Tag Archives: nintendo

Wii U: My first impressions

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It’s been 10 days now since I got my Wii U and after spending some quality time with Nintendo’s new console I am ready to provide some first impressions.

Sadly, the first minutes with my Wii U were one epic user experience flaw: Instead of jumping into the new console experience I had to download a huge day-one patch after booting, which took nearly 40 minutes. But after that painful process of waiting the typical lounge and zen music starts and you are back in the family-friendly Nintendo universe.

The Wii U gamepad works better than I remembered (I played a few Wii U games at gamescom Cologne this summer). It is fairly light and the touchscreen works quite well – although it’s still less reliable than current gen smartphones or tablets with capacitive touchscreen technology. And compared to more traditional game controllers the Wii U gamepad is huge. I have really large hands, but it still feels a bit odd. I think I will get used to it the more I play. Personally, I had some problems with the position of the right-sided buttons. In contrast to the XBox360 an PS3 pads, the buttons are beneath the right analogue stick and – even worse – the button for canceling menu options or actions (B) is on the exact same position of the button to confirm actions on the other consoles (XBox360: A, PS3: X). I bet this is also a thing I have to get used to, but at the moment I often confuse the buttons and pick the wrong one. The Pro Controller looks pretty much like a XBox360 pad but shares the same button layout on the right side as the Wii U gamepad. I prefer using the Pro Controller over the Wii Remote & Nunchuck combination if possible (sadly, not every game supports the Pro Controller).

Enter Nintendoland. It’s a collection of minigames themed with different Nintendo classics like Metroid, Pikmin, Mario etc. It’s cute but the forced tutorials with the ugly robot avatar really killed my experience at the beginning. Instead of exploring Nintendoland by yourself, the robot guides you in every little step you make – there is even a tutorial you have to pass to get to the game’s settings. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed playing through the Metroid-themed minigame, but the Nintendoland really shines in Luigi’s mansion, the Harvest Moon and the Catch-Mario games. All three games are a great example for asymmetric gameplay, in which one player takes a special role (e.g. the ghost) using the new Wii U gamepad and competes against the other players (e.g. the ghost hunters) with oldschool Wii Remotes.

A pretty similar approach can be found in ZombiU – one of the few exclusive core games for the Wii U. In its multiplayer you can choose between the zombie king and a survivor. The survivor has to kill zombies with the Pro Controller (or Wii Remote & Nunchuck) in FPS-style, while the zombie king drops zombies on the map using the Wii U gamepad. The zombie king mode looks a bit like a RTS-game and I had a lot of fun dropping zombies all around my colleagues playing with me the local multiplayer. The singleplayer uses the Wii U gamepad to scan, use items or pick-up stuff. Although I like the usage in most cases, it sometimes feels a bit too forced compared to the great multiplayer.

The third game I got is New Super Mario Bros. U, which is a great Mario game but makes only little use of the new Wii U pad. I am really curious to see how other upcoming games will use the new Wii U gamepad – in my opinion, the asymmetric local multiplayer is the way to go and the only chance to compete against Microsoft and Sony for now.

My recommendation: Wait and see. There are only a few games, which make great use of the new gamepad and two new consoles are around the corner. Nintendo and the 3rd party developers have to deliver more exclusive games to make this console a must-buy for gamers.

Why the Wii U faces a rough start

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Although I have always been a huge supporter of Nintendo and their way to push gaming’s boundaries, I must admit that since the announcement of the Wii U my skepticism grew if this console would be the right move. After seeing last week’s Wii U press event and gathering all the tiny bits of information from different sources, I came up with five reasons, why I fear that the Wii U won’t see a glorious start into the next generation of gaming like the Wii did.

1.) Pricing: You can argue that the console is not as expensive as other consoles at release but for Nintendo’s standards the pricing is higher than the previous generations. That might not scare off the core gamer crowd, but for the casual gamer who bought a Wii, it might be too expensive. A real bummer is the high price for a second controller with around $150. Although none of the games of the start line-up supports a second controller, it is a very high price point to get another player into the game later on.

2.) Online functionality: We’ve seen some of the in-game social connectivity features of games, but there has been no overall vision presented by Nintendo regarding the online store, user profiles or a (in-game) message system. Will the awful “friends code” system of the Wii return? How is online functionality integrated into the main console menu? How do you purchase digital content? So many questions, which have to be answered prior to launch.

3.) Media center: Yay, there will be Netflix and Hulu in the US. What about Europe? Are there any video streaming services? What about the TVii functionality beyond Japan and the US? Futhermore, the Wii was not able to play DVDs so the question is if the Wii U will be able to serve as a kind of media center platform for playing DVDs, Blu-Rays and providing access to further streaming services.

4.) Target group: The main success of the Wii was the enlarged customer base. A lot of people who never owned a game console before bought a Wii and a handful of games. I think that most of these people won’t be in need of a new console soon, so we won’t see so many casual gamers buying a Wii U. In my opinion it is up to the hardcore gamer crowd – they have to be convinced to buy the console and spread the word. I know a lot of core gamers who bought a Wii, which now collects dust since a months or years. Most of the early excitement for the motion controls is gone now. After all those Wii, PS Move and Kinect casual games people will be more skeptical about new input technology than at the start of the current console generation.

5.) The games: From the ‘release window line-up’ of around 50 games, which will be released until March 2013, a lot of the games we will see are versions of already published games with extra content. Nice for someone who has not played Batman: Arkham City or Mass Effect 3 yet, but to be honest – most core gamers, who are interested in these games already own them. And if not, they will be much cheaper on the PS3 and XBox360 the time the Wii U arrives.

So, what about the original games for Wii U? The New Super Mario Bros. U game looks great as all Mario games do, but it seems not to make use of the new controller in a convincing way. Nintendo Land seems to be the Wii Sports of this generation – lots of mini games to show off the controller’s possibilities. It looks very family-friendly – so I think the appeal to core gamers will be limited. The only game at release day with potential appeal for the core gamer crowd is ZombiU by Ubisoft, which uses the controller very well and introduces some interesting and new gameplay aspects. Some of the other exclusive games like Pikmin 3, Bayonetta 2 (who would have thought…) or The Wonderful 101 seem to miss the launch window until March 2013. Of course, there are some forthcoming multi-platform titles, which will be also available for the Wii U, but there is little reason to buy a new console for these if you already own a PS3 or XBox360.

To sum it up, I think the Wii U will face a rough start – maybe similar to the one of the 3DS. With the PS4 and XBox720 around the corner, I think most gamers will wait until they know what’s coming next year and afterwards make a decision about their future investment.

Nintendo 3DS Hands-On

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Well, after missing all official Nintendo events of the last months and the opportunity to get my hands on Nintendo’s new handheld I got my chance today at the CeBIT trade fair in Hannover. I must admit that I was a bit sceptical about how well the 3D effect works but after playing around with the device for half an hour I am really impressed of the technology. As you might already know, the effect can be turned down to find the best individual setting, which is a great feature. Both games I played – Pilotwings and Kid Icarus – used the 3D effect for a better separation of the controllable objects and enemies from the level background, which seems to turn out well. A consequence of this approach is that the level design and background graphics look somehow ‘flat’ compared to the very prominent presentation of 3D objects in the foreground. The real benefit from the 3D presentation is the better estimation of depth for the controllable game characters or objects. In Pilotwings the depth of the presentation really helps the player to land his airplane at the right spot or maneuver through rings in the air. In contrast to Pilotwings, Kid Icarus left me unimpressed because of its plain and simple gameplay of a railshooter downgrading the 3D effects to pure eye candy with little impact on the gameplay. The next months will tell how well the games will make use of the potential of the 3D effects – until now the starting lineup is not that impressive but the nearby future (looking forward to E3) might be able to give us a better understanding of the potential of the 3DS.

My E3 2010 Wrap-up: Microsoft Kinect, Playstation Move and Nintendo 3DS

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Before this year`s E3 in Los Angeles I was really looking forward to the press briefings of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft because of the previously announced new interface hardware. I must admit I hyped myself a bit too much with all this Natal (aka Kinect) and PS Move stuff and perhaps that is one of the reasons why I was a bit disappointed by the news I got from the media events.

I still like the idea to interact with a console like Tom Cruise was doing in Minority Report but in the end it comes down to the games which will be available for each new system. In case of Microsoft`s Kinect I was really surprised that it seems like they cloned Nintendo`s games line-up: A sports collection, a cart racer, a nintendogs-like game and some sports activity stuff. Even the Star Wars Kinect game looks lousy: Poor graphics for a next gen console, standard interaction patterns instead of realtime tracking of the laser sword and some sort of rail-shooter movement. Ok, everything will presumably work a bit more precise than on the Wii but I think Microsoft really could have done much better with their line-up. Where are the new ideas? The only highlight for me was the dancing game which is a game that would not work on the Wii. But I doubt that this will be a system seller.

What`s up with Sony? After showing some fancy bow and sword action with the Playstation Move controllers at last E3 I was waiting for some motion-tracking games for the core gaming crowd. But it turned out that Sony had the same idea as Microsoft: Both want to expand their market with the casual gamers. Sony`s vision therefore includes a cartoonish sorcerer (Hello Harry Potter!) and some casual clash of old school game heroes. Of course, some older and some forthcoming AAA-titles will be supported by Playstation Move but none of them was presented live. It always sounded like PS Move will be a type of add-on feature but nothing the games will focus on.

So it turns out that both Microsoft and Sony are trying to follow in Nintendo`s footsteps by developing their own motion-tracking interfaces. Even though both Microsoft and Sony might have done a good job with their hardware, they failed to convice me with their games line-up. There is still hope that they both do better in the future but I do not find any reason to buy one of these at their release dates this fall.

And that`s why in my opinion Nintendo made the best impression with their media event. As awaited they presented some strong Wii IPs (Zelda, Metroid) and their next iteration of the Nintendo DS, the 3DS. The new version is able to provide 3D effects without putting glasses on and has a very solid start line-up  for a new mobile console: A new Metal Gear Solid title, Resident Evil, Kid Icarus, Dead or Alive, Kingdom Hearts, Ridge Racer, Assassin`s Creed, Professor Layton and some more. Of course, Nintendo is not the only one pushing 3d gaming – Sony presented their approach which includes a tv set for 2000$+ and wearing glasses. For now, it seems like Nintendo made again the right move in terms of hardware development.

E3 2009 Wrap-Up

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The E3 is back – after a smaller show and lots of criticism in the last year, last week`s Electronic Entertainment Expo was an overwhelming success. Of course, there were tons of games but I am not going to repeat everything that you already heard on all the gaming news pages. As usual, my focus will be on the game interfaces and usability topics of E3. Here we go:

Microsoft`s “Project Natal”
Months before E3 a lot of rumors occured surrounding the news that Microsoft had a deal with 3DV, a small company located in Israel which works on 3D-cameras which will be featured in a new XBox360 addon. Well, these rumors turned out to be true as Microsoft presented the motion-sensing camera technology in their keynote last week. The system is capable of tracking not only the body movement but also the depth of the position of different body parts, enabling the software to use the whole body as an input device. I really like the idea but not being able to test it myself I am still a bit skeptical how precise the input will work and if there are any latencies due to the lack of a haptic input device. I have no doubt that all the sport and mini games will work properly BUT games with the need for very precise and direct inputs (e.g. the demoed racing game) will be a challenge for the technology in my opinion. From what I have seen I expect a similar precision the Wii controls have (what already will be a great success).

  

 

Sony`s Motion-Sensing Tech Demo
Sony showed a tech demo of their motion-sensing controller without giving it a codename. It is, in comparison to Microsoft`s camera-only approach, a combination of camera tracking and controller input. It looks like a Wii Remote with a light bulb on top, working single and double-handed. I was impressed by the very precise movement during the sword fight demo: The presenter was able to manoveur the sword under the chin of a skeleton puppet – a level of accurany the Wii certainly cannot reach – even not with the Motion Plus addon (see the video of the tech demo). According to Sony the first versions of the new nameless interface are already in the hands of third-party developers.

  

Another new piece of hardware is Sony`s PSP Go, the successor of the PSP 3000 which will skip the UMD drive and for this reason will focus on digital distribution. A lot of people hoped to see a second analog stick but Sony stays consistent to the older PSP models with just one of them. 

Wii Motion Plus and Vitality Sensor
Nintendo had no surprising news because they are only a few days away from the launch of the Wii Motion Plus addon. This little addon can be plugged onto the Wii Remote and will provide a more precise detection of movement and alignment of the Remote. Some sad news were that several games which use the Motion Plus turn out to show no considerable improvement according to journalist reports. E.g. first reports from people playing Red Steel 2 sounded a bit disappointing so it is possible that not every developer gets the best out of it or it is no significant improvement over the old Remote.

In addition to the Wii Motion Plus, Nintendo showed also a small piece of hardware called “Vitality Sensor”. It is a small box where you can put a finger into and everyone was sure that this will add up to the sports and fitness games Nintendo is doing pretty well with. 

Summary

To sum it up, it is interesting to see that all big console manufacturers now have their own motion-sensing input devices (which is no big surprise after the success of the Wii and its new control scheme). In the end, the games make the difference and both Microsoft and Sony have to prove that they are able to create great games with their new technologies.

Games in the clouds

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Last week at GDC the company OnLive announced their upcoming game-streaming service via cloud computing. The idea is simple: You only need a low-end computer or a TV with a little OnLive box and a broadband internet connection. The computer or the OnLive box will track your input and send it to the OnLive servers where your game is running. The visual output is returned to your computer or TV set which requires a minimum connection of 1MBit.

Even more interesting than the tech stuff may be the implications for the whole game industry. If OnLive or a similar service will work as intended, the retail will get into serious trouble. We will likely see new subscription or fee models, perhaps a gaming flat? For the publishers the advantage of a system like OnLive is obvious: Without retail in between the profit margins will increase a lot and, in addition, a system like OnLive has the potential to solve some piracy issues. 11 publishers already have an agreement with OnLive including Activision Blizzard, EA, Ubisoft, Atari, THQ, Codemasters and Take 2.

Cloud computing could be a real threat to the next generation of consoles and gaming pcs. Why buy a Playstation 4 or a XBox720 when the cloud computing systems upgrade their hardware to offer you the best possible gaming experience? What will happen to Sony, MS, Nintendo, NVidia, Intel and AMD in the next 5 years? Is THIS the ‘one console future’ some people were talking about years ago? Of course, not everybody has a 1Mbit connection nowadays. But in five years a lot of people will.

But even when consoles and gaming computers leave our homes and we are playing via TV set we will still need some input devices. Gamepads, keyboards, steering wheels and – perhaps – wii-motes and nunchucks? Will the three big console manufacturers become peripheral device manufacturers or pure game developers like Sega did? Will they offer their own cloud computing services? Will we have to decide whether to subscribe to the Sony or Microsoft Cloud?

The next five years will tell a lot about our gaming future. Hopefully, the customers are the winners with lower-priced games and a low technical and monetary barrier to enter high-end gaming.

Wenig Überraschendes auf der E308

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Nachdem die “Big Three” in L.A. ihre Pressekonferenzen abgehalten haben, bin ich doch ein wenig enttäuscht von den Präsentationen, da ich doch mit der ein oder anderen zusätzlichen Ankündigung gerechnet habe und die meisten präsentierten Spiele schon seit Längerem bekannt sind und wenige Überraschungen boten.

Microsoft schaffte es lediglich mit der Ankündigung, dass Final Fantasy XIII nun nicht exklusiv für die PS3 erscheint, sondern auch für die 360, zu überraschen- definitiv ein herber Schlag für Sony. Die Gerüchte um einen neuen Controller oder ein Blu-Ray Laufwerk wurden vorerst nicht bestätigt; dafür gab es ein neues Avatarsystem (Mii anyone?), eine neue Benutzeroberfläche und eine deutliche Erweiterung des Filmangebots.

Die Konkurrenz von Sony konnte nur mit der Ankündigung von God of War 3 begeistern und kündigte einen neuen Online-Shooter namens “MAG” an, bei dem sich bis zu 256 Spieler gleichzeitig die virtuellen Geschosse um die Ohren jagen können. Außerdem wurde eine Erweiterung des PSN vorgestellt, von dem man ab sofort – zumindest in den USA – neben Spielen und DLC auch Filme beziehen kann.

Big N überraschte mich am gestrigen Tag lediglich mit der Ankündigung einer eigenen GTA-Version für das DS. Das Hardware-AddOn für die Wii-Remote (“WiiMotionPlus”) wurde bereits ein paar Stunden vor Nintendo`s Pressekonferenz angekündigt und bisher wurde nur die neue Wii Sports Version vorgestellt, die das AddOn offiziell unterstützt. Alle anderen Ankündigungen (“Wii Music” & “Animal Crossing Wii”) richteten sich meiner Meinung nach vorrangig an den Gelegenheitsspieler – mir fehlte ein Spiel für die Zielgruppe der Hardcore-Gamer.

Vielleicht erleben wir noch die ein oder andere Überraschung seitens eines Third Party Herstellers…?!

Meine Favoriten der E308 sind bisher:

Resident Evil 5, Dawn of War II, God of War III und Ubisoft`s neues Prince of Persia. Und, was fällt auf? Genau – keine einzige neue IP dabei…

Wiir rodeln…

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Nachdem es erste Gerüchte über die Nutzung des Balance Boards im Rahmen einer Fortsetzung von Ubisoft`s Raving Rabbids gab, folgte vor ein paar Tagen die Bestätigung auf den Ubidays in Frankreich: In einem der neuen Minispiele sitzt man auf dem Board und lenkt einen “Schlitten” (repräsentiert durch eine Kuh) durch die Neigung des Oberkörpers nach links und rechts. Kippt man den Körper leicht nach hinten, beschleunigt der Schlitten. Ich bin sehr gespannt wie präzise diese Steuerung sein wird und ob sich Nachahmer dieser Idee finden… Wäre der Hackl Schorsch noch aktiv, hätte ich ja spontan eine Idee für eine neue IP ;)

Status: Unbalancierter.

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Seit vergangenem Freitag bin ich stolzer Besitzer des Balance Boards für die Wii, welches zusammen mit dem Spiel “Wii Fit” ausgeliefert wird. Dieses zunächst sehr ungewöhnlich wirkende Eingabegerät, welches von der Optik her einer Waage ähnelt, misst die Gewichtsverlagerung des Körpers und wandelt diese in Steuerungseingaben um. Dies funktioniert insofern erstaunlich gut, als dass es nur wenige Spiele gibt, bei denen man das Balance Board “überlisten” kann, indem man eine andere (einfachere) Haltung einnimmt oder die Bewegungen auf andere Art und Weise simuliert.

Tatsächlich bin ich nach einer Woche soweit, dass ich als “Profi” beim Skispringen und Skiabfahrtsfahren durchgehe; bei einigen anderen Balancespielen habe ich aber immer noch den Status “Unbalancierter” (Nintendo`s nette Umschreibung für einen talentfreien Anfänger). Dazu gehört u.a. ein Spiel, bei dem man eine oder mehrere Kugeln in die Löcher einer Plattform manövrieren muss, indem man die Plattform mit seinem Körper ausbalanciert.

Stehe ich auf der Plattform und neige mich leicht, so bewegt sich der virtuellen Gegenpart dermaßen hektisch, als würde ich versuchen, das Spiel mit meinem Fuss über den Analogstick eines Gamepads zu steuern. Aus diesem Grund schiessen die Kugeln meist über den Rand der Plattform hinaus und fallen in die Tiefe, anstatt in die dafür vorgesehenen Löcher der Plattform. So ist für mich nach Level 4 meist der Spaß vorbei.

Ob mein Versagen bei diesem Spiel mit dem persönlichen Mangel an Balance zu tun hat, oder ob das Spiel einfach nicht so gut für die Steuerung mit dem Balance Board geeignet ist? Ich werde es testen. Jeder der demnächst meine Wohnung betritt, muss das Kugelspiel absolvieren. Und dann werde ich wissen, ob ich der einzige Unbalancierte bei diesem Spiel bin…

Gespannt bin ich vor allem auf weitere angekündigte Spiele, die das Balance Board unterstützen werden: Die Ravin` Rabbids von Ubisoft, ein Cheerleader-Spiel (THQ) und Namco`s We Ski.

Auf jeden Fall werden das Kugelspiel und ich so schnell keine guten Freunde; ich konzentriere mich lieber auf meine Karriere als virtueller Skispringer (Rekord: 293 Meter)…