Wii U: too much money and too many promises?

Look! Shiny...

I know it was last month when this information came out, but it bears discussion. The Wii U's launch line-up has been announced and so has the price tag.

For $300 you get the Wii U console with an 8 GB hard drive and a gamepad. The $350 Premium Bundle comes with a console, a controller, an HDMI cable, power cradles for your gamepad, a 32 GB HDD and a subscription to Nintendo Network Premium, which offers 10% discounts on downloadable software, according to G4's article.

Not only that, but the system launch date has also been revealed. November 18th, 2012 will be what I call "The Big Show." Nintendo will have to put up or shut up at this point, and to be honest, I'm not entirely sure how it's going to do.

After playing with the Wii U twice, at PAX and E3, I've decided that I rather like the system. I've enjoyed everything I've played on it, and I admit that the novelty of playing on a controller directly is appealing since I live in a home where the TV is used by multiple people.

But, the entire industry isn't enamored with the system. They might be impressed, but some are still skeptical.

Check out this quote from Adam Sessler that was strung out over several of his tweets during September following the announcements about the Wii U:

"The novelty of playing on the gamepad screen is way too overstated. This 'assurance' on the launch line-up is deadly. This is their chance to make the best case for themselves. If they were so willing to show a substance-free trailer for 'Bayonetta 2' why not do the same for Zelda? Right now their best angle with the hardcore are promises, they needed more. The pricing makes the casual market much harder. I realize they didn't price the gamepad stand-alone. But is there any reason to have a second one? To clarify: I have great affection for Nintendo. my observations come from a place of concern. $350 is a fine price for core gamers, but Nintendo isn't making a strong case."

To an extent, he's correct. The price tag is high, even for Nintendo, which flaunted it's $250 price tag years ago with the Wii. That was part of the selling point and the mass appeal of the system.

If they are going to promise good things for hardcore gamers, they are digging themselves into a hole if they don't deliver after launch. Take a look at the titles that are slotted for release:

• 007 Legends
• Aliens: Colonial Marines
• Assassin's Creed 3
• Batman: Arkham City - Armored Edition
• Ben 10: Omniverse
• Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2013
• Call of Duty: Black Ops II
• Darksiders 2
• Disney Epic Mickey 2: Power of Two
• EA Sports FIFA Soccer 13
• Family Party: 30 Great Games
• Funky Barn
• Game & Wario
• Game Party Champions
• Jeopardy
• Jett Tailfin
• Just Dance 4
• Lego City Undercover
• Madden NFL 13
• Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth
• Mass Effect 3
• Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
• Nano Assault Neo
• NBA 2K13
• New Super Mario Bros. U
• Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge
• Nintendo Land
• Pikmin 3
• Rabbids Land
• Rapala Pro Bass Fishing
• Rayman Legends
• Rise of the Guardians: The Video Game
• Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
• Scribblenauts Unlimited
• Sing Party
• Skylanders Giants
• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
• Sports Connection
• Tank! Tank! Tank!
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2
• Toki Tori 2
• Transformers Prime
• Trine 2 Director's Cut
• Warrios Orochi 3 Hyper
• Wheel of Fortune
• Wii Fit U
• WipeOut 3
• The Wonderful 101
• Your Shape Fitness Evolved
• ZombiU
• Zumba Fitness Core 

That's a lot of games. Even for Nintendo. If you remember the Wii release, there were hardly any games to choose from. It seems like they're trying to pull out all of the stops to get hype for the system, especially since Sony and Microsoft are still behind on releasing their next-gen consoles.

The speed at which Nintendo is doing this could hurt them in the end. There's nothing wrong with perfecting things so that they perform well at launch.

What do you think about the launch titles and the price tag? Is this Nintendo's way of competing against the hardcore market that Sony and Microsoft have taken from them so long ago? Or is this a literal cost-of-living adjustment for Nintendo considering the amount of new tech and work they've put into the system and games?

Well those price tags are bright enough, but are they too high?

Hands on ZombiU

Aim for the head!

Ubisoft’s Wii U title that has been passed around and casually looked at by press and gamers is something of a mystery. At this year’s E3, I was able to watch some people play a mode of the game where a single player fought hordes of zombies that came in waves as they held a point down. What I got to experience first hand at the Penny Arcade Expo this weekend was an entirely different story.

Jumping into the shoes of a survivor, I had to escape Buckingham Palace and survive the zombie hordes within. Inside, I had to scrounge for ammo to go with my handgun and the Royal Guard carbine that I had looted off the ground. The people at the demo booth told me that the game relies heavily on survival and tactical instincts, making you really conserve your ammo and get down and dirty with the zombies if you have to.

That made sense as I only had eight rounds for my pistol and three rounds for my carbine. But what I did have was an unlimited supply of skull bashings thanks to my handy-dandy cricket bat. Very “Shaun of the Dead” if you ask me. And like Shaun, I aimed for the head and cracked a few zombies in the skull a few times to make sure they were good and double-dead.

That's pretty much how it looks when you play the game.

The game’s menu is on the Wii U gamepad, so instead of having to press pause, you just look down and slide the inventory in to view, and the game on the screen pauses while you rummage through your pack to figure out what you want to use or discard. Now, this is a really interesting use of the gamepad and I actually liked it. What was hard was that the mini-map was down there as well, and having to look at my hands while also running on the screen was a little difficult. Especially when little red blips show up on it to tell you where zombies are and you don’t immediately look at the controller to see if there’s danger. It’s going to take a lot for gamers to get used to that on Nintendo’s new system.

The graphics were good. They were passable for current-gen systems but nothing too impressive for a next-gen machine. I suppose that’s actually a compliment for a Nintendo console as they’ve never been the most graphically-intensive machines on the market. Often times, if you crack a shot off at a zombie’s head, you might actually give them a real close haircut and expose their brain.

Zombie John!

Something fun was that when I actually died in the demo, I was put in the place of another survivor and I actually encountered my past-self in game as a zombie. When I killed that version of me, I could loot myself and get all of my previous items back. That kind of reminded me of the old "Diablo II" mechanic where you could loot your corpse. Something fun they were doing at the booth was also allowing you to use the camera on the Wii U to zombify yourself and I was told that you could even put zombie-you in "ZombiU."

All in all I think that “ZombiU” might present an interesting experience for a title on the Wii U. The game isn’t anything new, but it utilizes enough of the technology available in the system for it to be somewhat interesting to people who pick it up for the first time. I’m equating it to “Red Steel.” Hopefully it is much more refined and well executed than the other Ubisoft flop. Keep your eyes out for this game to come out Dec. 31.

Hands on Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengeance

Here it is - the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Konami’s newest installment in the “Metal Gear Solid” series, “Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengeance.”

Silly name not withstanding, I went in with an open mind to this demo as I’ve never really played much of the “MGS” series to begin with. I’m sure there are some people who will feel that I’m not really capable of doing a solid report on “Revengeance” because of this, but I’ll be purely reporting from a mechanics and gameplay standpoint.

The demo at the Penny Arcade Expo in Washington this weekend had us tackling the game as Raiden, newly outfitted with cybernetic parts like the Six Million Dollar Man. In the demo, he was equipped with a crazy lazer-sword a la “No More Heroes” that could basically slice through anything. Raiden could pick up weapons as well as sneak, but it just didn’t feel like a “MGS” title. What it did feel like, was “Ninja Gaiden.”


I’m not sure if that is blasphemous or actually really appealing to Kojima fans, but I honestly felt like I was playing that dressed up in “MGS” skins with the occasional exclamation point flashing above an enemy’s head as he became aware of me. How could he not, after all I had practically no stealth capabilities whatsoever.

I actually cut up a Metal Gear monster thingy with that sword of his like it was nothing.

Attacking is your standard button-mashing combo fare that many might equate to “Dynasty Warriors” or “God of War.” I have to give them credit, though, with the game mechanic that let you actually slow down time and pick the direction that your blade would run through your enemy. It made me think of the “Afro Samurai” game where you could slice the tiniest parts off of enemies in slow-motion.
 

The entire scenario was a virtual-reality training session for Raiden to become familiar with his new cybernetic implants. I have no idea how he has become a cyborg and I won’t speculate as to whether or not this is a cheesy or interesting plot twist. Cyber-Raiden kicks a lot of ass, cutting baddies and the occasional watermelon into little slivers of meat. On a fluke, I attacked a random pillar that was just sitting in a courtyard where I had a mini-boss battle, and found that I was actually able to use the sword slashing mechanic to dice up the column into little stone pieces. Of course, the archway it was holding up promptly fell apart, but I was genuinely impressed that there was some environmental destruction evident in the game. Kojima is really known for producing games that have attention to detail.

He just does not look like a happy camper.

I found the game's controls a little difficult to use. Raiden was far too sensitive to commands and I found myself running into objects a lot. Also, the screen is flooded with digital images and information about objectives and directions and attacks and combos that I felt a severe case of sensory overload. I understand that he’s a cyborg now and he’s got all sorts of fancy ocular implants, but I’m not  a cyborg and I don’t need that information shoved into my face.
 

Honestly, the demo was fun, but I wasn’t impressed by “Revengeance.” Maybe it’s because I’m not a “MGS” fan and maybe it could be that I’m just not seeing the full game. Whatever the case may be, I feel as though the game steals a lot of elements from other franchises such as “Ninja Gaiden,” “Dynasty Warriors” and even the quicktime events from “Resident Evil.” Granted, those are all proven mechanics that have sold over the last decade, but from what I know of “MGS’s” history as a stealth franchise I don’t really see this as a new direction that will revitalize the fanbase. Even some of the hardcore fans that were there seemed a little put off by it when I asked them. Then again, there were some people who thought the game was really awesome. It will be interesting to see who shows up to buy the game when it comes out on Feb. 19 of next year.