Not too bothered by this, it looks like it'll be worth the wait. It certainly plays well now.

Ubisoft have issued a statement:

“Rayman Legends will launch worldwide in the first quarter of 2013.”
“We’re happy that fans are excited about the game, and we are taking the time to make sure we deliver a game that lives up to and hopefully exceeds their expectations. We’ll have more details to share soon.”

I didn't even know if this was part of the infamously stretching Wii U "launch window", but was under the impression it was only coming out by January or so.

Not too bothered by this, it looks like it'll be worth the wait. 

@TooWalrus said:

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

Not too bothered by this, it looks like it'll be worth the wait.

I'm not either- I wasn't planning on getting a Wii U at launch, anyway. I'll definitely pick one up eventually, but I'm more looking forward to stuff like Pikmin 3 and Bayonetta 2 than New Super Mario Bros. U or Nintendoland.

Don't forget The Wonderful 101 also :)

Rayman: Origins was in development for Wii U:

Coming from Michel Ancel...

“To be honest, we were on Wii U very early – even for Origins.
… We did not know exactly when Nintendo would release the system, but we started making Origins for Wii U. [At that point], we thought Wii U would come out a lot earlier. We worked very closely with Nintendo [on Wii U] early on, giving them feedback on the various prototypes.
When we finished Origins, it was time to start thinking about Wii U again, because [the hardware] was nearly complete. So to answer your question, we wanted to make a Rayman game and started to explore how we could make it interesting using Wii U.”

Still hoping this will eventually come out on other systems. I really enjoyed playing Rayman Origins on the Vita.

If there was one game... One game, that would come out on other platforms too. Then it would be this one.

@Legend said:

Still hoping this will eventually come out on other systems.

Yeah me too.

I'm not opposed to the asymmetrical co-op offered by way of the WiiU controller, but Origins' standard-issue co-op was so amazing that I can't help but hope a more straightforward version of Legends is made.

Weird, I played this a week or two ago and it seemed 'done'.

Ancel:

“And I think this is where Nintendo is really out in front of things. The technology inside the controller is quite a bit more advanced than what people might think. It’s really responsive. The response time is crazy, in fact, and I think the competitors will need some time to [get their solutions] this responsive.

It’s crazy because the game is running in full HD [on the television], we are streaming another picture on the GamePad screen, and it’s still 60 frames per second. And the latency on the controller is just 1/60 of a second, so it’s one frame late. It’s crazy, it’s so fast. It’s almost instant. That’s why it responds so well. So it can be used as a real game-design thing.”

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

Ancel:

“And I think this is where Nintendo is really out in front of things. The technology inside the controller is quite a bit more advanced than what people might think. It’s really responsive. The response time is crazy, in fact, and I think the competitors will need some time to [get their solutions] this responsive.

It’s crazy because the game is running in full HD [on the television], we are streaming another picture on the GamePad screen, and it’s still 60 frames per second. And the latency on the controller is just 1/60 of a second, so it’s one frame late. It’s crazy, it’s so fast. It’s almost instant. That’s why it responds so well. So it can be used as a real game-design thing.”

This reminded me that I don't understand why on earth people actually got excited over the GamePad controls in that demo of Rayman Legends. Sure, it looks kind of nice and it's got neat ideas, but it ends there: ideas that look nice. In practicality who will want to be the one with the GamePad?

As people watched that demo, did they imagine themselves playing with the GamePad beside a friend playing on the TV?

What I remember from the demo was that while someone is playing a real game on the TV, the person with the GamePad is essentially playing an iPad game, tapping a few things on the screen that interact with the person holding the regular controller. The sliding and dragging and tapping that make up the GamePad facet of the multiplayer deliver an experience that's no more complex or amusing than the sort of entertainment an iPad game can provide. Not to disregard iOS games - they can be quality stuff - but it's not what you're looking for when you're sitting down on a couch, playing a game with a friend. If you're the one who's holding the tablet, the other facet of the experience will look much more appealing. Consoles offer what tablets can't, that's why you and I and everyone that buys consoles still buy consoles.

I have a younger sister who a few years ago might have been delighted, because she enjoyed playing as Tingle in Wind Waker using the GBA Connectivity feature that the GameCube provided. But that was a time when she would drop stuff to watch her big brother play video games. So how many people really want to be on the tablet end of things in this sort of asymetric multiplayer experience?

To be fair some games seem to actually do this asymetric multiplayer thing nicely, but those are the ones that give information to the tablet holder that's concealed from everyone else. This is why I don't think the Wii U matters a lot, but if it gave tablets to everyone it would: the way they can deliver private information to players in hot seat multiplayer games is the big innovation here - one that fits in perfectly with Nintendo's emphasis on multiplayer experiences.

I just don't get why I would want to be the one playing Rayman Legends with the tablet.

@Snail said:

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

Ancel:

“And I think this is where Nintendo is really out in front of things. The technology inside the controller is quite a bit more advanced than what people might think. It’s really responsive. The response time is crazy, in fact, and I think the competitors will need some time to [get their solutions] this responsive.

It’s crazy because the game is running in full HD [on the television], we are streaming another picture on the GamePad screen, and it’s still 60 frames per second. And the latency on the controller is just 1/60 of a second, so it’s one frame late. It’s crazy, it’s so fast. It’s almost instant. That’s why it responds so well. So it can be used as a real game-design thing.”

Something that I don't understand is why on earth people actually got excited over the GamePad controls in that demo of Rayman Legends. Sure, it looks kind of nice and it's got neat ideas, but it ends there: ideas that look nice. In practicality who will want to be the one with the GamePad?

What I remember from the demo was that while someone is playing a real game on the TV, the person with the GamePad is essentially playing an iPad game, tapping a few things on the screen that interact with the person holding the regular controller. The sliding and dragging and tapping that GamePad facet of gameplay consists of is no more complex nor entertaining than the sort of entertainment an iPad game can provide. Not to disregard iOS games - they can be quality stuff - but it's not what you're looking for when you're sitting on a couch with a friend playing a game: the other facet of the experience will look much more appealing. Consoles offer what tablets can't, that's why you and I and everyone that buys consoles still buy consoles. So why would I want to be the one playing with teh tablet?

I have a younger sister who a few years ago might have been delighted, because she enjoyed playing as Tingle in Wind Waker using the GBA Connectivity feature that the GameCube provided. But that was a time when she would drop stuff to watch her big brother play video games. So how many people really want to be on the tablet end of things in this sort of asymetric multiplayer experience?

To be fair actually some games do this asymetric multiplayer thing nicely, but those are the ones that give information to the tablet holder that's concealed from everyone else. This is why I don't think the Wii U matters a lot, but if it gave tablets to everyone it would: the way they can deliver private information to players in hot seat multiplayer games is the big innovation here.

Props to you sister.

You'd surprised by how much fun it is, and how well it works aside. This isn't akin to Mario Galaxy's collecting of Star Bits, which can be done on a second controller. Because of the of the GamePad your input methods are varied and fun to initiate when required. My first experience of the game was as the player with the pad, I was enthralled by knowing how much of an impact my inputs were having on the other players gameplay - I didn't feel like the second player, I felt almost like a conductor who needed to be equally attentive as the other player, and in constant communication. I think it's fun because there's a new breed of multi-tasking necessary from both players to complete, levels which have been specifically designed with this kind of gameplay in mind. It's sectioned off in some way, from what I can gather, these co'op levels.

@Wong_Fei_Hung: Ha. Thanks.

Hm, I see. That actually sounds like it might be fun. Your conductor analogy easily made me have second thoughts about my first impression of what it might be like being the one dude playing with the tablet. What's really important is that playing with the GamePad is at least as much fun as playing with the controller. If that checks out, then I guess I'm likely to be sold on it.

I was a bit surprised by this being news. When I pre-ordered it the site just had a filled in 12/31/2012 type nominal date a few weeks ago, and it had not looked like a launch title. Was it ever indicated as a Nov 18th game?

Wii U should be a good platform for Rayman, since it will probably have a relatively large number of players into those sort of games. It should hit after people are through with Mario, so it will not be in contention with other titles (and there should be a lot more potential day 1 purchasers at launch time).

@Snail said:

I just don't get why I would want to be the one playing Rayman Legends with the tablet.

I played with the tablet at E3, and it was a blast. It didn't feel like a "little kid mode" or anything, like collecting star pieces in Mario Galaxy. It felt like it's own, unique (but fun and challenging) thing.

Another interesting quote...

“What surprises me with Wii U is that we don’t have many technical problems. It’s really running very well, in fact. We’re not obliged to constantly optimize things. Even on the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions [of Origins], we had some fill-rate issues and things like that. So it’s partly us – we improved the engine – but I think the console is quite powerful. Surprisingly powerful. And there’ a lot of memory. You can really have huge textures, and it’s crazy because sometimes the graphic artist – we built our textures in very high-dentition. They could be used in a movie. Then we compress them, but sometimes they forget to do the compression and it still works! [Laughs] So yeah, it’s quite powerful. It’s hard sometimes when you’re one of the first developers because it’s up to you to come up with solutions to certain problems. But the core elements of the console are surprisingly powerful."

“And because we’re developing for Wii U, we don’t have to worry about cross-platform optimization. We can push what the console can do; push it to its limits. And of course, we have a new lighting engine. In fact, the game engine for Origins was mostly just classic sprites in HD, but now we can light them and add shadows and all these things. So there is some technical innovation with the engine itself." - Michel Ancel

@Snail:

http://nintendoeverything.com/103112/you-can-play-through-rayman-legends-without-murphygamepad/