10 Days With The WiiU: An Update

A week or so ago I wrote about my first experiences with the WiiU console (http://www.denofgeek.com/games/23685/our-first-48-hours-with-the-nintendos-wii-u) and having explored it for a further eight days I felt it would be a good time to update you on how it’s going.

Spending more time with Nintendo’s new console has allowed me to appreciate its elements much more. The Miiverse – the WiiU’s social plaza – has become much more apparent, mostly thanks to its neat integration within ‘New! Super Mario Bros U’ where comments from other game players appear scattered around the world map. It really does feel like the console is part of a bigger picture and though it does feel like the other players are on the end of a long road and not really accessible, it’s a neat feature.

I’ve also experienced much more of my three games. ZombiU – as seen through my other review at http://www.denofgeek.com/games/23777/zombiu-wii-u-review – is a delight, even if a scary one. NintendoLand is a great multiplayer game with lots of depth but feels lacking if you don’t have lots of friends round: it feels like a one-player game or a many-player game, not suited for two or three players. The Mario game is as nostalgic and as familiar as every other recent game in the series but the controls are slick, the platforming surprising tricky, the graphics a treat for the eyes and the world map and alternative pathways a delight.

It’s not all been plain sailing though. The console has hung up three times so far, requiring a switch off at the wall, and the console has had trouble reading a disc once, and just a few days after the first mammoth one hour update the console got another one, this time coming in at under fifty-minutes. Nintendo have been a little cagey on what it did other than fixed some stability issues, but reported faster loading menu times are not particularly apparent as the moving between them still takes an age, and the only evidence of a change is in YouTube asking to be updated. I hope these regular large updates aren't going to be a regular occurence.

The GamePad is still winning me over as a great tool to use and I have no regrets in buying the console. I’m still ploughing through the three games and taking in all they have to offer and looking forward to Nintendo TVii and games like Rayman and Scribblenauts Unlimited on the horizon.

Phil's Adventures With the WiiU

Having ordered the console way back in September today (Friday 30th November) my WiiU finally turned up, just after 12noon.

Getting it home I unwrapped it and was impressed by how neat the package was even if inside there is plenty of stuff. I bought the premium pack and inside you get the WiiU console and game pad, power cables for both, a stand, a power cradle for the game pad, a copy of Nintendo Land and a new sensor bar, all neatly wrapped and a pleasure to open.

With all that set-up it was time to get installing and it was mostly a painless set-up. It all begins by switching on the Game Pad and then the WiiU console and tethering them together following the simple instructions on the small screen. This set-up included connecting it to your television to use it as a TV remote, setting up your Mii (with a handy transfer option from a 3DS which I used, even if I had to alter the settings of my Mii as it had copying disabled), other bits like the aspect ratio and such and setting up an internet connection, which is the only time it was frustrating as it wouldn’t connection to my Virgin Media box even though all the settings were correct.

Thankfully a quick Google search took me to http://venturebeat.com/2012/11/19/wii-u-wont-connect-to-internet/ which clearly explained the settings and then it connected all fine for the, reportedly massive update, which kicked off once it had the connection.

My thoughts on the controller so far is that it’s light and easy to hold and the screen is crisp and clear and the menu intuitive and simple to operate, but I think the flicking between two screens could take some getting used to. I don’t, so far, agree with the reports of the pad feeling cheap though it is gathering fingerprints on its shiny surface.

So now I’m ten minutes into the download and waiting for it to finish, nervous about reports of a failed update ‘bricking’ the console. I’ve had one heart-pounding moment where the controller, now sitting in its charging cradle, switched to power saving mode and dimmed, but otherwise all is going well, even if I have to listen to the repetitive music that bumbles on as the download, well, downloads. Thank God for the volume control.

With the download having taken, on my Virgin Media L package, a scarily precise sixty minutes, I was ready to use the console!

With a few more ticks of menus you can now log-in as your user on the WiiU and then I jumped into one of the options to use, YouTube. Sadly, now seeming to be a regular thing, it waited while another update was installed with a time remaining value that was as libellous as anything Microsoft Windows throws up; either that or seconds are twenty times longer in Japan. And, irritatingly, once I’d done this it said I couldn’t do it as I needed a Nintendo Network ID so had to head to another menu to do this!

Oh, and then I started playing the new Super Mario game and there was another wait while it updated. And then another prompt for setting up the Miiverse which I couldn’t do in game.

On the plus side Super Mario U looks gorgeous in HD even if it does play like every other Mario game recently (and I keep trying to collect coins like I’m playing on my 3DS) and my bedroom is within range to play it in bed. Result!

Opinion so far? Great console, graphically impressive but the set-up is long and irritating.

Transferring from the Wii to WiiU

On Saturday morning, after briefly playing more of the new Mario game – which, after my lukewarm reaction of yesterday, is starting to show its brilliance with its fun to play levels and impressive map but it’s the challenges menu I discovered which is really brilliant.

I also tackled the Wii to WiiU transfer and it was surprisingly easy and straightforward even if the amount of text thrown at you from the menus is ridiculous. You basically put an SD card in the WiiU which has some software installed and then you transfer it to the Wii where all your save files are moved across with most channels – in the same ratio they did with the DS > 3DS. You then return the card to the WiiU and they’re moved over. It’s long and tedious – though you do get a fun Pikmin movie – and not perfect: some games have to be reinstalled from the e-store, including those you had on your SD card which, mostly, won’t work so you have to delete them and reinstall them. I gave up re-downloading them as it takes ages but will reinstall them as they go.

Lots of people have complained about the Wii element being an emulator. It’s not much of a problem really for me with all the saved games moved over, though it would be nice for all digital content to be included on the WiiU dashboard and I hope this comes into place soon. Also, it would be useful for Wii Miis to move over to the Wii U Mii area…

Now onto ZombieU…