Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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Saleswise, the Wii U had a solid (though not quite Wii-level) debut in Japan and North America (its performance in Europe was...less good). But after the holidays, early signs are indicating that sales have dropped precipitously, and with Wii Fit U, Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101 and Game & Wario all delayed out of the Wii U's "launch window," the only game Wii U game Nintendo is publishing this quarter is Lego City Undercover, in March. It's a slow time of year for games in general (at least until March, when a bunch of companies rush out releases to beat the end of the fiscal year), but with sales slowing, not a whole lot on the horizon, and Xbox 3 and PS4 coming into focus and dominating industry buzz, Nintendo had to act.
Fortunately, they did. They held one of their "Nintendo Direct" live-streaming events today, and they made the sort of rush of announcements that are normally reserved for expo keynotes. They even announced announcements of things, at expo keynotes months from now. They really want to sell Wii Us. Here's what they announced, arranged in a rough order going further into the future. All their previously announced but unreleased games are due by the end of June, so these are things we might see from Q3 on. Yoshi (tentative title) — a new Yoshi game was heavily rumored for Wii U ever since someone figured out how to access a debug menu in Miiverse, where they saw mentions of an unannounced game called Yoshi Land. Then, Best Buy Canada/Futureshop put up listings for a game called Yoshi Land. So, here it is. Like previous Yoshi games, it's a side-scroller, but this time the graphics are all in 3D, and it continues the needle-and-thread "crafty" look of Yoshi's Story and Kirby's Epic Yarn. (I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was developed by Good-Feel, Yarn's developer. They have no announced projects, the timing is right, and it really does look like a spiritual successor to Yarn.) This I think we'll see in Q3. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD has always seemed like an obvious move for Nintendo, and they're making it. I think it really should have been a launch title, actually (it was the game's tenth anniversary and everything!), but that's another discussion. Wind Waker's graphics actually hold up surprisingly well, due to the art style, so it looks to avoid the weird "some things are sharp, some things are blurry" look of many HD rereleases. And Wind Waker actually has a feature that makes it an especially obvious to receive the Wii U treatment — remember the Tingle Tuner, that item that worked by giving you a second screen when you plugged in a Game Boy Advance? Well, guess which console has a second screen out of the box. Nintendo announced this for "fall;" I think it'll be Nintendo's September game. That leaves 3D Mario and Mario Kart. Nintendo didn't really announce these games, just announced that they'd be unveiling them in full at E3 in June, where they'll be playable. Nintendo doesn't typically unveil games unless they're releasing that year, so that all eyes are on them that holiday season (which is one reason why Wii U needed game announcements so badly). This suggests that this holiday, Nintendo looks to be giving the Wii U the 3D Mario-Mario Kart one-two punch that marked where 3DS sales started rising to heaven in 2011. They'll need to bring out the big guns, too, if Sony and Microsoft are both shipping their new consoles this holiday. Nintendo also confirmed that Bayonetta 2 would also be at E3. Given that title's seemingly advanced state of completion (it was in development for the PS3 and Xbox for a while before Platinum's publisher dropped it, and Nintendo picked it up) I think we'll also see that this year. That leaves stuff that's coming next year and beyond. Super Smash Bros. Wii U will also be at E3, but I have my doubts that it will come out this year. It's certainly a priority for Nintendo — it was pretty much the first game Nintendo announced for the Wii U, and they know it's a big draw for their fanbase — so maybe they'll try to rush it out, who knows. This isn't big news for most people in "the West," but it's pretty big for Japan: Nintendo announced that they were collaborating with Atlus to make a Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem crossover. (People who know what those two series are are currently having an OMGWTFYES reaction around the world.) They announced absolutely nothing about the game besides that it's a Wii U game, so it's coming next year at the earliest. The biggest surprise of the event was a trailer for Xenoblade developer Monolith Soft's Wii U game, which seems to be a Xenoblade spiritual successor called X. Xenoblade is widely considered (by those who played it, anyway) to be one of the best games for the Wii, and the sort-of-sequel doesn't disappoint: it looks awesome, and maybe a little Monster Hunter-inspired. A common sentiment is that Monolith Soft looks to be making exactly what Square Enix has been trying to make with Final Fantasy Versus for seven years — a massive, gorgeous open world JRPG — and, at this rate, will likely beat them to release. This looks to be one of the Wii U's big guns for 2013; it's certainly not going to be GameStop-exclusive (like Xenoblade was in North America) this time. Iwata also talked about the next console Zelda game. While many loved Skyward Sword, its sales were disappointing, and many feel the typical Zelda formula could use some freshening up. Iwata said that the new game's development mission was to "rethink the conventions of Zelda," and that they wanted to make the world feel more open and nonlinear, saying that something they wanted to change was having to visit all the dungeons in a set order. He also used that you played by yourself as an example of a convention they wanted to rethink, hinting that maybe we can expect multiplayer of some sort. It's a ways off, though — holiday 2014 at the absolute earliest, and 2015 is more likely. Unusually, almost nobody on the interwebs seems to be nerd raging at the event not living up to the hype. The consensus seems to be that Nintendo really did deliver, and Wii U owners are feeling more confident in their purchases. I mean, in reality, it's not like the Wii U getting a 3D Mario and a Mario Kart and a Zelda were ever in question. But I guess acknowledging that those games were in fact coming did a lot to satisfy the fanbase's desire for announcements. Does anyone here have a Wii U? If not, what sort of games are you waiting for before jumping in? |
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Ice Arrow Sniper
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I'm not waiting for certain games to jump in - I'm waiting for the available money. Though Wind Waker HD will be an incentive. And a SMT/FE crossover? NEED. X sounds like a needed change to the JRPG genre as it recently has been. Tales has a very similar system from game to game, and it'd be nice to have something a little more open than that. I would murder for something like Final Fantasy XII, but more expansive.
Authentic Nova Scotia bagpipe innards |
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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He's the reason every third FF (FFVI, FFIX, FFXII) is awesome. The cycle must continue! It's pretty crazy to think that even in this longer-than-usual console generation, we might only see two numbered FFs instead of the typical three (though I suppose they could just give Versus a number, if that ever comes out). Crystal Tools and FFXIV 1.0 really fucked Square up. I hear they have like 800 people working on righting that ship with A Realm Reborn, it's just crazy. |
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Yarp
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Road Warrior
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I had no intention of getting a Wii U until the Xenoblade sequel(or spiritual successor) was announced. I say that as someone who barely 'games' anymore and whose interest in the entire activity has waned every year. Xenoblade Chronicles was *that good* though.
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I shot the sherrif.
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holy shit. i was looking up Xenoblade, figuing I have a Wii and it's really old now, so I should be able to pick it up cheap.
NOPE. Cheapest I can find is $90 used. This really must have been a good game. Google is your frenemy. Caveat Emptor - Latin for tough titty I tend to interpret things in the way that's most hilarious to me |
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*AD SPACE FOR SALE*
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cleveland-ish, OH
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I want to get one eventually but I'm waiting on some better titles, mainly Zelda. I'm also waiting for a native Virtual Console. It hasn't happened yet has it?
Die young and save yourself.... @yontsey |
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Custom User Title
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: At home
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Here's the games :
Dave Mustaine :"God created whammy bars for people who don't know how to solo." |
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Custom User Title
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: At home
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What a team we make Robo...
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Ice Arrow Sniper
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Squeenix managed to fuck things over with XIII and XIII-2, too. Both were major disappointments. Not XIV-level disappointments, but disappointments to the fans of the non-MMOs. Authentic Nova Scotia bagpipe innards |
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Yarp
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Road Warrior
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I mean, ultimately, if you're at all into the JRPG style, it is pretty much the best JRPG ever made, but if that style of game doesn't appeal to you at all or you hate it, it's unlikely you'd suddenly fall in love with it from playing Xenoblade. But yeah, it was a pretty limited release from what I understand, and since everyone who played it loved it, just about(and since the game is dauntingly huge for completionists) it might be a while(if ever) before you can find it used for cheap. But call around at gamestops, I think the release was gamestop exclusive, and their inventories are linked. A friend of mine had to drive three towns over to get basically the last copy in the state with the help of a Gamestop employee.
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Selfish Heathen
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
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But about this HD remake: I'm also optimistic! If my Dolphin experience means anything as a baseline, the game is going to look gorgeous. The feel and gameplay are already solid. Not a whole lot needs to be done to relaunch this game. Quote:
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That Nintendo is considering pulling back from the linear nature of the recent Zelda formula is huge, IMO. Maybe this is just Old Man Smithy looking back on his childhood with rose-tinted glasses, but I feel like a major factor in the enjoyment and popularity of the first several Zelda games was that the worlds really were (mostly) open environments and you could explore and (sometimes) take on the challenges in different orders. I know that this added many many hours of replay value to the old games for me. Please oh please oh please let's have more of that. As for the hint at a multiplayer aspect? No idea. I wonder where they'd even start with that. The whole series is predicated more than anything else on the quiet hero out to save the world all alone (ignoring the chatty NPC tagalongs like Fi and Navi). I haven't bought a Wii U yet because I haven't seen anything that really excites me. From this announcement alone, I see several potential titles that are seriously piquing my interest. Assuming Nintendo doesn't drop the ball, I'll probably have a Wii U a year from now. Almost all of my Wii catalog is populated by first-party titles. Nintendo knows how to make some damn good games. I really do hope that over the next year, though, we'll also see some quality third-party titles that aren't just ports of old Xbox/Playstation hits. The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting. |
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Ice Arrow Sniper
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Authentic Nova Scotia bagpipe innards |
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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I wonder if the multiplayer mention is pointing in the direction of a "New Legend of Zelda," kind of like the New Super Mario Bros. series. Or like the Four Swords games, bulked up into a "real" Zelda. Nintendo isn't stupid, they see how the NSMB games hugely outsell their 3D counterparts, both because their 2D gameplay is more accessible and because they are multiplayer. I could see Nintendo trying to repeat that success with a top-down, multiplayer "classic" Zelda.
I kind of hope that any "New Legend of Zelda" would be the 3DS's Zelda, though, and that we'll see a gorgeous 3D Zelda on the Wii U, but Nintendo gonna Nintendo. |
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Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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Could somebody point to a definitive video of the newest Mario?
I don't have the money to get a new Nintendo, but am feeling left out of the progression of my favorite platform The last Zelda I had was the one with the horse, whichever one that was. I can't remember how far I got in it, but I don't think that I beat it... I'm such a terrible video game player, short attention span and fear of level bosses. Just like in MC, I run away. I guess it would be pretty funny to watch me. ... |
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*AD SPACE FOR SALE*
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cleveland-ish, OH
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I'm thinking about picking up a Wii U this weekend with a couple games. Any recommendations?
Right now I'm leaning towards the new Super Mario, ZombiU, and Batman: AC. Last edited by Yontsey : 2013-03-23 at 15:17. |
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