Nintendo Wii U

[neoELITE]

Captain Toad just turned up. YAY.

[McCoy]

Both the 3DS and Wii U have the same issue where an interesting, but expensive, 'gimmick' is heralded as the big selling point of the console when Nintendo would have been better off just putting their resources into the base tech specs and leaving the gimmick aside. Don't get me wrong, the Off Screen play is definitely worth doing but is more suited to being an optional accessory rather than part of the core package. And 3D just doesn't seem to have caught on for the 3DS.

Oh and Nintendo also made the same mistake in the names of both machines by not making it clear that they are the sequel and not yet another iteration of the Wii/DS. I strongly believe that simply calling them the Wii 2 and the DS 2 would have helped sales for both machines, at least initially.

[womblingfree]

It's still miles ahead of the Wiimote though, as that controller and the whole philosophy surrounding it was just unmitigated rubbish.

Eh?? You mean the revolutionary controller that introduced gesture recognition to the masses, revolutionised consoles as mass market lifestyle products, allowed innovation in stuff like Mario Galaxy and sold over 100 million consoles? You could always just use the classic controller for traditional gaming.

I don't understand why Nintendo more or less abandoned that massive success completely to focus on the clunky gamepad they have now which doesn't naturally lend itself to any innovation at all. If I could chuck it in a bag and play on my commute or on holiday It would make some sense but it just mirrors the screen when you're near the console. Useful if you want to ostracise yourself from whatever the person sitting next to you is watching on telly and quite useful for inputting stuff but other than that, even Nintendo seem to struggle with what to do with it.

With products like this Nintendo are often just a revamp or software launch away from a cultural phenomenon, so I've not given up on it completely just yet though.

[Massive Invisible Dog]

Mario Maker and Mario Party 10?

Oh yeah, I forgot about Mario Maker. And Kirby! I don't know how I forgot about that, it's going to be amazing.

[Jamie John]

How badly is the Wii U doing compared with how badly the Gamecube did when that came out? I was too young to be writing on forums back then, but I read CUBE magazine every month and that was always full of stuff about how the GC wasn't performing very well but still had an amazing catalogue of games.

[womblingfree]

Off screen play is brilliant and at the very least I want an optional controller/handheld I can use as a controller. It's a constant disappointment to me that Vita remote play is mostly shit as that's almost a perfect solution to it.

This is the thing. If Nintendo had just given the 3DS the same truly mobile gaming functionality the Vita gives the PS4 that would have been better. It would also mean I, and presumably a lot more Wii U owners, would definitely have bought a 3DS. Integration with PS4 was the main reason for getting a Vita for me. And not only do I get truly mobile gaming (when it works) but I get a Vita as well.

[scottcr]

Wii Sports Club baseball uses the gamepad brilliantly

[mr_rmg]

I have black flag installed but the kids won't let me stop playing mario chase. #agoodproblemtohave

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

How badly is the Wii U doing compared with how badly the Gamecube did when that came out? I was too young to be writing on forums back then, but I read CUBE magazine every month and that was always full of stuff about how the GC wasn't performing very well but still had an amazing catalogue of games.

The Wii U was lagging pretty far behind the GameCube, but I'm not sure that's still the case. It seems MK8 and SSB did help to boost sales.

[Flub]

I must be one of the few people who really likes the 3d on the 3ds

[MikeBeaver]

I've got Bayo2, SSB, Hyrule Warriors and MK8 and haven't used the gamepad thingy for any of them.

I can see the concept between integrating mobile gaming and consoles but can you actually play games when out and about on it like with a Vita? I tried continuing a game in another room and even that disconnected. I can't even figure out how to turn it off completely when I'm using the pro-controller unless I let the battery run-down.

It's a cumbersome piece of tech that's not properly integrated and has no obvious advantages. The complete opposite of the Wiimote.

Click on the home button during a game and there should be a |Controller options" button in the top right corner, pretty sure you can turn the screen off in there.

Captain Toad just turned up. YAY.

Please say it was from Amazon, been sat up since 8:30 waiting for it to arrive

[Not Thread Owner]

How badly is the Wii U doing compared with how badly the Gamecube did when that came out? I was too young to be writing on forums back then, but I read CUBE magazine every month and that was always full of stuff about how the GC wasn't performing very well but still had an amazing catalogue of games.

The GC sold just under 22 million in total. The Wii U has sold 7.3 million so far (as of September - so the Christmas increase and Smash Bros release not included).

[Mr Monday]

Can anyone recommend a hard drive for my Wii U basic? I've read it's better to have one with an external power supply but would rather use a splitter cable if possible. Or better yet a memory stick that won't crap out.

[Not Thread Owner]

At this point in the GC's life, it had sold 6.7 million.

[Beezer]

Can anyone recommend a hard drive for my Wii U basic?

I know someone who had problems with a higher capacity usb powered drive (think it was a 2tb) despite using a y-cable. My 500gb seagate is fine. Maybe higher capacity drives need a bit more power or are slower to spin up or something.

[jonathanhoey]

So I did a Wii -> Wii U system transfer last night. God that was harder than it needed to be. It's one of those things where the instructions have obviously been written by someone who already knew how to do it.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Instructions by somebody who doesn't know how to do it would be even trickier I guess.

[Not Thread Owner]

So I did a Wii -> Wii U system transfer last night. God that was harder than it needed to be. It's one of those things where the instructions have obviously been written by someone who already knew how to do it.

It takes a while, yes, but I'm not sure how the instructions could be any clearer. You're told exactly what to do at every single stage.

[MattyP]

So I did a Wii -> Wii U system transfer last night. God that was harder than it needed to be. It's one of those things where the instructions have obviously been written by someone who already knew how to do it.

Thought it was pretty painless myself... Almost wanted to pat the Pikmin on the head for doing a good job once it had finished.

[jonathanhoey]

Instructions by somebody who doesn't know how to do it would be even trickier I guess.

Yes well

You know what I mean though. I don't know if you've ever had to write instructions but it is surprisingly hard to make them really clear, while bearing in mind that the person reading them doesn't know what you know.

I agree that once you actually get the proper process started, it's really easy. But there's one step early on that I just didn't find obvious at all.

So I started out by making sure my Wii was updated to the latest version, then downloading the Wii to Wii U Transfer app from the shop. It tells me I need to insert an SD card that has been 'prepared' on the destination Wii U. So far so good.

I switch channels over to the Wii U, go into the virtual Wii, and click on the Wii Transfer Tool icon, which takes me to the shop and asks me if I want to download the software to the (virtual) Wii or to the SD card. I choose SD card, the download goes ahead, when it's finished I take the SD card out, put it back in the Wii and it goes "This SD card was not prepared on the destination Wii U" or words to that effect. I'm like "yes it is, I just took it out of there", try it all again, same thing, try formatting the card, etc etc.

Eventually it turns out that what I'm missing is that once the download has finished, I have to go back into the virtual Wii menu and find the other Wii Transfer Tool icon, and run that.

After that it was all relatively smooth sailing, except that the virtual Wii drive is apparently very slightly smaller than the original Wii drive (which was full) so I had to abort the transfer and delete some stuff then start it again.

If I had to do it again it'd take about 15 minutes top to bottom, but I wasted about two hours on it last night, faffing about with two separate Wiimotes, getting up and down to swap the SD card between the machines, and so on. All for want of that one step being clearer to me. I don't think I'm particularly tech-illiterate but that to me was not obvious or well-enough explained in the instructions.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

I never transferred my original Wii stuff because I modded it back when the Twilight Hack was still fashionable and it's filled to the brim with illicit content.

[chris on the moon]

I've got Bayo2, SSB, Hyrule Warriors and MK8 and haven't used the gamepad thingy for any of them.

I can see the concept between integrating mobile gaming and consoles but can you actually play games when out and about on it like with a Vita?

I don't think the concept is integrating mobile gaming and consoles. I don't think that's any of the point at all.

you've got a bunch of traditional games there that don't use it at all. I leave it on for mario kart, so it acts as a map screen when I'm playing on a controler, but the others I'd just use a traditional controller for.

The people who have the most use for off-screen play seem to be families. I've only really used it for GBA games.

[jonathanhoey]

I never transferred my original Wii stuff because I modded it back when the Twilight Hack was still fashionable and it's filled to the brim with illicit content.

So's mine. The transfer tool just ignores anything unofficial and transfers your legit purchases over (or if you've uninstalled the apps, it transfers the purchase history so you can redownload them on the WiiU).

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Ah OK. There isn't much worthwhile on there anyway I think ... a couple of VC games maybe and World of Goo which I also have on iPad. And because I use the Wii mainly as emulator, it'll have to stay anyway so there's no compelling reason to transfer stuff in the first place. Especially because you can't play it on the gamepad anyway.

[Davros sock drawer]

I've got Bayo2, SSB, Hyrule Warriors and MK8 and haven't used the gamepad thingy for any of them.

I can see the concept between integrating mobile gaming and consoles but can you actually play games when out and about on it like with a Vita? I tried continuing a game in another room and even that disconnected. I can't even figure out how to turn it off completely when I'm using the pro-controller unless I let the battery run-down.

It's a cumbersome piece of tech that's not properly integrated and has no obvious advantages. The complete opposite of the Wiimote.

I'm the complete opposite, in fact I hardly ever use the main TV to play the WiiU, and the HDMI Iead is currently unplugged. I have the WiiU pad sat permanently in the charging cradle next to the sofa. If I want to play a game I just reach over and start it from the Quick Menu. Likewise if I want a quick look at Youtube or whatever. All my online MK sessions are played laying on the sofa, using the WiiU pad, with the telly on in the background. I don't have to change AV channels to play a game, in fact I don't think I've even touched the console itself (as opposed to the controller) in months.

So no, it's not as amazing as the utterly brilliant Wiimote + Nunchuk combo (which is the best, most comfortable controller configuration ever invented), but it does have very, very obvious advantages.

[jonathanhoey]

Ah OK. There isn't much worthwhile on there anyway I think ... a couple of VC games maybe and World of Goo which I also have on iPad. And because I use the Wii mainly as emulator, it'll have to stay anyway so there's no compelling reason to transfer stuff in the first place. Especially because you can't play it on the gamepad anyway.

Aye. I have a PC connected to the living room TV so emulators run on that. And although the Wii was softmodded and I had a hard drive that I could put ISOs on, in practice I only had a few on there and basically never actually played them. (I have an increasing mental block about piracy these days - I really do only play things I've paid for, to the point where I long since stopped bothering to pirate anything.)

The old Wii is relegated to the spare room where it'll effectively live on as a Gamecube. My actual Gamecube was donated to my ex's parents years ago so they could play Super Monkey Ball. I miss the GBA Player.

[DAB]

At this point in the GC's life, it had sold 6.7 million.

deKay, where did you get that? The GC took 5 financial quarters to get to 6.68m, the Wii U took 7 quarters to reach the same figure and we know its sales up to quarter number 8.

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/news/index.html

Back in the early Cube days Nintendo only reported sales every 6 months. Going from Nintendo’s own figures from the link above:

After 1 financial quarter of activity:

GC: 0.51m (only available in Japan for a couple of weeks)

WiiU: 3.06m (available worldwide for around 4 to 6 weeks)

After 3 financial quarters of activity:

GC: 3.8m (covers the Christmas period and US launch)

WiiU: 3.61m

After 5 financial quarters of activity:

GC: 6.68m (covers European launch)

WiiU: 5.86m (covers second Christmas one year after launch)

After 7 financial quarters of activity:

GC: 9.55m (covers second Christmas)

WiiU: 6.68m (summer)

After 8 financial quarters of activity:

GC: 9.63m

WiiU: 7.29m (up to end of Sept ‘14)

[Shimmyhill]

My ps4 hasn't been on over Christmas, wii u is just fantastic for local multiplayer fun - that Zelda game on Nintendoland is fantastic fun and 4 player mk is insane!

I can't remember ever having so many games to play mp locally of such high quality and down right fun for any age range - nintendo are smashing it at the moment

[gone fishin]

Spent a bit of cash on eShop purchases, as I only had another 150 points for a final Five pound voucher thingy.

So far been playing a bit of Steamworld Dig and so far it's pretty good!

At first I was a bit put off - "another Metroidvania platformer" But this is a bit different. Apart from having to get upgrades to unlock sections, like Metroid, it's nothing like it.

[pulsemyne]

Captain Toad just turned up. YAY.

Ready for Adventure? You should be.