Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 (E3)

[zero]

After reading more articles, chalk me up as "interested" in the Wii U. Every complaint against it is one that was leveled at the Wii five years ago. I'm confident that they'll have an awesome roll-out, my biggest concern is whether or not they can keep the momentum going. The games look gorgeous right now, it sounds like they'll be getting big third-party titles like Darksiders 2 and Batman: Arkham City, but what happens when the PS4 and the next Xbox come out? Surely they'll blow Wii U out of the water in terms of pure power, so how long until developers start putting out the gimpy version or pass on Nintendo's console all together? Perhaps with the system actually being in HD this time, it won't matter as much, but that's my biggest concern for the console.

Well, that and the fact that Nintendo desperately needs some new IPs. What's the last new IP Nintendo put out that wasn't something like Nintendogs or Wii Sports? Last one I can think of is Pikmin, but hopefully I'm wrong on that.

All that said, Nintendo's the only company that's excited me at E3. All the developers are just throwing up a number at the end of existing franchises and Sony and Microsoft bombed. I'm usually about two generations behind in handheld gaming, so I don't care about the Vita and Kinect is quickly becoming biggest waste of money I've ever spent on video games and despite ramming it at E3, it doesn't look like that's about to change.

[Herr Matzat]

EDIT: Matz, then you could have said that line about any company's controllers, not just "Nintendo controllers are never cheap." Fact is, no controllers ever are, but I highly doubt Nintendo is going to ramp up the price on this one in particular.

Why would this be 60$ if it adds size (shipping costs), cameras and a touchscreen? If you buy a 7 Inch tablet PC the bigest portion of the price will be the touch screen (unless it´s utter shit). If this was released now the controler would not be selling for 60$. I guess we will not get this before Winter 2012 so everything will get a bit cheaper by than... it´s just that right now qualety touch screens are very rar because the marked is growing like crazy and production is not up to what it needs to be.

Edited June 7, 2011 by Michael Matzat on a Plane

[Skummy]

Replace "touch screen" in that last post with "glasses-free 3D". The 3DS was way cheaper than expected.

[TKz]

I find the problem is that this was supposed to be the Nintendo console that could compete with the PS3 and 360 by being able to play games like Call of Duty and Battlefield in the same definition and with the same level of ease as those other consoles. I don't see that happening with a controller that hard to hold. I have no interest in playing the games I play on PS3 on that massive controller. It just doesn't look like it'd be as easy to use. I've come out interested in the console, but that's about it. I don't see it as a potential competitor to the big two, which is what I was expecting.

[Skummy]

I find the problem is that this was supposed to be the Nintendo console that could compete with the PS3 and 360 by being able to play games like Call of Duty and Battlefield in the same definition and with the same level of ease as those other consoles. I don't see that happening with a controller that hard to hold. I have no interest in playing the games I play on PS3 on that massive controller. It just doesn't look like it'd be as easy to use. I've come out interested in the console, but that's about it. I don't see it as a potential competitor to the big two, which is what I was expecting.

If you're buying a Nintendo console to play Call Of Duty, you're doing it wrong.

[RPS]

Only on EWB will you find people complaining about how hard it is to hold a controller when they only saw it 5 seconds earlier and have never seen it in person or actually laid a finger on it.

Zero (like always) nailed it on the head. People critiqued the Wii when it came out for being gimmicky and it saved the Nintendo brand from irrelevance. Once again Nintendo was wise, sensed where the direction of gaming was headed and came out with something very interesting and with the potential for success.

[Herr Matzat]

I find the problem is that this was supposed to be the Nintendo console that could compete with the PS3 and 360 by being able to play games like Call of Duty and Battlefield in the same definition and with the same level of ease as those other consoles. I don't see that happening with a controller that hard to hold. I have no interest in playing the games I play on PS3 on that massive controller. It just doesn't look like it'd be as easy to use. I've come out interested in the console, but that's about it. I don't see it as a potential competitor to the big two, which is what I was expecting.

One would think that you can play a lot of these games with the classic or gamecube controler. At least they said you don´t have to use the touchscreen if you don´t want to, right?

[TCO]

I find the problem is that this was supposed to be the Nintendo console that could compete with the PS3 and 360 by being able to play games like Call of Duty and Battlefield in the same definition and with the same level of ease as those other consoles. I don't see that happening with a controller that hard to hold. I have no interest in playing the games I play on PS3 on that massive controller. It just doesn't look like it'd be as easy to use. I've come out interested in the console, but that's about it. I don't see it as a potential competitor to the big two, which is what I was expecting.

If you're buying a Nintendo console to play Call Of Duty, you're doing it wrong.

But the point he's making is that this console is meant to be that console and more as they said at the start of the conference. That controller isn't going to be productive with long sessions of COD or any other button intense popular game because of it's weight alone. The DS3 feels like it's made for my hands but couldn't picture my self holding that up off my lap without getting wrist cramp and the tiny DS style buttons isn't helping either.

I don't think €100+ is too ludicrious a guess for the controller considering it's got a camera, motion contorl and a 6 inch LED screen, that's more tech than any controller ever and will surely cost more simply due to production costs.

This just reeks of Nintendo being years behind it's competitors. I mean it's 2011 and they still haven't launched a HD console, that's ridiculous. I'll sit and wait patiently for Xbox 360 II and/or PS4 thank you.

I've seen people say that everyone was sceptical about the Wii at first too, yeah rightly so, it's a piece of gimmicky shit with broken motion controls. The Wii was meant for one thing to capture the family style gamers and everyone else in that market. This is their attempt to capture everyone? Yeah not goign to happen.

It's still not as bad as Kinect though.

Edited June 7, 2011 by The Cool One

[Skummy]

Why is it "ridiculous" that Nintendo haven't released an HD console? Did I miss the part where HD was a magic spell to make video games better? Did you miss the part where Nintendo released one of the greatest games of all time last year on their "piece of gimmicky shit"?

[LL!]

Only on EWB will you find people complaining about how hard it is to hold a controller when they only saw it 5 seconds earlier and have never seen it in person or actually laid a finger on it.

I bet if you looked around a bit you'd find the whole internet doing the same thing.

[TCO]

Why is it "ridiculous" that Nintendo haven't released an HD console? Did I miss the part where HD was a magic spell to make video games better? Did you miss the part where Nintendo released one of the greatest games of all time last year on their "piece of gimmicky shit"?

It is ridiculous considering the XBox is almost 6 years old and it had HD, it's so mainstream right now that it really has become a necessity for hardware.

I assume you mean Mario Galaxy 2? I never played that but played thrpough 1 and during I thought to myself,

"This game is awesome but it'd be better if this gimmicky console didn't insist on adding useless motion control that caused arm pain after playing, to allow me to spin. Oh it'd also be better if my arms weren't so apart. Why can't I play this with a Dual Shock?"

I'll never criticise Mario but the vast majority of brilliant Wii games could be better without the tacked on motion controls for the sake of it and badly designed controllers.

[Sousa]

Let me chime in here and say that I'm a lower-middle class father of two and we just bought our first HDTV last night because

A. the old CRT TV broke and

B. it was the only one that was available.

We still don't have an HD-capable satellite connection or even component cables for the Wii.

If you think I'm the exception rather than the rule then I have a bridge made of Playstation Vitae to sell you.

[Maxx]

Terrible investment, the screens would get all scuffed up.

[RPS]

Only on EWB will you find people complaining about how hard it is to hold a controller when they only saw it 5 seconds earlier and have never seen it in person or actually laid a finger on it.

I bet if you looked around a bit you'd find the whole internet doing the same thing.

Forgot that nerds exist elsewhere.

Edited June 7, 2011 by RockPaperScissors

[gunnar hendershow]

I'm one of the few people I know without an HDTV at this point, and the price it would have cost me to buy this TV a few years ago when I got it (I helped my aunt and uncle move into their new house and since they had one less room they needed one less TV) is the price I would spend on a nice HDTV now. HD is the norm at this point, if you're getting a new TV it's going to be HD.

My brother works at a grocery store and he managed to find the money for a 37 inch HDTV.

And I don't see a crime in complaining about the controller. If something looks unappealing to you, as a consumer, it is completely your right to question whether it's a good idea to spend your money on.

My friend described the three companies perfectly. Microsoft - You are the controller. Nintendo - You're controller is the TV. Sony - Just hold the controller and play our games, please.

[King Ellis]

Those are a different breed of nerd. We house the nerds that don't even own (HD) televisions or eat meat.

[Maxx]

Exactly, we can complain it looks ridiculous if it looks ridiculous. You know why PS3's controllers look the way they do? Because everyone hated this:

long before they held it in their hands.

[Sousa]

My friend described the three companies perfectly. Microsoft - You are the controller. Nintendo - You're controller is the TV. Sony - Just hold the controller and play our games, please.

What in the purple fuck does that even mean.

[Maxx]

My friend described the three companies perfectly. Microsoft - You are the controller. Nintendo - You're controller is the TV. Sony - Just hold the controller and play our games, please.

What in the purple fuck does that even mean.

Kinect makes your entire body the controller, Wii U's controller can play the game when you shut your tv off, Sony just wants you to forget about that whole PS3 hacking thing.

[Sousa]

My friend described the three companies perfectly. Microsoft - You are the controller. Nintendo - You're controller is the TV. Sony - Just hold the controller and play our games, please.

What in the purple fuck does that even mean.

Kinect makes your entire body the controller, Wii U's controller can play the game when you shut your tv off, Sony just wants you to forget about that whole PS3 hacking thing.

I just don't see how "our video game systems have non-traditional methods of input" is much of a complaint--which I assume it's supposed to be, given that Sony is the civil one here, which of course as we know totally reflects that Sony attitude.