Of the Big 3, Nintendo had the most pressure coming in to 2012’s E3. After a mixed response from gamers after the reveal of the Wii U last year, Nintendo needed to do something to shock, wow and inspire people to make the leap from Wii to Wii U. Instead, Nintendo delivered a lot of what was expected. That doesn’t mean that what Nintendo showed off was bad by any means, but there just wasn’t that magic wow moment that gamers were hoping for.
Things started out with a Shigiru Myamoto skit to help introduce the new Pikmin 3 coming to the Wii U. Myamoto, with the help of a translator explained the benefits of playing Pikmin 3 with the Wii U controller and introduced the new Rock Pikmin as well. After a lengthy Pikmin demonstration, Reggie Fils-Aime took the stage and revealed that Netflix, Hulu Plus and YouTube would all find their way to the Wii U.
He also revealed the important fact that two gamepads can be used at the same time on the Wii U, unlike last year’s statement that only one could be used at a time while all other players were going to be stuck using Wiimotes. This is probably a very smart change for Nintendo to help establish the system on its own instead of merely looking like an add-on to the Wii.
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