Wii U MacRumors members reviews.

MacRumorUser said:

Come on folks can we have some hands in user reviews from our regulars please.

Games, Thoughts, likes & Dislikes of the new system.

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Its one relevant game NSMBU is good

I'll post one later today

MacRumorUser said:

Sonic'ly 'good' ?

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On that note I'll go to GameStop later today and in the pure interest of science I might buy another title so I can give it a better review.

This being completely scientific and all.. or something..

Review coming soon, no blue spiked hair unfortunately.

MacRumorUser said:

LOL. Well i am intending to pick up the spiked one when I collect my Wii U next friday So i might beat you too it

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I think you can DL Sonic Racing right? I didn't see a Sonic game for sale anywhere or you know I would have bought it lol.

So far so good. The update did take foooooorever. And each game I played, also had an update that took a while. Load times are long for everything but I hope they can fix that. i feel stupid getting annoyed at a load time (first world problems and all) but I do. Super Mario on WiiU looks so much better than the old Super Mario on plain old Wii. Crisper, cleaner, no dropouts, just great, great graphics. Game play with touchscreen is fine although I do get that WHAT THE HELL IS IN THIS THING noise you might have heard about. I don't care about it as long as it works fine, which is does. Battery life is HORRIBLE on touchscreen. When I play, I like to play for a long time on one of my days off. Not easy to do with the battery dying this quick (although on some games, I can switch to old mote). Does anyone know if battery life is something that can someday be fixed with a software patch or are we stuck with this? Kids didn't seem to into the nintendo land games. I remember how blown away they were with wii sports, so this is a bit of a disappointment. All in all, glad I bought it, could be better, ask me again when 3d Mario or Zelda comes out.

Pros:
- Can play game on the remote itself without the tv being on (if anyone else wants to watch tv that is really the best selling point of this console)
- 5 player games
- Dual Screen games
- Party Games
- Non Gamers will enjoy this console and its games alot more

Cons:
- Wii Menus and switching between different apps is PAINFULLY slow, cant believe this brand new tech will literally take 30secs-1min to go from one menu to another
- Gamepad battery life can be an issue to some
- Gamepad resolution is not great, you can see the pixels up close, specially for someone coming from retina displays and hdtvs
- HardCore gamers will stick with xbox/ps3, this system is still not geared towards them
- Adding friends makes no sense, u have to add a friend AND they have to add u back so u can be friends how annoying (i guess its for safety for kids but they couldve added an adults only option without this)
- No really unique titles and launch titles are mainly ports or just shovelware a la Wii

Overall i think it shows great promise for being a unique and different console, its just not in the same league as xbox/ps3 and shouldnt be compared to them

My Nintendo ID thingy is jimmi and then rock. One word.

MacRumorUser said:

Negatives.. My console locked up once going back to the wii menu. E-shop pricing is a joke. MiiVerse loading the is too slow to make you want to dive into it fully.

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Download stores can't charge less for a download version of a disc game in one region than another. So because the RRP in Albania or [pick another country] is steep, the entire region has to suffer the high price on the digital store. It's as simple as that and even applies to Steam (Which is why they have 2 or 3 pricing structures for Europe). Sucks, doughnut.


Nano Assault Neo: It's alright. You can play on the controller or TV, so I keep coming back to it because it's just so easy to. Nice graphics, okay music, good gameplay (the satellite customisation is actually great, best bit about it). Confusing scoreboard structure though. It tells me I'm 45th on the scoreboard, but scrolling up the positions reset to 100 and the scores keep increasing.

Can't wait to dive into Mario. I find them amazing in multiplayer and dull in single, waiting to get a houseful before starting that.

Over the years I've somehow ended up with every Nintendo home console at, or around launch, other than oddities such as the Famicom Disc System, Virtual Boy and 64DD.... so I've been quite looking forward to the U.

Firstly, the name..... Well done on confusing people Nintendo. Whilst the general public seem to be able to comprehend PlayStation 3, adding a U seems completely lost on most people. The vast majority seem to think it's a peripheral, or just a newer version (like a slim), or they have no idea what it is. Maybe Nintendo could have got away with Wii2, but they should have just called it the Nintendo U, and let the Wii name go.

As for the hardware itself, it's quite nice and discreet. I still can't work out why they didn't put the sync button behind the front panel and center everything though? But my main concern is a lack of an internal HDD bay. Both models have a pathetic amount of internal storage, Nintendo are essentially expecting you to use a USB external drive. 32GB isn't going to last even the most casual of gamers 5 years if we're totally honest. So why not make everything much neater and easier and allow the use of 2.5" HDDs internally?

Overall though the console feels nice and solid, looks tidy and will be covered in dust-bunnies, well, immediately.

The controller really is very nice. Reading the initial reviews, people were complaining that it felt cheap and plasticky. One reviewer even complained the buttons were the wrong way round compared to his 360 controller kids today, eh.... But really, I think it feels very nice and solid and it's great to hold. It's been compared to the iPad in build quality which is silly considering the entire system is half the price of one. The touchscreen is nice and bright and registers inputs very well. I do find it strange though that ZR and ZL are digital buttons and not analog triggers.

To be honest, I've been using it as an Über-Gameboy so far. Playing Mario on the controller whilst having Star Trek on the telly is awesome and totally geektastic. Obviously things like ZombiU and Aliens are going to require a combination of controller and TV, and work much better on the bigger screen. But for platform games like Mario or Rayman I'm quite happy with my new Gameboy

It's just a shame they didn't ship it with a higher capacity battery that actually, you know, fills the entire battery compartment. Just over three hours play-time is unacceptable if I'm totally honest. So it's now up to Nintendo or some enterprising Chinese mateys, but I want a battery that's going to last at least 6 or 7 hours between a charge.

Now considering the whole system really is centered around the Gamepad, I think Nintendo have done really well for the price point. My only real complaint is the battery and maybe the lack of analog triggers. I do have one suggestion though: that silky plastic they use on the rear of the Harmony 1100 or WDTV remote would be great on the rear of the Gamepad. Other than that, I think it's a fantastically well engineered controller which fits the hand very well.

The absence of real media center capabilities is slightly annoying. Nintendo have always traditionally done the gaming thing and left the whole Media Center experience to Sony and Microsoft. But this time they're offering TVii, so the lack of any other media capabilities is a bit of an oversight. The Triple and 360 are capable of streaming video, albeit with the help of PS3MediaServer, so why not the U? The discs are surely proprietary Blu-ray technology so why not add full BRD playback support? C'mon Nintendo, you can swallow a licensing fee of a couple of quid per machine?

So yeah, there you go, that's my honest thoughts. It's certainly not a perfect system by anymeans, but they never are. The good points outweigh any major complaints though.....

Reading reviews and other opinions, no one seems blown away by the console. Which is a shame considering new systems aren't released every year. It is understandable though, the PS3 and 360 have been available for years now delivering what the original Wii couldn't, graphics wise. However, I really don't think the next consoles from Microsoft and Sony are going to live up to expectation. I think people are expecting an Alienware under their telly, and that's just not happening, not for 300 quid.

Everything will come into perspective when the other consoles are released late next year.

MacRumorUser said:

Assassins Creed 3 on the wii U looks and plays great on the TV but on the gamepad screen it looks amazing.

The fact I don't get just a 'similar' experience as my bigger console but instead I do get the genuinely same experience has made me question why I am bothering with a Vita, which for the most part I have to buy a game twice (excluding cross buy) to play my console game on a small screen whilst watching TV.

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Yeah this is the same thing I was thinking about awhile back and part of the disruptive nature of the Wii U. A lot of people buy the Vita because they want a handheld console experience but most games don't match console gameplay 100%.

Here you have a 100% console experience transplanted to a handheld device. Only caveat is you have to stay within range of the box. But for those people who spend most of their time playing their Vita on the couch anyway, they're getting a better experience streaming to the Gamepad than on the dedicated handheld.

I guess I am just one of the very few people who see absolutely no appeal in playing a game on a tiny portable screen while my nice TV is in the same/next room. I don't think I have ever turned on my PSP outside of an airplane or train.

MacRumorUser said:

Bought Assassins Creed 3 and so far I've only played it on my Gamepad screen. What this has done has made me realise how crappy the Vita version is (despite it being one of the better Vita games out there).

Assassins Creed 3 on the wii U looks and plays great on the TV but on the gamepad screen it looks amazing.

The fact I don't get just a 'similar' experience as my bigger console but instead I do get the genuinely same experience has made me question why I am bothering with a Vita, which for the most part I have to buy a game twice (excluding cross buy) to play my console game on a small screen whilst watching TV.

I've decided once I have completed Persona 4 : golden I am going to trade in my Vita for credit and put it towards future wiiU and ps3 software instead.

I'm also planning on going forward to buy the wiiU version of multi platform titles simply for the play on gamepad experience.

I don't play my Vita outside the house, so 'true portability' in that sense is a non issue for me.

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I think your usage of the Vita is a bit skewed - I use mine out and about, which is what Sony intend you to do (see the adverts!), which is a usage scenario where the WiiU obviously wouldn't work. It's true, the Vita doesn't quite provide the same experience (although games like Wipeout 2048 are incredibly close), but for portable gaming it does a remarkable job.

I also don't quite get why you're playing it solely on the low resolution Gamepad as opposed to a nice big TV?


On a side note, price gouging has begun! £450 on Amazon UK for a Premium Bundle...

Don't get me wrong, I know it's your personal usage, I just find it odd to have a portable system that is used in the environment where portability isn't really needed. That said, I like big screens to the point of having a PS3 in the living room and bedroom for gaming sessions, which is arguably not normal either...

I do think the WiiU functionality of being able to play games whilst watching TV is pretty cool, and arguably one of the stronger selling points for the system. No more TV hogging for hours! However I'd definitely chose the TV as the main viewing device if it was available.

I'm going to sit tight and wait for another 6 months of game releases, or possibly Zelda, and then re-evaluate the WiiU. If there's been a price drop by then, even better! That said, I'm all out of HDMI ports

Three? You do realise the number after the name isn't how many you're supposed to buy? (...how many Xboxes?!)

Taustin Powers said:

I guess I am just one of the very few people who see absolutely no appeal in playing a game on a tiny portable screen while my nice TV is in the same/next room. I don't think I have ever turned on my PSP outside of an airplane or train.

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It's the games. The PSP especially had genres that other consoles didn't have, like JRPGs, 2D platformers. The lines blurring a bit with the Vita. I think it's worse for it, to be honest, that they're trying to emulate home consoles but they're never as good (Uncharted, Mortal Kombat, Call of Duty, Resistance, Assassin's Creed (although I like Liberation)) and rarely just as good (Wipeout, Rayman, Persona).


What I'm amazed at is how there is no latency with the Wii U controller display and have no compression artefacts! It's a bit blocky with red and orange edges but completely unnoticeable during gameplay.

And Playstation are using similar tech with cross-controller games. What I played of LBP2 with a Vita as a Wii U style setup was great and why they're not pushing this tech more is beyond me.

Right now my Wii U is my go-to home console. It's got a bunch of nice controllers, Miiverse is great and there's a lot of connectivity. And the Vita is my go-to handheld.

Liquorpuki said:

Yeah this is the same thing I was thinking about awhile back and part of the disruptive nature of the Wii U. A lot of people buy the Vita because they want a handheld console experience but most games don't match console gameplay 100%.

Here you have a 100% console experience transplanted to a handheld device. Only caveat is you have to stay within range of the box. But for those people who spend most of their time playing their Vita on the couch anyway, they're getting a better experience streaming to the Gamepad than on the dedicated handheld.

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And what is that range ? I heard about 30 feet.. I'm thinking about a WiiU, but how do games look on that pad? I think they've could used a higher rez screen than 480p.