Initial Wii U Impressions

So my kids have taken over my TV to watch Netflix so I thought it would be a good time to post my initial impressions of the system and games I've played so far. I'll start with the system, the update seemed like it took forever but a lot of that was probably just me being impatient, the whole setup process went really smoothly with no issues. I created my Mii and checked out Miiverse which is amazing. By the way there are some really talented artists on Miiverse...did anyone else notice? Miiverse is like a gaming Facebook, its really awesome and makes gaming even in single player games feel more alive. I added my Netflix and Hulu Plus accounts, no problem there. The Netflix interface is really good, easy to navigate on the game-pad alone, but the Hulu Plus app needs some work. If you don't have the TV on it limits your navigation. The internet browser is really fast and works great, the only problem that I have had with it is that when I access Facebook, it gives me the mobile version and I have no idea how to change that..but a mobile version of a website on my 55in screen seems a little silly.

The first game I tried was ZombiU, this is a game I've been waiting for since the first time I saw the teaser, and it is exactly what it says it is, a survival game. At this point in the game I'm on survivor number 8 and my longest survival time is about 37 minutes! The game is dark, scary, and hard! Because you spend a lot of time with a bat you are constantly having to avoid groups of zombies because they aren't easy to kill with it. My wife and I have been playing the multiplayer a lot and because of this game I went out and grabbed the pro controller (amazing controller). The single player is hard but very fun, and the multiplayer is just as good. I'm not very far into the game yet but once I am I'll post a full review. So far I give it an 8/10

I have spent some time with Black Ops 2 as well, the game plays exactly like you would expect it to play on the 360/PS3. The graphics are beautiful and the multiplayer is a blast. This is a game that you can play fully on the controller and not have to use the TV. I was able to go lay in bed with my wife and while we watched Sons of Anarchy I was able to keep playing Black Ops 2 online, it was lag free and an amazing experience. I'm not very good at it, but I have fun anyway. I haven't started the campaign yet but zombies and multiplayer are very good. 9/10 on this one so far.

Scribblenauts Unlimited, I've only spent about 30 minutes or so playing this, if you have played any of the previous ones the concept hasn't changed. It is fun, addicting and looks great on the controller and TV. I haven't tried the object creator yet, so I can't talk about that, but this game has a cute little story line and is very fun. I probably won't play this one too much until I finish ZombiU, but I expect my wife to be playing it this weekend.

So overall I am very impressed with the Wii U, one of my concerns was that it would be hard to play Black Ops 2 using the game-pad  but it is actually very nice, it took me a bit to get used to the button placement and the analog sticks being up higher than the buttons, but once you get used to the layout it feels great. The pro controller has an awesome weight and feel to it, and I would be using it if I wasn't so addicted to the game-pad.

Finally got the Wii U

So today my Wii U arrived, I was at work at all day and got the confirmation that UPS had delivered my Wii U to my door, which made me very nervous about someone grabbing it before my wife or I got home from work. Luckily my wife was able to get it and bring it in the house before I got home. So I got here and did the initial setup, choosing the language, date/time settings and internet settings; I'm now waiting for the big update to finish so I can play it. I'm also trying to help clean up around the house because my wife is getting food prepared for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner.
The 4 games I have are ZombiU, Black Ops 2, Scribblenauts Unlimited, and Batman Arkham City. I'll probably spend some time playing ZombiU and Black Ops 2 tonight, I'll post impressions later, need to get back to helping my wife with the house until the update finishes.

Waiting and Good-Bye Vita!

Today is launch day, I've been over at the IGN boards all day reading up on the issues and experiences people are having day 1. Unfortunately for me I can’t play yet because Toys’R’Us hasn’t shipped my order yet. Says it should be here around the 23rd…fingers crossed.

In the meantime I am getting some great information from other members on the IGN boards. One of the features I was looking forward to the most won’t be here until December now so I’ll have to wait for Tvii. It seems like most people are having a lot of fun with the system. There are a handful of people posting on the boards with some issues, like the gamepad freezing or the console not working out the box. I’ll get more information about that in the next week. Apparently there is also a huge update 5Gb is what I’m hearing, so you get home after getting your console then spend 30-60 minutes downloading and installing a very important update. I've also read that some smart guy turned off the console mid-update and bricked it. New system or not you never shut anything off in the middle of an update.

Game reviews are starting to pour in from all around the web. For the most part review for Batman, Mario, and Scribblenauts have all been pretty good. ZombiU is the game that has received the most media attention in this launch. It is getting very mixed reviews, some review sites gave it very low scores while others gave it very high scores. It looks like ZombiU is a game you’ll either love or hate…nothing in the middle. ZombiU has been on my radar since I watched the first teaser for it so I’ll be playing it regardless of the reviews.

Black Ops 2 on the Wii U is the game that will probably test out the Nintendo Network the most, Call of Duty games are insanely popular online and I asked around the IGN boards earlier about the servers and everyone said they were great, no issues so far. I am kind of burnt out on shooters, but since I wanted a good shooter for the console Black Ops 2 is also on my list.

There were about 7 launch games I wanted for the Wii U and I didn't want to spend any more money than I already had so far because of holidays and traveling from Florida to Kentucky in a couple weeks. I had to decide which games I wanted most and I had to let go of my PS Vita. I could have kept the Vita and not all the games I wanted at once, but to be honest my Vita has been sitting on the top of my desk for probably 3 months not touched. I wasn't playing it anymore and after the Call of Duty game did so bad for the system I decided to give it up. I have the 3DS XL and I keep that in my pocket all the time so really I didn't need the Vita. I ended up buying ZombiU and Black Ops 2. My system was bundled with Batman and Scribblenauts so that takes care of most of the games I want and should hold me over for awhile. I will eventually get Assassins Creed, Mario, and Nintendoland but those will probably be Christmas gifts.

I don’t feel bad about trading the Vita, at first I wasn't sure I wanted to do it but there was only one game left that I wanted to play on the Vita and that is All-Stars, but I will pick that up on my PS3 anyway. My 3DS is great and the only handheld I really need anyway. Most of the handheld gaming I do is at home, so with the Wii U gamepad I can still play it at night when everyone else is asleep. I generally play handheld games at night in bed after the wife is asleep so now I’ll be able to bring the gamepad with me and keep playing Black Ops online. I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am about being able to do this.

I hope everyone is enjoying their console and I’ll have mine soon, when I get online I’ll share my Nintendo ID and hope to game with you guys. Thanks for reading.

Back To Nintendo

Less than 2 weeks away from the Wii U launch, a lot of people are skeptical and many are excited. I’m very excited for the Wii U; this is the first console that I’ve ever pre-ordered and the only one I have ever felt like I needed to pre-order. I got the Xbox 360 over a year after launch, PS3 six months after launch, Wii six months after launch, 3DS 6 months after launch and the PS Vita 3 months after launch. No console since the Nintendo 64 have I wanted to have immediately. 

Why now? A lot of my friends are asking me why I am even buying a Wii U because I already own all the other consoles. Let me give you some history, when I was around 5 years old my mom bought me a NES. I didn’t know anything about video games at the time and didn’t even know what it was. I knew I could play Duck Hunt, but that was it. Someone then showed me that I could also play Super Mario Bros on the cartridge and that changed everything. Super Mario was the game that made me a gamer, it was the game that kept me glued the tv for hours and hours on end. After awhile I started getting more and more games for the NES and I now considered myself to be a gamer. To this day my favorite NES game is Mike Tyson’s Punchout. Fast forward to the launch of the SNES, this was a time before I had Internet so I didn’t even know there was a new console launch. One of my neighbors invited me to his house to play his play his new Super Nintendo and I was like huh? I spent some time playing Super Mario World, well needless to say I got the SNES that same Christmas. The SNES was a game changer for me, it was the system that introduced me to Mortal Kombat. I can’t even tell you how many hours I poured into MK2 back then. MK2 is one of my all time favorite games. N64 I knew about the release from a magazine, and got it the same Christmas it was released. N64 took what the SNES did to a new level. Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, and Ocarina of Time were some of the best games ever made. N64 is probably my favorite console and with it came my favorite game of all time. Goldeneye 007, this game was the first time I had played a FPS on a console. I spent some serious time playing this game. I did eventually buy a Gamecube but didn’t like it at all, I sold it a few months after buying it and I had never sold a console before. I think the reason that I was disappointed by the Gamecube was because it didn’t compare to the games I was playing on the PS2 at the time. I got a PS2 just to play Grand Theft Auto 3 and I was slowly started become less of a Nintendo gamer. Eventually I got the Xbox, and then I got the 360, PS3, and the Wii. The Xbox 360 was my go to console for the longest time while the Wii collected dust, and the PS3 was just used for Bluray movies. I wanted to Wii to be awesome but because it wasn’t HD and couldn’t handle games like the PS3 and 360 did it just didn’t impress me. I wanted to play games like Assassin’s Creed in HD on my Wii but wasn’t possible. I played the 360 and argued that it had the best online service but realistically it was because that was the service all my friends used. Once I started playing the PS3 more I started to really like it more than the 360. I don’t have as many friends on the PS3 but I do really like the online service. So now the Wii U is coming, it is a powerful console with HD, one of most innovative controllers made, a great launch lineup and features that have the potential to change the way I watch TV and movies. I can go back to playing a Nintendo console and still get to play the same games that other consoles are getting. I can play these games in beautiful HD, and even continue playing on the controller when my wife takes over the TV. Nintendo is the company that helped shape me into a gamer and I’ve very excited to go back to them as my go to console. 

I got a chance to play the Wii U at Gamestop yesterday, I’ll end on this note, the controller feels perfect, the weight is amazing, the shape is amazing. I can’t even describe how awesome it felt, perfect is the only word I can think to use.