Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has told reporters that the Wii U will launch in the US, Japan, Europe, and Australia for the end of 2012. While the system was previously pegged for a 2012 release, this is the first time we've got confirmation that it'll make it in time for the holiday season in all major markets. The 3DS launched last year in February in Japan and March elsewhere, meaning it likely got off to a slower start than if it had been available before Christmas. The announcement also means we are likely to see much more finalized details of the Wii U's software lineup at E3 in June — so far, hands-on time with the console has been limited to tech demos.
Wii U to launch in US, Japan, Europe and Australia by end of 2012
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Awwwwwwww yeeaaaahhhhhhh!!!!
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 3:13 AM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Why?
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 3:15 AM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Sarcasm doesn’t come through on the Internet.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 3:28 AM EST reply Recommend (16) Flag actions
Right… because there’s absolutely no way to show sarcasm in comments /s ;)
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 9:43 AM EST reply Recommend (5) Flag actions
I can’t see it as well and the /s reduces the impact of the quote.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 10:11 AM EST reply Recommend (4) Flag actions
Can’t wait toooooo jayefef, It is gonna be sweeeeeeeet!
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 5:03 AM EST reply Recommend (10) Flag actions
My psychic powers predict a shinier Zelda… Mario…. Smash Bros……Kirby…… Mario Party Game…….My lack of interest in playing any of them.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 9:14 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
This hunk of junk needs to be out NOW, not ~9 months from now!
Imagine if Apple announced the Original iPhone, and then told us “oh yeah, and it comes out before the end of the year” in (late) January!
The Wii was a huge initial success, but its not exactly doing well at present….they need the successor ASAP.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 3:16 AM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
EEDAR said that Nintendo sold 1.7 million Wiis last month, as compared to 1.35 million and 2.4 million for the PS3 and Xbox 360, respectively. Those are still relatively strong sales figures for a console that has an already announced successor and is the runaway winner of the console wars this generation.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 3:41 AM EST reply Recommend (7) Flag actions
It’s sold more than any of the other consoles this generation – but I wouldn’t say it was the runaway winner. See Nintendo’s near $1 billion dollar loss this financial year.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 4:44 AM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
Lots of companies post major losses in their gaming divisions when they have to develop new hardware and it’s obviously time for a new console.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 10:15 AM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
It was a winning system for Nintendo only. I mean good for them but not for 3rd party devs.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 9:15 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I would actually disagree.
It would pay for them to scale down and align the release of their new hardware so that the specs line up with the next-gen (e.g. 28nm, multi gigabytes of RAM, powerful CPU).
Smartphones won the casual-gamers, with the Wii being taken out of the closet for parties. Consoles now exist for the sole purpose of hardcore gaming experiences and as such, Nintendo should align itself to the other platforms or yet again lose 3rd party support.
Without a massive amount of new casual gamers flocking to the platform (as in the case of the Wii), the platform will fail to create compelling 3rd party experience next to true next-gen consoles (Wii-U being 2x faster than the 360 as rumoured is not good enough 7 years after the release of the 360).
Of course, dedicated gamers (myself included) will buy one anyway just to get a (7 years late) HD Mario and Zelda, and these will be as amazing as usual however, that just creates additional reasons for 3rd parties to shun the platform. If next-gen games built with certain assumptions about RAM and GPU prowess cannot scale down to the Wii-U, if Wii-U sales are low and if Wii-U requires a lot of work to adapt gameplay to the controller then 3rd party support will simply disappear as it will not be worth the extra development time to develop a different engine/game (or even worse, hamstringing new development with lowest common denominator hardware specs) .
I honestly think that Nintendo’s pride is getting in the way of what is surely the right thing to do – which is to abandon the Wii-U and focus on AAA+ game development on one or more of the other platforms. The Wii was lightning in a bottle, it tapped into an untouched market. That market is now touched and occupied each day on the touch platforms. Wii will never happen again, and without the next platform appealing to core-gamers – it is most certainly folly.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 7:26 AM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Because being on par with the other consoles worked out so well for them with the Gamecube, right? 3rd parties flocked to that console and it wasn’t a distant 3rd in the US, right? Making a system exactly like the others would be suicide for Nintendo, and just isn’t going to happen.
Wii U is in quite a different situation than the Wii was for a lot of reasons, but I’ll start off with the most important one: it’s launching at least a year before the competition.The Wii U will also likely be priced very competitively to the current competition, and I doubt the next systems would be anything less than $400. So that leaves Nintendo a year of being the only “next-gen” system on the market, and when the next systems drop it will still have the significant price difference that was so pivotal to the Wii early on. Call me crazy but I think that’s a nice situation to be in.
Also, maybe this is just me, but having a system twice as powerful as the 360n sounds pretty damn good to me. I’m pretty happy with current gen graphics wise and I imagine that added power will produce some nice features, including current gen games running natively at 1080p. I mean not saying this is going to appen, but can you imagine GTA5 on the Wii U this holiday? That could be killer, the best version of what will definitely be the biggest game of the year(assuming it drops this year). Things like that will get the core gamers early on.
Not to mention Nintendo has been talking up the large potential for F2P games on Wii U. That may not be appealing to you, but thats a relatively untapped market on systems right now and nintendo being the first one to really do it in a big way could make it become the console of choice for those games.
I’m very excited to see Nintendo at this E3.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 8:46 AM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
As great as that sounds, I can’t seeing GTA 5 appearing on the Wii U.
It just doesn’t fit their mainstream target audience.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 9:07 AM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Nintendo had GTA chinatown wars on the DS. If they can get rockstar to make an (initially) exclusive GTA game for DS, why not have a port of a game on other platforms on Wii U? There was some pretty big buzz about how easy it is to program functionality to the Wii U screen controller from the guys making Darksiders 2, so I see it as a defiite possibility.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 9:17 AM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Spot on. Nintendo is in a good position for the Wii U launch. The biggest question , for me, is if they can compete effectively with their online services offering.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 9:25 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’m not anti-Nintendo, far from it. I’m also excited to see this-gen Nintendo stuff on the Wii-U (which is what we are likely to get). I own every one of their systems and when the Wii was announced, I understood the market that they were aiming for and the genius behind how they marketed to the mainstream.
As you say, I’m sure the Wii-U (as rumoured) will be capable of running current-gen games at 1080P and will probably be able to upres the textures too, but that is not a next-gen leap. Next-gen is typically an order of magnitude leap in terms of total system performance. Although this is obviously an over-simplistic argument, 2X fill-rate boost is only just enough to run current-gen stuff at 1080P (plus a little extra extra eye candy).
Assuming that Microsoft and Sony go with their rumoured specs of at least 6X processing power, (likely 10x higher given the transition from 90nm for PS3/360 to 28nm in Loop/PS4) then they will be able to triple the fidelity as well as run the game at 1080P whilst maintaining a reasonable first-gen power-profile..
The main boon to developers though has and always will-be RAM. It determines how much detail is available in a world. It determines the level of complexity that can be woven into the game-world. If the Wii-U does not have an amount of RAM comparable to the PS4/Loop then it will be extremely difficult to port those games to the Wii.
You brought up the example of the GameCube. Think the main problem with the GameCube was Nintendo’s attitude and support for developers and the overriding opinion at the time that the PS2 was the winner (which led developers to the PS2). At the time, the design made it look like a childs toy at the same time as Sony was marketing toward 20 somethings and making gaming hip.
A decent specced console that is exactly the same as any other console with the same 3rd party support as any other console but with Nintendo’s own first party games and accessories is a recipe for winning in the next-gen. It doesn’t need to stand out, it simply needs to match-up.
I love Nintendo, but I want them to be safe, and I think this hardware round will be painful for them.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 9:54 AM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
Yeah I disagree with almost everything you say. Have you seen mario galaxy? 1 or 2? Nintendo doesn’t need impressive hardware to make spectacular looking games. It’s all in the art direction and style. Have you played limbo? It’s compelling and has 3 colors. What you’re arguing for is that nintendo be the same as sony and microsoft which is what? Selling your console at a loss because of the hardware you put inside of it?
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 10:15 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’m not arguing that Nintendo produce the same types of games as Sony and Microsoft or even the third parties.
I own both Mario Galaxies and both Wii Zeldas. Mario Galaxy looks great with its art style, but both Zeldas, whilst stylized, have muddy textures and low polygon characters that do indeed detract from immersion in the game-world (although I would not dispute that gameplay is sublime anyway). But I already said, I’m a massive Nintendo fanboy. That is not the point.
The point is who is their target consumer? How will they make the Wii-U appealing to that group? My assertion is that the casual gamer is already happy with their smartphones and their existing under-used Wii to care about a new living room casual platform. If the target consumer are neo-core gamers (COD/Generic FPS/GTA/EA sports types) then they have to have a platform that is at least in the same ballpark as the specs of their competition.
I’m also not suggesting that Nintendo sell their console at a loss. I’m suggesting that because they can’t compete (unless they do sell at a loss), that they should abandon hardware that is surely doomed to end last in the next-gen (unless they spec-up and sell at a loss) and concentrate on software and let the other guys loss-lead on hardware whist they go on about selling their software in the tens of millions as per usual.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 12:30 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
Doomed to end last. That is ridiculous. Why can’t they repeat to some extent the success of the Wii? You are making the assumption that targeting the hard core gamers is the only way to succeed in the console market, which was proven entirely false by the last generation. You are also assuming that because casual gamers now play Angry Birds on their iPhones, they will have no need for a next-gen console. I think both assumptions are wrong. There are also the Zelda and Mario brands that alone can sell tons of units. I was one of the few people who did not buy a Wii, but if Wii U beats the next-gen Xbox to the market, I would absolutely get one to play an HD Zelda or Mario. Maybe long term Wii U won’t beat Xbox 720 or whatever, but it can most certainly compete.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 1:32 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
To some extent, they can achieve some success of the Wii, they just can’t tap into the same rich seam of curious casual gamers that are intimidated by traditional multi-button controllers. That market is already tapped by the original Wii model and the current Smartphone market.
That you like myself would be attracted by HD Zelda or Mario also says nothing about the viability of the platform. For some gamers, this is enough to warrant a purchase, but there is perhaps almost a full generation of gamers for whom the cartoony style of graphics favoured by Nintendo is offputting in the extreme from the cool factor of the console. When the target audience is grandmothers and famililes, cool factors not a jot, but Nintendo has to re-convince theose same casual gamers that the Wii U offers a compelling and unique experience but this time with a vastly more intimidating controller. Hard sell.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 7:44 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Unfortunately, Nintendo has confirmed multiple times that Wii U will NOT upscale Wii games. I can’t believe it either. Here’s a link.
I also remember seeing it confirmed by Ben Kuchera just this month. For some ridiculous reason, the Wii U will not upscale Wii games.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 2:05 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Nintendo couldn’t keep up with comparable hardware because of their insistence on outdated tech (the horrible N64 “brown mud texture” carts) or lower density proprietary tech (mini DVDs).
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 9:17 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You realize that the Nextbox is confirmed to be 6x more powerful than the 360, and its also confirmed the WiiU is 20% slower than the Nextbox. That makes the WiiU 5x more powerful than the 360, not 2×. Developers havent been honest with the WiiUs power.
Posted on Jan 27, 2012 | 12:56 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Apple announce the iPhone in January 2007 and launched at the end of June….
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 12:21 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I fully understood and anticipated this comment, the iPhone was launched because it was a “One More Thing” style keynote, where Steve Jobs and Apple would like it to be launched as a surprise, yet, you cant sneak a phone through the American FCC without it being leaked, which is a big no-no for Apple.
There would have been concrete proof that Apple had a phone on the way, and so Apple had that wonderful Keynote, to build attention, to have the cover of every magazine, headline after headline for months.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4OEsI0Sc_s
The Wii U cannot have such an effect, to put it bluntly, the mainstream media dont really give a shit about some new game console coming out months away, they certainly WILL cover the launch, the lines the fighting, the fat kid who waited six weeks to get one
But it wont be nonstop Wii U coverage like the Original iPhone got, an earth shattering new product that changed all our lives forever, the reinvention of the smartphone as we know it.
Evolution, not Revolution
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 10:24 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You can even compare it to the original Wii. I remember that getting so much attention since Nintendo first announced it as the Revolution. With the Wii U, it seems to be getting much less attention.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 11:31 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Announcing something early doesn’t change the release date. Just because you value anticipation too much doesn’t mean the rest of use do.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 1:54 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
My 3rd and 4th years of veterinary school are going to be unbearably hard, but I’m counting on the WiiU to help me let out some stress during my free time. I’m 3/4s of the way through Skyward Sword and I’m eager to play a next-gen Zelda with even more impressive visuals. There’s nothing like rocking a dungeon for 1-2 hours and then having a nice cutscene as a reward for your progress.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 9:43 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’d be much more hyped for these machines if their first announcement was “shipping next month”
Same thing happened with Vita. I was all hyped about it for about a month after announcement… now it’s in stores and I’m not as interested as I was… I’ve probably researched my way out of impulse-buy territory.
Say what you like about Apple, but they sure as hell know how to launch a product… be fuzzy on specs, tell people how amazing it is, and launch it within the fortnight.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 9:48 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Can’t you just put it on your calender and then forget about it? It has pretty much the same effect.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 1:55 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
/careface
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 9:57 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Color me interested.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 9:59 AM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
I really hope a Canada launch is implied by their “US” launch. Has Nintendo ever launched a console in the US on a different schedule from Canada?
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 10:46 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Is anyone really excited for this?
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 11:43 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Why wouldn’t you be excited?
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 11:46 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’ve already got my pre-order down and i’m paying money towards it every fortnight. I check my WiiU rumor websites every single day. I couldn’t be more excited.
Posted on Jan 27, 2012 | 12:58 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I just can’t.
Way back when, I championed the Wii, felt it was the way forward, enjoyed Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, even Red Steel.
And then felt the icy grip of reality as the prospects dried up, Mario Galaxy is an excellent game, but I would rather have Mario 64 anytime. When my 360 expired, I would, at one point, have binned the Xbox games, but instead I traded the Wii against a new one. Part of me still likes the Wii, I think that as a group activity, it does a tremendous job.
This just feels like there will be some amazing first party titles at launch, and then the casuals will ask for Angry Birds and the whole vicious cycle starts again.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 11:51 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
So you missed out on Xenoblade, Skyward Sword and The Last Story? Thats a pretty huge loss.
Posted on Jan 27, 2012 | 12:59 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I wish Nintendo would just give up on making consoles and just give me Zelda, Mario, Metroid etc. on my Xbox 360 (or 720)
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 12:01 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I just wish all console makers would give up and let me play all games on my PC. – logic
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 1:56 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Not really Nintendo makes fantastic 1st party games and their systems generally have piss poor 3rd party development. (Because no one buys them even if they are good). Same thing happened with Sega but unfortunately they just make bad Sonic games now.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 9:19 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
It would make more sense.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 7:47 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I need to see some killer apps.
It only just felt like developers were finally beginning to tap the potential of the wiimote (Skyward Sword) and now they’re all going to spend four years tripping over their shoelaces trying to figure out how to use the Wii U tablet controller and forget the wiimote ever existed.
I know the wiimote is still there, and I hope I’m wrong and developers will still support and design games around it. If they don’t, I might not even bother with next gen. Or I might go with a Move-powered PS4. I’m just sick of using thumbsticks for gameplay which really doesn’t suit them because unimaginative developers don’t know how to handle new interfaces.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 12:37 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
As far as I can tell, the Wiimotes are essential for local multiplayer games.
I’m hoping Nintendo decide to include at least one Wii Remote Plus, so that people who don’t have a Wii are guaranteed to have a Wii Remote and thus developers will be more willing to use it.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 1:59 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Waggle as a button-press was a much over-used trope of Wii games prior to the introduction of the truly great Motion Plus add-on.
To say that developers couldn’t figure out how to use the Wii-mote over the six year lifespan of the console is to assume that there is some innovate way to use the controller beyond what is obvious. Beyond detecting waggle, and for use as a rudimentary pointing device, a dual-stick controller is better in every way except that of accessibility to those intimidated by such controllers. The Wii Motion Plus is a much better implementation of motion sensing, but even so, beyond sword fighting and steering mini-games, there are precious few gameplay mechanics that fit around such controls.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 7:54 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
My beef with the Wii U isn’t the graphics, or even the online. What I really care about is the games.
Once again, Nintendo provided a console that missed nearly every major multi-console release. On top of that, the last couple years software has been at a near dead stop for the Wii. Just like the Gamecube, it felt like they gave up on it too early.
I started gaming on the NES. I guess it’s just a little sad to see a company who used to be the ones with all the major exclusives, with all the multi-console ports, and with the most powerful (or near it) hardware fall to this.
I’m not saying they’re making bad hardware per say (it could use improving though), I just really want some freakin’ support. The GC was my number one choice for the last generation, but I really got burned by Nintendo towards the end of it’s life. I purchased a Wii on day one, and saw the writing on the wall about the time Mario Kart came out. I’m glad I got out when I did, but I really hope Nintendo doesn’t go 3 for 3 here.
Then again, the “Wii” in Wii U isn’t really helping me believe anything will change…
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 1:02 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This is a valid issue. The Wii U won’t necessarily lose a console war because it isn’t keeping up with the specs. But the problem is, if you are a development company and investing in creating a game for PS4 or Xbox 720, you don’t have budget left to focus on a less powerful Wii U. So the Wii U will wind up getting “ports” of old Xbox 360 games because those are cheap to create and produce high margins. The only games worth having on Wii U will be Nintendo-branded games. Play those games once, and then resell the unit. There won’t be a reason to keep it around long term.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 1:38 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I could not agree more.
Lack of 3rd party support on the Wii wasn’t down to any business reason, it was down to the fact that it is impossible to target two different generations of console for a next-gen game (Wii being a rebadged GameCube and the 360/PS3 being at least 10X faster with 6x more RAM).
If Nintendo insists on lagging one generation behind again they can expect the same result (lack of cross platform 3rd party titles).
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 7:59 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Part of that problem lies with the third party developers. Yes, Nintendo have themselves caused some of it, but with the 3DS they tried to allow third party developers more lenience (less competition with their own games) and they seem to have failed to have delivered.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 2:01 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Releasing the best JRPG of the last 5 years on Wii only doesn’t exactly qualify as “abandoning the Wii”. Xenoblade is amazing.
Posted on Jan 27, 2012 | 1:00 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Ninetendo is dead in the console market. The Wii had early success with the motion controls gaining mainstream popularity. In my mind it was simply a fad that lasted a couple of years. Ninetendo will probably sell more consoles this generation than Microsoft and Sony, but down the road they are in trouble. The number of good game the Wii has seen over the last 2-3 years has been downright pathetic. If it weren’t for the low price point, this the Wii would not sell. Unless the Wii U gets solid support from the big developers, it’s going to be tough sledding.
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 8:15 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I feel like the Wii U isn’t going to catch on. Let’s all take a walk down memory lane and look back to the original Wii’s launch. Since Nintendo first unveiled the Nintendo Revolution, there was a lot of excitement. The media covered that thing like no tomorrow. The months growing up to the launch was filled with crazy coverage as people tried to find ways to preorder one or unearth new unknown details.
Look at the Wii U. In comparison, the Wii U seems to be getting the baseline coverage. I’m not seeing as much excitement on online forums or news sites. In general, the consensus seems to be “meh.”
I’m not trying to hate on the Wii U. I just think that the signs are pointing to a rocky start. While I would hate to see it happen, if they don’t do someting drastic, Nintendo may end up like Sega and Atari and be reduced to just a software developer (although I have to admit, playing Zelda on the Xbox/PS3 would be amazing).
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 | 11:40 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I think I’m good.
Posted on Jan 27, 2012 | 12:41 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
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