Oh Wii U

Yes Wii Can

Exciting news this morning emerging out of the house that Mario built. The Wii U, Nintendo's successor to the Wii, has been announced as arriving November 18th. Users can pick from one of two SKUs (Stock Keeping Unit, retail speak for something that has more than one version) the first costing $300 for a plain white version with 8GB of memory for storage, and the second, a $350 deluxe black version featuring 32GB of memory that comes with the software NintendoLand, a variety of games set within some of Nintendo's hottest properties, like Metroid and The Legend of Zelda, designed to show off how the new tablet controller's functionality (like Wii Sports on the Wii). The release date comes as no surprise, as Nintendo's last two system launches (of the GameCube and the Wii) were also in November, but the variety of SKUs is new to Nintendo. Typically, they launch one model, then follow up that model with later renditions. Having options is a good thing. Nintendo must be taking pages out of Microsoft's playbook, and I'm not just talking about the controller.

While not strictly related to RPGs, the Wii U will be sure to feature at least some RPGs during its lifetime. It's a safe bet that we will see Nintendo produce titles for their Paper Mario and Fire Emblem series. While the Wii only had a handful of RPGs in its library, some of those were critically acclaimed (The Last Story, Xenoblade Chronicles) and hopefully the developers did well enough that they will develop new games for Nintendo's next platform. I only played about 30 minutes of each (I know; I'm sorry), but since the Wii U will be backwards compatible with Wii games and Wii remotes, you (and me) can always play the older titles while waiting on some hot new ones. The Wii U already has at least one confirmed blockbuster RPG to be in the works for it, I'm talking, of course, about Mass Effect 3, although it remains to be seen if it can differentiate itself enough from the Xbox360/PC/PS3 version as to warrant a second purchase by people that already played it. And for those that haven't already, do they really want to play the third part in a trilogy without playing the first two? Imagine seeing Return of the Jedi without first seeing A New Hope or The Empire Strikes Back.

The first thing every fan of Kung Pow! Enter the Fist thought upon hearing the name of Nintendo's new console.

What's in a Name?

It seems like only yesterday the internet was ablaze with people ridiculing Nintendo for naming their console Wii. But there's only so many genitalia and scatological jokes one can make before the humor wears thin, and the item becomes just its name, no connotations attached. What people don't seem to remember is that Nintendo gets ridiculed just about every time they release something. Motion controls? Who wants that? Everybody, as it turned out. 'Two screens? What a gimmick!' some critics said. Yet people bought DSs in droves. Even the name 'DS' was made fun of, as was its predecessor, the GameBoy. None of those silly names stopped those devices from selling a boatload. Names for electronic devices being ridiculed is not something exclusive to Nintendo, though. I remember when Apple first announced the iPad, and it seemed the flow of tampon jokes would never stop. (Yeah, I went there). Now the damn things are ubiquitous, and no one cares one iota what they're called. So, too, will the name Wii U someday soon come to mean that, just the device, and nothing else.

Unless you follow video games news as voraciously as me, you might not even have seen a Wii U yet, so I present to you in all its glory, the Nintendo Wii U.

Must..resist..urge..to...joke...

And here's a video of NintendoLand.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/sawZZVrlsSo