'm a bit worried about some things.

1) The Wiimote looks like it would still have some gimmick uses, but otherwise it seems like it will be obsolete.  Except of course for backwards compatibility, like how you need a GameCube controller to play GameCube games on the Wii.  So RIP Wii MotionPlus.  Or maybe they plan on having the Wii Remote + Nunchuck + Wii MotionPlus live on as a second controller type for the Wii U, which would be a great inconvenience, especially for people who don't already have the Wii controller family.

2) Yeah, you can play games on the controller without the TV.  Yeah, some games can use the screen for something important.  But you can't do both with the same game.  That means the only games you can play without a TV would be the ones where the developers couldn't come up with a good idea for how to use the controller screen.  It would be a nice way to prevent screenlooking in what would otherwise be split-screen games, but again, that precludes any other use for the controller screen, and what does that mean for your HDTV?

3) The controller looks pretty bulky.  Nintendo has been pretty good about making their controllers comfortable in the past though.  I never was good at holding the DS one-handed in order to use the stylus, so I'm a bit worried about how that will feel with this controller.

4) The button and stick placement seems a little weird.  I'm glad it has two shoulder buttons on each end, but the lower shoulder buttons don't look right.  The sticks look weird being placed right above the buttons and D-pad, but I guess it doesn't matter since you can't use the D-pad and left stick at the same time.

I think the concept will work really nice, but it seems like they're leaving the Wiimote + Nunchuck behind, which was the most iconic thing about the Wii and still had a lot of untapped potential.  I mean, we've still got the new Zelda that has yet to come out, where you have full control over Link's sword, but now the Wii U is going in a completely different direction where, oh joy, you have a menu on the controller.  Perhaps there will still be lots of Wiimote + Nunchuck games, but the W+N uses won't be any different than the current gen except for developer creativity.  For a Wii "sequel", it seems to deviate too much.

Now, things I'm completely happy about.  I'm glad it's getting a graphics boost, and I'm glad Nintendo is planning a better online system.  I'm glad the controller has a full assortment of buttons so that multi-platform games can be ported without needing some gimmick motion to simulate a button press.

I'm done with my rant.

Looks interesting, but I'm still a bit skeptical.

Why are you skeptical?