I was very excited for the Wii U weeks before it’s launch. I was watching videos about it, stocked up on games, and tried to learn everything about the Wii U. The night before launch I can honestly tell you that I could not sleep! The day came, I got the Wii U, and I loved it very much and I still do. But the more I thought about the Wii U, I realized that Nintendo didn’t try as hard with the Wii U as they want us to think. I am not in any way, shape, or form a hater of Nintendo. They are probably my most favorite gaming company in fact.
Nintendo didn’t try as hard with the Wii U as they want us to think. Lets start with the GamePad. The GamePad is a great device with its personal second screen and also comes packed in with a mic! But don’t get too excited. The GamePad’s mic can only be used for Wii U chat. So that means when you got your Wii U as a holiday gift with Black Ops 2 and you go to play multiplayer, don’t waste your breath trying to talk to anyone with only the GamePad.
After the holidays you decide to pick up a headset+mic for the Wii U and also decide to pick up the Wii U Pro Controller. You go to plug-in your new headset to your new Pro Controller, but let me tell you not to waste your energy. The Wii U Pro Controller does not have a headset jack on it. That means every time you decide to play and want to use your microphone you have to get the GamePad and plug the headset into it and then use the Pro Controller while managing that wire-fest.
But lets backtrack to when you first turn on the Wii U. You have to install an update, which probably only took 30 minutes for me on my internet speed, but without this you all you can do is play Wii U games (the update brings backwards compatibility) and make Mii’s. Even though I have not forgotten the never-ending XBOX 360 updates, this update will completely damper you experience with the Wii U. You can’t play any of your Wii games without this update, nor can you stream videos or any of that good stuff, so your Wii U becomes a device for exclusively playing Wii U games, which there aren’t a lot of.
And lastly there is MiiVerse. I love it don’t get me wrong, but something that really bugged me was how there are no achievements. I love when I am playing my PSVITA and I get a trophy, it adds a little competitive edge to gaming and makes me feel like I am going somewhere. With Wii U there is not anything like that which takes of that competitive edge to gaming.
This is not a Wii U review or overview, so keep tuned to Dual Pixels for everything Wii U.
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