So what's cool about it? For one thing, I like the storage options. Remember paying $100 for a freakin 32GB memory card for your Vita? No? Well that's probably because you were smart, but I wasn't. It sucked. Nintendo is dodging the paranoid pitfalls that so many companies fall into and is once again adopting the extremely consumer-friendly SD card standard. But they go one step further. They also allow you to hook up virtually any USB external hard drive for what is probably the easiest and most convenient storage expansion option in the history of consoles. I don't even remember what the built-in storage on the WiiU is, because who cares? I have a pocket-sized USB-powered 500GB hard drive sitting in my drawer just begging to put all my digital game binging worries to rest.
That is if I was buying a WiiU.
What is that problem I talked about a few months ago about the WiiU and hardcore gamers? Oh yeah, they all have a PS3 or 360 already. You see, the last time I wrote about the WiiU, we were waiting for E3, hoping that Nintendo would provide lots of reassurance that the console would give the hardcore market something to care about. Well, they ran a sizzle reel showing games like Assassin's Creed III, Batman: Arkham City, Darksiders II, ZombiU, Mass Effect 3, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razer's Edge, Aliens, and Tekken Tag Tournament 2. So yeah, mostly games that were already known, and worse, a few that have already been played on other machines.
Proving once again that E3 is becoming increasingly useless though, Nintendo saved the big announcements for when they were good and ready to reveal them. They've made their own periodic online-streaming conference to do just that, and the latest one showed some interesting things we hadn't known before.
OK, so the price and release date were obviously a given. Check. There was also Nintendo TVii. Basically Nintendo has taken all the popular TV and movie streaming services, put them into a blender and poured it into the tablet-like WiiU GamePad. It's a slick interface allowing you to search through available programs, find ones you'll like based on your Mii profile, find ones you and your loved ones will both like, search through a TV guide to see what's airing, and even interface with your DVR to schedule recordings and such. It will even allow you to search through IMDb and Wikipedia to find additional info. One of the more surprising features is the ability to use the GamePad like a universal remote to control your home theater equipment. The whole thing is surprisingly robust and even though it's been attempted before, should the WiiU take off it could end up more successful than other TV boxes. This is the one area where the WiiU actually has a jump on the next generation consoles.
Other surprises. Nintendo is publishing the exclusive Bayonetta 2 for their system. There's also word that Monolith Soft, makers of the critically-acclaimed Xenoblade Chronicles is making another game for the WiiU. Combined with Rayman Legends and ZombiU, Nintendo is showing a surprising amount of exclusives this early in.
Will it be enough for the hardcore crowd, whom the U in the name WiiU represents? Probably not. They've had their fix for some time now, and are gearing up for the true next generation. When the next era of games arrives, the WiiU will have a hard time keeping up, despite the added RAM and marginal bump in GPU power. Unfortunately most are saying the CPU doesn't even cut mustard with the current generation, and that's just sad.
Nintendo isn't completely at a loss when the Us don't join in under the Wii banner, because they haven't broken the bank with the hardware. When they have to backtrack on chasing the hardcore franchises and third parties, they can go after the casual market that the original Wii was successful with and still make money off hardware sales. If they had upped the specs to a respectable degree, they might have been more competitive in the next gen, and grabbed more of the hardcore market, but at the same time it would've been more difficult to fall back on the casual market if that didn't work out. The console would have been more expensive, larger, hotter, and less profitable.
Nintendo tends to prove wrong the doubters though, and that makes it hard to bet against them. The 3DS is successful in the smartphone era despite its many technical disadvantages, and the Wii was successful beyond anyone's wildest dreams despite rehashing old technology and alienating third parties, and it's hard not to see similarities here. The WiiU doesn't seem as casual-friendly as the Wii, and it's certainly more expensive, but Nintendo just has that magic pixie dust that can turn a pile of turds into solid gold, and it wouldn't surprise me if people eagerly reach for it despite all the flies.
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