It may not yet have a release date, but the biggest third-party games publishers are preparing to hit the ground running when Nintendo releases the Wii U next year.

Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Sega are all backing the system day and date without hesitation, with only Take-Two remaining cautious of the first new home console to hit the market since 2006.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told GamesIndustry.biz that the publisher is pledging new intellectual property for the system and is keen to see early adopter feedback on the new hardware.

"We will announce one game that we want to launch day one that is a new type of game, which should be interesting. It is still very important, just because you can test a market and also see through the eyes of the first consumers.

Getting in early is partly about being a successful transition company and figuring out where the hardware is going to go
Frank Gibeau, EA Games
"They are the people that actually have the word of mouth factor. The trendsetters," he added.

For Electronic Arts it's a gamble to go big on the day of release, but Games label president Frank Gibeau is confident from previous form.

"It served us well on PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3," he told GameIndustry.biz. "Getting in early is partly about being a successful transition company and figuring out where the hardware is going to go.

"With the Wii U it's important for us to get there on day one so we can get in and build as big an audience as possible. We've been doing this for 25 years and trying to pick platforms and more often than not we get it right. I hope we have this one right. That's the gamble," he admitted.

Although some third parties were stung by dedicating separate resources to the Nintendo Wii and seeing poor return on investment, Sega West president Mike Hayes said his company was confident a long-tail approach would pay off even if day one was daunting prospect.

"At some point we were the biggest, certainly top three third-party publisher on Wii, so for us it was a great platform... we've got absolutely no qualms about [Wii U].

The recent launch of the 3DS highlighted how sluggish sales can be for Nintendo without one of its hit franchises such as Mario or Zelda, but again, Hayes is willing to play the long game.

"I just think we're all a bit premature in being a bit glass half full on 3DS. Everyone was clamouring 'oh please bring it out in March, you must bring it out' and then it's like you get to June and it's all 'sales aren't very good...' Well, they haven't got the software yet."

Karl Slatoff, chief operating officer at Red Dead Redemption publisher Take-Two was more cautious, suggesting his creative teams need time to assess the hardware before committing to launch.

"For us it's really about understanding what the hardware capabilities are and understand how it's going to fit into what our goals are from a franchise creation perspective," he told GamesIndustry.biz. "Really understanding what that platform can deliver and developing for that platform.

"So that's our philosophy, not just with the new Nintendo console but across the board. Whether we're looking at the 3DS or the PlayStation Vita or any of the new formats that are coming out. We can't look at them all the same way. We're not just going to port over."

Porting games from established Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 franchises is an opportunity now that Nintendo's Wii U is said to have comparable technology, and will help keep costs lower than an entirely higher spec console.

"It doesn't increase [costs] very much because the advantage is in being close to the other machines, you can do the game for all the formats at the same time," offered Guillemot.

But he also made it clear that Ubisoft is evaluating the Wii U for "both new content and a third location" for existing franchises.

Although the costs of bringing existing titles over to the Wii U won't be high, Hayes said Sega is willing to spend more money on implementing the unique tablet controller, helping to distinguish the Aliens: Colonial Marines experience on Wii U from the same game on Sony or Microsoft hardware.

"That controller is absolutely brilliant and we have to think of innovative ways to use it. We're doing high definition Sonics, we're doing obviously Aliens: Colonial Marines, so you can bring them across, and that's relatively low cost, which is good news.

"Then you spend your money on how do you use that controller effectively to make it unique and differentiate it."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ntage-on-wii-u ...

Games axed at the eleventh hour due to unimpressive performance, paper claims
Nintendo axed a number Wii U demos at E3 due to concerns that they would fail to impress, a new report suggests.
Games consultancy group Hit Detection claims in a white paper that external developers had created Wii U game demos with “underclocked development kits” for this year’s E3.
These developers “worked hard to deliver titles running on that hardware to demonstrate live at E3”, the paper read.
“However, due to titles not looking much better than what is currently available on Xbox 360 and the PS3, Nintendo decided late in the game to not show those titles and focus instead on tech demos.”
Hit Detection’s white paper, which Develop has obtained a copy of, is the first documentation of Nintendo’s alleged decision to pull third-party games from the E3 show floor.

Games built with the Unreal Engine, such as the next Batman and Darksiders titles, were initially scheduled for presentation at E3.
“THQ said Darksiders 2 was running on development hardware and could have been shown”, Hit Detection claimed.
The full technological potential of Nintendo’s next-generation system is a matter of debate.
Several sources speaking anonymously to Develop say the hardware specifics are yet to be finalised.
Unreal Engine and CryEngine 3 are said to be supported on the console, primarily due to the Wii U allowing for programmable shaders.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...-U-demos-at-E3 ...

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has revealed his vision for Wii U online gaming.

The Japanese company aims to create a "more flexible system". It wants to allow each publisher the freedom to do what it wishes with its games in an online space.

"Nintendo's past console business has often included this idea of a set and fixed online structure," Iwata told investors at E3.

"So, I think that, going forward, the question is really to what degree Nintendo can create a more flexible system for its consoles.

"And, what we found at this point is that, as we discuss the online structure with different publishers, the things that the different publishers want to do are in fact seemingly rather different.

"Our current direction is how we can take the desires of the third parties and create a system that's flexible enough to enable them to do the types of things that they might want to do."

Nintendo pledged to work with game makers to enable voice chat (VoIP).

"But, what we're not going to do is to consider as prerequisite conditions that every game includes features like that because obviously there are some developers who may not want to do that."

Iwata also said Nintendo will "consider" how Wii U will work with social networking services, such as Facebook.

"We've come to an era where it's important to consider how the social graph of the social networking services can work in conjunction with something like a video game platform."

Nintendo isn't ready to offer concrete details on its Wii U online plan, but believes it will impress gamers in the end.

"Once you hear what we'll have to say, you'll feel that Nintendo has a policy of adapting itself to changes in the network environment in a flexible fashion rather than the one of sticking to a rigid mechanism, or perhaps you'll notice that we have found ways to take advantage of these types of features like VoIP and social networking, where our systems have been seen as being weak in the past."

Nintendo told Eurogamer at E3 that Wii U will offer a significantly improved online experience to that of its predecessor.

"The friend code system has also been refined. It still exists but in the same way that you'd need to pair up with friends on PSN or Xbox live. Now it's much closer to that kind of online gaming experience than what it was before," marketing manager Rob Lowe outlined.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...line-direction ...

Nintendo's "ideal situation" is that the 2012 launch of Wii U will convince those who want to buy a HD video game console now to wait for it.

"The ideal scenario for Nintendo would be that if people are considering purchasing another HD video game console, then knowing that they will have opportunity to purchase Wii U when it is released next year, they perhaps might delay their purchase of a console," Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told investors in a new question and answer session.

The Wii U marks Nintendo's first foray into high definition home console gaming. Microsoft of course went first in 2005 with the Xbox 360. Sony followed a year later with the PlayStation 3.

Iwata was responding to concern that the Wii U may hurt Wii sales. Nintendo's hope is that by targeting "late adopters", the Wii can enjoy a healthy end to its life.

"For those people who are considering their holiday season purchases, it becomes our job to convey to them that the Wii has great entertainment value and it will make their family and friends happy during the holiday season while they are at home.

"If those individuals are looking to make a purchase during the holidays this year, then the Wii U system, which won't be out in time for the holidays, will not be an option for them to choose from. Conversely, because the majority of the people who will purchase the Wii U system initially already own the Wii system, I don't think that the information about the Wii U system launch taking place next year will affect the sales of the Wii system."

Wii U was unveiled last week in LA. Its wireless controller features a touch-screen that can be used in unique ways.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...wait-for-wii-u ...

Nintendo has never shown interest in free-to-play games in the past, likely due to their requirement of support from sophisticated online infrastructure. And ... that is unlikely to change. Speaking to AllThingsD, Satoru Iwata said flatly that "Nintendo is not interested" in freemium games, alluding to the same discussion of maintaining the "value" of games that he mentioned at GDC.

"I'm not interested in offering software for free of charge," he said. "That's because I myself am one of the game developers, who in the future wants to make efforts so the value of the software will be appreciated by the consumers." Although freemium games can make money through ads and microtransactions, Iwata expressed concerns about "[destroying] the value of game software."

So, uh, don't expect that Wii U version of Ghost Recon Online to be free-to-play, even though the PC version is.
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/15/iw...-free-to-play/ ...

Nintendo has made the decision to omit DVD or Blu-ray playback capabilities from the Wii U to save on manufacturing costs.

The information came from a Q&A session for investors.

"We feel that enough people already have devices that are capable of playing DVDs and Blu-ray," explained Satoru Iwata, Nintendo president, "in such that it didn't warrant the cost involved to build that functionality into the Wii U console because of the patents related to those technologies."

The report also addressed the disappointing sales of the handheld 3DS, with Iwata admitting they "have not met our expectations."

"What we have analysed up to this point is that the initial move by the early adopters has not translated into broader movement by the broader market in the ways that we had expected."

He was quick to reassure investors that this is expected change as new services become available. "I think that we'll be able to show you that as Nintendo eShop and 3D video services come online, and a number of key software titles become available, we'll be able to regain momentum for this hardware."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-ray-for-wii-u ...

Internal teams at Activision are already working with the Wii U, according to publishing boss Eric Hirshberg - although the company is still yet to announce any specific titles.

Speaking to US trade site IndustryGamers, Hirshberg spoke about Wii U's increased relevance to his company's catalogue.

"I think Nintendo's an incredible company and it looks like this is a platform that's going to be even more relevant to the kinds of games we make," said Hirshberg.

When asked whether Activision studios were already working on ideas for the system Hirshberg responded: "Absolutely, yeah."

Hirshberg refused to announce any specific titles though and would not be pressed on the possibility of a Call Of Duty game on the Wii U, even though versions of previous titles have appeared on the original Wii.

"There are some first person shooters out there that are using motion control and Kinect and we're not and that's a conscious choice. Call of Duty runs at 60 fps. It's an incredibly precise game. It's an incredibly smooth game. We still think the DualShock controller is the best way to deliver that game," he said.

"But there are other games where new innovations make all the sense in the world. I was very excited about some of the things that I saw in the Wii U because I thought it was an innovative take on the next gen controller and the next gen console. I was really excited to see Nintendo taking their console into something that I think is going to be friendlier to core games."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-wii-u-support ...

We got plenty of face time with the Wii U's fancy controller at E3 but, apart from some stock press photos, we haven't seen much of the actual console. That problem has been rectified thanks to Inside Games, which has posted a few up close and personal shots of the device. Overall, the Wii U bears a strong resemblance to its predecessor, albeit some extra ventilation grills, an HDMI port and more curves.

Speaking of curves, vertical orientation doesn't look viable, though we suspect the small tabs on the side of the console may be designed to fit into a stand. You can spot the tabs in the photo after the break, and find even more pics over at Inside Games.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/14/pl...rdware-photos/ ...

Nintendo went on a domain shopping spree recently, grabbing a few domain names related to Wii games (like rhythmheavenwii.com and kirbywii.com) as well as a lot of domain names related to Wii U, referencing things like New Super Mario Bros. Mii and several unannounced games and items like "Wii Zapper U," "Wii Fit U," "Wii Party U," Wii U Balance Board, and even "Wii Music U," most with variations like "Wii U Music." All redirect to nintendo.com at the moment. Check the full list after the break, as reported by Nintendo World Report.

While we'd love to say that we had an early look at, like, the entire software and peripheral lineup for next year's console, this looks a lot more like Nintendo just registered everything it could think of, just in case. The duplicate registrations for name variants support this theory. Take that, thwarted domain squatters!

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/14/ni...-domain-names/ ...