IN DEPTH: WHAT WII U MEANS
to the handheld if the TV is in use, or use it as a companion device to something like Wii Fit.
It also has non-games functions: either via the TV or touchscreen it can be a photo album, movie viewer, web browser. It can even be a TV controller and video chat. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata’s patter has focused on how this device can improve the social fabric in the home. It’s an answer to kids browsing Facebook on an iPod Touch next to Dad on Twitter via his laptop, Mum posting on MumsNet on her Android phone and the TV tuned to X Factor– all in the same room, but never ‘together’, trapped in pockets of data.
GAMES COME FIRST
Nintendo says that offering the antidote of communal
entertainment via an affordable device can spark another revolution in the living room. Or at least spark conversation between friends and loved ones otherwise being driven apart by a digital wedge. And the firm’s answer to what sets all of the above apart from an Apple TV with iPad or a PS3 connected to Vita – or even Microsoft’s woolly Xbox plus SmartGlass concept – is as resolute as ever. Yarnton tells MCV, pointedly: “Ours is a total gaming experience.” You would genuinely laugh at such altruism, and talk of using games to heal families from the encroachment of technology, if it came tumbling from the mouth of a Microsoft or Sony exec. But Nintendo is convinced. And as ever is admirably proud of its gaming- first approach.
“Wii U is an unprecedented product,” says Yarnton. “It’s something we want people to pick up every day. Not just for gaming, but also for things like going online and watching TV. The range of software has very broad appeal. I think it will be good for the market.” Is there demand? Do people need this in their lives? “A lot of times people don’t realise they need a device like this in their lives until they see it.” The iPad, often pointed to as Nintendo’s real rival, is proof of that.
UBIQUITOUS You don’t have to go far to find Nintendo’s vision is shared across
www.mcvuk.com ZombiU is one of eight games Ubisoft is preparing for the launch of Wii U, and one of four designed for gamers
the industry. At E3, the firm went to great lengths to prove out intensive publisher support. Warner was given precious minutes during the platform-holder press conference to detail LEGO City Undercoverand a retooled Batman: Arkham City, plus a new Scribblenauts.
A video montage blasted through blink-and-you’ll-miss-it support from THQ, Namco, EA, Sega, Take- Two and some indie developers. But the biggest proponent of Wii U is Ubisoft. It’s repaying the favour for its successes on Wii with emphatic support for the new console’s launch. While most third- parties struggled once the initial novelty wore off on the Wii, Ubisoft forged on and built one of the generation’s biggest new franchises – Just Dance– through its work on Nintendo’s platform. Ubisoft will launch eight games in total for the new console. Four hardcore games, and four casual. “We are playing both fields because we think it will appeal to the family the way the Wii did, and start to please the hardcore gamers too,” explains EMEA MD Alain Corre. “We have been a strong believer in Wii U since day one, and a strong believer in Nintendo’s vision for gamers. We have been working closely with them, and we know our brands appeal to Nintendo gamers.” Corre thinks that offering a mass- market level tablet-style device is
with Wii U and soon be integrated into 3DS and future Nintendo platforms. It’s an expanded version of the Mii Plaza found on all Wiis, but adds all sorts of online
“
Wii U will appeal to the family the way the Wii did, and please the hardcore, too.
Alain Core, Ubisoft
the real killer app here, not any specific software.
“This technology is interesting because the tablet is very appealing to families. I have a tablet at home, but I’m basically not allowed to touch it as the kids have it all the time. For families like that, this is great. And those that don’t have a tablet can have fun with a Wii U tablet. There are a lot of social possibility around it and that pleases us.”
ONLINE POWER Corre also points to Nintendo’s online strategy as important to the device’s success in the home. At E3, the firm said the new ‘Miiverse’ online world would launch
communication and social tracking. Players will be able to communally upload hints and tips or request help from strangers, send handwritten notes and doodles to friends, and even access all of that through their existing smartphones and laptops. But it’s also heavily moderated and monitored, just as you would expect from a Nintendo service. That might rankle core gamers, but Corre is impressed. “We see our consumers are always connected, social is the watch word for all of them. Wii U does that in a very simple way. You turn it on and you are connected straight way, and can chat to friends. But at the same time it’s very safe, it’s very Nintendo. “A lot of families will be happy to let their kids play it.”
Broadly, he says, “the protection of the Nintendo environment has a lot of appeal”, even talking up the manufacturer’s long-running knack for making durable and sturdy games tech. “Whereas I am very worried when I let my young daughter play with my iPad, in case she will break it.”
ACTIVE SUPPORT Even developers you would assume are harder to please have come
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