News - Nintendo breaks new ground with the Wii U console

[kalniel]

Nice idea but I bet the controllers will be astronomically expensive. Heck its basically a DS in components - and there still around a £100 to buy. Can you imagine needing to buy 4 £100 controllers to allow the whole family to play. I can remember the people complaining about the cost of buying 4 wii controllers!

I think the idea is that you only buy one of the fancy controllers, the rest you use wi-motes for.

[crossy]

Great stuff, I've got all the reasons to call it Wee on U now..

I thought "WiiDL" would have been a good name, then I thought about it a bit longer ...

[DrATty]

I'm not sure the cost of a controller with a screen needs to be expensive. There are Android tablets for sale at less than £60 in my local supermarket. Quite what Nintendo think they can sell them for is a different matter.
I wonder whether they will detract from the ' community' play that the Wii encourages. If everyone is looking at their own screen it's no different from playing with networked DS consoles.

[markpc]

It looks like they are copying their old rivals.

Looks just like the old SEGA Gamegear, only very updated.

[crossy]

I'm not sure the cost of a controller with a screen needs to be expensive. There are Android tablets for sale at less than £60 in my local supermarket. Quite what Nintendo think they can sell them for is a different matter.

£60! That must be one of these cheapo Chinese knockoffs with 'droid 1.6.

I wonder whether they will detract from the ' community' play that the Wii encourages. If everyone is looking at their own screen it's no different from playing with networked DS consoles.

May I politely suggest that this might actually enable new community play - specifically for Wii-based implementation of board games - because you can display your tiles/cards/etc on the controller screen and keep it private. I'm also thinking that this could be really good for RPG's too - being able to have your inventory on your screen, or select spells by touching the name on the touchscreen.

I'm going to assume that Nintendo have some really good titles - the ones that make you think "heck, this was a really good idea". I'm remembering the slagging they got in some quarters over WiiPlus.

[buildyourbox]

control is like in ipad crossed with psp

[hypnoticstate]

The Wii was an awful gimmick. This will be too.

[crossy]

The Wii was an awful gimmick. This will be too.

Pretty darned popular "gimmick" though - great for party games, arguably better than the XB360 and PS3. I'll hold my judgement on WiiU until more details emerge, although if it's a decent price then I'll probably trade in the current Wii.

[[GSV]Trig]

I think its a good idea but it doesnt solve the actual problem with the Wii which is rubbish graphics.

Is that a problem tho, look at the consoles we used to play as kids, graphics were **** and could be massively outdone by mobile phones we use today, but it wasnt about the graphics, its about the game..
Look at Angry Birds for instance, graphics are ok but not brilliant yet its a bit popular..

[Steve A]

arguably better than the XB360 and PS3..

Your joking right ???

[crossy]

(arguably better than the XB360 and PS3..) Your joking right ???

Read the post - I didn't say that the Wii is better than the PS3/360. I did suggest that the Wii's "party game" selection is better than those more powerful boxes. It's a generally held opinion that the Wii sells in the amounts it does because it's more group friendly than the other consoles (especially as - at the moment - there's not that much price difference between Wii and '360).

The kids have got a '360 and access to the family's Wii, and when they get friends around it's invariably the Wii that gets switched on. That said, it doesn't hurt any that most of their friends have Wii's whereas few have '360's, and even fewer have PS3's.

[Blademrk]

Nice idea but I bet the controllers will be astronomically expensive. Heck its basically a DS in components - and there still around a £100 to buy. Can you imagine needing to buy 4 £100 controllers to allow the whole family to play. I can remember the people complaining about the cost of buying 4 wii controllers!

I think the idea is that you only buy one of the fancy controllers, the rest you use wi-motes for.

The Wii U will only support 1 of those controllers, the other players use Wiimotes.