Hasta La Gadget!

David Kassan made something of a name for himself as the guy who is really good at fingerpainting with the iPad Brushes app. Now he’s been tapped by THQ to work with something other than his fingers: the uDraw GameTablet for Nintendo’s Wii. Announced earlier this week, the $70 tablet pledges to let anyone with an artistic bent get all creative on the little console that rules them all (at least in terms of sales), but can it actually create meaningful art? See for yourself in the video after the break.

Continue reading David Kassan uses THQ’s uDraw to express his Wii ennui (video)

David Kassan uses THQ’s uDraw to express his Wii ennui (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 08:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now there’s a new way to enjoy your Wii gaming console: by drawing on-screen. Game developer THQ has just announced the uDraw GameTablet, a Wii accessory that will be available this holiday season. The tablet will come bundled with a drawing, coloring, and art-based video game called uDraw Studio, for $69.99.

But that’s not all you can do with the tablet. Two other titles that use the tablet, Pictionary and Dood’s Big Adventure, will hit shelves at the same time and will each list for $29.99. While the tablet will only be available to U.S. buyers this holiday season, it’s scheduled to debut in Europe and other destinations not yet named in 2011 and beyond.

Art games on consoles tend to be unpopular creations, Mario Paint about the only one to even approach retail success, but maybe all they needed was a proper input method. That’s what THQ is hoping, at least, announcing the uDraw GameTablet for the Nintendo Wii. It’s a chubby, pencil-like stylus tethered to a tablet that connects wirelessly to the console thanks to the Wiimote that slots right in. The tablet comes with a drawing game called uDraw Studio, while THQ is also working on an artsy platformer called Dood’s Big Adventure and a digital version of Pictionary, which could be this thing’s killer app. (You can catch a glimpse of them all in action in the video after the break.) The tablet will cost $69.99 when it ships by the end of the year, while games will be a rather more affordable $29.99. THQ also promises more games to come through 2011, but we’re guessing their release is somewhat contingent on just how many little Picassos find these in their stockings this holiday season.

Continue reading THQ’s uDraw GameTablet is like a Wacom for Wii (video)

THQ’s uDraw GameTablet is like a Wacom for Wii (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 07:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In a sign that computer geeks no longer rule the Earth, Nintendo’s Wii, the console that it couldn’t even keep in stores for most of its life, has sold 30 million units. Still not impressed? That figure is for the U.S. only. Worldwide sales to the end of March this year were 71 million.

The Wii is 45 months, or almost four years, old, making it the fastest-selling console of all time, and something of a money-spinner for Nintendo.

But why? Why has the Wii sold so much better than the objectively more powerful, “serious” consoles from Sony and Microsoft? Because it appeals to the mainstream market. Us geeks are no longer the target customer of tech companies. Normal, non-nerds are buying more gadgets than we ever can, and it is changing the kind of gadgets that are being made.

The Wii’s appeal is obvious. It has that neat controller than anyone can pick up and use, and it was marketed from the start to parents, kids and people who don’t play videogames. It doesn’t hurt that Nintendo itself has consistently been the best first-party games-designer since Jumpman first kicked Donkey Kong’s ass, avoiding games that appeal only to the teenage boy.

We can see the shift elsewhere. Take Apple, for instance: Despite what whining, protesting nerds might think, Apple doesn’t care about us anymore. If you know what a file-system is, or care what interface your peripherals use to hook up to your machine, the iPad isn’t for you. It’s for people who don’t use or like “computers,” just like the Wii is for people who don’t play “videogames”.

It’s great that nerds like me and (some of) you also love the simplicity and reliability of the iPad, but we don’t matter either. We’re mere tinder to the market: As we show our new toys to our family and friends, we will light the fire of the real tablet market, which will surely grow much bigger than the “real computer” market just as the Wii has continually outsold the “real” consoles.

Expect this trend to continue. Enjoy the last few years of being a geek as our interests become the norm. Look at the bike for an example. Thrill-seeking cyclists used to be club-joining enthusiasts in spandex. Now, the bike is just another way of getting around. Even fixed-gear bikes, once the preserve of racers and bike messengers, have become so commonplace that you can buy them in Wal-Mart.

Read more about the games that made the Wii the fastest-selling console over at our sister blog, Game|Life.

Nintendo Wii Sales Reach 30 Million In U.S. [Information Week]

Photo: Shayne Kaye/Flickr

See Also:

• Wii Are the Champions
• December NPD: The Nintendo That Stole Christmas
• Wii Sells 30M in U.S., Nintendo Reveals Best-Selling Games …

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