The Nintendo news and discussion thread

[DomsBeard]

I think it'll be £199 personally. Can't see them going above £200.

[Roy42]

The base model is actually around the same price of the Wii at launch (taking a Yen to € conversion - that may change later today)

Oh, the same is true for the premium model converting to Australian dollars, but Australia is a far different case from anywhere else in the world; and that's what concerns me.

The premium version converts to AUS $388; and I am almost certain that its Australian price won't be based on that, but on the conversion to US $405, then dramatically upscaled under the guise of "import costs" and "conversion rate". Even if they put the US price down to $350 or even $300, keep in mind that the Wii was $250 at launch in the States that went up to $400 in Australia. The 60GB PS3 at launch was $999 in Australia. The 3DS was $250. After the price cut.

It's pretty easy to predict what the price will be for America and Europe on most consoles if you have Japanese information beforehand, but Australia is almost always a toss-up between almost having parity with other countries and being so far off the mark that you hit Mark's cousin Jacob and he gets really pissed off at you and comes after you with a cricket bat.

[delb2k]

Well well aint this an interesting pickle.

The base stats of the machine concearn me here. 1GB of RAM is only double the 360 currently and I suspect the successor from both MS and Sony will be at least be double that if not more. Worse is the HDD capacity, at 32gig it seems positively tiny for any form of digital download possibility that Nintendo themselves want to promote. I am sure that on the 360 and PS3 I easily have over 32gig of downloadable content sitting there ready to play.

Now while that may be easily remedied if they go with the ability to replace that storage I highly highly doubt it.

Prices I am not too bothered with, and they may surprise me and radically increase the internal storage for the unit in the west but I feel that the problem of badly handled or simply non-existant ports is going to come back to bite Nintendo very badly.

[Benjo321]

1GB of RAM should be plenty for the games, especially considering that the OS and background processors are getting a massive 1GB of dedicated RAM to play with.

The internal storage space is a bit worrying though. 8 and 32GB just don't seem anywhere near big enough these days. Sure it might end up having SD card slots or let you use an external HDD but I'd rather have it all built in and easily accessible.

[delb2k]

True, my only fear is that if the new machines launched year have more than 1gig the developers will use it to thier maximum, so anything less will mean some form of compromise.

It may not be huge, but that possibility is there.

[Alex79]

Last ever Nintendo non-handheld console? I think maybe.

I wish they'd go the Sega way and give up on hardware and make games only. Mario Galaxy on PS3 would be awesome.

[AndyKurosaki]

As much as I'm uncertain about the Wii U, I certainly wouldn't want it to fail. A world without Nintendo consoles would be a duller world indeed.
I can't see it failing myself, sure there will be party-game dross like the Wii, but no doubt there will be stand-out titles that make it worthwhile.

[Roy42]

So a recap of the Europe/PAL Nintendo Direct. I miss anything important?

-Wii U launches in Europe on the 30th of November
-Prices are to be confirmed by retailers
-Basic pack includes 8GB console, one GamePad, HDMI cable, two AC adapters
-Premium pack includes 32GB console, one GamePad, HDMI cable, two AC adapters, GamePad stand and charge cradle, NintendoLand and Nintendo Network Premium
-Nintendo Network Premium gives points for each purchase on the eShop that can accumulate to provide discounts on future purchases
-ZombiU will be available on November 30, with a special Premium Pack that includes it as the pack-in instead of NintendoLand
-Rayman Legends will be available November 30
-New Super Mario Bros. U will be available November 30
-Mass Effect 3 Special Edition will be available November 30
-Toki Tori 2 will be available November 30 from the eShop
-Nano Assault Neo will be available November 30
-Trine 2: Director's Cut will be available November 30 from the eShop
-Fifa 13 will be available November 30
-Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will be available November 30
-Project P-100 was revealed as The Wonderful 101
-Bayonetta 2 was announced for Wii U
-Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is coming to Wii U and 3DS, with cross-platform saves and multiplayer
-Wii U will support SDHC and USB storage devices

And a bunch more games were labeled for the "launch window", though "this year" kept on being said, which should hopefully mean that the "launch window" is a little tighter than the 3DS' launch window.

EDIT: Apparently the launch window is March 2013. Still not terrible; it'll only really be a problem if the games announced for that period don't actually arrive by that point.

And here's a video of the games "for the launch window - and beyond!"

[Xantiriad]

They've announced Wii-U supports SHDC (high capacity) SD Cards and any USB storage - for example external HDD. Obviously no details of how that would work.

I'd look at the 8GB/32GB as storage for game saves, DLC, etc with downloads stored on cards or USB much like the Wii and SD Card setup.

[Roy42]

Any particular trick to getting the YouTube embed to work?

[mikeleddy83]

yeah, remove "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=" and it works, think this one is nOEBwLJs or something



Quote this comment and you'll see the tag just above (didn't work for me here though, must be missing a bit)

Got this though:


I think there may have been a confimation of Monster Hunter Tri Ultimate on 3DS in there too!

[Roy42]

Ah; I had a hunch that was it. Couldn't be bothered testing to see if I was right. Anyway. I'm thoroughly looking forward to its release. I just need to not get shafted on price. Even $400 again and I'll be okay. I guess I'll wait a month and try checking some local retailers.

[Sean]

I'll probably wait for a price drop, but, I don't really think $300 is *that* bad. Just not enough games ATM to justify it, for me.

Still, Nintendo TVii bummed me out. I know they probably had to do something like that, but, seeing Nintendo talk about TV and media shit me sad. I know some people will see it as a plus, but, I'm just so done with all of that stuff. I just want games.

[DomsBeard]

No new F Zero or Metroid? Sad face

[dezm0nd]

They're both in NINTENDOLAND!! YAY! but yeah, I agree, no new real games on either is a bit of a sad to the face.

[ratsoalbion]

Can I save the money before November 30? No.
Have I got a credit card? Yes.

Day one purch.

[AndyKurosaki]

Have I got a Credit Card? Yes.
Do I have room in my house for another console, and acsessories? No.
Sarah's had a lucky escape there then

[DomsBeard]

I think I need to try one out before buying. None of the launch titles inspire me, look forward to hearing about you guys getting it day one though

[Buckled Kipper]

I'll be interested to try out the controller as I think proddy touch screen (I'm very technical) is just going to feel very outdated now I'm so used to iPad/Vita touchscreens.

[delb2k]

Ahh I really want to like this machine, I really do, but I cannot help but feel it is going to hit no mans land in around 18 months.

Mostly that belief stems from the hardware. Fishing around the net the internals do not look fantastic. A 1gig memory alongside a mid range AMD GPU (rumoured at a modified 5800 series) and a tri-core IBM CPU is the suppossed spec which puts us around a mid-range PC which is definately better than what we currently have, but I suspect will be trounced by the end of next year.

Nothing I have seen so far makes me think that Nintendo will have any better success getting a solid 3rd party AAA support this time around than they did last time. Life will be good for the next 18 months, after that the hassle of porting the latest Unreal 3 title to a format that cannot support the engine will just not be worth the hassle. Especially as I do not think this unit will sprint out of the blocks.

And yes before you all say it I know it is all about the games, and to nintendos credit they have two excellent looking platinum titles that should appeal to the hardcore. I say should as this may be a bit too hardcore, for all the greatness of bayonetta it is not a gears, it is not something that bridges that gap between a hardcore title and mainstream acceptance.

And that is the big old crux here. Nintendo needs this to succeed, but after the initial rush who is going to buy this? Where is its market outside the nintendo fanboy for this machine?

And you know what, after all of that, I bloody want one. But that is because I assume both platinum games will be spectacular, and impressively unique. I always say I follow the software, and damn everything else. But I am not everyone, which i think may be nintendos problem...