I say it’s a little bit of both. One thing Nintendo has always been is forward thinking. Everything they do is not for the sake of what people want but rather to answer the question; “How do we make great games.” They were the first with a 6 boutton controller on the SNES. Everyone soon followed their lead after seeing the advantage. (I say thanks to Super Street Fighter II but that is just me) They were the first to have analog controls on the N64. Everyone followed that as well. Then Motion came into play with with the Wii. It took a little time but soon Play Station with the Move and Xbox wiht The Kinect followed like ducks. To be fair Nintendo may be first but the others always come and make it better. The only thing lacking is game quality at times.
Nintendo has done it again. The Nintendo Wii U is a step in a new direction but if you know your game history something similar has been tried with the Saga Dreamcast. Although Nintendo has taken it to a whole new level. Though Nintendo calls it a system its more like a controller that happens to have a 6″ screen. This thing has the works. It will have a microphone, a gyroscope, dual analog controls, two shoulder buttons, two triggers, a front-facing camera, a stylus, and a touchscreen. Now keep in mind this all going to in your hand. People were saying that the first iPad was too heavy to hold for a long time. Just think what they will say about this.
I will say that Nintendo did beef up the specs to 1080p and with the new controller has jumped off the map. However that is something they like to do anyway. It will just be a matter of time before we know if they are leading on the way or off that path.
I am not a seasoned gamer. I’ve been playing low-key games for about a year on an older console (Game Cube) and wanted to get something more up-to-date. I decided I’d give this console a try because I like a couple of the games, Animal Crossing for one. I had an older copy on the Game Cube and thought the newer technology would have an updated version. I was mistaken. The graphics in this game has changed little, the voices, dialog, and other basic game aspects haven’t changed at all. One thing that did change was the speed of the game, the Wii actually makes this game run slower on scene changes, a big disappointment.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a decent console, lets you use Netflix via online access, and you don’t have to buy special drives or disks to save your games, it can all be done on the console or a regular SD card. But I was surprised, given how new the game is, that it didn’t have more updated features. But when you’re spending over $200 you want something a little better than decent.
The Wii, out of the box, cannot play a DVD, a feature I would have expected. I’m not asking for Blue Ray, although other consoles do have that, (along with a higher price tag). But if I want to use the Wii for a DVD I need to use either a ripper or Homebrew Channel, it’s not just plug-n-play.
I really did enjoy the Sports games, which is why I gave this review a 3. It has its moments of enjoyment for an adult. I’m just not sure how long the Sports pack would keep me coming back.
One of the better features is the Wii’s appeal to children. It’s safe to say that finding a game for a younger child is far easier on the Wii than one of the other consoles and the games are less competitive, which I do find important. But I have to ask myself, do young children really need to be playing these games in the first place? A fort and a swingset still have a lot of enjoyment for a child, if offered. During winter months though, I suppose a decent game console would be appropriate…
Bottom line, for me, this console is just too basic. I don’t know yet if I’ll keep it or not. The Wii might be OK for the kids or for a group of people to play the sports games, but the investment for the controllers is a bit steep, for the quality of the console itself. I’ve sampled the PS3, and though there aren’t as many nice simulations games for that, there are some that I enjoy and it’s got more to offer overall, even the Demos have an appeal on the PS3.
If the Wii had offered a more updated version of technology and/or game upgrades I might have liked it better and given it a higher grade. Instead, I feel a bit cheated, and sorry I spent more than $200 when my Game Cube offered me exactly the same level of entertainment and satisfaction.