Re: So who's getting the Wii U?
 

So, I had a large impressions post typed out Thursday, but I was alt tabbing back and forth between a game of Civ V and accidentally closed it without posting...so here we go again.

I purchased the deluxe package of the Wii U for $350, which included the system, a sensor bar, a charging dock for the gamepad, a stand for the gamepad, a gamepad, Nintendo Land, and a 32 gig hard drive. This is $50 more than the regular package which only has an $8 gig hard drive, no Nintendo Land and no charging dock. Since Nintendo Land is $60 on its own, I think it's definitely worth it to go for the deluxe.

In addition to Nintendo Land I picked up the New Super Mario Bros (NSMB) game.

I'll start with the hardware itself:

The Wii U system is about as wide as the regular Wii, maybe even more narrow, but it's much longer. It should fit into any entertainment system without problems though. You can also stand it vertically, and it includes a couple of stands for doing that if you want.

It features a similar disc insert method to the Wii (you slide the disk in the front, it doesn't have a tray), which I like since it seems like it provides fewer points of failure.

The system and the gamepad are glossy black in the deluxe version. I'm not sure what Nintendo's fascination with glossyness is (the regular 3DS is also glossy), but it's impossible to keep clean. The back of the gamepad is a matte textured plastic, like a 360 controller. Would have much preferred the system and the entire gamepad to be like that.

The system supports 1080p resolution, and unlike most other devices does actually come with an HDMI cable, which I appreciated.

The gamepad is surprisingly light, but doesn't feel cheap. It has two analog sticks, four face buttons (A, B, X, Y) plus a "+" and "-" button (basically select and start). It also has a power button which, once you've synced it to the Wii, powers the system and gamepad off and on. It also had a home button for returning to the main menu. There are also two shoulder buttons and two shoulder triggers.

The screen is very similar to the 3DS touch screen, except larger and a better resolution. It is single touch, and not capacitive, so pressure matters. It comes with a stylus.

There's some grumbling out there about how it would be so much better if it was an iPad quality screen. Perhaps - but it would also be loads more expensive and people are already saying that $300 is very expensive. There's also some comfort in the fact that it functions exactly like the DS/3DS screen, so it's something familiar that people are used to playing "console" games on. The simplicity also means, to me, that games aren't going to get too extravagant in how they utilize that screen. I'm probably not going to have to use complicated gestures to make Mario spin in the next 3D Mario title. If the tech isn't there, Nintendo won't have to try to find an excuse to use it like they did with motion controls.

It was a little odd at first, playing with my hands so far apart, but I got over that quickly.

The Wii U OS software is pretty nice. It's very reminiscent of the DS software, which uses tiles to hold apps that you can click on. A weird thing at first that took some getting used to is that the gemepad is king in terms of operating the OS. The TV is secondary. The main menu has options on the gamepad to open things like the game disc, the e shop, settings, etc.

The TV, as far as I can tell, shows a random assortment of stuff. It shows Mii's from the Miiverse with top rated drawings and messages, in addition to icons for random apps and software. If you want to be able to interact with that stuff, there's a button to switch what's on the TV and what's on the gamepad, because it has to be on the gamepad for you to click it.

It's not a bad system, just different and confusing at first since I kept trying to select stuff on the TV screen using the analog sticks.

On to the games...

Nintendo Land is the Wii Sports of the Wii U. It's a collection of minigames, some multiplayer and some single player, that all utilize the gamepad in some unique way. Basically tech demos, but they are some really good and really fun tech demos.

One thing I found impressive was how everything between the gamepad and the TV is one to one. Whether you're drawing with the stylus, using the gyro sensor to steer a car, or using the screen as a viewfinder.

An odd thing about Nintendo Land, though, is that the games with the highest production values (Zelda, Metroid), are probably the most boring games, and the simpler games are the most addictive. Zelda is basically a rail shooter where the person with the game pad uses a bow (the screen serves as a view finder to target), and everyone else uses the wii mote as swords. It's fun, but not compelling enough to go back to very often.

However, Yoshi's fruit cart (one of the single player offerings) is super fun. You have two maps, one on TV and one on the gamepad, and you use a stylus to draw the path the cart will take. The challenge is that you can see the fruit you want to pick up on the TV and not on the gamepad, so you need to try to draw a path through something you can't see.

The Animal Crossing game is also fun. The person with the gamepad uses the analog sticks to control two characters and chase everyone else, who is trying to collect candy. The other people use the TV, while the gamepad person can only see a small portion of the map on the gamepad. The other people are also faster, so you have to be clever about trapping people using your numbers advantage.

New Super Mario Bros is everything I hoped it would be. It's an HD, 2D, Mario game. It's also one of the most difficult ones I've played in a long time.

The game looks so nice. It's not pushing the envelope on textures, everything is so smooth, bright, crisp, and shiny. Even if the game weren't fun, it would have me ecstatic about all the possibilities of playing Nintendo games in HD. But the game is fun - probably the best "new" super mario bros game yet.

In addition to the difficulty, it also has tons of secret areas in each level to explore and find, and the "world map" is one big continuous experience - it's not divided into zones.

It has the same multiplayer as the other NSMB games, which I don't care for at all. I know some people enjoy it, but I just find it frustrating. It makes the game more difficult having more people, without much benefit in return.

The Miiverse is very nicely integrated into NSMB. Whenever you do really good on a level, it gives you an option to post about it. If you keep failing at a particular spot, it lets you post about it. If you happen to die similarly to someone else, it shows you their words of encouragement.

The gamepad is only really used as a second screen in NSMB (everything on TV is duplicated on the gamepad). I've heard some grumbling online about this, usually in the form of "nintendo doesn't know what to do with their own hardware" - but I think that Nintendo Land by itself proves that wrong.

It's actually refreshing to me that Nintendo didn't feel the need to cram some weird feature into the game using that screen that would have made this Mario game not-Mario. Instead, it sends a clear message to gamers and other developers that the Wii U is also a system for traditional style games which leverage the Gamepad as a mobile second screen instead of a core gameplay mechanic.

Conclusion

I'm extremely happy with my Wii U. If a new game comes out for all three current consoles, I'll probably pick up the Wii U version because the ability to play on the gamepad and not take up the TV if you want to is so awesome. Two people can be on the couch doing two different things at once. It's actually kind of revolutionary, and I think this is going to be an especially nice feature for families with kids.

To be honest, though, even if I had bought the Wii U and not enjoyed the gamepad, I think the system is worth the $350 because you're going to finally be playing first party Nintendo games in HD.

Re: So who's getting the Wii U?
 

Question for you: Can you play single player NSMBU with a Wiimote instad of the Pad? I want to turn that thing off to save batteries!

Oh by the way, today I discovered I'm not going to pay €350, but €326 for the Premium pack. :D Just 4 nights away!

Re: So who's getting the Wii U?
 

I will agree that Wii U will EVENTUALLY be worth the $350 price, but the games out there right now dont do anything for me, at least not the exclusives. Once Nintendo starts churning out their always exceptional 1st party titles I will have to pick one up. And no, New super mario Bros Wii, while looks to be a very good platmormer, does not cut it as a killer ap must have launch title. If a new 3D mario game was available at launch I might have picked one up.

Zelda at Launch for Wii, even though it was a port, had to have did wonders for system sales.

Re: So who's getting the Wii U?
 

I like the Zelda franchise, but people believe its a much bigger deal than it actually is.

As a matter of fact, Link's Crossbow Training is the best selling Zelda game on the Wii...

Re: So who's getting the Wii U?
 

Yeah, when you start the game it asks which you want to use.

And yeah, right now at $350 it doesn't have the library to back it up - but what console does at launch? I figure by being an early adopter I can get good games as they come out instead of getting the system a year from now and having a big back log.

Re: So who's getting the Wii U?
 

Posting this from my pretty new Wii U! :D

Re: So who's getting the Wii U?
 

Vamp, I'm adding you right now. My Nintendo ID is Canyarion.

I got Nintendo Land and Trine 2 (discounted, just €13,45 atm!).

Re: So who's getting the Wii U?
 

http://kotaku.com/5965458/someone-ma...-pretty-catchy

This is cute, someone made a song using just Wii U sound samples

Re: So who's getting the Wii U?
 

I wasn't planning on buying one for a while. There aren't any games out for it currently that I'm interested in and either don't already have it for another system or couldn't get it for another system except for Mario. My wife is really more into Mario than I am, though, and we have a few other Mario games to work through if either of us got the itch. So, I was basically Zelda waiting.

I ran into 4 deluxe models (plus some basic, but who cares about basic?) at a nearby Target. I hadn't expected to actually see any in the wild (especially the deluxe), so I was a little surprised. I had the money and figured I'd have bought some time anyway, though, so I went ahead and impulse bought it.

I didn't get any other games for it besides the Nintendo Land that comes with it. The single player bits are okay; nothing spectacular. The Zelda portion is basically a sample of Diet Caffeine Free Skyward Sword that has become warm and flat. The DK one was cool. The Yoshi one is neat, I guess, but I kind of got tired of it quickly. Basically its okay. It probably works better as a party game, but my wife is the only one I'd play with and its difficult for us both to have time to play a game or something now, so...

The system itself is fine. The gamepad is cool. I don't really even notice the extra space between my hands, so whatevs there. I kind of wish they had nixed the Wiimote's and the motion control, though. It just seems kind of cheap to not only be able to "plug in" an old controller from the previous gen and use it but to also be expected to have one ready... I have plenty, though, so its really more of a principle thing than a real drawback, I guess.

Anyway, that's all I really have. I look forward to seeing what else Nintendo has planned for the Wii U.

Re: So who's getting the Wii U?
 

Using the Wiimotes is great in my opinion. Most people will have 1 or 2 lying around anyway. What's the other option, buying new Pro controllers?

Anyway, I tried multiplayer a few times, it's great. ^_^

Re: So who's getting the Wii U?
 

I absolutely see them everywhere. Methinks either nintendo over-prepared because of the wii launch, or that demand isn't that high for the Wii U, or both.

Re: So who's getting the Wii U?
 

Hard to say, but based on opening sales
Modest to decent demand in North America
Pretty solid demand in Japan
Absolutely awful in the UK

Re: So who's getting the Wii U?
 

I think they needed better launch titles.

We are also still 13 days from christmas.

I will not be picking one up until Pikmin 3. I love pikmins.

Re: So who's getting the Wii U?
 

Pikmin 3 will be nice, but it's hardly a hardware seller.

On another forum I visit (cubed3.com), people are really worried about the lack of 3rd party support. The launch was pretty good, but there's hardly anything announced for the coming year.

Re: So who's getting the Wii U?
 

Yeah 3rd party support is worrying so early in the system's life.. it has more "major" titles than the Wii at this point, but it dries up quickly.

As for system movers, I think LEGO City Undercover has HUGE potential that folks are ignoring.