Ever since the new season of Game of Thrones started, I’ve gathered with a group of friends each Sunday night to play video games for a few hours before the new episode airs. We sometimes call it pre-gaming Game of Thrones, because we’re huge dorks.
This past Sunday was different, however. We began planning for it several days in advance. When I stepped into the massive, dimly lit space of my friend Jake’s apartment that still looks more like the factory it once was than a space people actually live in, I noticed that he’d shuffled the couches so one was directly in front of the other, both facing the huge swath of wall that would soon be lit up by a projector.
“Stadium seating,” I chuckled, taking a picture.
This Sunday was a major event, and not because of anything that went down in Game of Thrones. This Sunday, we had Mario Kart 8 for the first time.
We were excited. We had emailed each other earnestly to figure out who was bringing how many controllers and when so we’d have a full roster. Jake created a Facebook conversation titled “Mario Kart Party” and messaged us all the day before to ask if we could get to his house by 4 so we’d have a solid five hours of gaming before Game of Thrones started. We settled on 6. Then Nick, the one who had an early copy of Mario Kart, taunted us with the fact that he’d been playing the game the entire weekend already so he knew he was going to crush us. It felt like we were ten years old again, crowding around a TV in the basement to race each other in Mario Kart 64.
Nick did crush us on pretty much every single track and cup series we played through. But that didn’t make it any less fun. By the time the third lap came around in every race, I’d lean forward, gritting my teeth in intense concentration just to get ahead of whomever was directly in front of me. When I finally did, I threw my arms up in triumph.
As we wound our way towards hour three of our Mario Kart binge, we decided to start racing individual tracks so we could cover more ground with the little time we had left. I was confused why we were deciding to cut the game off abruptly when we were still having a blast, so I tried to suggest that we just keep playing instead of watching Game of Thrones. That didn’t go over so well.
“I’m just…really into this game,” I said, watching Shy Guy (my driver of choice) zoom through another gorgeous track. I was genuinely surprised by how much I was enjoying it, because while I admire Mario Kart’s beauty, it’s never really been my go-to Nintendo series.
“I think I might actually buy one now,” Jake said of the Wii U a moment later as we were placing the controllers back into our respective bags. Fresh off the thrill of playing Mario Kart for three solid hours, I found myself feeling weirdly hopeful that I could take this off-hand remark at face value.
Growing up on PC and PlayStation games, I never had the same level of feverish enthusiasm for Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. that many of my friends did. Jake didn’t grow up on an all-Nintendo diet either, but he’s also one of those people who lives in an apartment that still has a GameCube plugged into the TV.
The Wii U is the first Nintendo console I’ve ever owned, for a point of comparison. This has been a bittersweet introduction to a universe many of my peers fell for 18 years ago when the N64 first launched, or even earlier.
They have all moved on in one way or another, or simply remained content to dust off the older consoles whenever they want their Mario or Zelda fix. I, on the other hand, am falling deeper and deeper in love with Nintendo games for the first time at a uniquely precarious point in the company’s history.
There’s an urgency behind this newfound obsession, therefore — one driven by the overarching fear that something might happen soon that will alter the very core of Nintendo. Something that would make my first Nintendo generation my last.
This has turned me into an odd sort of evangelist. After one of the recent Sundays, I offered to let Jake hold onto the Wii U until I came back the following week — on the condition that he learn how to play Pikmin 3 so we could play the cooperative levels the following week. He focused on Donkey Kong Counter: Tropical Freeze instead, texting me at one point just to relate how much fun he was having with it.
Even before our pre-Game of Thrones gaming ritual started, I was already making the hour-plus trek from my apartment in Washington Heights to Williamsburg more often than I wanted to on Saturday or Sunday mornings weighed down with a messenger bag filled with console paraphernalia and stack of games.
I’ve also hand-delivered it to a friend in Bushwick to let him play with while I was away in California. Hell, I would have brought it with me to California if I didn’t have to pay for the extra luggage.
One day this past winter, I crossed over to Queens with the console in tow and got caught in a vicious snowstorm. I showed up at my friend’s apartment in Astoria soggy and completely covered in snow except for one spot on my chest where I’d been clutching the bag with the fierceness of a protective parent. Immediately after shaking myself off and before I’d said my proper greetings, I darted straight for his table to open the bag and make sure that it was ok.
“You know, you didn’t need to do that,” he said, sounding puzzled as I pulled each of the pieces of machinery out of my bag and turned them over in my hands. “You know I already have a Wii U, right?”
Ok, so maybe that time I was being a tad unreasonable. But I wanted to save my Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze progress. What else was a newly minted Nintendo fan to do?
With the exception of the one who already owns a Wii U, all my other friends have responded to my visits with the same childlike giddiness we felt when planning and then playing Mario Kart 8. The first time I brought Super Mario 3D World to Jake’s apartment, his roommate and our mutual friend Anthony was so excited he even managed to pull himself away from his League of Legends addiction temporarily to play with us.
“Beautiful!” he kept gasping at the beginning of levels. At one point, we happened upon a particularly tricky series of platforms that moved in different directions depending on where we were standing. Anthony and I didn’t make it that far, plunging to our deaths shortly after stepping on one of the first platforms. With no lives left, it was all up to Jake.
“DO IT, JAKE, YOU CAN DO IT,” we kept shouting. He held out for a few more seconds.
“I can’t…I can’t do it,” he said, hunching over and shaking his head back and forth suddenly and quaking with laughter. When he looked up a moment later, there were tears in his eyes.
“This game just actually blew my mind,” he said a moment later after we’d retreated to an easier level. That was on a Sunday. The following Saturday, I got a text from Jake at 11 that night saying that he was sorry for the short notice but he wanted to let me know that he was heading over to another friend’s house to play it again.
Mind-blowing is a good way to describe Super Mario 3D World. But it was only mind-blowing enough for Jake to keep asking me to bring the Wii U over again, or go visit someone who lives closer by his neighbourhood.
I asked Jake this morning how serious he was about buying a Wii U after playing the new game.
“Not very,” he responded.
My heart sank once again.
So if there’s already a game that brings you to tears, another that makes you want to turn your apartment into a day long arena, and one that’s just plain fun, how many more reasons do you need to buy a Wii U?
“Zelda may be the only franchise that would convince me it’s actually worth owning a Wii U,” he said, though he’s also considering picking up a 3DS.
I’m going to pester him again once the new Zelda finally shows up. Until then, I’ll keep making my Wii U pilgrimage across the city.
Comments
77 responses to “Try As I Might, I Can’t Convince My Friends To Get The Wii U”
There’s never going to be three games released at once that make a Wii U worth buying. The games that make it worth buying are spread apart so you forget about them. Mario Kart 8, Wind Waker HD and Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze justify buying a Wii U, but by the time Mario Kart 8 comes out you’ve moved past your desire to play Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze.
I think it’s a long term side effect of letting the Wii and Wii U become a second console. It’s made it a gamer luxury item so people over think their justification for buying it. With a PS4 or XBOX One you buy at launch with one game you want, one game that interests you and one game you could get away with just buying for the previous gen console, because you need a main console.
Your friends are never going to need a Wii U like they need a PS4 or XBOX One. You can, and most people do, live without a Wii U. Makes it an incredibly hard sell, especially when they’re getting the good stuff for free at a mates place.
Their pricing doesn’t help, either. By the time Mario Kart 8 arrives, you should be able to buy a Wii U with MK8 and also pick up Wind Waker and Donkey Kong at reduced prices. But the Nintendo stuff doesn’t seem to go through the same discounting cycle as the Sony and MS games, making it a much less enticing proposition from a value for money point of view.
This.
Most consoles have a handful of shiny new titles available and a backlog of decent older games at half the price.
Nintendo – Super Mario Galaxy, a seven year old game, is still selling for about $50. It’s not quite true to say Nintendo doesn’t do discounts, but they certainly don’t do *big* discounts. On most consoles a game would be $50 after a year.
The bulk of the money I spend on a console over its lifetime will be for its games. With Nintendo I would spend 50% more for the same number of games, with many of their bigger titles being rehashed versions of older games. The games that actually get discounted are the small number of third party titles (which typically look better on other consoles).
Also for some reason, nintendo are years behind in their online experience. You cant even send messages to friends without going into miiverse, and you friend wont get the message, unless they QUIT EVERYTHING and go into miiverse. Means if I see a friend online playing a game, i literally have to ring them, with my phone, to let them know im online and want to play.
Uh… you don’t have to quit everything? Miiverse opens up on top of whatever you’re doing, you don’t have to close anything at all.
Edit: Oh wait, are you talking about the 3DS one? I haven’t used Miiverse on 3DS yet, only Wii U.
I’m pretty certain its refused to open without quitting monster hunter on me. In any event, its really unlikely someone will know they got a message, cos it doesnt really alert you or anything, ala, xboxlive etc. Also theres no parties/groups or anything, I have to talk to entire rooms of people on the microphone.
Weird. Well, I’ve never had to quit anything for it, I just tap the Miiverse button from the Home menu in the middle of a game and it takes me there, then when I’m done I’m back in the game like I never left. And the gamepad’s blue light flashes when a message or whatever arrives, and the Miiverse icon in the home menu glows to let you know there’s stuff in there waiting for you. Keeping track was always easy when I was actively using it.
Yeah. They’re giving away a free game when you register your copy of Mario Kart 8 which is great, but if these games ever had a single price drop I’d probably already own them.
New Super Mario Bros DS from 2006 is still $69.95.
That game is EIGHT. YEARS. OLD.
Hate to point out the obvious that’s been stated many times before, but Nintendo has a temp deal that when you buy Mario Kart 8 you get to pick from 8 games to download for free, one of them being the Wind Waker. If free isn’t reduced enough for people….
Yeah good points on the spread, showing my age but it proves how much 3rd party or an array of 2nd party games are key. Back on the snes, Nintendo developed games shared the same long waits between them. Only difference is that I had a tonne of third party games to keep me and my friends consistently talking about it. Been three gens now of poor relationships with Nintendo. They need it sorted asap and actually listen to them.
It is weird, there are more good games out than most people could afford to buy, but somehow, the Wii-U has been tainted.
It feels like it would almost be embarrassing to own one, like buying a HD-DVD player, even if all the movies you really loved were still available on HD-DVD.
It kind of feels like the Wii-U has lost this round, and lost badly. Not many people want to buy something that even Nintendo has said is disappointing.
And it is such a shame, it is actually such a fun console, with great games, but I think people feel it is ‘done’ and don’t want to get on what is perceived as a sinking ship.
Nintendo should have removed the Wii branding from the damn thing, called it the Nintendo revolution or something.
yeeeeeeeeeep! it is really weird. It is a good console now but unfortunate idiots still love their amazing visual, high powered graphics over fun gameplay. Even though the wiiU isn’t powerful i think nintendo are doing beautiful looking things while the game is still fun.
I’d have agreed if not for the unfortunately idiotic word choice.
Maybe rethink the ‘idiot’ part. Different priorities in valuing visuals do not make for lower intelligence.
I actually liken the 2. Easily entertained by bright lights
If it was truly easily entertained by bright lights we would all have Wii U’s instead of our PCs/PS4s with all the brown coloured gritty games.
For me personally I will own a Nintendo console again when they have a system with a controller that isn’t a gimmick.
The games actually are really bright haha
The wiiU controller is actually super comfortable and for most games you don’t even need the screen. I seriously play it like a normal controller. I was the same as you, I really didn’t enjoy the wii mote
A lot of my friends have gone from wanting to own every console, to just wanting one, they can’t be bothered anymore. The sad truth is, unless you have small children most wont buy a Wii as their only console.
If I go multi console this gen, the wii-u will definitely be my choice, as there’s just not enough difference between PlayStation and Xbox. But that’s still an if…
I love it but it’s not much of a revolution per se. There’s a lot more to it than just dumping a high end card into a console but they really need to entice hard core gamers back. Casuals are not brand devoted just fad devoted. Plus hard core Gamers are not the typical stereotypes nkw days, word of mouth is so key with something that shares your living room for many years
Buying a Nintendo console these days is like buying a DVD player that only plays Disney DVDs.
disclaimer: not a knock against Disney, I love Disney.
Because Disney owns like… everything? So there’s a whole tonne of stuff to watch?
*pre-marvel/Star Wars Disney
*post PIXAR Disney
Your friends are obviously adults and yours still clutching to your childhood.
“Yes, Mario Cart is filled with children’s mascots, princesses in pink dresses, bubbles and rainbows. But its not just for kids. I swear!”
Look at the Super Mario screenshot above. Ignoring that it’s Mario it looks like a babies game. Sorry, but it does. The colors, the costumes, the icons.
How old are your friends? What are group does that screenshot look like it’s for?
Now ask yourself again why you’re adult friends don’t want to buy a Wii U.
Except that they all reported having immense amounts of fun, to the tears? It’s really sad that some people believe that once you pass some entirely arbitrary age threshold, your interests must turn to the gritty, the overly realistic and the subdued and grayish browns, and the mass murdering of life-like human beings (conveniently draped on “evil” uniforms that somehow make it all right) for your choice of entertainment or you are but a manchild. That extracting fun and joy from anything else than minutely counting polygons, frames per second, resolution, and machinery specs is akin to not having outgrown some kind of shameful “phase”. It is really sad.
This has to be one of the most ridiculous things I’ve read. Pull your head out of your ass mate.
And you only ever play MA or R games? Does your shelf only have the new CoDs and the latest GTAs?
Kart and Knob should both start with the letter K.
FYI; an adult wouldn’t care if something is for G or R18+ so long as they’re having fun.
Only a child would actually think that anyone over 18 should only play/watch R18+ games/shows.
Boys still experiencing hormonal growth may think it’s not for them but adults brought up on this understand. Your points valid tho, I’d believe the average person would automatically think it’s aimed at children. Problem is companies like Disney have an appeal to adults cos their children love it, they can see its great. An adult imo wouldn’t go to the movies with mates to watch frozen. So why would the broader population play a game that looks like it’s aimed at children? Not saying change mario just saying if thats all they offer then you’ll only get majority of owners as children
Yours is probably the most “reasonable” defence I’ve seen all…
But It’s a fair sweeping statement to make. Take the Lego movie or a huge majority of Pixar films. They’re all clearly aimed to be “family friendly/children” films. Yet me and my mates/cousins have watched a lot of those flicks on the cinemas. A good movie is a good movie regardless of the “age range”.
The same applies to games. If someone likes it it’s not going to matter how “kiddy” it is.
So many butt hurt ‘adults’ still clinging to their childhood and a refusal to acknowledge Nintendos target audience.
I never said Nintendo games are bad. I never said they arent fun. But they are solely aimed at kids.
Besides the dedicated gamer adult (young adult, fresh out of his teens), adults dont by Nintendo consoles for themselves.
Jumping castles are fun. But theyre for children.
You’ve obviously never been on one after a few tequila shots.
I have and I broke three vertabrae (true story)
I’m a 29 year old male, married, no children, and I own a Wii U and 3DS. My brother is 33, married, no kids and has a 3DS. In fact I know a shitload of adults that play nintendo. You’re argument is flawed. Let go of the hate, man.
Same. I’m 35 and own both. I have kids, but the PS4 and PC is my eldest’s system of choice. Each to his own, but this hate is unnecessary.
Bummer about the vertebrae dude. That’s some nasty business.
meh. I was 21 and stupid. I was also lucky – back at work within two weeks but stillfeeling it nearly 10 years later.
I’m with you warcroft. If there’s not evisceration, I’m out… I want death and destruction and mayhem. Probably not my type of game, but neither are those played with people. People are the worst.
I’m in a similar position as in this article. It’s my first time owning a Nintendo console (Except the 2DS which I got because it was cheap which led me to get an XL and now a WiiU) And honestly, I’m loving it (Not just the games I might add, the multi tasking is great and so is the web browser, I normally avoid console browsers but not this one.)
I can’t believe how much a system that I used to mock is now my favourite (I also have a PS4 and PC and generally don’t pick sides, but since I got it I do play the WiiU the most) and a game series like Zelda that I always though looked stupid is now my favourite series (It just delivers everything that I look for in a game and I feel lucky coming into it now with WW HD/ OoT 3D and a whole back catalogue of previous titles). Because the hardware isn’t exactly ‘best in class’ I have also found my tolerance and appreciation of games regardless of system or visual fidelity has improved, no joke. I always felt that you can have great gaming experiences anywhere but always thought ‘but not the wii, it’s fuggles’. But you know what? It isn’t and frankly some of the best looking games I have ever played are on it.
The WiiU deserves better than it has, but it we also deserve better pricing on old games. I got skyward sword 2nd hand for $44!!!! (It was hard to find too) And the wii motes etc cost an extra $70. It’s a killer on the wallet for new comers to Nintendo considering what the machine is packing under the hood. that said, if you had the Wii it’s a pretty well priced ‘upgrade’ because you don’t need to purchase new controllers.
In the end I feel that’s the only problem with the WiiU. It’s a great console for new comers to Nintendo but to enjoy it you either have to spend as much on it as it would cost to just have bought a PS4 anyway or you have to have had a Wii, which had more content.
Skyward sword preowned for $44? Man they were $19 each brand new with tonnes of copies all over the place late last year 😛
I even bought myself a second copy because I am dumb and just wanted the pretty colourful second version of the box art >_>
Try as I might I couldn’t find it. The closest I could get was this or Twilight sword first hand for $49.
I can’t find it all.
I don’t know whats up with it. I’ve only ever seen it like twice. You can get it off ebay I guess, but when I checked it was around $37-50 anyway for the normal edition (The one I found happened to be the special edition). Or the Wii eshop?
dear god I thought I was the only one! :/
i dont understand how people can like game of thrones so much
You’re not alone in that regard. I’ve tried so many times but I lose interest by like episode 5 of season 1 each time. I know it gets good later but it is one of those series that you NEED to watch from the beginning to understand
Just out of interest, how many series’ (exclude say, Simpsons or Futurama) do you not watch from the beginning? I’m curious if you think these shows are actually good.
In this regard I have a bit of OCD. Either I watch from the beginning or I don’t watch at all. I find that no matter the series (except Simpsons/Futurama/Fresh Prince of Bel Air/etc) you need to go from the start as most of them will hide information about future twists, plotlines, characters, etc in early episodes.
Ah okay, cool – it’s a pity the series didn’t catch for you as it has some great stuff in it! But if it’s not your cup of tea then that’s that.
Yeah unfortunately it didn’t catch on with me. I even tried more with this show than others. I’ll usually give them a go and once it loses me, I stop. With Game of Thrones, I’ve tried 5 times to watch my way through it, but eventually I find myself distracted or just losing interest. So it’s not like I didn’t try lol
I supported Nintendo during their slow GameCube era. But they abandoned me (and many other fans) during the Wii years with their shitty games and lack of releases. Therefor, I won’t be supporting their Wii U console, regardless of how good Mario Kart 8 might be.
So, a company takes a mis-step with a product, and you will never buy from them again?
Yep. I’m a real hard bastard.
Poita, are you implying Nintendo has only had ONE mis-step? How about N64, GameCube, Wii and Wii U? That’s 4 mis-steps when it comes to disappointing third party support and under-powered architecture. Why anyone would support Nintendo at this point in time is beyond me. I will buy the Wii U when it’s $99. And before anyone accuses me of hating Nintendo, I’ve been a fan since my first NES back in 87. A Nintendo console is an accessory to the other consoles. What I mean is, if you really want to enjoy gaming, you can’t just own a Nintendo console or you will ultimately be missing out on the incredible gaming world that exists outside of Nintendo’s narrow entertainment focus.
Haha, a mis-step that sold what… 138 million units or something ridiculous like that? Big mistake with the Wii there 😛
You CAN quite easily own just a Nintendo console and have an incredible gaming experience. What you can’t do is buy *only* the games that come directly from Nintendo themselves. Then you will be missing out. People complain about a lack of third party support, but they must be only looking at the big-name multi-plats that don’t bother porting down to Nintendo’s system. There’s plenty of third-party support to be found, all you need to do is look.
Besides, anyone who thinks the GameCube is sporting a poor library of games clearly doesn’t know what their talking about 😛
Same can be said as a reason to get all consoles. If you don’t buy a ps2 ps3 or a ps4 you miss out on God of war. If you didn’t get xbox any you miss out on halo. So it’s not just an accessory. It’s a choice you make.
“How about N64, GameCube, Wii and Wii U? That’s 4 mis-steps when it comes to disappointing third party support and under-powered architecture.”
Well, first of all, N64 had some amazing games, best games of that gen imo and the graphics from N64 generally hold up much better than PS1 games do. Second, how is the Gamecube underpowered? it was more powerful than the PS2 and pretty close to the Xbox. The Wii sold a lot and yeah, Nintendo released some crappy games on it (Wii Music) but the vast majority of their 1st party Wii games are great, Wii Sports and Sports Resort are awesome with friends, Galaxy 1 & 2 are amazing, Smash Bros was good, Mario Kart was good (though worst Mario Kart since the Snes version)
The Wii U is a year and a half old, sure it should have more games than it does, but the ones it does have are pretty frickin good.
Anyone whose been a nintendo fan for the last 20 years knows that the N64, Gamecube, Wii and Wii U were major let downs. The SNES was the pinnacle of Nintendo’s console days. It had 1000’s of titles and there were 100’s of amazing ones and 100’s of shit ones. This is what makes a good console… Not 10-20 good ones…
I bought the N64 and I was blown away by Mario 64… Probably one of the gaming highlights in my gaming life. There were a few other decent games… Goldeneye (my god how we thrashed this back in the day), Mario Kart 64, Zelda, Smash Brothers… but anyone that had a PS1 and a N64 could see that the collection of titles in comparison was pretty poor. That and the N64 had that same smudgey blurred look in every single game (not sure if anyone else noticed this).
I forgave Nintendo as a loyal Nintendo fan and got the Gamecube on release. While the N64 can be argued as being still a decent console… The Gamecube had a dismal amount of decent games on it…. There was no Mario 64 equivalent… I remember playing Sunshine and being like “this feels like Mario if it was made by a 3rd party developer… what’s with this FLUDD thing…”…. The Gamecube’s library was even worse than the N64’s…. It was at this point I started having a niggling doubt in the back of my mind… Maybe Nintendo just didn’t know what they were doing…
Then the Wii… Now I don’t give a rats about how the Wii out sold the PS3 and Xbox 360… EVERY serious gamer knows why this is. The Wii was a cheap plastic POS toy that was so under priced when compared to the competition that they were bought up in the thousands by the casual/non serious gamers/parents who thought “wooo… next gen console for 200.00” and got taken for a ride. There’s articles about how the spike in Wii sales was then reflected poorly in their software sales as Wii’s started to catch dust in the corner of people’s lounge rooms. The Wii for me had maybe 10 decent titles. This does not justify having a separate console….
The Wii U – Yes I have also purchased one…. Do I expect great things? Nope… But I’m willing to give it a shot just for the Mario Kart and the hope that a Mario 64ish game will come out some time…. Luckily I’m an adult now and the $ of it doesn’t really matter any more.. But I’m not kidding myself… Nintendo is about one more failed console away from being out of the game. Truth be told, I am a Nintendo fan boy.. But I’m also a realist. Nintendo needs to get its shit together or stop making consoles and just be a 3rd party developer…. They’d probably make $$$$ if they did this… But no… That old Japanese pride…. Going down with the sinking ship etc.
RANT RANT RANT
Good argument. You forgot handhelds though.
All this talk about Mario kart 8 and maybe like 2 other games I would really like. That’s it though the range is quiet low. At the moment I own none of the next gen consoles (current gen now, be it what you like), due to the fact that each one has like 2 greate games and a bunch if promises.
I’m sticking to my pc and liking the indie titles. Really would like to get a Wii u when it has at least 10 games I would really like to play. At the moment it’s 3 and that’s it. Though I do own a 3ds solely for pokemon y which I have yet to finish.
The last Mario kart game i played was on gameboy advance.
Coincidentally, also the best one!
Although DS could have topped it if it didn’t take a couple of steps backwards in certain areas. And 7 was pretty rad too I guess.
Cough. Cough.
Double Dash is the best 🙂
Middle tier, along with SMK imo 😛
(I put 64 and Wii on bottom tier. Especially Wii *shudder*)
64 would have gotten the most love out of all due to my age and my brother’s age at the time…
I liked it at the time, but then down the track playing the crap out of Super Circuit followed by revisiting SMK with the skills to finally unlock Special Cup… going back to MK64 again it suddenly felt horribly dumbed-down and awful. Can’t like it like I used to any more.
I’m with you, Double Dash was the best iteration of Mario Kart. The feel of power sliding in Double Dash was great.
Sometimes people say things like they want a console because they’re having fun at the time and then after they’ve calmed down and thought about it they’ve realised that it was just them desiring the fun they felt rather than the product itself. The Wii-U is one of those consoles that, because of its local co-op focus, is exciting to play as a group of friends, but once you get outside of that, it rapidly loses its appeal for most people save those who are fans of Nintendo games or Monster Hunter.
Bayonetta 2 and Earthbound are the only things that make me keep contemplating getting a Wii-U but even then, I’m struggling to justify the purchase. Just to keep things fair though, I should add that I’m having the same problem with justifying a PS4 purchase given that the indie game library is the only attractor at the moment and I have a Vita and PS3 anyway.
If Bayo’s got you considering it, you should add Wonderful 101 to the list of considerations. Damn chock-full of Platinum goodness.
I’m really just sick of even dealing with motion controls and gadgets. Have all Nintendo Systems (handheld and console) hooked up except I don’t own the Wii U. I know you can turn these features off in many games, but man it’s just annoying and the Wii U feels like a shift towards that more than before.
Wii I play without motion wherever possible. 3DS I keep in 2D mode at all times. Donkey Kong on the Wii my hands got so tired from beating those time trials because of all the retarded control shaking you have to do. I just hate it. Can we not just play games anymore?
Recently, played through Majora’s Mask again on N64. Is infinitely better than Skyward Sword. For a number of reasons I suppose but one of the main ones is that I can just swing the sword with buttons rather than messing around with motion. God that ruined Skyward.
So, yeah, there are some (a few) games I want on Wii U. I’d like the new DK. But I’m really losing it with Ninty and their motion, 3D, styles, annoying garbage. I really just want to play with a control. And I don’t care about online either just let me play games WELL and I’ll be happy.
Well the Wii U games don’t have motion control, most hardly use the touchscreen. But the gamepad is really comfortable to hold so it shouldn’t stop you from enjoying the Wii.
Would they hurry up and release a LE console FFS
My thing with the console is that I need to get the value out of my investment. If I’m dropping $430 on a WiiU with Mario Kart, I need to start splitting that cost with each game I buy to feel like I didn’t just waste my money. At the moment I know I won’t get $430 worth of use out of the console even if I spend up on games.
To contrast, I bought a PS4 for $550 at launch, I own 4 physical games for the console, yet I’ve already gotten the value out of the console. Mostly due to vita remote play, having PS+ and being real selective in my game choices (plus review copies of games helps too). But if I go and spend $430 on a WiiU, I’m convinced that I will lose value on a personal level due to the games no longer being worth the investment either.
Remember if you buy the Mario Kart bundle you get a free game as well.
Honestly, out of all the games only one of them interests me and thats the other Mario game. But still not enough value for me to shell out for the console.
I don’t see buying another Nintendo unit again. I’ve never been loyal to anyone but my wallet and enjoyment, I liked the Game Boy and N64 a whole bunch, but I never really loved Nintendo’s properties, not like other people do. I like them enough, but can live without them. I also find the games to be very, very expensive, never being of comparative pricing or pricing structure to their counterparts, Nintendo having a piss poor ‘budget’ collection at best.
Yes, the PlayStation or Xbox are expensive to buy, I have to pay for online, but I find with the games being so much cheaper, coupled with my dislike of online gaming, of comes out to being a better buy. Besides, there is always much more and much better variety on the PlayStations.
Am I wrong to not love their franchises? Am I wrong for finding the competition cheaper in the long run? Am I wrong for finding the competition’s catalogues superior?
The ‘you don’t like Nintendo, you’re a Sony Pony!’ Thing irks me no end. People can’t seem to accept not everyone loves Mario, not everyone had Nintendo first, MDII here, and that not everyone gives Nintendo so many free passes. I’ll bad Sony when the time calls, such as everything to do with PSOneClassics, but they give me less reason too.
Blame Grand Theft Auto. Right up until the moment I tried that I firmly believed that I wasn’t missing much being a Nintendo gamer
It’s a decision to make that if you don’t buy one you end up missing out on the games released. Which is not a big deal, it’s just the truth and if people don’t get to play them. It’s kinda sad.
Unfortunately it’s a public perception thing now. The internet has branded the WiiU a failure, and as such, people are very reluctant to buy one, in case it’s, y’know, a bad investment or something. Oh well, sucks to be them. I’ve had one since launch, and I’ve had lots of fantastic gaming experiences on the thing already, and I can’t wait to see what the next few years will hold.
I own an xbox 360 with over 100 disk games and about 50 on the HD plus around 250 demos. Most of the games cost less than $15 each but that still adds up. I have been pretty anti Wii this past generation and never wasted my time with it.
I was recently shopping for a new console for my sons bday and surprised the heck out of myself… I bought a Wii u! I had decided that with all xbone games (even ones on a disk) needing to be installed to the console and averaging in size of around 40-50gb each that a 500gb HD wouldn’t be nearly large enough. I decided that I won’t buy one until they have at least a 1-2tb HD (I give it a year).
I checked out the ps4 for $399 and even looked at the ps3 which is available for $200… Then I found the Wii u skylander bundle including Nintendo Land for $229 new with free shipping on amazon. After watching some YouTube videos and checking on prices, I started spending. I bought a nyko pro commander wireless controller with built-in rechargable battery for $20, 2 Nyko motion+ wiimotes for $10 each, ZombiU for $10, Call of duty black ops 2 for $10, Mario U for $30, Luigi U for $20, plus a charging dock for the gamepad and 2 wiimotes for $10 (With 2 rechargeable wiimote batteries included). I even picked up several old Wii games since they play on the u and the graphics appear to be up converted (look way better than on the wii).
For less than $350 I got a “next gen” console with 4 new remotes all with chargeable batteries and 6 new games. I would say that is a reasonable value. Speaking of the Wii U being next gen…. My wife and I are both very surprised at how good the U is. The gamepad is unbelievably comfortable and works very well. I for one was blown away by the fluidity and ease of use when in apps like Netflix or hulu.
I know there is no changing anyone else’s minds on their preconceived notions about the U but that doesn’t matter to me. I for one am going to go back to playing COD BLOPS 2 whilst on the john.. 😉