Borderlands, one of Gearbox’s strongest IPs, has yet to land on the Wii U. What would it take to get the franchise on the new console?
Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford told GamesMaster that Borderlands isn’t on the system since the team has not yet thought of “a natural, obvious, ‘OMG, I want that for what the Wii U brings to the table’ feature.”
“We get asked if there is going to be a Wii U version of Borderlands, and the reason why there’s not is because we couldn’t think of a natural, obvious, ‘OMG, I want that for what the Wii U brings to the table’ feature.”
Contrasting this with Aliens: Colonial Marines, which will release on the Wii U next year, Pitchford said:
“But with Aliens, the first thing we thought was ‘Holy sh*t, I can have a motion controller in my hands!’ When it’s there in my lap it feels like I’m part of the movie.”
Thanks to joclo for the tip.
Atari founder Nolan Bushnell is very skeptical of Wii U. Well, that’s putting it mildly.
Bushnell told the New York Times that he’s “baffled” by the console. He added that he doesn’t believe “it’s going to be a big success.”
He said:
“I actually am baffled by it. I don’t think it’s going to be a big success. These things will continue to sputter along, but I really don’t think they’ll be of major import ever again. It feels like the end of an era to me.”
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed players should be on the lookout for a Wii U patch. Sumo Digital’s Steve Lycett recently confirmed that an update is coming soon. It should fix issues players have been experiencing.
Despite being a developer at heart, Shigeru Miyamoto doesn’t spent most of his time making games. He reads and writes a whole lot of emails and makes phone calls instead.
“Actually, most of my working time is occupied by reading email, making phone calls and returning comments by email… I’m always trying to remind myself that even though something can be done digitally, I need to have face-to-face contact with others.”
Going in a completely different direction, we have a few words from Miyamoto regarding third-party support. Here’s what he had to say about that topic:
“It’s a matter of how seriously they commit themselves. Our mission is to approach developers, and if they’re willing to commit to experiences only available on Nintendo hardware, we are more willing to help. Each developer has his or her own ideas and we really encourage the differences.”
And this post wouldn’t be complete without a bit of a strange story from Miyamoto’s trip to Spain.
Miyamoto ended up getting stuck in a bathroom following a door lock malfunction. He was about to meet two members of the royal family, so to guarantee his prompt arrival, the door was hacked down with a crowbar and he was escorted away by police.
01./01. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf # (Nintendo) {2012.11.08} (¥4.800) – 290.280 / 893.344 (-52%)
02./00. [PS3] Assassin’s Creed III (Ubisoft) {2012.11.15} (¥7.770) – 72.504 / NEW <78,59%>
03./05. [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2 # (Nintendo) {2012.07.28} (¥4.800) – 41.658 / 1.385.212 (+79%)
04./00. [PSP] Summon Night 4 (Bandai Namco Games) {2012.11.15} (¥3.990) – 40.111 / NEW
05./00. [PS3] Medal of Honor: Warfighter (Electronic Arts) {2012.11.15} (¥7.665) – 25.097 / NEW
06./00. [PSV] Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation (Ubisoft) {2012.11.15} (¥6.090) – 24.304 / NEW
07./02. [PS3] Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires (Koei Tecmo) {2012.11.08} (¥6.090) – 14.911 / 85.012 (-79%)
08./00. [PS3] Need for Speed: Most Wanted – A Criterion Game (Electronic Arts) {2012.11.15} (¥7.665) – 13.383 / NEW
09./00. [3DS] Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Best Price!) (Capcom) {2012.11.15} (¥3.800) – 13.236 / NEW
10./04. [PS3] Tales of Xillia 2 # (Bandai Namco Games) {2012.11.01} (¥8.380) – 12.337 / 411.565 (-65%)
11./00. [360] Assassin’s Creed III (Ubisoft) {2012.11.15} (¥7.770) – 9.261 / NEW
12./00. [3DS] Aikatsu! Cinderella Lesson (Bandai Namco Games) {2012.11.15} (¥5.040) – 8.725 / NEW
13./06. [3DS] Bravely Default: Flying Fairy (Square Enix) {2012.10.11} (¥6.090) – 8.624 / 257.884 (-42%)
14./08. [PSP] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2013 (Konami) {2012.11.01} (¥3.980) – 8.454 / 59.176 (-31%)
15./11. [PS3] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2013 (Konami) {2012.10.04} (¥7.980) – 7.492 / 355.985 (-21%)
16./09. [PS3] Okami HD (Capcom) {2012.11.01} (¥3.990) – 7.141 / 86.797 (-35%)
17./13. [3DS] Tousouchuu: Shijou Saikyou no Hunter-Tachi Kara Nigekire! (Bandai Namco Games) {2012.07.05} (¥5.040) – 7.102 / 236.737 (-13%)
18./12. [3DS] Style Savvy: Trendsetters (Nintendo) {2012.09.27} (¥4.800) – 6.696 / 173.113 (-22%)
19./15. [NDS] Pokemon Black 2 / White 2 (Pokemon Co.) {2012.06.23} (¥4.800) – 5.736 / 2.834.685 (-12%)
20./10. [PS3] Yakuza 1 & 2 HD Edition (Sega) {2012.11.01} (¥5.229) – 5.487 / 73.697 (-46%)
Dark Horse Comics is planning a “Limited Collector’s Edition” version of The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia. It includes a special hardcover and gold-gilded pages not included with the normal release.
According to the Amazing product listing:
“The limited edition of Hyrule Historia looks like it could have been pulled off the shelf of one of the sages in Hyrule. The faux-leather hardcover bears the symbol of the Gate of Time, debossed, on the cover, and gold gilded pages. The limited collector’s edition of The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia is perfect for the hardcore The Legend of Zelda™ fan!”
Currently, Amazon is offering The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia Limited Collector’s Edition for $45.73. It’s normally priced at $69.99.
Orders will ship on February 12 – two weeks after the normal release. It also seems as though the Collector’s Edition contains eight fewer pages.
You can view the product listing here.
Below you’ll find a comprehensive listing of download sizes for Wii U games. Retail as well as indie titles are included.
Nano Assault Neo – 81 MB
Chasing Aurora – 103 MB
Little Inferno – 114 MB
Mighty Switch Force! Hyper Drive Edition – 525 MB
Scribblenaust Unlimited – 1378 MB
ESPN Sports Connection – 1645 MB
Game Party Champions – 1719 MB
New Super Marios Bros. U – 1733 MB
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013 – 1913 MB
Trine 2: Director’s Cut – 1941 MB
Nintendo Land – 2852 MB
Madden NFL 13 – 4840 MB
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge – 5443 MB
ZombiU – 5737 MB
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed – 5898 MB
Rabbids Land – 7383 MB
EA Sports FIFA Soccer 13 – 7490 MB
Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two – 7522 MB
Darksiders II – 9574 MB
Sing Party – 12 GB
Just Dance 4 – 15 GB
Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper – 16 GB
Assassins Creed III – 17 GB
Nintendo TVii, a Wii U app that will only be released in North America this year, will be heading to certain European territories in 2013.
Nintendo of Europe’s site reads that it “will be available in selected regions throughout Europe in 2013.” The page also promises additional details which will be shared “in due course.”
Speaking in an interview with CNN, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime proclaimed that “third-party games like Call of Duty look dramatically better on our system.”
Reggie was asked about the specs of Wii U, keeping in mind that Sony and Microsoft will likely release new consoles with higher specs in a year or so. To this, Reggie said: “The specs are quite different from our competitor systems.”
Here’s the response in full:
“Well first off, I have to correct you. The specs are quite different than the competitor systems. Much more graphically intensive. If you do a side-by-side comparison, you would actually see that third-party games like Call of Duty look dramatically better on our system. And then in terms of what competition’s going to do in the future, we’ll see. We know that based on our own development, this two-screen gaming experience really is the next innovation that consumers are gravitating to. It’s selling extremely well here in the Americas. Already stocks are quite low in the marketplace, we’re rapidly replenishing. And so for us, certainly consumers are deciding that the innovation is well worth their investment.”
When it comes to games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops II, an analysis done by Digital Foundry states that the Wii U game “matches the look of the Xbox 360 game and thus gives it an edge visually over the PlayStation 3 release, but unfortunately it comes up well short in terms of performance”. The publication specifically cited a poor frame rate with the Wii U version.
