Wii-U in stores, first impressions?

[+wood_jl]

I wonder if they'll drop Wii backward compatability (ala redesigned Wii dropping Gamecube backward compatibility) in the eventual redesign and cheapening? It would sure put a stop to all those headaches, eh?

[goldenegg]

Wow ... that was a weird forum bug. Ignore this post

[Asaki]

If the tablet controller takes off for some odd reason for game, Sony will sure to follow

 

Tablet controllers with glowing clown noses =)

[Atariboy]

If it's emulation, I don't see them ever removing backwards compatibility. Any Blu-Ray disc drive derivitive should be able to handle the DVD format and it has to include a BlueTooth chip to fully support Wii U software (And there's certainly no money to be gained by not including an already programmed piece of emulation software). And if it's hardware but using just what's there for Wii U software itself to run on instead of extra chips specific to running Wii software, I also don't see them ever removing the functionality since there's no cost savings when the chips have to be there anyways.

 

It's actually quite relevant.[/Quote]

 

He asked if the Wii U content transfer reassociated the DLC licenses with the system itself, or to the Wii U Nintendo account that's presently tied to the console by the fact there's no way yet to transfer it to a different console by the user (Wii U content itself isn't tied to a console, just the account itself is currently stuck to the system it was created on until Nintendo changes that in the future).

 

Also, Wii mode isn't identical it seems. Stick a SD card with your games into your Wii before your license transfer for instance and check it out. Your games all appear (Unlike on the Wii) but you just can't run them. And there's functionality to move back to the Wii U dashboard. So it's clearly not quite a exact clone despite it looking just like that from initial appearances (And even if it was identical, I don't see why the licenses being tied to something at their end when a purchase is made which then communicates to the console itself that it has permission to utilize that content couldn't be changed without a dashboard modification at the user end... the changes are at Nintendo's end and not ours)

 

So I don't think it's a given that Wii DLC is be tied to the Wii U instead of the Nintendo account that Wii U DLC is tied to. I suspect from what I've read that this Nintendo rep poorly selected his words when he really meant to say that there's currently no functionality to transfer your account to a different system your Wii U content was tied to (Which all in all essentially means that your DLC is tied to your console).

Edited November 26, 2012 by Atariboy

[goldenegg]

He asked if the Wii U content transfer reassociated the DLC licenses with the system itself, or to the Wii U Nintendo account that's presently tied to the console by the fact there's no way yet to transfer it to a different console by the user (Wii U content itself isn't tied to a console, just the account itself is currently stuck to the system it was created on until Nintendo changes that in the future).

 

If you read my post, you'd see that I had my Nintendo Account transferred to a new system, but my credit and purchases were still not visible. There continues to be some link between the console and the purchases, regardless of wether or not they are also partially tied to the account.

 

 

Transferring Wii DLC is a little more complicated, as some DLC will not transfer to the Wii U. For example, my Guitar Hero DLC transferred fine, but Rock Band DLC did not. I was told that this is due to how the publisher has their DLC configured and there are no current workaround. So the bigger issue is knowing what can/cannot be transferred. There is no official list that I know of.

 

 

Also, Wii mode isn't identical it seems. Stick a SD card with your games into your Wii before your license transfer for instance and check it out. Your games all appear (Unlike on the Wii) but you just can't run them. And there's functionality to move back to the Wii U dashboard. So it's clearly not quite a exact clone despite it looking just like that from initial appearances (And even if it was identical, I don't see why the licenses being tied to something at their end when a purchase is made which then communicates to the console itself that it has permission to utilize that content couldn't be changed without a dashboard modification at the user end... the changes are at Nintendo's end and not ours)

 

Moving an SD card with content from one Wii to another will show content, but only with a more recent update. I just tested this myself before posting this reply. Moving the SD card from my Wii running 4.0 to another running the latest 4.3 shows content on the card. Moving SD cards in the opposite direction shows nothing.

[GKC]

I haven't even attempted to transfer my wii data to the wii u yet. When ever I do I'm sure I will find away to mess it up. Hopefully Nintendo changes this whole account being linked to individual consoles business.

 

On another note I played around with the different apps last night. I think Nintendo is actually on to something with miiverse. It's basically a mix between Facebook/twitter and a gaming forum like AA. They have "communities" for each game and in those communities is a twitter like experience. I can see it taking off. The web browser is one of the better none PC ones I've used. Very fast and responsive. No lag. YouTube is meh. You're better off using it through the web browser. The wii u doesn't have an achievement system (unless each individual game puts one in like Nintendo Land and its stamps) but the "Activity" app is a pretty cool data collector. It doesn't keep track of in game achievements but rather just what you've been playing, for how long and when. I could see Nintendo easily adding to it achievement like information like when you beat a certain game/level/boss etc. I didn't look into Netflix or Hulu so I cant say how those apps are. In short, other than the loading times, which I hope Nintendo can and will be fixing, Nintendo's apps so far aren't bad. Hopefully Nintendo will add to the "activity" app something like I talked about above.

Edited November 26, 2012 by GKC

[Atariboy]

If you care about playing games in the correct aspect ratio, I'd keep my Virtual Console games on my Wii for now if I were you.

 

Apparently the only way at this time to play a 4:3 Wii release in Wii Mode on a Wii U without it being stretched to 16:9 proportions by the system's internal upscaling is to revert the system to 480p. At that point, you're gaining nothing moving them over from a Wii and you're certainly not gaining anything where convenience is concerned when you're stuck changing the system's resolution in the settings all the time. And you'd likely be losing GCN controller support unless your Wii is a fairly recent purchase that didn't support backwards compatibility (Which is a shame with the Nintendo 64 downloads in particular since a GameCube controller worked nicely with them).

 

If they ever provide an easy way to get the benefits of upscaling while also playing 4:3 games in a correct pillarboxed 4:3 aspect ratio on a HDTV, I'd love to transfer my Virtual Console library over.

 

If you read my post, you'd see that I had my Nintendo Account transferred to a new system, but my credit and purchases were still not visible. There continues to be some link between the console and the purchases, regardless of wether or not they are also partially tied to the account.

 

That's because the transfer functionality for accounts isn't completely there yet from what I've read. That's why you needed Nintendo's intervention to fully finish the process. The system doesn't yet support the user moving their account over (Even though apparently from the sounds of it you were able to get something to appear before having to contact Nintendo).

 

Moving an SD card with content from one Wii to another will show content, but only with a more recent update. I just tested this myself before posting this reply. Moving the SD card from my Wii running 4.0 to another running the latest 4.3 shows content on the card. Moving SD cards in the opposite direction shows nothing.

 

Interesting tidbit

 

I wonder why the change with the most recent OS?

Edited November 27, 2012 by Atariboy

[panzeroceania]

Nope, it has HDMI. Optical cannot handle high def audio.

 

what do you mean?

[onlysublime]

optical can handle what the wii u can output. the wii u only supports LPCM 5.1 audio. HDMI is not needed for what the wii u can handle.

[Austin]

Woohoo! Looks like I'm getting a Wii-U for Christmas.

[GKC]

Woohoo! Looks like I'm getting a Wii-U for Christmas.

 

Awesome! I just downloaded the Rayman Demo which is one of my most anticipated titles for the wii u and the demo at least has kept up with my expectations. I havent played any of the demos at stores so I cant say if it adds anything more than what has already been offered. The limited play count on demos sucks though. Hopefully Nintendo will be willing to change that.

[+wood_jl]

I finally got a few minutes where I could hold the controller, and play. The controller is quite comfortable; the grips fit the hand rather well, and it's not as heavy as I was expecting.

 

Still, it's going to take some Mario Galaxy-type games (and additional time and money) but I'm less-skeptical, now. Still, this is a tough and crowded game/entertainment market. Bring on the Mario Galaxy!

[GKC]

Anyone try out Tvii that was rolled out yesterday? Doesn't seem too bad but I don't think the game pad will replace a remote for me. I think I've been too conditioned to reach for the remote that I don't think I'll ever be able to get into a habit of reaching for the game pad to control the tv. With that said it works fine with my satellite and TV set up. I look forward to seeing what it's like to watch football games with it. looks like to me that its just going to be something similar to ESPNs game cast. Other than using it for that though I really don't see myself using it.