Coffee Beans
Nintendo of America will be holding its Wii U press conference tomorrow, September 13th. Nintendo is set to detail the Wii U's release date, price, services for it, and probably even more Wii U launch games that haven't been offiically announced yet.
What are some of my predictions, thoughts, and wishes for what we will see tomorrow from the Wii U conference? Start brewing yourself a pot of coffee (you may need a second pot by the time you finish), and let's take a look!
Caffeinated Predictions, Thoughts, & Wishes
I believe the Wii U will release before November 13th. Why November 13th? It has all to do with what will probably be the biggest video game of the 2012 holiday season: Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
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| Official looking? |
While Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has not been officially confirmed for the Wii U (not even sure about the Wii), I personally believe Nintendo has worked with Activision and Treyarch, "keeping the lid" on the game's announcement until the Wii U's press conference on Thursday. With all the advertising Nintendo should be doing for the Wii U this the holiday season, and with all the advertising Activision will be doing for Black Ops 2, I think having the biggest video game of the 2012 holiday season available for the Wii U day one, can only see as a positive for the system.
I don't think Nintendo would want Black Ops 2 out before the Wii U console is available, especially considering Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will most likely will be the biggest game of 2012 (in terms of early release sales numbers and units sold over the holidays). Also, getting the Wii U out before Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 would probably allow Nintendo to have its online service tested pretty well (load testing anybody?), because the game is geared toward online multiplayer.
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| Sniping on the GamePad in multiplayer? Probably in the single-player campaign. |
Black Ops 2 will be releasing on November 13th, which is a Tuesday, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Nintendo has a history in North America of releasing consoles on Sundays, and I believe November 11th is the latest date that the Wii U console will release.
Going out on a limb here from some "investigative work" tonight, I'm going to predict Nintendo will release the Wii U on October 28, 2012 in North America. Also, this allows them to release it before the presidential election in the U.S., which could affect some of their potential buyers' decisions going into the holiday season.
Now that I have my Wii U console release date prediction out, here is a list of some of my wishes for the Wii U console that I hope Nintendo addresses/confirms at the conference tomorrow:
- A Wii U console price of $249.99, with the GamePad included. No game necessary.
- Confirm 100% all Wii Virtual Console and WiiWare purchases will transfer (or not) to the Wii U console.
- Address the Wii U GamePad's streaming capabilities. Name which Wii U launch games will be able to use the Wii U GamePad for campaigns, and not just multiplayer features and minigames. Having Virtual Console, WiiWare, or at the very least all new eShop Wii U games being able to be streamed to the GamePad for play would be awesome, and a very big selling point for me.
- Release more specific information about the Wii U GamePad, such as how far it will properly function away from the system, how long will a full battery charge last with the screen being used, can it be used for in-game voice chat (assuming yes, but never know)? Also, how much will an extra Wii U GamePad cost?
- Address the unfriendly "friend code" system. Will the Wii U console be a continuation of the 3DS, where it is one "friend code" per system? Or, will it be an account based type system tied to perhaps your Club Nintendo account, with possibly even more than one gamer account per Wii U console?
- Confirm the Wii U will maintain the Nintendo Channel functionality of the Wii, with it displaying the hours Wii U owners spend playing their games.
- I do wish that they will confirm New Super Mario Bros. Wii U has online functionality of some sort, either cooperative multiplayer through the campaign which could be incredible, or even some smaller online mode outside of the main campaign (not holding my breath on this one).
- Address things like whether Wii U games will have the "accomplishments" that some 3DS games have.
One last semi-caffeinated prediction, and going out on a limb here again, I'm predicting that Wave Race Wii U will be announced as a launch title for the system. Why? Nintendo released Wave Race for the Nintendo 64, helping display the systems graphical capabilities, and they did the same for the GameCube. Being that the Wii U is the first HD console for Nintendo, I'm just guessing they will really want to "Wow!" the gamers that love HD graphics, and I think water effects in HD are probably a great way to do it. Wave Race Wii U will have online multiplayer and leaderboards, much like the Mario Kart Wii and 3DS games.
Questions
Do any of you agree, or perhaps disagree, with my predictions and points above? Do you think my October 28th Wii U release date prediction is too early? What about Wave Race Wii U?
Is there anything that you must hear, or see, from Nintendo's Wii U conference on Thursday before you commit to buying one? Is there a price that would put the Wii U console out of your range, assuming $350 is the highest they will go?