Coffee Beans
Nintendo of America will be holding its Wii U press conference tomorrow, September 13th. Nintendo is set to detail the Wii U's release date, price, services for it, and probably even more Wii U launch games that haven't been offiically announced yet.
What are some of my predictions, thoughts, and wishes for what we will see tomorrow from the Wii U conference? Start brewing yourself a pot of coffee (you may need a second pot by the time you finish), and let's take a look!
Caffeinated Predictions, Thoughts, & Wishes
I believe the Wii U will release before November 13th. Why November 13th? It has all to do with what will probably be the biggest video game of the 2012 holiday season: Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
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| Official looking? |
While Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has not been officially confirmed for the Wii U (not even sure about the Wii), I personally believe Nintendo has worked with Activision and Treyarch, "keeping the lid" on the game's announcement until the Wii U's press conference on Thursday. With all the advertising Nintendo should be doing for the Wii U this the holiday season, and with all the advertising Activision will be doing for Black Ops 2, I think having the biggest video game of the 2012 holiday season available for the Wii U day one, can only see as a positive for the system.
I don't think Nintendo would want Black Ops 2 out before the Wii U console is available, especially considering Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will most likely will be the biggest game of 2012 (in terms of early release sales numbers and units sold over the holidays). Also, getting the Wii U out before Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 would probably allow Nintendo to have its online service tested pretty well (load testing anybody?), because the game is geared toward online multiplayer.
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| Sniping on the GamePad in multiplayer? Probably in the single-player campaign. |
Black Ops 2 will be releasing on November 13th, which is a Tuesday, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Nintendo has a history in North America of releasing consoles on Sundays, and I believe November 11th is the latest date that the Wii U console will release.
Going out on a limb here from some "investigative work" tonight, I'm going to predict Nintendo will release the Wii U on October 28, 2012 in North America. Also, this allows them to release it before the presidential election in the U.S., which could affect some of their potential buyers' decisions going into the holiday season.
Now that I have my Wii U console release date prediction out, here is a list of some of my wishes for the Wii U console that I hope Nintendo addresses/confirms at the conference tomorrow:
- A Wii U console price of $249.99, with the GamePad included. No game necessary.
- Confirm 100% all Wii Virtual Console and WiiWare purchases will transfer (or not) to the Wii U console.
- Address the Wii U GamePad's streaming capabilities. Name which Wii U launch games will be able to use the Wii U GamePad for campaigns, and not just multiplayer features and minigames. Having Virtual Console, WiiWare, or at the very least all new eShop Wii U games being able to be streamed to the GamePad for play would be awesome, and a very big selling point for me.
- Release more specific information about the Wii U GamePad, such as how far it will properly function away from the system, how long will a full battery charge last with the screen being used, can it be used for in-game voice chat (assuming yes, but never know)? Also, how much will an extra Wii U GamePad cost?
- Address the unfriendly "friend code" system. Will the Wii U console be a continuation of the 3DS, where it is one "friend code" per system? Or, will it be an account based type system tied to perhaps your Club Nintendo account, with possibly even more than one gamer account per Wii U console?
- Confirm the Wii U will maintain the Nintendo Channel functionality of the Wii, with it displaying the hours Wii U owners spend playing their games.
- I do wish that they will confirm New Super Mario Bros. Wii U has online functionality of some sort, either cooperative multiplayer through the campaign which could be incredible, or even some smaller online mode outside of the main campaign (not holding my breath on this one).
- Address things like whether Wii U games will have the "accomplishments" that some 3DS games have.
One last semi-caffeinated prediction, and going out on a limb here again, I'm predicting that Wave Race Wii U will be announced as a launch title for the system. Why? Nintendo released Wave Race for the Nintendo 64, helping display the systems graphical capabilities, and they did the same for the GameCube. Being that the Wii U is the first HD console for Nintendo, I'm just guessing they will really want to "Wow!" the gamers that love HD graphics, and I think water effects in HD are probably a great way to do it. Wave Race Wii U will have online multiplayer and leaderboards, much like the Mario Kart Wii and 3DS games.
Questions
Do any of you agree, or perhaps disagree, with my predictions and points above? Do you think my October 28th Wii U release date prediction is too early? What about Wave Race Wii U?
Is there anything that you must hear, or see, from Nintendo's Wii U conference on Thursday before you commit to buying one? Is there a price that would put the Wii U console out of your range, assuming $350 is the highest they will go?
Gooood afternoon.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about the Black Ops 2 stuff - but it doesn't seem unreasonable, nor your suggested price point and release dates. I know a couple of people here at work are already expecting Gamestop to be immediately taking preorders after this show.
The friend code/VC titles/achievements/online functionality - this stuff I feel like REALLY needs to be addressed soon. For me, those are the things I most need to hear about.
As for price? I wouldn't venture over $300 at this point personally. I enjoy my Wii quite a bit, but it is easily our least-played of the 3 current gen consoles in my house, so when the successors come out to play, Nintendo probably has to convince me harder than the other 2 right now.
I would really, really like them to announced Wave Race Wii U. It was gorgeous on the N64, so I can only imagine how it would look in 720p, maybe even 1080p? Man, you've got me dreamin' now.
ReplyDeleteI think $249 is a spot on price for the console as well. I would spend $299 max, but obviously lower is more affordable for the mass market.
As for transferring VC and WiiWare games, this has been 100% confirmed I do believe. I also wish that they can be played on the Wii U GamePad. How awesome would that be?
The one thing that continues to worry me with the Wii U is the exclusive support from third parties. Nintendo looks, to me, to still be the sole drawcard for this console.
ReplyDeleteI don't really see any reason to play the cross-platform games on the Wii U. Not when my achievements are already tied up on my PS3 , and considering the developers are not likely to do too much to make the Wii U version substantially different to the other console versions.
Without that third party support, things are going to get really nasty for the Wii U when the next PS4 and Xbox 720 consoles are released and the Wii U can no longer do cross-platform games. It'll be the Wii all over again.
This worries me. Hoepfully I'm proven wrong, because 3rd parties are important to me.
"I know a couple of people here at work are already expecting Gamestop to be immediately taking preorders after this show."
ReplyDeleteAs am I, and one is only 3 minutes away, hope my brakes don't give out pulling into the parking lot!
"As for price? I wouldn't venture over $300 at this point personally..."
I really am leaning toward $250, not sure about $300...never purchased a console at $300, and with Sony rumored to be releasing a new PS3 model, for less than $250...well, the whole thing could get really crazy (see crazy as in $80 3DS price drop in 9 months, $50 GameCube price drop in about 6 months).
Thanks for the comment!
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ReplyDeleteI can only imagine how it would look in 720p, maybe even 1080p?"
Yeah, I think Wave Race is the type of game you want to display HD graphics with, because of the water effects that can be done in the game.
If I were guessing on the topic, I would say Monster Games is probably developing a racing game for the Wii U's launch though, like they had Excite Trucks for the Wii's launch. I'm just thinking it will be Wave Race, but I'm sure there are many F-Zero fans ready for another in that series as well.
On the, "As for transferring VC and WiiWare games, this has been 100% confirmed I do believe." I know Nintendo had commented on "Virtual Console" purchases, but then didn't seem to confirm WiiWare purchases. I think some were speculating that maybe it was/is a contract issue with the developers and publishers of the games.
I know not all WiiWare games would play on the touch screen, at least not without control updates, but I think it would be a gigantic step in the right direction for making the GamePad essential and a big selling point.
"The one thing that continues to worry me with the Wii U is the exclusive support from third parties."
ReplyDeleteWhen you say, "exclusive support from third parties" are you meaning the lack of exclusive games support from third parties only for the Wii U? Or, just not third party support in general?
"Without that third party support, things are going to get really nasty for the Wii U when the next PS4 and Xbox 720 consoles are released and the Wii U can no longer do cross-platform games. It'll be the Wii all over again."
With the Wii U having HD graphics and 1080p capabilites, I don't think Nintendo has any need to worry with the next consoles. Microsoft released the Xbox ahead of the PS3, and while there have been many "PS3 vs. Xbox" graphics posts over the years, they both get a good number of multiplatform games, and the graphics usually don't matter a WHOLE lot.
Unless you see a huge push (higher cost for us consumers) for new televisions with displays, there's not a whole lot more the consoles will be doing right now I believe.
I do think, and hope, that Nintendo should try and get as many multiplatform games to the Wii U though.
It's interesting though that you mentioned your achievements being tied to your PS3, so you wouldn't want to play a multiplatform game on the Wii U, because of the account/achievement ties. My neighbor has a PS3, but what is the ONE game he has mentioned a few times that he is most interested in the Wii U for? Batman: Arkham City.
I thought it was interesting that he was more interested in the gameplay with the Wii U's GamePad, than he was about achievements or even the game being cheaper on the PS3 when the Wii U version releases.
Thanks for the comment/feedback, BTW, did you ever add my PSN name to your system? I should probably check invites, I don't even remember now!
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ReplyDeleteWhen you say, "exclusive support from third parties" are you meaning the lack of exclusive games support from third parties only for the Wii U? Or, just not third party support in general?"
Exculsive games from third parties. I really won't be buying anything for the Wii U that I can readily get on another platform, and as I'm not a massive fan of the majority of Nintendo's franchises, this could leave me a little cold.
"It's interesting though that you mentioned your achievements being tied to your PS3, so you wouldn't want to play a multiplatform game on the Wii U, because of the account/achievement ties. My neighbor has a PS3, but what is the ONE game he has mentioned a few times that he is most interested in the Wii U for? Batman: Arkham City."
I have around 300 games on PS3, and two accounts filled with trophies. That's an attachment that's not easy to lose because a console adds an iPad-with-buttons into the mix :P
I haven't added you on PSN yet I think - I am very lazy with that! What's your username again?
merry Christmas wishes
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