IGN E3 2011: Playing the Wii U

Nintendo's new console is here, and IGN has played it.

It's the dawn of a new Nintendo generation. After five years of pursuing a "blue ocean strategy," the Big N is shifting to a new console, one that rivals (and potentially exceeds) consoles currently in stores. After months of having IGN's Nintendo team tracking down sources and bringing you a comprehensive picture of Wii's successor, I've finally had the chance to use the new controller and play demos on the system

[M-Easy]

They liked it.

"It will be utterly fascinating to see how Nintendo and other developers take advantage of this innovative twist."

Sounds like the Wii all over again smh.

[Uncharted3Goty]

What can they do Some People just like the Wii

[NukaCola]

This looks cool. The name is corny though. I really wonder, there's no way these controllers are going to be cheap. I assume the controllers are personal tablets for the individual gamer. You always carry you Wii U controllerr w/ you. I bet alot of you info is stored on it.

[SilverSlug]

Screens on controllers are no innovative. I wonder what Dreamcast has to say about it.

[fatstarr]

o.o did you just compare the dreamcast screen to this?

screens + motion sensors+ accelerometers and all the lot on a controller are innovative.

cause i have a dreamcast and i still play it
if you want ill test it out to see if it can do anything like the nintendo demos.

[SilverSlug]

Move had a ton more stuff than the Wii, didn't stop the fanboys from calling it a Wii rip-off.. :)

[Dasteru]

Did you seriously just compare the dreamcasts like 3/4" VMU screen to this? wow, im not really sure how to respond. well credit given where its due i guess. Even for N4G users its very rare a post gets me scratching my head.

[Uncharted3Goty]

so far it looks good lets see What Nintendo has to offer.
@ to NYC gamer and MajieBeast i know there old games that they had from there old gens. But still give it a chance there might be Big games.

[NYC_Gamer]

looks good from what?those 3rd party trailers were from PS3/360 footage...

[phantomexe]

agreed safe to say it can run Ps3 and Xbox grafics

[majiebeast]

The same old franchises for 25 years?

[fatstarr]

the same can be said for sonys
15 years
and Microsoft's 9 years?

[DrRichtofen]

looks like nintendo just caught up to this gen

[Pillville]

...and it won't be out until next year, and next E3, I guarantee we'll be seeing next-next-gen.

I really hope when we see the hardware specs of WiiU they are well above the current xbox and PS3.

[DrRichtofen]

I hope you're right . But when that happens I have a feeling whatever microsoft and sony show is gonna blow the wii u away. And its gonna be like this gen all over again (nintendo selling the most but having the weakest system )

[maniacmayhem]

I fin it funny that nintendo has the controller ready and working and not the actual console.

makes me think that this thing will still be a beast of a machine.

[D2K]

Everything they showed us today are ports off of stuff that has been done already or on cross-platform titles. So I'm not gonna trip off of the quality of the graphics which I'm afraid to say looked slightly WORSE than the 360 and PS3.

Clearly graphical power is not the focus of Nintendo, but just one branch in there overall strategy. They should have shown US a least ONE GAME that had graphics in which surpassed the 360 and PS3. Even if it was just a tech demo like the Mario 128 demo back in 2000.

Even though their conference left me confused and with more questions than answers, I was afraid that Nintendo would lose who they are by trying to appease the so-called 'core' crowd. It seems like they want to keep everything balanced. I can deal with that. It does feel like Nintendo is a step behind though.

[maniacmayhem]

I think with showing the ports nintendo is saying "look we have third party support" and "we can handle everything 360 and ps3 can do"

Remember this console is not even fresh out the door. No specs are out or anything similar. Remember when 360 first came out nothing but ports of ps2 and xbox1. Remember when ps3 dropped and it hardly had any games out for it.

What im saying is its way too early to dismiss this. Nintendo been in the game way too long they have their sh*t together.

[jack_burt0n]

does remind me of the dreamcast.

[Killzone3Helghast]

It's "meh" for me.. I'll probably just upgrade my PC and wait till the next gen(PS4/Xbox720) consoles come out. Don't really like the idea of a screen on your controller when you have a 40 inch or so TV in front of you.

[fatstarr]

will you like this idea when sony and microsoft do it and it becomes main stream?

[Killzone3Helghast]

no just like I didn't buy the PS Move or Kinect

[Ddouble]

I'm trying to imagine playing street fighter or marvel on that controller

[D2K]

Agreed. Playing fighting games on this controller is gonna be hard. Maybe not for Tekken or DOA, but for Street Fighter and stuff like that.

[DrRichtofen]

Does anyone know if it has triggers/bumpers?

[phantomexe]

I'm inpressed and i wasn't expecting to be. What i want to know as a person who does most of his gameing now a days on the PS3 is Does it have a hard drive what about tropies,how about there XMB. These may not be as inportant to the wii owners who stayed with nintendo but for someone who droped support for nintendo because of the wii. I want to no? These are all things inportant to gameing today and have become a standard for gameing. So far i'm inpressed but i need to no.

[CaptainPunch]

I see Nintendo's still rehashing the same old franchises. At least with Sony we got Uncharted, Spryo the Dragon, Sly Cooper, God of War, Jak and Dexter, Ratchet and Clank, and more games. We get to see a new IP every gen from Sony.

[D2K]

Every one of those games you mentioned at the same games Sony rehashes. What's your point? Why stop making games that make money? Yes, Sony unveiled a few new IPs and they look great, but the PS3 is a finished system that's been out for 5 years. The Wii U is still a work in progress.

When Nintendo announced the Revolution in 2005 they didn't announce a bunch of games for it. They waited until E3 2006 and announced a BUNCH of new IPs for the Wii as well as updated sequels.

[CaptainPunch]

Really? Did we get Uncharted last gen? How bought the Last Guardian? Or Heavy Rain? You fail lol

[Pillville]

Nintendo does have new IP this gen, it's just all casual.

Wii Fit
Wii Sports
Brain Age
Nintendogs
Trauma Center

[Kahvipannu]

Looks great! The backward compatibility is great too, since I don't own Wii, and by getting this I could still get the few Wii games I'm interested.

[bigjclassic]

The bird demo and cityscape demo were good. Specifically the Zelda demo looked better than PS360 quality, while the bird demo looked great imho.

IGN says its light, the analogue sticks are well made and its bumper and triggers feel fine.

Only wished I was there to try it myself.

[a_bro]

just saw the conference, go to admit, it looks pretty awesome. like the streaming feature. just wondering how much this is gonna cost though...

cant wait to see more of it next year, im just happy we'll be able to play ninty games in HD.