R
Rösti
Unconfirmed Member
Welcome to the fifth iteration of the Wii U speculation thread! We have reached May and E3 becomes less and less distant for every day. On the 5th of June 9:00 AM PST, Nintendo will finally unveil the Wii U in its final form, a revelation we've been waiting almost a year for. Up until then, this thread is for sensible discussion and speculation about rumors and news surfacing regarding Nintendo's next generation console. Be nice and beware of the Nintendo ninjas.
If you for some reason have missed what Wii U is all about, you can in a relaxed manner watch Nintendo's media briefing at E3 2011, where the system was first unveiled:
E3 2011 media briefing: http://media.nintendo.com/e3/_ui/videos/E3_06072011_Nintendo_Press_Conference_English2.mp4
Demonstration: http://media.nintendo.com/e3/_ui/videos/HW_demo.mp4
Software lineup: http://media.nintendo.com/e3/_ui/videos/HW_sizzle.mp4
And here are the past threads:
Speculation thread 1
Speculation thread 2
Speculation thread 3
Speculation thread 4
General
- Third parties: Several new, previously unconsidered alliances/partnerships with third parties.
- Communities: You haven't seen the last of them!
- Retail title downloads: 3DS and Wii U both support digital download of retail titles, but... they still aren't quite sure how to implement it just yet.
- Item billing: "We should not decline third parties if they want to offer item billing" (paying to unlock content).
- DLC: Still planning to offer DLC (possibly talking about their own software), but needs more time to complete its feasibility study on the market and its needs.
- More sharing: "Digital will include user to user communications and sharing" (More social networking integration? More Swapnote-like apps? More emphasis on Streetpass/Spotpass?).
- Better-paced software + DLC: Nintendo has learnt that it shouldn't have stagnant periods between software launches: can fill the gap, and DLC can extend the life of a title.
- Asia: Planning products for Asia, local partners (WiiQue U?) yet to be announced; still issues of copyright.
- Miyamoto still around, Iwata angry at Wired. "Miyamoto is saying his basic work is to create a big hit."
- Collection of quotes about Wii U's hardware (thanks Oddduck)
- Nintendo is targeting, at a bare minimum, 1 GB of RAM.
- Nintendo is working to optimize popular third party engines.
- The amount of RAM used for the OS is "surprising". Could change with optimization.
- ViviTouch is providing some kind of haptic controller experience to Wii U
- Wii U's thumb sticks are clickable.
- Wii U could launch in Q3 (July-September) of 2012
- Wii U supports Unreal Engine 4
Rumour Consolidation 2011
Rumour Consolidation 2012
Information on Nintendo Network
Wii U:
- User accounts: Wii U will have individual user accounts, rather than one system-wide account.
- NFC: Near Field Communication ("touch" data transmission from accessories, credit cards, etc... sort of like QR/Streetpass combined) will be built-in.
- Online: Miyamoto: "Network has to have a totally new concept to be different."
Nintendo licenses Havok, Gameware for Wii U
Nintendo no longer using 1T-SRAM. Puts how BC is achieved in question.
Aliens Colonial Marines has so much more to offer on Wii U
Nintendo on Wii U Power: We dont focus on specs
Anonymous dev: Wii U games look just as good as PS3, but are still less capable. AI, physics likely to suffer
Ubisoft wants to be the no. 1 third party publisher on Wii U
RE6 will not be available at this time on the Wii U
A video of Rayman Legends Wii U version leaks onto the net
Nintendo facing Wii U trade mark opposition in England
Wii U IS a next generation system
New version of the Wii U Remote shown by TT Games
The Games
- Confirmed games in development:
- 1001 Spikes (developed by Nicalis, publisher unknown)
- Aliens Colonial Marines (developed by Gearbox Software, published by Sega)
- Assassins Creed III (developed by Ubisoft Montrea, published by Ubisoft)
- Avengers: Battle for the Earth (developed by Ubisoft Quebec, published by Ubisoft)
- Batman Arkham City (developed by Rocksteady Studios, published by Warner Bros. Interactive)
- Ben 10: Omniverse (developed by Vicious Cycle Studios, published by D3 Publisher)
- Cloudberry Kingdom (developed by pwnee Studios)
- Darksiders II (developed by Vigil Games, published by THQ)
- DiRT (developed and published by Codemasters)
- Dragon Quest X Online (developed by Armor Project and Square Enix, published by Square Enix)
- F1 (developed and published by Codemasters)
- FIFA 13 (developed and published by EA)
- Ghost Recon Online (developed by Ubisoft Singapore, published by Ubisoft)
- Just Dance (not exactly confirmed, but mentioned by Ubisoft in an earnings report)
- Killer Freaks from Outer Space (developed by Ubisoft Montpellier, published by Ubisoft)
- Lego City Stories (developed by Traveller's Tales, published by Nintendo)
- Marvel Pinball (developed by Zen Studios, publisher unclear)
- Metro: Last Light (developed by 4A Games, published by THQ)
- Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge (developed by Team Ninja, published by Tecmo-Koei)
- Pikmin 3 (developed by Nintendo EAD, published by Nintendo)
- Pinball Arcade (developed by FarSight Studios)
- Project CARS (developed by Slightly Mad Studios, publisher unknown)
- Rayman Legends (developed by Ubisoft Montpellier, published by Ubisoft)
- Super Smash Bros (developed by Project Sora probably with help from other teams, published by Nintendo)
- Untitled project by Monolith Software
- Untitled Rabbids project (developed and published by Ubisoft)
- Activision (Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Treyarch, Vicarious Visions, James Bond 007 game)
- Bandai-Namco (Ridge Racer, Tekken)
- Bigben Interactive (multiple titles)
- Bloober Team (multiple titles)
- Capcom (Action game listing)
- Crytek (Nottingham team has Wii U SDK, and they're excited about it)
- Deep Silver Inc. (multiple titles)
- EA (Sports titles, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Overstrike, Visceral Games)
- Empty Clip Studios (has Wii U SDK)
- Funbox Media Ltd (multiple titles)
- LucasArts (action/adventure title, MMO)
- Longtail Studios (has apparently a Ubisoft project in the works, Monster Party is mentioned)
- Maximum Family Games, LLC. (racing title)
- Pipeworks Software (Board Game/Family Game)
- Rebellion (multiple titles)
- Retro Studios (Nintendo)
- Sega (Sonic, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed)
- Shin'en (has Wii U SDK)
- Techland (probably porting Dead Island)
PS: Some things will be updated in this thread. Work in progress.