Wii U Review

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Nintendo has a history of making big leaps in digital home entertainment. Some great successes, like the NES, SNES, and Wii, while some have been innovative but never really taken off, like the Virtual Boy. The consistency across all of their consoles has always been innovation, ‘game changing’, well built, and timeless. After a bit of cleaning and the proper cables even an NES can be plugged in and played today, some 28 years after being released. Most importantly the games are still fun!

The next step in the history and future of video games is the Wii U. The Wii U is the sleek new console made by Nintendo. The system itself has next generation graphics, comparable to the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Textures are sharp, sound is clear and the characters in the games look like they will hop right out of the screen at you. Speaking of screens, the innovative game changer with the Wii U is its touch screen controller. The controller has two analog sticks, the mandatory 4 buttons to the right and a few important buttons as well, home, start, select, etc. The middle of the controller is a touch screen which not only displays game play/video/etc but also acts as an input source itself. Some examples of this are an in-game map, flinging ninja stars, a different perspective of the environment. The possibilities are only limited by the designers’ imaginations. As of now the Wii U is available in 2 sets. One the basic which includes a white system with 8 GB of internal storage, the Wii U Game pad, stylus, Sensor Bar, AC adapters for both the game pad and the console as well as an HDMI cable. The Deluxe includes a black system with 32GB of internal storage, as well as all the accessories of the Basic Set AND game pad stand, charging cradle, Console stand, and Nintendo Land game. The Basic retails for $299.99 and the Deluxe retails for $349.99. The Deluxe is a great deal, for the extra $50, there are 24 GB more of data, a game, easy way to stand up the console AND a charging cradle.

The system itself is great fun. The game pad is well built and there are definitely a lot of possibilities. Nintendo Land is a wonderful place to start. With games starring classic characters like Donkey Kong, Mario, Luigi, and Samus. Then throw in some new classics like Pikmin and Animal Crossing a real party can begin. Each game is either co-operative play, competitive play, or solo play. All with a unique game mechanic and different way to play. The favorite in our house is Luigi’s Ghost Mansion. In this game, one player is the ghost while the other is Luigi trying to capture the ghost with his flash light. The ghost can also ‘catch’ Luigi with a big hug. The interesting element is one player controls the ghost with the game pad, playing on the game pad, while the other plays as Luigi on the TV where the ghost is invisible. I personally can’t wait for a good role playing game with mini games, maps, item management on the game pad and stunning battles taking place on the TV. The Wii U is great fun and this is only the beginning. New games and play styles are right around the corner for every gamer in your house from the little ones to the big ones.

I received the above in order to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own and honest. Please see “Disclose” tab for more info.