Burny

Let's pray, shall we? But yeah, I can't see them going to a system where every publisher slaps you their own account system in the face. At least not after the 3DS has a unified friend list - although Nintendo has yet to exploit it. A rudimentary unifying "Nintendo account" on the system which interfaces with other publisher's systems and hides them would make sense - even if it means creating separate accounts for the other systems and linking them once. It's for example what Dragon Age (ME too, I think) are already using on the PS3. If it is like that, it would be essentially what Steam does. Minus achievements because Nintendo doesn't like them, but hopefully with communication options that don't involve carrier pigeons. I can very well imagine other publishers setting up their separate systems with achievements and store interfaces in order to drip feed gamers their DLCs. If they don't have to fork percentages of the revenue for DLC to Nintendo for using Nintendo's shop for these DLCs, the people at Ubisoft and EA will probably love the system to pieces. Sorry, I just linked it now.

They can check as many imaginary boxes as they want, but without clarification it's worth nothing. It's not coming from a company with a great track record in the area, but unfortunately rather the contrary. Yet, who'd have still thought it possible, there is an interview with clarification: Interview So, here is the clarification everyone wanted (starting at 1:55) directly from the interview with Charlie Scibetta, from corporate communications, Nintendo: Yes, I don't know what that means exactly either. But if it means no unifying account on Nintendo's side and having to create a single account for each publisher with their own services, I'm willing to uncheck that box right now. I mean, the concept is great if there's a system at the level of Steam behind a game. But on a closed box like a console, I'd want to have a permanent unified friends list and messaging with these people. Certainly not one friends list per game, if I play games from different publishers. I should add, that what the guy said doesn't necessarily mean that there is no unified friends list bound to an account at Nintendo. After all, Nintendo could have an own accounts system that connects to other services the way Sony and Valve have connected PSN and Steam accounts. But I'm not hopeful to say the least. Edit: This might also have a lot of good sides. Not forcing down a system a publisher's throat isn't a bad thing. But the lack of unified accounts - even if they're only on the surface - is simply not practical.

Yeah, talk about cool antagonists. ^^ I can only hope they'll not just reveal at some point that he's just a pawn and Ganon is revealed as the true villain again.

I'm all for supporting the Wiimote+ throughout the WiiU's life span. It feels like aside from a handful of sports games, Zelda Skyward Sword will be the first ever showcase what WM+ can bring to traditional games. The loss of the pointer would be a sour one, especially if the WiiU is going to be overrun by the 3rd party shooter wave. And lets face it: Wiimotes or different attachments are at the current point THE ONLY way to play local multiplayer games on the WiiU. Unless Nintendo decides to support two WiiTabs, but it appears they are "considering" this at best. The options then are: Either make the Wimote(+) the standard secondary controller for the WiiU or introduce something new. Given that the Wiimote was an unparalleled success story for Nintendo, the WiiU is marketed heavily a the same audience (the name and the E3 conference are enough confirmation for that) and there are millions upon millions of Wiimotes out there, they'll always support Wiimotes with the WiiU. There is even some official press image out there with three Wiimotes alongside the WiiTab. I've already said the same thing in the "WiiU general discussion" and I agree (minus classic controller ). For the sake of people that are new to the console and for the sake of ensuring continued 3rd party support, they should bundle a Wiimote+ & Nunchuck with every WiiU. If the Wiimote+ is not a controller every WiiU owner is guaranteed to have available, single player support for it will most likely die. As for discontinuing support for standard Wiimotes, I wouldn't do that if I were Nintendo. Not too many games need Motion+ and it would be essentially asking people with old Wiimotes to upgrade, which is unnecessary when you look at, lets say New Super Mario Brothers Wii. Having a full multiplayer setup available can even be an incentive for people to upgrade to the WiiU.

It's not really about what it theoretically offers, but what devs will bother to support. If it's an option that people aren't guaranteed to have the necessary hardware for, what incentives does a dev have to support an alternative control scheme relying on that option? Especially, if it's an option they haven't used up until now. It's not like remapping a button from "jump" to "throw grenade". The only dev that I can really see offering the option, is Treyarch with CoD. They have people who know their way around pointer controls and have done it in previous games. That's why I've been arguing Nintendo should bundle a Wiimote+Nunchuck combo with in each WiiU. It'll instantly make support more viable. Anyway, back to Ghost Recon online. I've already embedded the following video in the "WiiU online" thread, but it fits in here, too. Going from 11:00 they have a slightly staged trailer, but if multiplayer with the WiiU actually supports the level of communication shown, this might be a rather fun game.

Or he just wanted Geoff to shut up about it. He never said which information they'd be going to release, did he? Anyway, here is the Ubisoft developer roundtable:

And that's the sad thing: If only one option comes with the console, it will literally offer only that option most of the time.

It was touted as a "third party roundtable". From what I've read, it turned into a Ubi Q&A where not even UBI knew shit - or wanted/were allowed to tell what they knew. It's just looking like they either knew they weren't going to reveal anything at this E3 or Reggie "promised" a bit too much ("in the coming days"). As it stands, nobody is any wiser than before. Even a definite confirmation of having a unified account system that is run by someone would be more than we have now. It's no tragedy that they don't want or can't announce anything until now and/or just want to show off the new controller. But if Nintendo has a stigma they should get rid off, it's that they can't do . In games anyway. Parts of MK Wii's online system were fantastic (how it ran) and parts were... uncommunicative.

Details later this week my a**. Ah well, no point getting worked up, until Nintendo do announce how much they are potentially ruining their new online system. At least with the announcement of a completely dedicated multiplayer shooter like Ghost Recon online, we can be cautiously optimistic that Nintendo knows friend codes and no communication features aren't going to cut it. If they don't want to announce anything now, nobody will get anything out of them. One more thing: There was more to the interview I linked on the last page. Don't test Reggie's patience too much!

Can't help but think this would play so much better, if it supported the Wiimote+ & Nunchuck setup. As would any shooter third parties might bring to the WiiU.

It's also mere speculation by Keighley, isn't it? Anyway, you're right. We should stop panicking and save that for some time next year, when they reveal their new integrated online system. Complete with carrier pigeon based messaging and rain dance routine for adding friends.

I really don't mind the overlap in fantasy stories, worlds and designs, as long as it's not esoteric Japanese stuff. But where could they possibly have taken that from?

I feel like maps are going to be the new waggle. The things I'm not particularly excited about are inventory management and the likes. basically delegating stuff to the controller that has been previously done on the big screen while pausing the game. I see potential, but for the most part these functions might not be essential and even more comfortable to use, if you don't have to look down each time you use them. These games should be unproblematic for full game streaming however. What I'm most excited about is the potential of asynchronous multiplayer with Wiimotes + tablet controller. Nintendo has already shown two rather classy examples for mini/party-games in the youtube video above, but so much more can be done: Imagine a local multiplayer in Alien Colonial Marines like this: The Wiimote players are the marines, playing via split-screen and trying to survive / achieve objectives. The tablet player is the Alien Queen and watches a map, where he can control his troops RTS-style. He has to throw waves of Aliens at the Wiimote palyers to prevent them from achieving their goals. Another, very similar example: Has anybody here ever played the Doom / Descent boardgames? They're dungeon crawlers where one player ("dungeon master" if you will) controls the monsters traps etc. while the other players have to work together to get through the dungeon to the loot and best the dungeon master's monsters. Add in resource management for both sides and you could design whole games around the concept in real time. These would be ideally played in local multiplayer. Not game related There are other minor and not game related things that might have an impact for how the console is used as well. Iwata, Myamoto & co. have stated several times, that they would like to make the Wii a machine people turn on unconsciously to browse the web, get news etc.. But it's always been associated with firing up your whole TV setup, which - in case of the Wii - gave you a clunky OS without notable connectivity. Fast forward to the WiiU: Take the controller, remotely start the base machine, access the web via a browser, browse your friend list from the sofa, do video calls/party chats and/or send them online pictochat messages etc.. Integrate all messaging seemlessly into the friend list and you've basically got console equivalent of Skype. You or someone else can watch TV the whole time or you could jump into some online match at any time - if the TV is taken even on the controller. I somehow feel that for all these things, having them on the controller is an advantage. You get the computing grunt of a potent machine in the background, but you're not chained to the whole TV setup.

Why is this your hope? It's confirmed from what about every demo/trailer etc. have shown. If they've really made one thing clear with the trailers so far, than that's how you will have to slash most enemies in specific angles to get at them. That's definitely something you won't comfortably replicate with button mashing or the slightly awkward waggle equivalent they used in Twilight princess.

Wasn't Skyrim at E3? They definitely had a media blowout and it looked good. If they put it on the WiiU, like they did with Oblivion on the PS3 later, that would be a pretty big RPG to go with. Also related to the thread: Mass Effect is based on the Unreal 3 engine. That's another other RPG series of recent years. MS has the (publishing?) rights to the first (or something), but a ME collection containing 2 and 3 for the WiiU? Especially after EA pledged their support, that doesn't sound too unlikely. Of course, by the time the WiiU is out, these will be "old" games. Still, there should be enough Nintendo customers who wouldn't mind trying them and haven't had a chance until now.

At the moment it's hard to tell how the WiiU will turn out when it is released in a year and what games it will see during it's lifetime. Still, from the moment the 6'' screen was rumored (those were leaks after all - and big ones!), people here have tried to make sense of it. I'd thought it'd be nice to have a thread so everyone can make up the wildest concepts. So, now that it has been revealed we know about it's shape and capabilities, but what do you think will or should it be used for - alone or in combination with other inputs? Sound off below! Some things to keep in mind: It's seems like the console will only support one of the tablet-controllers (point me to a source, please). It is however possible to use it in combination with all other Wii peripherals. Nintendo is already heavily hinting/suggesting some concepts: One more application Myamoto proposed in the recently published Iwata Asks is using the controller for non-game apllications without turning on the TV. Example: check weight in Wii Fit, without having to fire up the whole TV setup.

Don't mind the people talking in the video. They guy who filmed this and posted it on Neogaf said they were just fooling around. Drunken on E3 excitement, likely. It's a demo btw, not a game.

I would've preferred a new branding and stuff at well. But you should say goodbye to the notion Nintendo will ever attract the "hardcore" market. The reason they are still around is because they are Nintendo. And associated with Nintendo is Mario, Zelda and by now the whole Wii branding. They have nothing of their own to support the "hardcore" market, because that market looks at brands like Halo, CoD, GTA, Assassin's Creed etc.. But when they look at a new Nintendo console that puts exactly these things to the forefront, what do they see? They see a console that does nothing else than what their favorite machines already do. In short: a redundant console. If you're going to really court that market, you have to impress them if you want to sell. How is Nintendo supposed to do that? Putting 3rd parties into the front and center of your platform? Not a good idea. Those people have no loyalty towards Nintendo. They go to the highest bidder / where the most mony can be made. That means: Everywhere! Why mutilate your sales with platform exclusivity? And Nintendo can't simply pull a successful and accepted "hardcore" franchise out of their hat, no more than they can push the technical aspects of their system to the limit while still selling it profitably. Look at the Vita. The price is a steal for a portable PS3 - for a reason! Profitable within three years? Three years of selling Nintendo's console at a loss might do Nintendo in, if things don't go as well. So that rules out technical competition, too. Look at the positives: You are excited. A lot of people got excited for the Wii. Many people are excited by tablets. Nintendo franchises have a huge appeal to all ages. Nobody can say that the Wii audience wouldn't buy large 3rd party "hardcore" franchises with movie-like qualities, because these franchises were just not available on the Wii. Maybe not all is lost. One thing is absolutely important though: Nintendo has to do a better job of communicating, that this is not merely a new controller for the old Wii.

We will hear more about the online during the day if GTTV's interview with Reggie is anything to go by:

Can't really make any truly informed guess about prices for the hardware, but I'm guessing a 300-350€ price point over here. If anything, a reluctant reception will prevent them to slap 50€ on the originally intended price, like they did with the 3DS. As for marketing, one thing should be clear: They're not trying to get back the 'harcode audience. The tablet controller just doesn't scream "ardcore FPS gaming" and all the potential uses in these games will be regarded as gimmicks by the more core-oriented audience. My prediction is that they will once again directly market this to the "expanded" audience. possibly even as a cheap alternative for a tablet with better game support. It shouldn't be difficult, to drive home the point of a tablet that can seamlessly share content with the big living room screen and play Nintendo games to people, who might consider the other tablets because they're hip. It should be even easier, if they undercut the most popular alternative - the iPad - by selling it for about half the price and heavily marketing the social aspect it inherits from the Wii brand. What they will be (they better be!) doing for 3rd parties is trying to make this into a suitable port machine. If they can only get useful ports of big 3rd party titles for two years after launch, this might be enough to establish the console as a perfect bridge machine, that offers Nintendo's world of gaming while it doesn't exclude the outside world. There are of course many ways this could go wrong and end up in a similar spot as the Wii while never enjoying a similar hype.

For the sake of embedding a video which shows off the interactivity of the demo: They should definitely not. There are enough pseudo-realistic games around. :p This is their style and even if it took them years to fully utilize all the shaders and what else they got now to their maximum effect, there is something to be said about Nintendo games looking unique. Even if Nintendo decided to make something comparable to an Uncharted game, they won't get the people drooling over Playstation games to "convert". So what's the point in throwing your game's identity away just to cannibalize a bit on someone else's market and getting rid of some of your own at the same time?

Kind of have to agree with dr4hkon, it doesn't look as fast as the Mario Galaxies and NSMB(W). As I'm not a Mario expert, I won't judge the game by it. There are some details, which strike me as very specific design for showing of the 3D. Looking at the trailer: 0:18 Cardboard cutout enemies; they're identifiable as such, but depending on the angle you're looking at them, they might not be immediately identifiable without 3d on. 0:59 Camera zooms out and reveals: the blocks Mario just traversed are constructed like a mushroom; As they are on different planes, you'll be able to identify which ones are closer or farther away with 3D on. 1:06 Fixed sidescroller camera, but Mario can move along the z-axis, too. He doesn't collide with the boxes, but swims next to them. That's a logical implication from the design, but it's not immediately recognizable before he actually passes the boxes. With 3D on, one would've seen at once, where Mario was in relation to the blocks. Nice details imo. Don't break the game, if you've deactivated 3D or can't see it, but should make for some nice moments with 3D on.

There's reasonable hope it won't be remotely as bad - if the WiiU does outpower the PS360 reasonable enough to render current gen games at 1080p or at least at higher frame rates. There is just no way to tell atm. It might be a naive to go by this, but the only indicator is the Box's size so far and even that is unknown. From the images it looks like a slightly chubby Wii, but there was no way of telling how long it is. It's definitely no current gaming PC.

Next year will certainly be interesting. Then, the WiiU might have to compete with a "XBox720" for attention and maybe even a "PS4". Nintendo will actually have to show off things that they proposed this year, like the video chat, the drawing application, online stuff etc.. And some actual games of their own, of course.

They're still using that effect. You can also observe it in the flying shot on the clouds in the distant.