Having breezed through the first half of the conference, Nintendo then turned to Project Cafe. We could barely see anything about what the console actually is, as shown in this banner:
Kris: Woah this is a quick conference
Stefan: Beem is the rumour?
Kris: Yes
Gareth: WiiU? Really?
Kris: Seriously?
Stefan: lol
Blair: WiiU?
Kris: That’s easy to say. Oh god. *Headdesk*
Peter: unpronouncable?
Kris: That’s a fucking gamegear. Their controller is a gamegear
Stefan: That looks big
Gareth: far too big
Stefan: Maybe decently sized, really. I mean, it’s like a home-bound handheld. Doesn’t need to be portable, so as long as it’s nice and light…
Kris: SOLD.
Blair: Awesome!
Kris: Awesome
Kris: I hope they do a smaller version
Jim: kill them all!
Greg: Wiiu has sniper scope?
Stefan: Was that a video chat using baby-talk?
Gareth: holy god
Kris: That thing has EVERYTHING
Peter: they’ve beaten Apple to it.
Stefan: Beaten Apple to what?
Peter: TV to screen
Blair: MAN
Greg: Stunning loking Zelda game! Awesome
Blair: so are they doing Project Cafe too?
Kris: WiiU is cafe
Blair: really?
Kris: It’s a Codename
Blair: I thought it was a peripheral
Greg: So their new console is a controller?
Kris: Well I think there’s a console too
Stefan: Seems so. It’s not a new console
Stefan: It just uses the Wii, seemingly
Jim: When looking at the footage, I saw a Wii laying on its side :/
Blair: I think the WiiU is just for the Wii hence Wii U.
Gareth: no new console?
Jim: Looks like Sony have “won” E3 then
Stefan: It looks like a new peripheral, to all intents…
Kris: They haven’t said whether it’s just Wii or not… [They just said] HDTV, So new console? This is confusing.
Peter: that’s not a Wii under the TV, that has curves
Blair: Very confusing, just give me a new console and this peripheral too…
Kris: Surely can’t have bolted all of this onto the Wii
Peter: Wii doesn’t have HD video out… Or does it have Component cables?
Blair: Component, yes.
Stefan: Not if it’s HD, no, but most of the stuff could be done using a remote-play type thing.
Blair: Is this just touch remote play with a lot more functionality? Where’s my new better than PS3 console.
Stefan: yyyyyyeeeess….
Blair: “WiiU console”
Stefan: I’m prepared to be very wrong in my assumption…
Smash Brothers Wii U and 3DS are announced
Blair: Fuck yes, Smash Bros!
Gareth: Smash Brothers 3DS. FUCKING SOLD
Stefan: cross platform play?
Kris: Hm they didn’t say cross platform Just working together :S
Blair: still don’t know what the fuck is happening with WiiU
Kris: WHAT IS IT. TELL US.
Stefan: Yup, there’s nothing solid in the bloody slightest
Gareth: so is it a fucking console or what!?
Gareth: is there something new under my TV or NOT!>
Gareth: GAAHHH
Kris: New console
Kris: No way is this on Wii
Blair: NEW CONSOLE, finally.
Stefan: Has to be.
Peter: using “Wii” so heavily is a mistake
The Bird Demo
Peter: fucking hell. That’s good birdage
Blair: Definitely, Peter.
Peter: shit, seriously good
Stefan: Not saying that it’s working in tandem with a new Wii base console is the main mistake.
Greg: All this power’s in the handheld thingy? People are gonna get hot hands.
Kris: Ok I have to go
Kris: Someone tweet or shit
Stefan: The handheld is just a wireless screen, from what they’ve said
Blair: Has to be Blu-ray.
Stefan: Could be HD-DVD :P
Peter: “New controller” CLARIFY, MOTHERFUCKER.
Gareth: godammit WHAT AM I SUPPSOED TO BE WRITING
Examples of gameplay with the new controller
Greg: Has that wii-like box on screen got curved sides?
Blair: This is so confusing and weird.
Gareth: must be a new console, that thing was curvy.
Peter: yes, that’s a new console
Peter: looks like half an old Xbox 360
Blair: Wiimotes :S
Stefan: Obviously. To maintain back compatibility with all Wii titles
Peter: Lego City Stories? Rockstar are shitting themselves…
Gareth: that radar/map looks like GTA’s
Greg: Looks like a keep everything but your little white box kinda deal.
Blair: Right, can I see what the new console looks like and what it does?
Blair: Rather than THE FUCKING CONTROLLER.
Greg: new console + controller. finally
Blair: They seem to be forgetting there’s a console…
Blair: and focusing on the controller.
Peter: console is just the power unit, controller is the revolutionary bit.
Gareth: yeah :/
Greg: controller has headphone socket too then
Wii U gets a bunch of 3rd party support
Gareth: ASSASSINS CREED
Adam: Arkham City
Gareth: oh shit
Gareth: they are kicking arse
Stefan: Ghost Recon online, Batman.
Stefan: This is huge.
Greg: Tekken
Peter: Darksiders II on launch? That’s a release before March then.
Greg: fuck
Stefan: Dirt, Colonial Marines
Blair: So it’s a PS3 with a tablet controller.
Stefan: Metro Last Light!
Gareth: …drawing on tekken characters
Gareth: that looks awesome
Gareth: I am excited
Gareth: Physically excited.
Stefan: kind of like that, Blair.
Gareth: ninja gaiden
Peter: looks better than a PS3 to me.
Peter: Hard to tell via stream though
Greg: Hard core
Peter: early footage too
Blair: Can I see the console?
Blair: Please?
Peter: Very impressive
Stefan: Yeah, impossible to tell, but I’d expect it to have a big edge over 360 and PS3 in graphics. I mean, they can easily aim higher.
Greg: Burnout?
Stefan: Is he suggesting that we’ll see a proper friends system?
Greg: SIms :(
Greg: Army of Two
Gareth: EA are at Nintendo’s press conference [headache]
Jim: not necessarily. EA are putting forward a portfolio it seems. what they can bring to the Wii U in future?
Blair: Needs to have proper online and stuff.
Gareth: Army of WiiU?
Blair: The name is just capitalising on the Wii, like the 3DS did with the DS.
Blair: If they don’t show the console I will kill their controller loving asses.
Gareth: Yeah, me too
Gareth: I’ll beat their head in with a prototype or something
Stefan: They’re not going to show it.
Gareth: ffs
Gareth: I want specs and press pics
Stefan: When they announced the Wii, didn’t they only announce the remote, or something?
Greg: Nintendo never like giving hardware specs
Stefan: Yup, that’s true. We’ll have to wait for a teardown.
Blair: What colour is it? Does it have USB ports? What does it actually look like? CAN YOU PUT DISCS IN IT?
Stefan: White; more than likely; similar to a Wii; yes you can.
Gareth: that is one sexy tv there
Blair: Wait, what does the Vita use as discs?
Blair: just download?!
Stefan: Download, memory cards
Peter: Vita uses flash memory cartridges
Gareth: bluray?
Gareth: could be DVD9
Stefan: VitaThink it has two slots? One for cartridges, one for
Blair: It must be Blu-ray, or else.
Gareth: I’m betting DVD though.
Stefan: It could be a custom disc again.
Gareth: I hope not, that’s a shit practice.
Stefan: As I said above, it could be HD DVD.
Gareth: :/ it’s backwards compatible right?
Blair: does this mean ALL the multiplatform games come to this now?
Stefan: Yes, backward compatible
Blair: Like, it’s now PS3, PC, Xbox AND WiiU for most games
Stefan: and yup, multiplatform on it is on it too
They end their E3 showing… Did they win?
Gareth: Seems Nintendo win E3, oh well.
Stefan: Ugh. Multiplatform will now include the WiiU too.
Gareth: I never thought I’d say that…
Stefan: Pretty much.
Stefan: I think if Sony had held onto the NGP and announced it here, it could be a toss up between the two, but Nintendo will win the hype for this
Gareth: TBF, I get the feeling the NGP can do a lot of very similar things.
Jim: In terms of the multiplat games such as Arkham City or Assassin’s Creed, who is going to opt for them on the Wii U
Gareth: It depends what the controller brings to the WiiU versions
Jim: The way I see it is that all core gamers own a PC, 360 or PS3, some also having Wiis for Ninty exclusives
Stefan: True, but the 8 year old kids from 4 years ago might only have a Wii, and will be 13 by release. They might see the WiiU, and it would appear more agreeable to their parents
Blair: WiiU isn’t a big enough jump from Wii to clarify that it’s a BRAND NEW THING. Like PS3 from PS2.
Stefan: I think two key things will be how powerful the main box is, but also how big a role the WiiU controller has in things.
Stefan: It completely is, Blair. It’s the jump from Xbox to 360.
Blair: But that feels more like a big jump. I dunno, U isn’t enough
Stefan: The problem is that it feels murky because they emphasised the controller, rather than the hardware, and that it seems to only be on par with, or just a shade above the PS3 and 360
Jim: I’m off. Too annoyed/disappointed to stick around D:
Gareth: I wanna know how powerful it is
Stefan: Same.
Gareth: I wish they’d be a real tech company for once and give out specs
Stefan: Kind of like Apple in that regard. The specs mean less and less the more mass market you go.
That’s where things wrapped up, and people headed off to do Podcasts and other awesome things.
Crocadillian
heheh, interesting conversation. I think it’s a cool console, but I think Nintendo will need to prove to core gamers that this console will be able to fit their needs, such as their online infrastructure (and yes, I’m changing my tone on the console, I was too harsh on it before… >_>). Their console design is still reminiscent of a babies toy in my opinion though, it’s very uninspiring and bland.
Crocadillian
(sorry for the double post) I’m surprised you guys got confused over whether it was a accessory or a new console though. What happened? XD
Voganlight
It happened to a lot of people. It was because all they really did was talk about the controller and the name had ‘Wii’ in it.
teflon
Basically they showed of the controller, and in the background of the video footage, with pretty low video feeds to go on, it was near impossible to make out if it was just a Wii still or something new.
Some people said it’s not a Wii as it had curved sides, but it wasn’t until there was some footage that was clearly HD and clearly impossible on the Wii that we were able to really know for certain.
Nintendo’s focus was completely on the controller, rather than divulging anything about the main box that powers everything.
Crocadillian
Mmm, I guess they poorly presented the product then.
eye8have9you3
“Are we sure Reggie isn’t a robot?” that sums up all of my feelings on the first part of the show, it was like he was just practising, seeing if he could remember his lines or something?
mousearmy
That was a very revealing look behind the scenes of thesixthaxis. I realise now why you were confused about the Wii U and it had nothing to do with Nintendo’s presentation.
hazelam
is it just me or does the 3ds mario seem a bit of a step back from something like mario 64?
it looks more like old style mario levels with extra layers, as opposed to the full, if kinda small, 3d worlds the earlier game featured.
and yeah, the translator talking over miyamoto was annoying, have an option for miyamoto in japanese or the translator in english, not both at the same time.
and if you’re going to do the music thing again, make sure the orchestra plays order of the tunes so you don’t have to ask them three times.
personally i can’t wait to find out if the wii u will actually play audio cds.
i bet it doesn’t.