Polynauts Central (14/9 Archived)

Posted by Shaun McIlroy on September 14, 2012 05:34 am 1588

Did anyone notice the ALT text?

Todays header image is brought to you by Black Knight Rebel.

It's Friday September 14th and this is Polynauts Central, at Polygon on The Verge.

We now know the story concerning WiiU including price, date and launch games. Some folks are overjoyed that Bayonetta is returning as a platform exclusive, others not so much - my take is let's just be glad it's coming at all. There's more news below

  • For comics, manga and anime and if want a nice organised place to talk about those, then head on over to Crisis on Infinite Polygons Issue #5 for BreadKnights' all-in-one thread.
  • If you want to talk game related art - or even art in general but be sure to head over to the thread by Paradox Me called The Polygon Gallery of Fine Arts and grab yourself some cheese, olives and a glass of wine.
  • If you want to talk about, or discover new music then Shinta has a thread for you simply called Music.
  • If you want to talk about any movies or television shows with fear of spoilers then go to PrinceLUDA21's Polynauts: The Movie: Episode 2 thread.
  • Zombie711 feels that snacks should have a thread. Won't somebody go talk waffles with him?

FROM POLYGON

1: Nintendo Wii U release date is November 18th in US starting at $299.99, November 30th in Europe by Christopher Grant

The console will launch in two varieties: The $299.99 "Basic" version, which includes a white, 8GB Wii U console, a gamepad, AC adapters, a sensor bar, and an HDMI Cable. The $349.99 Deluxe edition includes all of that in a black, 32GB console, with charging cradles and a free copy of Nintendoland. The Deluxe Edition also includes access to the Deluxe Digital Promotion, which earns online shoppers rebates for downloadable Wii U titles.

The console will launch in Europe on November 30th. The price will vary from region to region, though retailers have been slow to announce how much they're selling the two bundles for. Micromania France is the only major retailer to speak up so far, announcing that its selling the Basic console for €299.99 and the Deluxe for €349.99.

2: Wii U Pro Controller priced at $49.99, coming November 18th by Samit Sarkar

A Wii U Pro Controller will cost $49.99 and will be available on the console's launch date, November 18th, Nintendo confirmed to Polygon.

The Pro Controller resembles an Xbox 360 controller and a Wii Classic Controller Pro. It's perhaps better suited for traditional "core" games than the bulky GamePad. The Wii U will support up to four simultaneous Wii Remotes or Pro Controllers.

3: Wii U games will cost $59.99 by Griffin McElroy

Wii U titles will most commonly have a suggested retail value of $59.99, Nintendo has confirmed to Polygon.

Both Amazon and Gamestop have begun taking pre-orders for titles like New Super Mario Bros. U and ZombiU for the price of $59.99. A Nintendo representative confirmed to Polygon that $59.99 will be the most common MSRP for Wii U titles, but that's a "baseline price," adding that, "specific games could be more or less."

4: The secret behind Nintendo TVii is an i.TV partnership (video walkthrough) by Ross Miller

For 15 minutes today, Nintendo was almost a tech company.

The company devoted a surprisingly low-key, show-and-tell portion of its Wii U launch event to demonstrate Nintendo TVii (pronounced as it were without the "ii"). It's arguably the company's non-gaming gambit, a chance to demonstrate the company is taking the "second screen" argument seriously — one that many companies are attempting these days, with the most direct comparison maybe being Microsoft's upcoming Smart Glass.

5: 'Call of Duty: Black Ops 2' on Wii U: The goods and the 'no comments' by Chris Plante

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 was the "one more thing" announcement at today's Nintendo press event in New York City. The latest iteration of the most popular series on the planet will include a few features exclusive to the Wii U, most notably a two-player mode that allows one player to play off a television screen while the other player uses the Wii U's second screen control pad.

FROM THE POLYNAUTS FORUMS:

1: What i want in ALL rpg games (probably) by TheRealDoshu

As i may have mentioned in a previous post (or comment), right now i'm going through ALL OF THE RPGs. It's an unstoppable hunger that cannot be satiated so i keep on keepin' on. What this bit of hedonistic overconsumption has given me (among other things) is an ever firmer grip on what i want from RPGs.

Nothing special, but here's a short list of the staples (i'll add to it as i go along and as time permits -- also if i don't forget).

2: I'm actually excited for the Wii U by Gudgel

If I am being completely honest, I have to admit that I have been highly skeptical of the Wii U. From the first announcement until this morning, I thought it would be too expensive, have no compelling games, and offer nothing of value over an Xbox or PS3. But no more! I am officially excited.

That being said, I can still see why a lot of gamers won't jump in and buy one this holiday season. For me, I have a four year old and a three year old. I can't wait to bust out a Wii U for Christmas like my parents bought my brother and me and Nintendo oh so long ago. $299 or $350 is easily justifiable as the big, joint present for the kids this year. Throw in a launch game (which one is TBD) and mom and dad are heroes for about $200 per kid. Stuff the stockings, honey. We're good.

3: Why the Wii U is Going to Be Great: The Opinion of One Man by GiantBoyDetective

Hello folks. If you didn't notice there has been a gratuitous amount of Wii U news released today via Nintendo for all regions across the globe. Release dates, prices, launch titles - just about everything has been covered. Like most new Nintendo products the Wii U is already being ridiculed as a "gimmick" and labeled as "stupidly overpriced". This always happens. It happened with the Wii and it happened with the 3DS. I'm personally really happy with everything that has been announced about the Wii U so far. Here's why I think the Wii U is going to be a great system.

4: Wii U's launch titles, as ranked by Scrabble scores by Ross Miller

For today's 90 Seconds on The Verge, I decided to rank the Wii U North American launch windows titles by hypothetical Scrabble Scores with no special tiles and numbers / punctuation valued at zero. I only put the top / bottom five in that post, so uh... here's the full list. Don't feel like formatting so... number at the end is a score. I think that makes sense. You're welcome.

5: My Fear For WiiU by movieman52

The multiple versions at launch.

I think the Wii took off because of how amazing Wii Sports was in the living room. Wii Sports sold with every console - even when people were buying and reselling the console for a profit during the first holiday season.

WiiU will come with Nintendo Land, but only to the higher priced consoles. This will alienate the users who buy the normal WiiU. The water cooler discussions and the Friday night game parties hosted by more casual gamers will lose their luster when there isn't ONE game that every one has experience with; like WiiSports at every Wii party.

FROM THE VERGE:

Slender Man, Ellis Hamburger is back in todays '90 Seconds on The Verge'.

POLYNAUTS COMMENT OF THE DAY (13/9):

DrTechno (7 Recommends)

Every day there will only be one comment from the previous thread. It's decided based upon the most recommends an individual receives for their comment; should two people have the same rating then both comments will be posted.

Okay, there we have another weekends worth of catch-ups folks. Remember to sound off in the comments below and share any awesome news you find today. As always check out the @Polygon feed on Twitter to keep up to date, or feel free to hit me up at @shaunmcilroy if you want to chitchat throughout the day.

NOTES:

New to the Polygon Community? Please take time to read the Community Guidelines as laid out by the editorial team here at The Verge. Particularly take note here: "Foul language: Cussing, swearing, or just plain nasty: all of the above are not cool here." That goes for NSFW material as well folks - Mods DO police this place remember.

If you're a fan of the image up top and want to submit your own, remember to keep them coming in for this section of Polynauts Central, GIF's included, at this link. Finally, if you want to submit a header image for Crisis on Infinite Polygons you can do that on this thread.