 "No universal achievements system on Wii U")
As the release of Nintendo’s next-gen console - the Wii U - draws ever closer, more information about the console is being revealed. According to Eurogamer, the Wii U will only allow 12 user accounts per console. The user accounts are tied to game saves, settings, browser bookmarks and play history. Along with this, Nintendo has revealed that eShop purchases can be played by any users on the same system, unlike on the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 where you have to be signed in to the user account you used to purchase the game.
Nintendo has also announced that a new Nintendo Network ID will be required to use online functions such as video chat. This is a big shift away from the cumbersome Friend Codes system of the Nintendo Wii and the DS. A statement provided to Eurogamer reads, “Friend Codes will indeed not be used on Wii U. Players can use alphanumeric characters to create their Nintendo Network ID, this is not an automatically generated number.”
No system-wide achievements
According to developers, the system will also not have a system-wide achievement system like the one present on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. This can come as quite a shock as achievements have become a standard on all platforms, with even PC games having achievements from Microsoft’s Games for Windows Live and Valve’s Steam.
“There are no Wii U accomplishments that are system wide,” 5th Cell co-founder Jeremiah Slaczka revealed on NeoGAF. “Scribblenauts Unlimited loosely has them in the form of ‘Global shards’ a giant check list of global things to spawn and do in the game that aren’t area specific.”
Earlier this month, Nintendo had announced a promotional offer that is designed to boost game downloads for the Wii U. Nintendo will give you roughly ten percent of the game’s price as points. If you buy a game that costs $59.99, such as New Super Mario Bros., you would get roughly 599 points. For every 500 points, you gain $5 in credit to use on your next purchase of a Wii U title. The promotion will only last till the end of 2014 when the points of your purchases will stop accumulating.
Nintendo seems to be really focusing on the touchscreen on its controller for the console. Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo hopes that the Wii U’s innovative GamePad controller with the screen will help the console be different from what Microsoft or Sony would be doing, and hopes to change the way people think about a gaming console.
With the Wii U, Nintendo promises that it won’t miss out on multiplatform games, because the hardware will be much closer to what Sony and Microsoft will have to offer. “We have not successfully kept the momentum of the Wii for about the last two years because third-party publishers have released a smaller number of game titles and Nintendo has also decreased new games for the platform in preparation for the launch of the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U,” said Iwata at an annual meeting with shareholders.
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