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Wii U: From confused mess to hardcore must-have in one day

How Nintendo has laid the Wii to rest and given the Wii U a new hardcore identity of its own

Words: on January 25, 2013
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70 comments

  • GOD - January 30, 2013 1:21 a.m.

    As long as Nintendo maintains their first party support I don't even really care. The games that they make are more than enough to justify their own console and that's why I'll continue to get every console they push out. I don't have to worry about good third party support when ninty is gonna put out multiple first class games, that are extremely polished, well designed, and look way better than what you think would be possible on the hardware, and play fantastically. Also Smash Bros. I guarantee when that releases Wii U sales will shoot up.

  • Pruman - January 28, 2013 7:53 a.m.

    Sorry, still not buying one. I have literal stacks of unfinished games going back to the PSXboxCube era, and I need another new platform like a hole in my head.

  • sxh967 - January 28, 2013 7:35 a.m.

    they want you to be excited for a zelda game which didn't even need a graphical overhaul? Great.. definitely going to buy a Wii U now... you've absolutely sold me on the idea... Just kidding.

  • Chaoscoolperson - January 28, 2013 7:04 a.m.

    This is interesting... I may have to start paying attention to the Wii u and stop saying bad things about Nintendo. My 3DS will hold me for now.

  • Aquasol - January 28, 2013 1:27 a.m.

    While I pretty much agree with what Houghton said, I take issue with this: " (surely a nod to the old, long-tarnished Nintendo Seal of Quality)" No, no, a thousand times, no. That was a marketing tool that only guaranteed that the game was both licensed and would boot, and you know it. >> It never guaranteed a good game, and should you ever need proof-- just go and play a crappy NES/SNES game, like the first TMNT game.

  • Pruman - January 28, 2013 1:40 p.m.

    Actually, it was a response to what happened to the Atari 2600. That system lacked the NES's security lock-out chip, so anybody who could program and manufacture cartridges could make them for the 2600. On the one hand, this loophole helped get Activision off the ground; on the other, it is the reason why awful pr0n games like Custer's Revenge exist. I believe Atari went to court to stop production of unlicensed games and lost, but don't quote me on that. The point of all this background is that Atari's failure to control their platform resulted in a flood of dreafully awful, bottom-of-the-barrel crapware on the 2600 in the early 80's. In the consumer's mind, ALL of the crap, even the crap Atari didn't make, was that company's fault. This was a major contributing factor to the Great Crash of '82. Nintendo, not wanting to repeat this mistake, started putting the Seal of Quality on their games to indicate that they were inspected and approved by the company, and also for what you said above. A lot of crap did sneak by their system, but they never had Atari's problems, which was the entire point.

  • Armondo28 - January 27, 2013 12:02 p.m.

    While I would love for this to truly be a sign that Nintendo is on track with the Wii u, a couple of things keep me skeptical. Things like the N64, The Gamecube, and the Wii. What tends to happen is that for the first year, maybe the first two years of a Nintendo console's life span, there will be a fair number of games, and some good ones at that. but all of a sudden, the games stop coming. This is even more likely with new, more powerful competition coming at the end of the year. What gives me hope is the very real possibility that the next generation of games will not be the quantum leap forward that everyone has projected. I've seen some supposed "next gen" graphics videos, and is it just me or are they not THAT impressive? If The graphical differences are minimal, Nintendo could attract developers looking for a less expensive platform to develop games for....

  • doominatorx6 - January 27, 2013 10:54 a.m.

    WiiU needs third party exclusives, but at least the ports of games on other consoles (Assassin's Creed 3, Black Ops 2) aren't half-assed this time. But other than ZombiU, the thing's got no real good exclusives... yet.

  • Armondo28 - January 27, 2013 12:06 p.m.

    yes, Nintendo has to understand that most people who buy the Wii U are largely uninterested in ports. Bayonetta 2 is a big deal, cuz its a sign that Nintendo gets it...maybe.. ...is it me, or should Nintendo have bought the rights to the Darksiders franchise? The series is already trying to be a gritty Zelda, Throw Miyamoto into the mix....

  • AmigaEngine - January 27, 2013 2:40 p.m.

    The problem is the ports where poorly ported or should have been collections. Mass Effect, Assassins Creed, Batman should have been collections. Darksiders was perfectly done by THQ. EA really shocked everyone with there rushed last minute ports of madden and Fifa LOL. Far as Nintendo with Darksiders !! That would be heaven and is something Nintendo should look into.

  • Aquacure - January 27, 2013 9:37 a.m.

    Nins problem is that they are too content with rereleasing the same games they've had since 8-bit or SNES. They appear to want to throw their mascots in anything they can, tennis, racing, golf, party, fighting etc... They may get new IPs but these are overshadowed by the rehashes and there's no consistency. GC got MGS:TTS but SOL and SE were never ported. It got RE0-RE4 but was overlooked by RE5 & 6, instead they had an on rails revisit to a story people saw way back in PS1 days. Need For Speed was on GC, this gen saw none. So this promising that its gonna have this darker tone or more 3rd party support isn't anything they haven't said before. After a while they still slip back into their own fold of coming up with the next Mario, Metroid, Kart, Party, Pokémon, Smash, Zelda etc...and it may not even be so much new as it is an updated old.

  • gopikmin - January 27, 2013 6:22 p.m.

    MGS:TTS was largely developed by Silicon Knights who turned down working developing with Konami to work on Eternal Darkness and Too Human. Also Nintendo systems got couple exclusive NfS particularly Nitro. The problem is that Nintendo is too good of a developer (there's a reason why Super Mario Galaxy is almost universally loved by critics) and the other developers don't want to waste their resources on versions that might not sell which they soon realized after the first couple years. The Wii got several dark games like Madworld, Deadly Creatures, House of the Dead and Disaster: Day of Crisis but they sold very poorly turning even more developers away. Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition is phenomenal, considerably better than the other versions

  • xx_CaPTiiN_SpAiiN_zz - January 27, 2013 2:56 a.m.

    Japanese borderlands? Nice. The rest of the world is generally quite shit when it comes to visuals and character design. Handsome Jack? Pfff

  • brickman409 - January 26, 2013 11:06 p.m.

    I'm typing this from my wii U! :D

  • TheMariner - January 26, 2013 9:37 p.m.

    I have to agree. I knew I wanted a Wii U but it was just sort of a back-burner want until the announcement of these games, specifically Bayonetta 2 and the new Xeno game. I'll probably pick up the Wind Waker remake because I sold off my copy of Wind Waker a while ago. Those should keep me set until they come out with the next Zelda and Smash Bros. I still think they should come out with a new Star Fox, though. That, and games like Pokemon Snap or Fatal Frame are just begging for a Wii U title considering their main gameplay mechanics..

  • Killingjoke - January 26, 2013 5:46 p.m.

    Hopefullly this announcement will bring in more buyers of the console. Personally Im just going to wait it out longer until the console is cheaper, Im more interested to see what Sony has to offer.. Huge fan of Nintnedo since the NES days but Im not dying to get one yet.

  • Fringe_Agent13 - January 26, 2013 1:59 p.m.

    Super Smash Brothers is the only game I'm looking forward to on the WiiU. Smash Bros. is the only reason I buy a Nintendo console and it's like this for every new Nintendo console until they bring a few more games that catch my interest. Throughout the generation, I'll only end up with less than five games for my Nintendo console. The only game that keeps me interested throughout the generation for Nintendo is Smash Brothers.

  • tehtimeisnow - January 26, 2013 12:54 p.m.

    must haves? ha ah these ganes all look horrable and there all just reahashes games like the 100th maroi game its all the same gane and that yoshei game looks horrable just for llittel kids just face the facts guys there no way nitedno can compete with the superier ipad

  • Dante1924 - January 27, 2013 5:04 a.m.

    I just love your new profile picture, by the way.

  • winner2 - January 27, 2013 6:20 p.m.

    I also think your new pic is brilliant, true art

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