It’s certainly not a replacement for the 360 or PS3.
But it IS something pretty unique and compelling, at least for me & my family. We spent pretty much the entire day playing Nintendo Land - it’s really a novel experience and quite polished. The ghost chasing game in Luigi’s mansion is amazingly good and replayable for how simple the core rules are.
Much like the Wii, there’s just no point in viewing it as direct competition on anything cross platform. It’ll be strictly for the exclusives, either the stuff straight from Nintendo or the games that manage to do something interesting with the pad. Frankly, it’s going to be nice to play those games on something with even roughly current gen graphics; it’s a crying shame to have titles like Xenoblade Chronicles be condemned by 10-year old visuals.
There’s a brief window of time before the real 8th generation console war begins where Nintendo stands to benefit a great deal just from not being 7 years old.
This isn’t exactly a winning strategy: let’s have a console with a 1 year lifespan!
Also, from what I have read, the multiplatform ports have been kind of lackluster so far – it’s not clear that any 1 year technological advantage will even be apparent to consumers before Durango and Orbis hit the market.
It does seem to have sold out in all the online retailers and at Best Buy Stores. Searching Target around here, most stores have at least one of the two models in stock; some are sold out of 8GB and some of 32GB, but only a couple have neither.
“Games need to be built that can take advantage of the two GamePad controllers,” he says. “It’s going to be well after launch for those game experiences to come to life.”
Initially, he says, Nintendo expects developers to best figure out how to utilize a second screen in gameplay before figuring out how to incorporate a third – and that could take a while to master.
“Asymmetric gameplay is going to be the next major step forward, just like active play was when we launched the Wii,” says Fils-Aime. “We think that’s where developers will focus first, then there will be multiple experiences that have two GamePads.”
Thanks for the reminder and update on local stores. My son was really interested in one for Christmas, but we figured they would be too hard to find at this point.
I just checked the local stores online and it seems there are quite a few places that have them in stock around here still. My wife is going to run up to see if she can snag one real quick.
I haven’t bought one because it’s not out yet but I still am going to.
It’s odd that it was released in the US first when I’ve noticed over the lifespan of the Wii that it seems America has fallen out of love with Nintendo whilst Europe and Japan are still enamoured.
Well, I may have spoken too soon. Every store that listed they had some in stock in town has been sold out, so they went fast at least around here yesterday.
I am enjoying it so far, but it is kind of rough around the edges.
As far as multiplatform gaming:
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is pretty damn good on it and has the added benefit of being able to play on the Gamepad, while another person is playing on the TV. You can both play multiplayer at the same time. Very cool.
Assassins Creed 3 and Sonic Racing both look just as good as the other console versions and play well. Being able to play the game directly on the Gamepad screen while others are watching TV or whatever is awesome.
Batman does a lot of cool things with the gamepad and I love the fact that you can play the game directly on the gamepad…but the slowdown is pretty bad.
Super Mario and Nintendo Land are great and very fun. Once again, Nintendo shines in the 1st party stuff. The Miiverse stuff has lots of potential and I can see that being a big focal point for Nintendo going forward.
Overall, I’m happy with it. Oh and if anyone wants to add me on the Nintendo Network my ID is Hetz_OO
I bought one yesterday, and got Epic Mickey Two and Sing Party. However, after getting it connected, had to wait for the big patch, so haven’t had the chance to play it yet.
I am looking forward to Rayman. That is the game demo at Best Buy that convinced my wife they would be fun to play together.
So, curious what else to get for this. Is ZombiU that good? How is Mario? And I haven’t picked up Assassin’s Creed 3 on any system, should I get this one, or just wait for the PC version?
As of now the Wii U, like the Wii, seems to shine brightest in a family environment. One where you can play local multiplayer with 3-4 people in the same room. If that is something that fits your lifestyle then you should get some good entertainment from the system.
If you are looking for good single player gaming experiences then there’s not a whole lot except for ZombieU and a bunch of ports. NewSuperMarioBrothersU seems like it’s good but yet another retread of the same game that has been recently out on the DS, Wii & 3DS.
Galadin for AC3 I would definitely wait for the PC version. ZombiU is getting mixed reviews ranging from 9 from Eurogamer, 7 from Edge & 4.5 from Gamespot.
Can you explain a bit how this process works? My wii has tons of purchases on it, but no longer connects to wi-fi and discs do not work. My main impulse for getting a wii u is to transfer all my purchases and play all my wii gAmes again
I spent a couple hours with Assassins Creed last night. It looks great and I haven’t noticed any slowdown with it. The gamepad functions as a map most of the time, but there is an option to switch it to behave like the regular display so that you can play away from the tv.
To answer the question about the transfer from the Wii, it does require an internet connection on both the Wii U and the Wii. Both to download the transfer app and during the process.
I will definitely buy one. In 2015, when most of the first party titles are out, and Wii U emulation on the PC is mature enough (fingers crossed). Zelda U in 1080p and 8x AA with the extra UI elements streamed to a multi-touch Ipad or android tablet? Yes please!
The console itself doesn’t interest me: the gamepad doesn’t fit my play style, and the hardware is not very impressive - other than the size of the console.
