Wow. You have to have a membership to get demos? Snide from Microsoft.

and what about 2nd defender press?

Rb/R1 like on FIFA12 isn't it? It's not homing-missile effective now, they close the player down, but you've got to switch to them to make a tackle now rather than just holding it down and watching them molest the player with the ball.

I see the marketing genius' at Nintendo are at it again. The Wii U is going to cost £220+ for the basic version apparently and will come with only one of the stupid lap pad things. If you want to buy another? £100+ for that thankyou sir. Games that support 2 controllers at launch? Zero. How ridiculous is that? Wii was supposedly all about fun and togetherness and everyone playing together. What happened to that idea? Why has the wand and motion sensor idea that was so lavishly praised by Nintendo's fans been dropped altogether now?

The Wii U 'Christmas - sold out' panic is now in full swing with tons of news stories spreading the panic that unless you pre-order today the world will end.

Either, they've done the typical 110% cynical Nintendo thing and are lying about supply to stimulate demand or their marketing men are just incredible. The console is utter rubbish, it's barely caught up with the 360/PS3 but is hamstrung but it's awful controller, awful online system and lack of third party games. It's basically what the Wii should have been when it was released and yet there are people out there willing to pay £200+ for it? £200+ for a single player only console that is no better than 6/7 year old consoles most households already own? How on earth do they sell that so successfully?

I'm with you in that it looks destined to fail, but I think you have things a little mixed up.

The wiiwands, wiifit balance board and all the other peripherals that were utilised with the original wii will all carry over to the new console. Wiiwands are not being done away with now, and indeed all wii u games will be playable with them. The new controller with the screen is essentially an upgrade, providing new features that are otherwise only acessible via in game menus.
I think the demos at E3 used arkham asylum as an example, with the controller screen used for quick access to the inventory and also some gimmicky batarang feature.

I guess certain games will need the new controller to work properly, such as that zombie game, but that is why the console comes bundled with one. I agree it's dumb that you only get one and that no games currently are designed for two or more, but I guess in time that will change.

I just think Nintendo are a little confused with regards to their target demographic. On one hand they're paying for exclusivity rights on games like Bayonetta 2, which will most likely be a hard-as-nails action game, and then in the next breath they are banging on about some casual nintendoland family party game. It's just all confused to me.

I guess time will tell, Nintendo have been around for such a long time, I guess they must know what they are doing by now so who am I to criticise?

Ah okay, that makes sense. They've not done a very good job at getting the message across then. I've watched three or four presentations about the Wii U and never seen anything used apart from the lap pad thing.

I don't think it is destined to fail. Nintendo is one of those companies, like Apple, that could release an abacus as their new product, call it revolutionary and people would stampede to buy it by the million. The release timing is great, at least a full year before Xbox and Playstation make their next move. There will be millions of parents sat wondering what to get little Johnny as he's had his Xbox/Playstation for 3/4/5/6/7 years. If they can compete with the ipad/tablet advertising over the next couple of months they could clean up.

So, if I buy a Wii U, what do I get in the basic package?

I've not got a Wii or anything Nintendo, so what would I have to buy in order to get the best from it? Are we looking at £300+ investment here without any games or what?

Basic package with no games is £259ish I think. That includes one lap pad controller type thing, so you would need to buy either the new premium controller for £50 (A cheap looking copy of the Xbox controller) or an old Wii wand thing for £20 if you wanted to play it with more than 1 player. So you are looking at £279 with no games.

Obviously I think some retailers will be bundling in the games for a similar price or maybe a bit more. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a few cheap Nintendo made shovel-ware games thrown in by most retailers.

I am quite intrigued to see how the lap pad thing plays. It looks horrific as a controller in the demos they've shown off so far. Some very interesting uses of the screen on the pad though, but I'm not convinced any of them are actually any use once you get past the novelty factor.

I'm just praying the advertising tsuami that's no doubt about to hit doesn't sweep up my kids.

But then again, looking at it now, the basic package doesn't seem to include a sensor bar?

I'm confused. Can one of the Nintendo fans clear this up perhaps?

Am I right in saying the new lap pad thing has to be plugged in? Or is it wireless and you have to charge it?

Yep, no sensor bar included. So if you don't have one already from owning a Wii it's going to cost you extra.
Also pretty sure the controllers are wireless, not sure if Nintendo have finally caught up with today's technology and done away with batteries though.

Wii-U is another toy, like the Wii.

Gimmicky crap for fans of Mario. Nothing more.

I have just read on another forum that the new 'pad' costs more than the console? i.e. If the console with a pad is £200 with the pad price included, the pads sell individually for £130, leaving just £70 for everything else. Obviously, I've just made those figures up as the person mentioning it was speaking in dollars, but if it's true that's so crud from Nintendo.

I've really not looked into the Wii U, I'm going to give it a proper good look this week to see what the score is with it, but it sounds like an even bigger crime against gaming than the Wii.

Not surprising really. The wiiU console is old tech now, basically a 360.
The pad is a tablet with a hd screen, you can play any game with the TV turned off by wirelessly streaming the game through the screen on the pad without any delays.

A year possibly a bit more late i know, but Deus Ex Human Revolution is a must-play, particularly if you like your Metal Gear/Splinter Cell type of games.

I played that for about half an hour and found it too boring. Give me a game like God of War or Darksiders over a game like that.

Something for the Xcom fans among us..Two new games www.xcom.com/enemyunknown/ www.xenonauts.com/

Something for the Xcom fans among us..Two new games www.xcom.com/enemyunknown/ www.xenonauts.com/

Does anyone know if there is an age restriction on EA Sports Season Ticket? Can't find any mention of it on any of the websites. Yet my son (aged 11) can't find it to buy on his XBOX. He plays FIFA12 and is allowed to buy packs for Ultimate Team, which is what he wants the Season Ticket for to get free packs plus discounts for FIFA13.

Anyone know?

I think it used to be 13 to be honest. I've set my kids up with adult accounts and trust them to behave appropriately (They've been warned) simply because of things like this. They are tons of games without age restrictions that have age restrictions built into them, which destroy the functionality.

The way to test it is to see if his account can play online with his Ultimate Team or not.

Anyone use a wireless connection for XBL? I'm moving and I think I'm going to have to revert to using a wireless connection but having always had a wired connection I just wondered how reliable wireless is.

Yes, as I said he has being playing Ultimate Team fine with FIFA12 and FIFA11 before that. But as you say, maybe there is a restriction on the Season Ticket.

We use wireless with our XBOX and it works fine. You may have to fiddle with a few router settings though if you have any problems. If you do, just search online and you'll find guidance on what to do.

The setup was easy enough for mine. I don't have the official wireless adaptor from microsoft as I found one cheaper in Argos, but you just clip it into the back of your xbox and search for wireless connections and it's then no different to connecting with a laptop for the first time. It came with full instructions on how to change the settings if needed as well.

I see the reviews are starting to come in for this years football games. FIFA13's are stellar of course, every one I've read is a 9/9.5 sort of score, with a Metacritic score of 91 currently. PES 13 has surprised me, reviewing a level or two down on most sites, usually around an 8/8.5 but getting an equal score from a couple for a Metacritic score of 83 so far.

Does that include reviews from IGN whom EA pay and do favours for in return for good reviews? (They gave Mass Effect 3 a 10, for example).