Wii U and 3DS

I kinda want a 3DS now. Not so sure about the Wii U. Not enough was unveiled about it.

Your views?
Pros, cons?

What did you think about the Nintendo press conference?

Discuss.

Wii U looks like a weird idea. I don't know if I'm into it yet, but I always have that reaction to Nintendo's hardware. The games make the system, though, so I'll just wait and see. I know that a million people are going to ask me about it at work now though, and be like, "Y'all gat that UWii thing I seen on tv yet?"

For now I think that you might feel some buyers remorse if you get the 3DS for the new content.

You should wait until there's a few more games or content that you feel would give you a satisfying experience.

As for the the Wii U... It just sounds like a police siren if you repeat it long enough. Wii U Wii U Wii U Wii U. The demos they are showing on the booths do seem like fun though.

The Wii U's reactions are so polarized. People are prematurely jumping on the Wii U, but I guess that should be expected when a new console is announced. I think people just love to bitch in general. There's no logical reason why you can't enjoy Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.

They seemed very reluctant show any of their own games, which surprises me because it's supposed to launch before 2013. At the very least, they dedicated this E3 to address the Wii's weakest point: 3rd-party support. However, I am impressed by it. I'm waiting to see final-build 1st-party games to gauge its visuals, but that Japanese Garden demo was jaw-dropping.

Although I fucking hate that name.

After the original Wii, and the lackluster 3ds launch, I feel like I have every right to be skeptical. The Wii was basically a giant grave for shovelware, and the 3ds won't have its first "must-buy" until Zelda. It could end up being the best system ever made, but unless Nintendo blocks companies like Zoo from making shitty games, it could end up being a repeat flop. I miss the Nintendo seal of quality.

Spoiler for videos:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-VqA_PupHs" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-VqA_PupHs</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE99x39K2SU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE99x39K2SU</a>

The Wii U looks to be the right direction. It hits three key things:

• Appeals to hardcore players: The powerful hardware and the good online that the EA CEO praised will appeal to third party developers and attract them to invest in developing "hardcore" titles that you'll find on other consoles, and perhaps some nice exclusives. In turn, this will appeal to what some know as the "hardcore" audience who currently spend most of their time gaming on the 360 and PS3. The Nintendo games will also be more appealing to this audience because of the gorgeous graphics.(Note: "Hardcore" is the worst way to describe this audience, but it's practically the only thing you hear them called)
• Appeals to casual players: Nintendo demonstrated a Wii Sports game where you would set the controller on the floor, and the screen would display the lie of the golf ball, and you'd hit the ball using the Wii remote. There's still the casual appeal of the Wii, enhanced by new features.
• Innovates: Nintendo gives you something different, which gives incentive to purchase the new console. The new touch screen on the controller provides the ability to pull off previously unachievable gameplay elements, like using the screen as a sniper scope and selecting and drawing out plays on the controller in Madden. You can also play the console game on the controller with the game actually showing up on the controller's screen, like if someone wants to watch TV while you're playing a game.

The touch screen on the controller is very interesting. It's funny that both examples I thought of for a touch screen controller were demonstrated at E3, that is, having a Zelda menu on the screen and selecting plays in Madden. They also demonstrated several other more gameplay-related elemtnts that I never thought of like using the controller as a sniper scope, moving the controller to aim at where you want to pitch a ball and throwing ninja star things at the TV by flicking them from the touch screen.

As I predicted, Nintendo didn't announce any new 3rd party titles for the Wii U, as to not take away from upcoming Wii and 3DS titles and to reiterate that 3rd party support will be strong. Iwata did briefly mention a new Super Smash Bros title for the Wii U and 3DS though.

The EA CEO spoke of the Wii U's online being good, which would be a huge change of pace from Nintendo's previous consoles. This is really exciting to me. Nintendo's online has been really lackluster in comparison to the online of their competitors. If Nintendo pulls this off, this could be big.

If the graphics are anything like Nintendo's demonstration of the graphics, then I'm extremely impressed. This is good, because I like looking at pretty things, like Crysis, Wind Waker and mountains. Reggie did confirm on G4TV that the resolution would be 1080p. Some of the games actually didn't look that good in the 3rd party games video, but I think most of them did. Probably the most gorgeous looking footage was from a Zelda game tech demo video.

We'll get a plethora of information next year, which is the year Reggie is saying it will come out. This year they obviously want to focus on the Wii and 3DS. I predict it will launch in Fall 2012.

Overall, I'm extremely impressed. Nintendo gets it. They're innovating and appealing to all audiences. Obviously my opinion is subject to change since we don't have much information, and it was just announced.

The tablet on the gun with the remote is like the funniest thing I've ever seen. Where's the butt-plug adapter?

How would a butt-plug contribute to recreating a gun?

When you get shot, it sends a mild jolt up your rectum. I just mean that sooner or later, Nintendo customers are going to look like the internaut. Not everyone likes a million peripherals with their games.

Spoiler for NSFW:

My views on Microsoft and Sony:

All but one game (Gears of War 3) that are coming to the Xbox I can get on my computer. So I think I'll just get them on that.

I've never really liked Sony. There's nothing wrong with them. But I don't like the price of the system to get it to play only a few games (mainly Uncharted).

I've always liked Nintendo (except for some of their more stupid ideas, aka the Vitality Sensor), but am not going to judge the WiiU yet. I don't know all about it yet, and I haven't seen a lot of the awesome games that I'd want (Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc). So I'm not going to make a premature judgement on it. The 3DS looks cool, but I don't know about it. I have a DS Lite, and only about 5 games for it, but I really like the remade titles for it coming out.

Those are my views...at this time.

Mario, Zelda and Metroid are givens. There's no doubt that Nintendo will make solid first party games. Most people are anticipating and hoping for strong 3rd party support as well.

I'm not really a hardcore gamer though. I like the first-party games, and don't really care too much about online or third-party games. Otherwise, I would be incredibly excited to get it. Until I see the games that I like, I'm gonna hold off on it though. I'm not a hardcore gamer, but I'm not a casual gamer. I'm somewhere in the middle.

EA signed up to make their sports games on it, and I know that Darksiders 2 is coming out for it. Now that I see some quality games being announced, it might not be so bad. I still don't like peripheritis though.

I think it looks pretty awesome. Everything Irock said seems right to me.

No. It's not just the controller. It's a whole full-fledged new console with a new controller to boot.
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.
(Taken from the Nintendo E3 2011 Press Release)
Games announced: Smash Brothers, Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City, Assassin's Creed, Ghost Recon Online, Darksiders II, Dirt, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Metro: Last Light, Tekken, Ninja Gaiden 3, FIFA 12, Madden 12, Driver, Lego City Stories
Other facts: (GTTV interview with Reggie, thanks to hiero and others)
The price point of the system will be competitive to the current prices of the PS3, 360 in terms of value
The games shown for Wii U at the show were actually PS3 and 360 versions but the Wii U will look the same or better
No BluRay Support
Controller's screen is single-touch
Backwards compatible with the Wii's Games, but no upscaling is done
Nintendo Online system to be announced by the end of the week
Pictures:
Console + controller: http://blogs.reuters.com/mediafile/files/2011/06/new-nintendo-wii-e3.png
Console: http://i.imgur.com/eaN3V.jpg
Controller: http://i.imgur.com/2Ski1.jpg  http://i.imgur.com/sf7fp.jpg
Video:
E3 Tech Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF4rInTqOLI  (Stream quality)
Controller trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e3qaPg_keg

From Reddit.
*I read a rumor a while back that it'd have approximately 6GB flash, but definitely more than the Wii.

"After the original Wii, and the lackluster 3ds launch, I feel like I have every right to be skeptical."
While that may be true, I meant people moaning about its controller and its graphics. Everything that Nintendo had shown on these points has been nothing but good. Especially its 3rd-party support.
The Nintendo Seal of Quality has nothing to do with the game's actual quality. IIRC it solely meant that game didn't run like a fat kid with a broken leg on the console.

I really hope they redesign the console itself before launch.

I bet its going to come out sooner than most people think. Most of those games are slated for November 2011 releases. If it wasn't until fall 2012, then they wouldn't release most of that stuff.

A big awkward controller with a touch screen and psp nubs. hot damn.

I'm curious to know how much a controller is going to cost.

The price of this thing is scary to think about, but honestly I am totally stoked about the ideas they brought into life with this thing. Being able to fuck off to another room when someone wants the TV? excellent. The zelda menu thing, also cool, kinda like how everyone ended up using the DS though. Functional, but I feel like maybe something more interesting could be done with it.

Imagine a mario party style game- but half the mini games don't use the typical buttons. Instead, context related buttons and dials and stuff come up on the touch screen. So like... if mario was supposed to fly off on a helicopter, you could actually reach down, wind up the propeller as fast as you could, then work a virtual joystick to steer. Goofy, fun stuff like that. Wario ware games could be REALLY crazy.

As for the potential of the console, I'm very excited, like I said, but I am definitely not buying it when it launches. I've learned that lesson. All I'm saying now is that I like what they're saying it can/will do.