The Nintendo Wii U has had a lack luster start at best. With majority of its third party titles composed of lack luster year old ports on top of some complains about slow OS functions, it hasn’t been a great first couple of months.
Luckily Nintendo is finally hosting a “Nintendo Direct” focusing on Wii U, its features and releases. The event highlights are as follows:
- Mii Verse conversation discussing the benefits, uses and ability to start new communities outside of video games, the ability to share screenshots, and lastly, the ability share drawings.
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Discussion of two firmware updates, spring and summer, for the Wii U operating system. Software launch speed and returning to the main menu speeds will be addressed.
- Wii U Virtual Console! Launching after the spring update, NES and SNES games will be available at launch, with the ability to save games, play off the Game Pad and access the Miiverse community. Nintendo Gameboy Advance titles will also becoming to the virtual console for the first time.
- Players who purchased virtual console titles on the Wii will get a reduction in price when re-purchasing them for the Wii U. A 30th anniversary special for the NES virtual console was announced, giving players the ability to purchase NES Virtual Console titles for 30 cents for 30 days during the campaign period.
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Pikmin 3 allows the use of the Wii U gamepad as a camera to capture screenshots. Players will then be able to share those screenshots on MiiVerse.
- Wii Fit U allows you to start closed, private communities with other players thanks to a specific user ID.
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MiiVerse can easily be update and expanded on the server side. User created communities, official communities, usability improvements and a filtering function are all being added. MiiVerse will also be available on your smart phone this spring.
- Wii U will not have any titles released in January and February, with an apology and an excuse for a lack of new titles. Regardless, Iwata went into some of the games that we can expect, mentioning (once again) Game & Wario, Wii Fit U, Pikmin 3, Lego City Undercover, and The Wonderful 101 were discussed, with new footage shown of The Wonderful 101.
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Bayonetta 2 was also mentioned, but no details were discussed due to its early production stage. We did get to see a developer video, showing off some pre-production footage.
- Nintendo Smash Bros for the Nintendo Wii U and 3DS was mentioned, claiming it was too early for reveal, with the first screenshots to be shown at E3 2013.
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Both a new 3D Mario game is in and Mario Kart for the Wii U are in development, with a playable demo being shown at E3 2013.
- Wii Party is in development, with footage shown. Imagine Mario Party using Mii’s, with utilization of the Wii U gamepad in correlation of the Wiimotes.
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A new Yoshi (Yoshi’s Epic Yarn?) title was announced, showing off some beautiful screenshots of what we could expect. The producer of Yoshi’s Story is behind the project.
- A new Fire Emblem title was announced (ok, I’m officially on the hype train), with some brief stock footage of the characters.
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Information on the latest Legend of Zelda installment for the Wii U was discussed. We didn’t see any screenshots or footage, but the mission is quite simply to “rethink” the series, making it non-linear. On top of this, we are getting a re-made version of “The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker!” Upgraded Graphics, improved game experience and off-TV play, with integration of Miiverse are all included.
- Even more titles were announced afterwards, showing off a new title from the producers of Xenoblade.
This event really is proving Nintendo is dedicated to the cause of producing great games for their latest console. I had my doubts, but I can't express how excited I am! Although I still have to admit that there is a certain feeling of "oh shit" to this event. Maybe Nintendo is feeling the strain of complaints form users. Iwata apologizing for a lack of games and mismanagement on top of Nintendo announcing games that are in no state for viewing is very unlike Nintendo.
Regardless, is anyone else on the hype train? I know any remorse I had regarding the Wii U has been erased! Let me know what you think by subscribing to me here and following me on twitter @NicholasGigante.
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