This year at E3, Nintendo released more information about the project previously know as Project Cafe. We now know this as the WiiU and it has the web buzzing. We thought we would let you know what is known and what isn’t and hopefully we can put some rumors to bed.
- The tablet shown in the Nintendo Press Conference is the controller for the console, not the console itself. Nintendo did not come out and explicitly say how the console was tethered to the television but that is how we know. There is a console that attaches directly to the TV and the controller is wirelessly paired to the console much like the PS3 / Xbox 360 controllers are paired with your PS3/Xbox 360.
- All of your Nintendo Wii accessories and games are 100% backwards compatible. There are some games that require use of older peripherals including the Wiimote and the WiiFit. These tether to the console much like the new controller does.
- Your Nintendo Wii accessories can be used with the console while using the new controller as well. Demos have been shown here one player has the new controller and another player has a Wiimote / Nunchuck combination.
- The new controller can be used with the Nintendo console or as a stand alone tablet. Not much is known about the software but there are several games shown that use the controller as a stand alone device.
- The new Nintendo console displays in HD and is receiving quite a bit of 3rd party support. Some titles that already have been announced from Nintendo as well as it’s partners are Pikmin, Ninja Gaiden 3, Darksiders 2, Several EA Sports titles, Smash Brothers, Tekken, Legend of Zelda and many others.
- Pricing and release information have not been released yet. Tentative release date is Holiday 2012.
I’d also like to update my Top 5 Things we need to see from a new Nintendo console article that we released on April 22nd to see how Nintendo matched up with our list.
5. Ability to use the console as a media device – Not much is known about this portion of it now but I would imagine that at the very least this can be used as a DVD or some HD Disc playback capability. Right now there is no definitive answer.
4. Achievements – Again no real definitive answer on this so we’ll have to wait for more information to know exactly how this is going to work or if they are planning to support anything like this at all. With 3rd party developers getting into the mix I wouldn’t be surprised if this was implemented.
3. Online Capabilities – Nothing has been released yet but there was mention of keeping track of friends which leads you to believe there will be a more traditional friends list rather than the current system of friend codes.
2. Traditional Controller Support – This is kind of a mixture between what I needed to see and what I thought I was going to hate. Nintendo did add more buttons to the controller and added 2 control sticks which would lead some to believe this is good but its only half good. The control sticks are circle pads not analog sticks so I imagine this is going to be difficult to control since pads are far more resistant to movement than analog sticks. More buttons is a good thing but due to the placement of the buttons it doesn’t look like the shoulder buttons are going to be easy to get to. Look at this.
This doesn’t look like its going to be easy to play first person shooters or anything that needs those shoulder buttons to work right. I am only going to give partial credit for this.
1. HD Support – This is the one “make or break” category and they got this one right. The WiiU is 100% HD and that is only going to help this console out. I am glad they finally made the HD plunge despite Nintendo saying that they had no intentions of going HD in the next generation. Well done Nintendo you got at least 1 thing right.