New Wii U dev kit has video chat, multitasking, and more

According to tipsters over at the NeoGAF forums, the current Wii U dev kits have received a few more features, including video chat via the Wii U controller?s camera, voice commands, and multitasking. Thesourcecites the following additions to theWii U dev kit:

• Video chat via the built in camera in the controller
• Facial recognition software via the same camera
• Multitasking and the ability to run multiple Wii U apps at the same time, e.g. switch between playing the game and browsing the web.
• Voice commands (via the microphone in the controller)
• An achievements system plus the ability to send screenshots and game videos to friends on theNintendo Network.
• Ability to watch a friend play online (live streaming)

We can?t say that we?re surprised to hear these features ? they all sound like something that would naturally be part of a next gen console. Nintendo will likely unveil all the Wii U operating system features at E3,including variousWii U channels, like theWii U Virtual Console, the browser and internet apps, and more. We previously reported that Nintendo had shipped the final versions of the dev kit to software makers earlier this month. The newly added features were likely present there, but developers have received proper documentation and software tools only recently. Officially, they aren?t allowed to talk about the Wii U console in any form until after E3, where Nintendo is expected to lift the NDA on developers after its June 5 press conference.

Stay tuned for a lot more Wii U info. E3 is just a week away from now, and Wii U Daily has secured spots at the Nintendo press event and at main event as well, meaning we?ll be bringing you all the latest and greatest Wii U news from E3. Be sure to also followWii U Daily on Twitterand like us onFacebookto stay up to date.

Link:http://wiiudaily.com/2012/05/new-wii-u-dev-kit-has-video-chat-multitasking-and-more/

"An achievements system"

Hopefully they don't spam it on your face like PSN and Xbox LIVE does.

People can't use that "Nintendo make game consoles not wannabe computers" excuse

• Video chat via the built in camera in the controller - LOL WHO CARES
• Facial recognition software via the same camera - LOL WHO CARES
• Multitasking and the ability to run multiple Wii U apps at the same time, e.g. switch between playing the game and browsing the web. - KINDA COOL.. HOPING ITS BETTER THAN VITA ONE
• Voice commands (via the microphone in the controller) - in the controller? Ehhhhh :/
• An achievements system plus the ability to send screenshots and game videos to friends on theNintendo Network. - NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! achievement system? WHAT THE HELL!! GTFO NINTENDO!! on the plus side.. sending screenshots and game videos is VERY COOL! (only if u can store them on hdd)
• Ability to watch a friend play online (live streaming) - Pretty awesome

erazor51

Nintendo is only adding achievements and apps because people incessantly demanded it. Now that they add it, people are still going to complain.

Nintendo is only adding achievements and apps ebcause people incessantly demanded it. Now that they add it, people are still going to complain.

Sir_Torrigan

[QUOTE="Sir_Torrigan"]

Nintendo is only adding achievements and apps ebcause people incessantly demanded it. Now that they add it, people are still going to complain.

Chris_Williams

Microsoft: Introducing the XBOX ME! Now with Kinect AND giant controller for greater than ever social interaction.

• Facial recognition software via the same camera

erazor51

Do it EA

Nintendo is only adding achievements and apps because people incessantly demanded it. Now that they add it, people are still going to complain.

Sir_Torrigan

considering they have become key selling points of consoles along with gaming now, aswell as the shift towards multimedia capabilities.It would be stupid for Nintendo not to add them into the console.

People demand it because they are good things to have in addition to a box purely for gaming.

Consoles are more or less evolving into multimedia devices, its just a step of evolution that could be traced back to even the PS1 or hell the Phillips CD-I.

can you imagine the Wii U having all these features for free and people still paying $60 for XBL? This is an outrage!

Nintendo is only adding achievements and apps because people incessantly demanded it. Now that they add it, people are still going to complain.

Sir_Torrigan

[QUOTE="Sir_Torrigan"]

Nintendo is only adding achievements and apps because people incessantly demanded it. Now that they add it, people are still going to complain.

HarlockJC

Perhaps they can enlarge the club Nintendo range to Virtual Console games and morpth Achievements with it. They may ask for a survey every once and a while, but for free games? Fine by me. As long as it does not bug me when I'm trying to play.

A lot of this actually seems quite reasonable given that they have done these things in the past or have done similar things. The live streaming and achievements are the most farfetched, but even then...

YES!!! an achievement system

Hmm, the ability to watch your friends play online, live streaming?:shock:

lol, well its not the recording feature I was hoping for, but who knows, maybe it will still have it.

With the multitasking, I can see where they would want a lot of RAM for the OS alone. That would make sense.

I hope nobody skips on the RAM next gen. It's dirt cheap. I just bought 16 gigs of DDR3 1600 ram for $100. That's with consumer markups. 4 gigs of ram can't cost more than $15 for them.

Instant day one buy for me. I love the Wii and with all those features the Wii U is a must buy.

With the multitasking, I can see where they would want a lot of RAM for the OS alone. That would make sense.

I hope nobody skips on the RAM next gen. It's dirt cheap. I just bought 16 gigs of DDR3 1600 ram for $100. That's with consumer markups. 4 gigs of ram can't cost more than $15 for them.

Wasdie

You can't judge ram prices for consoles. Pc prices could be. Very different

"An achievements system"

Hopefully they don't spam it on your face like PSN and Xbox LIVE does.

ShadowDeathX

Neither service spams anything in your face....

[QUOTE="Wasdie"]

With the multitasking, I can see where they would want a lot of RAM for the OS alone. That would make sense.

I hope nobody skips on the RAM next gen. It's dirt cheap. I just bought 16 gigs of DDR3 1600 ram for $100. That's with consumer markups. 4 gigs of ram can't cost more than $15 for them.

dontshackzmii

You can't judge ram prices for consoles. Pc prices could be. Very different

With the multitasking, I can see where they would want a lot of RAM for the OS alone. That would make sense.

I hope nobody skips on the RAM next gen. It's dirt cheap. I just bought 16 gigs of DDR3 1600 ram for $100. That's with consumer markups. 4 gigs of ram can't cost more than $15 for them.

Wasdie

[QUOTE="Wasdie"]

With the multitasking, I can see where they would want a lot of RAM for the OS alone. That would make sense.

I hope nobody skips on the RAM next gen. It's dirt cheap. I just bought 16 gigs of DDR3 1600 ram for $100. That's with consumer markups. 4 gigs of ram can't cost more than $15 for them.

dontshackzmii

You can't judge ram prices for consoles. Pc prices couldbe. Very different

You can get a really good estimate.

RAM is cheap. Cellphones have more ram than video game consoles, GPUs have 4x the ram of video game consoles, hell blu-ray players have as much ram as video game consoles.

[QUOTE="dontshackzmii"]

[QUOTE="Wasdie"]

With the multitasking, I can see where they would want a lot of RAM for the OS alone. That would make sense.

I hope nobody skips on the RAM next gen. It's dirt cheap. I just bought 16 gigs of DDR3 1600 ram for $100. That's with consumer markups. 4 gigs of ram can't cost more than $15 for them.

KungfuKitten

You can't judge ram prices for consoles. Pc prices could be. Very different

Well, console hardware is built from the ground up with efficiency in production in mind. They keep the cost per unit as low as possible. This usually means cutting a lot of corners and removing certain aspects to decrease price and increase yield. The downside is that hardware suffers because of it. The hardware produced isn't going to be straight up as powerful as its PC counterparts. This is offset quite a bit by the architecture of the machine. While a PC is meant to do all general processing, a video game console is much more specific and thus has been completely tailored for that one task. This means the design of the architecture and it's API allows games to utilize the hardware in a much more efficent way. This is why we see games like Uncharted 3 and Gears 3 on 2005 hardware console hardware.

However, ram is much more straight forward. There aren't as many parts in RAM that can be stripped out like in a general CPU or GPU.

With the multitasking, I can see where they would want a lot of RAM for the OS alone. That would make sense.

I hope nobody skips on the RAM next gen. It's dirt cheap. I just bought 16 gigs of DDR3 1600 ram for $100. That's with consumer markups. 4 gigs of ram can't cost more than $15 for them.

Wasdie

[QUOTE="Wasdie"]

With the multitasking, I can see where they would want a lot of RAM for the OS alone. That would make sense.

I hope nobody skips on the RAM next gen. It's dirt cheap. I just bought 16 gigs of DDR3 1600 ram for $100. That's with consumer markups. 4 gigs of ram can't cost more than $15 for them.

Grey_Eyed_Elf

Are you saying the WiiU is rumored to cost 180? NOT gonna happen! :lol:

Wow, this is awesome!XD

[QUOTE="ShadowDeathX"]

"An achievements system"

Hopefully they don't spam it on your face like PSN and Xbox LIVE does.

GD1551

Neither service spams anything in your face....

[QUOTE="Grey_Eyed_Elf"][QUOTE="Wasdie"]

With the multitasking, I can see where they would want a lot of RAM for the OS alone. That would make sense.

I hope nobody skips on the RAM next gen. It's dirt cheap. I just bought 16 gigs of DDR3 1600 ram for $100. That's with consumer markups. 4 gigs of ram can't cost more than $15 for them.

NaveedLife

Are you saying the WiiU is rumored to cost 180? NOT gonna happen! :lol:

Nintendo, if this true, what the hell are you doing? Wii U is sounding less and less like an actual game console. I still want one, but damn, they should know better than take Sony/MS' route. The only thing I can kind of see working as a game console is achievements, but even I can live without it.

I don't get why people are complaining? Is the 3DS too much like a PC? If so then so is the Wii U.Eponique

[QUOTE="Eponique"]I don't get why people are complaining? Is the 3DS too much like a PC? If so then so is the Wii U.nintendoboy16

[QUOTE="Eponique"]I don't get why people are complaining? Is the 3DS too much like a PC? If so then so is the Wii U.nintendoboy16

What do you mean? These features seem like logical choices given the hardware.

Nintendo, if this true, what the hell are you doing? Wii U is sounding less and less like an actual game console. I still want one, but damn, they should no better than take Sony/MS' route. The only thing I can kind of see working as a game console is achievements, but even I can live without it.nintendoboy16

[QUOTE="nintendoboy16"][QUOTE="Eponique"]I don't get why people are complaining? Is the 3DS too much like a PC? If so then so is the Wii U.Eponique

-Multitasking with apps

-Facial recognition

This makes it sound less and less like a game console. True, Wii had channels where you can web surf, but they weren't the focus that deteriorates the GAME console factor (in the traditional sense) of it. Nintendo does not need to do what Sony/MS do with their consoles as it just makes them look like bandwagon jumpers.

"An achievements system"

Hopefully they don't spam it on your face like PSN and Xbox LIVE does.

ShadowDeathX

Nooooooooooooo!!

"And in the year 2013, all consoles merged into the same technology but from 3 different manufacturers. They all had kinect like features with wii motion controls and sony graphics."

[QUOTE="Sir_Torrigan"]

Nintendo is only adding achievements and apps because people incessantly demanded it. Now that they add it, people are still going to complain.

razgriz_101

considering they have become key selling points of consoles along with gaming now, aswell as the shift towards multimedia capabilities.It would be stupid for Nintendo not to add them into the console.

People demand it because they are good things to have in addition to a box purely for gaming.

Consoles are more or less evolving into multimedia devices, its just a step of evolution that could be traced back to even the PS1 or hell the Phillips CD-I.

[QUOTE="Eponique"][QUOTE="nintendoboy16"] Nintendo seems to be less and less about games and taking Sony/MS' route in the wrong sense. :(nintendoboy16

-Multitasking with apps -The 3DS already does this.

-Facial recognition -The 3DS does this too.

This makes it sound less and less like a game console. True, Wii had channels where you can web surf, but they weren't the focus that deteriorates the GAME console factor (in the traditional sense) of it. Nintendo does not need to do what Sony/MS do with their consoles as it just makes them look like bandwagon jumpers.

[QUOTE="Sir_Torrigan"]

Nintendo is only adding achievements and apps because people incessantly demanded it. Now that they add it, people are still going to complain.

HarlockJC

[QUOTE="Eponique"][QUOTE="nintendoboy16"] Nintendo seems to be less and less about games and taking Sony/MS' route in the wrong sense. :(nintendoboy16

-Multitasking with apps

-Facial recognition

This makes it sound less and less like a game console. True, Wii had channels where you can web surf, but they weren't the focus that deteriorates the GAME console factor (in the traditional sense) of it. Nintendo does not need to do what Sony/MS do with their consoles as it just makes them look like bandwagon jumpers.

The 3DS allows you to stop your game and surf the web and whatnot. It will happen on the WiiU too.

[QUOTE="nintendoboy16"]

[QUOTE="Eponique"] So which features on that list would you rather not see?Eponique

-Multitasking with apps -The 3DS already does this.

-Facial recognition -The 3DS does this too.

What, how? Where was I when this came along? Last I checked, it didn't do it.

How many games actually used the facial recognition on the 3DS? All I remember is Star Fox 64 3D's multiplayer (which still looks to be as mediocre as it did on 64) and it was rendered pointless after that.

A lot of awesome features there that will inevitability push me to buy a Wii U next gen. The live streaming would be much better if it had a text/voice chat feature allowing any amount of people to join and watch. Something akin to Twitch.tv.

[QUOTE="Eponique"][QUOTE="nintendoboy16"] Nintendo seems to be less and less about games and taking Sony/MS' route in the wrong sense. :(nintendoboy16

-Multitasking with apps

-Facial recognition

This makes it sound less and less like a game console. True, Wii had channels where you can web surf, but they weren't the focus that deteriorates the GAME console factor (in the traditional sense) of it. Nintendo does not need to do what Sony/MS do with their consoles as it just makes them look like bandwagon jumpers.