Tag Archives: wii u

[NYCC 2012] Hands-On With The Wonderful 101

Hideki Kamiya: a name that commands respect within the gaming community. The man behind Bayonetta and Devil May Cry is back, and this time he wants us to lead a group of superhero citizens in The Wonderful 101. Prota shows the crowd how it’s done with his playthrough of the demo.

Prota: The Wonderful 101 is a hard game to put into words. It has a visual style akin to Viewtiful Joe, you gather citizens to assist you in various ways like in Pikmin, and it has combat that is reminiscent of Kamiya’s previous action titles, such as Bayonetta. It takes all these things, and the innovation that Platinum Games is known for, and rolls them up into one extremely fun package. The touchpad worked fine for the most part, but I did have issues trying to form a ladder with it, which is when I tried the right analog stick instead and discovered how incredibly slow it was in terms of drawing the symbols. I hope you can adjust the right analog’s sensitivity when the game comes out. I also really enjoyed the section where I had to look at the gamepad’s screen to solve a puzzle in order to continue the level. I can’t wait to see what other ideas the people at Platinum come up with.

I’m not yet sold on getting the Wii U at launch, but when I do get one, it’ll be for games like this.

[NYCC 2012] Hands-On With Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge

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This time around, our Cameraman Gesfrid took a shot at playing a game for us. The game: Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge. Earlier this year, Ninja Gaiden 3 was lambasted by critcs and gamers for dumbing down the gameplay too much from its predecessor, creating a rather soulless and easy game. So with Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor’s Edge, Team Ninja is seeking to rectify this issue by bringing back what made the previous Ninja Gaiden’s fun and challenging: brutal difficulty and more weapons to wield. While we can speak for the weapons in this video, we can say something about the difficulty. Gesfrid was only the second person to beat the demo (after recording unfortunately), and it was in the afternoon. Everyone else just quit. Poor souls.

Gesfrid’s reaction after the break.

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[NYCC 2012] Hands-On With Rayman Legends

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Remember last year when we had a terrible camera-person and we glitched the game when playing Rayman Origins? Well that didn’t happen this year! Nope, everything was smooth sailing when playing Rayman Legends. StevenDPX took over playing as the limbless wonder Rayman with the Pro Controller while someone else played with the Wii U Gamepad aiding him on his platforming adventure.

StevenDPX: The controls handled pretty well for the game. This was also the first time I played using the Pro Controller. It did feel weird having the face buttons at the bottom of the controller, but I soon got a bit used to it. The game also supported using the control pad thankfully since I’m horrible using joysticks for 2D platformers. My co-op partner did well when compared to previous people who used the gamepad. He was responsible for clearing the way, pulling platforms, distracting enemies, and in one instance flipping a large wheel Castlevania IV style. Overall this was a mighty fun romp in the land of Rayman. Now to see if I could get my hands on Rayman Origins…

[NYCC 2012] Hands-On With Game & Wario

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Finally, The Wired Fish plays a Wii U game… on camera. From the guys who made the Wario Ware and Rhythm Heaven series comes Game & Wario. In this minigame, the player uses the tablet controller sideways to launch arrows at enemies, mines, and a boss at the end.

StevenDPX: The gameplay definitely had that weirdness of the WarioWare games. There was some fun to be had, and you also had to think fast about how exactly to clear out the enemies. There are mines on the floor, and you had to think “do I blow it up now, or wait for a bigger group to come in.” It became second nature to launch an arrow from the tablet, but there were instances when I shot nothing, looked down to see if a new one loaded, and accidentally shot it somewhere whilst I scrambled to take out incoming enemies. I was surprised when the rep told me this was a retail game. With all-do-respect, this looked like something for the download space. Of course, there are more minigames than this. But we’ll see how this pans out.

Nintendo Is Publishing Bayonetta 2 In The U.S., Yet…

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Why is SEGA’s logo popping up on the Japanese and European trailers? What is this witchcraft!?

To bring you up to speed, Nintendo revealed this morning that Bayonetta 2 will be coming to the Wii U and Nintendo will be publishing the game (much to the chagrin of some gamers out there). I was very happy to see that the game is very much alive and not cancelled as it was feared before Summer began. I was also happy to see the game in much more capable hands since SEGA has no idea what the hell to do with Platinum’s games lately. This had me thinking that SEGA has let go of the franchise (since they were the publisher of the first game and held the rights to it). Then I saw the European trailer Kotaku used to break the news. At the end of the trailer, you can see SEGA’s logo. Same applies to Japan. So what gives? Update: The U.S. trailer also has the SEGA logo at the end.

SEGA responded to the questions via Twitter, stating that “Bayonetta 2 is developed by Platinum Games and published by Nintendo. SEGA is working with both as an advisor to the project.” So this gets me wondering about the rights to the game if it’s exchanged hands or not. Though we can infer from another tweet regarding potential SEGA references that… the IP rights questioned won’t be answered anytime soon. I guess we’ll know more as development continues.

[via SEGA’s Twitter]

Nintendo New York Press Event Wrap-Up

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The Nintendo Press Event Wrapped up in New York this morning, and some surprises popped up. We now know thew Wii U’s Price… or rather, prices, and its launch date. A New service was revealed for the Wii U. Another attraction was shown for NintendoLand. New modes were introduced for New Super Mario Bros. U. A once SEGA property is now in Nintendo’s hands. Project P-100 gets its final name. Monster Hunter was shown. And Finally Activision showed off what they’re bringing, including its multiplayer powerhouse. Hit the jump for the full breakdown of what was shown at this Press Event.

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Somehow, In Some Way, This Person Has A Wii U

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A member of the Fragdolls somehow managed to snag herself a Wii U according to her tweet. Not sure how exactly she got it nor which convention she attended to get it. From the tweets, it looks like PAX but then says something about a Gamestop Convention (didn’t even know they did those). She also seemed to be involved with Ubisoft (either as a rep or just hanging around the area, I’m leaning on the former). In some more good WiiU related news, one of her earlier tweets says that ZombiU did well at the crowd. Ubisoft might have an early hit on their hands with the Wii U. Let’s just hope it’s not another Red Steel moment.

[via KAT Twitter]

Matsumoto: Wii U Controller Could Be Beneficial To JRPGs

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I know it’s more a Strategy Game than an SRPG, but think about it.

Marvelous AQL and The Last Story Lead Designer Takuya Matsumoto said in a Siliconera interview that the Wii U Gamepad could be beneficial for JRPG strategizing. “I feel that the Wii U’s interface… works best for browsing and arranging information,” said the Lead Designer, alluding to how menu heavy JRPGs can be at times. “This special feature will likely bring about opportunities for deep research into JRPG strategy.” He went on to say that other info, like bios, story synopsis, enemy bestiaries, etc. could also be handled by the Wii U Gamepad.

This could bring about a much more streamlined experience for JRPGs. Now by streamlined I don’t mean “dumbing-down,” but more that it’ll make the actual selecting of menu items a lot faster than on a standard controller layout. Think of how quickly you might’ve selected things on Wii games using the IR Pointer. It was pretty damn quick. Also, while Matsumoto says JRPG strategizing, this could apply to Strategy RPGs. Games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Disgaea, Valkyria Chronicles, and Front Mission could benefit from this approach. These games are rife important information on terrain, units, and other miscellaneous info that the gamepad could provide without having to take you to a separate screen on the TV, or clogging up the screen with info (think Final Fantasy Tactics Advance). Heck, it could even work for RTS games like Starcraft. Some might see the Gamepad being used for just menu based stuff like maps and menu items in the future, rather than playing a more pivotal role. It happened on the DS with one of the screens being used as such, and it was fine by me.

Wii U Controller Will Push JRPG Strategizing, Says The Last Story Lead Designer [Siliconera]

Did Activision Tell Nintendo To Make The Wii U Pro Controller Look The Way It Is?

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According to Michael Pachter… the reason why the Wii U Pro Controller looks like an Xbox 360 controller is because companies like Activision would not bring over certain games if Nintendo didn’t have a conventional controller. This is mainly in regards to First-Person Shooters. Now I know what you’re thinking, “Pachter? Really?” I know, I know. But to put things into perspective, we haven’t heard much from companies like Activision on the Wii U. Not that Nintendo needs anyone of that ilk, but they do bring in a great deal of that gamer cash, and console makers do get some piece of that pie. But if this is true and this is what companies considered “conventional,” then is show how safe and scared of change these companies are.

Now if you excuse me, I must pay a visit to my Super Scope memorial.

Nintendo rumored to have made the Wii U Pro controller at Activision’s behest [Ubergizmo]

Injustice: Gods Among Us Early Gameplay Preview

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Normally I don’t pay interest to fighting games but a new title caught my eye, most notably due to my hype for the upcoming Batman film. Recent footage has been revealed of Injustice: Gods Among Us, a new fighting game announced in May 2012. Developed and published by NetherRealm Studios and WB Games, the former which developed Mortal Kombat 9. The game takes place in the DC comic universe involving both heroes and villains such as Superman and Solomon Grundy respectively. The developer’s walkthroughs (included below) I will be referencing showcases fights between Superman Vs The Flash and Batman Vs. Solomon Grundy.

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Wii U and 3DS eShop Accounts Fuse Into One

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If you get why I put this picture with the article, you get a point.

“A unified account system will be implemented later this year with the launch of the Wii U,” stated David Marshall, a Customer Service rep at Nintendo. “Eventually this same account system will be made compatible with Nintendo 3DS systems. At this time we have no additional details to offer and nothing to indicate how or if this will work outside the United States and Canada.” This was cited by Nintendo World Report from an email by Marshall. The big N’s decided to drop their old ways of having separate eShop accounts and just having one main account spanning across the 3DS and WiiU (Similar to PSN and XBL).

Interestingly, Marshall states that the it would be harder to implement a system like this in territories outside the U.S. and Canada. But why? Is there a different way that Nintendo does its eShop in other countries? Other than that, thoughts come up on what can this new system open up in the future for the big N and its consumers. Could we get multiple platform Virtual Console games? Or could this open up more connectivity between the Wii U and 3DS in terms of in game gaming like how Makahiro Sakurai is doing with his next game in the Super Smash Bros. series. Do you guys think it can open up something interesting in the future? Comment below.

[Source]

Satoru Iwata Give Hints To The Wii U Power

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Something tells me he has a plan.

Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata released some insight on the Wii U’s capabilities. When asked about the comparison between the Wii U power and the other next gen consoles from a Q & A in Japan between him and the company’s investors, Iwata has had this to say:

” We cannot promise that the Wii U will never be excluded from multiplatform software for eternity, but we can at least assure you that the Wii U will not have such a big difference as the Wii had in comparison to how, on other platforms, developers could expect very different graphic capabilities of generating HD-applicable high-resolution graphics.

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Mighty Switch Force Coming To Wii U

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Oh WayForward how I love thee! Nintendo Power has revealed that 3DS download game Mighty Switch Force will be headed to the Wii U under the title Mighty Switch Force HD. Like its predecessor, it will be released as an eShop download on the system. And when they say HD, they mean it as the sprites will redrawn to look a lot cleaner. And boy, what they’ve shown is beautifully clean. Like, Earthworm Jim clean.

Let me fill you in quick on what the game is. Mighty Switch Force is a Puzzle Platformer where you’re a future cop trying to capture prisoners that have escaped. The cop lady has the ability to make platforms solidify and de-solidify to create platforms to jump on or knock enemies off the stage. I don’t had a 3DS, but I tried it out for a bit on James’, and I came this close to getting one on that game alone (and this was when the 3DS was still $250).

Mighty Switch Force HD is slated to launch on the Wii U eShop at the same time as the system.

Mighty Switch Force HD Headed To Wii U With Redesigned Sprites [Siliconera]

I Stand On My Soapbox: “Where’s The New Zelda?”

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I Stand On My Soapbox is a series of editorials that cover more specific topics in the games industry and community. These articles are a little more extreme than normal editorials published here, and could just degenerate to outright ranting. Have fun and enjoy the show!

Of all the questions people asked about the Wii U and Nintendo this past E3, this is one question that outright irked me the most. You can see it everywhere you looked that had editors and gamers talking about what was missing at Nintendo’s E3. I too wondered some things. But a new Zelda was not in my mind, nor did it ever enter my train of though when I thought about what Nintendo was lacking. And yet, there are people that wanted a new Zelda game for the Wii U. For those people, I have this to say:

You just had one!

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With The Wii U On The Way, Why Not Bring Back Silent Scope?

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Ever since the reveal of the Wii U last year (and further info this year), I was thinking of what kinds of games would be a good fit for the Wii U and the Tablet Controller (called the Gamepad). After seeing what some of those games were doing with the tablet, I recalled one of those demos doing something akin to showing a bigger picture on the TV and showing a zoomed-in shot on the Gamepad’s screen. Then it hit me: Why not make a make a new Silent Scope game?

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