So, got here 4 hours early. The event is in an old abandoned building that use to be a bar. I took a peek inside. Oddly no one was really there watching the wii U's. I took a few pics. It looks pretty nice. I got hungry and decided to go across the street and get food. Will come back in a second.

How does everything look so far?
Is it going to be as good as the Wii?
And is the controller really useful?

Yeah, what's you opinion on the controller? Is it rather large to play with or do you think it might just take some getting used to?

Event hasn't started yet, they are still setting up. I got to look around through the doors a bit... All the displays are powered by a dell computer??? But as far as the WiiUs and Gamepads. They look a lot different than the pictures. Can't get my hands on on yet but the WiiU looks a bit rounder and smaller than a wii and the pad looks a bit flat from where I am at.

1hour to go. Lots of people starting to arrive.

Ok, I'm in and registered. Turns out only about 100 invites were sent out.

That's about what you expected right? But I take it there's multiple places where they do similar events? Anyhow, reading your impressions will be the first thing tomorrow. So be sure to collect as much info as you can.

Oh and uhm...have fun /yes/

Won a Super Mario U compatetion. Got a shy guy figure. Any ways the pad is comfortable, and the clarity is very clear and surprisingly crisp. I've seen ninja gadin, zombiU, super Mario, raymam, and Nintendo land so far. Will talk about each more in a bit.

Ok. One thing not really liking about the WiiU pad, if you have small hands the (l)/(lz) and (r)/(rz) buttons are a bit difficult to move your pointer fingers between. It's a bit of a streatch. Other than that just holding it is comfy along with all the other controls. And there was a ninja star game which worked really well.

Game demos here:

Ninja gaiden, wario, pikmin3, ZombiU wiifitunintendoland, a dancing and a singing game, raymam, project f-100, super Mario u.

Just spoke with the Nintendo rep running the event. Really nice guy. Talked about Monster Hunter and the forums. Also about different games released here in the west.

So the controller isn't very ideal for younger players?
I didn't see that coming. Would of thought Nintendo would have had the whole family in mind.
Also,
A Dancing and singing game you say? Did you play Dcj?
Do we get to see pictures of you getting your groove on? xD

Other people said they were fine with the l/r lz/rz buttons, but to me they just seemed a bit if a streatch.

And no, I did not sing and dance. Any ways I am now at home and able to get my thoughts together a bit better.

----------------------------------------

I will post pictures tomorrow but will go through just about everything from start to finish.

There were a total of about 100 people there all registered (a few tried to get in early but the security escorted them out) I arrived a bit to early which was nice because it actually allowed me to talk with the staff as they arrived. The security (only 2) did several events throughout the state for many of the electronics companies to include Nintendo, microsoft, dell and more. They were quite knowledgeable in the games and systems themselves. The staff were each assigned to an individual game or area and were trained on that games controls (but I will come back to that.)

Once everyone was allowed in, you presented your ID and were given a WiiU bage that had a chip in it that accessed several booths (these boothse were powered by dell computers hooked up to the Internet) which would take your pictures or ask you survey questions. The pictures were then sent to your email or registered Facebook page.

After everyone was registered they had everyone wait and a big announcement was made to introduce the WiiU and it's games. We were then lead into another room where we were allowed to walk around and play the demo games and participate in challenges or various games.

First impressions of the WiiU it's self:

Very small and slick looking, really not much to it and they had it enclosed in plexiglass so it couldn't really be looked at.

Controll pad:

Easy and comfortable to hold. The control sticks, d-pad, and buttons were all easy to reach and get to and mover from one to another. Using just the lz/rz as triggers were comfortable as well, however, having to move my index fingers or use index and middle fingers on both l/r and lz/rz buttons at the same time seemed a bit uncomfortable for me. Other people seemed to be fine with this. For me the difference in depth of the buttons seemed odd though.

The screen:

I was amazed at how clear and crisp the screen on the pad was. In fact it looked better than the TV's that were being used. (later on I discovered as well as the Nintendo reps that the TV's were set at 720p and not 1080p, so the HD graphics they could have been showing were a bit less.) The responsiveness of the screens were also very good, I saw no lag on any of the games I played and no mater which way I held the pad the WiiU picked it up just fine.

Accessories:

The wiiU had all its on wiimotes and classic controller pros but can use all the current wii ones.

Games:

Many of the games they had on display emphasized multiplayer with only a few single player ones. But I'll go through all of the ones I played.

ZombiU single player: this has been talked about a lot so I'll keep it short. It takes a bit of getting use to but in the short 4.5 minutes u lived it was fun and I can see it being a very competitive game especially once they get the achievement system set up.

ZombiU multiplayer (local): they didn't know (or couldn't tell if there would be online). In local multiplayer the main player is the surviver and does a capture the flag type checkpoint game and survives as long as they can. They use the Wiimote. The second player uses the Gamepad and is the "zombie king" and plays out the game almost like an RTS game trying to stop the surviver from reaching the checkpoints. They have different types of zombies at their control and use the game pad to order them around. (it had to be one of the best multiplayer concepts I'd ever seen in a survival horror game.)

Ninja Gaiden: the graphics were nice but other than using the pad as a regular controller I'm not sure if it did anything. Out of all the NG games I have played though I would have to say it had some of the most complicated and .... Hectic? Action going on all at the same time. Not neccesaraly a bad thing just a lot to try and figure out in a short demo. You had to hold the lr button while typing the x button to do a super combo and aiming with the left stick and then doing other button combinations.... And .... Yea, so I asked the guy at the booth what the story behind the game was. He stood there and looked at me confused, after about a minute he said that it was a demo and they were not told if the game would have a story.... I moved on to the next game.

Rayman: the Gamepads screen was beautiful. The game was two player. One played the helper and one was rayman. The game looked great but was hard to figure out (again short learning time), the helper (let's just say the helper almost always uses the Gamepad) apparently knocks stuff down and injures enemys to make it easier for raymon to get through the level.

Mario: I had a lot of fun on this. Mario rims through the level, the helper adds blocks and can stop some enemies. Simple and your basic Mario.

Nintendo land: a collection of mini games from "EVERTHING NINTENDO". The games ranged from 1, 3, and 5 players. I played a ninja throwing star game. I was amazed at how acurate the game was without the need of a bar or anything. It was also speed sensitive so the faster you threw a star the more damage it did.

Pikmin 3: didn't get much time with it but was impressed how many people stood in like to play it. It was bright and colorful and if I was able to just sit down at he and enjoy it I think I would.

3DSxl: they had several red ones on display. They seemed lighter in hand than my 3DS and were very easy to look at with the 3D on. I saw no pixles while playing new super Mario bros 2 and was impressed with the system over all. It was much easier to hold and use for me.

Announcements. They still do not have a set price or release date for the WiiU but plan on having something soon. I talked with the Nintendo rep who was actually over the event and we talked about MH, releases and many different things while sitting on a couch just relaxing. Apparently lots of the Nintendo people (here anyways) aren't sure who decides how or why things are being released the way they are. But anyways. The staff was all friendly. My overall impression of the system is that it is focused on community/multiplayer networking and will offer a lot of features features. No information on its 3DS connectivity.

Most of the information I already knew, the local multiplayer ZombiU was new and the actual feel for the Gamepad is now more clear. The stick placement which was a concern at first now seems completely fine and in a great place while the trigger buttons now seem uncomfortable to me. Go figure. But overall a possitive impression.


I may have forgotten something so please ask.

That's awesome. Thanks for the info.

Looks like field reporter Dcj got quite busy.
Looking forward to pictures!
Disappointed that ZombiU's local multiplayer doesn't have two person survival. Possibly, if there is an online multiplayer, there could be two person+ survival. Along with a bunch of other modes?

Takemikazuchi wrote:

Looks like field reporter Dcj got quite busy.
Looking forward to pictures!
Disappointed that ZombiU's local multiplayer doesn't have two person survival. Possibly, if there is an online multiplayer, there could be two person+ survival. Along with a bunch of other modes?

I'm with you there, I'll be extremely disappointed if there is no local two player survival in the release of the game. Might just turn me off altogether from buying the game if I get a Wii U.

From the way the "demos" looked there could easily be a lot more options. And just about every game there was multiplayer or made to be used with groups at home or online. Also don't forget Nintendo did say the wiiU will support to pads. So, it is likely that ZombiU will have multiplayer survival as a local option with two pads connected and if it does not have online I will be surprise considering all the emphasis on multiplayer the show had.

ok, here are a few pictures... Not the best quality since we couldn't use a flash, the lighting was low and there was a lot of movement... but at least it's something...


So far most WiiU events have been hosted in old abandoned buildings hidden in the far back corners of the city....

Spoiler:

All the regular people (the ones signing you in showing off games) were locals who were hired or worke for nintendo in state. Only the event organizer and host were actually from nintendos main branch as far as I could tell but for the most part everyone was well informed.

Spoiler:

Encased in plexiglass where you couldn't really see it that well the WiiU it's self actually looks a bit smalled than the wii but overall it is more rounded and IMO more pleasing to look at.

Spoiler:

The big hype is the controller though... It is probably larger than the system but still fits nicely in the hands..

Spoiler:

A dancing game with a WiiU girl beside it... I did not dance but I watched...

Spoiler:

Can't see him to well but the guy to the left (Danny) is the Wii Rep hosting the WiiU Experiance all over the US... The Girl to the right is Also Danni...

Spoiler:

Nintendo Land... Which was the featured game (of course) turned out to be quite fun... This gives you also a little idea of how many were there and the lighting... Like most game shows they keep it low so you look at the games and not the hardware so not too much is given away.

Spoiler:

And lastly.... They did have a few 3DSxl's on display at the event.. (this was not one of them) I had thought about getting one and seeing them at the WiiU event convinced me.... so here's mine....

Spoiler:

Well, that should be about all..... Any questions?

Thanks for the pictures Dcj and giving us a little bit of the experience!
Dat Transformers 3DSxl ;_; so many wants

Oh,
Did I only just noticed now that the controllers have a wire connected to them? Are they not wireless? Or was this just for the event? Or do you think they'll be released without the wire? >,>

The wires were for security only.