Wii U Discussion

You may be interested in this. They're charging £249.99 with free delivery for the premium edition. No ZombiU included with this one though.

Oh wow. That is a sweet deal

I don't really order things online much, so excuse the probably stupid question, but can I buy that too even though I'm in America?

[Teapot]

Potentially, but you'd be -far- better off ordering it from the States. We pay a fairly hefty premium over what the Americans and Japanese pay because of taxes and various other reasons.

Monster Hunter confirmed for WiiU with 3DS connectivity.

Buying the WiiU day one.
They know how to get me.

[Doctor Oak]

There have been some gripes with the price elsewhere, so this is a general post aimed at those moreso than what's been said here - but the content is worth a repost.

The problem with the price offers right now is that they aren't going to be what they launch at. For certain. Sure, GAME will stick to selling the premium at the £300 mark, but Tesco et al will begin a race to the bottom that most online retailers will then follow and undercut even further. In reality, it probably will end up at £199/£249 if you are sensible about buying it.

I'm planning on getting the ZombiU Premium bundle, which ShopTo are currently offering at £325. Considering what you get in that, it's pretty good value.

In terms of the price in general, though, it's worth considering that the Gamepad itself is valued by Nintendo at £100 (converted from Yen, so if it were to actually retail here at launch, which it won't, it'd be closer to £150 with taxes and shit). When you consider what you're paying for the rest of the actual console, it's a pretty fair deal - especially in terms of what's inside it. Honestly, you'd find it basically impossible to put together a similarly spec'd PC for £100-£150, let alone have money left over at the end (although Nintendo, of course, are hardly paying consumer rates for the insides).

The 3DS was stupidly overpriced, but I really do feel that the Wii U is closer to the bone for Nintendo. When you take away VAT from the basic bundle cost, that's as near as makes no difference £200. Bear in mind that the cost to the retailer has to be less than that for THEM to make any profit, so whack at least £20 off that again. Between the cost of the controller AND the system, as well as harder to visualise costs such as shipping and marketing, Nintendo can't be making much more than £20-£30 net profit on each sale. There's really not much more room for a price cut, as opposed to the £60+ Nintendo were making on each 3DS originally.

They were able to put the system out here this year (before Japan) and keep at least one version of it below £250. That's pretty good stuff. To claim that it should be cheaper is to basically not be realistic about how this business works. It really doesn't matter how relatively old the components in the Wii U are, a brand new system cannot be compared in costs to one that's been on the market (and gone through several cost-cutting component changes) for over 6 years.

If you want a genuine gripe for the launch, it should be the rather poor game lineup. The 'launch window' up to March is very promising and has more titles on it alone than interest me on basically any other platform for the rest of this year, but unless third parties are going to be releasing games weekly up until Christmas, it's going to be a relatively weak selection available this year. Rayman Legends and ZombiU are basically must-haves, though. Nintendo Land is a good Wii Sports-like freebie (so don't buy it if you get the basic pack, or you may as well just go for the premium anyway) and despite not really caring for the NSMB series, having Mario leading the way on the console's launch is still a very good thing either way.

The real strength of the system will be over the next year, when multi-platform titles will effectively run the best on the Wii U over the 360 and PS3. Things will become less clear after the likely release of a new Xbox at the end of the year, but at the very least it stands to reason that without the limitations of the hardware holding them back, Nintendo themselves should at least be able to put out some really top-quality games again. The Wii U delivers on the promises that the Wii failed to keep, so to me that makes it a worthwhile purchase for the sake of continuing to play some of Nintendo's finest.

Not to say that doesn't change the reality that with Nintendo, every good idea is usually piled on top of with two pretty bad ones, but I'm not even going to be entertaining the thought that I'd stick with the Wii U alone and skip the next Xbox or Playstation, so it's really just more important to me to be able to enjoy the good, while the bad (inevitably going to be centred around networking, I'd say) can likely be ignored with what the others offer.

Dare I say it, the system's even managed to get that little twinkle of Nintendo excitement back for me.

Bayonetta 2 WiiU exclusive.

Oh god this is so crazy.
WiiU already has more interesting exclusives than the PS3 and the 360.
Didnt expect this AT ALL.

I thought that at best it would end up becoming another Gamecube, which I would be ok with, but so far shits great.

[Doctor Oak]

Current pre-order prices as they stand:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012- ... s-cheapest

Basically, Zavvi is looking like a good idea in terms of price, but you may get stung by the delivery speed. ShopTo is one of the more expensive online retailers (though they tend to undercut their competitors closer to launch, so don't count them out of the price wars yet), but I've never had any delivery from them that wasn't either early or delivered the morning after I ordered.

[Linkachu]

I preordered my premium set yesterday but didn't preorder any games with it. I wanted to first know what would be launching with the console, and now I kinda do.

Confirmed for launch day in North America:

Assassin’s Creed III
Darksiders II
Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
ESPN Sports Connection
Game Party Champions
Just Dance 4
New Super Mario Bros. U
Nintendo Land
Rabbids Land
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Sing Party
Tank! Tank! Tank!
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013
ZombiU

These ones are likely to be launch titles but still aren't 100% confirmed to be so:

Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
FIFA Soccer 13
Jett Tailfin (Maximum Games)
Madden NFL 13
Mass Effect 3: Special Edition
Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth
NBA 2K13
Ninja Gaiden III: Razor's Edge
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
Transformers Prim

Looks like, as of now, none of my most wanted games are launch day releases, so I may either stick with Nintendo Land alone for a bit or pick up New Super Mario Bros. U for the hell of it. I want Scribblenauts Unlimited but not at full price, and I'm still undecided on whether I'll buy Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed for Wii U or on 360.

Starting to save now, gonna get it the second they release Monster Hunter here. They might even make a console bundle which would be pretty cool.

Its gonna be amazing. They updated MH3G from japan and added WiiU connectivity. Now you can send your savegame from the 3DS to the WiiU and continue playing.
Basically what we saw with Pokeman stadium only that its the same game 2x.
On the WiiU online play will be enabled.

Its quite obvious that the WiiU doesnt start with too many 3rd party exclusives.
Personally I am also interested in The Wonderful 101, made by Hideki Kamiya. That man knows what the hell is up.
I mean, look at his twitter:

He's what we need and I have yet to see a bad Platinum games game.
Here's a link to the game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XzUct7SpdE
Looks fun as hell.

Welp, I decided to trade in my Wii to get a Wii U although I plan on getting it in January instead November or December. With the Wii U I literally have no reason to keep my Wii anymore. If I ever wanted to play Gamecube games, I can use my actual GameCube.

[Doctor Oak]

Confirmed for launch day in North America:

Assassin’s Creed III
Darksiders II
Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
ESPN Sports Connection
Game Party Champions
Just Dance 4
New Super Mario Bros. U
Nintendo Land
Rabbids Land
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Sing Party
Tank! Tank! Tank!
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013
ZombiU

Of those, all we get in Yerop is NSMBU, Nintendo Land, Rayman and ZombiU... Not really the best start to a console ever. We do also get Mass Effect 3 (though why you'd get it on the Wii U, I have no idea), Call of Duty (yawn) and Fifa 13 (...just, why?), but none of those are wins, really.

Really, really hoping that we get something more out this year. I'll be pretty disappointed if Assassin's Creed III doesn't make it out for the system this year. Also really hoping that Lego City Undercover makes it out sooner rather than later. Looks to be one of the best titles showcased so far.

[Linkachu]

We’ve learned at Tokyo Game Show that if you buy Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on both Wii U and 3DS, you’ll be able to use the same savegame for both versions, taking your progress with you wherever you go. But how exactly will that work?

Series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto explained to IGN today that you’ll have to download a small, separate app for 3DS in order to make the transfer. You’ll just have to launch the app and press a button – it all happens wirelessly, you don’t need an Internet connection, and it doesn’t take long. “You can think of it as just one save data that both systems are sharing,” he said.

I'm not a Monster Hunter fan but I'm liking this news about effortlessly sharing game files between the 3DS and Wii U versions. I figured that such a feature would be unique to Vita this generation. I'd be surprised if the next Smash Bros. game doesn't take advantage of this, but what else first party could? Not referring to the usual Pokemon handheld-to-console connectivity.

Animal Crossing could if it was put on the Wii U as the transfer option was available from DS to Wii. Possibly Skylanders: Giants. I can't really think of anything else

[Doctor Oak]

There's really not anything that could have stopped this happening with Wii and DS games, either, to be honest. The fact is that this doesn't really do much for the gamer - so what's the point?

A) Most handheld versions of console games will be nothing like the console version because they can't be replicated on a handheld the same way.

B) If they were the same, why, exactly, would you own the game twice? Sure, this save swapping thing would be a good further incentive - but I don't really see many games where I'd want to buy the same game twice, at full price, just to be able to play it on two different formats. Monster Hunter is certainly right at the bottom of any such list.

C) If the game is basically the same on both, by the rule of point A, the console version really can't be pushing the console to its full potential and you've effectively got a poorer game for it.

If there was any real reason for this to be a frequent thing, I'd understand its general appeal - but in almost all cases, it's a worthless or really bad idea.

It's slightly different for Vita/PS3 games because the Vita is capable of much more... but it's still not worth buying the game twice. At least the Vita/PS3 connection has the potential for you to be playing your own actual PS3 games on your Vita, without buying a separate new copy.

MH3GU IS the same game on the WiiU.
Major difference is that the WiiU version looks better and that it features an online mode, while the 3DS version just does local co-op.
Thats a big deal.

Definitely grabbing both games simply because it offers so much content. Its at least 400 hours on your first playthrough with potential for more.
Having it on the run is a nice thing. Nothing better than being able to do your farm work on the train and then hunting the big stuff at home.
Its definitely worth it for a game of that caliber.
Personally I dont like to play games on my handheld when I'm at home. I want to be able to play them on the big screen.
On my modded PSP I used a very nice homebrew app that allowed me to stream the picture to my PC monitor and allowed me to connect my ps3 gamepad. It didnt look good, but it got the job done.

A game never needs to push the hardware to be considered good. Its devs that think that that are slowly ruining videogames.
A connection feature like this is good for all the games that arent crappy 4 hour campaign ripoffs. Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, many RPGs and potential MMORPGs could work very well with such a connectivity system.

I really miss the super gameboy.

What could also work is games that are connected but not the exact same thing. Something like Project Dust and EVE come to mind.
Also obviously the already existing Pokeman games. Final Fantasy 8 had this Chocobo minigame for the pocket station. Play minigame on the portable, unlock items, send them to your main game.
Its definitely not a new concept but its one that got neglected way too hard.

Also, a picture I made to describe the current situation:
http://www.abload.de/img/nintendo01enl.jpg

Some new insight of how the 3DS/WiiU connectivity can work:
http://mynintendonews.com/2012/09/25/ca ... -together/
Basically Nintendo does all that the PS3/Vita connectivity promoted (something that started with the PS3/psp and somehow failed) as their main feature as a small update on the side.
Bring your savegame to somebody and then play multiplayer Splitscreen while actually keeping the rewards from your hunts.
Hopefully this kind of thing will spread to more games. Maybe enable us another Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.

Also: Dragon Quest X customization and gamplay
http://www.ign.com/videos/2012/06/22/dr ... ct-trailer

[Linkachu]

A heads up for anyone who was planning to buy Rayman Legends at Wii U launch or for the holiday season: it's been delayed until first quarter 2013.

They claim it was delayed in order to perfect the game but I'm thinking that New Super Mario Bros. U releasing at the same time was more to blame. At least now I won't have to debate over which to play during my holiday break...

[Linkachu]

I think I recall reading this several weeks ago, but the Wii U Pro controller apparently has "a rechargeable battery that can last up to 80 hours on a single charge". That's pretty hefty. Just keep in mind that the Pro controller will not work with Wii games.

Other than that, I ran into an interesting pic on IGN today. It's a third party controller but it looks kinda cool. Would any of you buy one of these?

[Linkachu]

Here's an English subtitled video from the latest Japanese Nintendo Direct stream speaking about Wii U console accounts and the new Nintendo Network ID service. I wish Iwata had gone into more detail regarding the IDs but I'll take whatever I can get. Wii U's release date is so close for North America now...

Speaking of which, does anyone know where I can find a fully translated version of the latest Japanese Nintendo Direct? If so, please share! Thanks.

[Magpie]

I must admit... it's starting to break me. I've barely even given the Wii U a second thought and I never even had a Wii. Pikmin 3 is seriously tempting me though, and obviously they'll hopefully be a Pokemon game of some sort. Skylanders Giants is calling to me too (the starter pack has a Gryphon-like dude with a gun!). Maybe... just maybe I'm starting to be tempted into buying a Wii U. Maybe.

[Linkachu]

There's about a hundred things Nintendo dropped the ball on regarding Wii U's launch, and yet... I can't help but enjoy the thing. I'd recommend that most consumers wait on buying it until there's more gaming software available (aka. don't buy it on a whim) but otherwise the GamePad and features like Miiverse are very charming. It's also nice, for once, to have a gaming console with an internet browser that's actually usable. ;p