Not exactly Wii U news, but with the agonising wait for E3 2012 here’s a little something to make that wait a bit easier. We’ve all wondered what Nintendo franchises such as Star Fox would look like in HD and now youtube user rickonami has remade the Star Fox/ Star Wing intro in lovely high definition.

There is a mistake with the naming of Fox but this is sort of dwarfed by the great job the video does  in re-imagining the classic game in HD. Hopefully, a real Star Fox game in HD for the Wii U is not too far away. If Katsuya Eguchi’s hints last year are anything to go by then maybe we really won’t have to wait long for Star Fox Wii U.

Check out rickonami’s channel for more of his HD remakes

One of the main criticisms of the Wii in the past was its lack of games for ‘core’ or regular video game players. Iwata seems to have noticed that the Wii may not have been balanced well between casual players of games and ‘core’ game players.

At a recent investor’s meeting he explained the problem’s with the Wii:

[T]he Wii was able to reach a large number of new consumers who had never played games before by bringing hands-on experiences with its “Wii Sports” and “Wii Fit.” However, we could not adequately create the situation that such new consumers played games frequently or for long, consistent periods. As a result, we could not sustain a good level of profit. Moreover, regrettably, what we prioritized in order to reach out to the new audience was a bit too far from what we prioritized for those who play games as their hobby. Consequently, we presume some people felt that the Wii was not a game system for them or they were not willing to play with the Wii even though some compelling games had been released.

He goes on to explain that even though they will still focus on widening the experience of the Wii U, they would not do this at the expense of creating deep experiences for core players.

Continue reading…

Tyrone Rodriguez of Nicalis recently made statements of the Wii U being ‘Nintendo’s most powerful console’, and that it could ‘last five to ten years’.  This was mistaken as a possibly negative comment, but Jonathan Holmes of Destructoid got more details after contacting Tyrone.

Sadly, the original quote was taken a bit out of context. Here’s exactly what I meant: for what we need, and maybe for other developers, the Wii U’s [capabilities] are more than sufficient for five to ten years. We’re not making AAA games or using a crazy insane 3D engine, but the Wii U can definitely do both. With that said, for what we are doing, we could work on the Wii U easily for another five years without making it break a sweat. We don’t do massive productions.

This is still fairly ambiguous, but at least we know for now that it isn’t overly negative.  Hopefully more news regarding the Wii U’s official power will be released by Nintendo when they show it off at E3 this year.

A new trailer has been released detailing the Specialist Class in the upcoming Ghost Recon Online game for the Wii U and PC. The specialist will be able to wield machine guns or shot guns and will have unique tech skills. Check it out below.

Nintendo have recently announced that their first-party IP’s will be released not only in physical form but as digital downloads as well come August when they launch their retail download service.  Now Nintendo have confirmed that they will be working on a system allowing their third-party developers to release their content as digital downloads as well.  A Nintendo spokesperson had this to say to say on the matter:

We are currently preparing a program for third parties but have nothing specific to announce at this time.

Nothing specific, really.  We can only assume that third-party developers will get the same benefits from the service that Nintendo does. The retail service is planned to not only allow digital downloads of games via the eShop but also by purchasing a digital copy of the game at retailers, too.

While I’m not sure how much stock you can put in Wal-Mart for making reliable pricing at this point in time, this is still something to go on to help in confirming how much the Wii U may cost in the end. It’s also worth noting that the original Wii’s price was set by Wal-Mart before its release and was correct, so this may prove to be a similar situation, though it’s too soon to know anything concrete.

A lot of speculation seems to be that a $350 price point is too high for a successful launch of the console, but the price really isn’t anything higher than other consoles have sold for in the last generation, so only time will really tell.

Sega’s upcoming sequel to Sonic & All-Stars Racing could be coming to the Wii U. The racing game, which is already set to come to the PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, and PC as a digital download could also make its way to Nintendo’s next home console. When asked about the possibility of a Wii U version by CVG, Joe Neate, the game’s producer said:

I’m sure there are still discussions ongoing about that at the moment. I think the platforms announced today are the only confirmed ones, but yeah, keep your eyes peeled for potential other platforms I’d imagine.

Adding to this, in an interview with the British newspaper Metro Neate had this to say when quizzed on whether Nintendo had told developers to keep quiet about games in development for the Wii U:

I… couldn’t possibly tell you. But I agree with you, wouldn’t it be a great idea to get this onto a platform like the Wii U!

The Wii U will supposedly come with a device that has a similar feature to that of the Nintendo 3DS’s StreetPass. According to Dual Pixel’s industry source, ‘Geno’, the Wii U will come with a small device that you can slip into your pocket. Apparently, it has a low resolution LCD screen that will show an image of your Mii and a few stats. The device has no names at the moment but Duel Pixel have reported that third parties have nicknamed it the ‘Gamer Card’.

The device, like StreetPass, will gather the profiles of people who come near to you carrying the device. Dual Pixel have reported that the ‘Gamer Card’ already has a slogan: “When you walk back from work or school and log into Wii U you will have met new friends and even more enemies.”

This is not the first time there has been talk of StreetPass-like features for the Wii U. Last year, Iwata said Nintendo were considering allowing StreetPass data to transfer from the 3DS to the Wii U. If this ‘Gamer Card’ rumour is true then this sounds like quite an interesting feature. I really enjoy StreetPass and the joy that the little green light brings. What are your thoughts on this rumoured device?

My days aren’t complete until I hear more of Miyamoto’s excruciatingly interesting hints that a new Nintendo franchise is on its way. Two years ago he announced that he was working on a new character and only this month he hinted that he was working on small but important projects for the Wii U.

Now, in an interview with the Guardian newspaper he teased that new characters were on their way and that there was a “strong possibility” that they would be introduced soon.

I don’t have a big list of ideas I want to realise, I usually come up with new ideas while I am working on other games. That said, there’s a strong possibility we will introduce some new characters to the scene soon.

The Rayman Legends video that was leaked yesterday has been causing quite a stir. The video showed a trailing wire coming from the back of the controller and had some media outlets suggesting that maybe Nintendo were struggling with streaming video from the console to the controller.

Ubisoft have now issued a statement explaining that the video was meant for internal use and in no way represents the final form of the Wii U and is not on indication of what the console can do.

An internal video showing images of Rayman Origins’ sequel has leaked over the Internet. This video was intended as a purely internal demonstrative video, and in NO way represents the final game, the final console or their features.

This video was destined for internal production teams who often create game prototypes with work in progress development kits. Ubisoft confirms the development of Rayman Legends handled by Michel Ancel and his team in Montpellier.

Nintendo life have also been informed by their sources that the final form of the controller will definitely be wireless.