Gaming Thoughts on the Wii U

[Deleted_171835]

With all the doom and gloom surrounding the Wii U, I figured that this would be the right time to post a thread on my thoughts on the system so far.

I can't say I really have any problems with the hardware itself. The box is small and sleek with a nice glossy finish, almost like a longer Wii. And while I'm not exactly a fan of the way the Gamepad attracts fingerprints, it's pretty sturdy and isn't offensive aesthetics-wise. I would have preferred a higher resolution on the tab, it's decent enough and games look just fine on it.

Now while the OS is a nice improvement over the Wii, it's quite lacking in a number of areas. There's no dedicated video or music player, there's no achievement system, there's an account system but it's still tied to the system unless you contact Nintendo to transfer it.

More often then not, I find myself lamenting things I can't do on the system rather than being surprised by all the new things it can do.

• Playing Need for Speed: Most Wanted and want to play my own tracks to replace the in-game music. Oh wait, there's no custom soundtrack support.
• There's still no achievement system.
• There's an actual friends list and chat system...but no easy way to access it. Want to use text to communicate, open up Miiverse. Want to video-chat, open up the dedicated Wii U Chat application. It's one big mess.

...and so on.

Now the game library is quite barren, to be expected with a console that's only been out for a couple months. There are a few gems in the rough, though.

• ZombiU: Pretty much the premiere third-party exclusive. It's survival horror done right. Sure it's not perfect (would have preferred more melee weapons for one) but it excels in certain areas and is certain no Red Steel. It also showcases the potential of the Wii U Gamepad better than any Nintendo-published game currently does.
• New Super Mario Bros U: The NSMB series is getting a bit long in the tooth, that much I'll admit. Even so, this is still a solid entry. Level design is just as solid as you would expect from a 2D Mario and the new Challenges mode is pretty fun. Really not worth $60 though, I'd wait for the price to drop.
• Need for Speed: Most Wanted: If you have a need for speed, this is well worth the purchase. Superior console version visually and performance-wise (something that can't be said too often with Wii U multiplats) and comes with free DLC.
• Lego City Undercover: Think GTA but with Legos. It's a pretty well-made game, the writing is pretty funny and the level design is great. Surprisingly good.

And really, that's pretty much it. Sure you could bring up all the other ports (Injustice, Batman, etc.) but really, if you're buying a Wii U, you probably already own a console that can play those games. You're here for exclusives, not ports.

There are quite a few interesting exclusives coming out in the future (TW101, Pikmin 3, Bayo. 2) but that's a long way off. Considering how Nintendo was touting how great the Wii U's "launch window" was going to be prior to launch, it really is a disappointment.

I got the Wii U at half-price so I'm pretty satisfied, although that probably wouldn't have been the case if I got it at full price. The OS may be lacking and the game library is small but hopefully that changes in the future. The system has potential, I'm just waiting on Nintendo to realize it.

 

[Snailface]

The system has been out for six months. -.-

 

[TackyPie]

I heard Monster Hunter was a good game, but I never played it before.

 

[XDel]

I'm just waiting on Metroid, Mario, and Zelda, then I'll buy one.

 

[nickerous]

Personally, I held off on the ports so I could play them on the gamepad in off tv mode. Darksiders 2 and Assassin's Creed are great off tv. I still want to get Batman, but am waiting on the $20 or less sale.

 

[DaggerV]

-.- people ... and we'll be doing this again with next two system so I won't bother.

 

[Eerpow]

• Playing Need for Speed: Most Wanted and want to play my own tracks to replace the in-game music. Oh wait, there's no custom soundtrack support.
• There's an actual friends list and chat system...but no easy way to access it. Want to use text to communicate, open up Miiverse. Want to video-chat, open up the dedicated Wii U Chat application. It's one big mess.

Is the custom track thing not supported by the system or is it the devs who just didn't implement it? I mean the Wii was capable of custom music in some titles.
EDIT: oh wait you mean a music player in the firmware...

Specify chat system, there is MiiVerse but from what I understand you want something like a quick simple text chat implemented as a universal feature in the OS. I think something like that will only be available where it's necessary, that X game and DraQue has text chat and hopefully most future Wii U online games will have this too.
Would be sweet with a OS chat feature though as most Nintendo games are usually very limited when it comes to online user communication. Mario Kart could benefit a lot from a chat when racing in a community with friends for example.

 

[weavile001]

Injustice is very cool,i´m very bad though, most of the characters can easily own/kill me.....

 

[Bladexdsl]

only games matter not consoles

 

[yagami69]

I disagree only to the achievements point of the OP as a bad thing if the console does not have it, the achievements system depends a lot on the games having real achievements, which mostly of the games have easy achievements along the good hard ones...

However much of the games have their own kind of achievements, including Nintendo Games like the Medals in pokemon, even back on the day Super Smash Bros. Melee had its own achievement system, and even was presented in versus mode for each profile you created in the game, and you can earn a lot of things in Injustice which is a 3rd Party game example of achievements present in game layer instead of OS, so the lack of OS native achievements is not really a problem

The other 2 points I agree a lot, they need to add custom Music support from the SD or USB and definitely improving how the Home button works or having some overlay in gamepad for easy friend/chat/messaging tasks, these 2 in OS level

 

[Gahars]

only games matter not consoles

Considering a console is what you play a game on in the first place (unless you're part of the PC gaming master race, of course), yeah, consoles are kind of important in the whole process. Their features and hardware (not to mention market presence) determine how the games may be experienced - or if they can be experienced at all.

 

[Dork]

Considering a console is what you play a game on in the first place (unless you're part of the PC gaming master race, of course), yeah, consoles are kind of important in the whole process. Their features and hardware (not to mention market presence) determine how the games may be experienced - or if they can be experienced at all.

pee see + pii u mustard race

 

[Clarky]

For what the Wii U has offered so far I have been happy with it, despite the launch being a fuck up and Nintendo not knowing which market to aim for.

 

[TyBlood13]

I really don't get this obsession with achievements, they are literally the most pointless thing focused on in the last generation of gaming.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

I think the WiiU is a pretty cool guy. It plays Mario and doesn't afraid of anything.

 

[Cyan]

Now while the OS is a nice improvement over the Wii, it's quite lacking in a number of areas. There's no dedicated video or music player

I searched for the white board to write some notes while in-game ... but wait, it's a 3DS feature only.
I had to take some sheet of paper and a pen, while I have a gamepad and a stylus which could do it. it's so outdated.
I have already many papers everywhere for many games, it would be easier to manage them on the system, per games.

I wish we could write (text or picture) and store our own files on the system (with no size/file number limit! there are 32GB + HDD available !).
I have many things to note when playing games (like making item lists, missions, etc.)

A file system would be great, and like you said, a player too (text reader, media player).

 

[Warlord698]

I searched for the white board to write some note while in-game ... but wait, it's a 3DS feature only.
I had to take some sheet of paper and a pen, while I have a gamepad and a stylus which could do it. it's so outdated.

I wish we could write (text or picture) and store our own files on the system (with not size/file number limit! there are 32GB + HDD available !).
I have many things to note when playing games (like making item lists, missions, etc.)

A file system would be great, and like you said, a player too (text reader, media player).

considering a lot of the updates that happened for 3DS, i would say send a suggestion for that into Nintendo or somewhere on their forums and if the reception is good enough for it they might implement it in a future update

 

[Cyan]

Nintendo does NOT accept suggestion in any ways. it's (or was?) written on their website that they don't want users to submit suggestions or ideas.
They do not want a nobody to claim ownership of ideas...

it's clear they want to make only closed platforms, gaming only, no user's interaction with its content (media player, file browsers).
Ah, they at least allowed MP3 players on Wii (old before photo channel 1.1 update) and 3DS. but no imported and time limited video player on 3DS.

They could make a media player (WiiMC) with Computer sharing over Wifi, or SD, or USB, etc.
But they don't see consoles as open device for user's personal use.
You can't even backup your own save files ! it's regression from Wii. They only fear hacking, cheating and piracy, they are not confident in their security (with reason).

But maybe there's still hope. we will see future updates, or if they decide to change their politics.

 

[Warlord698]

well, there can always be hope they take some ideas from the community, just from the few instances

Wii getting SDHC support and ability to play WiiWare/VC straigt from the SD cards through updates
3DS getting folder support and internet browser made to where is can be opened at the same time as a game (although i wish there was the option to also run it in a "Priority mode" so to speak, where if there is nothing else open it can take FULL advantage of the hardware and use it like a stand alone app instead of just an addon)

 

[Cyan]

it's not really straight from SDcard (it's copied to NAND first), but it's good that they added SD card storage instead of downloading them again.
Users have a lot of ideas which are never implemented (or only later on console's life), that's why I like the homebrew community.