Miyamoto's having a ball working on Pikmin 3

Pikmin 3 is one of the most anticipated games coming to the Wii U. We haven’t got that much information on the game beyond that it started life as a Wii title; but while speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Shigeru Miyamoto has said that he is enjoying working on it:

Originally, I was making Pikmin 3 to be launched on the Wii platform. Because the Wii U is capable of HD quality pictures, and will be accompanied by the subscreen on your hand. I thought that I would be able to make a Pikmin that was closer to my ideal. I am now actually enjoying myself, working on the game.

It will be interesting to see how Miyamoto implements the Wii U’s controller in the new Pikmin game.

In an interview with Industry Gamers, Team Ninja’s Yosuke Hayashi explained that while they are keen to develop for the Wii U, they won’t be rushing the process. As the Wii U version of Ninja Gaiden 3 would be arriving several months after the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, he wants the Wii U version to still appeal to gamers who have all the consoles.

Right now, we want to develop for Wii U, but we need to take some time to figure out how to make Ninja Gaiden 3 innovative and fit the hardware. We’ll think about Wii U and see how we can implement new features instead of rushing it.

It sounds great that Team Ninja want to use the Wii U’s unique features instead of creating a carbon copy of the versions that will be released on the Xbox 360 and PS3. The downside of this ‘slowly slowly’ approach is of course that the game might not be ready in time for the Wii U’s launch but this negative could be overshadowed by the positive of a great game which takes full use of the Wii U’s features.

What do you think?

We first heard about Two Tribes’s interest in bringing Toki Tori 2 to the Wii U from a tweet last month when they asked fans: who would like to see the platformer on Nintendo’s upcoming console? Now, in a recent post on their website Two Tribes have shown even more interest in bringing the game to the Wii U.

The first Toki Tori was a launch game for the original WiiWare download service in 2008 and today we’ve decided that we are going to do everything in our power to make sure Toki Tori 2 graces Nintendo’s upcoming HD console as well!

For those who don’t know, Toki Tori is an adorable puzzle platformer that launched with the Nintendo’s WiiWare service. Two Tribes have also shared some interesting ideas about how they could use the Wii U’s controller.

What could be very interesting, and what’s been requested countless times from the fans, is if we could incorporate a level editor utilizing the Wii U controller. This could mean that the game runs on the TV while you make adjustments to the level on the touchscreen in real time. We think that would work really well!

However, those hoping for motion controls for Toki Tori might be disappointed to hear that it is unlikely they will make the Wii U version of the game.

As for the motion controls, we don’t think Toki Tori needs those and adding them to the game as it is currently designed does not make much sense.

According to Kotaku, a sequel to the racing game Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing is in development. The website reported that a SEGA rep confirmed the development of the game at a toy fair in New York. This comes less than a month after information from an anonymous developer suggested that this sequel was in the works with versions planned for several consoles, including the Wii U.

If a sequel is in development, it’s likely that the Wii U will receive a version if its release is anything like its predecessor, which was released on many different consoles. The SEGA rep reportedly also said that there will be new characters and vehicles, which will be revealed later this year.

Set phasers to stun

Cheesy headlines aside, it seems possible that the Star Trek game that was showcased at E3 2011 could make its way to the Wii U. The game, which is being developed by Digital Extremes and takes place after the 2009 Star Trek film, was expected to release in 2012 but it has now been delayed to 2013. The highly anticipated game impressed at E3 with its intense co-op and pretty visuals.

Yesterday, a beam of hope shone for Nintendo Star Trek fans when Paramount Pictures and Namco Bandai announced that the game would be released on “all major home consoles and PC”. With the Wii U expected to launch  before the end of 2012, coupled with the delay of the Star Trek game to Q1 2013, it doesn’t seem too fantastical to believe the Wii U will receive a version.

With me being a secret Trekkie, I really hope this is this case. Would you like to see the Star Trek game come to the Wii U?

The Twitter user @supererogatory claims to have heard that Junction Point are working on “implementing Wii U support for Epic Mickey 2“, the followup to 2010’s well-received Wii game. It’s currently unclear whether this refers to a discrete Wii U version of the game, or a singular Wii game that supports the Wii U’s tablet controller.

This same user previously brought us a small morsel of information about the shooting of the Wii U promo videos shown at E3 2011.

Gaming blog Dual Pixels has received word that Ubisoft are currently working on a new entry in the The Experience series starring Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga: The Experience is allegedly in development for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Wii U, and PlayStation Vita; and was scheduled for an E3 2012 reveal.

The past two games in this series, which featured Michael Jackson and the Black Eyed Peas, were not exactly hits with the critics – moreover, the music genre of games has seen a massive decline over the past few years. But I wouldn’t put it beyond Ubisoft to pump out another one of them for every platform under the sun.

Randy Pitchford, the CEO of Gearbox Software – who are currently developing Aliens: Colonial Marines – spoke on the studio’s approach to the game’s multiplayer modes in an interview with the official PlayStation Blog, explaining that it’s a major focal point of the game’s development.

Multiplayer is a big deal for us. It’s getting a huge amount of attention. I think we’ll be looking for some opportunities very soon to get some people outside of our studios, including some journalists, to have a chance to preview the multiplayer game and play a bit of it. We’re really looking forward to testing it against other eyes and getting some feedback from that, so it shouldn’t be too long before we make that happen.

While it looks like multiplayer isn’t quite ready to show to testers just yet, Pitchford mentioned in the same interview that they are already looking for future buyers of the game to test other parts of it out. If you’re interested and happen to live in Dallas, Texas, you can apply to become a tester on Gearbox’s website.

High Voltage Software have added a Wii U logo to the bottom of their website, proving that they are now a licensed third-party developer for the console. While there is absolutely no proof to back it up, current speculation has it that they might have moved The Grinder – a project we’ve heard very little about recently – from the Wii to the Wii U.

In case you’re unfamiliar with HVS, they are most well known for their stunning work on The Conduit, with which they aimed to prove that the Wii can produce great-looking graphics with enough effort put into them. Eric Nofsinger, the studio’s chief creative officer, commented last March saying that he was happy with the Wii as it was, and only wanted HD capabilities and more RAM in its successor.

THQ announced at a recent investor relations meeting that Metro: Last Light has been delayed to the fourth quarter of their 2012 fiscal year – this translates to the first quarter of 2013, so we won’t be getting the game for at least another year from now.

But despite this, Amazon are offering pre-orders for every variant of the game, including the Wii U version. If you’re interested in Metro: Last Light but think you might forget about it by the time its release rolls around, putting a pre-order in now might not be a bad idea.