We have a feeling that the QA tester at Traveller’s Tales Games is going to be in for a fair amount of punishment for somehow failing to contain his excitement at having the new controller in his grasp. Traveller’s Tales Games if you didn’t know are responsible for the vast collection of LEGO xx games, so we can only presume that they were testing the new hardware for an upcoming LEGO game on the Wii U.

The image seen here is the real story though as there are actually a number of visible differences between the controller seen here and the one shown at E3 last year. For starters, there are now dual analogue sticks! Before we just had dual ‘nubs’ similar to the PSP, but now Nintendo has scrapped them in favor of actual sticks which are similar to the ones on the DUALSHOCK3 and also the PS Vita.

The start and select buttons have also moved position, from below the touchscreen to the right side of the pad close to the game buttons. There’s also a mystery new square button next to the power button on the bottom and perhaps even another one directly below the d-pad.

There is one major cosmetic change as well and that is actual Wii U branding. There was considerable speculation that the Wii U name may even be changed by the time the device releases to market, but it obviously looks like Nintendo plan to keep the name after all. How does the logo look there in your opinion?

It’s fair to say that all the changes minus the debatable branding are positive changes. The inclusion of dual analogue sticks is of major importance to FPS fans, as it underlines the seriousness that Nintendo are obviously aiming for in trying to deliver a new console to get back a slice of the hardcore community. It now means that FPS developers are under no restrictions control wise when making the likes of Call of Duty or Battlefield, so this change by Nintendo could turn out to be a crucial one.

What are your thoughts on the new look controller? Does the change to analogue sticks prove that the Wii U is going to be a force to be reckoned with?

More About: e3 2012, nintendo, Nintendo Wii U

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You may be thinking, hang on a minute – Nintendo’s Wii U graphics presentation at E3 2011 was pretty amazing? But according to one developer who are already well underway in designing one of the Wii U’s expected launch titles, the quality of the game is just going to be on par with current gen consoles seen with the Xbox 360 and PS3.

The developer in question is Marvin Donald, game director for the Wii U version of Darksiders 2. In an interview with GameReactor he has said that the Wii U is ‘pretty much the same’ as current platforms, even confirming that they will not be upscaling the game in any way on the new console – Darksiders 2 is set for release on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC this June just so you’re aware.

Donald also spoke about ‘limitations on the Wii U based on Nintendo’s progress’, but did say that the Wii U version of the game will differ significantly thanks to the use of the unique touchscreen controller – which Donald and Vigil Games are definitely planning to make use of.

With the fact that we’re still no nearer to knowing when the next PlayStation or Xbox will release, is this an indication that Nintendo’s Wii U is going to be severely lacking in the hardware department when Sony and Microsoft’s next consoles finally arrive? Nintendo are obviously aiming to attract some of those lost hardcore gamers with the Wii U, but we’d hate to think that the console will end up suffering once Sony and Microsoft finalize their plans. Surely, the Wii U is all that Nintendo has in their pipeline at the moment and it will be this console that goes head to head with the PS4 and the Xbox ’720′.

Does Nintendo and their Wii U have what it takes to compete with the next-generation consoles? Based on what this Darksiders 2 dev has just said, perhaps not.

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Unfortunately, it appears that there are certain individuals out there who also want to make a profit out of your Pokemon memories, with Apple’s app store and its millions of users a key target.

You may not have realized it but recently there was a Pokemon Yellow game available to download from the App Store for a mere $0.99. The image descriptions along with the app duped users further into thinking the game was legitimate and as you may expect, tons of users proceeded to download the app straight away thinking that it was the real deal from Nintendo.

The bad news is that the game didn’t even work and crashed upon start-up so not only did Pokemon fanboys get duped by the fake app, they also lost $0.99 and didn’t even get a sniff of a Pokemon game either. What they should have done is spotted the dubious information included with the app, which listed ‘Home of Anime’ and ‘Daniel Burford’ as the seller.

There’s probably even worse cases out there of iOS App Store trickey, but fooling die hard Pokemon fans is probably up there as well. If there’s one game that we would love to see on iOS or Android for that matter it is the original Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow games.

The news involving the scam has even caused the official Pokemon company to speak out, as they warned fans to be careful of similar scams in the future. Here’s a portion of what they said, courtesy of Macgasm: “Fans who encounter questionable products should report to us immediately so we can keep other fans from falling victim to these scams.”

You may think that the possibility of a Pokemon game featuring on iOS or Android is slim to none anyway since Nintendo have their own platforms and products to look after, but you can’t deny that there would be a huge deal of money to be made if they decided to do it. We’d happily pay a decent amount if they delivered a perfect port to iOS or Android, but we imagine there’s all sorts of licensing shenanigans to get through first.

What are your thoughts on the Pokemon iOS scam – did you see it on the app store? Would you pay good money for a good port as well?

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As most of you are well aware, Nintendo held off from introducing DLC for their Wii console in favor of offering a full package on disc much like the good old days. However after seeing Sony, Microsoft and countless developers treat additional paid-for content for game releases with open arms, it looks like 2012 may well be the year when Nintendo finally start to give in to DLC as well.

We have told you that Mario Kart 7 could be one of the first 3DS titles to feature DLC content, but Nintendo has now officially stated that Super Mario 3D Land could be one of the first to feature paid-for DLC. Here are a few words from CEO Satoru Iwata when speaking about DLC for Super Mario 3D land specifically, as noted by Eurogamer:

”What if we could provide add-on content through the network? As I referred to before, for example, this is the idea of supplying new stages to Super Mario users who want to play the game more but have completed the game and lost interest in the existing stages.”

While we most definitely welcome the idea of fresh content for Super Mario 3D land since it is a great game, we just hope that Nintendo keep their pricing fair and do not become tempted to give in to greed, which perhaps some other publishers are a bit guilty of at the moment, without naming names.

Do you support DLC for games such as Super Mario Land, or would you prefer Nintendo to keep off DLC completely? Business is business at the end of the day though and we saw this move happening a mile away.

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While we still dont know officially if Sony and Microsoft will show new consoles this year, it is highly likely that we will only see the Nintendo Wii U emerge as the first next generation console, when it releases towards the end of the year.

There’s a lot of talk on how the Wii U will not be powerful enough when Sony and Microsoft finally announce their next consoles, but according to Nintendo, they believe that their console is suitably equipped to handle any new rival console and does not need any hardware upgrades of any sort.

Iwata has been speaking about this in his recent investor call and here is a interesting segment of his statement, as reported from VG247:

“As we will showcase the Wii U at E3 in June this year, the detailed announcements must wait until then, but we are aiming to make a system which shall not be forced into competing with the others where the contenders can fight only with massive developer resources and long development times as their weapons”

Is that a slight dig we detect there at Sony and Microsoft in relation that games sometimes take forever to come out? – we think it just might be. Iwata also added that sometimes it isn’t necessary to develop graphic-intensive games all the time, but rather deliver a game which is appealing to the fans – a strategy that we may see implemented on the Wii U.

Another important factor that Iwata commented on in his call is the fact that Nintendo plan to work with a lot more third-party developers for Wii U software, as opposed to the Wii which featured first-party titles from Nintendo primarily.

Given that we haven’t seen any concrete gameplay for the Wii U, we remain skeptical on whether the Wii U will be able to go on to be a huge success or not. There’s no doubt that there’s huge potential in that touchscreen controller, but gamers are very demanding these days and they will still want the Wii U to be able to deliver AAA games at least on par with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

What are your thoughts on his comments – do you think the Wii U is sufficient enough to withstand an potential onslaught from a PS4 and Xbox 720 in 2013?

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However, Nintendo’s online store has one added twist which may give it a slight edge over the PSN and Xbox Live stores, and that’s NFC support. Nintendo has confirmed that the online Network will allow Wii and Wii users to do the traditional tasks such as downloading DLC content, purchasing full games and accessing patch updates, but the Nintendo Network will also be accessible using the Wii U’s touchscreen controller and will utilize NFC technology for more convenient tasks.

Such tasks can include using the controller to purchase items away from the television, using safe purchase programs like Mastercard’s Paypass for example. This could be a very useful feature indeed and may become a common way to browse the Nintendo Network without needing to look at the television at all.

There’s no indication on when the service will be out yet, but two confirmed titles that will utilize aspects of the Nintendo Network is Mario Kart 7 for the Nintendo 3DS and also Theatrhythm Final Fantasy which will be available in Japan from February 16.

Could this now open up all sorts of DLC possibilities for future Nintendo Wii U and 3DS titles? It looks very likely now with the confirmation of this Nintendo Network. We think it is good news too, the current concept for the Nintendo Wii obviously needed improving so it is definitely a step in the right direction as Wii U owners will now have a direct store to get all their additional content should they desire it.

What are your thoughts on Nintendo entering the digital store marketplace? Do you think the addition of NFC support will be a big game changer for the company?

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According to CVG there is some fresh debate however, this time over whether the company will actually call their next-gen console the Wii U, as reports from a close source are suggesting Nintendo is contemplating changing the name in order to attract more attention, and will do so ahead of the E3 event later this year. It is believed that consumer confusion over the 3DS name and a disappointing E3 reveal are the reasons that the change is being considered.

After today’s news it is clear there is now a lot of pressure riding on the launch of Nintendo’s next console, whatever they decide to call it, which is why they must consider and discuss all aspects that could prevent the launch from being a successful one. The company claims they had trouble shifting 3DS units as consumers found it hard to differentiate from the older DS systems and as a result were forced to use bright red box stickers as well as the TV ad phrase ‘This is not DS, this is Nintendo 3DS’ just to be clear.

These are the kind of mistakes the company will be keen to avoid, hence the name change discussion. They also believe their E3 presentation could have been better as a lot of consumers were left wondering what the Wii U was meant to be, with a lot of attention being focused on the tablet part rather than the console itself. This year they will be looking to be clearer and hope for more of an impact amidst consumers. Will a name change be enough though?

What do you think they should call their next console?

More About: e3 2012, nintendo, Wii U

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Nintendo has been struggling for a while now with their various consoles failing to offer any superiority over competing manufacturers’ consoles such as the PS3 and the Xbox 360. Even the launch of their flagship handheld console, the 3DS has not been as successful as they had hoped meaning the launch of the Wii U could be their last solution to becoming successful again.

Today the company’s overall totals report revealed a 32% decrease from a year ago. During the same period in 2010 they had managed to make a profit of 50 billion compared to a 48.4 billion loss this year, despite making 556.2 billion over the course of the year. While the company acknowledges they are struggling, they blame having to reduce the 3DS price drastically due to lack of sales, to $169 from $249 and the strong Yen for having major impacts.

Rumors emerged earlier this week that the Wii U would be twice as powerful as the Xbox 360, currently the best-selling games console on the market. The same reports also suggested that the developers of the console were disappointed with this as they feel it is under achieving. While there is nothing official to suggest this rumor is true, Nintendo will be hoping for at least half the success of the Microsoft console if they are to achieve anything over the following years.

Do you think the Wii U launch will be enough to change Nintendo’s fortunes?

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Nobody knew for sure when Nintendo’s next Wii console would be launching this year, but now the company has revealed that consumers in the US and Europe will be able to pick up the Nintendo Wii U as an ideal Christmas present, as reported from Reuters.

US and Europe will not be the only regions joining in on the Wii U launch party at the end of the year, as Nintendo also confirmed that the console would be available in Australian and Japanese markets as well, making the Wii U easily accessible this time around compared to the Wii.

The simultaneous Wii U launch in multiple regions is a stark contrast to Nintendo’s launch approach with the Wii. The original console first launched in North America in November 2006, before later becoming available in Japan early December. Australia then followed with Europe being the last region to get the Wii U on December 8 2006.

Thankfully everyone will be able to pick up the Wii U at the same time this year and it now means that Nintendo will have to have a much more successful E3 2012 showing if they are going to convince consumers to pick the Wii U as their next console. It is going to be interesting to see just what quality of graphics the new console can produce, as we have still had no evidence of actual gameplay, although plenty of speculation that the Wii U is ‘twice as powerful as the Xbox 360′.

What are your thoughts on a Christmas release for the Nintendo Wii U? Will it be on your wish list this year, or have you been left unconvinced following on from the ‘far from impressive’ showing at E3 2011?

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We told you back in June of 2012 that Australian retailer EB Games had put an early price listing online for the Nintendo Wii U, revealing that it would cost gamers in Australia $598 to take one home. The translated price of that in USD came to just under $650 leading some consumers to fear that Nintendo may be pricing their Wii U towards the premium spectrum, even if this was just a placeholder by the retailer.

Skip forward to today though, as EB Games has reiterated that the $598 price which still remains for their Nintendo Wii U is ‘subject to change’ and that official pricing information for the system hasn’t arrived in their internal systems yet, according to VG247. What this means to the average consumer looking to pick one up later this year, is that it is likely that a $600 price for the system is very unlikely, and a price to match current Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles would probably be a lot more likely.

At the moment, the PS3 sells for $250, while the Xbox 360 is currently set at $199 without Kinect. With this in mind, we feel that a $399-499 price for the Nintendo Wii U would be more towards the reasonable sum of money that consumers won’t mind paying, but anything over $500 would seriously ask questions of Nintendo on whether they are stepping over the mark.

How much would you be willing to pay for the Nintendo Wii U? We will get our next gameplay preview of the new system before E3 2012 it seems, but let’s hope that Nintendo put an end to the price rumors as well.

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