Hasta La Gadget!

People here in the US of A have been able to pre-order Nintendo’s latest gaming console since shortly after the Japanese company wrapped up its NYC event yesterday, and now it’s time for UK folks to do the same — at least through Amazon. The online retail giant’s now offering both the Basic and Premium units on its site for £249 and £299, respectively, or there is also a top-of-the-line bundle which includes ZombieU that’s priced at £329. Regardless of the Wii U route you choose to take, be sure to mark November 30th on your calendar as the date to expect that trademark brown box to show up at your doorstep.

Filed under: Gaming

Nintendo Wii U now available to pre-order in the UK from Amazon originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Amazon (Basic), (Premium)  | Email this | Comments

Today, as many of you already know, the Wii U finally received pricing information and a release date. Along with those rather important details, we were also treated to a list of specs for the console. Everything seems to be solid, but there’s one thing leaving consumers scratching their heads: storage, or lack thereof.

The Wii U comes in two different packages. The Basic package offers 8GB of internal storage, while the Deluxe Set comes packing 32GB under the hood. Both of those numbers seem a little on the small side given the gaming industry’s current shift toward digital content. In an investor call today after the big event, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said that the Wii U will actually feature expandable storage through USB, saying that should the need arise, you’ll be able to increase your Wii U’s storage to your heart’s content.

“You can plug in a full-on three terabyte hard drive if you want. I’ll love you as a digital consumer,” Fils-Aime said. “The reason we did it that way is that the cost of that type of storage memory is plummeting. What we didn’t want to do is tie a profit model to something that’s gonna rapidly decline over time. We’ll let the consumer buy as much as they want, as cheaply as they want.” This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a console that lets users expand memory on their own – the PS3, for instance, is compatible with any 2.5-inch SATA 5400rpm hard drive, and the Wii came with support for SD cards.

Fils-Aime also revealed that the Wii U doesn’t come with any TiVo or DVR hardware installed, meaning that if you want to take advantage of those features, you’ll need to have existing hardware on hand. That’s a bummer, but not entirely unexpected, given the price of the Wii U. That price will likely attract quite a bit of attention this holiday season, so maybe Nintendo is well on the way to repeating the success of the original Wii. We shall see soon enough.

[via Engadget]

Nintendo Wii U will feature expandable memory is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

As expected, Nintendo confirmed today that Call of Duty: Black Ops II will be coming to Wii U. Gameplay obviously won’t be too much different from its Xbox 360, PS3, and PC counterparts, but there are some features exclusive to the Wii U that helps this particular version standout from the crowd. Activision’s Eric Hirshberg ran through these features during Nintendo’s event today, with one of the most notable being that the game can be played on the Wii U GamePad’s screen.

That’s true for both local co-op and solo play. If you’re playing with a buddy, one of you can play on the TV and the other can play on the GamePad, whereas if you’re playing solo, you can play on the GamePad while the other people in your home do something entirely different with the TV. There will be an online multiplayer mode that lets players team up against AI enemies, but at the moment, we don’t know if that mode will feature alongside regular competitive multiplayer or if it will replace it entirely. Activision and Treyarch aren’t ready to talk about multiplayer in much depth yet, so expect more details on that soon.

According to VG247, Black Ops II on Wii U will feature “the most advanced textures, lighting and shadowing systems in series history,” in full force, and it will also give players a number of controller options. Those with the Wii U version will be able to play with the Wii U GamePad, the Wii remote, the Classic Controller Pro, and the new Wii U Pro Controller (which, according to Michael Pachter, may not exist were it not for the insistence of publishers like Activision). Zombies will also make a return in the Wii U version, but were going to have to wait for more details on that mode, and the Wii U version will also boast an expanded create-a-class feature, League Play, score streaks, and plenty of weapon enhancements, features we’re assuming will also be present in the other versions.

Finally, Activision says that the Wii U version is capable of running at 60fps in 1080p, even while playing online. That may not be the case when you’re playing on the TV and also streaming to the GamePad, but at least it’ll run at 60fps most of the time. All in all, the Wii U version of Black Ops II sounds like it will be able to hold its own, and we’re excited to find out more. Will you be picking up Black Ops II on Wii U, or do you need to find out more before you make that decision?

[NOTE: screenshot was not taken from the Wii U version of Black Ops II]

Black Ops II Wii U details unleashed is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Nintendo TVii will support “all” cable and dish carriers in the US and Canada, Nintendo director of strategic partnership Zach Fountain told Engadget this afternoon. He said that no major carriers are excluded, and the only requirement for signing up is inputting your cable company’s account information to the Wii U. DVR and TiVO functionality are plugged in similarly, where users input information via web, and services resultantly pop up on the Wii U. Nintendo TVii launches with the Wii U on November 18 in the US and Canada for free, and remains exclusive to North America for the time being.

Filed under: Gaming, HD

Nintendo TVii supported by ‘all’ major US and Canadian cable companies, dish services originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

It’s time for the first big official list of Wii U games to be brought to light, and with the pricing for the USA, Europe, and Japan already set alongside a November store date, the fun can begin! Starting with such giant titles as The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, LEGO and Donky Kong, it’s looking like Nintendo may still have some magic under their belt. Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime seems to think so too, noting that “the new system also creates extraordinary new possibilities for game developers, bound only by the limits of their imaginations.”

This system has been detailed several times in the past half year with our own hands-on experiences spanning the distance. You’ve got a Wii console and several different ways to control the system including the classic stick and nunchuck, a Pro controller that’s closer to a traditional console controller than any other, and the next-generation GamePad with integrated second screen. This system will be working with two set releases, each of them with different amounts of excellence inside – and different hardware, too.

As for the games, you’ll be working with the following relatively massive list – and note, some of these titles had already been announced before now, but most have just popped up this week:

Funky Barn
NBA 2K13
007 Legends
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
TRANSFORMERS PRIME
Wipeout 3
Skylanders Giants
Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2013
Rapala Pro Bass Fishing
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
Rise of the Guardians: The Video Game
Ben 10: Omniverse
Family Party: 30 Great Games Obstacle Arcade
Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
Mass Effect 3
Madden NFL 13
EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer 13
Trine 2: Director’s Cut
Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
Majesco Entertainment
Zumba Fitness Core
Jett Tailfin
TEKKEN TAG TOURNAMENT 2 Wii U Edition
TANK! TANK! TANK!
Nintendo Land
New Super Mario Bros. U
NINJA GAIDEN 3: Razor’s Edge
SiNG PARTY
LEGO City: Undercover
Wii Fit U
Game & Wario
Pikmin 3 
The Wonderful 101
Aliens: Colonial Marines
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
Nano Assault Neo
WARRIORS OROCHI 3 Hyper
Darksiders II
Wheel of Fortune
JEOPARDY!
Toki Tori 2
Assassin’s Creed III
Just Dance 4
Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth
Rabbids Land
Sports Connection
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013
ZombiU
Rayman Legends
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Game Party Champions
Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition

Each of these games has been confirmed by Nintendo – and/or their publishers – as being ready for in-store action either at launch day or inside the launch window for the console. The Launch Window in this case is sitting in-between November 18th 2012 and March 31st 2013. Have a peek at our timeline of Wii U news bits below to see the other items revealed this week – and stay tuned for the big launch later this year!

Wii U launch titles revealed with Capcom, Donky Kong, and LEGO in tow is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.