Wii U Live Announcement Thread

[DaveMMR]

In case anyone is interested, at 10am EDT on 9/13, they are streaming live the official announcement of Wii U. Figure there's not much more to learn about the new console other than the point and street date. Here's the link: http://www.nintendo.com/wiiu/

I'm not really the Nintendo fanboy I once was, but I may be interested in the new console if only to replace my current Wii (disk drive is wonky) and maybe play New Super Mario Wii U. And despite its weakness, the original Wii did, and continues to get, a lot of mileage in our household.

[ChadTower]

The Wii gets huge mileage in my house with the kids.  I'm interested in this announcement because it might be the easiest thing to get them for Xmas.   

[Well Fed Games]

This is no fun without predictions. $299, 11/18/12. 

I am a late adopter anyway, but I will be watching with interest as I think this is a major crossroads for the big N and thus the industry.

[ChadTower]

$349.  I don't think they can bundle that big controller at $299. 


Did they ever say whether or not existing Wiimotes will work with it or will we have to buy ALL new controllers?

[versapak]

$349.  I don't think they can bundle that big controller at $299. 


Did they ever say whether or not existing Wiimotes will work with it or will we have to buy ALL new controllers?

Already announced for $340 in Japan, so yeah... Could go either way in the $300-400 range, but I would expect them to announce it higher, and I also would see that as a mistake, because there is no way I will be buying one for that much, and I know I won't be alone.

[DaveMMR]

Did they ever say whether or not existing Wiimotes will work with it or will we have to buy ALL new controllers?

It's already been said that all the old Wii Hardware/Software will work with the WiiU. I imagine for the new games, they'd use the touchscreen and Wii MotionPlus controllers but I'm not 100%.

They announced two configurations in Japan (I forgot if that $340 price point, as versapak mentioned, is the "higher" 32Gb model with charging stand and other goodies or the lower end with just 8Gb). Also, surprised to see some reports stating that the Wii U will actually come with an HDMI cable. (Don't know how big of a deal it is to some people but not having to place an unncessary $25 Amazon order strictly to get that cable with free shipping.) For some reason, Sony/Microsoft not providing one seemed really weak.

(P.S. - That above info was just off the top of my head - can't really go into checking information right now. Forgive me if grossly inaccurate.)

[Howard_Casto]

I'm going to watch only because I need a price and a release date.  I don't want to be waiting in the cold at 3am in some strip mall like I did for the wii because I assumed they wouldn't sell out and waited. 

There's a 24hr walmart 20 min from the house now.  I'll be taking a lawn chair and a DS and sitting inside a nice warm store thank you very much.

[ChadTower]

Oh crap, HDMI.  Sigh.  I only just recently moved our living room TV to real HD via a WDTV.  The TV only has one HDMI port.


 

[Howard_Casto]

Oh crap, HDMI.  Sigh.  I only just recently moved our living room TV to real HD via a WDTV.  The TV only has one HDMI port.


 

There are hubs for that.  It's not a big deal.

[pinballjim]

If it's $300 and I can pre-order it from New Egg or the like, I'll go ahead and get one.  I was dismissive of the Wii and then wasted several weekends trying to hunt one down.  If that system hadn't gotten the NetFlix app I'd have nothing but scorn for it now.

That being said, there's absolutely nothing else coming out this fall that interests me.  Already got an iPhone 4 and Kindle Fire and don't feel compelled to upgrade either.  I think my 7 year old PC's about to croak but the last thing I want to do is sit around on a computer on my own dime.

[Hoopz]

I'm interested in seeing what it can do but I doubt that I watch the announcement.  I still play the Wii but only with the kids.  At $300, I doubt I'd get the new one yet. 

[Howard_Casto]

BAH! 

Yeah they have a 300 dollar model, but it's the crappy 8gb version. 

If you actually want a game and 32gb (which might actually be enough to store some games) you'll be forking over 350 bucks!

[pinballjim]

[DaveMMR]

BAH! 

Yeah they have a 300 dollar model, but it's the crappy 8gb version. 

If you actually want a game and 32gb (which might actually be enough to store some games) you'll be forking over 350 bucks!

I was figuring the higher end was going to be $350 so it's on par with expectations for me.
Any news of pack-ins, game-wise?

[ChadTower]

There are hubs for that.  It's not a big deal.

We already have a switchbox there for the older game systems.  It does not have HDMI.  I would prefer not to have two switchboxes.  We also have an AV receiver there (not HD video capable) that all of the audio plugs into so that needs selecting too. 


Might be time to consider upgrading the AV receiver to one that can handle all of our sources by itself.

[Howard_Casto]

I never thought I would say this, because I HATE this all "interconnected living room" crap, but Wii TVii looks lightyears cooler than any smart tv experience I've ever seen!

They sold me on the non-gaming features?

[ChadTower]

I couldn't get to nintendo.com because of a proxy.  I'm hoping they have the presentation streamable soon.  Right now it appears they are playing it on a loop, which is stupid, because you have no indication of where the start point is.

[pinballjim]

They're live blogging it here...

http://live.kotaku.com/

[Howard_Casto]

You didn't miss much.  After the price point and the Wii Tvii announcment they just demoed a bunch of games we already knew were coming for the system. 

The only "suprise" announcment was bayonetta 2 is going to be a wii U exclusive and there's a new COD coming out for the Wii U.

[Vigo]

Read somewhere that they will be trying to push the system to be the system of choice for MMO's. I can see the usefulness of their layout, but kinda wonder if that would really take off with Nintendo.

[Well Fed Games]

This is no fun without predictions. $299, 11/18/12. 

What do I win?

[ChadTower]

You didn't miss much.  After the price point and the Wii Tvii announcment they just demoed a bunch of games we already knew were coming for the system. 

The Wii Tvii stuff is what interests me most.  I just got rid of DirecTV and went to a full LAN streaming setup for our house.  I'd like to see what the Wii U can offer us there that the WDTV cannot.

[pinballjim]

Oh sweet, another Call of Duty game.  Wonder if it'll feature white men holding machine guns and yelling GO, GO, GO! every 2 minutes.

Scribblenauts, meh... anyone else hate those games as much as I did? 

Arkham and Mass Effect 3 are embarrassing.

Whoever keeps programming Ray Man games should be shot in the face.

Those tablet controllers aren't cabled, are they? 

[DaveMMR]

What do I win?

I have an extra copy of Super Mario/Duck Hunt here if you want it. 

And I answered my own question: the higher-end model comes with a game called Nintendo Land or something. Will see if it's anywhere near as fun as Wii Sports.

And I find myself agreeing with pinballjim about the games - except that Rayman demo looked really, really cool towards the end. I love eye/ear candy like that.

I'll reserve further throughts until I can sit down and read/watch everything.

[Howard_Casto]

This is no fun without predictions. $299, 11/18/12. 

What do I win?

Well it's actually 349, so you don't win anything.  Also I beat you on the prediciton by about 3 months. 

The wiiU is going to use a SSD.... it's 299 for the 8gb one with no game and no free digital downloads or 350 for a game, a 32gb hdd and a digitial rewards system.  You'd have to be really cheap (cheaper than me cheap) not to buy the $350 version.

[ChadTower]

Their marketing must have told them that $300 is the break point for a lot of the casual market.  They appear to have stripped out everything they could there to keep a version under that price.

[Howard_Casto]

You didn't miss much.  After the price point and the Wii Tvii announcment they just demoed a bunch of games we already knew were coming for the system. 

The Wii Tvii stuff is what interests me most.  I just got rid of DirecTV and went to a full LAN streaming setup for our house.  I'd like to see what the Wii U can offer us there that the WDTV cannot.

Pretty sure nothing.  It's Wii Tvii, not "wii streaming pirated tv off the net". 

Seriously though they've announced Hulu and Amazon tv support and integration so I suppose that might be useful to you.

It looks like full cable/sat box integration as well as tivo integration is also supported.  I'm guessing stuff like hbo go and ect will be supported as well, but to be honest those services are crappy.  Yeah I'll pay a buttload of cash to get hbo in hd only to have them give me a service that only supports sd?

What was cool wasn't the individual services, but the integration of all of your services as well as tv interaction.  For you sports guys it looks like you'll be able to see the player position on the wiiU tablet while the game is being played.  I'm sure nascar and your other redneck sports will follow suit. 

A summary of the live tv show in progress was cool as well.  So if you have to take a leak you don't miss anything.

[Howard_Casto]

Their marketing must have told them that $300 is the break point for a lot of the casual market.  They appear to have stripped out everything they could there to keep a version under that price.

Yeah and I agree with that.  If they had left the drive alone I would say it's a fair deal for the 299 version, but I made that mistake with the 360 "arcade" edition years ago.  If they offer you a larger hdd take it, because the smaller one isn't going to be enough.

[ChadTower]

Pretty sure nothing.  It's Wii Tvii, not "wii streaming pirated tv off the net". 

All of our streaming is local.  Nothing streamed off the internet at this point.  Content does come from the net but it's downloaded and stored locally.  It streams from a NAS device to the WDTVs.  We might add something like Hulu Plus eventually but I'm trying to avoid that because we don't really watch much of what is available there.  We tried Netflix for a month and didn't see a reason to stick with it.


I guess if the Wii U can be used to play a video file off the local network that would be what we'd need to take that WDTV out of service in that one room.  That would at least save us the hassle of more than one HDMI device for now.  It's not a question of if well end up with a Wii U but when.

[pinballjim]

The difference in colors is kinda vexing.  I don't want my imaginary friends to think I'm poor so I'll have to get the black one anyway.  Used to always get the cheap systems and buy the upgrades later but that won't work this time.

Touche, Nintendo.

[Le Chuck]

The difference in colors is kinda vexing.  I don't want my imaginary friends to think I'm poor so I'll have to get the black one anyway.  Used to always get the cheap systems and buy the upgrades later but that won't work this time.

Touche, Nintendo.

Last thing you need is random kids in the garage looking down their noses at you.  Gotta spend big to play big. 

[Howard_Casto]

The difference in colors is kinda vexing.  I don't want my imaginary friends to think I'm poor so I'll have to get the black one anyway.  Used to always get the cheap systems and buy the upgrades later but that won't work this time.

Touche, Nintendo.

LOL

I was thinking the same thing actually.... I'm pretty sure it's a sign of the apocalypse when we agree on something. 

[Well Fed Games]

I know the success of the WiiU will be based on what a lot of non-core game type people do, but at $300/$350 they are going to have to prove to me that what they have to offer is better than the end-of-cycle offerings on the 360 and PS3, which could theoretically get another price cut before the holiday shopping season. I've got doubts that the WiiU offers enough different to compete with the current systems, including the Wii. Even the connectivity between the pad and system are a little meh when you see where tablets or even the PS3/Vita are going.

Maybe we'll see Mario & Sonic & Master Chief at the 2016 Olympics on whatever the next Microsoft console is.

[Necro]

Hrm...I like the Wii but...not sure I'm getting one of these yet.  I think I'll just wait and see...nothing about it 'grabs' me right now.  The WiiTV comes off as another attempt at the 'smart tv' that my HTPC already beats the pants off of and the games, while interesting, don't justify the $300 price point to me at this time.  The Wii had something 'new' - the motion controls.  The screen/controller for the WiiU just...flops for  me. 

[Howard_Casto]

Even the connectivity between the pad and system are a little meh when you see where tablets or even the PS3/Vita are going.

Not really.  Those solutions offer a bunch of cludged together hypothetical solutions that are cumbersome and not fully integrated with each other.  Wii TVii has actual partners I've heard of and actual applications instead of theoretical ones.  There is a reason this portion of the conference excited me. 

Maybe we'll see Mario & Sonic & Master Chief at the 2016 Olympics on whatever the next Microsoft console is.

You better hope not.  Nintendo software is completely linked with it's hardware.... it is IMPOSSIBLE to seperate the two.  The end of nintendo consoles is the end of Nintendo.  Unless you count sad, pitifull attempts to keep an already dead brand afloat.  (See what SEGA is today.)

[pinballjim]

(See what SEGA is today.)

Profitable?

[ChadTower]

So, that does look interesting, but no indication if you can add your own video sources to that list.  I could watch Netflix/Hulu on my TV already through several sources, I could watch it on my PC, I could watch it on my phone.  Having this on the Wii U gives us nothing we don't already have.


The Tivo integration is cool on the surface.  If you have a Tivo, though, you already have all of those features in the Tivo.  Maybe this could be used to add another client to your Tivo.  Odds are, though, if you laid out the cash for a Tivo you have it on the same primary TV that you'll want the Wii U on.  And the fact that DirecTV always cripples their integrated Tivos means this probably won't work fully with DirecTivos.


That sports stuff looks interesting but we can do that now with any tablet.  Watch the game live and load something like ESPN Gametracker on a tablet and you get the same thing.  It also flies in the face of the DVR sports watcher because there is no way this thing is going to support streaming of that data in sync with the playback of a recorded game.  Most dedicated football guys I know use a DVR in some way.  DirecTV has a ton of "extra data" features with Sunday Ticket but everybody I know with Sunday Ticket is bouncing between games with a DVR so the extra features don't work. 


It feels like another box with a million TV options but most of them will never get used in a typical household.  Why would I want to use the Wii to watch ABC rather than the normal cable box?  What did the Wii add there other than a portal pass through?

[Hoopz]

So, that does look interesting, but no indication if you can add your own video sources to that list.  I could watch Netflix/Hulu on my TV already through several sources, I could watch it on my PC, I could watch it on my phone.  Having this on the Wii U gives us nothing we don't already have.

Generalization or did you actually get a cell phone?

[Hoopz]

I just saw this:

The Nintendo Wii U may only have 8 to 32GB of internal memory, but the company's taking a decidedly open approach to expanding that memory: add your own. "You can plug in a full-on three terabyte hard drive if you want. I'll love you as a digital consumer," Nintendo America CEO and president Reggie Fils-Aime told us during a post-press conference investor Q&A. Much like Sony's PlayStation 3, the Wii U allows for expansion of memory via USB, whether that memory be Flash or otherwise. Fils-Aime explained that, with the continuously dropping price of memory, there was little reason to offer pricing for the Wii U -- available in $300 and $350 -- tied to an evolving hardware model.

"The reason we did it that way is that the cost of that type of storage memory is plummeting. What we didn't want to do is tie a profit model to something that's gonna rapidly decline over time. We'll let the consumer buy as much as they want, as cheaply as they want," Fils-Aime said.

Fils-Aime also confirmed that the Wii U doesn't have TiVO hardware built into it -- functionality will require an existing TiVO box. The same goes for DVR functionality, which Fils-Aime said Nintendo doesn't want consumers to bear the expense of.

[Howard_Casto]

I had forgot about the mention of HDD support earlier in the year.  I'm wondering if it'll be actual support or "half support" like the wii was.  It was a full 3 years before you could actually store games on a sd card on the wii even though they billed it as having expandable storage via the sd slot right from launch.