Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 (E3)

[King Ellis]

I just realised what the Wii U controller reminds me of, one of those home made portable consoles where they take a full home console and make it portable with a little screen. Ben Heck style.

[zero]

I am fairly certain that there are more reasons to why the Wii soled strong and other systems didn't. Nintendo hit the stores first (i belief) and went in with by far the best price.

The Wii was the last of the next-gen consoles to be released. The price point was definitely a big deal though, the 360 and especially the PS3 were ridiculously expensive upon release.

[GoGo Yubari]

Okay, this made me laugh.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Every now and again Nintendo have a way of catching lightning in a bottle. They did it with the SNES, they did it with the Wii, they did it with the Gameboy and they did it with the DS. They try more different stuff than the other companies working around them at the time. They're a smaller company than Sega were, than Sony or Microsoft are. It doesn't always work for them but hey, if you look at the top 10 best selling consoles and handheld consoles of all time I'd imagine at least 50% are from Nintendo.

Saying that though, as they (probably) say in baseball, no-one bats 1,000. From my wanders through stores here in Japan the 3DS doesn't seem to be all dominating in the same way that the DS was immediately on release. I remember Sony saying that they thought the PS3 had a 10-12 year life expectancy which to be honest I believe is probably the case. We're about half way through that right now which feels about right. It still feels like graphics are improving on it, the depth of games are improving and it's got a long way to run. I don't know what Microsoft's plans are but I'd imagine that with their big investment into Kinect right now then they're putting at least a few more years into the 360.

So will the WiiU pick up more sales because all is quiet console-wise with Microsoft and Sony? Don't think so. The only place I see Wiis is in the houses of friends with kids (who love the excuse to be able to play it too ). Expensive controllers may cause a problem with the kiddie market. Who wants to spend a load on a controller if their 6 year old could destroy it in seconds after getting upset or just being clumsy and not knowing the value of stuff in the way kids are.

Of course, Nintendo probably had to release something as to me at least it kind of felt like Wii was closer to end of life than PS3 and 360.

[Herr Matzat]

http://screwattack.com/videos/First-Impression-Wii-U-w-Jared-and-Nick

Hands on Video.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-nintendo/715143

No multitouch display, the controler just got a lot cheaper. ;-D

Edited June 8, 2011 by Michael Matzat on a Plane

[Cactus Drags]

About the controller, I just found this on IGN with them talking about it:

The tablet itself appears large, but is actually quite comfortable to grip. The two sliders both being located at the top of the tablet make holding it considerably easier. A staggered configuration would only have worked with a much smaller design. Nintendo was also smart in making the new controller extremely light for its size, resulting in something that might look strange but is not as burdensome as it would seem.

Yeah, and one of the Joystiq guys had this to say:

But that's not the important part. What's the thing feel like? In an artificially extended word, awwwwkwaaaaard. It's designed so that the players holds sort of the top area of the controller, and my (admittedly small) hands were placed such that my thumbs fell naturally onto the analog sticks. But not the buttons. Though the Shield Pose demo didn't require buttons, I tried it, and I had to make a very conscious effort to actually hit the face buttons instead of unconsciously tapping the circle pads while I was going to do something.

Just looking at the thing, I'm more on-board with Joystiq's assessment, it's just too big and unwieldy. And I can't wait for the queues of angry customers wanting refunds because their careless kids dropped/threw/spilled something on it.

[Herr Matzat]

About the controller, I just found this on IGN with them talking about it:

The tablet itself appears large, but is actually quite comfortable to grip. The two sliders both being located at the top of the tablet make holding it considerably easier. A staggered configuration would only have worked with a much smaller design. Nintendo was also smart in making the new controller extremely light for its size, resulting in something that might look strange but is not as burdensome as it would seem.

Yeah, and one of the Joystiq guys had this to say:

But that's not the important part. What's the thing feel like? In an artificially extended word, awwwwkwaaaaard. It's designed so that the players holds sort of the top area of the controller, and my (admittedly small) hands were placed such that my thumbs fell naturally onto the analog sticks. But not the buttons. Though the Shield Pose demo didn't require buttons, I tried it, and I had to make a very conscious effort to actually hit the face buttons instead of unconsciously tapping the circle pads while I was going to do something.

Just looking at the thing, I'm more on-board with Joystiq's assessment, it's just too big and unwieldy. And I can't wait for the queues of angry customers wanting refunds because their careless kids dropped/threw/spilled something on it.

11111 Postings sir, you ae a cupple of month early. F´N Spammer.

[Skummy]

What the hell did you just say?

[gunnar hendershow]

It was his 11,111th post. 11/1/11 is later this year (or already passed depending on how you do your dates) and that is a connection worth posting about I guess.

[Sousa]

He was making a pass at dragsy and trying to insinuate that his mother was a truck full of old lawnmowers.

[Berober]

Isn't 11/1/11 also the Uncharted release date? Bad day to be bringing out a console against

[Herr Matzat]

And here we go.

http://toucharcade.com/2011/06/08/real-racing-2-hd-will-be-first-to-support-airplay-mirroring/

So in a few month iPad and apple tv (granted at a likely much higher price, without buttons but working away from home) will have the first game that is "like" Wii U. (right now it already works with a hdmi kable). I hope nintendos console pushes iOS developers into doing this with every game ever released.

11/1/11 is the releasedate of everything this year. If someone claims different he is part of the conspiracy.

Edited June 8, 2011 by Michael Matzat on a Plane

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Skyrim is 11/11/11 so there.

[Red Devil-Taker316]

Well, I will be getting a 3Ds soon enough now.

And I am exctied for the WiiU. My Nintendo fanboyism never seems to die.

[Berober]

So basically, Skyrim is one better. Can't argue there.

[gunnar hendershow]

MW3 is 11/08/11. I am part of the conspiracy.

[Herr Matzat]

I´LL KILL YOU!

[Herr Matzat]

http://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/08/onlive-announces-ipad-support-for-cloud-gaming/

Onlive bringing major games to iPad/Android. Also suporting TV -> Tablet control. So aperrently this is the new big thing and not only don by nintendo.

[gunnar hendershow]

Nintendo still will have the known titles to back them up though, so if everyone and their mother is releasing a similar product people would still want to go the Nintendo route for gaming. The question is whether the gaming sales will trump people who want a full-fledged computer to work in a similar way.

[Skummy]

Am I the only one not remotely excited by "Cloud" nonsense?

Just listening to Steve Jobs say "I download something to my iPhone, but it's not on my other devices. I want to listen to it on my iPod, to play it on my iMac, or my iPad"...here's a better idea, don't spend all your money on interchangeable gadgets that you can't manage without software being invented to do it for you.