“I think the challenge is to get people to understand what it is that the GamePad brings to gaming. They did this sort of infomercial-type ad [in the U.K.] that says ‘it does this and it does this!’ I really think that just shows you they’re trying to find ways to show people before they actually get their hands on the thing. I think they had the same problem with the Wii. Innovation like that is very hard to grasp as a consumer, until you actually see it, because it’s not something you’re asking for necessarily. You’re not going to ‘get it’ from a trailer.” – Ubisoft Senior Vice President of Sales, Tony Key
I don’t think anyone should be TOO worried about the Wii U not being adopted by consumers. Pretty much everyone is sold out of preorders and Gamestop has a wait list of 250,000 or more! And that’s just in the U.S.!
He continued,
“The Wii was a huge breakthrough for gaming because it more or less heralded in the era of motion control. Since then, Kinect has been successful and you’ve got the Sony [PlayStation] Move. It created a new genre of gaming and brought in a ton of new consumers. With the Wii U — there are critics. No, it’s not heralding a new era of motion control, but it is heralding in a new era of two-screen gaming.”
Speaking about their upcoming game Aliens: Colonial Marines, Gearbox Software President Randy Pitchford had quite a few nice things to say about the Wii U gamepad…
“This is the best controller Nintendo’s ever made for making an FPS. This is the best controller Nintendo has ever given us for playing hardcore games. [It’s] perfect for Aliens.”
He went on to talk about how the Wii U is “similar” to Xbox’s SmartGlass and the Playstation 3 connection to Vita, but also how Nintendo committed much more thoroughly on the promise of asymmetrical gameplay…
“With the Wii U they committed themselves to this promise. So the link is direct, fast and immediate. Things like SmartGlass and Vita, they appreciate the value of the promise so they’re making the promise. But they’re not in with such commitment.”
We’ve been confused about three times now with Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed’s release date. Thankfully, SEGA has once and for all confirmed that the December 11 date listed on Amazon is incorrect. It should be out on November 18 – the game’s original release date.
“The amazon.com dates are not correct and we’re working to fix them. The console versions (360, PS3, and Wii U) are all being released on November 18th.”
