Nintendo just announced (in another extremely awkward Satoru Iwata Nintendo Direct show) a HD remake of the GameCube classic “Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker”. That episode of the franchise always was my favorite, I loved the cell shading and the friendly, cute look of Link (compare him to the one in the latest “Skyward Sword” and you see the difference).

The adventure itself wasn’t the most epic of them all, but for sure it was the best looking in terms of art style. Nintendo got quite some negative feedback on the cell shading look back in the GameCube days, I never understood why, especially after the more mature and far more boring looks of it’s successor “Twilight Princess”. The atmosphere of “Wind Waker” was unbeatable, with bright, positive colors, the blue ocean, sounds of waves dropping onto the beach, the wind blowing the sails of the small boat that takes Link from one adventure to the next. Wonderful and relaxing. You could almost smell the salty air.

So, I’m looking forward to the remake, scheduled for late Q3 this year. A “regular” new Zelda title is in the works too, so don’t be afraid that the remake is the only Zelda title you can play on the Wii U. But it might be for a long time. 

Amazon was nice and delivered my Wii U one day early, so I got a chance to test drive my premium version. Unboxing is quite unspectacular and installation of the hardware a no brainer. The setup of the console is divided into easy to follow steps. The first moment of fun came when the Wii Pad got control of the tv remote functionality, making it super easy to switch channels or change volume.Downloading the Update took about half an hour for me, it’s rumored to be around 1 GB of data, so it might take a while for most users.

After these steps, I finally got to see the WiiU in action. Actually, there’s really not very much to see, as the main menu is somewhat an updated version of the old Wii menu with some Miis running around and a 3D view. Loading times are a bit too long and make you notice them often.

If you own an Xbox 360 or a PS3, the HDMI output of the Wii U won’t impress you, but for a Wii user this is a significant improvement in image quality and resolution. It suddenly feels just right. The Wii U pad itself is bigger than I thought and the screen proves to be bright, colorful and crispy. The device is not heavy, but it’s not made for one handed use, so when you use the touchpen, make sure to put the pad on a surface or your lap.

Bundled with the premium pack comes Nintendo Land, a collection of franchise-themed minigames and integrated social functionality. The games are all sharing the same level of Nintendo polish we always expect and make use of almost all features the new console has to offer. You will move the pad, shake it, press all the buttons, use the touchscreen with your finger, draw on it with the touchpen, blow into the microphone, see your face recorded with the camera and switch constantly between the tv and the pad as your primary screen. These are a lot of options, and this is what makes the experience a bit confusing. You’re never sure what to focus on next. This is quite unlike shaking the wiimote when the Wii launched, which was a complete new control scheme too, but focus always stayed on the tv screen and the interaction felt natural most of the time. Nintendo wanted the players to stand up in front of their tv and get physical with the Wii, now with the Wii U they are gently pushed back on their sofas again.

Overall the new console feels like an updated Wii and hence the name Wii U seems like a good fit reflecting that. It’s a modernized version with same of the same basic concepts and an additional screen. Let’s hope developers take it serious enough to build exciting games for it and not just port the Xbox and PS3 portfolio with some added content (which we are seeing already). Some devs already say the Wii U has less CPU power than those from Sony and Microsoft (1.2 GHZ compared to 3.2 GHZ and 3.2 GHZ) and titles like Batman or Ninja Gaiden seem to perform noticably worse in terms of FPS. But then again the old Wii was said to be “just two GameCubes duct taped together” and it still turned out to be a fun console for most of its years.

Finally a date (November 28 for US) and a price: 299 for the basic set in white color with 8GB Flash and 349 for the premium set with 30GB Flash and a subscription plan for 10% off the Nintendo store.

I can’t wait to unbox the first new console in five years. Nintendo Land will be bundled (not in Japan), which is good. Other than that, I don’t really see exciting games coming up on launch day:

FIFA 13, Mass Effect 3: Special Edition, Nano Assault Neo, New Super Mario Bros. U, Nintendo Land, Rayman Legends, Trine 2: Director’s Cut, Toki Tori 2 and ZombiU

Mass Effect 3 is a great game, but I can’t imagine who might want to play a title that is the end of a trilogy and released on other consoles months ago. How many people actually played ME 1 and 2 and didn’t buy 3 yet?

New Super Mario Bros. U looks like a fun game and almost identical to it’s Wii counterpart. Which is the problem. You essentially get the same game right now already. If you haven’t bought it by now, why bother?

Rayman Legends will see some good traction, that’s for sure. Not my cup of tea, but it has it’s fans, and for a good reason.

Finally, ZombiU is the game all hardcore fans have been waiting for and so far it looks promising. I’m skeptical though. First, I can’t help myself but find the Zombie hype more than over. These games have become the new WW2 shooters. Plus, I clearly remember Red Steel, which was a Wii launch title. It was, like ZombiU, developed by Ubisoft and praised for it’s mature approach and good looking graphics. In the end it had tons of issues, mostly gameplay and control scheme related.

Still, the launch games announced so far are a decent mix with some good potential. Remember the Wii launch titles ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_launch )? Apart from one of the best Zelda titles ever (which was delayed forever to fit the launch window), that was some pretty crappy stuff. And looking at the games to be released in the following weeks after launch, it’s quite promising: 

Aliens: Colonial Marines, Assassin’s Creed 3, Batman Arkham City Armoured Edition, Darksiders 2, Disney Epic Mickey 2, Game & Wario, Game Party Champions, Just Dance 4, Lego City: Undercover, Madden NFL 13, Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, NBA 2k13, Ninja Gaiden 3, Rabbids Land, Rise of the Guardians, Runner 2, Scribblenauts Unlimited, Sing Party, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, Sports Connection, Tank! Tank! Tank!, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Warriors Orochi 3 and Your Shape.

Can’t wait.

Nintendo’s new WiiU console will be all about the second screen, essentially a handheld without its own heart, streaming information from the main console. This opens up fun ideas for single- and multiplayer and has been proven to work before with the GameCube + GameBoy Advance and later Wii + DS connection. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles and Legend Of Zelda: Four Swords are great examples of multi-screen gameplay that is easy to get, fun to play and adds extra value to the game. 

GameBeat’s Dean Takahashi brings up the issue that Nintendo’s new console features only one CPU, basically taking care of all data being displayed to the main and controller screen. While this is OK if it works smoothly, it is resulting in a big problem: You can only play with one WiiU controller at the same time. Technically it’s not impossible to have two or even more display controllers connected at the same time, but the CPU isn’t able to keep up with the extra power needed. Nintendo tries to cover that by presenting games that utilize a WiiU and several Wii remote controllers for multiplayer fun, but in the end this is just a big downside.

Considering a launch date for late November/December, how likely is Nintendo to address this issue in its final stage of production? Devkits might be outdated and developers have to adjust, but I’m pretty sure every single game studio would happily take the offer with the bigger horsepower, giving them some extra “boom” to fire their launch window games (which usually don’t fully exploit a console’s power anyway).

Nintendo was never very hardcore in terms of hardware power. The fun always came half by innovative design (Wii remote, two screens, touchpad, 3D) and half by the 1st party lineup with all the strong franchises like Mario and Zelda. They always opted for lower price instead of hightech hardware. 

But given the technical flaws the WiiU has right now, Nintendo is ignoring their own strategy: to provide the most fun, easy to access, multiplayer experience in the living room.

(Source: thealistdaily.com)

It was rumored to be announced at E3, now it comes with two weeks delay: Nintendo announced the 3DS XL, an updated version of the current handheld with bigger screens and longer battery life.

(Source: gamasutra.com)

This is nice. Nintendo as of 2012 sold

61.91M Nintendo Entertainment System
49.10M Super Nintendo Entertainment System
32.93M Nintendo 64
21.74M Nintendo GameCube
95.85M Nintendo Wii

So if that downward spiral would have continued, the Wii should have sold more like 10+M units where it actually came close to 100M. Thats an impressive turnaround and looking at these numbers it totally makes sense to base the next console on the tremendous success of the Wii brand and call it WiiU. Still I think too many people might confuse it with a Wii periphical.

This year was the first where I wasn’t live watching the E3 keynotes of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Turns out I didn’t really miss out. Nintendo’s show was especially disappointing. How can you make a press conference about a brand new, innovative new game console that comes out by the end of the year so unbelievable boring and serious? Reggie Fils-Aime is partly to blame as his “I came to take names and kick ass” attitute that worked great some years ago when Nintendo was in desperate shape just doesn’t work out anymore. He’s selling innovation and fun as if he’s giving us the headsup on his war on terror in the middle east. Why Reggie? You are announcing new games for a next gen console, which, by next year’s E3 is already half a year old and standing in the shadow of Sony’s and Microsoft’s next gen announcements.

Sony and Microsoft did much better in that area, with a solid presentation and good exclusives. No surprises anywhere, but thats almost impossible to achieve anyway in times where even the smallest rumors get blown out of proportion on the net.