A Simple Evolution of Wii or Something Different
Tons of amazing news has come out of President Iwata’s kind of awkward talk today. In a conference that took place at the Tokyo office old news from last year’s conference and some new news where given out to tickle Nintendo fan’s fancy. One of the main topics to take away from the video was the idea of connectivity. Constantly one of the main complaints from gamers about Nintendo is their lack of online service like Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. Now the first thing a player sees when turning on the Wii U will be a new Miiverse that connects players all around the world. The Miiverse will also be accessible during games without exiting the program. Tons of new stuff was announced so lets break down some of the new announcements.
Miiverse
The new connectivity was the central idea in the video conference. Iwata made it very clear that Nintendo vision was to connect everyone across the globe and to bring players together through empathy. Players will see their friends and other people playing games Miis. People will be able to send text as well as pictures as messages to one another through the Miiverse. Nintendo seems to be creating an area where people can connect easy and share information quickly.
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The Nintendo network will connect players on the console as well as through any web browser device. One of the cool things that was shown was the Nintendo network messaging being available on a phone. This sounds like a great idea for friends trying to connect together. Setting up times to play as well as helping each other will be as easy as sending a text message.
Video chat functionality
During the demonstration video Nintendo announced that there will be a video chat function for the Wii U. But more than just the video chat will be the ability to share content and screen shots across the Nintendo network. This new form of messaging will give players a new way to interact. I don’t many people that use this function with the Xbox 360 Kinect or the Playstation Eye toy but if every person that owns a Wii U is able to video chat maybe it will be more common. This new form of video messaging also goes along with the ideas of connectivity in the video conference. Nintendo says they want to bring players together easily and in many different ways.
The New Controller
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Nintendo is looking to take it’s new Wii U GamePad to the next level. Many new features where unveiled in the video press conference about the new controller like how the button placement has changed, the controller has been molded to fit better in players hands and also how the controller will interact with the TV. The Wii U GamePad will be a players one stop shop at information and connectivity as well as functionality. The controller can act as a RF remote turning on the TV and doing basic functions as well as being a video game controller. It will also fit nicely into players hands. The NFC reader that is located in the bottom left portion of the GamePad will allow players to drop items like cards or plastic toys onto the controller that will interact with games.
Many people where worried about the new controller and how it will interact with 3rd party games that are made for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The engineers and Nintendo have thought about that as well. For 3rd party games with extensive play time video game enthusiast may pick up the Wii U Pro Controller. The controller is lighter and resembles a Xbox 360 controller with all of the buttons and triggers available on the Wii U GamePad. By removing the touchscreen in the middle traditional console gamers will have a controller they are used to.
There will be tons of more information about the Wii U at Nintendo’s E3 conference in a couple of days. If you want to check out the video conference yourself you can find it here. Keep checking out Gamers Heroes for all the latest news for E3.
What do you guys think about the Wii U? Are you excited for the new features? Would you use video chat? Hit us up in the comments.
