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[Irock]

Now that the market is ready for high-definition systems, they are finally launching their comparably-powered hardware quite a bit after-the-fact. Instead of forcing the issue at the beginning of this hardware cycle, they get to take advantage of 3rd party development that has already been scaled up by their competitors.

the problem with that is: why would i want to buy a wii u to play assassin's creed or darksiders or whatever on it when i can do the same on an xbox 360 i can buy cheaper?

You don't buy consoles for multiplats. You buy them for exclusives. Nintendo's just showing off multiplats because they want to assure people that third party support is going to be there.

[SirNiko]

I think I may preorder this. Like Irock said, it's about the Nintendo exclusives.

An announcement of Trauma Center for the WiiU would seal the deal for me, but the talk of Mario Bros U having clever sounding achievements appeals to me. I think I'll make a decision in the next couple weeks.

Having disposable income this console cycle is a really nice change of pace.

[Tuba]

Holy shit the system is perfect for a Trauma Center game! Come on ATLUS!

[VDZ]

350 euros for a system with a game (there's a 300 euros version, but no game by default unlike with the Wii), no European launch confirmation for Tank Tank Tank, Runner 2, 1001 Spikes or Tekken, no news of new SSB, Rhythm Tengoku, Kirby, or any other game I might be interested in.

I will have to inevitably get the system at some point to play Super Smash Bros. on, but that point isn't now. The price is very steep despite the whole thing being less interesting than the Wii...I guess I'll stick to my Ouya until Nintendo announces something worth wasting 350 euros on.

[TeeGee]

But why do you think next-gen will make development more expensive? One could think that the development already occurs with potentially high-res in mind, it is only scaled down. More power can make development easier because you have less restrictions on how you have to do the stuff, except you are pushed to fully expoit the hardware power.

It's also worth remembering that the arms race happens even with the console hardware set in stone. There are always high-end PCs and better ways to optimize for the current gen.

It's crazy really. When I learned how many people work on next gen titles such as Watch Dogs, and how much it costs... Damn! I've seen the term AAAA flying around and yeah, it makes sense. I seriously don't know how they want to profit with those budgets. I guess some market crash would be nice.

[Sharkoss]

development costs for AAA studios are already high enough

I hear that often. But why do you think next-gen will make development more expensive? One could think that the development already occurs with potentially high-res in mind, it is only scaled down. More power can make development easier because you have less restrictions on how you have to do the stuff, except you are pushed to fully expoit the hardware power.

If next gen games are just up-rezed current gen games you'll have a point - and next gen consoles will be in trouble. 
But of course they won't be and you'd have to be extraordinarily naive to think so.  But if they don't increase budgets, publishers will just cut costs or move them around, and you won't like the way they do it.

[J-Snake]

If next gen games are just up-rezed current gen games you'll have a point

That's the point. Since ps2-era aaa-console-games got more mainstream. Why would you expect a radical change?

[Sharkoss]

I don't expect a radical change - I expect higher development costs, same as last generation.  And every one before.

[Richard Kain]

Holy shit the system is perfect for a Trauma Center game! Come on ATLUS!

I can do you one better than that. Elite Beat Agents U. It needs to happen.

[gimymblert]

OMG WTF

After seeing somemore news, nintendo is not in the console business anymore, he basically chase Smart TV and facebook for gaming ...

the second screen makes all sense now I have seen TVii and other

[Sharkoss]

the second screen makes all sense now I have seen TVii and other

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.  I don't know if they'll pull it off, seems like they're heading into a verrry competitive environment, which is weird for Nintendo.
I expect the pad will be used as a kinect variant with that camera in it too.  They could even use it as a (very silly-looking) VR visor with the right bit of plastic (and we know they love plastic).  Skylanders-style collectibles are obviously impending. 
I think they're rolling out the stuff they want it to do very slowly so people don't get (even more) confused.
But it seems that its applications are mainly down to the software - hardware-wise it's a cardboard box you give to a kid, basically: it's stupid but it can be a lot of different kinds of stupid.

[s0]

the second screen makes all sense now I have seen TVii and other

this is probably a really ignorant question but what's the difference between that and just, y'know, watching tv?

[gimymblert]

The second screen is a kind of universal remote, allows social sharing of watching tv across the social network, have contextual data without cluttering the screen and redefine what watching mean through gyro vision

[gimymblert]

Basically the game does not go out with a game in the base version because it's the ultimate "social smart TV box"

The fact is that while people salivate with the ouya, in france, internet carrier provide setup box that offer that + TV + internet at the cost of 29,9 a month, those are the real competitor nintendo is chasing at, not m$ or sony

In fact nintendoland is the wii sport for hardcore gamer I think nintendo is trying to pull, a game that introduce hardcore gamer to the console by luring them with a buffet a motion game on beloved mini gamed franchise ...

EDIT:
In fact a better way to put it is that nintendo as made TV similar to internet warez megavideo sharing, except with the legalities, if the game dl hub is as good as Tvii then we have some sort of "steam" nintendo like, now if they extend their policy about "digital full game" it might be perfect

[J-Snake]

Somehow, by watching some new stuff they present, I come back thinking does it really add anything of value to the games.

[SirNiko]

I see it finally realizing the potential we all saw back when we were trying and failing to link up GBA systems to the Gamecube. It was fun having inventories and private messages streaming to your controller so your screen remained uncluttered, and you never had to pause to pick things from a menu. It's not worth a new console to get that, but getting it along with HD graphics on a Nintendo console might make it work.

[Panicci]

I think im going to get this just because i want all the new mario/wario/kirby games that are incoming for it!

[SirNiko]

Those deluxe system preorders sold out fast. My local gamestop went through their whole allotment in 24 hours.

I wonder how many buyers are excited consumers, and how many of them are filthy scalpers. Looks like we might be seeing a revisitation of the Wii launch, with people standing outside of stores at 4 am.

[Irock]

Fuck, apparently Walmart brought back layaway. I took advantage of the lack of preorders there for the wiis launch. Only had to chill outside for 12 hours.

[Tuba]

Got to play it last weekend on a big event held here in Brazil.

The controller is quite comfortable, a lot lighter than I expected. The image in the screen looks very good and resistive touch works well enough.

As for the games:

Mario is pretty much the same as always, it's prettier since it's in HD now but other than that nothing special. Though, I was able to play it twice and on the second time I played with a small kid, this time using the WiiU controller and helping him by building platforms, he was pretty bad and I saved him a lot of times and I felt pretty good... this should be great for parents to play with their kids or for younger brothers.

Rayman Legends is like 2 completely different games, depending on the controller. When playing with the Wiimote, is the same as Rayman Origins, but with the WiiU controller you're playing a rhythm game like EBA or a point'n'click game, depending on the stage. The rhythm stage is great, it feels like EBA and the better you go, more points the other player score. The more normal stage is kinda the same as Mario, you have more interaction than Mario and you feel like you're helping but it's not as fun as platforming, most "hardcore players" will prefer justing playing it as a platformer.

On ZombiU the controller really adds to the experience, I saw a lot of people getting caught by zombies because they were managing their inventory or opening chests by looking at the controller screen. It's also quite hard, the zombies don't die until you hit them in the head.

The Wonderful 101 has a nice Pikmin feel but a lot more confuse, your guys change into different formations depending on what you draw on the screen. The shapes are all simple enough to be made with the second analog though. At one part of the game you enter a building and you can see the inside of it on your controller screen, then you have to spin some dials there to solve a puzzle that's being shown on your TV. It's cool but not really necessary.

Also played that shuriken minigame from Nintendo Land, for my surprise the controller is comfortable to hold like a book, it even has some kind of handler for that. The stronger you swipe the screen, the stronger your shuriken goes and that game makes good use of that putting ninjas at different depths and at different speed. Fun little game.