Hands on with the Wii U

As Nintendo is touring Canada with the Wii U, I dropped by into their trailer on their first stop in Toronto.
In select locations, you can sign up on site for a VIP package raffle and you can win a VIP demo for you and several friends. The Wii U has similar dimensions to the Wii except it is a bit longer. I spent some time demoing Nintendo Land with the Zelda game and it looks pretty fun with the archery game they had. Other games that were there that I didn’t have time to play with when they cleared the trailer for new people were Scribblenauts Unlimited and SING.

http://youtu.be/JnrOwo0iruI

With Luigi’s Ghost Mansion, one character controls the ghost that gets to catch the other four players through the Game Pad. The other four players controls their own Mii via Wiimote and gets flashlights to shine at the ghost to kill it or to revive other players. The only time the ghost is visible is when it has a hold of someone or is running. The Wiimote will rumble when the ghost is near a player and will rumble more intensely the closer it gets. Games usually last a few minutes and is a ton of fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TMDCo9d_-E&feature=youtu.be

New Super Mario Bros U is alot like the Wii version, with the improvement of being in HD, more items and also having the option of having a player on the Game Pad that can help or hinder your game. It’s classic Mario fun stepped up a notch. Lives are shared among the four players using the Wiimote so everyone will be playing to pretty much the end of the game or until the communal lives run out.

Scribblenauts Unlimited was available to be demoed alongside SING. All the game dynamics of Scribblenauts is there and is a great sequel to be available for the Wii U with asymetrical gameplay with the second screen on the GamePad.

I had a little bit of time with the GamePad and to to my delight, it had a balanced weight and good ergonomics to it and I wasn’t overextending or felt uncomfortable while holding the GamePad. The screen was nice and crisp and also had a stylus if you wanted to use it and the buttons had a good layout to it. Overall, it’s a welcome improvement to the Wii.

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