As expected, the Nintendo Direct conference with President Satoru Iwata included a plethora of new titles releases and announcements including Wii U Zelda, Smash Bros., and Xenoblade.
Iwata started off showing how Miiverse could interact with other games and TVii. He also announced that gamers will be able to browse Miiverse on smartphones this spring.
Iwata noted that he has received many complaints and that would be addressed with two new system updates; one in the spring and summer. He promised that software will launch faster on the console and that the return to the Wii U Menu from games will also be faster.
As expected, the Virtual Console service was officially announced and will be launched after the spring system update. Iwata stated that they will not be able to make the entire lineup available from the original Wii version and that the service would only come with NES and Super NES titles. The Wii version had other consoles including the Sega Genesis. Iwata did note that there will be Game Boy Advance titles and people who have purchased the Wii version will get special pricing on Wii U versions of the same titles. If a person purchased the title on the Wii, the Wii U version of the NES version will be $1 and the SNES titles will be $1.50. Otherwise, they will follow the same prices of the Wii virtual console.
Regarding games, Iwata stated that no Nintendo titles for Wii U will be available in January and February. He did talk about a few upcoming titles including Platinum Games' "The Wonderful 101" and "Bayonetta 2." Both were shown off in new videos.
Regarding the new Super Smash Bros. Iwata said the development team needed more time before unveiling any new information on title. He did note that gamers will see the first screens for the title at this year's E3.
Nintendo's President also announced that a new 3d Action Mario action game is being worked on by the development team behind the "Super Mario Galaxy" titles. A new Mario Kart was also in the works and Iwata promised that both of these games would be available at E3 in playable form.
Other major titles announced included a new Yoshi game from the makers of "Kirby's Epic Yarn," a new "Xenoblade" title, and "Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei" from Atlus and Intelligent Systems.
The big news of the event however was the new Zelda title. Iwata allowed franchise director Eiji Aonuma to make the announcement. Aonuma stated that the title will rethink Zelda conventions and return to its roots. He suggested that players will not have to move through dungeons in linear fashion and that they may not need to play alone. He also announced that Wii U owners would get an HD remake of the Gamecube title "Wind Waker" while they wait for the next Zelda experience.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
