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Digital Foundry Hands-On Report: Wii U

The overarching story is crap imo so it doesn't really matter. I liked AC 2 but could've totally done without all that present time Fringe type stuff.

Exactly. I was so glad I could skip the Desmond stuff in Revelations (haven't played his sections and never will), hopefully it's a similar case in AC3.
 
Great article, I can't wait until they get their hands on a retail unit later this year.

Also IMO all this talk about definitive versions is largely pointless since that won't be the case next year.
 
Who says these are the definitive versions?
I do. ;) You know, they might not be that for you but for me they're the definitive versions since I like the idea behind the WiiU and nothing so far shows that the ports are terrible in any way, quite the opposite. My only worry was that the graphics or framerate would suck, or lots of controller latency. But the graphics seem to be the same or better for the most part, there might even be less tearing, and no latency, a map, inventory screen is shown on the second screen, and from the sound of it they're all playable off TV too.
I bet some of the bugs and other thing people might've complained about are fixed too.

And just look at Ninja Gaiden 3, which is said to be a lazy port.

NINJA GAIDEN 3 has been reworked to bring to Wii U the truly intense, high-speed challenge and action NINJA GAIDEN fans demand. With more weapon and Ninpo types, a new character progression system, a redesigned battle system and the return of dismemberment, NINJA GAIDEN 3: Razor's Edge improves upon the original NINJA GAIDEN 3 in every way and offers Wii U exclusive features and functionalities.

Features:

Unique Wii U controls – During single-player mode, players can enjoy faster and more fluid action by using the touch screen of the Wii U GamePad controller to select weapons, execute Ninpo, see in-game information and much more.

New Weapons and Ninpo Types – Exclusive to the Wii U version, the game includes six weapon types and three Ninpo types, allowing for greater game-play variation and deeper strategy.

Character/Weapon Progression System – Using the Karma points earned during game play, a player can upgrade his weapons and Ninpo and increase the character HP level.

Faster, More Intense Battles – Improved enemy AI, the return of dismemberment, as well as new enemy types and battle areas have been added for greater variety in battles and increased replay value.

Definite version! :)
 
It's also 30fps. That's like saying NGSigma+ is the definitive version of that game.

Ninja Gaiden 3 showed minimal advantages over the existing versions of the game. The gore has been ramped up by means of decapitations, as yet unavailable on PS3 or 360, plus the increased difficulty and bundled-in DLC weapons might also tempt the series fanatic. Its GamePad functionality has less relevance to a double-dipper though, simply taking the form of lists of combos on-screen. The game runs very smoothly, with a refresh that suggests 60FPS, albeit with some slowdown when alpha-effect heavy Ninpo attacks are engaged. As such, the fights are brutal and fast, giving you no sporting chance to look down at the lists of combo strings and button presses rolling out on the small screen. It's a harmless addition that ultimately proves impractical - perhaps a little tacked on - and offers no tangible benefits over using the more familiar layout of the Wii U Pro controller.

Ahem. Its main problem is not using the gamepad enough, other than that its a very good version. (surprised at no combo with the touch screen in use mind)
 
It's only "easy" because you trivialize the difficulty of what the Wii U does

I'm not talking about the tech side of it you know, only the way in which they could implement it even though a vanilla Vita may not be able to get the feed well enough with its current network connections. Add-on for your Vita that comes with the PS4 and done.

I really doubt someone would want to buy a PS4 and then play it on the Vita screen despite dat OLED, though.
 
Ahem. Its main problem is not using the gamepad enough, other than that its a very good version. (surprised at no combo with the touch screen in use mind)
Oh, my mistake. They previously reported it was 30.

Alas, still a horrific game, but yes, in that case, this would appear to be the 'definitive' edition of it.
 
Oh, my mistake. They previously reported it was 30.

Alas, still a horrific game, but yes, in that case, this would appear to be the 'definitive' edition of it.
Yeah, their previous report was based off video feed for broadcast, so not really worth anything. They've updated the article with some mention of improved framerates from their hands on in London, like NG3 and Rayman being 60fps.
 
I do. ;) You know, they might not be that for you but for me they're the definitive versions since I like the idea behind the WiiU and nothing so far shows that the ports are terrible in any way, quite the opposite. My only worry was that the graphics or framerate would suck, or lots of controller latency. But the graphics seem to be the same or better for the most part, there might even be less tearing, and no latency, a map, inventory screen is shown on the second screen, and from the sound of it they're all playable off TV too.
I bet some of the bugs and other thing people might've complained about are fixed too.

And just look at Ninja Gaiden 3, which is said to be a lazy port.



Definite version! :)

A definitive version of a piece of shit is still a piece of shit.

The game is horrid, an insult to the series and fans of the series. It's an insult to gaming, is mere existence is a personal affront to me.

No-one, I repeat, NO-ONE should be looking forward to this. It doesn't deserve to be supported. No matter how bad the launch releases are for U, do not support this PoS.
 
what is this theory

Remember the poster Arkam? Earlier this year he was complaining about Wii U's hardware based on what he was told from others at his company working on Wii U. He was the first to say Wii U was weaker than PS360 because of the changes they had to make to their game. That was the first indication we got of the CPU issues. He also said his company would not be doing anything to optimize the game for Wii U's hardware. Here it is after E3 and Arkham City probably had the most noticeable issues. And the complaints came from someone under the username Arkam. And with the way he made it sound at the time, they were not going to be doing too extra to deal with the issues they were having.
 
It's also 30fps. That's like saying NGSigma+ is the definitive version of that game.
What's your source on that? Edit: aha a mistake
Only thing I've heard is that it was running at 60fps but with slowdown during some ninpo attacks. Might be fixed until release.
 
Yeah, their previous report was based off video feed for broadcast, so not really worth anything. They've updated the article with some mention of improved framerates from their hands on in London, like NG3 and Rayman being 60fps.

Everyone kept saying this was a valid way to identify resolution and framerate...
 
I don't know if this will change your mind, probably not, but anyway
"Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge (Wii U) – It doesn’t suck!"
http://www.2d-x.com/ninja-gaiden-3-razors-edge-wii-u-it-doesnt-suck/
To be honest, although I loved NG/B, I even thought 2 was shit, I can't imagine there is any amount of work that can be done to NG3 to get it into my good graces, but they're not aiming for me at this point.

It might well be a much more worth while title this time around though.
 
Remember the poster Arkam? Earlier this year he was complaining about Wii U's hardware based on what he was told from others at his company working on Wii U. He was the first to say Wii U was weaker than PS360 because of the changes they had to make to their game. That was the first indication we got of the CPU issues. He also said his company would be doing anything to optimize the game for Wii U's hardware. Here it is after E3 and Arkham City probably had the most noticeable issues. And the complaints came from someone under the username Arkam. And with the way he made it sound at the time, they were going to be doing too extra to deal with the issues they were having.

I think you left out "not" a few times.

Seems you're probably right though. Makes sense that he would be working on Batman. At least we have someone to hold responsible ;)
 
Remember the poster Arkam? Earlier this year he was complaining about Wii U's hardware based on what he was told from others at his company working on Wii U. He was the first to say Wii U was weaker than PS360 because of the changes they had to make to their game. That was the first indication we got of the CPU issues. He also said his company would be doing anything to optimize the game for Wii U's hardware. Here it is after E3 and Arkham City probably had the most noticeable issues. And the complaints came from someone under the username Arkam. And with the way he made it sound at the time, they were going to be doing too extra to deal with the issues they were having.

Ya know, the thought that Arkam might be working on the Wii U version of Arkham City has also crossed my mind. Well done pointing it out. The CPU throwing a monkey wrench into 3rd party efforts seems to be a recurring theme. The question I have is this: Is the VMX/VSX unit gimped or is it missing entirely?
 
Oh, my mistake. They previously reported it was 30.

Alas, still a horrific game, but yes, in that case, this would appear to be the 'definitive' edition of it.

Sadly yeah :( they always look like they could be good, but I've yet to be won around.
Just one of those franchises whose box you run away from sadly.

Someone must like it anyway. Still a good sign if that can be developed to run that strongly.
 
To be honest, although I loved NG/B, I even thought 2 was shit, I can't imagine there is any amount of work that can be done to NG3 to get it into my good graces, but they're not aiming for me at this point.

It might well be a much more worth while title this time around though.
I know what you mean, but I like Team Ninja and even though their games are seldon perfect I think they're often bringing some kind of originality worth supporting. I know I would take any Ninja Gaiden or any other fast paced action game, even DmC, over any first person shooter at this point. Except Halo 4 maybe, it actually looked good, reminded me of Metroid Prime with all the visor stuff and colorful jungle.
 
Ya know, the thought that Arkam might be working on the Wii U version of Arkham City has also crossed my mind. Well done pointing it out. The CPU throwing a monkey wrench into 3rd party efforts seems to be a recurring theme. The question I have is this: Is the VMX/VSX unit gimped or is it missing entirely?
If Nintendo indeed plans to make heavy use of GPGPU, I'd say they just keep the SIMD capable FPUs and won't include any vector units units. But the chip is asymmetric - maybe the master core has VMX and the slave cores don't or vice versa.
 
I know what you mean, but I like Team Ninja and even though their games are seldon perfect I think they're often bringing some kind of originality worth supporting. I know I would take any Ninja Gaiden or any other fast paced action game, even DmC, over any first person shooter at this point. Except Halo 4 maybe, it actually looked good, reminded me of Metroid Prime with all the visor stuff and colorful jungle.
Bayonetta was really the only character action game this generation to fulfill me. Everything is resting on Ninja Raiden at this point.
 
Remember the poster Arkam? Earlier this year he was complaining about Wii U's hardware based on what he was told from others at his company working on Wii U. He was the first to say Wii U was weaker than PS360 because of the changes they had to make to their game. That was the first indication we got of the CPU issues. He also said his company would be doing anything to optimize the game for Wii U's hardware. Here it is after E3 and Arkham City probably had the most noticeable issues. And the complaints came from someone under the username Arkam. And with the way he made it sound at the time, they were going to be doing too extra to deal with the issues they were having.

apart a "shitty porting" of Batman, in terms of general speaking about the Wii U, what would you assume from this theory?
 
AC story...you'll be fine catching up on it man, trust me.

what's this about wiimotes on the gamepad? so lost. you know what'd be awesome? if we could use that CCPro 360 thing they just showed on VC titles, id love that.

looking at Pikmin 3 and P100 at launch, maybe Mario and ZombiU, i gotta see more on them though.
 
I think you left out "not" a few times.

Seems you're probably right though. Makes sense that he would be working on Batman. At least we have someone to hold responsible ;)

Thank you. I've been leaving words out of posts more than I like. And yeah we have someone to blame.


Ya know, the thought that Arkam might be working on the Wii U version of Arkham City has also crossed my mind. Well done pointing it out. The CPU throwing a monkey wrench into 3rd party efforts seems to be a recurring theme. The question I have is this: Is the VMX/VSX unit gimped or is it missing entirely?

The GPGPU rumor combined with wsippel's idea of the CPU make a lot of sense.

apart a "shitty porting" of Batman, in terms of general speaking about the Wii U, what would you assume from this theory?

Just that we shouldn't expect too much in improvements from AC:AE
 
I think they said all Wii games can be streamed to the upad at E3 last year.
They definitely didn't say that. I'd assume nothing but maybe Virtual Console with stream to the pad. Maybe they'll allow games optionally that don't require IR pointer, but I doubt it.
 
Who says these are the definitive versions?

And you want to buy ME3 a second time, without the option of importing your Shepard? Good luck knowing what the hell is going on in the AC series by starting at the end.

Pretty sure one of the main bullet points from Ubisoft on AC3 is that it's a great starting point for new players who haven't played the previous games since it's a whole new protagonist.
 
Thanks for the grammar suggestion and sorry for the mistake!!! :)
Well, it's a pity you'll miss the events, I'll do my best to share feedbacks!

Ahah no need to be sorry mate, my grammar's fuck ups are much, much worse :)
It'll be interesting to hear what you think of the resistive touch screen's responsiveness (equal, or even better than 3DS? Good enough for me I guess), the viewing angle, black levels & light reflections on the lcd and the triggers. Maybe the feeling of the rumble motor/s as well. It sucks that not having analog triggers means I probably won't care even if a new Wave Race will get made at any point... which would be a miracle per se.
Also what's your take on the Pro Controller's sticks/buttons placement if you get to mess with that one as well.
Have fun btw

edit: if Zombie U is on there I'd love to hear if the dual analog controls are as laggy as they seemed on the dev's video or if they intend to support the pointer controls in any given fashion

Of course all the above be damned if you'd be forced to wait in line for hours just to get a glimpse of the thing :P
 
Remember the poster Arkam? Earlier this year he was complaining about Wii U's hardware based on what he was told from others at his company working on Wii U. He was the first to say Wii U was weaker than PS360 because of the changes they had to make to their game. That was the first indication we got of the CPU issues. He also said his company would not be doing anything to optimize the game for Wii U's hardware. Here it is after E3 and Arkham City probably had the most noticeable issues. And the complaints came from someone under the username Arkam. And with the way he made it sound at tthe time, they were not going to be doing too extra to deal with the issues they were having.
I doubt arkam was talking about Arkam City. Arkam City already has huge changes from the original version, with reworked textures, geometry and lighting. It's not a quick and dirty straight port that arkam was talking about his studio doing. Not to mention AC is being handled by an external studio whilst arkam made it sound like his studio was porting over their own game.

Maybe arkam is from bioware (we haven't actually seen the Wii U port of ME3 yet so who knows how its turning out) or maybe his game wasn't shown (Nintendo was only showing off launch window titles after all), who knows.
 
I doubt arkam was talking about Arkam City. Arkam City already has huge changes from the original version, with reworked textures, geometry and lighting. It's not a quick and dirty straight port that arkam was talking about his studio doing. Not to mention AC is being handled by an external studio whilst arkam made it sound like his studio was porting over there own game.

Maybe arkam is from bioware (we haven't actually seen the Wii U port of ME3 yet so who knows how its turning out) or maybe his game wasn't shown (Nintendo was only showing off launch window titles after all), who knows.

Oh it's definitely open to interpretation. That's why I labeled it a conspiracy theory. It was my take on the situation and definitely not fact.
 
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