Nintendo's showing off six Wii U game demos at E3 this week - and here they are, courtesy of our colleagues at T3.
"HD Experience 1:
A couple of birds fly around a colonial Japanese garden, eating blossom, flying over carp ponds and generally looking stunning. This wasn't anything we could really 'play' as such; it was more an interactive movie comprised of real-time, in-game footage that let us move the camera around on the touchscreen by moving the controller this way and that. The HD graphics were top notch; when it rained in the garden the birds' feathers were soaked, and the water even reflected in their eyes.
Four players with Wiimotes have 2 and a half minutes to chase down the player with the new controller, who has the benefit of an onscreen map. Sounds easy, but it was tricky on both sides. The onscreen map allowed the new controller player to see where in the maze-like arena his assailants were headed, but the chasers has the advantage of both teamwork and and a counter that showed how far away they were in yards. As the name suggests, the graphical style here was ramped way up to 11 on the cartoon scale, but it was bright, challenging and fun, nonetheless.
Battle Mii:
Metroid-style shooting, in which the player with the new controller flies a gunship around an arena, while Wiimote players shoot at it on foot. This was pretty similar in nature to Chase Mii, given that both were designed to show how a player with the new controller could have a different experience to those with the Wiimotes. The Dual thumstickes were used to float the ship up and down and to strafe left and right, while motion control took care of aiming. There was a learning curve to this, but it's surprising how quickly it became easy. Pulling off a hit from distance by mastering all three control methods gave us a real sense of achievement.
Shield Pose:
This was a simple, cartoony rhythm game built to show how the console utilises the motion control. The object was to lift the controller to use it as a shield against arrows coming at your from distant pirate ships. The game knew when you had the controller up at the screen or flat to the floor, and acted accordingly. The way both TV and touchscreen worked together was impressively fluid, even if we were rubbish at the actual gameplay part. T3 has no rhythm.
Panorama View:
Incredibly impressive demo showing video footage of a car travelling through Tokyo, which played on the TV. The controller's screen showed the same footage, but moving it around span the camera 360 degrees, Google Street View style. We wouldn't even know where to begin explaining how this worked, given how fluid it felt.
HD Experience 2:
The final demo and the end of our experience with the New Console was a short clip of Zelda battling inside a gothic castle, with the 'Twilight Princess' artistic style. The touchscreen was used to instantly switch between night and day (which affected the lighting to dramatic effect), to change the camera, or toggle having HUD info on the TV or controller. The idea was to show that having maps, health and ammo info on the controller's screen could allow a clutter-free gaming experience on the TV. Or, should you wish to recline on the sofa, the opposite is just as viable."
Read more hands-on impressions with the hardware over on T3.
Comments
14 comments so far...
NEO_SUPERMAN on 7 Jun '11 said:
ah well, looks like I'll be sticking with my X360 next year!
Faktor on 7 Jun '11 said:
Yeah you do that
GTCzeero on 7 Jun '11 said:
Speculation time:
So if there's only tech demo style stuff to show at the moment, that could suggest that the console is a long way off yet... so why announce games like Batman: Arkham City and Assassin's Creed, which would likely launch many months after their PS3/360/PC versions?
Balladeer on 7 Jun '11 said:
Gets the PS3/360 crowd excited. Question answered.
GTCzeero on 7 Jun '11 said:
But how? I can play those games already without shelling out money on a new console. I'd be more excited for new stuff rather than games I'm already going to play on the other consoles.
Balladeer on 7 Jun '11 said:
I presume they'll be new versions? But just the fact that they can run on this console, compared to the underpowered Wii, is news enough.
metallicorphan on 7 Jun '11 said:
if you need a Wii,then this isn't really a new console,this is an add on for the Wii to bridge the gap for core gamers..and he said you can not play games on it like a traditional handheld..so yeah,an Add-on
its a good piece of kit i will give it that,but if i bought into this again i would be bored no doubt after 2 weeks like i was with the Wii,and i really don't want to play those third party games with an iPad/Tablet in my hand,that thing is huge
and was it just me or did Ghost Recon on this look bloody terrible
good for Ninty fans,but this wont bring me back
EDIT:Okay i have just been told that there is a a new console,just that nInty decided not to show it or talk about it...dicks
Balladeer on 7 Jun '11 said:
You don't need a Wii.
What part of "new console" do people not understand?
metallicorphan on 7 Jun '11 said:
just edited...but to be fair,Nintendo didn't actually show the console,it was a pretty terrible presentation for a new console,probably the worse presentation ever..lets focus on the controller,dumb asses
The Guardian say it will launch between April 1st to December 31st..
and Ghost Recon still looked like s**t compared to the 360 and PS3 versions
Darkwun on 7 Jun '11 said:
EDIT: whoops too late but ah well lol
@metalli
its a totally new console mate. the actual console itself is on the site. nintendo just chose to concentrate on the controller cuz the console itself looks pretty much like the wii, just on steroids. no waiting 4 years for a black one this time eh nintendo? and smash bros? yeah alright, ill get one
metallicorphan on 7 Jun '11 said:
just looked up a picture of it,looks like a curved Wii
you can see it here next to the TV
http://blogs-images.forbes.com/davidewalt/files/2011/06/Nintendo-Wii-U.jpg
metallicorphan on 7 Jun '11 said:
close up picture
http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/images/9/2011/06/medium_medium_new_nintendo_console_detail_01.jpg
jubbgi01 on 7 Jun '11 said:
http://s-ak.buzzfed.com/static/imagebuzz/web03/2010/4/5/23/haters-gonna-hate-32402-1270523864-286.jpg
RavenxPrime on 7 Jun '11 said:
The footage of Ghost Recon was of the free online PC game, no Wii U graphics were shown in the 3rd party show reel.