Last night, I set mine up and hit “cancel” at the first mention of the update. We played Nintendoland for a while and then I went to update it. To my surprise, it skipped downloading and simply started installing it. It took less than 15 minutes.”

Others in the comments went on to confirm this, and I can confirm that the Wii U will download other, game-specific updates in the background. If you’re worried about the hour-long update taking a while, you may be able to let out a sigh of relief yet!

Via Reddit

Simon Kemp takes over as NoE general manager

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

David Yarnton has finally been replaced (nooooo!) and Nintendo of Europe has a new general manager: Simon Kemp. Kemp does not come from a background of gaming companies, but instead worked in television and business marketing departments. Even still, he has the “Nintendo is the best” chit chat style down already:

“I’m extremely excited to be joining Nintendo UK at such a pivotal moment. With the launch of Wii U Nintendo is once again changing the way everyone will play games at home, it’s a fantastic time to be here. Nintendo UK also has an extremely talented team in place already and I am very much looking forward to leading & working with each and every one of them.” – Nintendo of Europe general manager Simon Kemp

I wonder how soon after they’re hired Nintendo teaches their employees the “changing the way everyone will play games” line…

Via CVG

What determines Mii pants-color on Wii U?

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

On Wii, there were several different ways you could change the color of a Mii’s pants. Favoriting a Mii gave it red pants, sending it to another Wii gave it blue, and not doing anything at all gave them grey pants. Slightly confusing, but mostly pretty straightforward! Here’s how the pants color system works on Wii U:

Red Pants
– Your user Mii wears red pants/gold crown icon
– Other users’ Miis wear red pants/bronze crown icon
– Regular favorited Miis wear red pants/red crown icon
Gray Pants
– All Mii characters initially wear red pants
Blue Pants
– Like on Wii, if you receive a Mii from another system it wears blue pants
Yellow Pants
– Special Miis (distributed by Nintendo) wear yellow pants

Sure is a “Nintendo-y” way of doing pants colors!

Via Kotaku

Anonymous dev: Wii U is still clunky, “fighting us every step of the way”

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Wii U | 0 comments

Developers certainly know a thing or two more about systems than we do, so when an anonymous source goes to Eurogamer and says that it’s tough to develop for Nintendo’s latest home system, there might be a bit of a problem! No word on who the dev is, but they said that the ‘toolchain’ (the system of tools for developing) on Wii U was fighting them “every step of the way”.

Again, this is an anonymous source who’s working on that ‘key AAA franchise’ we’ve talked about in the past, but it’s unclear if more developers are hitting similar walls. So far we haven’t heard much!

Via NeoGaf

Michel Ancel – We’re focused on Rayman, but ‘Beyond Good and Evil’ would work well on Wii U

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

“You’re right when you say that both the Wii U and Beyond Good And Evil fit very well, but for now I am only focused on Rayman Legends. That’s [also] why I believe in an incredible Zelda game, the GamePad and classic control fit very well with such action-adventure games.” – Ubisoft’s Michel Ancel

This isn’t confirmation at all, but I’m glad to hear it! Also, it sounds like the response was somewhat prompted by the reviewer in order to get him to mention BG&E with Wii U. This doesn’t mean it’s just a passing phrase, but it also doesn’t lend a lot to the certainty that the game will make it to Nintendo’s new console! Fingers crossed anyhow.

Via ONM