Jump to content

Nintendo Wii U


Si.

Recommended Posts

Nintendo have now released UK release details for the Wii U console. Nintendo's tablet-controller packing console will be released on November 30, ahead of the Japanese December 8 release date announced this morning.

Though official pricing has yet to be revealed (with individual retailers setting the price in the UK), Amazon immediately listed the entry-level Basic white Wii U model at a £199 price point. It's since been removed, but seems certain to be the entry-level price for the console, making it cheaper than its Japanese equivalent (26,250 yen - $337; £210). We'll update with more pricing details as we receive them.

In the US, the Wii U consoles will cost $299.99 (£186) and $349.99 (£217) for Basic and Premium editions respectively.

Two versions of the console will be available, the afore-mentioned Basic model and a Premium model.

Differences between the two tablet-controller packing consoles lie mainly with storage space. As suggested by rumours yesterday, the basic version will launch with 8GB of storage. The premium version has 32GB of storage, and will also come with a GamePad, HDMI cable and a charging cradle for the tablet controller. The Basic set comes in white, while the Premium set comes in black.

The Nintendo Wii U makes use of multiple screens in its vision of home gaming. Touchscreens are built into the controllers themselves, alongside the standard console/TV set-up. Many games are expected to be fully playable through the GamePad controllers themselves, while all are expected use the dual screens in unique ways, with second screen functionality spreading UI elements and specific challenges across displays.

So far, Wii U pricing seems very competitive, perhaps even enough to fend off forthcoming Xbox 720 and PS4 rivals. We'll be updating with GamePad controller pricing and Premium console pricing as we get it.

 

I got the Wii on release day, very excited by this.

Anybody else planning a purchase?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I played Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr in my early childhood on the Colecovision.

I played the Megadrive for most of my very early teens.

I defected to Nintendo, got a SNES and spent most of the rest of my teens playing Mario, Pilotwings, Starfox, Zelda, Streetfighter 2 etc. and became a massive Mario, Zelda and Nintendo fan.

I bought the N64 as it was released and played Mario and Zelda to death. Scenes from Mario64 still appear in my dreams.

I reserved the Wii 3 months before release date and got one on Boxing Day.

Bought loads of games, got the kids into Mario and Zelda etc. and bought loads of games on the virtual console including all my old favourite Megadrive and SNES games. Spent a lot of money.

Waxed lyrical about the Wii to everyone who would listen, defended it against the 360 and PS3 owners slating it all the time as they weren't 'old skool gamers' and 'didn't get it'.

The Wii went faulty, I bought another and found out that there was no way to get all my purchased VC games back. They were locked to the individual console and Nintendo UK wouldn't help.

Have not touched the Wii since and couldn't care less about this new console.

Way to go Nintendo!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If they announce Super Mario Galaxy 3 I'll get one. They **** up Zelda enough that Mario is the only franchise worth caring about now.

Skyward sword?

I haven't played it yet but was it bad?

I had Twilight Princess on the Wii and thought it was an amazing game

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am actually surprised there is a thread on this. I didn't think anyone would actually give a shit. Wii has been just awful, rarely new releases compared to other consoles. And those games are largely , unoriginal, uninteresting, disappointing or an excuse to get people to purchase a new type of controller.

I am excepting the WiiU to be one of the biggest flops in gaming history.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is this all that's on the immediate horizon for Nintendo consoles?

I always thought with the success (in terms of sales) of the Wii, they'd use the boost to try and get back into the real console market, if that makes sense.

As in, the Wii is obviously a console. But it's a novelty. You can't really compare it, in my eyes, to the PS3 and 360. So I always assumed that Nintendo would use this success to then go on and try and work their way back in to compete with those two as they probably have a brighter future, especially as they both have their own motion controllers now to negate any USP that the Wii had.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was the Wii a success though? It fell off a cliff, so any momentum they had died by about 2009. Lots of people have already said it, but the Wii captured a demographic which is now playing Facebook and iPad games and those people wont be coming back in anywhere near the same numbers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yeah nintendo has had some really abd years recently, wii sales are shockingly bad and the 3DS was a huge flop too

its been the same problems since the gamecube IMO, multi platform games arent as good on their console and the AAA exclusive games come out at a rate of about 2 a year and it doesnt do the functions that you expect (the GC not playing DVDs for example was a huge error in judgement)

i think nintendo know it too, thats why they release the consoles early and and a great price compared to the other 2, they are almost aiming to be the 2nd console in a house

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was the Wii a success though? It fell off a cliff, so any momentum they had died by about 2009. Lots of people have already said it, but the Wii captured a demographic which is now playing Facebook and iPad games and those people wont be coming back in anywhere near the same numbers.

Yeah, that's what I meant in success in terms of sales. As in they sold shitloads initially, so you can't say the console was a failure.

But those sales tailed off and, as I mentioned, with the other consoles having their own versions of the only thing that made the Wii attractive (the novelty of the motion controls) they're unlikely to get anywhere near the amount of sales that the Wii got this time around.

So I'd always assumed they'd jump on whatever brand loyalty and new market they'd managed to acquire and hold onto with the Wii and work on releasing a non-novelty console in the near future.

If not, any serious gamers that have a Wii will defect to PS3 or 360 (if they haven't already), and any market they have based on the novelty value of the consoles will fall by the wayside when that novelty wears off (again, if it hasn't already)

People who still want the option of that novelty, can get a PS3 or 360 as they now have those features too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had aGamecube just to play Zelda. Bought a Wii because it was Nintendo, then wished I hadn't because Zelda was crap as were all the other games once the novelty of the controls had worn off. Wouldn't buy another one, compared to the PS3/Xbox they're like a Reliant Robin next to a BMW.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I loved Nintendo for years. I own, to this day, a Gameboy, SNES, N64, Gameboy Colour, Gameboy Advance and Gamecube. I loved them all.

I bought a Wii and just wasn't gripped by it. It's entirely a novelty and one that hampered it's ability to produce the range and quality of games gamers, at that point, demanded. Subsequently I've missed out on the Mario Galaxy titles, and Zelda Skyward Sword, amongst others, and whilst I wished I'd played them that wasn't enough for me in the end.

The Wii U is simply more of the same. In a year it will be a generation behind again, with only it's gimmick and an increasingly tarnished Nintendo stable of titles to differentiate it. The gimmick is crap, the DS (a console I never bought into) writ large.

This could be Nintendo's Dreamcast. I can't think of a console with less anticipation behind it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yeah nintendo has had some really abd years recently, wii sales are shockingly bad
Hardly, a quick wiki reveals it's sold 96.5 million, more than the 360 and PS3.

This is why skimming Wikipedia and passing it off as truth doesnt always work. You remember that year when Villa were **** brilliant for six months, then didn't win a game from March through to May and missed out on Champions League football? Wii sales.

Nintendo have been in the shit for a couple of years now. Wii sales have fallen off of the proverbial cliff, software attachment rates are pathetic and a lot of the people who bought into the Wii wont be coming back for the Wii U. Smartphones have decimated their handheld business and they are struggling to adapt to new business models where you cant expect people to pay £30+ for a handheld game in significant numbers any more. Microsoft probably "won" the console wars this generation despite having sold less units than Nintendo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It would be fantastic to put Nintendo back on the map.

I'm not sure how they can adapt their business model to make themselves competitive again to be honest. The handheld market is going to collapse (if it hasn't already) and nintendo used to make a fortune off gameboys etc. Also as The_rev said above alot of Wii buyers won't be back for the Wii U. The real nail in the coffin is the abandonement of nintendo by the big 3rd party developers. They have decided to focus on Ps3 and Xbox and I can't see that changing, ever. The lack of game sales means that when people stop buying a console like they did with the wii you income falls off a cliff as you don't have any continous income from games sales.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...
Â