Nintendo Wii U

[Xevious]

Wait, Wii Karaoke trial? The US gets a copy of the Hyrule Historia FFS!

An electronic copy, I believe.

[DarhkFox]

meh, the proper book is only £16 just buy that.

[NEG]

That Zelda scribbling on the Gamepad is a bit half-hearted. They should have made a golden pad.

Fap

I didn't even notice that and was wondering why NEG would be slapping himself about the face for missing out on a different box. Was starting to think NEG was a total loon.

This would be the Zelda box to fap over.

(alternatively the Majoras Mask special edition)

[ryodi]

That Zelda scribbling on the Gamepad is a bit half-hearted. They should have made a golden pad.

It's the same design they used on the Ocarina of Time 3DS console as well.

[Retroguy]

Am I better off getting a USB 2.0 or 3.0 for a memory stick for this, or does it not really matter that much, if at all?

[Superunknown]

This would be the Zelda box to fap over.

(alternatively the Majoras Mask special edition)

50hz? No ta

[mushashi]

Am I better off getting a USB 2.0 or 3.0 for a memory stick for this, or does it not really matter that much, if at all?

You're better off looking into the actual read/write speeds on the stick you plan to buy, rather than looking at the USB interface speed, some USB3.0 memory sticks are worse than USB2.0 ones, flash memory is just one large clusterfuck of misinformation and crappy marketing and variable product quality.

Not seen any testing of how good the USB2.0 interface on the Wii U is though, which might be a limiting factor for faster storage devices. Don't think it would even be possible for an enduser to test that anyway. I find most devices to have rather crap I/O controllers compared to what you can achieve on the PC generally, no matter what the theoretical limit of the interface.

[scottcr]

does a USB drive using a Y-cable have to be connected to the rear USBs? Having never used a Ycable before... do you just plug them in... or does it need to be done in a particular order.

this concerns me.

[rgraves]

Just plug 'em in man. Obviously putting both in the rear slots is pref, but if it's not possible then it makes no difference at all. I have one in a rear slot and one in a front slot on mine (have a wired network adaptor in the other rear slot).

[SpagMasterSwift]

*giggle*

[NEG]

50hz? No ta

An unopened box like that is still probably worth a bajillion peanuts regardless.

[shirubagan]

Dunno - didn't check. It certainly recognised it ok... I shoved both USB plugs into the front. I found it strange that it didn't let me download Trine 2. I've got 250Gb on the wee drive and the system menu can see it and it's been formatted for use with the WiiU... so I thought I'd copy games off to the USB drive to see if that made a difference. The games copied ok (took a while!) but when complete, my wiiu menu is full of empty boxes...

This gives me much sad face... as I want Wonderful 101 dammit!

Did you get it working? Plugged mine in to the front, formatted it in around three seconds and a USB HDD icon has appeared in the lower left corner of my pad. Moved the Sonic Racing Demo across to it and it's still on my home menu.

I will most likely be purchasing Pikmin and W101 tomorrow while the wife is at work

[Rain Birds]

So...I bought Wonderful 101 and Disney Infinity last week, Rayman Legends today aaaannnnnd...it shuts down and does the blinking red light. Clearly the fans are fucked again, and it will continue to do this every 15 minutes or so of active play. I fear Nintendo will fob me off with a repair again instead of a new console, which is all very well but unless they're going to add an extra couple of years to the warranty, not good enough. This is unreliable hardware.

[scottcr]

USB drive working perfectly now... Rather odd. And now to buy W101!

[ryodi]

Latest Wind Waker trailer

Looks great.

[shirubagan]

USB drive working perfectly now... Rather odd. And now to buy W101!

Good stuff. Fancy a Monster Hunt tomorrow?

[timgp]

Jesus, Wind Waker looks beautiful.

[Rain Birds]

I was a bit worried about the frame-rate there, but you can tell it's just a horribly encoded video by the non-game scenes also running shoddily.

[Darren]

Anybody up for Pokemon Rumble U figure swapsies?

After shopping today my kids have ended up with a spare Deoxys & Pikachu. Will swap for any others except Bulbasaur, Darkrai, Lucario, Torchic, Victini or Zoroark.

We couldn't do the 'scan & return' thing because (1) it's a major trek into town to Game and (2) they're so impatient they were breaking the eggs open the minute we got into the car.

[Keyboard Koala]

Again with the myth that toon-shaded graphics are somehow simple or technically undemanding. Wind Waker is a technical marvel and has a quality of animation I've not seen equalled.

Seems like Napole0n sensed imminent danger and returned just in time.

So, is the lim.ed. WW with the Ganondorf statue a Game exclusive then?

[b00dles]

Despite saying £40 was a bit lumpy only a few posts ago, I only just watched that trailer and even if people don't like Zelda, you can't deny that it looks absolutely gorgeous.

It looked like you were playing a cartoon on the cube but in HD it looks bonkers. In fact, the animation and lighting looks better than the Ben10 or Pokemon cartoons on the telly IMHO. If I was a parent, I'd also be happier having my kids play that than watching the majority of shit kids TV.

This could actually turn out to be a very interesting christmas. Having said that and although it's anecdotal, I was surprised to hear about a nephew and his chums who are all 11 / 12 are all going to ask for (or are getting) the PS4 this Xmas. Personally I didn't think a £350 console was that viable for an 11 year old but I suppose it probably is these days, especially as the 'one gift from everyone in the family' thing.

If only the sales figures thread was still a going concern, it would be golden around and after Xmas.

[Rain Birds]

Despite saying £40 was a bit lumpy only a few posts ago, I only just watched that trailer and even if people don't like Zelda, you can't deny that it looks absolutely gorgeous.

It looked like you were playing a cartoon on the cube but in HD it looks bonkers. In fact, the animation and lighting looks better than the Ben10 or Pokemon cartoons on the telly IMHO. If I was a parent, I'd also be happier having my kids play that than watching the majority of shit kids TV.

This could actually turn out to be a very interesting christmas. Having said that and although it's anecdotal, I was surprised to hear about a nephew and his chums who are all 11 / 12 are all going to ask for (or are getting) the PS4 this Xmas. Personally I didn't think a £350 console was that viable for an 11 year old but I suppose it probably is these days, especially as the 'one gift from everyone in the family' thing.

If only the sales figures thread was still a going concern, it would be golden around and after Xmas.

I think one of Nintendo's problems is that the 12-year old market is going to be one that is reflexively against them nowadays; if they decide to market Wii U (and are successful at doing so, which is questionable on recent form) the audience likely to be found will be either side of that. The 12 to early 20s market is going to harbour of a lot of people who will bristle at the thought of playing anything that might be deemed 'kiddy'.

[b00dles]

I think one of Nintendo's problems is that the 12-year old market is going to be one that is reflexively against them nowadays; if they decide to market Wii U (and are successful at doing so, which is questionable on recent form) the audience likely to be found will be either side of that. The 12 to early 20s market is going to consist of a lot of people who'll bristle at the thought of playing anything that might be deemed 'kiddy'.

That's actually a very interesting point. When you're pre-teen and teenager you're almost bending over backwards to seem older and more mature - which is why you then play bro-seph based games like Gears, with manly men and an occasional sweary word. Shame really because Wind Waker is easily a better 'game' in almost every way than any of the Gears games.

We humans are a very strange animal. A 27 year old colleague of mine was attempting to deride a few of us 30+ males for watching animated films, claiming that they were too kiddy and so on. We really couldn't understand what the hell he was talking about.

[ryodi]

Which is why the 2DS is perfect because it's aimed at children instead of teenagers, removes the '3D will blind my children' problem and is being released at the same time as a new Pokemon game which is perfect playground fodder and it yet to be properly ripped off in iOS. It will sell millions and while I'm sure the dudebro demographic will switch to Shooty Space Marines 2014 some will also stay with Nintendo for the next Pokemon game in two years time

[Rain Birds]

Which is why the 2DS is perfect because it's aimed at children instead of teenagers, removes the '3D will blind my children' problem and is being released at the same time as a new Pokemon game which is perfect playground fodder and it yet to be properly ripped off in iOS. It will sell millions and while I'm sure the dudebro demographic will switch to Shooty Space Marines 2014 some will also stay with Nintendo for the next Pokemon game in two years time

This brought to mind the ill-considered "Nintendo should develop for iOS!" argument. If we indulge the supposed inevitability of that, I guarantee that the people shouting loudest would complain if the games didn't work as intended without a £40 Nintendo-manufactured controller, and, ludicrously, baulk at paying £50 for a new Zelda; a perfectly reasonable price given Apple's 30% and its quality in relation to similar App Store titles.

Either that or, more likely, the quality of the company's would slump dramatically as Nintendo's best talent walks away. Mario Kart in freemium hell!

[Shimmyhill]

I think one of Nintendo's problems is that the 12-year old market is going to be one that is reflexively against them nowadays; if they decide to market Wii U (and are successful at doing so, which is questionable on recent form) the audience likely to be found will be either side of that. The 12 to early 20s market is going to harbour of a lot of people who will bristle at the thought of playing anything that might be deemed 'kiddy'.

Boys maybe at a push, my daughters are just mario mad and the 13 year old is at the age that she is good enough at it to start finding the depth within the games. We have ps3, 360 as well as a wii and wii u and the wii u rules the roost here by a country mile!

[JPickford]

50hz? No ta

Most likely makes little difference considering the low framerate of N64 Zelda's. It might even run smoother on PAL.

[NEG]

That's actually a very interesting point. When you're pre-teen and teenager you're almost bending over backwards to seem older and more mature - which is why you then play bro-seph based games like Gears, with manly men and an occasional sweary word.

Pffft, even as a teen the quality and 'fun' of a game is what mattered to me. Sure I'd buy Goldeneye to see what the fuss was about but I didn't feel more mature doing so. I'd be guilty of 'DoA2 (3)? has a boob slider I wanna buy it!' though.

At this point I'm pretty sure I'll be playing new versions of Mario, Zelda, Sonic and Pokemon to the grave.

I suppose childhood memories do influence that decision too, so god knows how a kid brought up on shooters will look back on this generation, but it does sound a bit simple to claim the majority only play haddock modern shore leave to feel mature.

But maybe they do. I'd suspect its more to do with what their friends are playing.

[Rain Birds]

It's not just shooters (although they obviously pay a huge part) but FIFA, Madden, a slew of racing games and so on and so forth have no presence on Nintendo consoles. That's always going to ensure that Nintendo struggle to grab that audience. There's no multi-player community whatsoever, and for better or worse, the attraction to that is only going to grow.

In many ways, it's just an extension of what happened in the 90s - SEGA only really gained a foothold against the SNES in the west because they pushed their supposed edginess while deriding the anodyne image cultivated by Nintendo. Mega Drive / Genesis became the primary focus for EA and the like, it got digitised blood while Nintendo sought to tiptoe around it.

[NEG]

Good point. Though from that example only racers would matter to me personally.

Obviously there's been a ton of other hits to get the other consoles for though.