Topic: Pikmin Wii U Confirmed to Come to E3 2012

[Patchkid15]

Our tiny friends may have skipped a generation, but now we know for sure they are coming back.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/29834

Pikmin for Wii U will be at E3 this year, according to both Shigeru Miyamoto and a Nintendo representative.

Earlier today we reported that Nintendo will be revealing a new Wii U Mario game at E3 this year. In an interview with the Spanish journal El Mundo, Miyamoto explained that the next Pikmin game will be at E3. 

Kotaku followed up with a Nintendo representative who said "In a recent interview, Mr. Miyamoto confirmed that a new Pikmin game will be shown at the E3 Expo in June. He believes that anyone who has played Pikmin games in the past will enjoy playing."

The next iteration of Pikmin was already known to be coming to Wii U, but when it would be showing up was always a little up in the air. With an appearance at E3 2012 and its many years of development it is likely that the games launch will come around the launch of the Wii U. 

[Pixelated Pixies]

Finally!

[GoldenPhoenix]

The game better be amazing, it has been in development long enough. I remember people predicting it would be shown at E3 the last 2 or 3 E3s.

[Mop it up]

Now, give us Pikmin 2 on Wii leading up to the Wii U launch, and I'll be happy.

[TJ Spyke]

Didn't Miyamoto say this lat year too?

[Ian Sane]

This is easily my most wanted Nintendo sequel.  Though while I'm excited I am also incredibly nervous.  When Pikmin 2 came out I had a lot of confidence in Nintendo so at that point I was like "Pikmin 3?  Sign me up!"  Now I don't have so much confidence in Nintendo.  So instead of "oh yeah!" I'm just thinking "just don't **** this up!"  That must be how Sega fans react to game announcements.

It will be awesome if Nintendo allows it to be.  They can always hit a homerun if they try, you just never know whether or not Nintendo truly wants to make a great game or use a game to push some sort of agenda.  I have absolute faith that they CAN make this awesome.  But they can also decide to use it to push some tablet gimmick that doens't work and ruin the whole damn thing.

[nickmitch]

I'm just hoping Nintendo really pushes the graphics on this one. I'd love to see a few gameplay innovations, but I'm more excited to see bold new art styles (like the artwork with the paper mache Pikmin in the real world) that current hardware just couldn't do.

[LudicrousDa3ve]

Even with the way Nintendo makes some truly bizarro decisions, I don't see how they could mess this up. Touch control with the tablet is perfect for this game. The only real mistake I could see them making would be to under utilize the online functionality... I didn't just jinx it, did I?

[Dasmos]

I'm just hoping Nintendo really pushes the graphics on this one. I'd love to see a few gameplay innovations, but I'm more excited to see bold new art styles (like the artwork with the paper mache Pikmin in the real world) that current hardware just couldn't do.

The artwork from Pikmin 2 wasn't paper mache, it was more like claymation or plasticene, but yeah that would be amazing.

I just really hope they do something with the multiplayer that they had in Pikmin 2. It was surprisingly great and could be worked into an awesome online component.

[Kytim89]

Now all we need is confirmation of a Star Fox game.

[NeoThunder]

Pikmin 2 was a super awesome game that i don't think enough people got to play.  Best part was the space ship that named all the treasures you find

[ShyGuy]

Is it weird that I want a ton of product tie-ins in this game? Pikmins carrying a coke bottle would be sweet.

[TrueNerd]

The second game had product tie ins. I distinctly remember a Duracell battery.

[Fatty The Hutt]

We are sure it is WiiU. I recall someone from Nintendo said last year it would be WiiU, but this article has quotes that make it seem ambiguous.
Could this actually be a 3DS title?

[Luigi Dude]

We are sure it is WiiU. I recall someone from Nintendo said last year it would be WiiU, but this article has quotes that make it seem ambiguous.
Could this actually be a 3DS title?

Miyamoto himself said the game is going to be for the Wii U and looks great with HD graphics.  You can't get anymore 100% confirmed then that.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Was this not confirmed already? Huh. I guess I just assumed it would inevitably makes it debut this year.

I remember one major gaming site (can't remember which) ran a feature not too long ago about patented gameplay mechanics, and I believe there was one from Nintendo demonstrating how a touch-controlled Pikmin might play. Using the stylus, you could command your Pikmin on a map by drawing lines or circles between them and the objects and enemies in the world.

EDIT: Here it is, a patent filed by Nintendo in 2006.

Excerpt from the patent: When a player is controlling a first object with a pointing device, an in-operation flag indicating that the player is controlling the first object with the pointing device is set as "ON". When the in-operation flag is set as "ON" and a second object is within a predetermined distance from an input position of the pointing device, the second object is selected. When the in-operation flag is set as "OFF", that is, when the player stops controlling the first object, the first object is caused to perform a process for exerting an effect on the second object having been selected.

Even though this was intended for a hypothetical DS game, in the move to Wii U, such an input method could still be implemented. Just a thought - something to mull over.

[Ian Sane]

Part of my beef with the idea of touchscreen Pikmin is that part of Pikmin's whole design was that it was essentially an RTS without mouse controls.  I liked that.  I liked how they took something that almost everyone figured could only be done on the PC and made it work well with a controller.  I like that about Metroid Prime as well.

If I wanted to play Pikmin with mouse controls I would have stuck to Starcraft.  I think that the decision to make a game like that for a console with a console controller was an important part of the design and I'm worried that much of the charm will be lost if it controls like any old RTS.

Though realistically the most important thing is that you don't control Pikmin.  You control Olimar and he commands the Pikmin.  If they keep that then it will probably be fine.

Another concern though is that I find playing handheld games to be incredibly uncomfortable because I have to look down at the screen the whole time which hurts my neck.  I don't want to do that with a console game and Pikmin with touchscreen controls would be practically JUST that.  But then that's a concern with the Wii U in general.

[Ceric]

I sure hope they didn't get that Patent.  I know a lot of things from a very long time ago that controls just like that.

With the fondness of Pikmin to have Photorealistic stills.  I'm hoping they go that direction.  Especially water stuff.  Actually makes me want a Dewy Remake for Wii U.

[Fatty The Hutt]

We are sure it is WiiU. I recall someone from Nintendo said last year it would be WiiU, but this article has quotes that make it seem ambiguous.
Could this actually be a 3DS title?

Miyamoto himself said the game is going to be for the Wii U and looks great with HD graphics.  You can't get anymore 100% confirmed then that.

Yeah, I thought it was him.
Still it was a long time ago now, wasn't it? So, who knows.

[rlse9]

This is long overdue.  I can't believe they skipped an entire generation (not counting the New Play Control version) of a series that had started out so well on the Gamecube, especially given the long droughts in software that the Wii had.  And the fact that the game fits the Wii control scheme well, and also would have fit the controls on the DS well, though getting everything on such a small screen may have been a challenge.

I hope this game lives up to the first two, as much as I enjoyed the first two I couldn't imagine I wouldn't like this one but Nintendo has developed a reputation for sometimes being lazy with their non-AAA franchises and occasionally doing some strange things.  Hopefully this one will be worth the wait and the series will make appearances a little more frequently from now on.

[Luigi Dude]

This is long overdue.  I can't believe they skipped an entire generation (not counting the New Play Control version) of a series that had started out so well on the Gamecube, especially given the long droughts in software that the Wii had.  And the fact that the game fits the Wii control scheme well, and also would have fit the controls on the DS well, though getting everything on such a small screen may have been a challenge.

They were making a Pikmin for the Wii but certain development problems happened and they decided to move it to the Wii U.  It's not like they intentionally decided there wasn't going to be a Pikmin for the Wii, its just that certain things happened and it got delayed to the Wii U.


Now Star Fox and F-Zero are two series that got skipped a generation because Nintendo intentionally decided not to make anything.

[NWR_DrewMG]

Goes without saying: this is why I'm going to buy a Wii U.