Adam Tyner

No guessing necessary! Nintendo sez 2.6 gigs. Very tiny.

XavierMike

Great,

I'll be tempted to go digital, but I really like the artwork on the box...

mattysemo247

Selling the console and tablet separate to make it seem like a lower buy in price?

Adam Tyner

Without vastly different firmware and a whole mess of patches, there's no way the two can be separated (unless the idea is to sell an unplayable brick to keep the price low). I'd be really surprised if anything like that happened.

Nintendo's marketing of the console has consistently ranged between "non-existent" and "staggeringly incompetent", so if this story's true, I'm sure it's just more of the same. Sigh. They've consistently been unable to convey the appeal of the gamepad, so maybe they've given up on trying altogether?

Michael Corvin

They haven't made a single game showcasing the gamepad. It was a waste in NSMBU and it's a waste in Pikmin. Rayman is the lone bright spot, but it shouldn't take third parties to showcase the tablet.

Adam Tyner

The 'go here' functionality on the map in Pikmin is pretty great, I have to admit, although it could obviously be done on any regular map screen.

For me, the biggest selling point is clever multiplayer gameplay. I love that my girlfriend and I can snuggle up on the couch and race each other in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed with no split-screen. Some of the Nintendo Land mini-games, especially Luigi's Ghost Mansion and Animal Crossing: Sweet Day, are so, so, so much fun local multiplayer where you're playing/competing together but have different views. I love local multiplayer but hate split screen, so this is a huge win.

I can see the gamepad being a big plus in sports games where you can choose a play without anyone seeing and in game show-type games to enjoy some similar privacy when entering an answer, making secret choices, etc. I don't think this has been taken advantage of much/at all to date, though.

It's nice having inventory screens, maps, and stats and stuff handy without a button press, but it's obviously not a game changer. Ditto for neat but not-quite-revolutionary features like Need for Speed: Most Wanted U where a second player can change the ruleset of the world without you as a driver missing a beat. I haven't used offscreen play much (no competition for the TV), but in games where I'm just mindlessly grinding like Skylanders Giants, it frees me up to multitask.

So, one problem is that Nintendo isn't coming up with a lot of ways to showcase the unique types of gameplay the pad could offer. The other is that even if they do, how do you quickly convey that? I mean, take Wii Sports bowling: you hold a little remote, you swipe your arm up and down, and a guy on-screen rolls a ball. A couple seconds of that visual and you get it. How do you sell the gamepad that way? If you have to explain it, you've already lost.

Gizmo

Where is this 2 week early rumor coming from?

Adam Tyner

On Club Nintendo, the digital version "intend to buy" bonus points expire on 9/13, while the physical copy's "intend to buy" bonus points expire on 9/27. The speculation is that the two week difference suggests that the digital version will launch two weeks early.

Krayzie

Sadly no one seems to want to make sports games for the wii u.

Michael Corvin

Only if you are not one of the 150 million people who own a 360 or PS3.

pinata242

Wasn't that the same game that was on sale on Steam a few weeks ago for like $3?

Supermallet

That's a good looking gamepad, but I can't fathom rebuying Windwaker. Not one of my favorite Zelda games.

Moopher

Boom, I will own that.

Michael Corvin

I still think they missed the boat on Luigi's Mansion as well. Shoulda been a Wii game.

Adam Tyner

Beat Pikmin 3 just in time for New Super Luigi U to get here! Then we have Rayman Legends (even if it's no longer an exclusive), The Wonderful 101, and Scribblenauts Unmasked (among others) next month. Things are finally looking closer to where they ought to be!

Michael Corvin

I was looking forward to Luigi but I might hold off for a B2G1 sale. There's a Young Justice ($40 srp) game due out soon I can grab with it. I'll have to come up with a third cheap title for the next sale.

slop101

Played the demo of the new Rayman and I am glad it's not exclusive to the WiiU, since the other versions do away with the tablet functionality, making the game more playable, without worrying about fiddling with the table's touch-screen. It's the new waggle-control apparently.

Michael Corvin

I loved the touch/gamepad stuff in the demo so I'm down for it.

XavierMike

I started Lego City over the weekend. I really like it. I think the writing is very funny. The pop culture references are spot on. The classic lego gameplay is always fun. Looking forward to playing more.

Gizmo

$25 with coupon at GameStop right now.

Gizmo

Finally.

XavierMike

Crap, only a few weeks after W101, lol.

Moopher

Dammit. I thought it would be way later... But hey, looks like I'll be getting myself a sweet-ass birthday present.

fujishig

It STILL annoys me that this game takes forever to load to get to the title screen, then takes another eternity to load your saved game.

slop101

Why are people so excited for Wind Waker? It's a 10 year old game, and one that, as I recall, wasn't too well-received when it came out, and one of the more disappointing Zelda games. What am I missing?