UPDATE: Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe are also holding Nintendo Directs. NOA’s is tonight at 9:00 PT and will be focused on 3DS, DS, and Wii. Watch it live here.
Original: Good old Nintendo is treating us to more news again on Friday! This is a Japanese Nintendo Direct, but I’d still expect some news that could apply to the world. It’ll be airing at 8:00 P.M. PT on the 21st. You can watch it live (in Japanese) here.
My wish for the event? News about Animal Crossing 3DS! “No Animal Crossing” was actually trending on Twitter after their 3DS E3 Software Showcase. They had to have noticed that right?
While Nintendo has plenty yet to reveal about the Wii U (price, release date (though it will be coming this holiday season), etc.), they did announce plenty about their new console at E3 2012. In this post I’ll cover everything I can gather about the Wii U announced at E3, including plenty of info regarding the controllers, web interaction, and console specs.
The GamePad
The most obvious feature of the Wii U is the new, unique GamePad controller. Watch the above video for all of it’s magical features.
In addition to all the features shown in the video, here are a few other noteworthy things:
The battery life of the GamePad is 3-5 hours depending on screen brightness. Charge time is 2 and 1/2 hours, though you can play while the GamePad is charging.
If a developer makes use of it, games can also be played off of the TV. The feature is called Off-Play TV and will most likely be tagged on boxes.
The Wii U will support up to two Wii U GamePad’s at a time, though console performance takes a hit – frame rate drops to 30 FPS.
In addition to the Wii U GamePad, the console will also support up to four of the new Wii U Pro Controller or Wii Remote (or Wii Remote Plus) controllers as well as Wii accessories like Nunchuks, Classic Controllers, and the Wii Balance Board.
The Console
The Wii U is a powerhouse. It looks to have better graphics than that of the Xbox 360 and PS3. Don’t believe me? Compare these shots from Batman: Arkham City. Click on the image and look really closely.
And here is the Wii U’s tech specs.
The Wii U will also have an eShop ready at launch where users will be able to download both download titles and retail titles and users will also be able to transfer their existing Wii Virtual Console game library to the Wii U.
The Miiverse
Nintendo is implementing a new online social network for use in the Wii U, 3DS, and future Nintendo consoles called the Miiverse. I covered it in my Nintendo Direct post (which has a lot more information about Miiverse than this post does), but there are a few new things Nintendo announced. There are a number of interesting features they are adding, both good and bad. Here are some of them.
There will be three levels of security for posting messages one of which is having actual people read them.
Because of this it will take about 30 minutes to have a message posted.
Friend codes still exist, but are being redone.
Users will be able to have a different level of contact with their friends than the general population.
You can have up to 12 accounts on each system.
Miiverse is tailored to the users featuring certain games for different users.
The Games
Nintendo has announced the full list of Wii U titles to release on or close to launch. Here is the full list below.
2K Sports – NBA 2K13 – Holiday
D3Publisher – Ben 10: Omniverse – Holiday
D3Publisher – Family Party: 30 Great Games (working title) – Holiday
D3Publisher – Rise of the Guardians: The Video Game – Holiday
Yay! It’s been too long since the last WarioWare game! Nintendo revealed this one on their Nintendo E3 website after the presentation. It is also a Wii U launch window game. Read all about it here.
rumphy 