Wii-U Announcement

Having been sorely disappointed with the amount (and quality) of games on the original Wii; forgive me from approaching the Wii-U with a degree of scepticism.

I don’t think the Nintendo presentation was particularly strong; and I think there are some key problems with the platform.

1) They spent so little time talking about the actual console.
Yes new controller. There have already been QUITE A FEW new controllers for the Wii. Many people haven’t realised that you need a new console to go with that new controller. They didn’t really show it off. They didn’t really show any of its capabilities, UI, networking facilities. These are things I would consider quite important, if they’re trying to hit that “U” crowd now.

2) The PS Vita & PS3 can offer the same functionality
Whilst the screen on the Vita isn’t as big, it has all the controls the WiiU controller offers (and a couple more). So, I don’t see reason why the same functionality can be offered with Sony’s consoles. This is actually a good thing (and a bad thing) for the WiiU. I would wager that any developer making a game for the WiiU will port the experience to the PS3-Vita platform. Whilst this gives developers more incentive to actually use the functionality, they are also being faced with some fierce competition (given the PS3′s install base…and the Wii-U’s expected price point).

3) How many non-Nintendo Games will really bother with this?
I’m assuming some will offer some compatibility, but the best implementations will almost certainly be Nintendo’s. If Nintendo are going for the multi-platform releases, it might be tricky to get any nice designs, other than sticking the MAP or weapon select options on the screen. This really ties in with the same problem that the 3DS is having. I wasn’t a Nintendo child, and got into video games quite late. Thus Mario, Zelda and Metroid have no nostalgic value to me. The Mario and Zelda games I’ve played have been “okay”. The hub world and interface of Mario Galaxy wasn’t very good, and the lack of the story made the only “experience” the gameplay. This is fine whilst the game is fun, when it’s a little more tedious it’s hard to justify playing.

I hope the WiiU offers up opportunities for new fun experiences; I really do. The idea of watching Nintendo milk its franchises for another console generation doesn’t fill me with much excitement.