Isn’t it refreshing to hear positive comments from third-parties about Wii U? EA in particular has been very supportive of the console, even showing up at Nintendo’s E3 2011 briefing to discuss the possibilities of producing Battlefield and other titles for the console. EA’s Frank Gibeau was once again asked about Wii U and you can hear about what he told GamesIndustry below.

Q: John Riccitiello was on stage at Nintendo’s E3 conference earlier this month, the first time he’s been on stage with the company before. EA is obviously betting big on the Wii U.
Frank Gibeau: We were really blown away by the unique innovation that Nintendo brings with the Wii U controller on a high performance machine. The ability to do HD graphics and access game experiences in a completely novel way and a way that’s never been seen before, it really struck our fancy. We were excited by what Nintendo presented to us, we thought about it and it fits well with what we’re trying to do with our franchises like FIFA and Madden and Battlefield. There’s great horsepower there, great innovation and Nintendo’s got fantastic branding. We’re platform agnostic as a company so if we find something we believe will have success commercially and critically, and has a business model that works for us, we’re in.

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PSP – 29,168
3DS – 27,905
PS3 – 16,993
Wii – 9,511
DSi LL – 4,903
DSi – 4,503
Xbox 360 – 2,152
PS2 – 1,332
DS Lite – 134
PSP go – 21

For comparison’s sake, here are the hardware numbers from last week.

3DS – 40,649
PSP – 31,741
PS3 – 16,081
Wii – 6,678
DSi LL – 5,464
DSi – 5,322
Xbox 360 – 2,875
PS2 – 1,346
DS Lite – 109
PSP go – 55

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword producer Eiji Aonuma has shared a ton of information about his upcoming game with Famitsu. Aonuma was asked about elements such as Zelda’s role, whether or not Ganon will show up, and much more. Believe me, if you’re a Zelda fan, you’ll want to check out the details below. But be warned that there might be a few spoilers here and there…

“She’s not a princess this time, which is something I’ll pretty much have to put forth right now in order to talk about this title. She’s a childhood friend, but she goes away in the midst of the game and it’s Link’s job to search for her.”

“This game’s plot is something like a school drama, you could say. The flying sequence at the E3 demo is Link competing against his classmates. One of them looks kind of a like a bad guy, as you saw, and he shows up in other ways in the game too, since he has a major thing for Zelda.”

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In Japan earlier today, Nintendo hosted a meeting for shareholders. Satoru Iwata answered a slew of questions about Wii U at the event, among other topics. For the important information from Iwata, read on below.

– Nintendo is releasing text book software through DS, has been well received, but many are against bringing game systems into classrooms
– Brain Age changed some minds about the above
– Earnings for board members dropped as did the lowered company earnings
– Iwata was the only person to make over 100 million yen (137 million yen)
– Six directors topped the 100 million yen mark
– Iwata’s earnings dropped 50 million yen from last year
– Wii U received great reactions from those in L.A.
– Iwata said a majority of overseas media offered congratulations to him
– Reaction for Wii U differed greatly between those who covered the product at the show and those who just covered it online
– Nintendo needs to consider how to convey the value of the product
– Nintendo hoping that low software output for Wii U launch won’t be an issue, unlike the 3DS’ situation
– Is Nintendo’s HD development ability okay? Iwata: Regarding Zelda HD, Japanese developers said that it could not be replicated on other machines. It was made in a relatively short period, so Iwata feels that HD development will not be a problem.
– Iwata said Wii wasn’t accepted by the core since they didn’t want to abandon their preferred control approach and it didn’t offer HD
– Wii didn’t have HD since HD const performance at the time was low
– Wii U makes it easier to use conventional controls
– Wii U controller not as big/heavy as it looks
– 3DS can technically be used as a Wii U controller
– You can’t go online if you use 3DS as a Wii U controller (unclear if this is for Wii U or 3DS)
– Iwata explained that if you connect Wii U and 3DS, then players have to purchase both systems

Thanks to Thomas N for the tip!

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1. [PS3] Meruru no Atelier: Arland no Renkinjutsushi 3
2. [PSP] Steins;Gate
3. [PSP] Gundam Memories: Tatakai no Kioku
4. [3DS] The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
5. [PSP] The Little Battlers
6. [DS] Tennis no Oji-Sama Gyutto! Dokidoki Survival Umi to Yama no Love Passion
7. [PS3] Bleach Soul Ignition
8. [PS3] Yakuza of the End
9. [Wii] Wii Sports Resort
10. [PSP] Gloria Union

Yes, I’m still loving the style of this game. Hopefully the gameplay will also be up to snuff!

Admittedly, the 3DS eShop is a bit of a pain in that you have to manually download certain trailers to the system’s menu. So for E3, Nintendo published a bunch of different trailers including Luigi’s Mansion 2, Mario Kart 3D, and Super Mario 3D, but you have to download them all one by one.

Still, it’s better than not having them at all. For some reason though, Nintendo will only be keeping the trailers on the shop until July 7. That’s a pretty silly idea, if you ask me! Why not just keep them on there?

Thanks to Jake for the tip!

Anyone decide to purchase this game today? It’s getting some mixed reviews, though it sounds like it still has some enjoyable content.

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