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Nintendo Wii U

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Garwoofoo

Garwoofoo

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I was sifting through Wii-U titles in a Dover game shop today - am I missing something? Off TV play, for me, is a KILLER feature. Yet the boxes don't seem to list what aspects of the Wii-U functionality the game takes advantage of. But perhaps it was just the limited selection I glanced at.

Anyway, I'm back in France now after a UK trip and I'll set it up tomorrow. I have a Premium, Pro Pad, Pokemon Rumble U, Zombie U and ME3 (which I own on 3 platforms, but might actually finish with the OffTV feature). EXCITED.

I agree, Off TV Play is a killer feature and most games support it. Moreover, a lot of games support using the Gamepad as a tiny TV while you play with the controller of your choice. Playing Pikmin 3 with a remote and nunchuk while using the Gamepad as the "telly" is quite the experience.

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Aardvark

Aardvark

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Nice new Wii U plugged in, ready for a bit of W101 on Friday, but first some Mario once I've got it set up...

1st wifi network didn't work, second did once I'd managed to remember the password and type it correctly (why isn't there an option to display the password in plain text while you're entering it? :() so I'm ready to go...

Oh no, it wants to update first... and the update is large and downloading at a glacial pace.

So two questions, is the store as slow as the update, and is it going to download more updates as soon as it finishes this one? I think I might cry if it does.

I've got to say I've had better first experiences with consoles.

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Aardvark

Aardvark

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Yeah did seem a lot better after the update. Now I just need to figure out how to get my content off my Wii and onto the Wii U. I'm thoroughly enjoying NSMBU which has that classic Nintendo feel, but sadly so does everything to do with online accounts and purchases.

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Aardvark

Aardvark

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Oh god, pair a wii more with the Wii U, find a spare SD card, download app on the Wii, download an app on the Wii U, I can't transfer data that's already on an SD card... If I came up with that design at work I'd never be let near a user interface again, if I worked for Apple I think I'd be disappeared.

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Darren

Darren

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Had my first proper use of off-tv play tonight while my wife was watching some hospital reality show. I played through Tekken Tag 2's Fight Lab (i.e. tutorial) in between using the browser to find out timings for the moves I couldn't do. Brilliant! Then having finished that, started a normal match only to find it doesn't work off-tv. *facepalm*

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NEG

NEG

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Oh god, pair a wii more with the Wii U, find a spare SD card, download app on the Wii, download an app on the Wii U, I can't transfer data that's already on an SD card... If I came up with that design at work I'd never be let near a user interface again, if I worked for Apple I think I'd be disappeared.

Please understand.

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pulsemyne

pulsemyne

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Thinking about it there is a reason why it's done the way it's done and thats because the WiiU effectively has a Wii in it but in a rather odd fashion. It effectively has a "switch" which disables two of the CPU cores and closes off part of the GPU. For what was said before it seems that when in WiiU mode it's not possible to access the part of the GPU to do with the Wii and vice versa.

This is also present in the solid stae memory. There's apprently a section cut off just for Wii stuff. So the only way to get into Wii mode is to do a soft reset of the entire machine.

The only way to transfer from one machine to another is using the SD card method. The Wiiu has to be told that it is to accept information from a certain Wii. This is problem with not having a unified account system. If there was one then you could simply log in and redownlod all your wii stuff. You can do this but only when the WiiU knows what account the Wii had. So I think it's partly due to hardware and software.

Or I could just be having a spaz attack.



Oh god, pair a wii more with the Wii U, find a spare SD card, download app on the Wii, download an app on the Wii U, I can't transfer data that's already on an SD card... If I came up with that design at work I'd never be let near a user interface again, if I worked for Apple I think I'd be disappeared.

Yeah but just look at the way it's transfers the data! It's amazing!

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squirtle

squirtle

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Had my first proper use of off-tv play tonight while my wife was watching some hospital reality show. I played through Tekken Tag 2's Fight Lab (i.e. tutorial) in between using the browser to find out timings for the moves I couldn't do. Brilliant! Then having finished that, started a normal match only to find it doesn't work off-tv. *facepalm*

TTT2 is fully playable on the gamepad.

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cavalcade

cavalcade

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Well, I spent my first happy evening with a Wii-U. I have a Premium, Zombie U, ME3 and a pro pad.

Pros

As it was second hand there was a single OS patch, which took 20 minutes.

I was pleasantly surprised I could use my Wii AV cable, so I slotted it straight into the component input on my TV at 1080p. Saved a HDMI socket. Quality seemed fine.

The set up was simple, and I connected up my Club Nintendo account no problem.

I thought the actual UI was simple and familiar, and I was impressed with the fidelity and brightness of the pad screen. Yes, I don't own a Retina device or modern smartphone, but compared to the Vita and my HP Touchpad it was fine.

I also like the fact the screen is resistive not capacitive and there's a stylus right there. I think multi-touch isn't really a critical feature and I found the screen input suited the needs of the console.

Downloaded a couple of apps. Netflix (via a DNS spoof) worked excellently.

Miiverse is great. A social network on a console done right. Didn't see a single penis picture.

Thought the feature to control the TV via IR was brilliant. Little thing, but very useful.

Then I tried ME3. Happily played for 3 hours via Off TV play. I thought the quality of the image was superb and the entire experience was, essentially, like playing a full fat console game on a "handheld" which is what I wanted.

Cons

Even after 3 hours the positioning of A, B, X, and Y was doing my head in.

I think the pad is a little big, and heavy. I have long fingers and I find it a slight stretch to use the sticks and rear triggers. Not sure how my kids will cope.

The digital rear triggers (especially on the pro pad) make no sense.

Downloading from the store was slow, and I had a couple of disconnects (I'm using wireless)

The Youtube app was woeful (I have no idea how to even play a video).

The store prices were laughable for digital content (but then this is a universal problem across all Nintendo devices).

Though I thought the hardware (and indeed the experience) of using it was fun and satisfying, I think it's a sub £200 device. Yes, I was enormously pleased with ME3 on the pad, and I think the entire thing has a breezy, punkish attitude that I like, but ultimately it has a vague toy-like air which I think would be best served by a significantly lower RRP. I paid £150 and I'm very happy. If I'd paid £100 more, I'm not so sure.

My overall experience was very positive. I really, really like the hardware and concept. The Off-TV play is brilliant. I have 3 kids (10, 7, 4) so the use of the pad as a secondary input to offer different game experiences to two players at the same time (or let someone continue to use the TV while someone plays on, on the pad) is a spectacular feature (and I'd rather the 4 year old had the gamepad in a silicon case rather than one of my Vitas and a PS4). I haven't played Zombie U yet, but I will tonight and explore more. I can't ever see the console capturing a massive market, it's too obscure and weird for that, but it certainly has a niche and I'm glad I have it.

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Darren

Darren

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TTT2 is fully playable on the gamepad.

I'm very glad to hear this but how? I searched the options but couldn't find anything. Whenever I was in a normal game the pad was just showing command lists for the characters.

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