I'm shocked at you peoples!
So here it is, I have a Wii U! The interface is a mixed bag of convenience and bizarre choices, but it's an improvement over the Wii for sure.
New Super Mario Bros U is, as is a series staple at this point, "the best one yet". I mean there's a level that looks like Starry Night! That's awesome!
The Wii transfer utility... I'm afraid to use it. I really don't know if it will transfer my "locked" saved data. Honestly I think Nintendo should never have given developers the freedom to "lock down" saved files to prevent transfer. I'm really not sure why any developer would think that's a good idea.
Still, so far, so good. Every last accessory for the Wii works perfectly. In fact I'm using the Wii LAN adapter right now (since the Wii U doesn't have a built in LAN port oddly enough).
So yeah, how'd I get one? I never bothered with preordering. I just showed up at Sears first thing because no one else EVER thinks to go there first for new game releases.
You can pick up a Wii U just about anywhere, it's hardly the instant sell-out that the Wii was. And I haven't heard much positive press about it, so my interest is pretty low.
It's been sold out all over town here.
So, I've got a number of idiosyncrasies piled up experiencing the Wii U interface.
One thing's for sure though, as of today I'm really starting to "get" the Wii Universe. Nintendo appears to be attempting to generate a true community in the Wii U from the very start, and this method has incredible potential.
The XBox 360 has, bar none, the best system for playing games with friends. However, it can't be said that there is an XBox 360 "community" of any sort. Steam does better with actual community pages. While Steam has a lot of work to do in making voice communication across it's games seamless (the amount of time making sure everyone can actually hear everyone else is usually about the same amount of time as we actually spend in the games), it does have an actual community of people behind the scenes.
Here's something about communities. They involve people you haven't met before. At best, you might find someone you want to be friends with during a random multiplayer match. Good luck there though. One big consequence of there being no real community, just isolated islands of friends, is the cesspit effect that 360 players are known for. Nintendo's attempt up until now has been one of mind numbing fear of allowing that to ever happen again, resulting in terrible match making and NO way to make friends or even communicate with anyone you are matched with. Sony attempted a community with their odd Second Life clone. There's a LOT wrong with it though. It never really took off as well. I made my Sony avatar and never bothered with that thing again.
Nintendo has taken a BIG step in fixing the cesspit effect with the Wii Universe, and their implementation will get people far more involved than Sony's weird thing, potentially even more so than Steam communities. I really didn't "see" it when it was described to me in reviews, or even yesterday when EVERY post was just a Nintendo advertisement, I really just thought it was some dumbed down forum. But now that posts are flooding in from players, I see it now! Let me describe the biggest key difference between this and any other community of the sort. You're forced into it constantly from the moment you turn on the system. Now, that seems terrible when I say it, but it's non invasive. What ends up happening is you see a sort of bulletin board of the most popular posts (there is a voting system) on your TV in the main interface. There's this vast army of Miis standing around icons representing topics of conversation (mainly games), and of these most popular posts, your Wii U randomly picks one to display as a speech bubble, then another, then another, as a constant sort of feed popping in and out across the screen. It's hardly distracting. You may or may not decide to actually read any of it, and it's only on one screen, with the other being your menu of choice. However, this ever-present list of possible topics of current interest is always there. As a result, people are much more likely to jump in. People can even draw stuff. There's a "report" button for bad content and a voting system as well. What I have noticed is that the system self moderates very well. It's early yet, but I'm really surprised at the quality of posts so far. Few are amazing, but there's nothing resembling a Youtube comment so far. Some people ask for help, and these get responses rather quick. Some people just have something to say about this or that game, and others respond appropriately! It's simply amazing how well it's working to build a community and set limits on what's acceptable behavior! I've yet to see a single poorly drawn caricature of, say, Bowser in a toilet with a comment like "this is Obama lolololol". Oh yes, people can draw thing. The drawings tend to be at least decent because, again, there's a voting system in place.
I'm hoping for some steady improvements to a good start on Nintendo's new online system. As it stands, Nintendo has done something amazing right off the bat in an attempt to create a sense of community that is MS's biggest weakness. I really hope it works.
I'll get one eventually I'm sure, but not too soon. Of course though, I quite rarely get systems when they're new... and yeah, hearing that so many of the third party ports are badly done and full of slowdown doesn't exactly help either, for sure.
I did play the Rayman Legends demo in Gamestop, though. Seemed pretty good, and the touchscreen on the controller seemed to work well.
Nintendo Network IDs are currently hard-locked to the system it was created on. So, yeah, hope really hard that nothing happens to your Wii U because all those games [including digital versions of full retail titles] could just vanish into thin air.
Annoying, but nothing new. The same is true of the Wii. Also, Nintendo does have a system in place to recover purchased games onto a new system with a repair order.
Hopefully they'll fix it in the future. They intend to make the Nintendo Network ID work on the 3DS, so there's hope.
I've spent today just posting funny poorly drawn pictures to the Miiverse.
I also talked to a Mr. Tezuka. Yes, that one. The one behind the New Super Mario Bros. series.
I weep with joy! The community system pervades these games! Ever played Demon/Dark Souls? Similar to those games, both New Super Mario Bros. U and Zombi U allow you to leave notes for other players in various situations.
So far, there's no achievement system. I don't care. Being able to leave a note about Lemmy's explosive temper or that zombie around the Corner is MUCH more interesting. Heck I've never cared much for achievements. That said, there ARE leader boards, which I find much more interesting.
Also, ZombiU is amazing. My friend got it today and I watched some of it. Apparently there's been some bad reviews of it, but I don't understand why. It's great use of that tablet controller and the aforementioned community aspect. I intend to pick it up myself in the near future.
So yeah, NintendoLand, Mario U, Scribblenauts, ZombiU, and Epic Mickey 2 (haven't seen reviews for that last one, but I liked the first one). I must say there are a LOT of great titles at launch that I really want. Still waiting for Pikmin 3!
Anyway, I've decided to not bother transferring my Wii data over to the Wii U. There's a number of reported downsides, and I like using my Gamecube controller with Smash Bros. Brawl too much to lose all my saved data and start over again on that system. My Wii is working perfectly fine, so that's acceptable to me.
While there are a few quirks to work out (my history should show responses I've made and responses to my responses, as well as initial threads I've started, and while the character limit for short bursts is fine, a deeper thread system that allows much longer posts would also be welcome), I really love the community system now. It's simply amazing, and people are still being excellent to one another.
Nintendo's online system still needs work, but it's getting there. I hope to see the remaining issues resolved soon. They are closer to a system link Live than they have ever been.
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Wow... a Ren and Stimpy style advertisement animated Invader Zim style.
I must get this game. BURN IT ALL!
<img src="http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/i-qqjJ5H2/0/L/i-qqjJ5H2-X3.jpg">
It's true. The people in the Nintendo community are strangely "nice" and "helpful".
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/11/wi...x-360-ps3/
The Wii U is selling incredibly well as it turns out, at 400,000 in the first week. It's not selling at Wii's launch levels just yet (600,000), but it's close. It still beats the 360's sales during it's first week (326,000 during the first two weeks, no figures for just the first) and just dwarfs the PS3 launch sales (197,000 during the first two, no figures for first week only).
That said, while it beats the 360's launch week, what matters is THIS week, and the 360's current sales actually DID beat the Wii U, very close to double in fact.
http://www.ibtimes.com/microsofts-xbox-3...ort-905892 Impressive. One big advantage MS had was that they have 360s already stocked and in plentiful supply pretty much everywhere.
Quote:The Wii U sales contributed to over 1.2 million units of Nintendo hardware sold for the Thanksgiving week, including 300,000 Wii systems, 275,000 units of the original Nintendo DS line, and 250,000 3DS systems. The 3DS has now sold 6 million units worldwide, about 1 million more than the original DS had sold at the same point in its life cycle.
It's good to see the 3DS is doing far better than it did when it first launched. The 3DS deserves it, with some amazing games and the fact it's a Gamecube in your hand. (The 3D is still a bit of a gimic, only rarely used for unique gameplay). The Vita on the other hand is floundering, destined to occupy that niche the PSP did (and yes, I have both).
It remains to be seen if Nintendo can keep up the steam, but it's looking good. I promised a family member I would search for a second Wii U and get one before Christmas. I underestimated how difficult that task would be. Every last store I called said they were out of stock. I was at a Target yesterday though and lucked out. I went into the electronics section, saw them JUST putting them back on the shelves, a shipment having arrived just that morning. I got one, and considered setting aside a second for a friend still looking for one, when a line started forming, the remaining two selling out right there. (I refer to the black ones, the white ones seem to be selling much more slowly as a "last resort". Coming with a $60 game seems to make the extra $50 cost more than pay for itself.) This is anecdotal mind you, but this does cover a large metropolitan area consisting of dozens of Walmarts, a handful of Best Buys, and uncountable Gamestops.
That said, it seems to me that supplies are lower than when the Wii itself launched. Most places are saying they had less this time around than when the Wii launched. If I were to speculate, I might say the system would be doing even better if supply were higher. Alternatively, Nintendo has the stock but is spacing out shipments to increase an image of scarcity and thus up demand.
Either way, I managed to find two, but that's because I'm a luck demon.
<img src="http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/i-bFQS2Cb/0/L/i-bFQS2Cb-X3.jpg">
I love words.
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Yeah, very good sales for the 360 there. Also, so the original DS outsold the 3DS again? 3DS adoption is slow, for sure. It needs to be cheaper, the XL particularly... I'm sure the cost is hurting it; that's one of the major reasons I don't have one yet even though I do want a 3DS, for example.
The DS is still a strong seller, that's for sure. Nintendo is still releasing titles for it, such as Pokemon Black & White 2. The 3DS is selling FAR better than it was originally though, now actually outselling the original DS during the same length launch time frame. I think in a few months the sales will switch over. Price isn't as big a factor as it was when it launched at that ridiculously high price point, and it does stand in stark contrast to even more expensive handhelds such as the Vita and various tablets.
I think the biggest problem is that Nintendo hasn't let people know that the 3DS is something other than a 3D DS. They advertise the 3D constantly, but not the fact that it's a much more powerful handheld. People are still asking store clerks (I overhear this when I'm shopping) "So this 3DS, is it just the DS with 3D or does it do something else?"
I'm actually rather surprised that the Wii U has been selling as well as it has. I was under the impression that a lot of people thought it was another handheld. Even a big gamer friend of mine said they weren't aware the Wii U was anythingmore than a tablet controller for the Wii until a sibling brought one home. That said, at least there I've seen the commercials and it does seem like they're putting that confusion to rest a bit by actually showing the console itself too.
Yeah, I wasn't sure that the Wii U would sell fast either, but it does seem to be popular. When I was in Gamestop(s) a few days ago buying that stuff I posted in the stuff I got thread, the guy mentioned that they did have some Wii Us in, and someone said how they'd get one if they could afford it... and the nationwide sales are solid too. So yeah, despite the press's focus on how Nintendo is doomed because consoles are doomed because of the tablet/smartphone future, and with how the Wii U is only a little more powerful than the PS3 or 360 (I wish it was more powerful than it is, honestly, the CPU particularly) so far at least Nintendo seems off to a decent start. That's great, they'll need it once the other, more powerful systems release. Because even if the PS4 and 720 (or whatever MS calls it) aren't anywhere near the leap that the PS3 and 360 were, they'll surely be more powerful than the Wii U. Of course other things matter more than system power, but given that there will surely be a gap, Nintendo will likely find itself right back in trouble with third parties, just like they were this gen, for the same reason...
But of course, the N64 and GC show that equal power didn't get Nintendo good third party support either, so there's probably no way for Nintendo to get that anymore on consoles, unfortunately. But anyway, yeah, I do think Nintendo would benefit greatly from a good start with the Wii U. (And yes, all that press focus on how tablets/smartphones are the future and how everything else is doomed is really, REALLY tiresome...)
Indeed. Now, they make a point that mobile games are selling by crazy margins at this point. If your goal is outselling the competition, then yes, a lot of those names have done that. However, the consoles and handhelds are still selling at the levels they were before. They really haven't dropped in any significant way. In other words, they're still doing just fine. The console makers don't need to actually beat the competition, they just need to maintain solid sales. They certainly HAVE. The PC is even coming back pretty strong these last two years or so. Nintendo did post pretty strong losses last year though. It remains to be seen if the 3DS turnaround and the Wii U launch will be able to make them profitable again this year.
I've also heard that "a strong yen is hurting them", but I've got no idea what that means. How does currency having MORE value HURT a company using that currency? I'm sure the answer is obvious, but it escapes me. I've heard that for Nintendo, Sony, Sharp, and a number of other companies though.
Smart phones (and to a lesser extent tablets) are selling a lot of games. There are a handful of very addictive titles that I wouldn't call "casual" any more than I would call Tetris casual. Angry Birds is actually incredibly fun and makes great use of a touch only interface (and has been ported to various handhelds like the DS already, though inferior there oddly enough), and there's a handful of others that reach that level of good design, but the vast majority of them are utter garbage. Some are simplified cheapened versions of older console/handheld games, but they're incredibly inexpensive. Heck I get that. I've bought a dozen Atari games from a used game store on a whim before because they were all 50 cents. Now that bargain bin is with you wherever you go, so of course it's tempting. Some companies try to put some deep quality games but have a hard time competing because they attempt to price them at a level that lets them actually maintain a profit from that added investment. Square Enix... well okay that's more of an idealized description of what they do. Most of what they've put up are ports of their games from other systems. The unfortunate reality is the majority of their games just don't work with a touch screen. Now, some of them COULD. Final Fantasy 1 on a touch screen COULD be as simple as a point and click RPG if the whole interface was redone. In practice, all they do is let you "point and click" at the old menu interface buttons. Done that way, it would be quicker with a control pad. Other games... They just don't work at all. Chrono Trigger has a number of action sequences such as the climb up the Mountain of Woe where you need to hide behind trees when the wind blows or the racing sequence in the future. These just don't work at all with the touch screen. (For reference, my friend has bought some of these games on a whim. The complaints came in rather fast.) Secret of Mana is a far worse example. The game is nearly unplayable. "Nearly" simply means that some have actually suffered through the terrible touch screen controls. Their reviews were unkind, and thus marred the whole game with a poor reputation among the younger crowd who's only experience is this version. (On another note, these versions have some improved graphics here and there, like water reflections in Secret of Mana. It sure would be nice of Squeenix to port those improvements over to a 3DS release. Oh, and put Seiken Densetsu 3 in there fully translated while you're at it.)
The bizarre subsidized phone contract nature of the smart phones leads to phones of incredible power than can seemingly be had for a pittance (seemingly because of the money made back in vastly overpriced (in America) monthly contract bills). So yes, they can actually outstrip the 3DS and be on par with Vita power already, and at a fraction of the size with higher quality screens. Too bad they took out the buttons. Certain games will play perfectly well without them (Sony needs to release a new Lemmings for these things and let it dominate the minds of children once again), but a vast majority of genres won't play well at all without them (no FPS games of any note have come out on these devices, for example). The lack of buttons alone prevents these systems from ever really being able to compete with proper handhelds, in spite of what some doomsayers argue. Yes, those smartphone sales will continue to wrack up, but it's only the price point that's doing it. No one would be buying those games at full price like they would a Mario game or a Call of Duty title.
It sure is hard to be an all inclusive gamer at a time like this though. I was barely able to keep up with having all current generation consoles and handhelds and maintaining a decently powerful PC. Now there's Apple, Google, and even Microsoft ARM devices, each their own ecosystem with their own exclusives. Each one costs an arm and a leg, or a contract, in order to get something powerful enough to play all the interesting titles that could come out. (Not to mention that iPads are even more conservatively designed than Nintendo's systems when it comes to internal storage, raising tiers by $100 for even more incremental storage increases.) Even with the PC, I could always just multiboot if I wanted something Linux exclusive, and could hack together a working Mac OS for the 5 or so exclusive Mac OS games I might want. These smart devices are so locked down though that it isn't really an option. Apple has decided on a "no freedom" policy bordering on console level. Google is far more open but has failed to provide a singular driver architecture so their Android OS can be installed on any system without worrying about it being "customized" for each individual bit of hardware (it SHOULD be as simple as just getting the drivers from the manufacturer's web site without needing them to compile the whole thing. Related to this is the major issue of how much control cell phone companies want over their hand sets even when they don't make the OS.) Microsoft's solution hasn't been very good. Their latest one might actually be awesome, and MS has been working to find a sort of middle ground between Apple and Google approaches, but unless their ARM OS version really can run x86 code somehow, they basically have NO back catalog of software to go on and are late enough comers to the party they may never really get one in that lovely "need an audience to get developers, need developers to get an audience" catch 22.
Oh, back on to the Wii U. I think if these trends keep up, Nintendo should seriously consider dropping the "value package" entirely and just selling the "pro" set as the only option. Most people WANT to spend that extra $50 for the extra storage space and "free" game (plus there's that two year discount on eShop purchases), so once the current stock of "bad Wii Us that are bad" sells through, they should just make the white color Us into "pro" models as well.
Quote:I've also heard that "a strong yen is hurting them", but I've got no idea what that means. How does currency having MORE value HURT a company using that currency? I'm sure the answer is obvious, but it escapes me. I've heard that for Nintendo, Sony, Sharp, and a number of other companies though.
It works like this: a Wii U that sells in America nets Nintendo $300. For simplicity's sake, we'll ignore the more expensive model and retailer's fees. If the Yen is comparatively weak, that $300 translates to a higher yield in Yen when its converted. Conversely, if the Yen is strong, then that translates into a lower yield in Yen when its converted. This matters because Nintendo's profits are reported from the home base in Japan, where it's all tallied up in Yen for accounting and tax purposes. A Wii U that sells in Japan will also translate to the same amount of Yen [25,250 yen, to be exact, for the cheaper model] regardless of currency fluctuations.
Stronger Yen hurts companies selling their products overseas, because it results in a lower Yen yield. Weaker Yen helps hurts companies that import products from overseas, because it takes more Yen to purchase those products.
I see, but isn't less yen cancelled out by the greater buying power of that yen? I'm still not sure I get it.
And in other news: <img src="http://cdn.brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comics/2012-11-30-451-HintsfromtheMiiverse.jpg">
When they sell the dollars to buy yens to report the profits, they end up with less yen if the yen is strong because each dollar buys fewer yen than it would if the dollar was stronger, or something like that. I'm awful at economics too...
Me neither. I get that, but then I think that even if they get less yen, if the buying power is greater, doesn't it balance out?
Dark Jaguar Wrote:Me neither. I get that, but then I think that even if they get less yen, if the buying power is greater, doesn't it balance out?
You're looking at it from the wrong perspective. Nintendo gets 24,756 Yen from the sale of one Wii U in America, but 26,260 Yen from the sale of one Wii U in Japan. A total of 51,016 Yen. Yet both systems cost the same for Nintendo to produce. If both systems were sold in Japan instead, that would be a total of 52,520 Yen. So, in essence, Nintendo has left 1,504 Yen sitting on the table by choosing to sell that other Wii U system in America. Multiply that by, say, a million systems and Nintendo has given up the equivalent of $18,252,393 to sell those million Wii U's in America versus selling them in Japan.
That's obviously a price Nintendo is willing to pay, since the upside of doing business in the United States is worth far more than that.
So you're saying that the strong yen means Nintendo would need to charge more than they are willing to in America to make up the difference? I see!
Anybody got any gripes with the latency between monitor and touch screen?
I noticed that myself, but I discovered a few things about it.
Mainly, it's the fault of the TV and how quickly it can decode an HDMI signal. My own TV has a notable lag, notable only when I played the Wii U, then I started noticing it on my 360. Ah, to live in ignorance again...
Newer HDTVs have a "game mode" that forsakes all the "post processing" effects (which I shut off anyway) to give far better response times. Also, the problem disappears with a component cable connection. I don't have surround sound anyway, so I just attached my Wii's component cable and have been running fine ever since.
Addendum: My friend got a new HDTV, and as described above, it has no latency issues on HDMI. This is good as there's a surround sound system in the mix there too.
There was an issue with transferring data from the Wii to the Wii U. Purchased software wouldn't start correctly, requiring their deletion and reinstallation (the saved data would be unaffected). An update appears to have fixed this. When my friend was transferring data, instead of actually copying over the program data itself, it downloads all those programs again during the second step onto the Wii U. This also speeds things up notably, but as you can imagine only works when you have an internet connection. If you do not, it will still transfer the saved data. Since it is a fresh download, system specific game identifiers are recreated so the games work fine.
Unfortunately, the bigger problem, the need to boot into the old OS to launch Wii programs at all, still isn't resolved. This is rather annoying, considering that I never needed to boot into the DS or DSi OS in order to launch those games on my 3DS.
Don't worry, Nintendo won't change that, but they will let you play your WiiVC games on the Gamepad, and with off-screen play, for only $1-$2 a game... yeah, I can see why people are unhappy about that -- if the games transfer over, really, it should be free. At least the fee is cheap, but still, it IS kind of exploitative.