I don't like the Wii branding and I think it conjures more bad gaming memories than good, but for better or worse we're stuck with it now so...whatever. My big problems with the Wii U have always been...
1. Nintendo's appalling refusal to share specifics about the console and their plans for it, especially on features I actually care about. For instance, I'm a fan of trophy hunting on PS3. The Wii U allegedly supports an achievement-type system, so why does no one seem to want to talk about it? Why has Nintendo said NOTHING about a Wii U Virtual Console?
For that matter, online is only getting more important in the gaming industry, so how are we now less than 2 months away from launch and we still know very little about anything related to the Wii U's online infrastructure other than some basics on Miiverse (and a rewards program exclusive to the Premium model that's only vaguely defined outside of Japan)? This isn't the N64 or GameCube days. The Internet matters, and how your company is going to handle it in your new console isn't something you just dump in a Nintendo Direct a month before launch. It's like how the 3DS launched without its eShop. This doesn't tell me that Nintendo's biding their time before letting us in on their plan. It tells me they don't HAVE a plan, and they want me to dump $350 into this thing?
2. Nintendo's packed the Wii U with so many features I don't give a damn about that do nothing for me to add value to the purchase, like Miiverse; TViii; and the artificial "crisis" of having to share TVs when my house has at least 4 HD TVs, and these days it seems to be all they want to talk about. Yet they've skimped on all the little things that would add value for me, like not being able to upscale Wii games into HD; likely not being able to play Virtual Console games with the GamePad; and not being able to play even certain Classic Controller-compatible Wii games with the GamePad. These are the little things that require perhaps a great deal of extra work to implement and possibly would not have been cost-effective, but man their inclusion would have made such a difference to me.
3. There's just nothing in that lineup of announced exclusive games that speaks to me outside of Rayman Legends, and that's apparently not even going to be there at launch. If you only owned a Wii this last generation, you have quite a lot of quality 3rd party titles to choose from at launch, but if you didn't let Nintendo dictate your entertainment this current gen the selection is very slim. And what little there is doesn't particularly excite or interest me enough to make me say "wow, this $400+ purchase (with games) was totally worth it!" Nintendo surely has these titles, but because Nintendo stubbornly refuses to talk about games that haven't practically gone Gold already, they're refusing to show them.
The Wii branding doesn't do the console any favors for me, but in the grand scheme of problems the Wii U has for me it's relatively minor and certainly not game-breaking. There are just so many unknowns about this console, and so much of it reeks of Nintendo trying to severely lower expectations because they know they can't meet any reasonable expectations (much as they did on the Wii). We need to see details, we need to see games, and we need to see that Nintendo has a plan beyond this artificial "launch window" of theirs. Compared to that, the branding is nothing. It's meaningless. If Nintendo could instill confidence in me that I could be happy with the games this console offers, the name wouldn't matter to me in the slightest. But they haven't.
Topic: Wii U's launch price(s): Is it worth it? (Read 28299 times)
