Wii U: Why so serious?


Video Games


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Disclaimer: It's opinion and fueled by some gamer rage.

I've read a few articles about the Wii U and (to put it nicely) I just don't understand why a good portion of the gaming community want it to be "another Xbox 360 or PS3 with Mario". I've always perceived Nintendo as strictly a game company. The only reason I believe that they've dabbled in multimedia and online gaming is due to pressure from outside the company (gamers and publishers alike). I suppose if Nintendo was the only provider of video games, we'd still be sitting on the couch with our buddies instead of dealing with random strangers from who-knows-where.

I am a former 360 owner. I didn't like the system and the graphics weren't a big deal to me. $15 dollars a month to get yelled at by kids while playing Street Fighter 4 seemed like a pretty bad deal to me. I liked Culdcept Saga, Earth Defense Force 2017 and a few other games; but I couldn't play anything with the wife besides CS (the only other games she could tolerate were Guitar Hero II and Viva Pinata). I felt like I was buying incomplete games with DLC coming out left and right and XBLA was hit or miss. It wasn't my thing.

I decided to pick up a Wii a couple years ago and I learned that it was pretty much my speed. It had stuff my wife liked, some games I liked and some games we could play together. I didn't have to deal with DLC and if I wasn't on it everyday, I wasn't missing out. I bought a good number of classic console games (Zombies Ate My Neighbors FTW). Yet, GameInformer, Michael Patcher (if you don't know who he is, you're lucky) and countless gamers make me feel like I'm a redheaded stepchild. Their bottom line is that it's all about the graphics.

With the Wii U coming out later this year, it's going to be far behind whatever Microsoft and Sony put out next. I'm okay with that. I just want it to be fun and accessible. I want to be able to put it down with out feeling guilty or having to rack up achievements to prove my gamer-ness. I don't want to be tied to it outside of the house and I don't want to be plagued by stranger griefers. But apparently, that's exactly the opposite of what I'm supposed to want.

People are insulting it, claiming that it'll be Nintendo's final nail in their coffin. Shiny and new is where it's at...Is it? Am I wrong for wanting to play video games as a hobby not as a lifestyle? Am I wrong for liking games like Go Vacation and Zombie Panic in Wonderland? Am i wrong for wanting a different experience than PS3 and 360 owners (where the majority of the games are the same on either console)? Are video games just for those enamored by Call of Duty and Madden reiterations (no offense to those who like those games...but the are those who really like those games)? Did Morrowind become a horrible game because of Oblivion and Skyrim? A lot of "news" out there says 'yes'.

I want a Wii U and I don't care if it has a ton of shovelware (I enjoyed Pirates Plund-arr on the Wii). I hope that they'll release a Saint's Row Trilogy and a Dead Rising Three-Pack somewhere along the line for it *crosses fingers*. All in all, it looks like it'll be fun for me and the wife. Am I wrong for wanting one?

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 8

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I think we've all discussed enough here that a lot of gamers--tabletop or video gamer--have lodged into their heads the idea that if your fun is not the same as my fun, then your fun is wrongbadfun.

Of course, I think we've all discussed enough here that this idea is of course ridiculous.

It has been my general experience, furthermore, that someone who spends a lot of time talking about why your fun is bad and why your choices are stupid is someone who is enormously insecure about their own choice of hobby--probably not because it's a bad hobby, mind, but that they feel the need to defend it or themselves for some reason, and get their rocks off by proving they are teh l33+.

After long thought and debate and even participation in platform wars, my lasting thought on the mattert is, if what gets someone up in the morning is stomping and screaming to the world that their device for moving pixels around and making explody noises as better than my device for moving pixels around and making explody noises, then more power to'em. I'll just sit here and have the fun I am having, which interestingly enough, does not cease to be fun just because someone else told me it wasn't.

And mind, here, I don't even own a Wii. I'm a much more maligned and hated beast known as a PC gamer (who are in turn notorious for being elitist bastards because we have to defend our reasons for putting up with that many bugs and rigamarole that PC gamers do :) ).

Though if I did buy a console, it'd probably be a Wii or Wii U, if that makes you feel any better. Most of the games that come out on XBox or PS3 areames that come out on PC eventually too, and I'd prefer to play them on PC where I can get mods--my personal preference. Wii or Wii U is most likely to have games I would like to play that I can't get on PC -- heck, as it is, when I'm not playing on my PC I'm playing on my Nintendo DS. Sure Elder Scrolls and Fallout are Civilization are fun, but sometimes I really need me a good dose of Rune Factory or Harvest Moon or Professor Leyton, and I will probably never see those on the PC (not legit, anyway).

Now, I do wonder if the Wii U will be well supported and have good games, but only time will tell for that.


Hnn. Nintendo never really recovered from their failure to embrace cd based technology for their systems, and they have been playing catch up ever since. Their decisions are going to be scrutinized down to the finest details, and everything from the decision to change the name of the revolution to the wii to the easily hacked wii system seems to indicate that the company hasn't gotten its act together on many levels. The company should stick to handhelds IMO.


@DQ: Thanks. I was beginning to wonder if I was crazy, as I usually do when I take a stance contrary to the general public. But it seems we've entered the era of "industry analysts" (when did this happen?) and no-console-but-mine zealots. I think the stereotypical image of a video gamer has changed from the pimply-faced teen in their parents basement to that of a jock with an improbable sci-fi gun in one hand and a Mt. Dew in the other. Maybe I'm wrong. I'll stick with my PC games from GOG and a Nintendo console though regardless.


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I only own a Wii. I've thought about picking up one of the other consoles, but it's usually after visiting and hanging out with a buddy of mine who has a 360. It's cool, I like the multimedia options on it, but I have a PC and a Bluray player that gives me a lot of the same options.

I like platformers, I wouldn't say it's my favorite video game genre, but they rank up there. The other systems don't do platformers like the Wii does. Watching a preview video for the Wii U, it looks like it will fill that niche as well. The Wii U will likely be the first console I ever buy near launch, and will likely be the last console I buy.

I really don't care about what other video gamers do. I don't like online play, I don't like the race for achievements, I like to sit down for a few hours and get lost in a game, either because the game play is fun or the story is engaging.


I've been waiting to see if the Wii-U will get a better selection of titles than what's already expected. I like Nintendo as a company and have enjoyed a number titles made for their mobile platforms, but I hated the motion-sensored garbage that the Wii demanded. Wii-U offers a familiar directional-pad-and-four-buttons in lieu of the motion wands/remotes, so I'd be willing to invest if I could get titles that would've normally landed on the DS.

This is coming from a guy more impressed by the Genesis or DS than the XB360 or PS3. And of course, all such devices fall behind the might and power of the personal computer. While the PC will never be replaced in my house, I really enjoy handheld consoles as a kind of light entertainment and the Wii-U will offer something similar.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Nintendo will do with it without any expectations.

Shadow Lodge

The WiiU is going to slightly exceed the PS3 and the 360 in terms of power, just like the Wii slightly exceeded the XBox and GCN in terms of power. In other words, it's going to be a full generation behind on the power curve yet again. Because of this, I expect about the same level of third party support for the WiiU:

1. A very small number of well-crafted games, that generally are targeted at a fairly niche audience and don't sell well at all.
2. Some watered down ports that are CLEARLY better on the other consoles.
3. Some ports from PS3 and 360 titles that add a bit of motion control or WiiTablet functionality.
4. A tidal wave of crap titles.

Nintendo itself will follow the same formula they used for the Wii as well:

1. A few Mario games, a Zelda or two, a Super Smash Bros., and maybe a Metroid if we're lucky.
2. Lots of party games.
3. Halfway through the console's life cycle, admit defeat and ignore it for the next few years.

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