Some Little Known Facts About The Wii U

Nintendo's handling of the Wii U has been shocking. The console, which will be their flagship product for the next five years at least, launches at most in four months, and people still know pretty much nothing about the system.

Since System Wars loves proliferating misinformation about the system, I decided to clear up some facts about the Wii U. It's not going to be the PS2 of the next generation like some of us might have hoped initially, and it will probably be the next Wii more than anything, but still, there are some things it is doing right.

• The Wii U uses a proprietary Blu Ray disc format for its games. Much like the Wii, which used a proprietary DVD format that Nintendo specifically developed for the console, the Wii U uses a modified Blu Ray format. A Wii U disc holds 25 GB of data per layer, which is the exact same as a Blu Ray disc. In spite of this, however, the Wii U will not play Blu Ray or DVD movies, a decision Nintendo probably made to avoid licensing fees.
• The Wii U will be the first console to have every single one of its games release at both retail, and digital, day one. The Wii U eShop will have every single game available on it digitally from day one itself, just in case you like digital better than retail. And for those of you worried about Nintendo's DRM that ties purchases to your system, and the lack of user accounts...
• The Wii U has user accounts. Only seven years late to the party, the Wii U is the first Nintendo system that supports user accounts. All purchases, achievements, and game play time tracking will be tied directly to your user account. More importantly, there will be support for multiple user accounts per system, unlike the Wii and 3DS.
• No more Friend Codes. This of course means that there will be no more friend codes on the Wii U. Your one user account can be used to add friends, access leaderboards, track achievements, and more.
• The first system ever to have a social network integrated at the OS level. Nintendo is creating an entirely new social network for the Wii U (which it promises will later come to the 3DS too) in the hopes to recreate that feel of community gaming that existed before the rise of the internet, on the internet. Miiverse has status messages, video and screenshot sharing, messaging, user tips and help, and more. The Wii U thus becomes the first system to integrate a social network at the OS level.
• The Wii U (probably) has 1.5 GB RAM on the final retail system... and 512 MB of this is saved for the OS. In what is unprecedented, Nintendo is reportedly dedicating 512MB of its system memory to just the OS. This is probably to enable full multitasking, Miiverse, streaming to the controller, and more, all at once, but it hints at a fully featured OS for Nintendo's new system. For context, 512MB is the total RAM that Xbox 360 and PS3 have available to them. Nintendo is apparently saving that much just for OS processes.
• Your WiiWare and Virtual Console purchases will carry over to the Wii U. Nintendo has announced that all of your WiiWare and Virtual Console purchases made on the Wii will carry over to the Wii U. The exact process that will enable this is as yet unknown - it might be similar to how Nintendo managed it on the DSi and 3DS, but they might retroactively enable user accounts on the Wii.
• The Wii U will play used games. Unlike both the next Xbox and the PS4, which are rumored to block used games, the Wii U will play used and borrowed games without any restrictions or limitations.
• Free online: The Wii U will offer free online play, and basic Miiverse access. Nintendo did, however, state that it was looking into offering a PS+ kind of tiered paid service for the system.
• 3D Compatible: The Wii U supports the HDMI 1.3 output standard, which means that if it is connected to a 3DTV, it can output 3D images, if the software supports it.
• The Wii U is open: It allows for any hard drive and any SD card to be plugged into the console and used for storage via its USB slots and SD card slot. You can use any hard drive you want to with the Wii U, like the PS3.
• Media functionality. Nintendo will not allow for DVDs and Blu Rays to play on the Wii U. However, they have expanded the media functionality of the Wii U, allowing for Amazon Instant, Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Youtube. There is also allegedly an eBook marketplace in the works.
• Apparently, there will be an apps marketplace. This is one of the oldest and most persistent rumors about the system, and we haven't received confirmation about it either way, so just take it with a pinch of salt.

So yes, the Wii U might be doing a lot wrong, but there's a lot that is surprisingly progressive about it, even more so when one considers that this is all coming from Nintendo.

Sounds like a worthy console to me, if the price is right. This is apart from the usually top-notch first party titles, and hopefully improved 3rd party support.

Not gonna lie, this has gotten me much more pumped about the wii-u. No friend codes, it sounds like it could be getting really close to what PSN and Live is. I dont expect to have to pay for online, which will make live look iike a joke. I am now very excited for the Wii-U.

Day fuking one, locked and loaded. :P

So does the WiiU have a hard drive or what? If its offering all its games digital then it need something to store em on.

Not gonna lie, this has gotten me much more pumped about the wii-u. No friend codes, it sounds like it could be getting really close to what PSN and Live is. I dont expect to have to pay for online, which will make live look iike a joke. I am now very excited for the Wii-U.

Bardock47

Day fuking one, locked and loaded. :P

Bigboi500

[QUOTE="Bardock47"]

Not gonna lie, this has gotten me much more pumped about the wii-u. No friend codes, it sounds like it could be getting really close to what PSN and Live is. I dont expect to have to pay for online, which will make live look iike a joke. I am now very excited for the Wii-U.

charizard1605

Some good features in there, all I'm waiting for now is a price and a release date.

Yay, no more friend codes!! :D I hope Nintendo follows through with the WiiWare/VC transfers unlike Sony's promise to have UMD transfers to Vita. bbkkristian

So does the WiiU have a hard drive or what? If its offering all its games digital then it need something to store em on.

PCgameruk

[QUOTE="bbkkristian"]Yay, no more friend codes!! :D I hope Nintendo follows through with the WiiWare/VC transfers unlike Sony's promise to have UMD transfers to Vita. charizard1605

[QUOTE="PCgameruk"]

So does the WiiU have a hard drive or what? If its offering all its games digital then it need something to store em on.

Bigboi500

So is it absolutely confirmed that there is no friendcodes, or is it like the 3ds where there's only one per console/account?Shinobishyguy

Well they better have better options for harddrive space than8GBs of on board flash memory. Seriously not going to cut it when disc games gone digital will most probably 8-10GB and beyond. 250GB-500GB we need.

Well they better have better options for harddrive space than8GBs of on board flash memory. Seriously not going to cut it when disc games gone digital will most probably 8-10GB and beyond. 250GB-500GB we need.

Crossel777

[QUOTE="Crossel777"]

Well they better have better options for harddrive space than8GBs of on board flash memory. Seriously not going to cut it when disc games gone digital will most probably 8-10GB and beyond. 250GB-500GB we need.

charizard1605

[QUOTE="charizard1605"][QUOTE="Crossel777"]

Well they better have better options for harddrive space than8GBs of on board flash memory. Seriously not going to cut it when disc games gone digital will most probably 8-10GB and beyond. 250GB-500GB we need.

Crossel777

[QUOTE="YoshiYogurt"]Sony's horrible record and ridiculous pricing of digital games and memory cards has spooked me out of getting a PSP or Vita... Slashkice

I won't argue the memory cards, but games? They have issues there as well, but they've set a precedent for offering discounts on digital titles unlike a certain other publisher (re: Nintendo).

Sounds very good! 512mb for the OS alone sounds too much, though.

I thought we were suppose to bash the wiiu, chaz

Sounds very good! 512mb for the OS alone sounds too much, though.

PAL360

I thought we were suppose to bash the wiiu, chaz

parkurtommo

[QUOTE="parkurtommo"]

I thought we were suppose to bash the wiiu, chaz

charizard1605

[QUOTE="parkurtommo"]

I thought we were suppose to bash the wiiu, chaz

charizard1605

TBF the Japanese seem incompetent in regards to OS efficiency(ps3), or it really is demanding. MFDOOM1983

• The Wii U uses a proprietary Blu Ray disc format for its games. Much like the Wii, which used a proprietary DVD format that Nintendo specifically developed for the console, the Wii U uses a modified Blu Ray format. A Wii U disc holds 25 GB of data per layer, which is the exact same as a Blu Ray disc. In spite of this, however, the Wii U will not play Blu Ray or DVD movies, a decision Nintendo probably made to avoid licensing fees.
• The Wii U will be the first console to have every single one of its games release at both retail, and digital, day one. The Wii U eShop will have every single game available on it digitally from day one itself, just in case you like digital better than retail. And for those of you worried about Nintendo's DRM that ties purchases to your system, and the lack of user accounts...

charizard1605

If it uses Blu Ray type storage media, developers are going to be liberal with how big they make games, so how are people going download huge games.

Also this will alienate the retail community if Nintendo do day one DD and retail. It's one of the reasons MS don't push hard with their full games on XBL because retailers don't want to have to compete with them at the same time. The profit margin on each game isn't huge as it is.

Sounds like very standard stuff. Lack of RAM is disturbing though. Sushiglutton

Future proofing with 1.5GB of RAM? :P

MFDOOM1983

So yes, the Wii U might be doing a lot wrong, but there's a lot that is surprisingly progressive about it, even more so when one considers that this is all coming from Nintendo.

charizard1605

Nothing you listed but the social network thing is progressive and the social network thing hasn't even been tested by the public to see how well it works.

[QUOTE="charizard1605"]

So yes, the Wii U might be doing a lot wrong, but there's a lot that is surprisingly progressive about it, even more so when one considers that this is all coming from Nintendo.

GD1551

Nothing you listed but the social network thing is progressive and the social network thing hasn't even been tested by the public to see how well it works.

The price is the only thing that will decide wether it will do well or not.

[QUOTE="Bigboi500"]

[QUOTE="PCgameruk"]

So does the WiiU have a hard drive or what? If its offering all its games digital then it need something to store em on.

charizard1605

Sounds like a good list of features. I just wish the Wii U specs weren't so dated. Then they wouldn't have to worry about missing out on so many multi plats when PS4 and 720 arrive.

I can't wait for this console to release even though I will most likely not buy it when it launches.

You can always count on charizard to deliver the goods.

I think Wii U's going to be a good system. I think that with the Wii U Gamepad and Wiimotes, it should have the best controllers for more traditional and casual games respectively. (I will 'know' for sure once I have spent some time playing on it)

What I really want to know is:

• How much is it going to cost to buy a second gamepad?
• What does the 2013 launch window have in store?
• Is the pricing in the Wii U eShop akin to Xbox Live Games on Demand (too expensive) or Steam (frequent sales etc) ?

Only time will tell.

[QUOTE="charizard1605"][QUOTE="Bigboi500"]It's rumored to have three different sku's ranging from $249 to $349 and if that's true there might be different sized HDDs (I sure hope so).

YoshiYogurt

For some reason.... i doubt it will cost $250 Like i really doubt it..

[QUOTE="YoshiYogurt"][QUOTE="charizard1605"] I think the SKUs have nothing to do with hard drive size. I think each SKU ships with 8GB of on board flash memory. From my understanding, here's the SKU configuration: $249: Wii U console+controller $299: Wii U console+Nintendo Land $349: Wii U console:controller+Nintendo Land+Wii U Pro controllerJoedgabe

For some reason.... i doubt it will cost $250 Like i really doubt it..

I heard rumor floating around that the system has 2.5GB of memory, but there's a lot of numbers floating around about the Wii U, so it's anybody's guess. Still, the system is shaping up well. Waiting on that September 13 event...

The only reason I would get a Wii U is for No More Heroes 3.

[QUOTE="Joedgabe"]

[QUOTE="YoshiYogurt"] That seems pretty ridiculous. Here's what I hope the bundles will be... $249: Wii U console 8gbs + Nintendo Land $299: Wii U console (64gb/120gb/250gbs(SOME larger memory format, who knows what they would offer if they do offer larger memory) + Nintendo Land $349: Wii U console +more memory +Nintendo Land+Wii U Pro controllerYoshiYogurt

For some reason.... i doubt it will cost $250 Like i really doubt it..

Well i'm basing my hunch on the fact that the 3DS release price point was $250 and they had to cut the price to sell more and had to make some cuts in some people's paycheck. Now there's no way i would believe it cost almost the same to make a 3DS and a Wii-U.