Just In Time for the Holidays, Nintendo Wii U Gets Its US Release 174
YokimaSun writes "Nintendo has today fired the first salvo in the next-gen console wars with the U.S. release of their Wii U console, which is massively more powerful than the Nintendo Wii and also the PS3/Xbox 360 (so they claim). Yet again Nintendo has done a world first and released a gamepad which is also a tablet and should provide us with games that stretch the boundaries even more. Wii games are compatible with the console, as is the Wii remote. The Wii U comes in 2 SKUs: a 32GB Deluxe package, and an 8GB Basics pack. The games lineup is a strong one, with games such as New Super Mario Bros U, Arkham City Armoured Edition, Assassins Creed 3, Call of Duty Black Ops 2, Sonic AllStars Racing, Nintendo Land, Tank Tank Tank, ScribbleNauts Unlimited, Epic Mickey 2 The Power of Two, ESPN Sports Connection, DarkSiders 2, Rabbids Land, Mass Effect 3, Ninja Gaiden 3 Razors Edge, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Wipeout 3 and Just Dance 4 all available on launch day."
Just in time for the holidays. (Score:2, Insightful)
Are you implying it a coincidence? It was certainly targeted at the holidays.
I hope it does well (Score:5, Insightful)
And yes, I do still play my original Wii. I even bought a new game for it this week.
Re:Last hurrah (Score:2, Insightful)
They're already making money hand over fist.
Re:SEGA: Been There, Done That (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes, but that equated to going from stunning graphics on the tv to the equivalent of a Tiger LCD handheld. Not exactly an apples to apples comparison.
Re:Still!? Really!? (Score:3, Insightful)
Wii is barely a current gen console. It's a gamecube with a motion controller and white case.
Re:Last hurrah (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't think people understand how Nintendo makes their money. There is a reason you can't get Mario for the PS3 and it's not so Nintendo can sell you hardware with no margins. It's because, if you can only get Mario on Nintendo hardware, you might just buy other games for Nintendo hardware. Nintendo gets a cut of those sales through licensing.
I'd love for Nintendo to get out of the console business. I can't believe they are still doing this stupid "SD card expansion" BS with the Wii-U. I'd love to see "PlayStation Move by Nintendo" or rock an HD remake of the classic Zelda on PS3.
But that's a pipe dream, because Nintendo isn't in any danger of collapse unless the Wii-U literally does as bad as the Dreamcast (it can't possibly!) and Nintendo can't fix it before they run out of money. I just don't see that happening.
I'm still not coinvinced... (Score:1, Insightful)
...that this platform will be any different from previous Nintendo platforms--a new design full of promise only to become primarily a target for kiddie games and crap shovelware. It's nice that the WiiU has some real games available at launch, but so did the Wii. That phenomenon didn't last very long. Real software shops pulled out of the Nintendo market quicker than [insert humorous NSFW analogy here]. I wouldn't trust them to stick around with the WiiU, either. After all, it's Nintendo--a company that simply refuses to let go of its, "Super Mario plus other cartoony games," forumula. Why would any other software shop take their platform seriously when Nintendo itself does not.
Re:Just in time for the holidays. (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm trying to determine how anyone could read that as implying coincidence.
Re:I'm still not coinvinced... (Score:5, Insightful)
After all, it's Nintendo--a company that simply refuses to let go of its, "Super Mario plus other cartoony games," forumula. Why would any other software shop take their platform seriously when Nintendo itself does not.
They're not going to just let go of Mario. That's the best selling video game franchise in the world.
Hundreds of millions of sales sounds pretty serious to me.
Re:Still!? Really!? (Score:5, Insightful)
Consoles don't get worse over time. There are games for the PS2 that you haven't yet played that are better than most anything on the 360.
Mario - not that great (Score:3, Insightful)
My son had a Wii so I downloaded Mario 64 to see what all the fuss was about as I remembered that being a landmark game and frankly, really couldn't see why people thought it was so great. Maybe you just had to be there at the time.
Re:Universal Remote (Score:5, Insightful)
Just bite the bullet and get a Harmony One or (if you need to control devices outside line-of-site) the Harmony 900.
I have two (for different media centers) and bought my dad one as well. Haven't had to reprogram any of them since the initial installation more than a year ago.
You don't appreciate physical buttons on your remote until you lose them all.
Wow look at the prices on those things. $199 for the Harmony One, and $349 for the Harmony 900. Those are new console prices for controllers with less features than new console controllers. I wonder if Logitech is hobbling its IPad and Android apps on purpose. So it can keep selling these overpriced pieces of plastic.
Consoles get worse over time (Score:4, Insightful)
Consoles don't get worse over time.
Any user of Other OS Installer for PlayStation 3 would like a word with you. So would anyone who can't play online with strangers due to DNAS -103 errors or the termination of Xbox Live service for original Xbox games.