Nintendo Network Confirmed For Wii U and 3DS!
Nintendo Wii’s friend code approach to on the web multiplayer in games like Mario Kart has been a massive let down. It doesn’t give us the ability to make a pals list or even see what games our close friends are playing. Thankfully, it looks like Nintendo is lastly catching up with Xbox Live and PSN, as Satoru Iwata confirmed the infrastructure is currently in spot for a new “Nintendo Network” in the course of a current investor presentation.
“Unlike Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, which has been focused upon particular functionalities and ideas, we are aiming to establish a platform exactly where a variety of services available by way of the network for our buyers shall be connected through Nintendo Network service so that the business can make complete proposals to customers,” said Iwata.
The new service, which will be available for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, will permit “competition and communication” between players and will also act as a source for paid DLC. On the Wii U players will also be able to develop a number of user accounts on a single console.
Wii U Has Built In NFC Functionality
The Nintendo Wii U was reported final night to have built in communications technology that could lead to substantial applications.
Studying the ins and outs of the Nintendo Network and the reveal of a new 2D Mario game on the 3DS had been the main bits of data thrown about after final nights Nintendo investors meeting. However, there was a lot more news going about than just these intriguing tidbits! Nintendo president Satoru Iwata also detailed the Wii U’s built in communication technology and what it could possibly be utilized for with the console.
Far more and much more data keeps coming on the Wii U
Iwata had this to say on the built in NFC technologies:
Xenoblade Now Set For North American Release
After months of long petitioning, Nintendo finally confirmed that they will be finally releasing Monolith Soft’s latest Wii role-playing game Xenoblade Chronicles in the North America continent.
Released on June 10, 2011 in Japan, Xenoblade Chronicles wasn’t shown in this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo as ”Nintendo of America wouldn’t let them (Nintendo of Europe) because they didn’t want to show products they aren’t planning to sell.” Following Nintendo of Europe’s claim, fans of the games in IGN’s Nintendo Wii forums initiated their campaign “Operation Rainfall” with Xenoblade Chronicles as one of the three games demanded to be released in North America along with the other RPG games The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower.
Nintendo of America on their Facebook today finally responded by initially uploading images of characters from Xenoblade and now confirming that the critically acclaimed game will be arriving on Apr. 2012. The North American version will be ESRB rated T and will feature the same interface text and voices as the European-localized version of the game.
Make sure to check out the confirmation trailer here!
Nintendo Wii: Mario Party 9 For Wii Coming In March?
The GameStop listing that revealed Xenoblade Chronicles coming to the United States also lists the long-awaited Mario Party 9 for a March release. We already know the Xenoblade Chronicles listing was legitimate so hopefully this means we will all get our Mario Party fix this March.
Nintendo Wii U: These Wii U Specifications Are Extremely Similar To Xbox 360
Wii U publication Wii U Daily is reporting that the specifications behind Wii U are extremely similar to those found in the Xbox 360. The publication claims it obtained the information from a Japanese developer who is currently working on porting a PlayStation 3 game to the Wii U. Nintendo themselves have yet to confirm Wii U specifications.
- Quad Core, 3 GHz PowerPC-based 45nm CPU, very similar to the Xbox 360 chip.
- 768 MB of DRAM “embedded” with the CPU, and shared between CPU and GPU
- Unknown, 40nm ATI-based GPU
Nintendo Wii: Nintendo Of America Basically Confirm That Xenoblade Chronicles Is Coming To The US
Nintendo of America has posted a number of Xenoblade Chronicles images on its official Facebook page which basically confirms that the company is going to release the game in North America after all. To further back up this claim I posted a GameStop listing for Xenoblade Chronicles which is due for release April 3rd 2012. Great news for the US.
Tip: Christopher Heartnet
Nintendo Wii U: Nintendo Says Expect ‘Big Things’ From Zelda On Wii U
Famed Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma has told Nintendo Power that gamers should expect big things from the next iteration of the Zelda franchise which will be on Wii U. Aonuma obviously wouldn’t go into too much detail but he did say that the next Zelda will challenge the series conventions. What would you like to see featured in Zelda Wii U?
“Skyward Sword is a title where we took aim at all the conventions of the Zelda series. While that may have been difficult, I think that confronting those challenges resulted in something that has a great deal of value. When it comes to Wii U, we’ll obviously want to add new elements that take advantage of the capabilities of the platform. I think using that as a lens through which we once again challenge the conventions of Zelda is more important than just making another Zelda game. With that in mind, please expect big things from the Zelda series to come!”
