WiiU, what do we think?

[JoeMD]

Maybe I'm getting old and cynical (at 26 ) but I'm finding it hard to get terribly excited about it, too. Yes, I agree a screen in the controller is a cool idea and yes I do agree that it could lead to some wonderful things, but I have several reservations about it. The controller looks damn cumbersome IMO, so I'm worried how that would affect the enjoyment of playing on the system. Also, as I mentioned before, I've never enjoyed the playing experience of the Wii with motion control, so for the WiiU to be contender for me it has to REALLY offer something more traditional. Also, of what I've seen of titles released for the Wii, and I admit that 95% of my knowledge on this comes from Australian gaming TV show Good Game, the majority of games are party/ casual titles, something else I'm not interested in.

Another big factor for me will be how much Sega supports the system. Having pulled Sonic Generations from the Wii and making it a 3DS title only I'll be watching closely to see what their releases for the WiiU are.

[Radirgy]

I've seen a lot of people be for and against the wii u but most of the people I have seen on the net have been in the middle about the wii u.
Some like how nintendo are trying to be original but are unhappy with what appears to be a less than impressive upgrade from the PS3 and xbox 360.
On the other hand there are people who are happy with the power upgrade but don't like the new forced gimmicks.

I think the system has potential but it is still very early and we don't know the full extent of these upgrades.

[Miketendo]

I think we need to all chill out and wait until more info is divulged. There's too many questions I want answered.

[JoeTheUseless]

Please have half decent hardware Nintendo im not a graphics whore or anything but the wii had a 750MHZ proccesser and my windows 98 athlon pc had that same power i heared that the hardware will be similer to the xbox 360 but that hardware is aging now so dont fall behind again

[BuckoA51]

the wii had a 750MHZ proccesser and my windows 98 athlon pc had that same power

No, it didn't, you can't compare processor power based on clock speeds when the processors are a completely different design to each other.

[Collz69]

Im yet to form an opinion on it yet, no doubt I will buy one for the kids, not so sure I will get one for myself (I already have a wii)
If they call it wii u, I probably won't, they need a new name, so everyone knows its a new console & not just a HD wii,
If they scrap friend codes & have a proper online system, similar to Xbox, give it a cool name & adequate power with a decent sized HDD, then I'm in, but I'm guessing these things won't happen

( certainly wont be buying it on launch day tho, made that mistake with the 3DS, rubbish launch titles & as soon as you get it they start bringing out better colours & cool limited editions)

[Dr Bomb]

hopefully it can make up for the wiis shortcomings...

I dunno. I pretty much gave up on nintendo after gamecube.

[Linky Lex]

It looks like it could be good, but I dunno, maybe it's cause I don't know much about it, but I've not got much interest in it.
I'll probably cave if a Zelda game is involved though... the demo looked mightly appealing XD

[BuckoA51]

The pre-E3 announcement where they showed the online service made it look good, but the launch lineup, while good by modern standards, wasn't as good as I was hoping for. Still definitely excited to get one though.

[hydr0x]

The pre-E3 announcement where they showed the online service made it look good, but the launch lineup, while good by modern standards, wasn't as good as I was hoping for. Still definitely excited to get one though.

Still a load of games I would like to buy right away:

Pikmin 3
New Super Mario Bros. U
Nintendoland
ZombiU
Project P-100
Batman Arkham City
LEGO City Undercover, which looked surprisingly good
Aliens: Colonial Marines
Assassins Creed III
Rayman Legends
Mass Effect 3 (don't own it yet)

[Pondis]

Not going anywhere near it.

Sounds fancy with the touch screen controller, but i highly doubt major dev's will port to it.

Lets face it, 360 and ps3 where pretty much the same, different arcitecture but close enough. No one will port a game and add the touch screen functionality.

Well, maybe they will, but im not sure itll be that well supported.

That and it will be incredibly under powered when the PS4 or next xbox comes out

[Playgeneration]

I think its a bit of a confusing mess really. The original Wii did well as it was a simple idea, anyone could pick up the remote and play Wii Sports and understand it right away. This machine not only has the new massive screen controller with its ton of buttons (totally the opposite to the simple remote) but also a traditional controller, and then the old remotes too. So if a game can support play with the normal controller and remotes, then it can't actually make any proper use of the screen controller. They also promote the idea that you can play the game just on the controller while people are watching other things on the TV, which then cancels out any use of two screens in a game. So if the screen controller isn't going to be needed by a game, because it has to support single screen play or the other controllers, whats the point?

I expect it will do well enough by selling to kids and the people who fall over themselves to buy every version of Zelda and Mario Kart etc. But I think they will struggle to get the pensioners, mums and other demographics the Wii captured this time. As for typical male gamers, a lot depends on what Sony and Microsoft do, but plenty of people bought into the Wii, only to see it not live up to the hype or expectations, and won't rush into buying its successor.

If Nintendo can come up with a decent new game franchise or two, rather than the same old sequels all the time, then the shortcomings of the console can be over looked.

[SonGoku182]

Well i'm excited. I mean, i've never been dissappointed with a Nintendo console (or game for that matter).

It's not exactly about to bankrupt Microsoft, but i'm intrigued as to how the gamepad is used.

How would you guys use it in a game? An obvious one would be as a map, and i can't help thinking a lot of third party developers will end up using it as such by default.

It's a shame Uncharted can't make an appearance - rubbings, map puzzles, holding up to the light to see through parchment, etc.

Would be awesome.

[LordlyCalibre]

Nintendo are great for piquing my curiosity then disappointing me afterwards (N64, Wii, NDS to varying extents and for differing reasons) and I suspect the WiiU will do the same. Only having one LCD controller per console is not a good sign, and I have seen a preview of a game where the player with the LCD controller is relegated to a support role in multiplayer, which is even worse. (I think it was the next Rayman game)

I will give them credit for making it a HD console, as this is one of my biggest complaints with the Wii.

Of course, every time I see an attempt to integrate a monitor into a controller, what I see is a Secret of Mana multiplayer game where the game isn't paused because someone needs to open a ring menu

[PanzerEdge]

Even if this system's hardware were the same as the ps3/360 which it is not. THe wiiu is much higher in specs period but still it's an nintendo system and they will have fantastic game's so anyone not having this system wii be missing out on so much. As for the hd controller? It's very cool and will make great use of games and I can't wait to use it but you can still use you r classic controller.

[adam763]

I wonder if Nintendo will do their usual software censorship and aim (almost) every initial title to the family/child genre...
If so, I think the console will struggle.

[suzzopher]

I think Wii U might be my first Nintendo launch I shall miss out on. I just can't justify £300 at the moment.

[shotblue]

I was expecting something groudbreaking. It seems like nintendo has a soft-spot for giving in to gimmicky ideas and technology and we always end up having to wait longer than everyone else for their good stuff to come out. It's such a drag.

[MRCL]

Lucky for me I have a voucher over 350 bucks for an electronics chain in Switzerland, and since I don't need blenders and vacuum cleaners, I'll spend it on the Wii U. In fact if it wasn't for this voucher, I wouldn't get one at launch. And I'm getting it fout of sheer curiosity. It will probably only used for playing with my girlfriend as she's totally into coop games and she likes the simpler approach of the Wii. UNLESS there are going to be a LOT of awesome single player games of course.

A sniper game with a sniper rifle and being able to mount the controller on top to simulate the scope, not that would be cool.
OR a skating game where the skate deck is displayed on the controller and you steer and trick like using a fingerboard. HOLY CRAP if that is not in the making I'm going to patent the [expletive] out of this idea!

[hydr0x]

Could be the first console I pick up at launch ever. Well, close to launch, it's on my Christmas wishlist Ideally with ZombiU and Assassin's Creed III.