Nintendo Wii U : the end of Nintendo is nigh....

Much as I want to see Nintendo succeed I fear the Nintendo Wii U will be the last console hardware it produces...

The gaming verse is in flux, evolving from a still pupa to a freaking cloud surfing free butterfly , gamers everywhere set free by so much choice, so many options. For the first time in your gaming life there are more games than you can actually find time to play in your  life ( and still be classed as human) ..

Part of this evolution is the death of the old, the shedding of old gaming practices.  With the Wii U Nintendo is paying for years of failing to adapt to changes in gaming, ignoring advances, dictating to it's audience.

The love for Nintendo, has been transferred, the core gamer running to other consoles and casual gamers getting their kicks on tablets and phones  with both running to the PC and soon Windows 8 for real gaming..

The iPhone 5 some say is over priced under powered runs a closed eco system that offends many , it is currently selling out of pre orders. 


The Nintendo Wii U some say is over priced , under powered runs the oldest closed first party eco system of any video games system , it is going to fail and eventually end Nintendo as a hardware manufacturer .

The Wii U is Nintendo's Sega Dreamcast moment. The Dreamcast had one of the strongest first and third party game catalogues and a mass following and still failed. The Wii U is launching at a time where people are seriously considering that consoles including the PS3 ,360 and their distant successors are dead as a gaming platform altogether.

The Wii U has no market , not in 2012 , there are millions of iOS and Android Gamers , tens of millions if not 100s of millions of PC gamers and on none of those devices do we see Nintendo ever making a mark or holding the slightest presence. 

The sad thing about the Wii U is it will probably also be a final do not resuscitate warning for  already near death specialist game retail. And if retail thinks it will rescue itself using sales of Wii U .. well good luck with that if your livelihood depends on it. 

Solutions? Well like Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo are going to have to adapt or disappear. Except in the case of Nintendo it is too late, they have since the 80s relied on a few staple brands, a few or may be even one sole legendary games designer of note. They created and exploited the original walled garden eco system, but that model of profit making has run it's course. Just as it did for Sega, their original competition Atari and it is also doing for Sony and Microsoft and will eventually even for Apple..

What Nintendo needed to do in this day and age is simply create the most awesome tablet and forgo the console under the tv format altogether. They needed a N64 moment where at least some of their hardware was ahead of the competition. 

Or they needed to do something even more radical ...just move to the cloud and stream all their back catalogue to all their competitors devices ...

Nintendo need  to invade all the other walled gardens from a position of strength , so Nintendo software on everything from Android, iOS , to Windows 8 and the other consoles . Sega is trying this but it is doing so from a now weak position where no one gives flying Sonic or Tora Tora Tora anymore about it's games . Witness the awesome Jet Set Radio HD remake .. it will sell less than most boring apps on iOS and Android platforms.. 

The total cost of  a Wii U with the games you want, extra controllers  will easily approach or exceed that of upcoming Windows 8 tablets , iPads , Android tablets and of course present gen consoles from Sony and Microsoft.. 

There is absolutely nothing that Nintendo can bring to the table, other than sequels to first party titles, or parallel versions of last years 3rd party titles. It should be blatantly obvious that this hardware is going to fail , and that when Bowzer runs off with Peach this time .. it really will be for the last time on dedicated Nintendo hardware.. 

Oh and if you are worried about exclusives like Bayonetta 2 only appearing on Wii U , don't it will be on every console going eventually whether the Wii U succeeds or more than likely fails .. 

Nintendo must move software on other platforms , even if it is a temporary act to grab market share and penetration back from competitors. Consider what would sell more .. Pikmin 3 on Wii U , or Pikmin 3 on iOS , Android , Windows 8 ,Steam , PSN and Xbox live ..... ?  This is not unprecidented for Nintendo has release Mario and Zelda titles on completely unsuccessful rival hardware like the Philips CDi and even DOS/Windows why not unleash its presence onto succesful platforms like those I mentioned .... and save itself .. ? 

Once Nintendo is established on rival platforms it would then in be in a far better position to launch radically different hardware and migrate those users away from it's rivals to continue their Nintendo fix on Nintendo hardware. 

Right now there is simply nothing to tempt gamers away from their already too full gaming dance cards.

The indie game development market is so vibrant this is where your core and casual gamer will look for the next killer app .. and you won't be accessing those through whatever passes for Nintendos store this time with Wii U and by the time you are if you are everyone will have moved on to the next big thing any way .. 

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Nintendo Wii U :Yes Wii Can! The death of casual Nintendo & rebirth of the core

Placing my order for the Nintendo Wii U with Zombie U it dawned(!) on me ,come November the dead shall rise on Wii U and with them perhaps Nintendo after all. 

For whilst it is true Nintendo as we know it is about to croak, shedding the few casual Wii mote fans ( majority aged under 7 or over 70), a new shinier NIntendo is about to emerge.

Who is going to be responsible for this iron fisted  R-E-S-U-R-R-E-C-T-I-O-N ..Heihachi? Mario?Peach? Samus? No .. Wii will ... U will resurrect Nintendo...somebody stop me..

Nintendo is going to have a small quantum of opportunity to push it's console the old school way, using the core gamer that you know and I know already placed their pre order. The core gamer that is hooked through social media face book twitter et all that can spread kudos faster and far more effectively than underpaid nose ringed beer troll X at the local soon to be gone retail gaming store.. or the overpaid nose ringed emo chick at the soon to be gone music retail store ... enuff of my gamer girl fantasies.

If, if Nintendo push the Wii U to the core , through the core who are right now hungry for something new , if they do this they may be able to by pass all the iOS , Android , Windows 8 , PC, Sony and Microsoft hype. That core will then bring in casual gamers at a later date ... the old Nintendo two step.. 

This console release more than any will succeed on core gamer uptake , Nintendo must aim for this audience, the audience that frankly owns every gaming device going , these ..some call them walking dead .. ( or couched dead )  are the key to Nintendo's resurrection. 

The core I refer to  are not the Halo or COD generation , the core I refer to actually paid $100  for their Atari Carts back in the day, to whom Mario is as vital as Half Life 3. The real force that moves video games. Can Nintendo reach out to enough of these gamers? Well looking at the sell out status in the US for pre orders of the Wii U it is on it's way... 

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Nintendo Wii U launch survival horror dogged by review embargoes and missing system updates but there is another hope...

There are two things the Nintendo Wii U launch was supposed to nail, really had to nail, launching with a AAA third party App and embracing the social Internet, if the buzz on the web is correct, it seems to have failed on both accounts.

The Wii U launch was supposed to be different to other Nintendo launches with a host of third party killer Apps heralding the console ,marking a departure from Nintendo relying on Nintendo to make AAA product ( which happens but happens too infrequently for the big N to take on the likes of Sony and Microsoft , let alone the PC and iOS/Android platforms) 

The killer App in question is Ubisofts ZombiU , the game which thegameveda bought the Wii U for and which is generating web traffic for all the wrong reasons, firstly for the review embargo that lifts later today and also because of the alleged 4.5 out 10 Gamespot review score that is doing the rounds on you tube cunningly disguised as a call of duty video review :

The official site shows no sign of the written or video review. Fans of course and few Ubisoft employees are in an uproar .

The second issue Nintendo had to nail is rivalling Microsoft and Sony's social Internet based features , yet watching the lengthy Gametrailers Wii U love in just shows two guys talking about features still yet to be activated and updates still not ready. .. which left them to go on for over an hour about Mario and Nintendoland (the hidden costs of ) as well as doing spinning  rotation demos measuring lag from the Wii U Pad to the TV screen.. I kid U not!

Is this enough to put me off my Wii U + ZombIU pre order... no, that alleged review above is clearly by someone who chose to play at the easiest setting expecting an action game ala L4D, which Zombie U was never meant to be.  Me, I love the idea of limited ammo, slow moving characters facing off against hordes of faster moving zombies whilst fumbling manically with the contents of my limited inventory, which goes back to THE original Zombie fest Res Evil... Limited ammo is also evident in all the greatest FPS games right back to Doom through Half Life and onwards..and one of the finest survival horror game mechanics ..remember the original Dead Rising .. I do I had 5 bullets facing 100 zombies ,jumped on an escalator, used 4 rounds to clear 4 head shots saving the last one for an armed police zombie, fought another after taking him down and took his ammo to move further down the escalator taking out more zombies, using the escalator funnelled the 100 zombies in to a narrow space where I was facing only 2 at a time .. genius game design. Of course if I was chicken I could have just run past the 100 zombies and through the door on the other side of the Mall but that is not the point which is why that review above makes no sense to me . It is these slow plodding thought provoking moments I am looking for in ZombiU ... not the fast action paced chaos of the excellent Left 4 Dead Series or COD Zombie mode... 

I cannot wait to set this game on the hardest difficulty and tear up through London, trying to make it to safety, just like catching the night bus when the Tube has broken down... If I can manage that with only one (real) life ..I should be fine.. 

Gotta love the Internet and you have to respect pro reviewers working oh so hard at finishing up reviews for games they never pay for, but this is 2012 we make our own opinions they know that too which is why both the written and video review vanished soon after going live... .Zombie U is going to be a love hate game , one that I think I will confidently bet £350 of my money on to test ..check back for a real persons review from thegameveda in a few days time 

I also spoke of another hope for the Wii U ... and think about it , remember all those great Wii games you were playing with the Wii mote and nun chuck.. including FPS games , thinking how cool playing a FPS was but if only your Wii was HD like the PS3 and 360?? Well with the Wii U the greatest hope for user engagement may actually not involve the Wii Pad at all... because now you can play the likes of Call of Duty Black Ops II with the Wii mote and nun chuck ..or Far Cry 3 , or eventually Crysis 3 with the Wii mote and nun chuck and not just cheap knock offs of these franchises but the real deal  .. whilst we wait for Zelda and Metroid to turn up in a couple of years...  

So buck up Reggie things are going to go great for the Wii U ..as long as you don`t keep us waiting too long for Zelda and Metroid..

I do have an alterior motive getting a Wii U , the hdmi out will allow me to play the likes of Metroid Primes, Zeldas and all those 3D Mario games I keep forgetting the names of using my ST1080 and Cinemizer OLED hmds ... Gunpei Yokoi san would be proud of me ... watch out for the review!

Get your Wii U from Game in the UK whilst you still can...

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Nintendo Wii U : review part 1: Unboxing ,Zombi U and Super Mario U : Enough to reanimate the dead console plaftorm?

Today is Farcry 3 day, also the day I finally caught up with the latest Halo and discovered the joy of playing full Windows 8 Steam games on the Google Nexus 7 using Splashtop THD... but today is also Nintendo Wii U day for me as my very own paid for by me and not loaned to me by some non gamer PR girl Nintendo rep , Wii U Zombi U Premium Pack Limited Edition with Super Mario U arrived one day early!

The Nintendo Wii U is not the first of the next gen consoles in so much as it is a swan song to the whole idea of consoles as this casual generation of gamers knows them. It may indeed be the last console ever released by Nintendo, or to draw Mr Fils Aime to fans of the waiting in line a month in advance or hosting a chat show variety. 

That the Wii U has caused much debate ..along the lines of " Nintendo did what?" isn`t really anything to do with the choices made by Nintendo hardware designers .. the same debate will rage over the irrelevance or death of the console format when PS4 and the Nextbox 720 eventually launch.

And like those future ( distant) launches , the Nintendo Wii U is going to live or die on attracting and keeping core gamers , not casual ..

Looking at the Wii U in front of me and messing with the fiddly box ,way overcomplicated packaging and several hour long setup ..this new Nintendo Console is likely to hook the casual family gamer as Bowser is likely to kidnap Mario instead of Peach ..No all those kiddies and biddies ( 7s and 70s ) that Wii Sports and the simplicity of the Wii enthralled are not going to be drawn by this machine. They are currently messing with birds on phones , tablets and some ..enlightened ones may even have gone PC or Mac!

But Core gamer, you who have to have every star /coin/secret , you who appreciate innovation or attempts at innovation to engage your jaded gamer brain with novel forms of control and immersion in your game ..you are gonna love this machine..

For the first part of my review lets look at what you get in your heavy Zombi U Limited Edition. And you get a lot of stuff!

Here is an unboxing video I made .. you get an awful lot of stuff to connect and mess with , this is not going to sit well with Johnny Casual used to swiping apps on a phone.. In fact setting up connecting and initially starting the Wii U (before updates) is actually more involved than booting up an new pc or laptop or tablet. It is actually the equivalent of setting up a new PC ,laptop and tablet...only with more cables and fiddly packaging,,,

The gamepad : tablet and controller ..

The Wii U GamePad is  the perfect design marriage of controller cradling tablet screen , intelligent button positioning , there is a reason that X is under your right thumb stick.  Use it and you will wish someone added a control cradle like this for your Android and iOS tablet ..or Windows 8 Pro tablet!  

Great pen control  : the screen is built for this ..a completely different beast when you use the  stylus.. 

Screen : the panel is not retina display shattering but is great in terms of colour , brightness and can be viewed from fairly wide angles.

The magic : when playing mirrored games like Super Mario U I completely stopped looking at the HDTV and just played with the GamePad screen ..instinctively..In Zombi U the way the screen is used  to send out a radar ping illuminating for a second zombies heading for you makes the game for me. 

Useless touch control ..currently almost every 3rd finger touch fails to register ..this resistive one point touch screen is primitive compared to your iOS and Android screens..but remember they have useless controls for gaming! 

battery :

you are going to want to play a lot , the battery runs down very quickly in comparison to iOS and Android touch screen devices but .wait there is hope you can play with the GamePads own power cord plugged in directly to the controller ( as well as leaving it to charge in the dock) 

Charging Dock : this is great , we pay upwards of  $45 for stands and charging docks for iOS and Android tablets..the dock is great for setting your GamePad down , the best feature I discovered as stated above is  the same charge cable that powers it can also be sent straight to your GamePad charging whilst you engage in the longest of gaming sessions...and the cable is long! not like the ridiculous iOS and Android standard charge cables! 

The pro controller : comes with a charging USB cable. looks like every other console pro controller , lacks the analogue triggers ..but hey I am going to be playing FPS games in HD with the nun chuck and wii mote ..

Zombie U and Super Mario U : Ignoring the update hell I proceeded to play the games that came with my Wii U .. 

And ? Well both make the system purchase worth it for me . Zombie U is an intelligent take on real survival horror and by that I mean all the way back to when point and click adventures like the original Alone in the Dark series were the only examples. Zombie U has great tension , this is not Condemned nor is it Resident Evil (4,5 ,6 ) , nor is it Dead Rising or any of the other action orientated FPS zombi games. This is a study in creating fear and getting you to use sound and visual queues that only the Wii U with the GamePad and console working together can do at this time. Just the radar blip makes the game for me , that Ubisoft have made what olden people would class as a zombie adventure game complete with exploration , puzzles and of course survival element is great. This is the one game you really cannot play on any other system. 

Super Mario U ? Is tough ..just the right level of tough to challenge your ageing reflexes ..prepare to be shamed by your 7 year old nephew or niece you have been warned. Several minutes into playing it  I kicked back and stopped looking at the HD TV I had the Wii U connected to ... I was playing entirely using the GamePad screen and it felt so natural I left my audience of non gamers watching my antics on the big screen whilst I walked off into another room playing the game.. it is very like they gave you an handheld gaming system with your HD console ..only this one has the perfect balance of fit and control in your hands..all the thumbsticks ,triggers , button placements which look too large or strange for a device this size are actually perfect. Playing something like Super Mario U is a joy ..the Wii U GamePad is in fact a very real joypad...

Right I am off to update the system which I should have done this morning ...or Nintendo should have done before sending it to me... Iwata san ..what would Srippy  and Foxxu say?

There is a worry that for long times your Wii U will sit dormant , waiting for first party content to arrive , but you know it will so today is very much Nintendo`s day, the Wii U console really is a thank you note to all the core gamers wishing for a HD Wii.. right now casual fans there is no need for you to join in , not unless you are going through that rare metamorphosis of going core ..it happens ..rarely ..but it happens... 

Every one else is going to have a great time rescuing Peach again and dusting off all those Wii games to see how they play on the new machine. 

Nintendo need to sort the on line and updating issues out ,but coming from a PC gaming angle where motherboards , gpus and of course operating systems as well as games launch broken..these are minor teething problems.

So has Nintendo with this undead Limited Edition Wii U pack managed to reanimate the console as a gaming platform? No, no console or tablet manufacturer can do that any more , any more than the finest 8 track or vinyl player can do any more than look cool but pale into insignificance when faced with the way the  masses use the Internet , cloud and streaming to consume music . 

In the same way the console died the second video games reached the Internet , started to be  bought from the Internet and of late started to become platform agnostic..streaming and lacking installs altogether... 

Sony see this ..which is why they picked up GAIKAI,have PlayStation Plus crossing platforms , SOE plugging PC games , Microsoft seem to have lost it fleecing people for Xbox Live.....the real competition to consoles is not the iOS and Android revolution but the cloud ..and as such the PS4 and Xbox 720 are going to look just as irrelevant and anachronistic when they launch, by which time you will be streaming Crysis 5 to your phone ,playing it wearing your transparent wireless 3D display ...

So if you are in line waiting for your Wii U now, or about to receive it have fun ,rest assured you will be impressed and spare a thought for Iwata san and Regie for this indeed may be the last hardware console from Nintendo...the successor may just be part of the cloud...
 More to follow tomorrow I am playing Wii U games with HMDS ..and also some Metroid Prime Trilogy too..

UPDATE in the UK Wii U is close to sell out , the Zombie U pack is gone check the link below for more updates on stock

Wii U – Out Now!

Wii U Games -

Wii U Accessories -

and if you are lucky this weekend you could  Win Your Order – Order now for the chance to win

In the US of A some stock from the 2nd batch is still available:

Wii U 32GB Deluxe, now in-stock at GameStop.com! 

Free shipping on Nintendo Wii U console with purchase of any in-stock Wii U game. 

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Nintendo Wii U: Review part 2: If U havin` Wifi problems I feel bad for U son..

Nintendo, they say are a "games" company, if you really want to go deep they are actually a card game company that went via pachinko to video games developer famously being almost bought out and buried by then market leader the American company with a Japanese name Atari and instead becoming the latest Japanese company to succeed in taking the American market by storm, helped of course by our favourite Italian Plumber and gaming Ape...but them were the 80s there was at least one actor and or Cowboy in the Whitehouse , Sonny Crockett lived with a pet Alligator and the Wolverines were fighting Russians not North Koreans...

Nintendo though is not an Internet based or savvy company, not even remotely oriented that way .. and this shows with its console releases over the years..but Nintendo has a problem ,today's gamer is an Internet gamer and as such expects the device they are using whether phone tablet pc mac or games console to hook up with the Internet without issue the moment they enter their magic password..

And here the Nintendo Wii U fails, on receiving my console I rushed into gaming after having some wifi connection problems, thinking this was isolated to me ..but that was 4 days ago, right  now the web is full of stories of UK Wii U owners unable to connect to wifi .. the Wii U not having an Ethernet port does not help either .. so today I wasted time getting the console hooked to wifi ..something which on all other consoles, tablets and even some fridges is effortless.. 

And this to download all the promised features that Nintendo left out of the machine at launch.

Connection errors occur even when you have the correct password , ssid etc ..don`t go crazy thinking you have forgotten your password ..it is the Wii U that is at fault here ..

If you have Wifi problems there is a simple manual work around ..put out there not by Nintendo ..but a member of the public here..excuse me whilst I just try it ...and you can do so without even turning your tv or monitor on .. I just did so from the Wii U GamePad ..so even when you are solving technical issues you can continue watching Homeland on the big screen ...remember to plug in the GamePad though as the update is going to take hours.. 

Altogether this latest hiccup for the UK launch, which is even more embarrassing for Nintendo as it is a repeat of Internet connection errors first noted at the USA release almost a month  ago, is not a great advert for a new console launch from a company competing for a dwindling customer base that can do seriously better for the amount of money the Wii U + a couple of games comes to..

Over an hour and the update has not completed even though I have a 120 meg connection ..still in a few hours time I finally will be able to play Metroid Prime Trilogy on a  hmd display which I will comment on in the third part of my review ..errh latest Wii U ownership experience dissemination sermon... 

And it`s done...I got 99 problems but Wii U Wifi  ain't one...

I have to say loved the way I could do all this from the GamePad without even having to turn the tv on.. and has anyone mentioned how loud the Wii U disc drive is ? Just sayin'

All jesting aside, it is essential that Nintendo get their Internet strategy right especially in the face of stiff competition from the likes of PSN with  PlayStation Plus with instant Vita and PS3 game collections,discounts , Xbox Live which the sheep happily continue to pay for and of course PC , tablet and phone gaming.

If Nintendo give the impression that they see the Internet as something to tag on to their oh so few 1st party releases then the launch weekend may be the last good sales weekend the Wii U sees... 

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NIntendo Wii U : Review Part Tri : Playing Wii and Wii U games with a Cinemizer OLED head mounted display

Part three of my Nintendo Wii U review has me covering  Wii emulation. Whilst Wii U owners have 2 to 3 games to play around with of note, there are many Wii classics to keep us busy whilst we wait for the Triforce to return..

The  Wii U sports a HDMI out. What this means is playing using a head mounted display like the Cinemizer OLED and smd ST1080 is now possible and  should allow me to get into (as far as we can get into)  Samus Aran's helmet visor in Metroid Prime Trilogy.  Well you didn`t expect me to plug it into a tv now did you ? That's not mii thing...

You may think connecting the Wii U to most hmds is going to be quite useless as you need to look down at the GamePad .. at least you would think this would hold true for Wii U games but as no hmd is actually VR in real day to day use you can look down to a keyboard, mouse or joystick using the completely opaque Cinemizer OLED or the smd ST1080 ( which you could also look through at your GamePad..more on that next time)  

For Wii games though, where Wii are going we (!) don`t need GamePads.. just a nun chuck and what`s that thing covered in dust called again..oh a Wiimote...excuse me whilst I brush the cobwebs of my limited edition triforce wiimote and dispose of the batteries fused to its inside...

Using the Cinemizer OLED hmd to play Metroid Prime Trilogy on the Wii U 

You may have played fps games on multi monitor high res screens with surround sound, but nothing immerses you like a good hmd where you wear your display and sound, with nothing to interrupt your viewing or listening experience ..wait till you hear the wild life nattering in your ear in Metroid Prime 2  Echoes..or the familiar music kick in or the sound of the scanner doing it's job . This is as close as you will come to wearing Samus helmet ..Gunpei would proud and annoyed that Nintendo had not come up with its own hmd by now ..but that is what the Zeiss is for..

The Cinemizer benefits from OLED  benefits: black, fast refresh and colour reproduction are second to none on this hmd when playing the Metroid Prime Trilogy ..all the sparks, neons and of course black are perfect...if you want to see a rough reproduction of the colours here is a video I made in bright lamp light ..check out how deep the blacks and bright the colours are ..this can no way convey the actual experience but you should get an idea ..the iPad lens does not do the colours justice!

sound is awesome: the beautifully haunting  Metroid Prime soundscapes dance in your ears wearing the Zeiss ear buds is so comfortable you forget they are there ..you forget you are wearing ear buds at all when playing this adds greatly to the atmosphere. The sound feels like it is coming from your room or environment and you have to remind yourself you are wearing ear buds and that no one else can hear!

resolution : The Wii U sees the Cinemizer OLED as a 1080p monitor, taking seconds to set up ..theoretically you could 3d game on the Wii U if any developers out there allow us to..but back to the resolution, the display is pin sharp, no variation in colour, no bright edges just one perfect flat high res screen on which there is also no distortion of picture or sweet spot issue. Yes you are looking at a 40 inch screen at 2m ..but every pixel of that screen is perfectly in focus and perfect in OLED colour or blackness.. The Zeiss is said to have been built with the smallest pixel size available for OLED tech and it shows, you never see a jaggy (aliasing) or pixels, in game menus, the famous Metroid Prime 3D maps and in game action are all razor sharp on this display.

The Cinemizer is very strong when it comes to console gaming, the Xbox 360 and the Wii U games  that I have gotten round to testing show the Cinemizer OLED  is a display you could easily game with and replace those bulky monitors or tvs and powered by just a USB cable.. or it`s built in battery.

The Zeiss has no problem seeing either console and the consoles have no problem seeing the Zeiss as a 1080p monitor. In game you can read all the text etc , have perfect black and colour reproduction , high OLED refresh and sound that is great not because of speaker quality but because of ear bud comfort ..I never feel like I am wearing headphones or ear buds when using the Cinemizer.

Sin and Punishment successor to the skies. One of Treasure`s finest and it looks wonderful on the Wii U played using the Cinemizer OLED , razor sharp text and visuals ,but it is the sound which astounds most. This is an old school shmup at heart one that has not only an amazing soundtrack but also excellent environmental fx , when the computer voice speaks in the early stage you will swear it is coming from  your room and not the Cinemizer ear buds..this is impressive I actually had to check I did not have it connected to my external speakers, the sound scape was that realistic. Add to that the chaos of explosions, tracers , yelps and lock on sounds and you can see how just the sound from this hmd was enough to send me into the gaming zone .. And boy does this game look good running through hdmi on the Wii U ..

The Wiimote and Nunchuck provide excellent control when using a hmd, the light weight of the Cinemizer OLED and it`s comfortable fitting ( no mean feat for hmds) means you can move your head around and game without pain ..I must have clocked around 6 hours by the time I had gone through my stack of rarely played Wii games ..

Lets go back to the question of whether you can play Wii U games using the GamePad and wearing a head mounted display: And the answer is yes U can

Zombi U playing using the Cinemizer OLED .. how do U see the GamePad when you wear the hmd? Well in the same way you see and use it when you use your tv as the main Wii U display. Using the GamePad necessitates looking away from your tv for a moment , using the Cinemizer OLED I just look down at my hands holding the GamePad, as there is no light blocker on the underside I can look at and use the GamePad just as I would with my TV. You have to look away in both instances so you lose nothing by playing using the Cinemizer . 

In fact you gain much, the horror aspect of Zombi U is amplified 10 fold when you are wearing your display, the OLED display gives you a richer view of the grimy Zombie infested London than a normal hdtv would and you are so much closer to the action and the sounds that you are going to freak out when you play this, you also hear the radar pinging in your ear, when you hear that blip you will jump looking down at the GamePad to see where it came from. 

The Cinemizer OLED handles all the shade,smog , darkness and atmosphere creating sfx that Ubisoft have endowed this game with with ease. And you can read all the text, see a perfect picture from edge to edge. Now if only the game had a 3D setting. Regardless, what I found surprising was that it was quicker to look down at the GamePad fire off a radar ping or mess with my inventory and just look up at the hmd display I was wearing than looking up from the GamePad at my tv ... who knew? Just as in other FPS games playing with a hmd greatly enhances immersion. No this is not virtual reality and yes there is a smaller FOV than other hmds..but both of those things are positives when you are facing zombie hordes and you need to see where they are coming from without having to move your head around the screen and when you are playing with the Wii U GamePad and need to check it's display. 

Playing with the Cinemizer OLED actually enhances Zombie U .. 

All in all playing Wii games on the Wii U using HDMI is an enhanced experience over playing on your old Wii, one that like Wii U games can be further enhanced if you play with a head mounted display like the Cinemizer OLED. 

I have many many many Wii games still unopened which I will test with the Carl Zeiss Cinemizer OLED and the smd ST1080 hmd and will report back my findings ..as soon as I can find my other stash of Wii games.. Madworld played with a hmd...? hmmhhh

With the power of the Wii U I hope developers will include 3D gaming options and I mean U Nintendo! Can you imagine Mario , Zelda or of course F Zero, Starfox, Star Wars and of course Metroid Prime in ghost free 3D ? 

feeling brave .. don`t need to read the next part of my Zeiss Cinemizer OLED experience ? Purchase  in the UK/EU the Zeiss Cinemizer OLED 3D iPack including iPhone adapter and in the USA the Cinemizer OLED , 

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Nintendo Wii U Premium Edition + Game for £299 save £80

This side of Christmas there is a slight mark down on the Nintendo Wii U Premium + a game right now you can save £80 if you are quick get it now here whilst the deal lasts ( the next 24 hours) 

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Iwata san unleashed: Nintendo wants U! Wii is for Victory ..

Nintendo are not going to take a luke warm launch lying down, to wit they have been watching ...... watching the Miiverse and how users interact and help each other . Having an insatiably cute and delectable front man  like Iwata san helps no end which is how I explain how I found myself  glued to the screen watching Nintendo's Ichiban san (sorry Shigeru) talking over a brilliant white background about what Nintendo intendos to do to stay in business in this post console and PC gaming verse...

As a new geological era dust layer settles on on my launch day Wii U ... last used on the launch day ..I  have to wonder are they going Atari or Sega ? 

Atari is of course gone from the world of console hardware and perennially  teetering on the edge of oblivion when it comes to brand existence..

The Sega way is the way the Dreamcast came and went ... Sega too had a cute and some would say insane mascot Sega Sanshiro , they like Nintendo trumpeted their excellent machine as a hardcore gaming device with innovative but doomed to fail online features..with fine support from all the major softcos , producing some of my favorite console games of all time .For me it was a dream machine .. for Sega it was their doom.. as a hardware manufacturer.

Nintendo is not only following both these routes to oblivion, but is doing it in its own good time and fashion too. And consider other Console manufacturers failed in times of growing economies ..not in our dread retail triple dip times of recession and austerity.. Those failed console giants also had smaller markets to manage , in today's world you fail if you do not take India Brazil,China,Russia and emerging African and Middle East markets ..how much is Nintendo's gaze focused on growing it's user base in these markets where there is economic growth? Ironic really when you consider one of the most successful games for the then thriving Western and Eastern economies was developed in Russia...shame no one at Nintendo realised that Russians love their gaming too...

The launch of the Wii U has come ,gone and been shown up for the emperors new clothes show it really was. For the first time a Nintendo console launched without killer apps , no Zelda ,no real Mario of innovation,third party remakes of last gen games and a cost that makes it more expensive than many tablets,pcs and phones whilst providing considerably less use ... 

There are no AAA games for the Wii U ,there are announcements of HD remakes of Zelda ...kind of like Atari doing remakes of Space Invaders... or Sega flogging the Sonic franchise to death ...with 3D HD remakes that continue to date.. 

Didn't save either of them now did they? 

It took RARE almost 5 years to produce Goldeneye 64, today Nintendo just do not have time to wait on developers, nor do they have the pull to get third parties to create AAA games en masse and on time.. Still waiting for The Wonderful 101 ? I had to concentrate to remember the name... 

Zelda ,Mario HD or new are expected by fans they are not wonderful game changing revelations.... Nintendo seem to be hedging their bets on what most analysts consider will be their downfall. Familiarity they say breeds contempt...

All these repeat announcements of first and third party releases all of which have already slipped and none of which come as a surprise to any one even if they had been on a round trip to Mars since the NES/Famicom launched..another Mario..another Zelda ..This kind of news is fodder for paid hacks looking for copy.. but for the real gamer out there and Nintendo's bankers it is further confirmation that the big N is headed for game over just as sure as Peach will be kidnapped at the start of the next Mario game..

What is absent from Nintendo's direct contact is any real reference to how they intend to stay relevant in an ever evolving gaming culture. 

The first game a kid plays these days may be a facebook ,iOS or Android app , the numbers of childhood gamers with memories of carts and Mario for that matter is diminishing. Nintendo has no hook any more. 

This announcement has as much to do with the impending PS4 and Xbox 720 news barrage that is kicking in as I type. The Miiverse has no chance against the PC online ,xbox live read Smart glass or the evolving PlayStation Plus and PSN package.

The promise of cheap old NES and SNES classics to play on the Wii U gamepad .. for a nominal fee sounds OK , as does the promised Spring offensive ..of yet to be revealed stale sorry staple  Nintendo stars ..it sounds OK... but may do for Nintendo what rehashes of past classics did for Atari and Sega...

In a world where I type this on an iPad that is actually streaming Windows 8 from my laptop  3 stories away ,whilst watching the Nintendo speech on an Android device switching to and from and across always connected devices, where I can switch to playing a full PC game from Steam on an iOS or Android device , or a pure  Android or iOS game or App.. 1000s of choices at my finger tips ..across devices and portable , if need be wireless displayable on the big screen across from me...

In a world like this the once great Atari and Sega are memories, what place then is there for Nintendo and the other non adaptive console and PC dinosaurs? 

It is true that I look forward to most of the games announced, but Nintendo is catering for an ever diminishing core  audience which itself is just part of a larger ageing core of gamers . Gamers that  have evolving gaming habits, for Nintendo to shout from the mushroom top about releasing sequels ,remakes and delayed third party titles some of them at least two years away from release.. just doesn't wash..

I can remember a time where companies released products .in this post Apple world they seem to release CEOs ....talking about products... 

We need some radical shocks from Nintendo .. I just do not see them yet...let's hope Iwata can achieve Wiictory as he would say in the cutest of ways of course : 

check out the Nintendo Direct message here and form your own opinions... 

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