Nintendo licenses Unity game engine for Wii U

Nintendo has been making a lot of headlines recently because of the announcement for the Wii U release dates and some of the titles that will be making it to the console. Now, according to Eurogamer, Nintendo has also licensed the Unity engine for use in making games on the Wii U. 

According to David Helgason, CEO of Unity, the deal is long term. When asked about the possibility of a Mario game made in the Unity engine, Helgason said that it may just be a few years away. Helgason told Eurogamer that Nintendo is working with Unity to optimise the engine for the Wii U.

The Unity Engine has been licensed by Nintendo

It was announced earlier this month that Bayonetta will be getting a sequel in the form of Bayonetta 2, which will be exclusive to the Wii U. Along with this, Activision had announced that Black Ops II would be getting a release on the Wii U as well. The Wii U version of the game will be making full use of the system’s innovative controller, giving players the ability to check the minimap, activate kill streaks and change loadouts mid-game. Another big use of the controller will be that two people can play on the same system without having to play split-screen, with one person playing on the TV and the other playing on the controller. A solo player can also play only on the controller, allowing friends or family to do whatever they want with the TV.

One of the biggest games that the Wii U is going to get after its release will be Ubisoft’s survival horror game, ZombiU, which got a trailer during PAX Prime earlier this month, where Ubisoft showcased some of the gameplay. The video shows the player going through a ruined Buckingham Palace after a zombie outbreak. It shows the player using the Wii U controller for things such as detecting hidden passages, opening briefcases and detecting zombies. The controller will also be used for other stuff like accessing your backpack and picking locks without pausing the game. This could potentially create more tension while playing, as you’ll be able to see your character frantically picking a lock while a horde of zombies is slowly making their way towards you.

Ubisoft had released another trailer of the game back in August where a developer of the game explained some of the features of the game. Ubisoft also explains that death for a character in the game will be permanent. Once your character dies, you will not be able to see that character, except as a zombie when you chase that character down to get your backpack back.

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.