Konnichi wa, minna-san!

Now that I have spent enough time with the Wii U, I'm ready to do my first hardware review. I'm going to try and just focus on the hardware and its features so I'm not going to talk much about the games. So, here we go.

There's been a lot of questions about the Wii U ever since it was announced last year. How is Nintendo going to hook gamers with a tablet controller? How powerful is it going to be? What will its games be like? How much will it cost? This year at E3, they put some questions to rest but it was just replaced with more questions. Will re-released games be enough to sell the console? How long will third-parties support the console? How good are version-exclusives going to be compared to 360's or PS3's versions? Only if you're a Nintendo faithful, like me, or just keeping tabs on the Wii U will discover the answers to all of the questions. So far, the Wii U has a few promising third-party games in development for it like Lego City Undercover, Bayonetta 2, Rayman Legends and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. Nintendo will augment that lineup with games like Pikmin 3 and the upcoming Super Smash Bros... Wait a second, i'm getting off-topic here! Back to the system.

The Wii U console itself is pretty slick, if a bit weird looking since it's like a rectangle instead of the square-ish 360 and PS3. Standard USB ports are on here, HDMI and standard cables are supported but the strange part is there's no Ethernet port. I mean, in this day and age, most people have wireless routers but if you were hoping for the sometimes more stable connection you get with cable then you're not going to get it with Wii U. Another strange part is that you can't charge the Gamepad with the Wii U itself. Instead the controller comes with its own charger which must plug in to the wall. For me, this isn't a problem since I have multiple unused ports available around my living room but some techies may be strapped for outlets which presents a problem. The Wii U Pro Controller, if you happen to grab one, can be charged by plugging it into one of the Wii U's USB ports. The system is more or less on par with the current consoles with Nintendo claiming it is more powerful. If it is, it's not by much but it'll do for now. The Wii U is slightly more expensive than the 360 and PS3 right now but considering what you get with the Wii U, particularly the Deluxe version, it's worth it.

Now moving on to the Wii U Gamepad. First things first, most people when they see the Gamepad they seem to think: "That things too bulky! How am I supposed to play with that?" The Gamepad is actually suprisingly light, weighing only about a pound or so. Also there are curves along the sides and a back grip so it can fit your hands. Don't worry, it's Nintendo; they know about to make ergonomically friendly controllers. The controller comes with all the workings of a modern controller. Nintendo's ABXY face buttons, dual analog sticks, L, R, and Nintendo's ZL and ZR buttons, and Nintendo's patented D-pad. I'm not lying actually; the D-pad on Nintendo's stuff is patented and they can't be used by other companies. Now this is truly the best d-pad on any controller since it's very precise unlike the 360's weird "webbing" in between their controllers and the PS3's "broken" one. The Gamepad also comes with an inward-facing camera, gyroscope and accelerometer, rumble, and a stylus. The Wii U also has a TV button which you could use to control the TV you're using. Of course it's not perfect (especially not for me since I have a seperate sound system) but it's a little touch they put in for you. Of course, it's impossible to ignore the 6.2 inch screen on the controller. The screen is resistive-touch based allowing for only one input per touch. I know a lot of people are whining about this but I like the idea still. The stylus allows for more precise touches which sometimes you just can't get on a regular tablet. The touchscreen works very well and I have little trouble with it. There is a problem with the Gamepad. Its battery life is only about 3.5 to 5 hours. This presents a problem to marathon gamers like me who spend more than 6 hours of their day playing video games. Almost every time I sit down for a long play session, I have to charge the controller. Again, this doesn't present much of a problem for me since I can comfortably sit on my couch within range of the 8.5 feet long charging cable but for others it may be an aggravating issue.

Let's talk about the menus and applications on the Wii U. First the bad: they are rather slow, taking around 10 seconds for the menu. It doesn't seem that long until you go through multiple menus and realize how much time has been wasted. After installing the day 1 update, in order to play Wii games you have to select the Wii menu on the Wii U and wait a while for the system to switch over. I don't know why you can't just pop in a Wii game and play it without having to switch to the old format. The Wii could do it with GameCube games so why can't the Wii U do it with Wii games? Now to the good, the menus are very straightforward clearly indicating what is what. It's easily the easiest menu to navigate out of the 360, PS3 and Wii U. Now for the applications.

There are quite a few on Wii U. Let me talk about some of the bigger ones. You'll notice quite a few streaming apps right off the bat. YouTube, Amazon, Hulu and Netflix are pre-installed on the system so if you're a subscriber you can easily take advantage of these services right on Wii U. Now since I'm not a subscriber I can't say for certain if you can simply just use the Gamepad to watch shows on the Gamepad but I know for a fact that YouTube needs the TV to be free while Amazon does not. Miiverse is Nintendo's online community and so far it's really good. I don't know if it's better than Xbox Live but the community is out in full force to support Miiverse. The concept of Miiverse is pretty simple: there are times in game (or outside the game if you want to simply post in the Miiverse community) when you can post about your experience. This could be done either in words or through drawing. Let me tell you, the amount of artists on Wii U right now is astounding and I'm always amazed and what people can do. Since the touchscreen is so precise, it's easy to draw on Wii U. Miiverse presents a whole new way to express your feelings on a game and it's one of the Wii U's better perks. There's Nintendo's eShop on Wii U as well. It works like a standard online shop where you can purchase downloadable games or retail games through the store. I'm hoping they add in the Virtual Console service soon as well so I can buy some old GameCube games. There's the Internet Browser which works fairly well but since the Wii U doesn't use Flash Player (and I don't know if you can even download it on Wii U) the ways in which it can be used is limited. Lastly there's Nintendo TVii which is Nintendo's attempt to fit in to the multimedia console. I don't know if it's up yet or not since I haven't tried it but basically what you can do with it is assign all of your favourite TV shows on the Wii U and you can watch it through certain providers. I'm not a huge person on TV so my use of it will be small but from what I understand, it's a pretty cool idea. Best part is, it's free.

Now I said I wouldn't talk about the games that much since it's supposed to be a hardware review but we all know what makes a good game console and that's the games. The initial Wii U launch line-up was great. While yes, some of them are re-releases and there's a few lame party games, it's still a solid line-up. I think most people agree that New Super Mario Bros. U is the best launch game out of the bunch. Now the future of Wii U looks fairly exciting with the games I mentioned earlier. I'm expecting that around fall next year, most games will be truly multiplatform with releases on both 360, PS3 and Wii U. Soon, it will depend on how develop games on Wii U to suit its unique style. My favourite part about some of these games is that they can be played just on the Gamepad itself. Since I share my gaming TV with my family, it's hard for me to play console games until everyone goes to bed or the odd time no one's home. It's an extremely convenient feature of the console and it may not seem like much but if you're feeling particularly lazy and don't feel like turning the TV on to play a game, just turn on the Wii U and play on the Gamepad. I believe the Wii U opens up new ways to play games and I am a believer of the Wii U's tagline "How U Will Play Next". I actually feel like if Sony and Microsoft don't copy Nintendo this time, they may fall behind when it comes to gameplay.

All in all, the Wii U is a solid console with a new, fun way to play video games. This will easily become the console of choice when it comes to party games because of the way Wii U can bring people together. The new party size can now be 5 people with some games. Nintendo brought up the idea of asymmetrical gameplay numerous times when discussing Wii U and not many people knew what that meant including myself until I got the chance to play it. Nintendo has opened up a whole new way to experience video games both by yourself and with other people you know. So I believe I've covered pretty much everything there is to know about the Wii U. The console itself, the controller, its menus and applications and the games.

Pros:

'Asymmetrical gameplay'

Miiverse

Simple menus

Good launch line-up

Gamepad use

Ergonomically friendly

Cons:

Gamepad only lasts 3.5 - 5 hours

Menus are a bit slow

no Ethernet port

Wii U: 9/10

Thanks for reading!

Mata ato de!