Wii U review: a week with Nintendo's new console
I've been lucky enough to have the Wii U for over a week now. Here's what's thrilled me about the system and what's surprised me.
The GamePad's resistive screen has never been problematic
This is a surprisingly useful feature
This is probably more important than the launch of new hardware
Don't throw these away, you'll need them
- Assassin's Creed 3
- Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - Single-Player | Multiplayer
- Little Inferno
- Madden NFL 13
- Mass Effect 3: Special Edition
- Scribblenauts Unlimited
- New Super Mario Bros U
- Nintendo Land
- SiNG Party
This Wii U review was based on a 32GB Pro system provided by the publisher. Nintendo also provided Shacknews a Wii U Pro Controller.
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Shacknews
replyAndrew Yoon posted a new article, Wii U review: a week with Nintendo's new console.
I've been lucky enough to have the Wii U for over a week now. Here's what's thrilled me about the system and what's surprised me.-
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learn social skills. you're not just slightly an ass.
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lolz
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The original article is comparing it to the Xbox 360 and PS3. It is several generations better than the Wii but only slightly better than those two(at best).
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Wow.. I knew about the Wii U not doing much beyond playing Wii U games without the update, but 5GB?! Holy shit Nintendo. There's gonna be tons of bitching about that. Supposedly it doesn't even play Wii games without the update. What were they thinking on that one...
I could warm up to this system if it just had some must-have games. Right now, the launch lineup seems worse than GameCube. At least Wii had Zelda. GameCube had Rogue Squadron. Holy shit... we need another Rogue Squadron game. Factor 5... :( -
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That's insane. The raging that will take place Christmas morning when thousands of people try to download it will be comical.
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5 gig ain't much these days.
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Kid can still play some games without a system update.
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OK? Weird thing to say.
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I disagree. It's not a lot when you set up a game to download over night or something. But when you plug in a new system and it can't do half the things it says on the box. Or connect it to the Internet and say "yes" to an update not knowing it will be unusable for the next hour or so (counting on Internet BW and load on the servers). There are still plenty of people out there with 512Kbps DSL etc in this country. And not all of them are as technically savvy as people on this forum. Some of these people might not even know what download means.
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Too many killer negatives with this platform to offset the yawning excitement of "wow, it can be my TV remote" or "wow, I can play games on a tiny tablet."
2 hours for a day 1 Update? What's the point for those of us who actually have spiffy fast FIOS internet speeds? Thanks for tapping into it, console manufacturers! Good job!
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and people complaining about downloading an update are fucking stupid
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Does anyone with 3g wifi expect to use you it for a gaming console anyway?
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How does that work? Doesn't the "standard" WiiU only have 3 gigs usable space out of the box or am I remembering incorrectly?
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Resistive? Interesting. I would've assumed multitouch (capacitive) was the way forward. Sure, it's not as accurate and wouldn't allow for a stylus, but I guess it was both cheaper and they think the buttons should supplement any gestures needed for actions.
Polygon was particularly critical of the screen though, saying it required too much force and was disappointingly inexact for a resistive screen.-
What weirds me out is that different people at various outlets say completely different things. One says the screen is super responsive, then you hear others saying it isn't.
Tells you what? Ignore everything and try it for yourself lol. -
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I agree that the update sucks. It's going to be difficult for consumers who have a really shitty internet. I work at an ISP so I know how badly iinfrastructure sucks in some areas.
While it is a significant misstep on Nintendo's part, some people are really making it overblown. No, Nintendo didn't kill some puppies or beat up your grandma. i don't get this irrational Nintendo hate sometimes. I'm expecting that follow up production units will have this updated already installed on future system, but like what you said.
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The lack of any tangible improvements to wii games (even added sharpness would have been something...!), the strange emulation rep and the fact you can't play your wii games over the control pad mean I've cancelled my preorder,
There simply is nothing at launch at all interesting (to a 360,pc and ps3 owner) to make it worthwhile.-
I can't defend the lack of games, but honestly I can't believe anyone cares about Wii emulation. The second they said Wii games wouldn't run at 1080p or even 720p I was completely uninterested in doing that with the console. That didn't stop me from preordering it though, but I do think there is going to be a lack of games for awhile.
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I own a PS3 and I'm interested, so speak for yourself.
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You might want to fix the second GamePad picture ...that's the completely different prototype from 2011.
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I bummed about that. But, honestly, while the launch library isn't the most amazing, it's still a great system so far from what I've used.
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There are specific technical reasons why Nintendo would avoid up-scaling. While the Dolphin Emulator looks great, it either doesn't support every game or actively prohibits some from working properly because of the extra processing, which can be prohibitive depending on how other companies made use of the hardware. So either they can say it's 100% backwards compatible or that it upscales but it could break games. They're damned if they do, damned if they don't in that situation.
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Patch is around 1 gig and apparently self deletes when applied.
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It's unfortunate to see Nintendo doing to consoles what they've been doing to GameBoys for the last decade or so.
The backwards compatibility is a bit upsetting, but either way, most of us are probably better off waiting for the next (post PS4, etc.) version. You know, the now inevitable WiiUi3DXL or something to that effect. -
better then i expected but still waiting for pikmin 3 before i buy.
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The gamepad is seriously fucking cool. Image quality is brilliant. Nintendo innovates again with their controller. MS and Sony will surely rip them off. LMAO.
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LOL. What funny is that these gamers all whine about these Nintendo "gimmicks" but have heaps of praise when these feature hit the other system. Don't get me wrong, Kinect is pretty awesome, but Nintendo is the small game company caught between 2 giants and they are the ones primarily pushing the bounderies while the other two are just reactionary.
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All Nintendo does is games. While Microsoft and Sony have more that that under their umbrella. Nintendo doesn't have any other businesses to fall back on. Xbox survived until the brand established itself because other divisions made up for the losses. Nintendo doesn't have the resources that the other 2 have but is still trying to compete.
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MS announced SmartGlass before the Wii U launched. I don't see it as having the same impact as an integrated controller like Nintendo's. I've also heard the Wii U controller maintains 60 FPS with a 1 frame delay, which isn't shabby.
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Smart Glass is really cool but I don't see it being a major factor in games. It's not a fully integrated feature so I don't see it being a major function for games. Maybe a supplemental way like Halo Waypoint. At the same time, I hope developer take advantage of what's being offered here with the Wii U. It has some great potential, but I can see this great feature only turning into a "gimmick" if developer lack the creativity to properly utilize it.
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I'm thinking they could use the controller similar to how the Dreamcast used the VMU, particularly with sports games like Football and calling plays.
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I hope Nintendo folds and its assets are sold off, there I said it. No HD wii games, and the worst software launch lineup. Does Shigero Miyamoto even work there anymore, they used to innovate now they just take a dump.
Oh and I would like to add this review felt like the person was typing on eggshells, way to candy coat it. Not sure why I even read your reviews, so shallow and unexciting. Mediocre Shacknews :I(-
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How is taking a risk on a new way to interface with games not innovative. While I also enjoy the other consoles, they seem to be reactionary with ideas. Microsoft and Sony are mega corporations and Nintendo is a small gaming company, so who should have the better resources to innovate? While each system has some great features that were added over time, they're still reactionary.
While I agree with your sentiments about the lack of Wii HD upscaling and a decent launch line up that unfortunately lacks the killer app, I don't wish ill upon Nintendo. I hope they stick around, not just because I love their game, but they're still the one to take initiative with ideas.-
When you make the controller so big that a small child cannot play it how is that good? But for real in terms of ergonomics how is holding that behemoth a good thing? I get it I can play on the screen without a tv, why the hell would I want that? Every Nintendo had at least one "killer app" this time its just rehash after rehash. As much as I like 2d mario it's sort of played out, the nostalgia has waned for me.
I am sure there will be some nifty uses of the screen but other than play calling in sports games I cannot see a benefit to me taking my eyes off the screen.
Sorry to come off harsh but I like Nintendo we have a bit of history. But its ok for me to go call a Sega on them for such a shitty launch and such a incremental jump in graphics.
Not buying it until the price hits the floor or the truly innovate again.-
Dint get me wrong, I'm not giving them a free pass. This was an average launch. Even the X360 and PS3 both lacked killer apps during launch. I don't recall wanting to play a game on either until they were out for 6 months.
I can appreciate, though, that Nintendo is taking a risk to put a innovative way to interface with games to the table. Have you actually used the controller for any more than 15 mins at a kiosk? Its actually surprisingly light and very comfortable to use. The Wii U is the first console I've bought at launch since the N64. I was really skeptical at first, but after spending a couple of hours with it last night, I was pleasantly surprised. Graphically, Im not totally blown away, but the games look great. If I really wanted bad ass graphic, I can play on my PC anyways. It sounds to me that you've not really given it a chance, but that's all you.
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I know it has the "tv remote" feature, but can that be used to control a receiver instead of a tv? I have my games hooked into a home theater type speaker system and the only button I ever need for the actual TV is the power button. The receiver is where I control my volume and inputs and the cable box changes channels. If the Wii U only controls a TV then it's a useless feature for me.
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