A few details about Aliens: Colonial Marines on the Wii U

Aliens: Colonial Marines was one of the first games announced for the Wii U and Kotaku has shared a few details.

The entire game will be playable via controller’s touchscreen. So, if someone is watching the television, it doesn’t really matter. You’ll be able to continue slaughtering aliens. But, if you have access to the television there’s a bunch of other cool things you can do.

If you’re familiar with the Alien movies, you’ll be familiar with the motion tracker that allows the soldiers to detect enemies and allies. Your Wii U controller can become one of those. You can physically move the controller and your enemies and allies will pop up on the touchscreen as little blips based on the direction of the controller.

For example, if there’s an alien to your right, the motion tracker will only detect them if you point the controller to your right, which I think sounds pretty awesome, as long as it doesn’t break up the gameplay too much.

There’s also a fully interactive map you’ll be able to use and a mini-game that allows you to “hack” doors to open them via the touchscreen.

I didn’t think much of Aliens: Colonial Marines when I saw the game was announced for the Wii U, but these are some creative ideas that could actually be very neat.

Source: Wii U Blog by David Turnbull

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The Wii U is coming out in Spring or Summer, says SEGA

Alan Pritchard has confirmed that Sonic Generations will not be on the Wii U, explaining that “the timing just doesn’t work.” But at the same time, he’s narrowed down the release window, sharing that “the Wii U is coming out next spring/summer.”

Of course, details can change. And I’m pretty sure Nintendo is not certain when they plan to release the new hardware. All we know is that it’s coming out after April 2012. But one of the earliest rumors scheduled the hardware to be available in June 2012, so maybe it will turn out to be accurate?

Source: Wii U Blog by David Turnbull

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Video: First look at Killer Freaks in Outer Space on the Wii U

Killer Freaks from Outer Space is an exclusive first-person shooter for the Wii U that I imagine will be available at launch as it’s coming from Ubisoft. But it’s built completely for the new system and is tailor-made for the new controls. Plus, it’s one of the prettier things we’ve seen on the system when viewed in motion (there were screenshots, but I don’t think they do the game justice).

Anyway, the above video is from a developer roundtable during E3 and gives quite an extensive look at the game, directly from the people are working on it.

Source: Wii U Blog by David Turnbull

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The Greatest Prank in the World

Click here to see the full comic.

Source: Wii U Blog by David Turnbull

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Iwata: The Wii U is “not going to be cheap”

Perhaps the most amusing result of Nintendo trying to go “wider” and “deeper” with the Wii U, in terms of reaching out to the people who label themselves as “hardcore” gamers is that this will lead to higher priced hardware. And it’ll likely be these same people who then go on to whine about the price.

Now, don’t expect a price above $400 or anything, as I think that’d be commercial suicide when compared to the Xbox 360 and the PS3. But Satoru Iwata has said that “this is not going to be cheap,” when asked about the price of the Wii U. Unfortunately he would not elaborate or provide any sort of ballpark. But prepare your wallets.

Source: Wii U Blog by David Turnbull

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First Trailer for Ghost Recon: Online for the Wii U

Ubisoft has shared the first trailer for Ghost Recon: Online on the Wii U. It gives us the best look at the game so far and shows how the controls can be used for strategy. I don’t think the game pushes the Wii U’s hardware, but it’s the only “serious” game we’ve seen running on the hardware for the time being, so it’ll have to do.

Source: Wii U Blog by David Turnbull

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Square Enix is “considering” Final Fantasy for the Wii U

Don’t expect a Final Fantasy game soon as it doesn’t sound like Square Enix actually has anything in the works. But Yoshinori Kitase, a producer has said that “after seeing Wii U revealed at Nintendo’s conference, we are now considering the possibilities of bringing the Final Fantasy series to the format.”

At this early stage it doesn’t mean a whole lot, but for Final Fantasy fans it’s a little bit of hope you can hold onto for the time being.

Source: Wii U Blog by David Turnbull

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Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge will have touchscreen controls

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge was one of the first games announced for the Wii U, and as reported by Kotaku, it will feature touchscreen controls similar to that of Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, which was designed for the Nintendo DS. Here’s how they explain it:

The touchscreen-controlled Dragon Sword used screen taps to throw shurikens and move Ryu, swipes of the screen to jump and slash at enemies.

These controls are optional. And I imagine most people will resort to using the standard analog stick and button controls for the majority of their game-time, but it could be sort of sadistically interesting to slice up enemies with finger swipes.

Source: Wii U Blog by David Turnbull

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Darksiders 2 is the first Wii U launch title

THQ has confirmed that Darksiders 2 will be the first launch title for the Wii U. Danny Bilson explained that “the new controller allows for the inventory screen to be active at the same time as the adventure on the main screen,” which was one of a motivation for bringing the game to the platform in the first place.

Bilson added that “we’re looking at two other titles for launch and many more beyond that” and THQ is “incredibly supportive and excited about the new console.”

Source: Wii U Blog by David Turnbull

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A few details about Battlefield 3 on the Wii U

I wasn’t too sure if Battlefield 3 was coming to the Wii U. I know Electronic Arts talked about it (sort of) at Nintendo’s E3 press conference, but every sentence was prefaced with the word “imagine,” so there didn’t seem to be a clear announcement.

Luckily, Frank Gibeau of EA has talked about ideas for Battlefield on the Wii U, so it seems like it’s a project that is actually going to happen.

Gibeau said that the Wii U’s touchscreen is “elegant” and “works seamlessly with the experience.” He added that:

We’ve just had a little bit of time with it and we’ve uncovered new ways of playing Battlefield that I’m really excited about.

And then he shared a couple of specific ideas:

You can imagine that there are new ways of playing the game from a commander mode or for being able to drive from a different position inside of a vehicle.

After the semi-announcement that Mass Effect is probably coming to the Wii U I’m really starting to appreciate what powerful hardware and full-throttle support from some of the biggest developers and publishers in the world can allow for. These be exciting times.

Source: Wii U Blog by David Turnbull

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Mass Effect is (probably) coming to the Wii U

Ah, this feels good, a steady stream of third-party announcements…sort of. Frank Gibeau of Electronic Arts has said the following:

I can’t say we are going to do it on the Wii U, but you can imagine what we could do with that controller in the Mass Effect universe. It feels like a really nice fit, but we’ll announce that when the time is right.

It’s not a straight-up confirmation but it’s as close as you can get to confirmation without actually saying “yeah, it’s happening.” But I wonder if we’ll get Mass Effect 3 or maybe we’ll get a GOTY edition with all the games in one bundle. That’d make a lot of sense.


Source: Wii U Blog by David Turnbull

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Friend codes are gone from the Wii U

Turns out the rumors were true. Friend codes will be no more with the Wii U. Instead there will be a single online identity, in a similar vein to Gamertags in Xbox Live. This information was revealed in relation to Ghost Recon: Online, which is one of games on display at E3 2011. You can see a video of it here.

Source: Wii U Blog by David Turnbull

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The controller for the Wii U will not be sold separately

According to CVG a Nintendo representative said that “Both the controller and the console will be sold as one unit. You won’t be able to buy the controller alone.” This means one simple thing: you can’t use more than one touchscreen controller with the console. The rep explained that:

…multiplayer games being created for the system are only being designed to accomodate one tablet-style controller, whilst other players will need to use a Wiimote.

This explains how Nintendo can pack so much tech into the controller without having to think a whole lot about the cost, as you only need one of ‘em in each household.

I’m not too sure how to feel about this though. It feels like a bit of a bummer that we can’t use more than one touchscreen controller as it could limit the possibilities in how games are designed for the system. But it does keep costs down at least.

Update: Actually, scratch that confirmation. CVG also added in the article that:

It is currently unknown whether it is possible to sync more than one of the new controllers to a single Wii U.

But still, based on what we know it sounds like only a single Wii U controller can be used at any one time. I imagine that’s the case because data is being streamed to the controller from the console and there’s surely a limit to how much data can be streamed.

Source: Wii U Blog by David Turnbull

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Darksiders II is running fine on the Wii U

Most of the footage we’ve seen so far of games coming to the Wii U has been footage from the Xbox 360 or PS3 versions. Ghost Recon: Online is the only third-party game we’ve seen running on the actual hardware I believe. But THQ was quite happy to say that:

We have Darksiders II completely running on the Wii U…

…and although we don’t have any specifications for the new hardware, the folks at THQ said the game on the Wii U “absolutely” looks as good as the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game. It only took THQ five weeks to bring the game to the hardware, and that even includes support for the Wii U’s touchscreen-enabled controller.

Source: Wii U Blog by David Turnbull

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Ubisoft unveils Killer Freaks from Outer Space for the Wii U

Ubisoft has revealed that they’re working on Killer Freaks from Outer Space, an exclusive first-person shooter for the Wii U.

The game sounds similar to Left 4 Dead. You play as one of four survivors in London with hordes of aliens attacking you as you rush through the environments and take ‘em down.

But what could either be an awesome or terrible decision is that aiming is controlled by moving the Wii U’s controller, meaning the crosshair will be shown on the touchscreen as you wave it about in front of the television. I think that’s a fantastic mechanic in general, but for a game that is being described as a “hardcore” shooter, I think it could be trouble, as it seems like a tiring and not exactly lightning-fast way to play a game. But that’s just a bunch of conjecture on my part, so I could very well be wrong.

Source: Wii U Blog by David Turnbull

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Activision will be supporting the Wii U

Activision has announced they will be supporting the Wii U. Eric Hirshberg of Activision Publishing added that “You bet against Nintendo at your peril.” This probably means that games like Call of Duty will be released on the platform in their “real” form, compared to their spin-off form on the Wii.

And while you may not be a fan of Call of Duty or Activision’s general tendecy to wring all the cash out of a franchise until it bleeds to death, their games sell well and it’s one less thing that self-proclaimed “hardcore” gamers can whine about. So that’s cool.

Source: Wii U Blog by David Turnbull

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There is no backwards compatibility with the GameCube

One of the earliest rumors about the Wii U was that it would be backwards compatible with the GameCube. Unfortunately, this is not the case. This was sort of obvious due to the noticeable lack of controller ports on the console, but Reggie Fils-Aime himself has confirmed that support for the GameCube is gone. So that’s a shame.

Source: Wii U Blog

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Darksiders 2, Batman: Arkham City, Tekken & Ghost Recon Online (and more) are all coming to the Wii U

Darksiders 2, Batman: Arkham City, Tekken and Ghost Recon: Online are coming to the Wii U. So yeah, that’s awesome. These games are also on their way:

Dirt

Metro Last Night

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge

Expect more announcements over the next couple of days and once E3 ends I’ll do a wrap-up of everything that has been announced for the new system.

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Wii U Third-Party Demos Powered by the Competition

In the process of announcing the third-party support Wii U will see -- the likes of Batman: Arkham City, Ninja Gaiden 3, and Assassin's Creed will make their way to the new system -- Nintendo showed off the above sizzle reel during its E3 media briefing yesterday. The idea was to show that these games really will be on Wii U and they'll look every bit as good as their Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 counterparts. As it turns out, there's a very good reason why there was no denying the latter point.

After talking about the Wii U having the horsepower to allow the "best third-party content" to come to the system, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime was asked by GameTrailers' Geoff Keighley if the footage seen in the reel largely came from Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of those games. Fils-Aime responded, "Absolutely, because we're talking about a year away from when the system is going to launch." He followed up by claiming the final Wii U versions of the games in question will look every bit as good as they do on Microsoft and Sony platforms, but he wasn't willing to say they will look better.

"In terms of how good it looks, it's going to be driven by what the individual developers do," he explained. "The system is going to be 1080p. It's going to be high definition. And so, again, tick that box -- that's done. Now it's about, what is the new experience that we're going to bring to bear?"

Having seen how nice Zelda in HD looks, it does seem clear that the system has some horsepower behind it, and there's really not much of a reason to doubt what Nintendo is claiming. It's not difficult to see why people might feel shafted, though, after Nintendo showed what was implied to be Wii U footage that was actually running on competing platforms. 

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Aliens: Colonial Marines for Wii U

SEGA of America had recently announced Aliens: Colonial Marines is being produced for the Wii U. Players are required to fight against a multitude of alien and enemy forces using a wide range of classic and new weapons. Single player, as well as 4 co-op player modes are expected.

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A Quick Look at Zelda in HD

Nintendo hasn't announced any actual games for Wii U yet, but it's dangling a few tasty tidbits in front of gamers. The most savory of these just might be a brief snippet of what a Legend of Zelda game could look like in HD. As you can see in the video above, I've "played" Zelda HD, although "play" is a bit of an overstatement. The Zelda HD Experience, as Nintendo is calling it, is a barely interactive demo which consists of Link walking into a temple and being confronted by a massive spider.

This is not a Skyward Sword HD port, for those expecting Nintendo to pull a Twilight Princess with the next game in the series and pushing it back to be a Wii U launch title. In fact, Zelda HD uses Twilight Princess' art style and that game's Link, but here it's far more detailed and sumptuous than it appeared on Wii or GameCube. All the niceties you'd expect from an HD system are present: reflections, HDR lighting, water effects, and so on and so forth. The game looks stupendous. Of course, it's not really interactive or a game, just a boss intro demo, so there's no AI or input physics for the demo to worry about managing. Even so, it's nice to see a Zelda game looking this pretty; demo users can control the camera angle and toggle lighting between night and day.

Equally impressive is the role the Wii U's unique controller plays in the demo. The game action can be displayed either on the main TV screen or the Wii U controller, and swapping between the two formats doesn't inflict an appreciable drop in visual quality thanks to the size and pixel density of the controller screen. When the main action is set to the TV screen, the controller functions as a map and interface menu; when the focus is reversed, the TV displays a windowed view of the action and a map. Not only is a neat idea on an abstract level, it promises tangible gameplay benefits as well.

Skyward Sword launches later this year, and the Wii U arrives in 2012. It'll probably be a few years before we actual do see Zelda in HD, but based on today's pie-in-the-sky demo, fans will likely be very happy with the results. (Unless Nintendo goes all Wind Waker again, just for laughs.)

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IBM Says Nintendo Wii U Uses Watson's Brains

Nintendo fans concerned about how powerful Nintendo's new console Wii U will be may have something new to boast about. According to Engadget, who spoke with IBM about the technology powering Nintendo's new console, the system makes use of the same processor technology that powers Watson, the supercomputer that recently beat a bunch of contestants on Jeopardy. While IBM wouldn't reveal the processor's clock speeds, The Wii U uses a 45nm custom chip with, what IBM states, is "a lot" of embedded DRAM.

But then again, specs are specs -- one look at the high definition Zelda demo running on the thing is probably enough to convince most gamers. 

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New Super Mario Bros Mii Screenshots

The new game looks attractive, to say the least. Planned for the Wii U console, it is sure to please both single and multiplayer fans.

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Wii U Demonstration

Check out this short demonstration to see Nintendo Wii U in action!!

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E3 2011: Wii U Concept Video

It is a new system. The controller is a major part of it, but its not the main thing.  The controller itself isnt capable of playing stand alone games, I believe it basically acts as a portable screen. When you want to use the "gameplay on the controller" feature the system throws the video output from the TV screen to controller screen, so while you can play WiiU games on the controller itself, im sure you need to be around the system itself to play.

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Iwata Asks: E3 2011 Special Edition - Wii U Highlight Video

Iwata Asks is a series of interviews conducted by Nintendo Global President Satoru Iwata with key creators behind the making of Nintendo games and hardware. In this edition, Satoru Iwata discusses with Shigeru Miyamoto about Wii U, the new home console announced at E3.

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Pikmin 3 for Wii U

After 3 years of waiting, more news on the development of Pikmin 3 surfaced. While no Pikmin 3 trailers were revealed, Shigeru Miyamoto said it would utilize the system's control scheme and its advanced graphical power.

Stay tuned for more Pikmin 3 news, a game which is likely to see the light of day sometime in 2012.

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Upcoming Wii U Video Games

It seems like Nintendo is finally deviating from its casual market. I'm sure these so-called shovelware will still exist, but hopefully the Wii U will have a broader appeal to hardcore gamers as well.

These are some of the video games coming to Nintendo's new console:

Batman: Arkham City

Darksiders II

Tekken

Dirt, Aliens: Colonial Marines 

Ghost Recon Online

Assassin's Creed

Metro: Last Light

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge

Smash Brothers 

Along with these, other game titles are rumored to appear:

Mario Party 9

Super Fossil Fighters

Dragon Quest Monsters 2

Kirby's Mass Attack

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Introducing the Nintendo Wii U

 

Today Nintendo announced the Nintendo Wii U, the successor to the Nintendo Wii.  Above is the new touch screen controller with built in motion controls.  The most exciting thing about the new system is being able to stream video straight from the console to the controller screen in case the TV is being used for other purposes.  The controller boats a front facing camera and microphone for video chat, a gyroscope, an accelerometer,  stylus, dual joysticks, and most notably the six inch touchscreen.  The nice part about the Nintendo Wii U is the ability to play all your existing Wii games including using all Wii peripherals and accessories.  Besides the touch screen controller, the system itself is able to display in full HD, from 1080p to 480i.

 

Here's the full specs from Nintendo:

• Launches: 2012
• Size: Approximately 1.8 inches tall, 6.8 inches wide and 10.5 inches long.
• New Controller: The new controller incorporates a 6.2-inch, 16:9 touch screen and traditional button controls, including two analog Circle Pads. This combination removes the traditional barriers between games, players and the TV by creating a second window into the video game world. The rechargeable controller includes a Power button, Home button, +Control Pad, A/B/X/Y buttons, L/R buttons and ZL/ZR buttons. It includes a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope, rumble feature, camera, a microphone, stereo speakers, a sensor strip and a stylus.
• Other Controls: Up to four Wii Remote™ (or Wii Remote Plus) controllers can be connected at once. The new console supports all Wii™ controllers and input devices, including the Nunchuk™ controller, Classic Controller™, Classic Controller Pro™ and Wii Balance Board™.
• Media: A single self-loading media bay will play 12-centimeter proprietary high-density optical discs for the new console, as well as 12-centimeter Wii optical discs.
• Video Output: Supports 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p and 480i. Compatible cables include HDMI, component, S-video and composite.
• Audio Output: Uses AV Multi Out connector. Six-channel PCM linear output through HDMI.
• Storage: The console will have internal flash memory, as well as the option to expand its memory using either an SD memory card or an external USB hard disk drive.
• CPU: IBM Power®-based multi-core microprocessor.
• Other: Four USB 2.0 connector slots are included. The new console is backward compatible with Wii games and Wii accessories.

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