Sunday 12 June 2011

[Update] So very quiet...

Another silent period on GamePad, what on earth have I been doing?!

For starters, I've got some awesome news to announce...and that is...

I'm going on the radio!!

Myself, and fellow Blast Processors Tom and Mike are starting our own show over on G3 Radio. We'll be on air from the 19th June @ 7pm until 9pm. We'll be chatting about new releases, general gaming news and asking for feedback from our listeners. If your online on Sunday evening, head over to http://g3-radio.net, click Listen and enjoy! G3 Radio have shows on air most evenings, I recommend checking them out!

Not only that, but I've also been doing a spot of writing for another website. Once it's published I'll let you all know!

I've also been trying to keep up to date with all the new news coming out of E3 this past week. I've written a piece about the new Kinect compatible titles here on BlastProcess.com. Some exciting stuff on its way, not just for Kinect users, but for gamers in general!

What about that new Nintendo console huh? The Wii U. Tom posted his thoughts the other day, so I thought I'd share some thoughts here.

Nintendo are the kings of innovation. Everyone dismissed the Wii as they thought the idea of a motion controlled console with none-HD graphics wouldn't do very well. It went on to outsell everything. And its not just the Wii which has been a successful innovation for the company...you also have the 3DS (in fact, the handheld market in general) and even the FX chip on the SNES, amongst other things (apart from the Virtual Boy, concept great...execution not so great).


My initial reaction to the controller for the Wii U was at first...shock... Are they seriously considering using a tablet as a controller? As the conference rolled on though, I soon started to see the potential this thing actual has. While it would be easy to use the screen in a gimmicky/last minute addition to a videogame here's hoping that developers will instead embrace the touch screen and give it a worthwhile function. For example, I was listening to the latest IGN UK podcast and one of the guys mentioned that the Detective Mode in the Batman games would work great with the Wii U controller. Instead of pressing a button and switching to detective mode, you could instead lift your controller up to the TV and see everything in that mode. Cool stuff!

Even Nintendo themselves have acknowledged though, that the manner in which they announced the console left some people rather confused...me included. Were they announced a new console? Or just a new controller? Everything about it made you think it was purely an add-on for the current Wii, apart from the tech video demos and the video of incoming new titles which could not have looked like that running on the Wii's tech specs.
It is in fact a new console that's on its way, but at the moment Nintendo are staying tight lipped on what the new machine can do. Considering the fact that by the time the Wii U hits stores we'll probably be hearing more and more rumours about a new Playstation and Xbox makes it understandable that they'd want to keep the consoles current specifications close to their chest for as long as possible.

What we have to remember is that the Wii U is still very much in the design stage. While the controller had playable tech demos it had no actual playable games that were in development for it. By the looks of the shiny Zelda video they showed off, it looks as though Nintendo are joining the HD era, although again this hasn't been officially confirmed.

I'm liking some of the ideas behind the controller. I hope it doesn't feel as heavy and as awkward as it looks. Feedback from folks who got their paws on the controller seem to have enjoyed it. Having Batman Arkham City, Assassins Creed Revelations and possibly even Battlefield 3 coming to a Nintendo console finally puts Nintendo back into the 'hardcore' gaming console arena.

Whether or not gamers will enjoy using its controller to play said games however...well...we'll have to wait and see.

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