In just under a week, the much anticipated Wii U will finally be available on store shelves in N.A.. While many gamers have been busy trying to decide which games to pickup at launch for the system, others are still in the dark when it comes to the new console's day-one features. We know Nintendo's hardware will allow consumers to do a medley of different things, including watch television, but many hardcore gamers have long desired an achievements system on a Nintendo platform. Those dreams have gone on in vain, however, as it's now been confirmed that the Wii U will not support a universal achievements system of any kind.
Jeremiah Slaczka, co-founder of 5th Cell (the team behind the upcoming Scribblenauts Unlimited), took to NeoGAF to confirm that the Wii's successor doesn't currently offer a system for trophies/achievements. Instead, in-game achievements can be implemented at the developer's discretion.
"There are no Wii U accomplishments that are system wide. They are up to the developers to include or not include. Scribblenauts Unlimited loosely has them in the form of "Global Starite Shards" which is like a giant checklist of global things to spawn and do in the game that aren't area specific."
Many may be disappointed that the Big N has passed on implementing a universal system for gathering achievements, but that doesn't mean it's something that it'll shun forever. As an example, the PlayStation 3 was sans achievements prior to implementing trophies into newer games, so it's not unreasonable to expect Ninty to do the same at a later point in time.
Only time will tell just what Nintendo has planned for their console, in terms of both content and software updates, but consumers will bare witness to initial plans for the Wii U in due time. For now, gamers are probably more concerned with how they're going to manage to capitalize on the Deluxe Digital Incentive with limited hard drive space, or when Nintendo is going to add a legitimate online voice chat option to the Wii U.
Nintendo's Wii U will be available to the masses on November 18th in North America.
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