LOS ANGELES -- Regardless of what you think of it, there's no denying that Wii U was the biggest story of E3.
Nintendo's Wii console came screaming out of the gate in 2006, besting the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 with an unlikely combination of low-powered graphics (and low pricing) and revolutionary motion controllers. Nintendo has sold 95 million Wiis so far, but those sales have dropped off dramatically as those of its rivals have picked up steam. After a shaky start for the new Nintendo 3DS portable, industry watchers are looking at any new Nintendo proposals with something of a jaundiced eye.
Is Wii U's primary innovation -- a second screen embedded into the controller -- enough to inspire a hundred million people to get back on the Nintendo bandwagon? The jury's going to be out on that one for a while, at least until Nintendo actually ships the machine this Christmas. But after spending a lot of time in the Nintendo booth during last week's Electronic Entertainment Expo, we can be sure of one thing: There are some clever new ideas and some very solid-looking games lined up for Wii U's launch window.
Here are our impressions of eight major Wii U games -- and our hands-on demo of the Netflix Wii U app, which might get more use than any of these games.
Above:
Pikmin 3
What it is: Fans have been demanding a sequel to these clever GameCube games for the better part of a decade now. A simplified but challenging take on real-time strategy set in a series of tiny gardens – think the second half of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids -- the Pikmin games are unlike anything else, and the Wii U version's graphics make it look almost photorealistic.
Second screen features: While you're leading your army of tiny plant-creatures around the backyard collecting bugs and treasures, you can glance at the Wii U screen for a map. But it's actually after you're finished playing the level that the second screen becomes useful: It turns into an overhead view video of your performance, which you can rewind and fast-forward with a scroll bar, looking for areas where you can improve your time.
Is it any good? I don't know if instant replays are really going to add that much, but insofar as Nintendo hasn't actually shown off the main single-player story mode, I would be surprised if there weren't a deeper level of second-screen integration there. Really looking forward to this.
