THQ doesn’t consider the Wii U to be a kiddy platform
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
The Wii always had an uphill battle going for it since gamers and publishers alike considered the console to be more “kiddy” compared to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Fortunately, the situation is much different this time around. Third-parties are preparing high-quality, mature, blockbuster releases in its first year on the market.
One such company providing support is THQ, who is looking to ship Darksiders II for launch. Danny Bilson explained why the company is confident that they can have success with a mature title on the system day one:
“If you look historically, there were a couple of games that were there at launch that did really well on the Wii… Red Steel for instance. But I don’t look at it as a kiddie platform. I look at it as a platform for everybody, and it has the power for everybody. So there’s going to be a lot of core games from other companies as well as us on there, and I think the gamer’s going to go for the best experience, wherever it is. Ultimately, the hardware is a small investment compared to what [gamers] spend on software. If you buy 10 games, that’s $600, and a platform? I don’t know what their price point is, but it’s a smaller investment [than the software]. I have no concern at all that core people are going to say [derisively], “Oh, it’s Nintendo.” Core gamers love Zelda. They love Mario. It’s all part of whatever a great game is.”
Wii U: Your thoughts
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Features, Wii U | 22 Comments
It’s finally done. After months of speculation, Nintendo has unveiled their brand new home console. A good amount of the rumors were surprisingly spot on. The controller does indeed have a 6.2 inch screen, which is a touch sensitive, and it includes a camera as well.
Since a few days have passed since Nintendo’s E3 2011 conference, perhaps it’d be a good time to reflect on the Wii U’s showing. I’ll share my thoughts below and hopefully you guys will as well in the comments area!
Tons of Reggie news – keeping controller costs low, third-party importance, “robust” online, much more
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii, Wii U | 1 Comment
Reggie Fils-Aime on the reaction to Wii U…
“Reaction has been very positive, not only to the journalist side. We have spent time with the analysts, the publishers. I make it a point whenever I have a break just to walk the floor and the reaction is extremely strong [among the show attendees]. People are excited, people are waiting to get their hands on it, people are getting into line twice and that’s true whether it’s for Wii U or for Nintendo 3DS as we have had lines back up. So the reaction has been very strong.”
Reggie on how the design thinking evolved/what Nintendo wanted to do with the next console…
Sakurai: Capcom character could appear in next Smash Bros.
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 16 Comments
This information comes from Masahiro Sakurai…
“I can’t say that it’s entirely out of the realm of possibility that some Capcom character could appear in the next Smash Bros. The big problem, though, comes from the idea of trying to get characters from a completely different universe to fit with the style that has been dictated by Nintendo’s characters in a fighting game. In fact, I actually think it’s a miracle that we got Smash Bros. and all the Nintendo characters to work together in the first place. Especially when you bring Pokemon into the mix and a lot of the complications that are caused by that being an almost completely different entity on its own, it’s really something. So this is something that obviously will come up more as we get started on the new Smash Bros. development, but keeping those things in mind I think is important.”
It’ll be very interesting to see how many third-party characters show up in the next Smash Bros. games. Right now, we don’t even know if Snake and Sonic will be returning!
That One Roundtable – E3 2011 Day Three Full Overview
Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, DS, Features, Wii, Wii U | 0 comments
Man, am I exhausted! I slept through all three of my alarms this morning, and I’ve just been feeling totally out of energy all day. I guess E3 does that to you! Anyway, we’ve got our final podcast installment for E3 done and up for everyone to listen to. It goes over our time with the Wii U, my meeting with Majesco, some Mutant Mudds talk, and various other things. As always, post questions and we’ll get to em next podcast!
Up close and personal with the Wii U hardware
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 2 Comments
Nintendo has received some negative feedback for basically hiding the Wii U console at E3. That’s because practically their entire E3 presentation focused on the system’s new controller, leading some folks to believe that Nintendo was simply creating a new peripheral for the Wii!
Obviously that isn’t true and pretty much everyone understands that now. But if you have any doubt, perhaps the shots of the Wii U hardware above will convince you!
Nintendo E3 2011 booth shots, game photos, Wii U images
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii, Wii U | 0 comments
SEGA talks Aliens: Colonial Marines, upcoming Wii support
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii, Wii U | 0 comments
This information comes from SEGA’s executive vice president of marketing Alan Pritchard…
“Aliens: Colonial Marines for the Wii U was part of Nintendo’s briefing, so that was great. And Sega and Gearbox have been fortunate enough to be involved with Nintendo from the start. It was a prototype, but we do have it playing on the [Wii U] dev kit. We need to know more about the exact launch timing [of the Wii U] and if it is something that will work for our Aliens franchise. Is it something that is going to be simultaneous? To be up there with the other first- and third-party tech demos…it’s good that we’re part of that thinking for the platform.
It was interesting that Nintendo didn’t really talk about the Wii [during its briefing], which is obviously a platform that is still important for most third-party publishers.
We have some big titles [for the Wii]. Mario & Sonic is a semi-first-party game so that’s going to be important for us this year. We do have some Wii games left in development, and we do have some Wii product in our product road map. We do have some future stuff. How the Wii lands compared to PS2…I don’t think we know though about that yet. They have potential future price drops up their sleeve. But it does need new content, as well as a catalog to drive the new hardware through. Obviously, it’s going to be big for this Christmas, and I think the Wii will be a very viable platform through next Christmas.”
Nintendo’s Scibetta talks Wii U and 3DS
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Videos, Wii U | 0 comments
No Sonic Generations for Wii U… console due out in spring/summer 2012?
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 6 Comments
Sonic Generations isn’t coming to Wii because the system can’t deliver HD graphics. However, things are obviously different with Wii U. Does that mean that the game will see a release on the console? Short answer: no.
The title is due out later this year, whereas the Wii U is at least a year away from launch. Some publishers are willing to create a separate Wii U version of multiplatform games coming late 2011 such as Warner Bros. with Batman: Arkham City. SEGA, however, does not think that strategy is reasonable.
SEGA’s executive vice president of marketing Alan Pritchard said in a recent interview:
“The timing just doesn’t work. Generations releases this November, and the Wii U is coming out next spring/summer. I think one of the things we don’t have to do, or reduce where possible, is we don’t want to port games. I think if there’s going to be a Sonic game for the Wii U, it needs to be built from the ground up. It’s more likely that it would be a separate stand-alone installment or in conjunction with a multiplatform release in the future. But to bring out Generations on a platform six or eight months after we release PS3, 360, and 3DS probably won’t be the best strategy.”
The other interesting quote from the comments above is that Pritchard indicated Wii U will launch in spring/summer of 2012. Nintendo hasn’t said anything officially about a release date other than the fact that it could ship anytime between April 1 and December 31. A few days before the console was announced, Japanese publication Nikkei said that it could make it to store in mid-2012.
