Sunday 17 June 2012

Nintendo's Wii U: My picks from E3

Slightly old news now I guess, but E3 (or for those of you who don't care for abbreviations - The Electronic Entertainment Expo) was held this month from the 5th till the 7th. I've run through a few of my favourite moments from Nintendos press conference, and stuck them all together for you >.< 

Nintendo finally unveiled the final form of the Wii U, the console which is making me rather giddy with excitement, a nice feeling as I fell out of love with the big N quite some time ago, and have only just re-acquainted myself with their charms. The final design is really no different from what has been shown before, other than a few minor changes.



The pad now features clickable analogue sticks, as well as a slightly different button configuration, including a TV control button, and two features which they didn't really touch on: the NFC (Near Field Communication)  dock, which you can see in the thumbnail just beneath the D-pad. They didn't even mention this in the video, which is strange as people have been screaming for this technology for some time.

The second cryptic feature was the mysterious "Accessory Connector", which was mentioned as a port which allows new peripherals to be attached to the tablet controller, although at this time there is no news on any of the possible applications for this particular feature.

A total of 23 "new" games were shown, with few real highlights, and little in the way of surprises. I'll cover some of the more interesting one below, Starting with Pikmin 3.



The trailer highlights some new Pikmii (is that a term?), as well as some cool gameplay mechanics. Having never played the Pikmin series myself, I can't really say too much about it. It looks like a charming game though, something I will probably get myself.

Batman Arkham City: Armoured Edition was also shown, which on the surface isn't much different to the multi-platform version which came out at the end of last year, once you've scratched beneath the surface its apparent this version has had quite an overhaul.

The armoured edition will come with all of the DLC which has been released for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC editions. A new gameplay mechanic called the BAT system will allow you to fill a gauge up as you battle your way through your opponents - this then allows you to unleash brutal special attacks on your enemies.


The gamepad itself also has some pivotal gameplay functions, acting as a wrist mounted computer (although wearing something that big....wrists like a tree trunk - Bruce Wayne must be lonely). You can use this to access your inventory screens, scan the surrounding environment for clues and hidden extras, and even use the gyro controls to steer weapons and gadgets through the air.

The standout game for me however, was Ubisoft's Zombi U, a tense and dark looking game which looks to make the most of the consoles dual screen functionality with a myriad of features, I won't spoil any of the details for you, just watch the trailer below and make your own mind up.



What did you think of these? I know I missed out many other games, but I didn't want any TL;DR going on!

Feel free to drop me some comments in the space below!!

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