The Wii-U seems like something special.

I bought a Wii-U about two weeks ago on somewhat of a whim (RSI means I can't use mice for some time) and I have to say.. This console is probably the biggest leap ahead in quite some time for one peculiar reason: Miiverse. Man.. Miiverse is absolutely awesome. It's such a simple idea and it works so well. For those who don't know, Miiverse is basically the online community part of the Wii-U. Very similar to the forum I'm posting in right now. People post a topic/drawing, other people can "yeah" it (like) or reply to it. Each game has its own subgroup. Also, the game specific drawings that pop up in the plaza are from miiverse posts.

The really special thing about Miiverse is how freakishly kind everyone is - and helpful. Tap the home button, write a question about the game(you don't have to shut down the game to do this, it's always available), pop back into the game and play for a few mins, check back, usually someone has answered your question. How precious.
Another great thing is how you're able to draw on the touch screen, people make all kinds of comics and stupid shit. It's great.

I'm sure that Nintendo monitors Miiverse posts like crazy and censors anything inappropriate, and I'm actually 100% fine with that even though censorship is one of the things I hate the most, having this little pocket of positivity is super refreshing. It's what a forum would look like if people found a productive outlet for their anger rather than call someone a faggot because their drawing was shoddy.

I'm just hoping developers will make games for this thing. So far ZombiU and Monster Hunter has been worth the buy, and with Fire Emblem and Pikmin on the way.. You'd be crazy not to consider it. Also.. Zelda and Mario.. Smash bros..

Also, my 5-hour-alive zombiu character just fell from a thingie and died. That game is ruthless.

April Fools huehuehue

haha made me lol

@cassus: EA and Epic beg to differ, Frostbite and Unreal 4 wont support the Wii-U.

MiiVerse does seem really awesome. Hope Sony and Microsoft decide to do something similar

Mark Rein corrected himself and said that Unreal Engine 4 will support the Wii-U; the quality just won't be anywhere near the demo Epic has been showing off.

What's a WiiU? What I got sitting on my shelve is a monster hunter machine and it will probably stay that way for 6 to 18 months.

The Miiverse is a very Nintendo way of making a social network and I really like it.

The games... just aren't there yet. 3rd party support looks like it will be worse than the Wii, if you can believe it. Nintendo will have to work extra hard to keep the Wii U relevant.

Dammit! I came in just to say that!

me too :(

Miiverse is pretty cool, people draw amazing pictures with the gamepad that just popup in the main menu.

He corrected himself said Wii-U supports Unreal 3 not 4, after everyone laughed.

Seriously one of my favorite things about the whole console. I see some of the things on there and it reminds me the kind of magic that Nintendo can inspire in people, and I love it!

@donpixel:

During the presentation the day before, another journalist asked if Unreal Engine 4 would work on Nintendo's Wii U -- a console that straddles the line between next-gen and the current one in terms of horsepower. "Hahahaha, no," he responded, which sent a wave of laughter through the room of journalists. But that's not technically true, he admitted the next day, walking back his gaffe. "You heard the stupid gaffe yesterday about the Wii U," he said. "If someone wants to take Unreal Engine 4 and ship a game on Wii U, they can! If they wanna ship an Unreal Engine 4 game on Xbox 360, they could make it happen." While that game might not look as pretty as it would on a "true" next-gen console, the new engine is scalable to a variety of platforms, including mobile.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/mark-rein-interview-gdc-2013/#continued

Cool. I'm gonna get a wii u one day for sure, and I hope the miiverse is still bumpin when I arrive.

I got mixed up and read that as day one and I was like the WiiU already came out... but nvm.

Are you aware the hidden message behind all that is no one really cares about the Wii-U right.. I mean listen, I'm not picking a fight here, I have fond memories of my SNES. I would love to see a modern Nintendo I can get behind, but being realistic I wouldn't buy Nintendo shares today (unless they announce they releasing pokemon for iphone), the casual market is on Smartphones/Tablets now.

I agree OP, it's an excellent system that provides a lot of very nice funtionality with Miiverse and other features like off-tv play and native headphone support. I can't help but feel like a lot of devs and publishers just want Nintendo to fail though, especially with the mainstream negative attitiude much of the industry seems to have for the company.

LOLZ HI FIVE!

HARHAR LO 4

@donpixel: You do realize that I never once said the Wii-U is an amazing console or that it is going to be super successful eventually. I think the console is a joke and a perfect example of what's currently wrong with Nintendo. I was simply pointing out your inaccuracy.

Special in the short bus way.

well fair point sir, I've been corrected.. no sarcasm intended.

I agree that the MiiVerse is very cool and the Gamepad has potential, but I think this will be Nintendo's last console. It just isn't there when it comes to the games and all signs indicate it never will be. Sad, but true.

Here is the article on IGN:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/03/29/unreal-engine-4-frostbite-3-will-not-support-wii-u

My question is why he would blow it off like that? Is the Wii-U that lost and that much of a joke in the development community that he would laugh at anyone using the engine on Wii U? I'm assuming his laughter and immediate disregard has to be stemming from what has been going on in the development community and their confusion or dissatisfaction with the system.

I totally agree with donpixel....there has to be something going on in the development community that would have made Mark disregard and laugh off the idea of someone taking the time to put an unreal engine 4 game on the wii u. That is a very sad conclusion, if it is correct...which comes from the company that had by far the most used third party engine this generation. Hopefully some new games from Nintento (new IP and Zelda/Mario) will get a bigger install base, forcing 3rd parties to re-examine the system. I am personally waiting for this to happen before i drop $350.

What your saying should be exciting. Sadly, the words "another Zelda game" and "another Mario game" just don't excite sight-unseen me like they used to anymore.

I don't think the devs and pubs want Nintendo to fail as much as they're tired of taking risks and losing money on their attempts to support Nintendo's systems.

Thanks for the laugh. That was pretty good.

I used to have a Wii u but traded it in when GameStop was having a solid deal going. Got most of my cash back but it still burns a bit. Anyway it's an interesting system and once they fix the load times and actually get some games it could be really good. I did love Zombi U and that is really an experience you can only have with the gamepad. But everything else was just meh and the Nintendo exclusives I thought I liked just don't click with me anymore. It has potential to be a solid console but only if Nintendo really supports it themselves. Sounds like 3rd parties just aren't that enticed by it.

How Special is it

I also share the fear that the Wii-U will get the same fate as the Wii, probably even worse.. That doesn't change the fact that this console does more exciting stuff than the PS4, and that makes it a real shame that it'll get left behind. The PS4 is a PS3 with a gimmicky controller. It won't even necessarily be all that fast now that they're basically going with off the shelf parts. It's a small-ish pc at this point. And that is fine, I'll buy that as well. Gotta get mah uncharted, MGS and Infamous on!

As far as consoleness go, there's no console feel in the sony and MS offerings anymore. Remember when console games and PC games where different? PC's had monkey island, flight sims, RTS'es, grand strategy games etc. etc. Consoles had platformers, jrpg's and stuff of that nature. Nintendo kinda lives in that reality still, and that's why I love them. They set out to make a console-ass-console, and they succeed every time, but they're kinda the only developer that still makes "console games." That, more than anything else, is why Nintendo is having a hard time. At least the way I see it.

As for the hatred for the nintendo consoles, I just don't get it. Especially when anyone on an xbox or ps3 will lose pretty much all arguments with a PC gamer for the exact same criteria. By that reasoning you should chuck all your consoles in the bin and get a PC. For 300 bucks you can get a PC that outperforms whatever you have right now, so the price shouldn't even be an issue.. The console vs console vs console vs pc war is duuuuuuuuuuumb. Each of them have exclusives that are worth playing. End of, pretty much.

If nintendo dies, consoles are basically done. Neither Sony or Microsoft has been involved with consoles when consoles were consoles, so I'm not sure why everyone wants nintendo to fail. It would be a loss to everyone. :/

@ultrasoda: It's really special. Snark like yours is no where to be seen. Very liberating and soothing.