Official Wii U discussion thread. - Page 3

Nintendo wanted the launch window to stand on it's own for the holidays. Now that we are in the slow period for console sales it is time to fire up the hype train once again.

They need to keep some hype up! I didn't see specific release dates on anything they showed today. Could be Q4 2013, could be ?? 2014... that's a long drought for Nintendo fans. Also gives plenty of time for MS, Sony and the other "consoles" (Ouya, Gamestick, Shield, Steambox) to get some footing if they launch soon.

And let's not forget the shovelware devs... if there's no quality titles taking up the space, we could end up with mountains of crap games polluting the WiiU, slowly strangling support- just like Wii circa 2009 and on.
Edited by voodoozen - 1/23/13 at 11:53am

Well Balloon Fight is now mine, again. For the third time in my life. I've always had a soft spot for the game, particularly in 2-player mode where you and your buddy become a well-oiled team only to temporarily VICIOUSLY BETRAY EACH OTHER during the bonus rounds. More than that thought, I couldn't resist getting a peek at the Wii U Virtual Console. In fact, the hardest part in deciding to buy this was getting over the ridiculousness of charging my credit card for 33 cents.

I had read somewhere that Wind Waker HD is coming out in August 2013, fingers crossed!

Holy crap the trolls on Gamefaqs are trying everything to put down this Direct, their efforts are almost comical so far.

I'm glad to hear the Wind Waker rumors after seeing how amazing the game looks in Dolphin screenshots. I just wish it was a Legend of Zelda HD Collection with HD ports of Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword also included.

I've been hoping for that, Metroid Prime Trilogy HD, and at least a Super Mario Galaxy HD Collection (Although I wouldn't argue against including Sunshine) since well before Skyward Sword was released and a Wii successor was still well in the rumor stage. But buying hopefully most of this content piecemeal in HD form on the Wii U will be better than nothing, assuming this is more than just a one off project and instead is a prelude to more 1st party GCN and Wii classics getting the HD makeover treatment.

I just hope it's not a downloadable exclusive.

Edit - I see it's far beyond a reliable rumor like it was portrayed at another forum where I just heard about it. Looks like I have several minutes of catching up to do to see all the interesting news revealed today.
Edited by Leo_Ames - 1/23/13 at 6:24pm

Yeah, why would Nintendo sell them in one package when they know that they can get more money AND use it to better fill out gaps in their schedule if they do it one at a time?

I'm sure you can count on HD ports of both Mario Galaxy and Prime Trilogy as a gap filler at some point. I never finished Windwaker( never got close, really) so if I wind up getting a Wii U this year this will certainly be on the 'to buy' list.

Now that I've seen some shots I'm kind of iffy on the look of it. The cel shading would still look great in HD, but this is sort of toy story-esque. It doesn't look bad per se, but it doesn't really look like wind waker either.

Yeah I just finished WW and it looked fine at 480p. This appears more redesign than your standard HD upgrade.

I personally think it looks pretty gorgeous, but honestly I wouldn't judge too much from these super-early shots.

On a different topic, there's already several frame-by-frame analyses of the Xeno-whatever trailer on the Internet, and the most revealing bit is that there are some definite MMO elements (there's a social chat window on the side of one of the screens). People are also claiming it's a direct sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles based on a recycled Heal Bullet animation from Sharla and the vaguely Shulk-esque face at the end, but I'm not buying it.

Yeah, I pulled out the old Gamecube not that long ago and WW held up really well (much better than the GC versions of OoT, Majora's Mask and RE4. Twilight Princess holds up well too, but the more realistic artstyle detracts from the visuals a bit on an hdtv. I am really looking forward to WW HD and I hope there is full camera control in this version. This and the next new Zelda installment will make my Wii U purchase well worth the price of entry.

It has been a few years, but didn't Wind Waker already have full camera control? It sure seems like I was able to position the camera to my liking anytime I wanted to by using the C stick. I suppose I might be thinking of Twilight Princess on the GameCube, but if it didn't handle the camera functions, what did it handle?

I'm glad in a way to see Wind Waker having a new look to it. While I love the visual style of the environments in the original and would've been just fine with it staying more faithful like most HD conversions have done, I think this is even better. Such a overhaul provides even more of a reason to revisit the game and it means our GameCube copies still have a valid use down the road.

I could see replaying the GameCube game again someday where as with things like Ico, I see little reason to ever play my PS2 copy again with the HD version on the PS3.

"I hope there is full camera control in this version"

You should never hope for full camera control. The camera should just work and you should never have to think about it.

When I revisited it (my session wasn't that long), some areas had it and others didn't.

DLJ, I'm just so used to modern games having camera control mapped to the right analog stick now, that it's very awkward dealing with a fixed camera. I just started Ni No Kuni and I was pretty disappointed that the first part of the game (Motorville) is all fixed camera (luckily this changes once you leave). I think it's also one of the main reasons that I don't enjoy the GoW series as much as I used to (just seems archaic to me -- much like not being able to move and shoot in RE5).

Those images are target renders they made to examine various HD graphics styles for the next Zelda game. I really don't expect the final HD version of WW to look much different from a Dolphin screenshot.

While they mention doing that with several games to explore possibilities for the next generation Zelda release, they're certainly portraying the shots dusplayed later that are compared with 480p GCN shots as shots of this product that's supposed to be released later this year.

The assets don't lineup properly, it looks like a target render.

I don't know what the source is for what they showed. I'm just referencing how they portrayed it as. We weren't shown those shots when they were discussing their experimentation. They showed them after announcing this project later in the video and clearly are leading the viewer to believe that they represent what's coming.

I hope so, but with all those titles being easily available new (Other than Metroid Primte Trilogy) and looking set to remain available for quite sometime, I'm not so certain thanks to Wii U's backwards compatibility. Wind Waker is of course a GameCube game and thus can't be played here in original form which I'm sure helps their business case. And Metroid Prime Trilogy represents a series that took a drastic nose dive in sales each time after being a hit the first time out and Metroid Prime Trilogy quickly disappeared almost as quick as it appeared. And Other M's sales disaster certainly doesn't help the franchise's future.

I'd be more certain if this was a more typical HD rerelease. But it looks like more TLC is being invested here and that sets a precedent that will be expensive to follow for a Sony style effort with 1st party Nintendo releases from recent years. Wouldn't shock me for this to be a one off deal and for most of their modern classics to merely make their way unchanged to the Wii U's new Virtual Console.

Yes, they did show those screens while talking about different styles for the next Zelda game. Start at 1:30 The screens start first then the talk about the style of the new Zelda then announce WW HD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSF-yNvKmjI

They obviously built this Windfall in a new engine they are toying with right now, especially since so many little things are slightly out of place. A simple retexture and additional lighting effects wouldn't alter the base landscape.

Guys, stop arguing over it. We don't have enough data yet to say one way or the other. I'm sure we'll get a proper in-motion trailer in the next couple months, then we will know which route they are taking. Until then, neither of you are provably correct, and really, it doesn't matter that much one way or the other anyway.

Sure enough, you're right. Sorry for not going back and confirming the order I thought it happened in.

I think you stand a good chance of being proven correct (Although for Nintendo's sake, I hope those shots are fairly accurate representations of the final product since I imagine most are going to make the same leap I made). But I think it stands a reasonable chance of looking like that since I think the single biggest reason for the difference you see in that video is lighting. If this is running in a more modern engine that they're preparing for Zelda U, I don't see why that couldn't be fairly easily implimented.

Dolphin shots look so nice though that I'd be pleased just with the game being presented in 16:9 and rendered in HD as far as the graphics are concerned. I'm also hoping that the non skippable animations after Link uses his wand are able to be skipped. Having to watch him wave that thing around every single time I changed the direction of the wind quickly got on my nerves.

So if they make any chance, I hope it's that one.
Edited by Leo_Ames - 1/26/13 at 12:58am

So in order for this to be perfect, they need to add back the two lost dungeons, make changing the wind effortless, reduce the world map/amount of sailing, and completely cut out that lame padding fetch quest at the end. They'd probably need to do all of that for me to actually play it instead of just staying on the sidelines and admiring the look of it.

Out of curiousity, is there anything out there for the Wii U at retail that requires Wii controls to be utilized for single player?

"Out of curiousity, is there anything out there for the Wii U at retail that requires Wii controls to be utilized for single player?"

Not that I've seen. I wouldn't be surprised though if the first year of Wii U is like the first year of Kinect. With Kinect, Microsoft didn't allow devs to use anything except for the Kinect itself on Kinect titles. A year later though, gamepad and Kinect combinations were allowed. It would not be out of place for Nintendo to be enforcing a "Gamepad for single-player" rule for a bit. They want people to have a definitive reason to buy the Wii U. Single-player games running on the Pro Controller or Wii Remote do not give consumers that reason.

It would surprise me if over the lifetime of the Wii U they put out more than a couple games, if any, that don't at least have an option for Gamepad-only controls for single-player. And if they do, you'll know it, because those games will almost certainly be bundled with Wiimotes. But in normal cases, since a Wiimote isn't a pack-in with the console I doubt they'd feel free to make that the only control scheme.

For instance, they seemed to be pushing Wiimote controls for Pikmin 3 every time they showed it, but there's definitely a Gamepad option as well.

I can't imagine them offering optional gamepad controls for a future Wii Sports release or next generation Legend of Zelda after Skyward Sword. But I imagine it's safe to say that they will never be common. Too bad they hadn't bit the bullet and made a Wiimote and nunchuk a standard part of the console package. Anyways, I didn't think there was anything requiring it so thanks for the confirmation. I was wondering about it since it's difficult to imagine them giving something like Skyward Sword optional gamepad controls if it were to recieve the HD treatment someday.

I hope they're not going to let the fact that not every customer doesn't have them deter them from doing such projects when it makes sense and optional gamepad controls don't. There's 100 million Wii's out there and many more Wiimotes and Wii controllers are available new everywhere so even though it isn't 100% of their customer base that will have those controller's, most of them surely will. So it would be ashame for companies like Nintendo to shy away from such projects or make compromises so they'd be playable with gamepads (Or worse, for Nintendo to mandate gamepad support everywhere).

I'm no motion gaming fan and most of my time on the Wii was spent with traditional controls. But for a small segment of my gaming needs, the Wii's motion functionality was very much welcomed. I don't see optional gamepad support doing the experience any good in game's tailored around motion like the Wii Sports series (Which it's difficult to imagine not seeing an appearance on the Wii U eventually).

So I've been playing Sonic Racing lately. Do I suck, or is this game kinda hard? I play mostly on Medium, World Tour mode, and most of the time I feel like I have to do really, really well to even place 3rd. The special challenges (boost mode, ring race, beat best lap time) are even harder. There's one where you have to beat Joe Musashi's best lap time, and no matter what I did, I just could not catch him on medium. Meanwhile, if I drop down to Easy, I can win in my sleep. I kinda wish Easy was a little harder and Medium a little easier.

Overall, it is a well-made racer, possessing that sense of speed and excitement that's been bleeding out of Mario Kart with every new installment. I like the track design a lot, even though it can often be a bit hard to tell where the road is going -- especially when using off-TV play. (On that note, this is the first Wii U game I've encountered where the visuals look very noticeably worse if played on the Gamepad rather than the TV.) Part of that is due to how much crazy, awesome-looking stuff is going on in the background, but I also can't help but feel the game could've done a better job in general of making the roadway stand out from the background.

All that being said, I'm not sure how long I'll hang on to this game. Not knocking it, as it's really quite good, but it's just that I'm not sure how long a game like this can sustain my interest without frequent opportunities for local multiplayer.

Sonic Racing gets very challenging as you move up. I can usually win on Medium, but Hard is just insane. One mistake and you go to the back of the pack and stay there.

I agree it's tough. I recommend starting racing only with Sonic, and learn to nail those power slides.

Also, here's a tip I didn't realize until playing the game a while - when in a ground or water vehicle and you get some air (ramp, jump, ledge, etc.), you can do a power move with the right stick that, if executed correctly, gives a nice boost.

Also, during the countdown, if you hit the accelerator when the screen is black, you get a start boost. You get 3 chances, and you'll know you hit the right timing because the tailpipe will glow.