[Opinion] A week with the Wii U - What do YOU think?

[Austin]

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There's a lot of good to be found in Nintendo's latest home console-- but not all of it is as pristine as it seems.



Author: Austin

Sometimes it’s hard to look at a console objectively and pick out its successes and failures with equal clout-- especially when you are trying to justify spending over $400 on it-- but amid the great leaps forward the Wii U has made in its quest to become Nintendo’s greatest console of all time, it’s painstakingly obvious that parts of it still fall far behind the lines that were drawn even by Microsoft and Sony’s now-last-gen consoles. So here’s a question for you:

What do you think so far? What are your favorite things? What don’t you like about it? Let’s hear all of it, and if you need some inspiration, here are the things I’ve compiled thus far:

[thomas]

On the subject matter of the Wii mode, how about the fact that you can't even use the Pro controller with it, or Wii's classic controller on Wii U games. Or in general, Nintendo's lack of including controller options. Why can't you play Mario U's multiplayer with the Pro controller?

[Austin]

Or the fact that you can't play virtual console games on the Gamepad! Augh, so much frustration, Nintendo...

[Bikop]

-The triggers are not pressure sensitive, they are just nicely curved buttons.
-The friends list is kinda messed up, with a friends list outside of Miiverse and two ways to become friends.
-I hear the CPU or something (sorry, I'm not that techy) is slow, so while all of the other parts of the hardware sound at or above PS360 level, the CPU could hurt it in the long run. I don't think the graphical gap will be as big this generation as last, so the CPU being the only thing holding the consol back worries me a bit.
-I think indie games will thrive on Wii U, with a nice little dedicated spot on the eshop and since indie games typically don't push consoles too hard as far as physics and polygons and whatnot go, so the CPU should not get in the way.
-Needs a patch pretty bad for load times and a semi-common freezing issue. Nintendo Land has frozen 3 times on me.

Sorry to be so negative. I felt Austin had already covered most of the positives. I'm really enjoying my Wii U, and I am looking forward to what is to come!

[Austin]

- So far I honestly don't care about the lack of analog triggers, but that could change in the future.

- The friends list thing is just Nintendo being Nintendo and not knowing how to make things simple.

- CPU is hard to make a call on, but we'll see how it pans out.

- Freezing stinks. I've had Black Ops 2 freeze on me twice.

Overall, I agree with you. Another positive to add though: ZombiU is better than I thought it would be!

[thomas]

-I think indie games will thrive on Wii U, with a nice little dedicated spot on the eshop and since indie games typically don't push consoles too hard as far as physics and polygons and whatnot go, so the CPU should not get in the way.

The (hopeful) plus point to counter all negative points, to me. It seems it's surprisingly indie-friendly and the first batch certainly seems to suggest so. Now here's hoping they get decent sales.

Seriously, I'll take "Wii U is indie haven" over "Wii U gets 3rd party ports" any day of the week.

[Bikop]

I totaly agree, thomas.

[Austin]

I agree as well. We survived the entire Wii lifespan without any third party ports, and I'm more than happy to do it again for the sake of awesome indie titles.

[Shade]

I can't really formulate an opinion on the Wii U as a whole since I don't have one for myself yet (should have one tomorrow though) and haven't gone in depth with the consoles features. However, like many people, I had my doubts about the Gamepad, but after trying it out and having it in my hands, it feels great. I actually prefer to play on the Gamepad screen rather than the TV. When I tried playing Call of Duty, I was worried about getting my ass handed to me because I haven't played a first-person shooter with dual-analog in such a long time, but I was surprised at how easy it was to get back into it. Like riding a bike I suppose.

[jckapono]

Well, for me, I feel like the console is the perfect fit for me and my family. I have 2 young boys that love to game, but are really too young for the 360 or ps3. My wife likes to game and we have had fun just messing around on Nintendoland and NSMBU. We didn't own a tablet or any smart phone prior to this, so using the gamepad as a tablet has been really nic, too.

Like most people, I assume, I didn't buy the console so I could play games that have already been released on other consoles. I have a 360 for those type of games. I bought it for the few exclusive titles at launch, the EShop, which is just fantastic, and the prospects of playing great Nintendo IPs on an HD console.

The two screen system feels right to me. I didn't know how it would play out, but I find myself enjoying have 2 screens to use simultaneously, but actually just playing on the Gamepad while watching tv has been awesome.

One thing I would like to see is being able to play games without the tablet being on. Or maybe just a sleep button, so it could be on, but significantly save the battery life. If I want to play NSMBU alone with a wii remote, I don't think the gamepad needs to be active. That is my one small gripe so far.

Haven't tried to Pro controller yet, but the strange decision not to have a headphone jack is baffling. Really, really hope they release one that does.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with the purchase. The kids love it, everyone is having fun with it. I feel like it is the future of console gaming. Nintendo may not have gotten everything right, but they did enough to satisfy this consumer.

[ei8htbit]

@jckapono RE: GamePad Off while playing
The good news is that you can do this (sort of). While you can't technically shut off the GamePad or put it in sleep mode entirely while playing off just the TV, at the very least you can select to turn off the display (which also turns of the audio feed to the GamePad). Just hit the home button, Controller Settings, and Turn Display Off (you can do this from the WiiMote or Controller Pro without having to get up or touch the GamePad).

But I agree that for those games where you don't need the GamePad it seems a little odd that you are forced to have the GamePad always on given the battery life. It would be nice to have the option to just navigate the OS and MiiVerse with a WiiMote or Pro Controller and have the GamePad power on independant from the console..

[ei8htbit]

OK Everyone else mentioned most of it, but here is one of my favourite neat little things about the Wii U and one of my biggest BEEFS:

AWESOME GAME-CHANGING STUFF:

- WEB BROWSER THAT IS ACTUALLY USABLE: Can't find that pesky 3rd Star Coin in level 8-3? No need to have your laptop nearby, just hit the Home button and instantly find the walkthrough you're looking for online with the AMAZINGLY WELL-DONE Web Browser - all integrated into the same controller in your hands - Hit the Home button again to instantly jump back into the game. It's magical.
OR just send a shout-out to the MiiVerse and be guaranteed a response (heck even a hand-drawn map) from one of the thousands of users.

NOT-SO-GREAT-BUZZ-KILL-STUFF:

- HARD-LOCK FREEZES. To be fair this doesn't happen a whole lot and it hasn't happened to me in the past few days, BUT there were a few terrifying moments in those early days where both the system and GamePad would become completely unresponsive and even worse emit a horrible scanners-worthy buzzing hissy sound that could only be remedied by literally removing all power to the system. This has happened to me in 3 different games (NSMBU, Nintendo Land, BLOPS2) and I believe it to be linked in some way to the MiiVerse online functionality considering that is one of the common links across all three of those particular games as opposed to being something that is inherent to the individual software coding. To put things in perspective, My Windows-based PC has crashed less in the 3 years I've owned it than my Wii U did in less than a week. That is absolutely ridiculous and not something that should ever happen in a stable console environment that has universal settings and controls (as opposed to PCs that have myriad schematics and settings that can produce unlimited variables resulting in a crash).

The good stuff is definitely out-weighing the bad - but there is a closer balance between the two than I had hoped for..

[Austin]

I actually prefer to play on the Gamepad screen rather than the TV. When I tried playing Call of Duty, I was worried about getting my ass handed to me because I haven't played a first-person shooter with dual-analog in such a long time, but I was surprised at how easy it was to get back into it. Like riding a bike I suppose.

Depends on the game for me. I'll play Mario on the Gamepad, but I prefer Black Ops 2 on the TV because pointer controls.

The two screen system feels right to me. I didn't know how it would play out, but I find myself enjoying have 2 screens to use simultaneously, but actually just playing on the Gamepad while watching tv has been awesome.

I'm really surprised at how much nicer having two screens is than I had anticipated.

One thing I would like to see is being able to play games without the tablet being on. Or maybe just a sleep button, so it could be on, but significantly save the battery life. If I want to play NSMBU alone with a wii remote, I don't think the gamepad needs to be active. That is my one small gripe so far.

Yea, it's a little obnoxious not to be able to, but ultimately I just set it in the charging cradle when I'm not using it and that seems to solve every issue with battery life!

The good news is that you can do this (sort of). While you can't technically shut off the GamePad or put it in sleep mode entirely while playing off just the TV, at the very least you can select to turn off the display (which also turns of the audio feed to the GamePad). Just hit the home button, Controller Settings, and Turn Display Off (you can do this from the WiiMote or Controller Pro without having to get up or touch the GamePad).

I didn't know this; that's really useful!