My goodwill towards Nintendo & how I'm enjoying my new Wii U

 

I think a lot of people who have been on the fence should give the Wii U another look. There's the short-version wrap-up.

 

For the expanded rambling version, please continue reading.

 

As someone who finally purchased a Wii U at the end of April 2014 – hearing Nintendo has no plans to replace it with a successor at E3 in June is great – my new purchase won’t be outdated in a month.

 

I’d been on the fence for a while, adding titles to my “wanted” games list, with the announcement of Mario Kart, and Nintendo’s own “register Mario Kart and get another (good) game free” offer, the time was now. So off I went in search of the “new Super Mario Bros. U / Luigi U” bundle of the console.

 

Plus a pile of games.

 

Plus a wii-mote and nunchuck controller (I’d long since sold my original Wii, so I was starting from scratch).

 

Plus a pro controller (maybe this one should be included in the bundle?)

 

This was getting expensive. I hoped it was worth it.

 

Bringing it home, I’ll be honest, even the box art made me smile. Xbox & PlayStation are so serious. Mature. There’s no sense of fun. That’s OK, I get it. They want to be taken seriously – they’re not just for games, they’re a media hub for grown-ups. So you can buy one in your 30’s without feeling like a man-child. That said, there’s many devices that can function as a media hub – we buy these consoles primarily (if not exclusively) to play games. So why not embrace that fact? And the bright colorful packaging of the Wii U covered in characters is awesome – it made me excited to get this Nintendo hooked up.

 

Connecting the console was simple; connect the (included!) HDMI cable, the wii-mote sensor bar, some power cables…and we’re up! Everything is very well made. Unlike my X1 (where the day one patch refused to download (talk about the largest flash drive formatting, side-loading headache ever…), I had to purchase a separate HDMI cord, I had to purchase another cord to update my controller…), I had no issues getting set up. There was an initial patch, but the system quickly found my wi-fi and updated.  It even came with a cradle that holds and charges the gamepad (a nice touch that’s usually aftermarket and not included with most consoles – though the gamepad requires such frequent charging, I’ve yet to determine if the cradle will see much use).

 

 Having had some time to play around on it – I can’t believe how cool the gamepad is, and how much I’m enjoying this system. Playing RE: Revelations (or any game) in bed on the gamepad is awesome. The internet browser works surprisingly well. Netflix and Amazon streaming are there – and work fantastically – they’re also not behind a pay wall. I’ve even embraced the whole Mii-verse thing to some extent. As noted above, the gamepad does require very frequent charging, I only get about 3 hours out of a full charge. That however, has been about my only complaint (and as I’m not traveling with the gamepad, I’m always near a power outlet so I don’t really mind).

 

In my opinion, I think the console has finally reached the point where it has a compelling library and is definitely worth the purchase price. That said, don’t read about it on the internet (except here – read what I post), go play it somewhere. It can be easy to get caught up in the doom and gloom of others opinions without actually going and experiencing the console for yourself – and if you’re able to spend 30 minutes playing Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze uninterrupted somewhere, you might just do what I did and say to yourself “you know what? This is a lot of fun.”

 

Between Mario (both New Super Mario Bros & Super Mario 3D World), Lego City: Undercover, DK Tropical Freeze, Zelda WW HD, RE: Revelations and the upcoming Mario Kart, there are plenty of games out (or out very shortly) that I know I’m interested in playing. There’s also many more I’ve not listed available (Call of Duty, Batman, tons of virtual console titles) – and more on the horizon (Watch_Dogs for example). With the advent of E3 we’ll hopefully have new information on the upcoming Zelda game, Bayonetta 2, and Monolith “X”- as well as new, un-announced IP’s.

 

Do I believe they need to work on advertising? Absolutely. A majority of what I know is due to where I work.  I watch almost no actual television – but I don’t think I’m alone in that these days. Between Netflix & Amazon etc. I just watch the shows I want. And yet on a variety of websites, my Pandora stream, YouTube, EVERYWHERE, I see PS4 / X1 ads. Nintendo needs to get on that train. Show the people what’s great – remind them of what’s coming, and push that message frequently. Work on your third party support to get some fresh blood in the mix.  I hope these new bundle packs (especially the upcoming deals with Mario Kart) are a catalyst to get things moving in the right direction. They certainly could be.

 

So here’s some goodwill for you Nintendo. I know I’m having fun.

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