A couple of interesting stories, several actually. Gameindustry.biz has an editorial up which I find a good read. Aside from the opinion piece we have these:

Digital Foundry analyses the display latency on Nintendo's new gadget:


The result is a major vindication for Nintendo's streaming technology, because we could find absolutely no difference between the input latencies of the PlayStation 3D monitor and the Wii U GamePad based on the 60FPS sample we got from our camera. We have a match between both screens on a per-frame basis, confirming an overall latency in the 33ms area. That's a remarkable achievement.

Nintendo worked with technology company Broadcom adapting an existing technology called Miracast for the new console. The principles are similar to Apple's AirPlay: video is encoded using the h.264 compression system, then it's beamed over WiFi via the 802.11n protocol to the receiver where it is decoded and displayed. The difference is that a direct peer-to-peer link is established rather than going through a router, cutting down latency significantly and allowing Nintendo to standardise and optimise the connection using bespoke parts.

Compression is essential owing to the sheer volume of data. A raw 24-bit RGB stream with 854x480 resolution at 60FPS would require a 72MB/s transfer rate - way too high for WiFi. As we noted in our original Wii U review, colour space on the transmitted image has been downscaled significantly, reducing base image bandwidth to 36MB/s. Employing compression technology such as h.264 could reduce that by a factor of ten with little discernible loss of quality. The direct connection may even open the door to the less computationally intensive MJPEG compression: it's often deployed for applications where latency is a key issue and the 802.11n wireless standard should be able to sustain bandwidth for a 480p screen running at 60Hz.


Regardless of the technical ins and outs, our tests demonstrate that in an area where Nintendo couldn't afford to fail, the GamePad's video streaming offers excellent, low latency results with rock-solid performance. Bearing in mind that many HDTVs operate with far higher levels of lag, this is a significant achievement. Indeed, for many people, using the GamePad screen will provide a marginally more responsive experience than playing on their regular display.

So that explains why the colours on the U pad aren't great. I was let down by the quality of the screen compared to an HDTV but it looks like with the compression tech, they can't just add an HD screen. The hardware would need further beefing up to display a 720p to the TV and 720p to the pad, then the screen would cost more and you wouldn't be able to get a great picture anyway because the wireless compression tech has to compress and degrade the signal anyway. Loss of colours and artifacts?

This is a good article:

Develop - Wii U: Developer reactions:

How easy is it to develop for?


Being a new console on the market, and offering an abundant array of unique controllers such as the tablet-style Gamepad, pro controller, Wii motion controller and the balance board, there are some obvious development difficulties as developers get to grips with the console’s capabilities.


But how does the process of game creation compare to the Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3? Straight Right CEO Tom Crago, whose studio worked on the Wii U port for Bioware’s blockbuster hit Mass Effect 3, says the console has been very easy to program for, and adds that Unreal Engine 3 has been a useful tool in Wii U development.

“From our perspective it's a great platform,” says Crago. “Very straight forward to code for, the GamePad integrates seamlessly into the development environment and everything more or less does what it says on the tin. We've been using the Unreal Engine for Mass Effect 3, along with one or two other bits of middleware and for the most part they've played nicely together too.“


Guillaume Brunier, producer at ZombiU developer Ubisoft Montpellier, explains that the Wii U isn’t necessarily easier or more difficult to develop for than other platforms, but that it just comes with its own unique challenges for developers to overcome, and offers some advice on how developers can harness the platform’s power in future.


“It´s been a hell of a ride!” says Brunier. “I can't say it's easier or more difficult to develop on Wii U versus other platforms. It's just different. What was difficult was working on work-in-progress hardware, but Nintendo has been very helpful about that. I think the real strength of the Wii U, its large memory, has yet to be exploited.”

There is tons more stuff, very interesting and there is a hilarious quote from the guys who ported Epic Mickey 2, perhaps the most useless advice ever.

Blops 2 is not for me, I buy it as a gift for my nephew but I play it first to do the campaign.

Dvader said:

Archangel3371 said:

You're terrible. You buy a gift but you open it and play it before you give it to them. Have you no shame?

He is fine with itl, he lets me play it first so I can do the campaign.

travo said:

You mean even he hates the campaign?  

I honestly dont think he ever plays it. All I know is that CoD is practically the only game he plays all year.

Dvader said:

travo said:

I have a very noobish question here.  How do I go about installing Dishonored to my PS3?  These load times are killing me.

It either forces an install or there is none.

According to what I've read, there's a mandatory 5gig install, but some of the articles seem to suggest it installs as you play...(?)

It's a really cool game, I'm sure it's still fun on PS3 really cool interesting ideas.