The allGeek team was privileged enough to get their hands on the unreleased Wii U while at CES. While they weren’t able to release very much information while we were there, it was a lot of fun just to play around with Nintendo’s latest technology.
The first part of the demo consisted of two games. The first was Chase Mii, and the second was Battle Mii. Apparently these games aren’t actually in development, but instead are just something to help them demonstrate how the new console will work. In Chase Mii, one player with the Wii U remote was pitted against users with a WiiMote. The player using the Wii U controller had to hide for about a minute and-a-half while the other players used teamwork to catch them. The play-field was separated into four colored quadrants so locations could easily be called out. The next game, Battle Mii, once again put the player with the Wii U touchscreen remote against the other players. People using WiiMotes were on foot, and the Wii U controller piloted a (very metroid-ish) ship. Basically these demonstrations were to show different ways that game developers could use the new system and controllers.
Next we were shown a video that they claimed was being rendered live. The movie was showing what a Zelda game would look like on the new console. The graphics look far improved from the original Wii console, but seemed short of what current consoles offer currently. Of course, this was just a demo and we will have to wait a bit to see anything concrete.
Finally, we were shown an interactive demo that displayed some capabilities outside of gaming. Up on the screen a video of a car driving down the street was playing, and the same could be seen on the Wii U remote. When moving the remote around, a new view of the city was displayed. You could look all around you, switch to a behind view (it was mentioned this would be useful in racing games), and even zoom for a closer look at your environment.
Nothing seems very concrete about the Wii U at the moment, and we are all left to speculate until more information is released. According to the Nintendo team at CES, there will be “big announcements” at this year’s E3. In the mean time, if you would like to see what we DO know about Nintendo’s new console, click here.
This post was written by...
Chris West – who has written 106 posts on allGeek.
So i've got the best job for allGeek.... GAMING EDITOR. That means I get to sit around all day and play video games, and take a break every once in a while to tell you about them! Check out the "Gaming" section of our podcast to hear me shine, and be sure to send me any questions you have!
