Nintendo E3 conference was so bad. Two days ago, I wondered how Steve Jobs would have done it. And here is the result.
I don't own a blog, otherwise I would have linked to it. Hope the mods will let me host it here
Enjoy the read!
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Welcome everyone.
This is a day Ive been looking forward to for two years. Every once in a while, a unique product comes along and changes everything. And Nintendo has been well, first of all, ones very fortunate if you get to work on just one of these in your career.
Nintendos been very fortunate. Its been able to introduce a few of these.
In 2004, we introduced the Nintendo DS. It didnt just change Nintendo, it changed the whole gaming industry. With the first mass market touchscreen interface, DS allowed people from 4 to 77 to play videogames. The result? DS sold more than any console ever released.
In 2006, we introduced the Nintendo Wii and we brought motion gaming to the world. To this day, Nintendo sold 96 millions wii consoles, 30% more than our closest rival. We sold 200 millions wiimotes. Over 250 millions miis avatars have been created. Wii Sports is the most played party game in the history of videogames, with an estimated billion of people who played it at a friends, a family gathering or a public place.
Well, today, were introducing three incredible products of this class.
The first one is a GamePad merging touchscreen, motion and classic controls.
The second is a game changing tablet, opening a new window into game worlds
And the third is a new HD console with a built in social network
So, three things, a GamePad, merging the best innovations ever created by Nintendo; a game changing dual screen set up; and a breakthrough new social console.
An ultimate GamePad, a dual screen set up, and a social console. These are not three separate products, this is one product, and we are calling it Wii U.
Today, Nintendo is going to reinvent the videogame market again.
Now, you know, one of the pioneers of the IT industry, Alan Kay, has had a lot of great quotes throughout the years. And I ran across one of them recently that explains how we look at this. Explains why we go about doing things the way we do, cause we love software. And heres the quote: People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware. You know, Alan said this 30 years ago, and this is how we feel about it. And so were bringing software to a dual screen console like its never been done before. Its five years ahead of anything on the market.
The second thing were doing is were learning from the Wii, and the wiimotes.
You know, were gonna ship our 100 millionth Wii this year, and thats a lot of 10s of millions of people that know how to use a wiimote.
Right?
So you just take a wiimote in hand, and you know how to play.
Youre gonna do the same thing with Wii U. It recognizes the wiimote you already have at home. Day one, when you get the Wii U, youll be able to play multiplayer games with your wiimotes. The system will also be backwards compatible with your Wii games, and other peripherals such as your balance board.
Third thing I wanna talk about is design. Let me introduce you with the Wii U system. Its a bit bigger than our previous Wii console. And its much, much more powerful. Its the first Nintendo HD console ever. The Wii U console can stream beautiful graphics on both your HDTV and the Wii U GamePad. This is what GamePad looks like.
Weve designed something wonderful for your hand, just wonderful.
Its the perfect fusion of the best Nintendo controllers of these last 25 years. Touchscreen. Motion. Classic controls. Its got everything, engineered in the most elegant way.
Lets start with the 6.2 inch resistive touchscreen. Its really big. You can use it to write notes on a virtual keyboard, draw paintings, browse the web, watch TV. Well have tons of apps and informations here at your fingertips.
And of course you will use the touchscreen in games. All kinds of games. So, lets go ahead and have a look. Here is Rayman Legends, a gorgeous Wii U exclusive. As you can see Im using the touchscreen to play Rayman with my friend John whos standing next to me. John will use a wiimote. With the touchscreen on the GamePad, Im performing totally different actions than him. See that? Its like having 2 games in one. This is what we call asymmetric gameplay. Its a groundbreaking innovation that will make people from all horizons want to play together. With Wii U control options, core gamers will be able to enjoy challenging games with more casual gamers, that mainly play on smartphones or tablets. If you have young brothers, cousins; if you are a father with young kids. You can now play your favorite games with them. Its a fantastic social experience. Actually, this is how we envision videogames.
Now what I wanna do is show you the GamePad can work in parallel with 4 other wiimotes or classic controllers. Up to 5 players can play together on Wii U. Lets see how it works. Here, you can see me play a fantastic launch title, New Super Mario Bros U with 4 people. Im using the tablet to help my friends or make their game harder. Look at this, it's seamless. By design, Wii U offers the most ambitious set up on the market for local multiplayer. Asymmetric gameplay, 5 players supported, ability to reuse your wiimotes. Its the new console king to host family and party games.
So now, the touchscreen will also be used in single player games, in the most creative ways. Lets have a look at Zombi U from Ubisoft, a fantastic game making great use of Wii U unique features. See how the action displayed on the GamePad is different than what happens on the TV? Here you can see me scan the surroundings. Hey here comes a Zombi! Hats of to Ubisoft, the way they designed this game with the dual screen set up, its very, very clever. Adds a great level of tension compared to a single screen experience.
DS and 3DS owners know it already, having a second screen is much appreciated to display a map or an inventory. It can be used to add more command options. Or select tactics in a sports game. It enhances gameplay. It also gets rid of annoying things, such as the need to pause the game to make certain selections. Also, why clutter the TV screen with HUD informations when you can display it on the GamePad? Developpers will have endless possibilities to take advantage of this additional screen. Youll see plenty of fresh, new ideas applied in Wii U launch games on the show floor. And weve only scratched the surface.
Now, weve also got some stuff you cant see. The GamePad has a built-in 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope, same technologies that equip your Motion+ Wiimotes. Here you can see me move inside a scene in a software called Panorama View. See how I move to point the GamePad above head height, down at the ground, swiveling on the spot to see behind? It gives a full insight into the happenings of the video. The change in perspective is realistic, as if actually being there at the time and simply turning around. This is made possible with the sensors. This offers developers tremendous opportunities to make you feel immersed in the games. Imagine using it in a game with a cockpit view, or underwater for scuba diving. Isnt that great? Yeah.
Then we have speakers built in the GamePad. Wii U offers a 5.1 surround sound, but we thought it would be even better if you could also get additional audio information, right from the controller you hold in your hand. So we made it. GamePad has stereo speakers. By the way, GamePad can be used as a standalone screen in some games. Lets say you want to play a game while someone in your room wants to watch TV. No problem. Here I am playing Trine 2 Directors cut right from the GamePad, while the TV is displaying a football game. The GamePad streams content from our new Wii U console. Its not magic. Its an exclusive Nintendo technology that is completely lag free under a decent distance. Lag free. This is the real deal. Not the pale copy some of our competitors try to push with inevitable, game breaking lag. To come back and close on the sound topic, weve got a headset jack, all your headphones fit right in. John can watch his football game, while I play on the GamePad with my headphone in perfect conditions. Isnt that cool?
There, we have a microphone and a front-facing camera. Lets launch a video chat with my friend Mike. Hi Mike, how are you? See, holding the camera in my hand helps me have my face displayed in full screen, and not as a tiny element at a distance. It looks great. I can have the video chat displayed on the GamePad, and keep doing other things on the TV screen. Very useful. Wii U will be equiped with a stand, so that you can lay the GamePad on your table. Having the microphone in the GamePad, so close to the mouth will benefit voice commands recognition in future games. Nintendo is the first console manufacturer to include a camera as a standard in all consoles we will sell. Each household with a Wii U will be able to videochat with their friends who also have a Wii U. Very easy to use, very cool.
Next, buttons. Let me say few words about buttons. Its an interesting topic and I will be frank with you. No matter how successful we were with the Wii, we lost some 3rd party support and we lost wome gamers, because the wiimote could not play all games designed around a complete set of buttons. You couldnt play all your favorite games the way you were used to. So we heard you, we wanted to build the best controller ever, and Im pleased to say the GamePad offers dual clickable analog sticks, 4 face buttons, L/R bumper buttons and ZL/ZR trigger buttons. We also have a fantastic D-pad. And a stylus. And rumble. Our controller can handle any game configuration you can think of, and then some.
You cant see it but we have bluetooth support. Its very useful. For instance, WiiFit U will include a pedometer, that will communicate with the GamePad via bluetooth, so that you can transfer your walking information. Its a great motivational tool. How do I do this? Well I dont need to power on the TV, launch the console and boot the WiiFit game. Studies we ran showed some of our consumers stopped using their balance board, because it was not enough convenient compared to their traditional balance. We solved this issue with WiiFit U. I can now simply grab the GamePad, touch the WiFitU icon, and thats it. Its that simple. Im now ready to measure my weight or transfer pedometer informations. Very, very easy. As WiiFit U tracks weight evolution for all family members, we think you now have the most useful and practical way to reuse your balance board.
Last but not least, the GamePad supports NFC, near field communication. This is a new technology with lots of potential. This is a forward thinking move to include it in the GamePad, and you will learn more about it in the near future.
With all these embedded technologies, GamePad remains incredibly light. Its lighter than most tablets out there, at about 500 grams. Its pretty unbelievable, and I think when you have a chance to get your hand on it, youll agree, we have reinvented the controller.
So, now, lets take a look at the built in social network as part of Wii U.
Nintendo has had some great success with online, such as in Mario Kart Wii.
We reckon we also had room for improvement. We felt we were late with what our competitors offered, and so we brainstormed on how we could close this gap.
You know, thinking out of the box is what Nintendo excels at, this is why our company is 100 years old. And so, instead of hastily copying our competitor online structures, we took our time, we observed market trends. And today, we think weve got a winner. We are building a whole new online console paradigm. And so its my pleasure to introduce you Miiverse, a pretty spectacular idea.
In a nutshell, Mii-verse is a key component in our online offering, it is a way to be social and to discover things online. You can certainly do multiplayer online, but we're really focusing on community and sharing and discovery because that's something that's new and unique and fun, we think, that Nintendo's uniquely qualified to bring.
MiiVerse is short for Mii Universe. As with our last Nintendo hardware releases, youll create your Mii when you first boot up the console, a newly high-definition representation of yourself on screen. Here is where things get interesting: from the home page, the place in which you select which game youd like to play, Mii characters of people using that game will appear gathered underneath. If you struggle, you simply open the home menu, open the chat area of the game which youre playing and youll see help and advice made by other people stuck in the same location. Within seconds you can go from playing a single player game to playing a game with the help of strangers.
When Miiverse is integrated into your gameplay, new breakthroughs happen. Gamers can talk about their overall progress and even challenge each other as they play.
For the first time in gaming history, the massively multiplayer is going to be a key part of any gaming experience.
Mii-verse will work across every game, including those without online components of any kind. Developpers can put the MiiVerse in their games. Let me who you an example of how it works. Here on the screen, you can see how we use it in New Super Mario Bros U. Not only will you be able to see what others are saying but youll also be able to connect right within the game.
Wouldnt it be great if you were able to call up and interact with this Nintendo console service on your smartphone or tablet? Well weve got it. Somebody away from the game - stuck on the other side of the country bored on a train can use 3DS, PC, or any web-enabled mobile device, to aid your progress without needing to be at the console.
So we are building our own social network and we think this is a pretty big deal.
Now, I wanna take a minute and highlight another fantastic social feature.
We see Wii U as a family device, and so it will support multiple user accounts on the same console. There's actually twelve different accounts you can have on any one piece of hardware. So when you grab the GamePad, first thing you do is you login with your mii. From this moment youll have an experience thats tailor made for you, with different games featured, different friends, or your own message box.
You will love this, you will be able to exchange drawings and messages with your relatives in your home, with your friends in a dorm... Its a great communication tool.
In addition to making Wii U a formidable gaming machine, the Gamepad also presents opportunities for you to make it part of your daily life. The controller has TV remote capabilities. You can power on your TV, change channel, switch to Wii U, all from your GamePad. Isnt that awesome? And the size of the GamePad screen gives it great multimedia potential. It will make it apart of your living rooms, even when the Wii U is off.
In addition to Netflix, the console's streaming video options will include Hulu Plus, YouTube and Amazon Video, that will take advantage of the integrated second-screen experience. Nintendo is all about user experience, and we are building something incredible. We want people to reach for their GamePad before their TV, before their iPad. With the Wii U, our ultimate goal is that this might be the most looked-at screen in the house, the screen on the GamePad itself. Thats our goal.
About digital content, you saw we take it very seriously with our Miiverse mobile strategy. Our goal is that, in the future, you will be able to purchase games found in the Miiverse from that smartphone or tablet device and, by the time you arrive home, that game will already have arrived on your Wii U system through SpotPass. For the Wii U hardware system, from the beginning, we've planned to make it possible for people to release their games as either an optical disc or as digital content... There are no technical restrictions.
Let me show you one of these titles, its called Trined 2 : Directors Cut, and you will be able to download it from our digital store at launch. Its absolutely gorgeous. Director's Cut features the "developers' vision of Trine 2 fully formed, including the original game with numerous enhancements, such as the new party mode, Magic Mayhem. Magic Mayhem was designed specifically for Wii U and creates a more challenging atmosphere for the existing multiplayer mode.
As you can see, I can play it only on the controller with the TV off. Its so easy, so easy to start a game right from the GamePad. No need to power on your TV. Just grab your GamePad and youre ready to play. All the 2D games you saw today will benefit from this feature. Titles developped around a dual screen set up will still require the TV to be on, for obvious reason.
Now Trine 2 is not the only Directors cut game that will come out on Wii U. We are very pleased to announce Ninja Gaiden 3, Batman AC and Mass Effect 3 Director Cuts editions will be available at launch. These are enhanced versions of the games some of you have played already. Most of you missed these though, and now is the perfect time to discover it on Wii U.
Ubisoft is using the GamePad in Assassins Creed 3, which looks incredible on Wii U. Look at this video. This is the first time Assassin's Creed appears on a Nintendo console, and we are very happy with that.
Ubisoft will also release 3 party games at launch: Just Dance 4, Rabbids Land and Sports Connections. All these will play like no other previous games, thanks to the GamePad.
We have 27 launch games on the show floor and we wont have time to cover them all during this conference. On top of these, many more Nintendo, western and japanese 3rd party titles will be unveiled between this summer and this fall.
Here is one game coming from Japan I can show you. Its called Project P-100 and its amazing. Project P-100's the debut Wii U offering from Platinum Games, and it's the latest title from master action director Hideki Kamiya. The touchscreen gets a real workout. Unite attacks are triggered by sketching a shape on the Wii U's touchscreen. Draw a circle, and you'll turn your heroes into a giant red fist. Draw a line, and they'll come together to form a gleaming blue sword. The whole thing feels as precise as you might hope. It took just fifteen seconds of the ten-minute demo I played to fall in love with what Platinum's created.
I don't own a blog, otherwise I would have linked to it. Hope the mods will let me host it here
Enjoy the read!
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
Welcome everyone.
This is a day Ive been looking forward to for two years. Every once in a while, a unique product comes along and changes everything. And Nintendo has been well, first of all, ones very fortunate if you get to work on just one of these in your career.
Nintendos been very fortunate. Its been able to introduce a few of these.
In 2004, we introduced the Nintendo DS. It didnt just change Nintendo, it changed the whole gaming industry. With the first mass market touchscreen interface, DS allowed people from 4 to 77 to play videogames. The result? DS sold more than any console ever released.
In 2006, we introduced the Nintendo Wii and we brought motion gaming to the world. To this day, Nintendo sold 96 millions wii consoles, 30% more than our closest rival. We sold 200 millions wiimotes. Over 250 millions miis avatars have been created. Wii Sports is the most played party game in the history of videogames, with an estimated billion of people who played it at a friends, a family gathering or a public place.
Well, today, were introducing three incredible products of this class.
The first one is a GamePad merging touchscreen, motion and classic controls.
The second is a game changing tablet, opening a new window into game worlds
And the third is a new HD console with a built in social network
So, three things, a GamePad, merging the best innovations ever created by Nintendo; a game changing dual screen set up; and a breakthrough new social console.
An ultimate GamePad, a dual screen set up, and a social console. These are not three separate products, this is one product, and we are calling it Wii U.
Today, Nintendo is going to reinvent the videogame market again.
Now, you know, one of the pioneers of the IT industry, Alan Kay, has had a lot of great quotes throughout the years. And I ran across one of them recently that explains how we look at this. Explains why we go about doing things the way we do, cause we love software. And heres the quote: People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware. You know, Alan said this 30 years ago, and this is how we feel about it. And so were bringing software to a dual screen console like its never been done before. Its five years ahead of anything on the market.
The second thing were doing is were learning from the Wii, and the wiimotes.
You know, were gonna ship our 100 millionth Wii this year, and thats a lot of 10s of millions of people that know how to use a wiimote.
Right?
So you just take a wiimote in hand, and you know how to play.
Youre gonna do the same thing with Wii U. It recognizes the wiimote you already have at home. Day one, when you get the Wii U, youll be able to play multiplayer games with your wiimotes. The system will also be backwards compatible with your Wii games, and other peripherals such as your balance board.
Third thing I wanna talk about is design. Let me introduce you with the Wii U system. Its a bit bigger than our previous Wii console. And its much, much more powerful. Its the first Nintendo HD console ever. The Wii U console can stream beautiful graphics on both your HDTV and the Wii U GamePad. This is what GamePad looks like.
Weve designed something wonderful for your hand, just wonderful.
Its the perfect fusion of the best Nintendo controllers of these last 25 years. Touchscreen. Motion. Classic controls. Its got everything, engineered in the most elegant way.
Lets start with the 6.2 inch resistive touchscreen. Its really big. You can use it to write notes on a virtual keyboard, draw paintings, browse the web, watch TV. Well have tons of apps and informations here at your fingertips.
And of course you will use the touchscreen in games. All kinds of games. So, lets go ahead and have a look. Here is Rayman Legends, a gorgeous Wii U exclusive. As you can see Im using the touchscreen to play Rayman with my friend John whos standing next to me. John will use a wiimote. With the touchscreen on the GamePad, Im performing totally different actions than him. See that? Its like having 2 games in one. This is what we call asymmetric gameplay. Its a groundbreaking innovation that will make people from all horizons want to play together. With Wii U control options, core gamers will be able to enjoy challenging games with more casual gamers, that mainly play on smartphones or tablets. If you have young brothers, cousins; if you are a father with young kids. You can now play your favorite games with them. Its a fantastic social experience. Actually, this is how we envision videogames.
Now what I wanna do is show you the GamePad can work in parallel with 4 other wiimotes or classic controllers. Up to 5 players can play together on Wii U. Lets see how it works. Here, you can see me play a fantastic launch title, New Super Mario Bros U with 4 people. Im using the tablet to help my friends or make their game harder. Look at this, it's seamless. By design, Wii U offers the most ambitious set up on the market for local multiplayer. Asymmetric gameplay, 5 players supported, ability to reuse your wiimotes. Its the new console king to host family and party games.
So now, the touchscreen will also be used in single player games, in the most creative ways. Lets have a look at Zombi U from Ubisoft, a fantastic game making great use of Wii U unique features. See how the action displayed on the GamePad is different than what happens on the TV? Here you can see me scan the surroundings. Hey here comes a Zombi! Hats of to Ubisoft, the way they designed this game with the dual screen set up, its very, very clever. Adds a great level of tension compared to a single screen experience.
DS and 3DS owners know it already, having a second screen is much appreciated to display a map or an inventory. It can be used to add more command options. Or select tactics in a sports game. It enhances gameplay. It also gets rid of annoying things, such as the need to pause the game to make certain selections. Also, why clutter the TV screen with HUD informations when you can display it on the GamePad? Developpers will have endless possibilities to take advantage of this additional screen. Youll see plenty of fresh, new ideas applied in Wii U launch games on the show floor. And weve only scratched the surface.
Now, weve also got some stuff you cant see. The GamePad has a built-in 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope, same technologies that equip your Motion+ Wiimotes. Here you can see me move inside a scene in a software called Panorama View. See how I move to point the GamePad above head height, down at the ground, swiveling on the spot to see behind? It gives a full insight into the happenings of the video. The change in perspective is realistic, as if actually being there at the time and simply turning around. This is made possible with the sensors. This offers developers tremendous opportunities to make you feel immersed in the games. Imagine using it in a game with a cockpit view, or underwater for scuba diving. Isnt that great? Yeah.
Then we have speakers built in the GamePad. Wii U offers a 5.1 surround sound, but we thought it would be even better if you could also get additional audio information, right from the controller you hold in your hand. So we made it. GamePad has stereo speakers. By the way, GamePad can be used as a standalone screen in some games. Lets say you want to play a game while someone in your room wants to watch TV. No problem. Here I am playing Trine 2 Directors cut right from the GamePad, while the TV is displaying a football game. The GamePad streams content from our new Wii U console. Its not magic. Its an exclusive Nintendo technology that is completely lag free under a decent distance. Lag free. This is the real deal. Not the pale copy some of our competitors try to push with inevitable, game breaking lag. To come back and close on the sound topic, weve got a headset jack, all your headphones fit right in. John can watch his football game, while I play on the GamePad with my headphone in perfect conditions. Isnt that cool?
There, we have a microphone and a front-facing camera. Lets launch a video chat with my friend Mike. Hi Mike, how are you? See, holding the camera in my hand helps me have my face displayed in full screen, and not as a tiny element at a distance. It looks great. I can have the video chat displayed on the GamePad, and keep doing other things on the TV screen. Very useful. Wii U will be equiped with a stand, so that you can lay the GamePad on your table. Having the microphone in the GamePad, so close to the mouth will benefit voice commands recognition in future games. Nintendo is the first console manufacturer to include a camera as a standard in all consoles we will sell. Each household with a Wii U will be able to videochat with their friends who also have a Wii U. Very easy to use, very cool.
Next, buttons. Let me say few words about buttons. Its an interesting topic and I will be frank with you. No matter how successful we were with the Wii, we lost some 3rd party support and we lost wome gamers, because the wiimote could not play all games designed around a complete set of buttons. You couldnt play all your favorite games the way you were used to. So we heard you, we wanted to build the best controller ever, and Im pleased to say the GamePad offers dual clickable analog sticks, 4 face buttons, L/R bumper buttons and ZL/ZR trigger buttons. We also have a fantastic D-pad. And a stylus. And rumble. Our controller can handle any game configuration you can think of, and then some.
You cant see it but we have bluetooth support. Its very useful. For instance, WiiFit U will include a pedometer, that will communicate with the GamePad via bluetooth, so that you can transfer your walking information. Its a great motivational tool. How do I do this? Well I dont need to power on the TV, launch the console and boot the WiiFit game. Studies we ran showed some of our consumers stopped using their balance board, because it was not enough convenient compared to their traditional balance. We solved this issue with WiiFit U. I can now simply grab the GamePad, touch the WiFitU icon, and thats it. Its that simple. Im now ready to measure my weight or transfer pedometer informations. Very, very easy. As WiiFit U tracks weight evolution for all family members, we think you now have the most useful and practical way to reuse your balance board.
Last but not least, the GamePad supports NFC, near field communication. This is a new technology with lots of potential. This is a forward thinking move to include it in the GamePad, and you will learn more about it in the near future.
With all these embedded technologies, GamePad remains incredibly light. Its lighter than most tablets out there, at about 500 grams. Its pretty unbelievable, and I think when you have a chance to get your hand on it, youll agree, we have reinvented the controller.
So, now, lets take a look at the built in social network as part of Wii U.
Nintendo has had some great success with online, such as in Mario Kart Wii.
We reckon we also had room for improvement. We felt we were late with what our competitors offered, and so we brainstormed on how we could close this gap.
You know, thinking out of the box is what Nintendo excels at, this is why our company is 100 years old. And so, instead of hastily copying our competitor online structures, we took our time, we observed market trends. And today, we think weve got a winner. We are building a whole new online console paradigm. And so its my pleasure to introduce you Miiverse, a pretty spectacular idea.
In a nutshell, Mii-verse is a key component in our online offering, it is a way to be social and to discover things online. You can certainly do multiplayer online, but we're really focusing on community and sharing and discovery because that's something that's new and unique and fun, we think, that Nintendo's uniquely qualified to bring.
MiiVerse is short for Mii Universe. As with our last Nintendo hardware releases, youll create your Mii when you first boot up the console, a newly high-definition representation of yourself on screen. Here is where things get interesting: from the home page, the place in which you select which game youd like to play, Mii characters of people using that game will appear gathered underneath. If you struggle, you simply open the home menu, open the chat area of the game which youre playing and youll see help and advice made by other people stuck in the same location. Within seconds you can go from playing a single player game to playing a game with the help of strangers.
When Miiverse is integrated into your gameplay, new breakthroughs happen. Gamers can talk about their overall progress and even challenge each other as they play.
For the first time in gaming history, the massively multiplayer is going to be a key part of any gaming experience.
Mii-verse will work across every game, including those without online components of any kind. Developpers can put the MiiVerse in their games. Let me who you an example of how it works. Here on the screen, you can see how we use it in New Super Mario Bros U. Not only will you be able to see what others are saying but youll also be able to connect right within the game.
Wouldnt it be great if you were able to call up and interact with this Nintendo console service on your smartphone or tablet? Well weve got it. Somebody away from the game - stuck on the other side of the country bored on a train can use 3DS, PC, or any web-enabled mobile device, to aid your progress without needing to be at the console.
So we are building our own social network and we think this is a pretty big deal.
Now, I wanna take a minute and highlight another fantastic social feature.
We see Wii U as a family device, and so it will support multiple user accounts on the same console. There's actually twelve different accounts you can have on any one piece of hardware. So when you grab the GamePad, first thing you do is you login with your mii. From this moment youll have an experience thats tailor made for you, with different games featured, different friends, or your own message box.
You will love this, you will be able to exchange drawings and messages with your relatives in your home, with your friends in a dorm... Its a great communication tool.
In addition to making Wii U a formidable gaming machine, the Gamepad also presents opportunities for you to make it part of your daily life. The controller has TV remote capabilities. You can power on your TV, change channel, switch to Wii U, all from your GamePad. Isnt that awesome? And the size of the GamePad screen gives it great multimedia potential. It will make it apart of your living rooms, even when the Wii U is off.
In addition to Netflix, the console's streaming video options will include Hulu Plus, YouTube and Amazon Video, that will take advantage of the integrated second-screen experience. Nintendo is all about user experience, and we are building something incredible. We want people to reach for their GamePad before their TV, before their iPad. With the Wii U, our ultimate goal is that this might be the most looked-at screen in the house, the screen on the GamePad itself. Thats our goal.
About digital content, you saw we take it very seriously with our Miiverse mobile strategy. Our goal is that, in the future, you will be able to purchase games found in the Miiverse from that smartphone or tablet device and, by the time you arrive home, that game will already have arrived on your Wii U system through SpotPass. For the Wii U hardware system, from the beginning, we've planned to make it possible for people to release their games as either an optical disc or as digital content... There are no technical restrictions.
Let me show you one of these titles, its called Trined 2 : Directors Cut, and you will be able to download it from our digital store at launch. Its absolutely gorgeous. Director's Cut features the "developers' vision of Trine 2 fully formed, including the original game with numerous enhancements, such as the new party mode, Magic Mayhem. Magic Mayhem was designed specifically for Wii U and creates a more challenging atmosphere for the existing multiplayer mode.
As you can see, I can play it only on the controller with the TV off. Its so easy, so easy to start a game right from the GamePad. No need to power on your TV. Just grab your GamePad and youre ready to play. All the 2D games you saw today will benefit from this feature. Titles developped around a dual screen set up will still require the TV to be on, for obvious reason.
Now Trine 2 is not the only Directors cut game that will come out on Wii U. We are very pleased to announce Ninja Gaiden 3, Batman AC and Mass Effect 3 Director Cuts editions will be available at launch. These are enhanced versions of the games some of you have played already. Most of you missed these though, and now is the perfect time to discover it on Wii U.
Ubisoft is using the GamePad in Assassins Creed 3, which looks incredible on Wii U. Look at this video. This is the first time Assassin's Creed appears on a Nintendo console, and we are very happy with that.
Ubisoft will also release 3 party games at launch: Just Dance 4, Rabbids Land and Sports Connections. All these will play like no other previous games, thanks to the GamePad.
We have 27 launch games on the show floor and we wont have time to cover them all during this conference. On top of these, many more Nintendo, western and japanese 3rd party titles will be unveiled between this summer and this fall.
Here is one game coming from Japan I can show you. Its called Project P-100 and its amazing. Project P-100's the debut Wii U offering from Platinum Games, and it's the latest title from master action director Hideki Kamiya. The touchscreen gets a real workout. Unite attacks are triggered by sketching a shape on the Wii U's touchscreen. Draw a circle, and you'll turn your heroes into a giant red fist. Draw a line, and they'll come together to form a gleaming blue sword. The whole thing feels as precise as you might hope. It took just fifteen seconds of the ten-minute demo I played to fall in love with what Platinum's created.