In a world where online gaming has been mainstream and EXPLOSIVE for consoles since 2004, Nintendo has yet to impress me with anything.
I'll be satisfied with Nintendo's performance when they give a crap about online connectivity. Not everyone has the luxury to play Mario games with friends sitting right next to them.. So I don't even bother buying those games for $60 because what's the point of getting them at launch when the experience will be the same exact thing if I waited to get it cheaper?
If it's Nintendo games, they don't really drop in price. In the UK Mario Galaxy 2 on Wii costs the same as it did when it came out. So you might as well get the games when they come out and enjoy with everyone else. Besides, most Nintendo games certainly aren't designed with multiplayer only in mind anyway. You won't need friends to get a full experience out of 3D World.
I've enjoyed every one of these. Not pictured: Resident Evil Revelations, which is currently on loan. You can include those Wii games in my 1st year list, since I bought them solely to play on the U (sold my Wii years ago).
I still find the OS infuriatingly slow. To the point that I rarely even check system notifications because it's so tedious. A year out without anymore talk about it makes me think Nintendo isn't going to make any further effort to significantly improve it.
My only other major gripe is lack of a Nintendo wide unified account system. This keeps me from buying digital items with rare exception.
The games are few and far between, the OS is still rough, account system is broken, Virtual Console is a mess and third parties continue to abandon the system. Things aren't looking bright.
That being said, I really did enjoy the games I've played on it this year. Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101, Earthbound and Sonic Racing (lttp) are all really fun. And there is plenty to look forward too like Mario World, Mario Kart, Smash Bros, DK and Bayonetta. I have a feeling the Wii U is going to end up being a great system with a bunch of great games, and a lackluster everything else.
Absolutely no denying Nintendo made some massive fumbles with WiiU. But despite that, I'm still kinda blown away by the games it managed to have by now. As someone that loves Japanese games, it's currently my contender for nexgen home consoles. Which is still hard to believe given how anemic Nintendo has been with it.
..are people still complaining that the os is slow? really ?? since the update the OS hasn't been slow at all. people must of not updated their wii u
anyway my problem with the wii u is
1. when browsing say the internet or other things like miiverse on the gamepad and you want to press the home button cause ( say i want to lower the brightness of the gamepad, etc ) it kicks you out of the background app =/ wish they would fix that.
2. yeah VC line up is pretty week, where's the N64/Cube games nintendo
3. They need to offer up gamepad control support for wii games >.<. I mean I love the idea of playing wii games off tv but it really becomes a hassle that you can't use the game pad.
4. yeah they really do need a account system or how do they expect people to trust them with their digital purchase. This isn't a issue for me, I'm not very digital myself
other than that, I'm happy with my wii u purchase, I use it every day, use to be mostly cause of that off tv play <3 also the gamepad stand comes in very handy like eating dinner at the table while watching netflix on the gamepad :3 and the games are here I mean w101, pikmin 3 are GOTY worthy imo and there's Mario 3D world around the corner woop .3rd party support probably will be gone next year but I'm not mad when Nintendo's first party support for next year looks above and beyond any of their previous years o.o
Takes 15 seconds to go in and out of Settings. That's bananas. Since it's using up half of the RAM, it should probably just load everything up when you launch.
VC isn't really an issue to me as I own most of the games already on their original systems. Slow-ish OS is a non-issue to me. I don't mind waiting 6 seconds for things.
It's all about the games for me and I'm happy with what's there. Are there enough games coming out? No, but what's there is of very high quality and the games we know are coming out in the next year are likely to end up on my top 10 list of 2014, just like there are a bunch of WiiU games on this year's top 10 list. If Nintendo keeps it up for a few more years it might end up as one of my favorite Nintendo systems.
They're really missing an opportunity with the virtual console. Games are still priced way too high and the release times are too ridiculously slow. If the emulators can play all these games, why stagger releases? To maximize profit on each one? Just put them all all out there, promote certain ones and provide a way for users to discover them all. Plus, make them impulse purchases. $1, $2, $3, etc. Up to say, $7 for the real good stuff on the newer systems.
I realize rights issues can be part of the problem, but everything ever released on the VC should be available as soon as possible.
Give people a reason not to use emulators. Like iTunes did for music.
They're really missing an opportunity with the virtual console. Games are still priced way too high and the release times are too ridiculously slow. If the emulators can play all these games, why stagger releases? To maximize profit on each one? Just put them all all out there, promote certain ones and provide a way for users to discover them all. Plus, make them impulse purchases. $1, $2, $3, etc. Up to say, $7 for the real good stuff on the newer systems.
I realize rights issues can be part of the problem, but everything ever released on the VC should be available as soon as possible.
Give people a reason not to use emulators. Like iTunes did for music.
Only thing that makes sense to me is that they're keeping something for them to start charging that $50/year subscription fee that everyone else in the game industry is doing.
It's still all in an unacceptable state and there's another severe drought waiting for the Wii U next year as well as far as I can see. The only way I'll ever buy this thing is if the new Zelda is so unbelievably spectacular that I just can't get around it, but seeing the last few entries I'm not holding my breath.
Don't realy have a problem with the hardware and my library of games is nice allready, but am still waiting for the game(s) i actualy bought the system for.
Endless Ocean 3, New Zelda, Donkey Kong and a lot of VC titles that i still haven't got like UN Squadron, Probotector, Super Aleste, and on and on and on...
OS: It's serviceable for the most part but has a few glaring issues.
When in a secondary app (Browser etc) if you hit the HOME button you can't go back to that app without restarting it
Video Chat takes far too long to start up so it' basically unusable
Load times are still too slow for my liking. They are obviously better than what they were but I do get annoyed.
The browser is slow and isn't happy with sites like google docs or facebook. Other than that it's a great video viewer.
No Folders
I don't want to tap twice to run an app.
Network/Digital:
The throughput on Nintendo's network is atricious. Just absolutely pathetic.
NNID tied to machine - no need to say any more
Overall lacking in integration with desktop browsers and tablets/phones for viewing/buying, checking notifications etc.
Prices on eShop are just stupid. In average about 30% more expensive than what I get at retail. This equates to me not buying a single digital title unless I can't get it elsewhere (indy titles)
Games:
Only a couple of games I'm interested in and as we know, unacceptable drought level.
No third party support (which will likely get worse)
Virtual console is a bit of a joke
If I had to rate my Wii U vibe after this last year, I'd probably give it a 3/10. My future vibe is about 2/10 (+1 because Zelda will come, -2 because third parties will leave I feel). Finally my overall Nintendo vibe is now rock bottom.
It comes across as slow due to the way it's designed. Everything is an 'app', so everything has to be loaded separately. Want to adjust the system settings? That's a separate app, and you'll need to wait for it to load. In a game, and want to post something on Miiverse? You'll need to launch the app. Want to view your friend list? Also an app. These things are not within menus or pre-loaded, and it'll always come across as slow for that reason. Nothing is kept in memory either, so if I want to go back into Miiverse straight away, that's another 15 seconds. It adds up.
Anyway, I've been mostly impressed. The whole approach to marketing the console aside, it's a very good console with great games, and there will be more to come. That said, the VC library is poor, and the lack of an independent account makes me think twice about buying anything. If I download a PS3 game or a Steam game, it's associated with my account, not my console. I can get a new PC, a new PS3, and it doesn't matter what happens with my old one. My games are still there, zero hassle. Log in, download, play. They need to fix this.
Some other less important stuff like TVii still being a dead link. It does nothing, and there has been no recent announcement on when they plan on launching it, if ever.
The Miiverse integration is very good. I've loved what they did with Wind Waker; picking up messages in bottles on the shore and out at sea, and seeing some crazy photos people have taken in game.
You can also use them to aid in the mini-figure side quest
. I love seeing people post requests for help, and the helpful responses. It's basically doing exactly what they advertised.
3D World looks fantastic, can't wait. If it weren't for the horrific sales figures, it would have a bright future as a console. I'm really hoping Christmas helps, because I'd hate to see it fail entirely.
The fact they had to reboot the Virtual Console once again is pathetic enough and it doesn't even match the Wii one in the same amount of time.
The OS was somehow worse than the 3DS one and that really hasn't changed so far.
Games-wise, this is their worst home console year since Wii Music christmas, 'nuff said. Something reminiscent of a proper showcase title still missing, as much as I love certain niche titles myself. Probably won't change until Mario Kart, which alongside X is the only title so far that looks like I was hoping for Nintendo HD titles to be.
Overall, this console is a disaster and Nintendo's sudden lack of marketing/planning skills also sours the little good things the console has going for it. I loved the original Wii, but it's clear that such major issues must already root deep in last gen and quite an ignorant staff of higher ups.
It comes across as slow due to the way it's designed. Everything is an 'app', so everything has to be loaded separately. Want to adjust the system settings? That's a separate app, and you'll need to wait for it to load. In a game, and want to post something on Miiverse? You'll need to launch the app. Want to view your friend list? Also an app. These things are not within menus or pre-loaded, and it'll always come across as slow for that reason. Nothing is kept in memory either, so if I want to go back into Miiverse straight away, that's another 15 seconds. It adds up.
Anyway, I've been mostly impressed. The whole approach to marketing the console aside, it's a very good console with great games, and there will be more to come. That said, the VC library is poor, and the lack of an independent account makes me think twice about buying anything. If I download a PS3 game or a Steam game, it's associated with my account, not my console. I can get a new PC, a new PS3, and it doesn't matter what happens with my old one. My games are still there, zero hassle. Log in, download, play. They need to fix this.
Some other less important stuff like TVii still being a dead link. It does nothing, and there has been no recent announcement on when they plan on launching it, if ever.
The Miiverse integration is very good. I've loved what they did with Wind Waker; picking up messages in bottles on the shore and out at sea, and seeing some crazy photos people have taken in game.
You can also use them to aid in the mini-figure side quest
. I love seeing people post requests for help, and the helpful responses. It's basically doing exactly what they advertised.
3D World looks fantastic, can't wait. If it weren't for the horrific sales figures, it would have a bright future as a console. I'm really hoping Christmas helps, because I'd hate to see it fail entirely.
That isn't completely true. Since the last update it keeps your tabs from the internet browser in memory so that it doesn't reload every time you use it during a game.
That isn't completely true. Since the last update it keeps your tabs from the internet browser in memory so that it doesn't reload every time you use it during a game.
Ah yes you're right, sorry. The browser does stay in memory and you can even go back to the game, press home and jump back into the browser reasonably quickly with the same tabs open and loaded. That's how I've been uploading Wind Waker screenshots on the internet after all. Miiverse has this problem though; even if you load Miiverse in-game, press home again, then press Miiverse again, you have to load it from scratch. And it takes around 13 seconds to load Miiverse from that home screen when in-game.
I actually think they are handling the VC releases somewhat decently. We are getting to the point where the vast majority of good games on the NES / SNES are available. I'm guessing that they are going to start pushing N64 and possibly GC once those libraries are mostly taken care of. The release schedule is at the very least much faster than it used to be on the Wii. Still, it is slightly annoying not to be able to use the gamepad for all those N64 Wii VC games.
One thing I'll say, though, is that the Nintendo Network ID thing is really annoying. A lot of the online functionality on the Wii U is absolutely fantastic, and the eshop is great, but I'm still incredibly reluctant to buy indie titles or VC games because there is no unified account system in place. To me, that should take absolute priority (along with retail game development, obviously).
Ironically perhaps, in spite of its still relatively small library of must-have titles, the Wii U is the system I'm using the most right now (with the exception of my 3DS, perhaps). Right now, I'm really looking forward to 3D World and beyond, but you can't dismiss the fact that there is still a lot more work to be done on the system, as well as the challenging (to put it mildly) financial situation the Wii U is putting Nintendo in. Still, I bought the Wii U almost a year ago, and I have yet to regret the purchase.
I actually think they are handling the VC releases somewhat decently. We are getting to the point where the vast majority of good games on the NES / SNES are available. I'm guessing that they are going to start pushing N64 and possibly GC once those libraries are mostly taken care of. The release schedule is at the very least much faster than it used to be on the Wii. Still, it is slightly annoying not to be able to use the gamepad for all those N64 Wii VC games.
One thing I'll say, though, is that the Nintendo Network ID thing is really annoying. A lot of the online functionality on the Wii U is absolutely fantastic, and the eshop is great, but I'm still incredibly reluctant to buy indie titles or VC games because there is no unified account system in place. To me, that should take absolute priority (along with retail game development, obviously).
Ironically perhaps, in spite of its still relatively small library of must-have titles, the Wii U is the system I'm using the most right now (with the exception of my 3DS, perhaps). Right now, I'm really looking forward to 3D World and beyond, but you can't dismiss the fact that there is still a lot more work to be done on the system, as well as the challenging (to put it mildly) financial situation the Wii U is putting Nintendo in. Still, I bought the Wii U almost a year ago, and I have yet to regret the purchase.
No. A good majority of the good stuff is still missing on the Wii U. No Genesis and TG-16 games, no arcade games, no Neo Geo. And quite frankly, having to boot the Wii emulator to get to the good stuff is a hassle and a half. Nintendo has a long way to go until the Wii U VC is even near to being acceptable.
As a Video-streaming box, the Wii U is the best bar none.
The third-party ports are better than 360 or PS3 but they are very few.
The Netflix crashing and the slow OS that used to infuriate me have largely been fixed.
All of the first-party Nintendo games have been pretty boring or uninteresting so far. Nintendoland is fun with friends but a snoozer single-player, while yeah everything else sucks except Pikmin 3.
The few third party gems have been absolutely awesome.
The Wii BC has been a life-saver.
Biggest gripe? Slow VC releases. What the fuck Nintendo: open the vaults.
It is still puzzling to see Wii U's OS and UI to be still so far away in terms of speed, loading pauses when you go from one task to the next, it still needs a lot of work. It is puzzling because you can see a system like 3DS which has far less resources reserved for the OS and a far weaker HW do a much much better job with. Animal Crossing: New Leaf got me to make some time to play more with my launch 3DS and thanks to its updates... well the OS feels so much snappier than it used to be. Going in and out of apps is quite quick, it could be even faster, but it never gets to the point of taking you out of the experience or bothering the user.
Clearly 3DS has the much more accomplished os of the two systems as of today. That said, WiiU is halfway there with re to the account system (accounts bound to user IDs, but IDs are not movable) whereas 3DS is still at Wii level. That makes hopping through eshops (e.g. when checking various PAL stores for early content and best prices) a nuisance on the 3DS.
I'm pretty satisfied with the WiiU, for the most part. It helps that I have other systems to play and I'm getting a PS4 on launch.
With the OS, I never thought the loading times were a big deal. If you sit there and think about it then yes, it was pretty slow at first. The update helped.
Actually, when I first got the system I was kind of disappointed in the OS, but after playing with it for a few hours I started to see that it is actually pretty cool. The one redeeming quality would definitely be Miiverse. This makes up for everything in my opinion. It sucks now because I don't have the internet so I can't see people on my home screen or new drawings or anything.
As for games, well, I agree that it's a little dry. However, WiiU has given me a couple of games that I found to be really fun. ZombiU was a huge surprise. This game validated my console purchase, because I wasn't interested in anything else really at the time and the other games I bought could have been had on another console that I own. After playing through the launch, though, the console sat for a long time until I got Wind Waker HD. This is a great game. I also am really enjoying Sonic Lost World, and I am just starting The Wonderful 101. So far W101 is a very unique game, but I can see why people were complaining about controls. I assume it will get better, but it took me like 20 tries to get that chain across the bus in the beginning demo. Not sure what I was doing wrong there.
The WiiU could definitely be better, but it looks like it's going to be another N64/Gamecube type system with shitty support but with great first party games and a few awesome gems here and there. I'm cool with that.
I love the Wii U gamepad, the OS (when trying to access apps) is decent, the games so far have been serviceable: Wind Waker is gorgeous and fun to play and I can't wait for Super Mario 3D World.
However the eShop is mediocre at best, downloads take forever, there are barely any demos available, and I'm currently trying to download the Wii Fit U trial and it keeps stopping and saying "error" then starts re-downloading. This makes me very wary of even thinking of buying anything more than $10 on the store.
I purchased my Wii U about 5 months into 2013, & I absolutely love it. The one thing that irks me though is the Virtual Console. Why on Earth is it so terrible? It's like they really just don't care. I mean it can't be that hard to at least move over the Wii's VC to the Wii U's VC. The calendar of releases for VC is simply dreadful.
I haven't been a Wii U owner for long but I really enjoy the console. My only complaints are the lack of games on the VC and the horrible performance I get from Netflix. It's constantly reloading and often freezes at 25% and never goes further. I really like Netflix on Wii U so it bums me out how poorly it works.
I haven't been a Wii U owner for long but I really enjoy the console. My only complaints are the lack of games on the VC and the horrible performance I get from Netflix. It's constantly reloading and often freezes at 25% and never goes further. I really like Netflix on Wii U so it bums me out how poorly it works.
If it's Nintendo games, they don't really drop in price. In the UK Mario Galaxy 2 on Wii costs the same as it did when it came out. So you might as well get the games when they come out and enjoy with everyone else. Besides, most Nintendo games certainly aren't designed with multiplayer only in mind anyway. You won't need friends to get a full experience out of 3D World.
Bought my Deluxe bundle for $247 brand new including tax in April. The OS is totally fine now. Significant improvement from what it used to be. Games aren't plentiful but are numerous enough to keep me happy. The VC is a lost cause and so terrible. I am astonished that Nintendo actually went backwards with the VC on the Wii U compared to what the Wii had. Whoever heads VC development should be fired.
The VC is mind boggling. So many Nintendo classics from pretty much every era, yet virtually nothing on the VC. And the prices! This could be a money maker Nintendo, what are you doing... simply not comprehensible. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe the guy heading up the VC team is a really great guy who loves all things Nintendo, and has been tasked with releasing a steady stream of VC classics on a $20 a year budget.
I could do that on my original Xbox, so I'd hope so! Of course, they don't seem to care about even wanting to give you games for the VC in order to take your money, so I can't see them putting too much effort into enhancements...
I will happily buy Super Mario 3D World, but this thread just reminds me of how awful the marketing, the "U" confusion, the account and game transfer blasphemy, the initial hardware lockups, the months it took for someone to finally fix Netflix from locking up your system, the terrible launch prices, the forgotten existence of Virtual Console, the slim third-party support outside of indie devs, and the blatant disregard to do ANYTHING in the first half of 2013.
I think so. I deleted it in Data Management and went to redownload it, but it said I already had it downloaded. I redownloaded it but it didn't seem to fix much.
The web browser is useful, but, they need to add better support for google stuff:
-Gmail, it loads but fails to work decently, Hangouts fails to load.
-Google music, everything works fine except playing music...it gives a flash error?!!!
-Google plus works, hangouts works but all extremely slow
-facebook fails to load in classic mode.
Otherwise the browser is useful...also,
They need to let pple chat with a freaking dedicated app, not through miiserve message system.
I'm assuming it would work the same since it's just DLC.
My Wii U is currently in for repairs so I'm not enjoying that. But when it gets back, I'll be ready for 3D World. I haven't had the chance to buy many games for the console since launch (money) so most of my time with it has been spent playing Wii games I've missed.
I love it. Lots of games that feature same-screen multiplayer, a Nintendo staple. Exclusive games that are colorful, varied in game design, feature entertaining characters and great mechanics. Yeah, this is easily the most player system in this house.
Virtual Console is fine for me. I can't afford to buy everything that comes out anyway, so when something I want comes along it's affordable. Super Castlevania IV this past week was a big win. I really have never understood the complaining about the service. You either have way too much time on your hands, too much money, or both, if you feel like there always have to be hundreds of games available day one of system launch.
Gamepad is a revelation. I really enjoy sitting down with it and checking out what's new on the shop or playing something quick off-TV.
The OS... it's an OS... it's fine.
Love the Wii U. Most of what we get this Christmas season will be played on it.
It's faster, but unfortunately much slower than the majority of other devices I use on a daily basis. Therefore when I turn my Wii U on I feel like I've taken a step backwards.
Mine is updated and it's still absolute shit compared even to the PS3 for crying out loud. Nintendo -- like the Federal Govt with the Fed Exchange -- should have used an actual capable company to do it's job since it's clear it's too incompetent to do an acceptable job for it's own OS.
I only got my Wii U recently and the Virtual Console being a year old is hard to beleive, so empty. Great that Earthbound is on there, but c'mon... There's so much stuff they could be taking my money with.
Even 200 hours of Monster Hunter couldn't lower the frustrations overall. Seems like the Wii was really only good because they could keep working on GCN tech.
