Wii U - General Discussion Thread

Ok, after owning one I think I know what the problem is with this system. The system is simply too complicated. There are a lot of things that even I don't know what they are for. The original Wii was simple which is why it sold a lot.  This... is anything but simple. First it requires 1-2 hours of updates before you can even use it. Then after that every game you put in requires an update of another 10 min each.  Every app also requires an update, fortunately I don't have subscriptions to most of them, but even youtube required... yes another update. I really don't care but for those getting the console on Xmas morning this will be a problem as you won't be playing till late in the afternoon even if you open it early in the morning due to updates. These updates take up valuable time that could be used for playing games. They really should be including a disc with these huge updates on them, MS includes a disc in their consoles.

There are also too many controllers, and more than one is required for most games.

The e-shop is completely asanine, I could not find anything on it. I have no idea why every game is not updatable so they will be on the Wii U menu instead of the Wii menu.  These 2 things need to be fixed ASAP and ideally should have been available at launch. I am willing to pay Nintendo 1.50 per game easy to update them to Wii U versions, although I really shouldn't have to pay for this, but I only have 3-4 games so its not much of an issue. After all I can afford the console, so I should be able to afford a few dollars to upgrade my games.

The storage doesn't seem like a problem, I still have almost 3GB left even after I did system transfer and upgraded a couple games. Unfortunately its not enough to download Wii fit U.  I doubt I will need an external hard drive for this, I will just use a flash drive. I doubt there would be any issues with it. But to have a huge external drive sitting behind my TV is clearly unnecessary for this unless you plan on downloading the huge digital games that are on the e-shop.

System transfer is very smooth, didn't even take that long. But again if you are doing it all in one day, plan on spending a good 3-4 hours setting this thing up. I don't think the Wii audience is ready for that. Your kids will probably whine through the whole process if you are not prepare for the sheer amount of updating this console requres. Hopefully there is an option to do these updates later,  I didn't really check, but I suspect if you do that then a lot of features will be missing.

Off TV play is great, this is the best feature of the console.

The logo on the box is a problem too, there is a giant Wii logo, which would easily make people believe its a different version of the Wii console. The "U" part is separate in blue and isn't really that visible. I can see people mixing them up so easily. They should have had a whole redesigned logo for this, instead of using the Wii logo from the previous console, at least this much if they aren't going to give it a new name.

TVii, I have no idea what its even for, all it seemed to do was make the inputs on my TV quickly switch back and forth which was annoying, I will likely never touch it again. I can't see a casual figuring this out at all.

About miiverse, again I am not sure what is going on here and this applies to the 3DS as well. I guess I was under the impression that when you look at the feed you would see posts from your friends on your friend list. But that is not the case. The only thing I can figure out is going to the communities and seeing posts from random people, which is kinda pointless. I was hoping that my friend codes I entered on my 3DS would transfer to miiverse in the form of the usernames of those people and that I would be able to see posts from those people. People seem to be fine with exchanging friend codes, but when it comes to miiverse I haven't seen anyone exchange a user name yet.

 
PS4 and Xbox One also have a ton of updates so yeah, welcome to the year 2013.

Neither comes with their updates on a disc unless you ask for one i think?

 
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Sara, have someone else in your household change the language to Chinese or something then try to figure out how to change it back to English. What a pain in the ass. My 3 year old changed the language and I had to go to YouTube to figure out how to change it back. The menus are not at all intuitive.

Deader2818 said:
PS4 and Xbox One also have a ton of updates so yeah, welcome to the year 2013.

Neither comes with their updates on a disc unless you ask for one i think?
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But the console is fairly new (the SKU she got as well as mine), you'd think that the hardware wouldn't have some old ass firmware on it..

 
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Blaster man said:
Sara, have someone else in your household change the language to Chinese or something then try to figure out how to change it back to English. What a pain in the ass. My 3 year old changed the language and I had to go to YouTube to figure out how to change it back. The menus are not at all intuitive.

But the console is fairly new (the SKU she got as well as mine), you'd think that the hardware wouldn't have some old ass firmware on it..
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Well, given that they may or may not have cleared out their first batch of stock, it wouldnt suprise me that they are all first gen firmware.

 
I think you have a crappy Internet connection. Granted, I don't have many games (about 10 from the Wii abd about a half-dozen on WiiU) but it took me about 20 minutes to do all the updates (and that includes all the Injustice DLC) and another 15-20 to do System Transfer.
 
DNukem170 said:
I think you have a crappy Internet connection. Granted, I don't have many games (about 10 from the Wii abd about a half-dozen on WiiU) but it took me about 20 minutes to do all the updates (and that includes all the Injustice DLC) and another 15-20 to do System Transfer.
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It took me forever too and I have 50 megabit down, 25 up. Of course I was doing that on Black Friday so maybe that's the reason.

 
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I find that the speed of my internet varies little since if the back end server on the website you are downloading from can't keep up with your speed then you aren't going to get any more speed than they can provide.

I can go on a 20mb connection here at a grocery store and online videos still barely load in some cases...   If the server is slow, nothing else is going to matter.

But I only have 3mb DSL available to me. But its better than cable from what I hear especially when everyone on my street would bog it down.

Since I got the Skylanders bundle, I assume that the basic console packed inside had the first firmware ever on it and it required the day 1 update. Though its just kind of a mean and dirty thing for Nintendo not to update these when all the kids and parents will be struggling with these updates on Xmas day and I assume all the Skylanders bundles would be the same in this respect...  I have suffered through lots of whining from the cousins when we couldn't get their gifts open, especially with some of the dolls that took several adults 40+ min to open one (that's 40 min of crying...).. and you can't really open those ahead of time without doing major damage to the packaging.  Kids just want things right away, and that's just the way it is, I can only imagine how painful it would be to have to sit through this update process.  With the Wii U at least you can open it up and if they question it you could just say that Santa had to set it up ahead of time so you could play right away but not too many parents know about the huge updates required on this console.

If you got a more recent SKU like the Zelda which is a more recently made model, then perhaps Nintendo already updated those consoles, as I think the skylanders bundle is just a repackaged white basic system from launch.

Overall though I am happy with my purchase. Its nice to have 2 consoles in one, especially since I already have 2 gamecubes, so I don't really need to keep the Wii around so I can sell it and lower my upgrade cost somewhat. I don't want to lose the gameboy player on the gamecube. Plus I have access to future games. Its a good console, just a bunch of things that don't really make any sense.

I got an update disc with a MS Xbox 360, though it may have come with the one I got from their repair center, so they are out there.

 
I doubt the battery is needed, especially for the price. They should be giving these to Wii u owners for free or $10 especially for those who bought at launch. You could just plug the controller in...

Also let's look at the positives here

Nintendo is the only company right now that allows you to play your old games on your new console. MS goes and makes everyone ditch their digital library and no one complains.. I am very appreciative of system transfer and the fact that I can keep my old games on a new console. Say what you want about it but right now it's the best method on the market for keeping your games. It's pretty clear to me that Nintendo doesn't want us to lose our digital libraries.

Wii U is the only console that seems reliable, I am not saying there are no problems, but I haven't heard of anything major yet.

Console doesn't create a lot of heat.

Costs less than half of the cost of the PS4/Xbox one (I paid $220), so I guess I can't expect perfection for that cheap of a price with games included.

Lots of accessories are very cheap if you know where to look, and the deals are easy to get. Can use Wii accessories as well.

Helpful hint, you can start up some games by pressing the power button on the Wii remote to start up the system after it's paired and the Wii remote will be controller one. This lets you bypass the Gamepad as controller one or player one. Handy if you want to use the remote or a classic controller. You can then leave the Gamepad in the cradle. You could put the Gamepad next to your TV while it's in the cradle and use it as a second screen while you play using the Wii remote or another controller. Or you could turn the screen off on the Gamepad. This way you could just look over at it to see the screen instead of holding it on your lap if the gamepad was displaying a map or something you just needed to glance at. I haven't figured out how I would set it up for off TV gameplay for Wii mode due to my setup (I don't really have anywhere to set the gamepad in a stand so I could use the Wii controllers ) but I suspect some other people might be making use of that feature. Still a cool feature though.
 
I'll be picking up the battery eventually. It's an improvement over the one I have now and I prefer to buy genuine Nintendo parts over third party. (The price still kinda bums me out, but it could be worse)

 
SaraAB said:
I doubt the battery is needed, especially for the price. They should be giving these to Wii u owners for free or $10 especially for those who bought at launch. You could just plug the controller in... Also let's look at the positives here Nintendo is the only company right now that allows you to play your old games on your new console. MS goes and makes everyone ditch their digital library and no one complains.. I am very appreciative of system transfer and the fact that I can keep my old games on a new console. Say what you want about it but right now it's the best method on the market for keeping your games. It's pretty clear to me that Nintendo doesn't want us to lose our digital libraries. Wii U is the only console that seems reliable, I am not saying there are no problems, but I haven't heard of anything major yet. Console doesn't create a lot of heat. Costs less than half of the cost of the PS4/Xbox one (I paid $220), so I guess I can't expect perfection for that cheap of a price with games included. Lots of accessories are very cheap if you know where to look, and the deals are easy to get. Can use Wii accessories as well. Helpful hint, you can start up some games by pressing the power button on the Wii remote to start up the system after it's paired and the Wii remote will be controller one. This lets you bypass the Gamepad as controller one or player one. Handy if you want to use the remote or a classic controller. You can then leave the Gamepad in the cradle. You could put the Gamepad next to your TV while it's in the cradle and use it as a second screen while you play using the Wii remote or another controller. Or you could turn the screen off on the Gamepad. This way you could just look over at it to see the screen instead of holding it on your lap if the gamepad was displaying a map or something you just needed to glance at. I haven't figured out how I would set it up for off TV gameplay for Wii mode due to my setup (I don't really have anywhere to set the gamepad in a stand so I could use the Wii controllers ) but I suspect some other people might be making use of that feature. Still a cool feature though.
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All excellent points. They really did a lot of things right.

One big thing they really do right: Games. I just have a lot of fun playing their games. I'm enjoying NSMBU and SM3DW quite a bit.

 
Best Buy Gamer's Club Unlocked members:

Get Wii U Blacks Ops 2 for $2 using your online, digital coupon. Sign in to Bestbuy.com and Rabbids Land will show a price of $6.00(no coupon required).

 
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I don't see a need for the higher capacity battery for myself. I rarely play for more than an hour or two, and have the cradle on the end table beside the couch so I just set it on that to charge a little anytime I pause for a few minutes. It's also easy enough to unplug the cord from the cradle and just play with the pad plugged in if I'm doing a longer session.
 
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dmaul1114 said:
I dint see a need for the higher capacity battery for myself. I rarely play for more than an hour or two, and have the cradle on the end table beside the couch so I just set it on that to charge a little anytime I pause for a few minutes. It's also easy enough to unplug the cord from the cradle and just play with the pad plugged in if I'm doing a longer session.
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It would be much more useful if it had a larger range.
 
Yeah I would use the remote play if it had better range. Moving the system is out of the question, I only have one HDTV in this house. I don't see a need for the battery as I will probably be using another controller whenever possible.  Especially since I picked up the pro controller for $15 at Sam's club.

 
I just got back from Target.  One week ago they had shitloads of 3DS XL's in stock.  They were down to 2.  They still have a lot of 3DS's and Wii Skylander bundles.  They had no Wii U's in stock and no PS4's in stock.  The locked cabinet for Xbox One was completely full of consoles.  I don't know if they sold and restocked or if they haven't sold any this week - I didn't ask the clerk.  Either way, the 3DS XL looks to be the big seller this year, not surprising considering the $150 price tag.

 
Blaster man said:
I just got back from Target. One week ago they had shitloads of 3DS XL's in stock. They were down to 2. They still have a lot of 3DS's and Wii Skylander bundles. They had no Wii U's in stock and no PS4's in stock. The locked cabinet for Xbox One was completely full of consoles. I don't know if they sold and restocked or if they haven't sold any this week - I didn't ask the clerk. Either way, the 3DS XL looks to be the big seller this year, not surprising considering the $150 price tag.
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Cause the 3DS XLs were $135+tax yesterday.

 
SaraAB said:
MS goes and makes everyone ditch their digital library and no one complains..
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Have you not been on the internet the past 9 months? lol I am puh-retty sure that's not the reaction everyone had.

SaraAB said:
I am very appreciative of system transfer and the fact that I can keep my old games on a new console. Say what you want about it but right now it's the best method on the market for keeping your games. It's pretty clear to me that Nintendo doesn't want us to lose our digital libraries.
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It's a stop gap. You are still screwed if your system dies or if you buy a new one or have multiple consoles in the same house. With no unified accounts, Nintendo digital libraries are as useful as a 360 library on the X1.

SaraAB said:
Lots of accessories are very cheap if you know where to look, and the deals are easy to get. Can use Wii accessories as well.
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And a year from now lots of accessories and deals will be had on the PS4 and X1 as well. If you're going to compare consoles, you have to compare from similar timeframes. I'd argue that there have been far better deals on X1 & PS4 games a month after launch than this time last year for the WiiU.

As for the second screen stuff, it's cool but pointless given the range. You gotta be, pretty much, sitting in the same room as the WiiU for a solid stream. Also I'm still waiting on TiVo support... which was supposed to happen back in January.

 
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Corvin said:
It's a stop gap. You are still screwed if your system dies or if you buy a new one or have multiple consoles in the same house. With no unified accounts, Nintendo digital libraries are as useful as a 360 library on the X1.
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How is it a stop gap and what exactly is it a stop gap for?

Corvin said:
And a year from now lots of accessories and deals will be had on the PS4 and X1 as well. If you're going to compare consoles, you have to compare from similar timeframes. I'd argue that there have been far better deals on X1 & PS4 games a month after launch than this time last year for the WiiU.
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I doubt it. It took more than a year - it took MANY YEARS for the PS3 and Xbox 360 to have good deals on their accessories. Even now the best you can usually see is $35 for a controller and that's pretty rare.

 
Deader2818 said:
PS3 controllers are on sale a lot for $34.99 the last 2 years.
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I just got home from Target with a new XB1 controller. Paid $39 (including tax) for it. No exclusive clubs, but it did include the 10% weekend discount, 20% Redcard coupon for controllers/headsets(I have a debit card), 5% redcard discount and 5% RX rewards discount. May not have been a sale, but it didn't require paying for access to any special discounts.

 
Corvin said:
Have you not been on the internet the past 9 months? lol I am puh-retty sure that's not the reaction everyone had.


It's a stop gap. You are still screwed if your system dies or if you buy a new one or have multiple consoles in the same house. With no unified accounts, Nintendo digital libraries are as useful as a 360 library on the X1.

And a year from now lots of accessories and deals will be had on the PS4 and X1 as well. If you're going to compare consoles, you have to compare from similar timeframes. I'd argue that there have been far better deals on X1 & PS4 games a month after launch than this time last year for the WiiU.

As for the second screen stuff, it's cool but pointless given the range. You gotta be, pretty much, sitting in the same room as the WiiU for a solid stream. Also I'm still waiting on TiVo support... which was supposed to happen back in January.
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I play games up stairs in my computer room with my wiiu controller all the time and have had no problems with it.
 
My Target was out of Wii U systems today but they had lots of 3DS systems including the Mario and Luigi XL, they only had one Wii mini left.

 
Blaster man said:
How is it a stop gap and what exactly is it a stop gap for?
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It's to make it appear like they care about backwards compatibility or digital libraries. Hell they make bank peddling those same games redone/rereleased every generation. If all those games suddenly carry over it would kill a revenue stream.

Until they have a unified user based system where you can log into multiple, or different consoles (should one break, or upgrade to a new console) and access your content it's a simply a 'check' on the list of features. It's the bare minimum they could do and a far cry from them caring out users building digital libraries.

 
Corvin said:
It's to make it appear like they care about backwards compatibility or digital libraries. Hell they make bank peddling those same games redone/rereleased every generation. If all those games suddenly carry over it would kill a revenue stream.

Until they have a unified user based system where you can log into multiple, or different consoles (should one break, or upgrade to a new console) and access your content it's a simply a 'check' on the list of features. It's the bare minimum they could do and a far cry from them caring out users building digital libraries.
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They would probably keep re-releasing them with upgrades anyways, like HD versions or 3D versions, so if you had the originals that would not apply and people would still buy them. I have all the original cartridges and systems so re-buying old Nintendo games is not an issue for me. I may buy some older, expensive RPG's that I don't have like secret of mana and earthbound because at $10 a pop or less its arguably going to be cheaper to buy them that way then paying for an original cart when the battery in it might be dead anyways. But if I have it on cartridge I am not going to re-buy on digital.

As far as the accessories sales I am sure you couldn't find PS3 controllers at retail or xbox 360 controllers at retail for $15 a piece within a year after release of the console. Yes there are accessory sales, for the other consoles but it takes at least 2 years for them to start going on sale.

 
Microsoft did not include a disc with the day 1 update in the Xbox One box. Neither did Sony. Day 1 updates are the norm now, like them or not. Including a disc would only work until the next update, then you'll just be wasting time installing the update from disc.

For our Xmas Zelda Wii U I set it up and installed the update and also downloaded Windwaker, then boxed it backup. It will be ready to go when they open it this Xmas.

 
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crunchewy said:
Microsoft did not include a disc with the day 1 update in the Xbox One box. Neither did Sony. Day 1 updates are the norm now, like them or not. Including a disc would only work until the next update, then you'll just be wasting time installing the update from disc.

For our Xmas Zelda Wii U I set it up and installed the update and also downloaded Windwaker, then boxed it backup. It will be ready to go when they open it this Xmas.
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Get that logic shit outta here.

 
I think its selling now since I checked the GS store locator and all the stores are out of stock on the Mario & luigi bundle. That bundle was definitely a smash hit. Its clear that people are grabbing this system 1-3 days before Xmas. Target was out completely though GS still has the windwaker bundle and the skylanders bundle at every store around me. Seems like no one wants the skylanders bundle. Though stock levels don't necessarily indicate sales, as Nintendo could just send more systems to stores where they are selling quickly.  Xbox one's seem to be everywhere now, Sam's club had a whole display full of them, haven't seen a PS4 yet in the wild.

 
Assuming empty boxes mean systems are in, the GameStop near me a few weeks ago had 1 Wind Waker bundle, 1 PS4, and 4 XBox Ones.
 
I have a Wii-U now! I returned my Xbox One  and picked up the Mario & Luigi Wii-U Deluxe Console at Best Buy. It also came with a $25 gift card and  another free game. Been holding off on getting it, but that deal and seeing Super Mario 3d World just made me caved in. I will probably pick up another Xbox One later when Quantum Break or the next Halo game comes out but right now I am fine with just having the PS4 and now the Wii-U.

I also can't wait for Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros Wii U, and Monolith Soft X!

 
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That Best Buy deal sounds fantastic. Congratulations!

I know there was some talk about flash drives, but just to be clear - You can use an external hard drive to save games too,right?  

 
Yeah, external hard drives are what are recommended by Nintendo.  They don't seem to think flash drives or SD cards are a good solution.  Any USB 2.0 (or 3.0, but that's overkill) external HDD with external power (ac adapter) should be fine.  If it doesn't have external power, you can get a Y-cable to plug it into two USB 2.0 ports on the Wii U to get it the juice it'll need.

 
jman2avatar said:
Is anyone else having trouble accessing the e-shop? Everytime I try to log in I get an error message.
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I remember opening a Nintendo system, hooking it up, and playing the game that came packed in. Now they give a download code and don't provide enough server capacity for demand so kids planning on playing their packed in games can't do so. It's unacceptable. I have to wonder if Nintendo, because it's a Japanese company, seems to think it's "fine" to just wait for demand to return to normal levels and not bother spending extra cash to spin up more servers?

 
Blaster man said:
I remember opening a Nintendo system, hooking it up, and playing the game that came packed in. Now they give a download code and don't provide enough server capacity for demand so kids planning on playing their packed in games can't do so. It's unacceptable. I have to wonder if Nintendo, because it's a Japanese company, seems to think it's "fine" to just wait for demand to return to normal levels and not bother spending extra cash to spin up more servers?
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Mircosoft also offers download codes for some of their pack in games. Welcome to the future my man.

The Mario bundle games are not download codes btw.

 
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Deader2818 said:
Ok, but another major video gaming company does this as well. So, be upset with them as well.
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Dude, the point is that they're doing these download codes then didn't spin up enough server capacity to meet demand. Therefore the codes cannot be redeemed and kids cannot play their games on Christmas Day. I have no problem with download codes.
 
Blaster man said:
I remember opening a Nintendo system, hooking it up, and playing the game that came packed in. Now they give a download code and don't provide enough server capacity for demand so kids planning on playing their packed in games can't do so. It's unacceptable. I have to wonder if Nintendo, because it's a Japanese company, seems to think it's "fine" to just wait for demand to return to normal levels and not bother spending extra cash to spin up more servers?
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Having the servers go down is unacceptable I agree, if they want people to like their products they should be able to keep up with demand even on the busiest days. This does not bode well for when Pokemon Bank comes out on the 27th, if it even comes out, and its a paid service.

 
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