Items tagged with wiiu
China is finally ending a ban on gaming consoles that has proven to be a real hindrance to companies like Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony. But before you ask, “I thought China already lifted the ban?” you have to realize that Chinese regulatory agencies only allowed consoles to be sold within the country if they were manufactured within the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. Now that Chinese officials have had a change of heart, manufacturers (both foreign and domestic) are free to build and sell their consoles anywhere within the country. Needless to say, console manufacturers are elated at the possibility of tapping into the Chinese gaming market without being stymied by miles of bureaucratic red tape....
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Last month, news emerged that Philips was suing Nintendo over alleged patent infringements in the U.S., and the proverbial chickens are already coming home to roost in other countries. According to Reuters, Philips said it has won a patent suit in the UK (although no details about amounts for compensation have been shared). The patents concern motion, gesture, and pointing control that Philips licenses to companies that make set-top boxes and game consoles, and the company has asserted that Nintendo has been using the technology in the Wii U without a functioning license agreement. Philips spokesman Bjorn Teuwsen told the outlet that the company had been trying to come to terms with Nintendo...
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Remember how the old NES game Excitebike was amazingly cool because you could make your own courses? It took Nintendo 29 years to follow suit, but now you can actually design your own levels of Super Mario Bros. with the company’s upcoming “Mario Maker” on the Wii U. Nintendo is showing off the--game?--at E3, and judging by the trailer, it’s something that you can spend endless hours getting into. Using the Wii U’s GamePad touch screen, you can drag and drop all sorts of familiar pieces and characters into blank levels to create your own masterpieces. “Place blocks, pipes, lifts and enemies anywhere and play through the level,” teases Nintendo. “Want...
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To paraphrase David Letterman, we wouldn’t give Nintendo’s troubles to a monkey on a rock. Amid a terrible sales performance that only got worse over the first quarter of this year (Nintendo president Satoru Iwata took a 50% pay cut over the the Wii U’s awful sales back in January) and a mini-scandal when word emerged that users couldn’t be same-sex couples in the 3DS handheld console game Tomodachi Life (an oversight for which Nintendo has apologized), the company has a lawsuit on its hands. Philips is suing Nintendo over two potential patent infringements. The first concerns a “virtual body control device”, which pertains to essentially all the Wii controllers....
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We really wanted to love the Wii U. Everyone did, really. The original Wii was a huge product, and in a lot of ways, it shaped the future of the home console. Both Sony and Microsoft followed the motion gaming trail with Move and Kinect, but the original Wii Remote was what pioneered that. The Wii U, sadly, missed the mark in a lot of ways. It felt half-baked, the graphics weren't a tremendous improvement, and developers are even disowning it as the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 loom large. Sales on the Wii U have been far below Nintendo's own expectations, and now that its primary rivals have new home consoles only months away, Nintendo is being forced to cut the price of the Wii U just a year...
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It's pretty tough to sell gaming consoles when major game developers are shunning your system, and Nintendo is actually facing such a threat with the Wii U. Facing tough reviews, half-baked software and general confusion on whether the Wii U is simply a spec-bumped Wii, Nintendo found out in May that Electronic Arts would not be working the Wii U into its forthcoming development cycles. In other words, major next-gen titles from EA wouldn't be produced for the Wii U; only the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. The biggest fear, of course, is if such a move triggered a wave of followers. Nintendo has surely been on pins and needles as it waits, but today some good news came down the pike. Activision...
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Update 7/10: It has been brought to our attention that the source reference site's report for this story was actually based on a satire, not based on facts. Rather than pulling the story down, we're alerting you to the fact that we were mislead (as were others). However, we will pose the question that seems to be driving a lot of debate: are games getting easier just for the sake of quick-fix game play? During a Q&A at Nintendo’s recent shareholder’s meeting, Nintendo President and CEO Satoru Iwata said several things that are alternately painful, amazing, and sad in response to a question from a stockholder about how games seem to be getting easier, and how that may be...
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As Nokia and Microsoft know all too well, stellar hardware is nothing without stellar software. And in the case of the Wii U, even the hardware is lacking. The last time a batch of new game consoles were launching, pundits doubted the Wii's staying power. It was weak, it was odd, and it used a new control paradigm that was unproven. But lo and behold, the console held a sold-out status for nearly two years, and went on to sell millions and thrill casual gamers the world over. But a lot has changed since the middle of last decade. Game consoles are no longer "just" game consoles. They're entertainment boxes, do-it-all machines designed to take over the living room. Now that the PS4 and Xbox One...
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Shortly after saying goodbye to a number of online services associated with the original Wii, Nintendo has flipped the switch on a number of other online services catering to the new Wii U. Soon after reviews began hitting the Web, Nintendo promised a future update that would address a number of concerns: namely, slow boot times, slow updates, and a general lack of Virtual Console titles from past consoles. And now, the next major system update for Nintendo's Wii U home console after launch is now available for download. The update delivers a host of new services and enhanced features, such as improved stability and performance, as well as faster load times when switching between applications....
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There’s a certain generation of youngsters who lived and breathed beautifully-made side scrollers for NES and SNES. (We loved our Sega Genesis too, but you know that SNES had the prettier games.) Capcom has been busy tapping into console gamer nostalgia of late, and now the company is offering up a completely remastered and enhanced version of DuckTales. “The DuckTales gang has been brought back to life with absolutely luscious hand-drawn animation so as to better reflect the high-caliber animation Disney’s known for,” reads a Capcom blog post. “Every frame of movement from the original is represented, redefined and expanded upon.” Coming this summer for the...
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Nintendo’s latest gaming console, the Wii U, is a bit of a risk for the legendary company. The console promises the moon, and although we found plenty of things to like about the Wii U in our review, the device came up a little short. Sales have been somewhat up and down, too. There was a nice spike around Black Friday when Nintendo sold 400,000 units in the U.S. in a weeks’ time, and although sales numbers appear to have remained solid since then (890,000 totals consoles in the U.S. and 2.5 million worldwide), there are signs of weakness in Japan, where sales dipped from 76,000 units per week to 70,000. In any case, the Wii U has plenty of competition, not the least of which will...
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About six years ago, Nintendo completely changed the way the world viewed console gaming. The Wii remote (affectionately dubbed Wiimote by most) was a brand new paradigm in gaming control, and it ushered in a wave of motion-based gaming that forced Sony to follow suit with the Move, and Microsoft to do likewise with Kinect... Pundits seemed certain that Nintendo's risk taking would be its undoing. They seemed certain that motion-based gaming could never be a success in a world long dominated by joystick or push-button controllers. But Nintendo pulled it off. Today, the Wii U has arrived at a time when there's a notable shift going on in the way consumers view and use technology. We're undergoing...
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History has a funny way of repeating itself, and the more things change, the more they stay the same. Nearly six years ago to the day, Nintendo completely changed the way the world viewed console gaming. The Wii remote (affectionately dubbed Wiimote by most) was a brand new paradigm in gaming control, and it ushered in a wave of motion-based gaming that forced Sony to follow suit with the Move, and Microsoft to do likewise with Kinect. Pundits seemed certain that Nintendo's risk taking would be its undoing. They seemed certain that motion-based gaming could never be a success in a world long dominated by joystick or push-button controllers. But Nintendo pulled it...
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Nintendo (NTDOY) is adding some value to its Wii U console with the launch of Nintendo TVii, which essentially uses the GamePad controller with its second screen and touch capabilities as both a remote control and a content aggregator. Nintendo TVii pulls in content from all over a user’s available sources, including cable or satellite TV, on demand content, and online streaming services, and lets them sort through and navigate them all with the GamePad. On top of that, Nintendo built in social features so users can post to Miiverse, Twitter, or Facebook during and about programming as well as extra data such as sports scoreboards or IMBD-like information on shows and movies. The cost...
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Black Friday was kind to quite a few companies and retail outlets, Nintendo included. While the Wii U launched in earnest a few days prior to the famed shopping day, it's clear that a lot of people waited until last week to make their move. The company sold 400,000 Wii U consoles in America last week, while it moved 1.2 million devices in sum. That last figure includes the Wii U, the recently discounted Wii, 3DS and DS handhelds. Amazingly, the older Wii sold a whopping 300,000 units last week -- just 100,000 shy of the newer, shinier Wii U. We guess the old adage about pricing holds true. The Wii U continues to be tough to find, and those who went out in search for a Wii back in 2006 probably...
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Nintendo's Wii U may have launched a few days ago, but the pieces are still coming together. Today, yet another sliver of its digital streaming platform fell into place, with Amazon's Instant Video app for the Wii U going live. Similar to apps on the PS3 and other streaming boxes, this one gives Wii U users the ability to stream over 140,000 movies and TV episodes. In addition, the app gives Amazon Prime customers access to more than 30,000 movies and TV episodes to stream at no additional cost. The app itself is free to download, giving curious users the ability to surf through the library before making any purchase moves. The Wii U GamePad controller lets customers use the 6.2-inch touch screen...
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Just picked up a new Wii U? If you've been waiting for that online experience to finally get you, you can finally celebrate. One of the more anticipated programs in the streaming arena is finally hitting Nintendo's new console: it's Hulu. Hulu Plus is now available on the Wii U console, and yes, you'll be able to utilize a "second screen experience" through the controller. It allows you to quickly discover more information about your favorite shows while simultaneously watching them on your big screen at home. The console’s second screen controller also enables you to take the TV viewing experience with you to another room in the house with just the click of a button. As you scroll and...
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Got anything going on tomorrow? Looking for a fresh game to play? Nintendo's got a console launching, don't you know? The follow-up to the Wii, called the Wii U, will be celebrating its U.S. launch tomorrow with a midnight launch around the nation. And, at the Nintendo World Store, a midnight "gathering" will be taking place. The first Wii U consoles will go on sale in NYC on the 18th. From Nintendo: "Consumers will have the chance to be among the first in the world to purchase the Wii U console when the clock strikes midnight on Nov. 18 at Nintendo World in New York's Rockefeller Plaza. Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime will be on hand to count down the launch and sell a...
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