Nit Picking on the WII U? thoughts....

[flojocabron]

Its almost out, and theres already reviewers and sites with complaints about nintendo's newest console.

While most of us may be optimistic about nintnedo's future plans, some of us have a wait and see approach. And some are hyper criticial that say "nintendo should know better".

The early complaints is about hardware and some about software. Are early games just tech demos? Will future model revisions obviously fix early hardware mistakes?

I know there were complaints about the Wii when it first came out too and most have been forgiven, or we just got used to them. Is it justified? Will we have to endure? For some people the 3DS is a paperweight and their Wii's have been gathering dust.

Will we be as forgiving with the WII U? Post what you've seen online, or if you are a (soon to be)owner what you didn't like or can improve upon.

Some of the links that I post are for comedic effects and some may be serious, so Its up to you to decide.
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http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/11/w ... s-and-dlc/

It looks like if you have the basic wii U, you're screwed.
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http://www.uproxx.com/gammasquad/2012/1 ... em-seller/

Its a strange game and you will play it since theres not much else once you own your new wii U
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http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/11/10-things-wii-u/

General questions and tips on the new console.
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http://www.pressthebuttons.com/2012/11/ ... -time.html

More of a company error and distribution. But if you're in Canada its gonna take a while to get you new U.

I'm sure more stuff will pop up eventually. But dont let your "Nintendo Fanboyism" get in the way of what a new console entails. This time Nintendo is taking the first step in the new 8th gen consoles.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

So, as excited as I am to get mine Sunday, it'd be silly to deny it of some nit-picking. So let's have at it!

The console itself:

So, Nintendo did a fairly good job of making the system look sleek and sexy, and to some degree, it still does. What most people weren't counting on though, was just how deep it actually is. It appears to be a good 2" deeper than the original Wii. Some with deep media centers will appreciate this, but, with all of our plasma and LCD TV centers being not much thicker than the TVs themselves... I have to wonder whether this will be loved or be an annoyance to many.

I really don't see why they didn't include at least a 60gb hard drive in the base model. I understand that they are allowing you to expand with USB drives, but, I have to wonder how many of your average gamers will do such a thing. Most people couldn't even be bothered to upgrade a PS3 hard drive.

The controller(s):

As cool as the gamepad looks, I have to wonder why Nintendo didn't go with a slightly smaller screen. Maybe something around 4.5". It would surely have made the manufacturing costs less right?

But my main beef isn't with the gamepad. It's more with the plethora of peripherals. It would be one thing if they came out and explicitly said "Okay, the Pro controller is the main other controller. Everything will work with it. We have Wiimotes for legacy support". However, it's not that way. You can, seemingly, play stuff with all three different control setups. The problem with this, of course, is that the Wiimote is in some cases a less capable controller, and in some cases more. This has to confuse people. Am I supposed to play this game with the gamepad, the wiimote, or the pro controller? Is there any reason to play it this way or that? If, for example, Black Ops II works with the Wiimote, I can see those players absolutely dominating the standard gamepad players. They've done a terrible job on this front in my opinion. Keep it to the gamepad and pro-controller.

Then, I wonder how/if many developers will use the touch screen in non-gimmicky, fun ways. Like the DS, I'm sure there will be tons of shit that really just shouldn't be there. Just because you have a feature doesn't mean it's a good idea to use it. At the very least, inventory management might not be as problematic as it was on previous controllers.

Graphics:

This isn't something I'm too worried about. However, it's easy for gamers to get their panties in a bunch over this. Fact is, the Wii U's launch titles are all, for the most part, at least subtly better than their PS3/360 counterparts. This isn't good enough for some people it seems, however. Thing is, look how far we've come pushing the 6 year old hardware of the current gen:

http://download.gamezone.com/uploads/im ... esface.jpg

(I can confirm all those shots as in game.)

Ubisoft has come out saying they aren't having any issues running the current stuff with little optimization. While at the start 1080p pickings will be slim (Monster Hunter 3 is the only confirmed title I know of, some rumors about ZombiU being in 1080p as well) I'm not too worried about the consoles 1080p offerings picking up. It should, at the very least, provide much better textures due to it having much more ram.

Third party support:

I really, really, really hope Nintendo doesn't screw this up like last time. Though they already have more 3rd party support at the start, I'm worried that they'll be able to keep that support for several years. Ubisoft appears to be backing the system with full support though, and they were one of the bigger publishers for the original Wii. Only time will tell...

[Octopod]

I don't plan on playing Black Ops 2 but I think the Wiimote/Nunchuk configuration is a good idea since it is closest to replicating the mouse/keyboard setup. FPS/Team Death Match with a controller is just bad imo.

[marlowe221]

It's really early to draw any definite conclusions at this point, IMHO.

For one thing, we all know that launch titles are usually a poor indication of what a console is capable of - graphically and otherwise.

I think Nintendo is being smart to inlcude Wiimote functionality in WiiU games. They want to encourage same-room multiplayer gaming - the whole console and tablet controller is built around this idea. If they designed the system so that you had to buy all new controllers to do this (instead of Wiimotes that MILLIONS of potential customers already have sitting around) people would justifiably complain that the Big N was nickel and diming them to death.

Will it work out?

I think it's too early to tell.

[gtmtnbiker]

I think the big challenge for the Wii U is that many 3rd party developers like to have their game run on multiple platforms. It's going to be a challenge to do that with the WiiU because of the gamepad. That is, they code support for it (extra work) that is not useable for the other platforms.

[pankakes123]

I think the big challenge for the Wii U is that many 3rd party developers like to have their game run on multiple platforms. It's going to be a challenge to do that with the WiiU because of the gamepad. That is, they code support for it (extra work) that is not useable for the other platforms.

I don't think it will be too hard. Plenty of devs including Nintendo often copped out with the DS dual screens by just adding a nice picture or map to the screen that does not have the main game on it. Devs will probably do the same with Wii U, just put a map or inventory screen on the gamepad.

[flojocabron]

Is the controller pad's battery energy saving or cost cutting?

The people on Sankaku Complex are on the complaint.

BEWARE! SITE IS NSFW

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2012/11/1 ... r-battery/

Any complaints on the battery life of yours?

Or like one of the posters there said they'll probably release a better battery later?

[Octopod]

I actually think the battery is to keep the weight of the controller on the light end. I'm sure they could have stuck a bigger battery in there but it would weigh more. I have no doubt that bigger batteries will be released for it by someone. Not really a concern for me so far. The power cord for it is pretty long and I have outlets within range. I guess it could suck if you do not have an outlet in your play area though.

[flojocabron]

there may be a slight problem if your wii is messed up (by being old) and you want to transfer your stuff (virtual console games) to the WII U.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/11/h ... iling-wii/

There is some program to help you, but this poor guy has to do it the hard way.

Lets hope none of us here have to deal with the same.

[Cronozilla]

Most of the power is for the screen's backlight it seems. Yesterday, I fully charged the GamePad, used it for about 3 hours, when it turned on the low battery light. That was at maximum brightness.

I changed it to the lowest brightness (seems to be about as bright as the middle brightness on 3DS) and used the thing, according to the Log, about 4 hours 20 minutes today, and the battery meter just went down to 2 bars in the last ten minutes or so I was playing.

Also, I moved it off the charging stand last night ... so it sat all night before I used it today.