Ubisoft has been open about its support for the Wii U for the past few months. With games like Rayman Legends and Assassin’s Creed III being teased as possible candidates for Nintendo’s upcoming platform, it’s obvious that Ubisoft hopes to bring some of its bigger franchises to the system. Eurogamer reports that during its earnings call, Ubisoft further expressed support for the Wii U, revealing that it had seven games planned for the console, and even stating that the Wii U could have “great success.”

The console’s tablet controller is one of the things Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot is really stoked about, saying that the screen will help emphasise the social aspect of video games by allowing players to “play asynchronously with your friends, to receive challenges, and to really have a screen to communicate with your friends.” The publisher seems to be embracing the casual and group gaming aspects that Nintendo made its own with the Wii. “So all this tells us that the machine can have a great success, because it will bring to families a good machine,” continued the Ubisoft CEO.

Chief Financial Officer Alan Martinez then announced that Ubisoft had seven games planned for the Wii U, five of which will be casual titles, and two of which will be developed to appeal to the core crowd. Assassin’s Creed III will potentially be one of the core titles, and it joins games like Rayman Legends, Ghost Recon Online, and Avengers: Battle for Earth, just a few of the games that have been teased by Ubisoft.

It’s great to see a major company supporting the Wii U, mainly because variety in the industry is always welcome. Here’s hoping the publisher can deliver on its promise to bring both quality casual and core gaming experiences to the Big N’s upcoming console.

When Luigi’s Mansion 2 was announced for the 3DS, fans of the first game immediately got stoked at the prospect of a handheld sequel. After all, the first game had a nice following, and while it wasn’t perfect, it delivered an experience that derived from the typical Mario formula and dared to be different. Couple that with the fact that the game was actually good, and it’s no surprise that Luigi’s Mansion 2 quickly became one of the most anticipated 3DS games.

Now the game may be launching on the Wii U, as well. As reported on CVG, a listing on Play.com indicates that Luigi’s Mansion 2 will be available on Nintendo’s upcoming platform. Of course, this could all be an error on the part of Play.com, but it’s certainly interesting to think about, and it wouldn’t be the most farfetched possibility.

Luigi’s Mansion 2 on the 3DS may be a necessary title for Nintendo’s handheld, and it may give gamers sufficient reason to continue supporting the device. If some version of the game lands on the Wii U, though, can we expect the two be similar from a gameplay standpoint? Or will we get two different experiences? Also, could games like Luigi’s Mansion 2 be exactly what the Wii U needs to draw in that Nintendo-loving fan base?

There’s been rumors swirling that the Wii U isn’t much of a step-up tech-wise from PS3 and Xbox 360. While we’re hoping this year’s E3 will shed more light, it hasn’t helped that Nintendo has been rather coy regarding actual specs, either.

Adding more fuel to the fire is a recent interview with Epic developer Tim Sweeney, who tells Gamasutra that the “intended” platforms for Unreal Engine 4 haven’t been announced.

“At some point we’ll make public announcements and ramp up to the point where developers are shipping games, but it’s very early right now,” said Sweeney. He added, “We’re aiming very high, and the intended platforms this is aimed at haven’t even been announced.”

Obviously, this calls into question whether Unreal Engine 4 will support the Wii U at all, given that it’s not a target platform. We’d say it’s a big deal — considering UE3 has powered the bulk of games this generation. The gap in tech between platforms could create a situation where the Wii U will be missing out on several multiplatform titles, just like its predecessor. Perhaps not initially, but later down the line.

Despite pledging support for Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U hardware shortly after E3 last year, Crytek has no plans to bring the recently announced Crysis 3 over.  Director of creative development Rasmus Hoejengaard told Destructoid that a release is “not in the cards.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be possible. It’s not in the cards,” said Ramus.

While not a complete write-off, that doesn’t sound too hopeful. You’d think Crytek would be eager to jump first on the Wii U bandwagon, if only to show off its CryEngine 3 middleware and attract potential licensees. We’re expecting  E3 to shed more light on the Wii U in terms of third-party support.

A sequel to 2002′s GameCube-exclusive hit Eternal Darkness may no longer be a pipe dream, as Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack has let slip that the company is working on an IP “that’s our most requested” for the next-generation of console platforms.

“We’re really excited and we’re working on our next generation stuff. We’re working on an IP that’s our most requested and we’re really excited about that,” Dyack told GI.biz.

Given the smaller size of the company following considerable layoffs over last year, Dyack says it is making a shift back to its roots. Nintendo still holds trademark rights to the Eternal Darkness brand, and when it comes to the few titles Silicon Knights has worked on, we’re certain that Too Human isn’t ranking high on the barometer when it comes to sequel treatment. It seems likely that Eternal Darkness  2 could indeed be Wii U bound.

While Nintendo is no stranger to price cuts, a markdown of $80 on the 3DS was unprecedented for them in such a short time span. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has expressed concern that the sudden drop could have an ill effect on Wii U momentum, in the sense that early adopters that felt burned by the 3DS reduction may hold off.

To remedy this, Nintendo is making strides to ensure that early adopters are treated well, as it outlined in its Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors program.

Our decision of the price markdown this time has a side effect that, at the launch of the Wii U, people may feel that the price might drop in the near future if they wait. Nevertheless, we have decided to cut down the price of the Nintendo 3DS as we consider it as a necessary decision now. What we will be able to do to recover the consumers’ trust before the launch of the Wii U is very important to us.

A price on the Wii U will be announced sometime after March in 2012.

While Nintendo has been extremely scant on details for its ‘flexible’ Wii U online network, word from NoA president Reggie Fils-Aime suggests the company is taking an open approach. Instead of being bound by terms of a central, unified network, Nintendo is allowing third-parties to run their own services.

“So instead of a situation where a publisher has their own network and wants that to be the predominant platform, and having arguments with platform holders, we’re going to welcome that,” Reggie told Forbes.

He added, “We’re going to welcome that from the best and the brightest of the third party publishers.”

Beyond that, Reggie did not delve into specifics. One looming question is whether the third-party services Nintendo is allowing will run on top of the Wii U’s online suite, which at least would allow for a unified login handle.

Presumably there must be some degree of basic integration, otherwise we’d be at a loss to see how this approach differs from how the PS2 tackled online.

The recent Wii U announcement has generated an ample amount of interest from third-party publishers and developers, even those that completely skipped the Wii due to its lack of horsepower  – like Valve. Turns out, Elder Scrolls and Fallout developer Bethesda is also watching the Wii U closely.

Company vice president Pete Hines told UK trade site MCV that while the firm isn’t ready to make any commitments, Wii U support is being considered — provided the tech specs are a “good fit.” Hines was keen to note that the firm is not willing to make compromises for the sake of releasing on another platform. more »

One of the highlight announcements at Nintendo’s E3 2011  press briefing was the revelation that a new Smash Bros. title was being planned for Wii U. Excitement quickly waned when Nintendo said it had no further details to share. As it turns out, we may be in for a long wait. Not only is Project Sora still assembling a development team, due to outstanding commitments it hasn’t even begun thinking about the title yet, says project lead Masahiro Sakurai in a recent Famitsu column:

Right now, we’re devoting all our manpower to working on Kid Icarus. We’ve got no plans whatsoever — we’ve got two new games out in the open when there’s no extra time to work with them at all. It makes me cringe, and I’m not sure it’s the smartest thing to make gamers wait for several years, but the early announcement was made chiefly in order to attract new team members.

Sakurai also chimed in on the decision to embrace cross-platform play between Wii U and 3DS: more »

While Valve has always admired Nintendo, the company remains distant from the Wii for an obvious reason, the lack of power under the hood. Has the recent Wii U announcement piqued Valve’s interest? You betcha. more »