E3 2012 Hands-On: Batman and Assassins Creed III on the Nintendo Wii U

Nintendo re-revealed the Wii U at this year’s E3 and I got to play two titles that have a hardcore following on the new device to see how the new home console measures up when compared to the current-generation devices from Sony and Microsoft.

Assassin’s Creed III will be one of the biggest titles of the year and after first seeing it on the Wii U, I came away impressed by the graphics quality, which is pretty much indistinguishable from that seen on the PS3 or the Xbox 360.

The same can be said about the Armored Edition of Batman: Arkham City, although I saw the machine drop a few frames here and there when the action got a little intense and a bigger number of enemies crowded on the screen.

Of course, it will be hard to persuade those who already have a console to switch to the Nintendo Wii U if the experience is the same, so the company is also pushing its new tablet controller.

The controller feels well balanced and easy to use, although at first the extra space between the two hands feels a little alien to those accustomed to the layout of the peripherals of the PS3 or the Xbox 360.

It’s easy to control both Batman and Conor using the Wii U controller but I feel that there’s little actual use for the touch screen.

Sure, I can check out the map or the inventory or the bios in Batman without using a menu, but I still have to move my head around and somehow that tends to take player out of the action, something that might annoy certain gamers.

The big disappointment linked to Nintendo and the current E3 is that the company has chosen to once again delay an official announcement for the launch date of the Wii U, which is now expected for some point during October or November.