Nintendo Wii U

[macosx]

Tragic Barny you sell comedy like supermarkets sell wiiu's.

[Sprite Machine]

That's a great trailer.

[Talk Show Host]

What other games are there but ports or exclusives?

None for Wii U.

edit: and BioShock Infinite.

[esar]

Zombie U is one of the best games i've played in ages regardless of format, anyone who enjoys playing games owes it to themselves to at least give it a go.

[elmo]

WiiU is back up to £270 in HMV Kingston

[Talk Show Host]

I think Talk Show Host means multiformat games.

Thanks, but I'm sure he knew what I meant.

[joffocakes]

Just fired 3000 points onto the regular Wii's eShop and got myself F-Zero X and Paper Mario. No idea what I'll spend the last 1000 on yet. Are they automatically tied to the same Nintendo Network account I set the Wii U up with?

EDIT: Just turned F Zero on. Oh man, that game has the greatest opening music of anything ever. Start as you mean to go on, I guess!

[Barny]

Tragic Barny you sell comedy like supermarkets sell wiiu's.

But I wasn't joking.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Zombi U is the kind of game I'd pick up cheap in the event I get a Wii U but not the kind of game I would buy a console for if that makes any sense. As it is, I have zero interest in the system at the moment so it may take a while.

[SMD]

Just fired 3000 points onto the regular Wii's eShop and got myself F-Zero X and Paper Mario. No idea what I'll spend the last 1000 on yet. Are they automatically tied to the same Nintendo Network account I set the Wii U up with?

EDIT: Just turned F Zero on. Oh man, that game has the greatest opening music of anything ever. Start as you mean to go on, I guess!

No one really knows, because it's listed on your account but they'll deny any sort of link to your Nintendo account and your purchases. I guess come the summer we'll find out.

Also you should get Majora's Mask. Partly because as soon as you'll do they'll announce a remake.

[esar]

Zombi U is the kind of game I'd pick up cheap in the event I get a Wii U but not the kind of game I would buy a console for if that makes any sense. As it is, I have zero interest in the system at the moment so it may take a while.

That makes perfect sense, I agree there isn't much else worth getting one for. When I first heard of the game I wasn't holding out much hope (Red Steel/Zomibies etc.) and it almost put me off getting the console, but i'm a sucker for Mario and Zombie U got some good reviews so I took the plunge, and am glad I did.

Definitely a game to bear in mind if you're a late adopter.

[Not Thread Owner]

Zombi U is the kind of game I'd pick up cheap in the event I get a Wii U but not the kind of game I would buy a console for if that makes any sense. As it is, I have zero interest in the system at the moment so it may take a while.

For someone who has no interest in the console, you post in this thread an awful lot.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

So? I'm not allowed to discuss the Wii U until I have a keen interest in buying one?

[Not Thread Owner]

You said you have no interest in the Wii U. You obviously have some interest, otherwise you wouldn't be in here.l

[Nobuo's Organ]

I consider it to be the MH3ii U now.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

You said you have no interest in the Wii U. You obviously have some interest, otherwise you wouldn't be in here.l

I've no interest in buying one, but I'm interested in its fortunes.

[joffocakes]

No one really knows, because it's listed on your account but they'll deny any sort of link to your Nintendo account and your purchases. I guess come the summer we'll find out.

Also you should get Majora's Mask. Partly because as soon as you'll do they'll announce a remake.

I figure Majora's Mask would be too awkward to play on the Classic Controller. It was definitely worse on the Gamecube controller than the N64's. So I'll likely wait for a potential 3DS port they've taken more time over than a rom just dumped the virtual console. It's a game I'd love to play again.

F-Zero X feels far, far more sensitive on the classic controller than it used to back on the N64. Perhaps I ought to more closely emulate the old handling by liberally peppering the base of the analogue stick with talcum powder in lieu of that gritty plastic gunk that clogged up my old pads.

[ras el hanout]

I've no interest in buying one, but I'm interested in its fortunes.

Why?

[ryodi]

If you like strategy games Tactics Ogre 64 is good choice and 60Hz because it the US version.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Why?

Because I'm interested in consoles and videogames so it would be rather odd to ignore what any of the major players on the market are doing. I think it's interesting to discuss why things work or don't work, where companies make the wrong assumptions or when they come up with something really clever that pays off. Or look in dismay as a shitty idea goes on to becoming a huge hit.

The Wii was a huge commercial success and Wii U is bombing at retail. Surely it's interesting to discuss and research the reasons how the most successful player of the last generation now seems to have a commercial disaster on its hands?

[SMD]

I figure Majora's Mask would be too awkward to play on the Classic Controller. It was definitely worse on the Gamecube controller than the N64's. So I'll likely wait for a potential 3DS port they've taken more time over than a rom just dumped the virtual console. It's a game I'd love to play again.

F-Zero X feels far, far more sensitive on the classic controller than it used to back on the N64. Perhaps I ought to more closely emulate the old handling by liberally peppering the base of the analogue stick with talcum powder in lieu of that gritty plastic gunk that clogged up my old pads.

Yeah, I don't enjoy playing N64 games using the Classic Controller or a Gamecube pad. Shame Nintendo never re-released the N64 pad for the Wii, I'd buy that.

N64 sticks are a lot springier than modern sticks.

[joffocakes]

If you like strategy games Tactics Ogre 64 is good choice and 60Hz because it the US version.

I considered that! It's 1200 though, rather than 1000. Same with Sin and Punishment which I haven't actually played, and ought to. I didn't play the N64 version of Kirby, so that was a potential buy since the ladychum will like it. Is the Kirby Dream Collection for Wii unlikely to see a european release at this late stage?

I'm gonna get stuck into Nintendo Land's single player stuff just now. I didn't even turn the game on until I had four people to play with but last night we found the two player Attraction Tour and the Pikmin Adventure pretty entertaining. My cousin displayed terrifying skill on the Donkey Kong Crash Course thing, so I hope I can practice until I'm better because we simply cannot be having that.

[rubberducker]

maybe its just me - but Zombi U is way over rated imo.

Not sure it would get much notice if it was a multi-format jobby. i sold mine after a week and really not feeling it. yeah i suppose the extra screen is novel - but it WASNT the amazing new experience that many claim it to be.

however i seem to be the only wii-u owner that feels this way - as everyone else in here loves it. just thought i would be the voice of descent.

EDIT:

Nintendoland is loads of fun though.

[SMD]

I haven't got Zombi U yet and even though it sounds up my street, I tried the demo and thought that I'd probably be happier with it for less than £20.

Then again, I bought the Wii U to play New Super Mario Bros U so I don't think too many would agree with me on that.

[Parksey]

Urgh, I am a weak pathetic excuse for a human being.

I went into town today to check out the sole remaining HMV in my area, in the desperate attempt to pick up a console for £200. I rang around the other branches, and all were sold out (though one said they may get more in mid-week, so keep an eye out, guys).

So I went to price check the console elsewhere. Game's bundles were pants, CEX's looked preowned and without Nintendoland and Grainger Games were too expensive. I had heard that Asda had the Premium for £249 so I went to look. Whilst peering over the counter to check the price, an assistant asked me if I needed help. Stupidly, and without thinking, I panicked and said: "Erm, I will take a Wii U please". I was in a state of shock and felt light-headed almost immediately. I only wanted one for £200...

The sad thing is, they had no bags left, so I literally left the store with a bemused, disbelieving look on my face, clutching the box to my chest.

And I didn't even pick up a sandwich, which was my intended aim.

Had to make a tuna one at home, whilst suffer from extreme buyer's guilt. I couldn't even bring myself to look at games. Will probably download ZombiU off the eShop mind, and pick up Monster Hunter.

Weirdly, only Game actually had MH on the shelves. Thought with the Wii U's current software line-up, they would have at least had such a new, big release in stock.

[Aloha Snackbar]

And I didn't even pick up a sandwich, which was my intended aim

[mushashi]

Weirdly, only Game actually had MH on the shelves. Thought with the Wii U's current software line-up, they would have at least had such a new, big release in stock.

The game's popularity isn't anywhere near big enough for most retailers to take the risk of stocking it (outside of any pre-orders they might have sold before launch), it barely did the sort of numbers a niche game by some c-list dev would do Week 1 in Japan.

[Red Alignment]

maybe its just me - but Zombi U is way over rated imo.

FWIW, the demo was enough to put me off from ever buying the full game. I admit that I don't like FPSes anyway, but the demo indicated that the game really was too annoying to put up with, from what little I played of it. The cumbersome control system just ruined it for me, and the worse bit was having to take my eyes off the TV to look at the fucking controller all the time - to scan the room like a clumsier version of Metroid Prime, to unlock doors, to remove items from cupboards, to rearrange player inventory etc - all utterly redundant and utterly gimmicky. There was nothing there that couldn't have been done in a more streamlined and less irritating fashion on a 'traditional' single (TV) screen and controller set up on the PS3 or Xbox 360. It was just like all those early DS games that shoe-horned in usage of the touch screen that didn't need to be there. It's just intrusive and poor games design.

[Massive Invisible Dog]

Having to look away from the screen and at the pad is a pretty integral part of what makes it so tense. The only gimmicky parts are the stupid manhole/plank tapping bits.

[SMD]

Nintendo's indies guy tells you how to get your games approved

If you want to get your indie game onto Nintendo's platforms -- the Wii U and 3DS -- you'll want to talk to Dan Adelman, who works as the company's liaison with indies.

While his title is "business development manager," he's best known as the man who helped World of Goo and the Bit.Trip series, among many others, land on the WiiWare service for the original Wii. He joined Nintendo in 2005 to help build that service; Since then, the company has transitioned to new platforms, and offers a much better shop on them, called the eShop.

The abovementioned games were notable successes. Some other developers, however, later spoke out against Nintendo's policies and practices, and shared dismal sales numbers for WiiWare titles. The company has quietly been changing its policies, but has had a difficult time getting the word out.

As GDC begins, in this extensive interview, Adelman fills Gamasutra in on exactly what indie developers want to know about releasing a game on the Wii U and 3DS.

Let's state this simply, to start. Is it possible for an indie to get a game onto the eShop service right now?

Dan Adelman: You know, it's crazy that there are so many developers who don't realize this, but yes, it is not only possible for an indie to get a game onto the eShop service, we've tried to make it as frictionless as possible.

Developers have always been able to make their content available on our systems since the WiiWare days, without the need for an intermediary publisher between the developer and Nintendo. Nor do they need to mount a big PR campaign just to be allowed onto the service. Our philosophy is that if you believe enough in your game to build it, we want to do what we can to support you.

Do developers need to be registered Nintendo developers? What does that entail?

DA: Yes, they do need to become licensed Nintendo developers, since they will need access to our development tools. It's actually pretty easy to become a licensed developer. We really have only a few requirements to sign up as a licensed developer with Nintendo. The most notable ones are that you have to have some experience making games, you have to be able to keep any confidential materials like dev kits secure and you have to form a company. None of these should be prohibitive to any indie developer.

In the past, you've required developers to have an office, but many indies work from home or are individuals. Is this policy changing?

DA: So that second requirement -- the ability to keep confidential materials secure -- was originally defined in terms of an office that was separate from the home. Back when that rule was created, that seemed to be an appropriate way of defining things.

As you point out, more and more people are working from home, and we recognize that developers are forming virtual teams around the world. I know we've shied away from talking about these things publicly in the past, so I'm glad that I can officially confirm that the office requirement is a thing of the past.

I've heard from developers that to publish on your services, they need an address in the territory in question, for example a Japanese address. I've even heard that Canadian developers need a U.S. address to publish in the U.S. Can you explain what's going on here?

DA: That's actually not the case. Anyone from any country can make their games available on the eShop within the NOA and NOE region -- i.e., pretty much everywhere outside of Japan.

Steam is the obvious market leader here. Developers are used to Valve's functionality, like sales, preorders, preloads, and painless patching. Can you talk about your plans around these four aspects of your service?

DA: Developers set their own pricing for their Wii U and Nintendo 3DS content. As one example, Little Inferno launched at $14.99. They did a sale for $9.99, and it went so well, they decided to make that price change permanent. It's completely in their control.

Updating games is also fairly straightforward. If they find an issue they need to fix, they can. In terms of other Nintendo eShop functionality, there's a dedicated team working through a roadmap of new features. We'll be able to announce those as they get closer to release.

What kind of outreach are you doing on the tools side, since Nintendo platforms require custom dev kits?

DA: Dev kits are actually not all that expensive. They're about the price of a high-end PC. Nothing that should be a showstopper for anyone.

There are a number of really exciting things going on in this space right now. We recently announced that we're providing Unity Pro 4 for Wii U to licensed developers at no added cost. So if a developer is currently working on a game in Unity and has a Wii U dev kit, it should be super easy to bring that game over to the Wii U console -- and not just do a straight port but also take advantage of any features of the console they want, like motion controls, Miiverse or of course the second-screen GamePad controller. Or vice versa -- making a game for Wii U and then going to other platforms should also be seamless.

In addition, at GDC we're going to be talking about some new tools we're rolling out for developers to use HTML5 and JavaScript to make games. The thing I'm most excited about for this is how easy it is to prototype new game ideas to find the fun quickly and easily.

Is someone who's licensed to publish to the eShop for 3DS also capable of going to the Wii U and vice versa, or are these separate?

DA: The process and policies are virtually identical. If they're licensed developers for one, it's a fairly straightforward process to become a licensed developer on other systems.

What's your payment schedule like? Indies need quick and frequent payment. Have you changed your policy, which previously didn't pay out until a game crossed a 6000 unit threshold? What about frequency? Quarterly or monthly?

DA: We tend not to talk about business terms, since those are considered confidential. That said, the unit threshold is something that's been a problem for a lot of developers, so I'd like to address it head on.

Let me give you a sense of the thought process behind the threshold in the first place. Even as far back as the early WiiWare days, we allowed developers to forgo the need to hire an intermediary publisher to get their content on our system. We didn't believe that Nintendo should screen game concepts. That should be up to the developer who's making the investment. Instead, we wanted to have a mechanism that would encourage developers to self-police their own game quality.

The threshold was thought to be a convenient way to go about it. Unfortunately, some great games that just didn't find an audience wound up being penalized. So for all systems after WiiWare -- DSiWare, Nintendo 3DS eShop, and Wii U eShop, we decided to get rid of the thresholds altogether. Developers receive revenue from unit 1.

Has working with indies like Vblank, Nicalis, and Gaijin Games helped change your tune? Have you been taking feedback from your existing stable of developers on board?

DA: Absolutely. I like to think we've built up a relationship of trust with a lot of the developers on our system, so they know they can say whatever's on their mind. And not just when they have an issue that needs to be resolved, either. We try to take a proactive stance with developers and solicit feedback from time to time. How can our development tools be better? What kind of functionality do you want to see in the eShop? How can we improve our processes to make life easier? I kind of see a big part of my role as representing the indie community inside Nintendo to make sure that we can make our systems as friendly as possible.

How are you on responsiveness? Nintendo has a reputation for having a lot of corporate overhead -- how do you get indies the things they need quickly?

DA: A lot of our processes were originally created in an environment where there was a set number of large publishers who had employees on staff whose sole job was to interface with the different console platforms. Those people had to learn how we were organized and know who to call for what issue. That obviously doesn't work for smaller developers.

As a result, we've narrowed everything down to a single point of contact -- one alias that developers can write to for any issue. There's a core team at Nintendo who then tracks down the information and follows up. We have an internal goal of getting every question a response within 24 hours. And if we can't get an answer in 24 hours, we at least will let them know when we expect to be able to get them what they need.

What kind of editorial staff do you have working on the eShop (both platforms), to make sure good games get featured prominently? I've noticed changes there, but can you outline how that works to some extent?

DA: We really try to make sure that we're not setting Nintendo up as the arbiter of what is a good game. That's for the market to decide. We try to give visibility to every new game when they launch. The nice thing about the Nintendo eShop is that we have a lot of flexibility on this point. We can make adjustments without much lead time. Beyond that, we look to things like user ratings, review scores, and in the case of Wii U, Miiverse activity to see how people are responding to certain games.

That said, there are a few times when we do take a little editorial license. Sometimes there's a game that we recognize is a great game for a niche audience or is trying something so new that people may not get it right away. In those cases, even if a game doesn't have big numbers right away, we want to make sure that we give it time to find its audience.

To me, one of the best things about the indie scene is its willingness to try out new ideas and take risks. If someone is attempting something that has never been tried before, I want to do everything I can to support that. Little Inferno is a great example of that -- a game about buying things and burning them! When Kyle Gabler from Tomorrow Corporation told me about the idea a few years ago, my response was that I loved the fact that I could not imagine what that game would turn into. As an industry, we need more of that!

And let's not forget about Unkle Dill, the dancing pickle in Runner 2. So very, very awesome.

Any stats or comment on what portion of your audience has downloaded an independently-developed game from the eShop, on both platforms?

DA: I can't give out any specific numbers, but developers seem to be pretty happy with the sales numbers they're seeing for their games.

Nintendo platforms are unique. If a game is going to feature very Nintendo-specific functionality (e.g. 3DS dual-screen play, GamePad play on Wii U) will you consider working more closely with a developer on their vision?

DA: It's great when developers see the features of our platform and decide to build around those as pillars for their game. Mutant Mudds by Renegade Kid did this brilliantly. In many respects, it was a traditional 2D platformer, but it was designed around the 3D functionality of the Nintendo 3DS. It was one of the first games that used depth of view as a game mechanic.

Fractured Soul by Endgame Studios is another great example. That whole game was designed around the dual-screen functionality of Nintendo 3DS. One of the core mechanics is to switch back and forth between the two screens, keeping an eye on both at the same time.

That said, it's really important that developers see these platforms features as opening up new design options for them. They should never feel obligated to tack on a feature if it doesn't make sense. It's completely up to the designer to figure out what's best for the game. Because making great games is what it's all about.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/189180/Nintendos_Adelman_talks_easier_requirements_for_3DS_Wii_U_indie_dev.php

Sounds promising, really hope indies take up the Wii U - I think it'll be the new 'B-tier' for consoles going forward.