Nintendo’s Pre E3 Wii U Show

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Just recently Nintendo held a short presentation on their Facebook to take some time to talk about the Wii U before their actual E3 conference this Tuesday.  The presentation didn’t show many things we weren’t already aware of but Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata took this time to go into a little more detail about some of the system’s new features.

He began his speech by talking about how Nintendo always aim to create something “unique”.  Unique seemed to be the theme of the show and some things definitely looked that way, for better or worse.

From what Iwata said, the Wii U seems to want to focus on one goal.  Unite people rather than divide them.  The console will address this with many different forms of connecting with people through the Wii U.  First, the Wii U is going to have it’s own social network system.  You can communicate with your friends through the service that seems very similar to Twitter.  Posts are all shown on-screen and you can scroll down, reply, ask questions, etc.

The console is not only allowing you to connect over the internet, but hopefully connect people in the living room beyond what the Wii did.  ”Wii U does what ‘Wii did’ better” was a quote Iwata used.  The only real show of this was one person can browse the internet on the gamepad and put curtains over the TV to sort of make it into an entertainment/ surprise.  You will also be able to video chat with friends and family on the Wii U through the use of the Wii U Gamepad.  A nice feature, though it’s nothing really new.

All of these features aim to connect people but nothing seems to try harder than Nintendo’s new Miiverse.  This basically has you and all your friends, as well as those playing the same games as you connected almost non-stop.  In a sort of updated Mii Plaza, when you turn on the console you will be greeted by a giant crowd of Mii’s, some you know and some you won’t but there will be text bubbles all over than show what people are talking about in terms of the games they play.  Not only is this in effect when you power up the Wii U but you will be able to access it anytime during gameplay without turning off the game (almost like 3DS’s suspend mode.)

The one thing that sort of rubbed me the wrong way was these messages will even appear in the game’s you play, hoping to keep people “together” all the time.  I don’t want a bunch of random speech popping up in my games so hopefully we can turn that off.  This network will supposedly be available on the 3DS, PC, and mobile devices as well as the Wii U system, though it will be some time after launch.

Iwata also talked about the actual Wii U Gamepad, some spec talk, and what’s changed since the initial prototype.  First of all the circle pads are now replaced with real analog sticks that also click in.  That’s a huge plus because the circle pad sticks just aren’t that great.  Because of this addition the back of the pad has been redesigned to fit your hands better.  Iwata also made it clear that the pad will visually match what’s being played on the screen on the go, however, he also mentioned that the feature of playing your games on the go with the Wii U pad will probably be feature by a lot of casual games.  This seemed to hint that not every game (like Darksiders 2, or Batman: Arkham City) may not be able to use the feature.  I guess we’ll see.

The Wii U controller also has the power to become your TV’s remote which I think it pretty cool considering I hate having to turn on a bunch of stuff with different remotes.  In addition, the Wii U gamepad has motion and gyro control.  These features will make gamplay more intuitive and allow for more people to easily pick up and play, according to Iwata.

Lastly, Iwata stated that there will also be a Controller Pro for the Wii U similar to the classic controller the Wii had.  This should please more hardcore gamers who like the feel of a controller in their hands.  The only thing is, they better enjoy the 360 controller, because this Wii U Controller Pro shown looks almost like an exact replica of the 36o pad.

Iwata and Nintendo Wii U will have more screen time this Tuesday morning at 9am PST/ 12pm EST time at their annual E3 Press Conference.  Keep looking at Average Joe Gaming for all the E3 coverage we can get our hands on!

 

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