Finally. On September 13th, the public was enlightened with Nintendo’s plans for launching their new console, Wii U. Now that a week has passed, I've been in many discussions with peers about the console in addition to wear out the spectacle of an news event. Doing commentary this late also lets me comment after developers or publishers break their silence with their plans, allowing a more educated opinion. From date to price to any new announcements, everything that was announced was announced for very important reasons so here’s the breakdown on why.
Date: Reggie didn’t hesitate to announce the date and price.
November 18th was the safest guess around the Internet and that
guess was absolutely correct. This date allows Nintendo to produce as many
consoles as possible until the last minute: the week of Black Friday while
allowing the longest amount of times for developers to finish their games.
Price: While everyone guessed that the console would be
about $250-300, I didn’t expect 2 different SKUs. It’s a very un-Nintendo decision
and, in fact, it’s a move from Microsoft’s playbook. Release a console at a
respectable price, but parallel a much more irresistible package for a higher
cost. It’s a move that absolutely works - allow the core to pay more for their
better package and the casual to pay less (mainly for the holidays), and buy
software/accessories later. Props for Nintendo for being ballsy to have both
SKUs include only HDMI cables since it’s going to make people know that this is
a high-def Nintendo console. Plus many people have Wiis, which their composite
and component cables work for Wii U if needed.
I personally believe the Wii U Deluxe’s $350 price is a
decent introductory price with what you get, though the Basic $300 bundle seems
thin of content when an extra fifty bucks nets you much more (which I guess is
the point). The many who disagree with the price should check out Wii U bids on
eBay this December and understand why Nintendo might have asked for a little bit
more than you wanted.
Nintendoland: Many people who have been previewing Nintendoland
say that Nintendo’s terrible E3 2012 conference didn’t do the game justice.
With the recent inclusion of a supped up version on E3 2011’s Battle Mii,
renamed Metroid Blast, they might be right. I’m just shocked that the Wii never
really got more third-person shooters after Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition with
its sublime IR controls, and here we have a great example of the Wii’s control
scheme in top-notch form… five years later for Wii U’s launch.
New Super Mario Bros. U: I have previously stated my
opinions on the New Super Mario Bros. series, and this one’s a buy strictly on
its co-op along with Rayman Legends. They decided to “hardcore” it up a bit
with the option for harder, autoscrolling levels and a mission mode that is
guaranteed to frustrate me sooner or later. While I might be a fan of the
concepts, I feel that Nintendo just wanted to make people happy with the
smallest amount of added code as possible. I just hope the final version does
two things:
1)
Allow the players to not forcibly use the
GamePad’s asymmetrical gameplay and allow the group to just co-op it ala the
Wii Remote players. Forcing it when there are only two players would kill one
player’s part of playing through the level (this isn’t Mario Galaxy 2).
2)
Have a diverse artstyle. Seeing the level that
look like Van Gogh’s Starry Night made me extremely happy, and I hope each
world contains some fun looking stages.
Lego City Undercover: This is ironically one of my most
anticipated titles, but the lack of new info scares me. It’s looking like a
Lego Grand Theft Auto and if it ends up being one, well then awesome! Most of
the footage was from the E3 trailer in June and knowing Nintendo, a lack of new
gameplay coverage after this long is never good. Telltale has a good history of
these Lego games, but I’m also expecting a break from the normal beat-‘em-up
that they seem to only do with this license.
Nintendo TVii: While I don’t judge a video game console on
non-gaming entertainment, it’s always a nice addition. With Nintendo TVii, the
more I discuss it with others, the more I really like the idea of it, minus its
spelling. I already knew that the Wii U was replacing my Xbox 360 as my Netflix
box due to Microsoft’s explicit hatred towards making a proper user interface,
but I didn’t know that Nintendo, or shall I say their partner i.tv, was planning
to streamline streaming. Searching via the show name and deciding what you want
to view it with is pretty neat, and using the Gamepad as your TV remote in
addition to your TVii remote make it a one-stop device for everything. That is
a real difference maker in terms of console streaming.
There are two problems with Nintendo TVii’s ideology, the
first being the cost of admission to use it 100%. Nintendo’s stage demo had the
console equipped with a subscription of all the services: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon
Prime and TiVo. While one isn’t really expensive, all four (plus your cable)
makes this a service that’ll never get the treatment I’m seeing onstage in my
house. The second issue is while Nintendo stated that most cable/dish providers
will be onboard with Nintendo TVii, we don’t know which cable providers take
advantage of it. Unfortunately, my town’s cable provider is Charter, which is
low in popularity, quality, and value while being my only option.
Bayonetta 2: This was the biggest game-related news from the
conference. Not only does Nintendo get the sequel of a highly rated game that
wasn’t on their console, like Batman or Mass Effect, but also that they’re
publishing it. This is the first game that might make an Xbox or PlayStation
owner buy a Wii U, and that’s what makes this the biggest deal game-wise.
Though with Sega’s financial troubles, I bet they couldn’t/wouldn’t even want
to fund a sequel of a niche game like Bayonetta. Also, according to Platinum
Games’ CEO Tetsuya Minami, it seems Nintendo approached Platinum for a new
installment.
Despite the criticisms they’re receiving about the game
being Wii U exclusive, it was a good move on Platinum to team with Nintendo
since they’re much stronger than Sega to fund and possibly propel the IP. I also
doubt Sega (who owns the IP) would allow any other third party to continue
Bayonetta without them and in contrast, no other publisher would want to
continue Sega’s IP when they can just make their own and profit without a
middleman. It’s sad to see Platinum get so much gruff about this since if Sony
or Microsoft cared, they could have done what Nintendo’s doing years ago - but
didn’t.
The Wonderful 101: The new name of Project P-100, Nintendo
and Platinum’s other title unveiled at E3. Other than its new name, nothing
else is really known about this stylish action/strategy game from when we saw
it at E3.
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate: Another shocker. Monster Hunter
is like Japan’s Call of Duty, it’s a consistent seller and more importantly, it
sells systems. For it to launch with Wii U, bundled with the hardware no less,
assures a quick system seller Japan. While it’s only being a remake of 2010’s Monster
Hunter 3 on Wii, it still brings the franchise to HD consoles for the first
time in the West. Monster Hunter 3 is a very online-heavy game and since
Nintendo still needs to prove that they know that the Internet exists, it might
be a good example of how the Nintendo Network holds up to a game of this
caliber.
They also confirmed a 3DS version to simultaneously launch
with the Wii U version with save transferring between the two, which shows off
the tech the next Smash Bros will use very early in the console’s life.
Activision: Though anyone that owns a 360 or PS3 might not
think much that 007 Legends, Skylanders and Call of Duty are hitting Wii U,
these announcements are prove that Activision, the number one third-party
publisher, isn’t handling the Wii U with old ports or selectively deciding if a
multiplatform title deserves a Wii U version. Activision is treating Nintendo’s
HD console the same as the Xbox and PlayStation. That’s not something that EA,
2K even Ubisoft (who is supposedly showing the most support) are doing.
While nothing groundbreaking happened with Activision, their
Call of Duty demo was neat. Treyarch is handling a new way to play couch
multiplayer without splitscreen by allowing the Gamepad user to have his or her
own display via the touchscreen while another player is playing off the TV on a
Pro controller. As a guy to does a lot of splitscreen co-op, seeing a demo like
that makes me beg for a Wii U version of games like Borderlands, Resident Evil
6 or Earth Defense Force with this functionality.
Nintendo’s September conference was more assuring than any
other previous showing of the console, which is great because the news brought forward is make or break for Wii U. They nailed a strong launch lineup
filled of first and third parties, got a decent price to open the console with
and a safe date to ready both hardware and software. It really seems Nintendo
really learned their lesson from past launches, 3DS’ most of all, with no
worries about launch or launch window content or asking supposed no-brainers
like if the Nintendo Network will be up day one (though ARE still asking how
good it’s gonna be). Let’s hope this is a start of a great generation.
