So many of us watched some or all of the Wii U launch stream, and it looked to me to be quite rough. Problems with the Wifi, problems with the online, Patrick's ID getting stuck to one console, framerate issues all over the place.

The good moments were few and far between. They didn't play it in the live stream, but ZombiU looks pretty good in the QL. That Tekken Tag mushroom mode looked ridiculous and awesome. Mario Bros. looks decent but not mind blowing.

It's pretty lackluster so far.

I was optimistic at first but the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. Granted, a lot of these issues can be left do to launch day problems, but still, it was pretty rough.

What do you think? Two stars for me at this time.

Like every console launch it's a meh at this point.

The Wii U isn't differentiating itself enough from the current generation of consoles, Wii included. It has games like Assassin's Creed III and Mass Effect 3 but barely utilize the gamepad's touchscreen in a meaningful and drastically different way than their other versions and it has more minigame collections. The only big standout is ZombiU, but that's it. It's as if this console is for people who've only had the Wii and nothing else, which is insane considering how many times the 360 and PS3 have been a part of some bundle over the holidays.

Overall it was pretty bad in my opinion. But Epic Mickey was AWFUL.

Overall it was pretty bad in my opinion. But Epic Mickey was AWFUL.

It'll get better...

The stream convinced me to ignore this console for at least a year. I thought the 3DS and Vita launch was rough but the WiiU launch makes those look God-like.

I gotta say my biggest disappointment is that the system launches with games like ZombiU, ME3, Darksiders 2, Arkham City etc, yet the entire UI is still very family/kid focused rather than functional. They just can't expect core gamers to migrate when there's such poor service.

@PollySMPS said:

Went in expecting a "Meh" console launch.

Received a pretty "Meh" console launch.

yuuuup. past console launches weren't much better.

My opinion is that the Wii U is what should of came out when the Wii did. I think that when the new Xbox and PS come out, devs will find that again the Nintendo console lags behind and will abandon it like they did the Wii.

I'll give it 2 stars. I don't remember a modern console launch ever being this bad. A lot of completely bewildering decisions and quirks.

If the Wii U had come out a few years ago, I would have been super impressed.

Now?

....

2/5

It looks really bad. The ports look poor and the exclusives look average at best. It all screams average in every way. None of what I saw looked next generation in any way. Plus with the day one patch and the shitty way the services appear to be designed all points to a lackluster, poor experience. No thanks.

There is relative parity between the Wii and current consoles now, but the distanciation between Sony/Microsoft's next gen offerings and the WiiU is only going to increase. The WiiU doesn't have as much casual appeal as the Wii did, so their chances of having a WiiSports sized hit are smaller, but they need one. For now I think it will have to depend on the past success of the Wii, plus its own newness. I do not know what it will depend on in the future. I think Nintendo's own first party support isn't enough.

I wonder if more games from this gen will be ported to the WiiU so it might act as a kind of one-gen-behind machine. Unfortunately the tendency to release HD ports and collections on other systems mitigates this somewhat, but if the Wii wants to be successful for more than a couple seasons it needs something.

It actually yook away from my hype. Instead of getting one at the start of next year im going to wait until at least monster hunter

I give the stream a 4 because it held my attention for 7+ hours.

The Wii U launch however was not so good. I started the stream really intrigued to see the new tech and was even thinking of going out and buying one sometime in the next coming week or so. Now I don't think I will. The soonest I'll buy it now will be possibly when Luigi's mansion or Pikmin come out.

@PollySMPS said:

Went in expecting a "Meh" console launch.

Received a pretty "Meh" console launch.

Yup, had the same exact reaction

The whole stream I was trying so hard to not judge this whole thing too early. I was looking for any redeeming features, the silver lining around the cloud... but really, it just looks like every time they had a decision to make, they made the wrong call. I just don't think making such an expensive controller is enough to get me interested, especially when the rest of the hardware is so... I don't want to say it's awful, but I can't think of another way to say it. As always, I'm waiting until it's got the games I want before I buy one, but at this point, even though it's getting an exclusive sequel to one of my favorite games ever (Bayonetta), I just can't see myself buying one with what's been announced.

1/10 just like the Wii. Pathetic POS console.

F. President Obama

(wait, wrong Giant Bomb poll...)

I didn't watch the stream, but having spent a bunch of the day with the Wii U I think it's OK. It's a Nintendo console and I didn't expect a ton from the online functionality, but what they have is pretty neat, if not extremely raw. To be honest the most disappointing thing to me today has been how whiny everyone, especially the games press, has been. It seems like so many of them are going out of their way to simply shit on anything and everything they can possibly think of. The negativity is absolutely overwhelming.

I'm not exactly a happy-go-lucky person and I know I'm jaded as fuck about games, but some of the stuff I've read today has actually made me lose some respect for a number of personalities I really really like. The amount of people shooting off without actually having spent any time with the thing are just as ridiculous.

The Wii U's launch is on par with or slightly better than recent console launches, depending on what you compare it to. It's not really damning one way or another; it's kind of retarded to judge a console from now and forever based on its launch. Some of the baffling network and user decisions are completely insane, but aside from that, it's everything you pretty much expect a console launch these days to be like, if not a little better than that when looking from a purely game-focused perspective. (I'm sort of middling about the whole console, but seriously, compare it's opening launch lineup to the 360's, for instance. Not really a contest.)
 
The stream itself, though, was sort of a hot mess. 

i still need to see the rest of the stream but i'm hoping for the best. new super mario u actually seemed pretty fun if a bit stale (wahs not withstanding). interface looks fairly slick and it's nice to see them getting all modern, even if they may (unfortunately) be left in the dust again come a year from now. i can still see potential in the 2nd screen (basically a home DS, or a high-end portable-like system for home use), but they need to find less awkward ways of implementing it. there's still a chance they can capture the casual crowd (esp. when all the TV functions are enabled), but it seems pretty slim. as a pretty big Ninty fan i hate to say i'll probably wait on this (though financially atm i can't afford to get one now anyway so maybe that's a blessing for me). i'm still intrigued but i'll wait for it to hopefully blossom like the DS/3DS did.

I've pre-ordered and am getting one the day of released in Australia (in two weeks) and will keep that mainly because I really enjoy the NSMB titles. Not at all surprised about the problems with online as its a brand new service and was always going to have issues (especially with the companies online history), what is absolutely fucking ridiculous however is a 5 gig firmware update on day one (are all updates going to be 5 gig or more?)

@FengShuiGod said:

Like every console launch it's a meh at this point.

True, but the hardware on this thing has limited headroom. As far as the controller gimmick goes, Nintendo (and third party) have had years with the DS to figure out gameplay applications of two screen setup. It's all fairly negligible stuff. I'm not seeing why anyone would want this console aside from it being the box you need for more Nintendo first party games.

I'll probably buy it in the next year or two, then buy like 10 games over its lifetime. Like all Nintendo consoles.

Haven't seen the whole stream yet so I refuse to vote. Saw 30 seconds of Arkham City and they were bagging on the frame rate. Was it really that bad? I thought this was the "definitive" version!

@TooWalrus said:

The whole stream I was trying so hard to not judge this whole thing too early. I was looking for any redeeming features, the silver lining around the cloud... but really, it just looks like every time they had a decision to make, they made the wrong call. I just don't think making such an expensive controller is enough to get me interested, especially when the rest of the hardware is so... I don't want to say it's awful, but I can't think of another way to say it. As always, I'm waiting until it's got the games I want before I buy one, but at this point, even though it's getting an exclusive sequel to one of my favorite games ever (Bayonetta), I just can't see myself buying one with what's been announced.

I felt the same way, then I spent a good deal of time with the game pad...I don't like it. The buttons aren't placed in a good position for people with large hands, making it quite uncomfortable to use for more than a couple of minutes. Also, I said this in another thread, but I found the quality of the LCD on the controller to be lacking. The contrast is poor and colors washed out. I know Nintendo can't afford to put a high end IPS or Super AMOLED+ type display on the game pad, but I can't help but compare the screen to pretty much every other handheld device I own. I know that most people playing a Wii U won't care about this or may not notice the difference, but I definitely did. Combined with the controller ergonomics, the LCD quality left a really bad taste in my mouth. Someone else suggested I just "wait for the pro controller"...but then what would be the point of a Wii U if I'm not going to be using the game pad?

@HerbieBug said:

@FengShuiGod said:

Like every console launch it's a meh at this point.

True, but the hardware on this thing has limited headroom. As far as the controller gimmick goes, Nintendo (and third party) have had years with the DS to figure out gameplay applications of two screen setup. It's all fairly negligible stuff. I'm not seeing why anyone would want this console aside from it being the box you need for more Nintendo first party games.

Isn't that the entire point? How is this different from the way its been for the past 15+ years?

@Peanut said:

@HerbieBug said:

@FengShuiGod said:

Like every console launch it's a meh at this point.

True, but the hardware on this thing has limited headroom. As far as the controller gimmick goes, Nintendo (and third party) have had years with the DS to figure out gameplay applications of two screen setup. It's all fairly negligible stuff. I'm not seeing why anyone would want this console aside from it being the box you need for more Nintendo first party games.

Isn't that the entire point? How is this different from the way its been for the past 15+ years?

It isn't. And that's a problem. Nintendo first party cannot sustain an entire console if they don't start making relevant new IP. Coming out the gate with ports from what will shortly be last gen and rehash of the same old IP from the 90's isn't a good sign of things to come.

The shape of the poll currently looks a bit like the Normandy. And yeah, 3 stars. Some of the games look fun, but the whole OS situation is just terrible, especially locking NNID's to a console.

i can't imagine myself being any less interested in the Wii U than i have been since it was revealed. i got a feel for the gamepad at a demo station and it definitely doesn't seem like something that i would want to play with for an extended amount of time. with that said, why would i even want to play the Wii U if the flashy controller doesn't appeal all that much to me? i'm bored to tears seeing "new" super mario bros games (and really, most of nintendo's flagship franchises) and what the console offers doesn't seem like anything drastically different compared to what we have right now with the PS3 and 360.

the whole thing about playing games on the little screen is kind of cool, but i don't buy and play console games to play them on a smaller screen. maybe in a year or so, i'll be in love with the wii u but right now, i don't see any reason to ever own one apart from the occasional Wii U exclusive.

The stream convinced me to ignore this console for at least a year. I thought the 3DS and Vita launch was rough but the WiiU launch makes those look God-like.

Played out roughly to my expectations. Hopefully it picks up after a few months' growing pains. I kinda have a desire for a Nintendo console again after skipping/missing the GC and Wii. Big Nintendo fan from childhood, so I would rather they did well.

Based on the stream alone, I'd say two stars sounds about right. The three quick looks already up reflect pretty well on the console, but watching the 7 hour whole stream, of which at least 2 hrs were spent trying to resolve technical issues, as well as watching Patrick realize that all of the eshop purchases he made were locked to that console was really deflating more than anything else. I didn't have any opinion on the Wii U prior to the stream (aside from the usual feeling of bafflement that goes with thinking about Nintendo these days), but that stream was way more depressing than I would have expected. The Tekken Ball song was probably the high point of the whole thing.

Where's the "I barely watched it because I was using my Wii U" option?

Launch line up being kind of shit is expected. Online connectivity issues on day 1 is expected. But some of the design choices and OS stuff just seem bad, I don't remember 360 or ps3 taking this long to load through menus on a system level etc. At the end of the day, it will all depend on the games and so far there hasn't been anything that has caught my attention. I'm sure Nintendo will make a couple of great games for this console, and for those who like those kind of games a Wii U will make sense down the line, but man I have zero hope for 3rd party support.

In my head, Nintendo had to come out of the gate swinging with everything working smoothly, because in reality they have at the most a year to sell people on this console before next gen xbox and playstation comes out. It's unfair to have such expectations for a new console, but due to the contextual timing of this release, Nintendo can't afford this level of jankiness. I mean yah 3rd party ports usually suck with new launches anyway, but when you're launching a console this late to the cycle and when everyone has a direct compression with 360 and ps3 on a lot of these ports, its just makes the system look bad (even though technically it should be on par). I mean yah Gun sucked when it came out for 360, but there wasn't an awesome version of the game already out for a year that looked better and was more functional (the way it is for batman for example). As far as first party games go, nothing wows me at all. At least the 360 had PGR 3, which looked fucking incredible and the sports game actually had noticeably better graphics.

Wii U doesn't even have that level of oh these games are kind of bad but hey its a new console look at these fucking great graphics! It's good that Nintendo is getting into online stuff, but man they are sooooooooooooo behind msoft and sony, its kind of scary. And again a big reason people seem to be jaded about Wii U is that there is a direct comparison with existing online services. When 360 and PS3 first came out, the online service while limited, were still the biggest leap in those kind of services we had seen. Imagine the inevitable bump those online services will be getting when the new consoles come out, they will make Nintendo's services absolutely obsolete.

Hey maybe the tablet like functionality hits it big with the mainstream (i doubt it, but I also thought/still think the wii was stupid). But I just don't get the appeal of the tablet, specially if the screen quality is kind of meh. I messed around with SmartGlass a bit and it addresses a lot of the cool navigational kind of utility that one expects from a tablet control. I don't know how useful it will be for games (if I want to play tablet games I got a tablet for that, I play console game for console games) and the controller just looks fucking too big and clunky (I haven't it touched it so I don't know for sure). Again I'm sure Nintendo will release games that works amazingly with this controller and are also a great games, but I rather just see traditional games not based on gimmicks for once from Nintendo. Remember how awesome it was when Nintendo consoles were not based on gimmicks and the games were just fucking game ass games?

In conclusion, launches suck anyways; but when people have direct comparison with 6+ year old hardwares/service in 360 and PS3 that are on par with the Wii U, the Wii U is going to look like shit. It's not fair, but its the reality of releasing a console so late without any usual bells and whistle of new jaw dropping graphics and dramatically crazy new services.

Where's the "I barely watched it because I was using my Wii U" option?

@Hailinel

Where's the "I barely watched it because I was using my Wii U" option?

That's a spectacular answer. How has your time with it been?

For me it's ended up just like the 3DS, a nice piece of tech with almost zero software to back it up at launch. Give it a year, and Nintendo time to put out some good exclusives and it could be great.

going to give it a 3 for showing promise, and with the fact in mind that this is the first new console launch in a while. However that epic mickey 2 fps problem was awful, most of the ports just wasted the cool new controller, and boy were there some issues with the connection and ID stuff. However there was a lot of promise to be seen, the controller split screen on CoD Blops2 was awesome, nintendo land looks pretty solid, tekken tag was just the best kind of insanity. There are also a lot of game I think I would enjoy like Scribblenauts and ZombiU so might pick one up in the distant future, but I can't say I'll be an early adopter with the WiiU just yet.

Biggest worry for me are the load times, crappy frame rates can be overcome when games come out that are optimized for this system, but load times seems like something that is indicative of the true power/speed of the machine. Hope I am totally wrong about that.

The wii-u would have been amazing if it came out 10 years ago. But today, it's just meh...

I guess the worst thing was watching the WiiU struggle to run Epic Mickey.  I mean, this is supposed to be a next gen console and it can't even run a fairly dated game from this generation properly?
 
What is this thing going to look like in a year or two when the true next gen consoles are out?  Where is the mass market appeal when the major 3rd party titles start being too resource intensive to run on a Wii U?
 
I just don't see any long term future for this device.  It seems like Nintendo relying on another piece of gimmick hardware that the majority of games are not going to make great use of.  And on top of that, the bizarre controller setup means that you really don't have the same party game options that the Wii provided.

I failed to see why I would buy another console to play the same games while being stuck with Nintendo's standards. For a new console it didn't build upon anything Microsoft and Sony did over the past 6 years. 360 and PS3 are still better than Nintendo's idea of next gen.

@Excast said:

I guess the worst thing was watching the WiiU struggle to run Epic Mickey.

That was definitely a low point -- I couldn't believe that happened.

COD: BLOPS II actually appeared decent along with some other more modern games, though, so the issue with Epic Mickey might not have been on the console end but how the game was developed itself.

It's not great, but it's better than I expected to be. I look forward to see what games come out in the next few years. 4/5

I think it doesn't impress with its systems that are barely working and the launch line up has one game you'd actually want, a game we've already played this year, but hey, it's a console launch. Technical issues and poor line up issues were bound to be the case on day 1 which is why I decided that I shouldn't buy one. But then, after seeing tweets to the effect of "It's not that bad out there actually" I decided I should go try to buy one. The trip ended up being a wash, but now I've crossed the line. I've been to several Best Buys looking, might as well finish the job now. I know I'll get it for games like Pikmin and Rayman, no point in waiting. Especially if things might be tight. Then again I'm pretty sure things won't be so tight next year, but why take that chance?

@Sackmanjones said:

@evanbower

@Hailinel

Where's the "I barely watched it because I was using my Wii U" option?

That's a spectacular answer. How has your time with it been?

I'd like to know as well

Pretty good. The only hurdles were the hour-long firmware update (can't really do much about that at this point) and self-imposed stupidity. (i.e.: "Why isn't it turning on? It should be turning on. Oh, god, is it brok--oh. Forgot to plug it in.")

Transferring data from my Wii to the Wii U was fairly simple, if cumbersome, but the copy and load process was given a really nice presentation. Best use of Pikmin I've ever seen outside of the actual games.

The only games I've tried so far are Warriors Orochi 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2. I have the update for Nintendo Land installing as I type this. The Gamepad has been really easy to hold over extended play. I'm still getting used to the various bits on it (it's the only controller I've ever seen with a volume control), but it's been really intuitive so far.

I should have more to say later this week once I've had more time to play around with it and see how the online features function as the day one kinks get ironed out. If you have any specific questions in the meantime, I can try to answer them for you.