Just In Time for the Holidays, Nintendo Wii U Gets Its US Release 174
YokimaSun writes "Nintendo has today fired the first salvo in the next-gen console wars with the U.S. release of their Wii U console, which is massively more powerful than the Nintendo Wii and also the PS3/Xbox 360 (so they claim). Yet again Nintendo has done a world first and released a gamepad which is also a tablet and should provide us with games that stretch the boundaries even more. Wii games are compatible with the console, as is the Wii remote. The Wii U comes in 2 SKUs: a 32GB Deluxe package, and an 8GB Basics pack. The games lineup is a strong one, with games such as New Super Mario Bros U, Arkham City Armoured Edition, Assassins Creed 3, Call of Duty Black Ops 2, Sonic AllStars Racing, Nintendo Land, Tank Tank Tank, ScribbleNauts Unlimited, Epic Mickey 2 The Power of Two, ESPN Sports Connection, DarkSiders 2, Rabbids Land, Mass Effect 3, Ninja Gaiden 3 Razors Edge, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Wipeout 3 and Just Dance 4 all available on launch day."
Universal Remote (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:SEGA: Been There, Done That (Score:4, Interesting)
The Dreamcast didn't fail because of the controller. It failed after Sega rapidly put out Sega CD, the 32X followed quickly by the Saturn. They did all this despite some fierce competition with Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony.
Nintendo has had some bad design choices in the past. I don't think this controller is one of those bad design choices. Time will tell.
For anyone who preordered... (Score:2, Interesting)
You might very well be disappointed. I have a few friends who work in retail at several B&M stores(walmart, bestbuy, EB), and if what they told me is true half or more of their preorder customers will not be getting their preorders because Nintendo didn't ship enough of these boxes out. Whether that holds true everywhere I can't say, but their rep said that a second shipment won't arrive for another 7-18 days.
Re:I hope it does well (Score:5, Interesting)
The tablet controller is expensive, apparently (but every Wii U comes with one, and most games seem to have adopted a tablet controller for player 1, wii+nunchuk for player 2 with player 2 getting the vast majority of the TV (a tiny corner is for player one, who can use the tablet's screen).
The biggest thing though - is the lack of latency on the tablet screen. You'd think there would be some latency, but there isn't. Just fast and snappy.
It's also very light - it's not a huge heavy thing (I think the batteries would be the heaviest part) but it otherwise feels very usable. Nicely balanced and well-designed to feel good. If your arms get tired holding it while playing, I think it's time to step away from the screen and get some exercise.