Me.
I'm the winner. When Nintendo branches off and does their own thing, I am the beneficiary of the experiment. I get to experience game types, styles and ideas of which I've only dreamed. All because Nintendo refuses to do what the economy, strategists, and competitors tell them to do.
I've owned my WiiU for 4 days and only played 2 games on it and I'm already convinced that it is the system for me. How can I possibly know this soon? How are 2 games and several hours anywhere near enough time to make a judgement call on a system that, admittedly, has many bugs and kinks to work out in the coming months? 3 Words: New Gaming Experiences.
Lets take a look at what new things I've done on my WiiU in the last 4 days.
1. Local Multiplayer with a twist. The Multiplayer suite of ZombieU is far from impressive. 5 Maps, 3 game modes and limited number of weapons with no customization should add up to a mediocre experience. And the hook brings me back: Because of the separate handheld screen and asymmetric(different for 2 players playing the same game) style, I get to test the mettle of my nephew's first person shooter skills by throwing zombies of multiple types and styles at him in a poor-man's RTS manor. I get to see him backing up into the strategically placed sleeper that will jump him when he gets close enough. I get to take control of the survivor and let him throw zombies at me. Simply put: I can't do this anywhere else. Therefore, I will do it on my WiiU and laugh out loud every time my spitter covers my opponent in zombie-pus
2. A Sandbox I want to play in. I've played Scribblenauts on the DS. I played Super Scribblenauts on the DS, but now I've played Scribblenauts Unlimited on the WiiU and I can't go back. The puzzles are entertaining and appropriately silly(Yes, this fireman can build a mech for you to fight off the zombie horde), but the strength is in the more, bigger, best mentality of these items. Each item is liberated by the adjectives introduced in Super Scribblenauts, but now, I can take those items and make them my own. I can literally make them my own. I summon them to my item editor, change every characteristic imaginable, give it a new name and it is now mine, my own, my precious. It is without a doubt the best item editor any console has ever seen. I don't know why I would want a stick that grant's me invisibility and shoots grenades that don't explode, but that isn't the point. The point is that I can make it and it's mine.
3. Investing in the Community. You won't find me on forums or comment sections or chat rooms about games. This may be to my detriment. I'm not much for the anonymity of the internet. On the WiiU, however, I found myself commenting on people posts. I reached out to people asking for help. I found people with similar thought processes and taste in games and I friended them out of the blue. There is something about the way that Nintendo set out to integrate the Miiverse into the game experience and into the DNA of the WiiU itself that makes me want to contribute. Add in the fact that their filtering software and community driven tools for reporting poor behavior not just work, but work well, and I'm in a community of gamers that I'm not ashamed to introduce my family to. It's a brand new world of interaction for me in a gaming community.
4. The Controller is Enough. This is a silly, stupid, mediocre feature that really shouldn't be mentioned, except for how amazing it is. "Hey, can you turn that down? We can hear those brains exploding in the kitchen!" "Yeah, sure." We've all had that conversation before, but now, turning down the volume requires no additional effort or searching for remotes or reaching for the "right" remote. The WiiU Gamepad is the right remote, for the TV and cable box. This isn't about me being lazy; this is about Nintendo wanting their console to be a part of every interaction the living room and I commend them for it. No, this isn't some amazing new and crazy feature and no, it won't revolutionize gaming, but I love changing the input to the Blu Ray player for my wife when I want to make more hover tanks that shoot exploding sheep on my Gamepad.
The WiiU is far from perfect. The load times between standard menu selections are a little ridiculous. The friend system isn't quite as intuitive as it should be in Fall of 2012. There isn't a "Halo" or "God of War" to drive sales yet. There is, however, a strong pulse and piles of creativity in Nintendo's WiiU.
I'm the winner. When Nintendo branches off and does their own thing, I am the beneficiary of the experiment. I get to experience game types, styles and ideas of which I've only dreamed. All because Nintendo refuses to do what the economy, strategists, and competitors tell them to do.
I've owned my WiiU for 4 days and only played 2 games on it and I'm already convinced that it is the system for me. How can I possibly know this soon? How are 2 games and several hours anywhere near enough time to make a judgement call on a system that, admittedly, has many bugs and kinks to work out in the coming months? 3 Words: New Gaming Experiences.
Lets take a look at what new things I've done on my WiiU in the last 4 days.
1. Local Multiplayer with a twist. The Multiplayer suite of ZombieU is far from impressive. 5 Maps, 3 game modes and limited number of weapons with no customization should add up to a mediocre experience. And the hook brings me back: Because of the separate handheld screen and asymmetric(different for 2 players playing the same game) style, I get to test the mettle of my nephew's first person shooter skills by throwing zombies of multiple types and styles at him in a poor-man's RTS manor. I get to see him backing up into the strategically placed sleeper that will jump him when he gets close enough. I get to take control of the survivor and let him throw zombies at me. Simply put: I can't do this anywhere else. Therefore, I will do it on my WiiU and laugh out loud every time my spitter covers my opponent in zombie-pus
2. A Sandbox I want to play in. I've played Scribblenauts on the DS. I played Super Scribblenauts on the DS, but now I've played Scribblenauts Unlimited on the WiiU and I can't go back. The puzzles are entertaining and appropriately silly(Yes, this fireman can build a mech for you to fight off the zombie horde), but the strength is in the more, bigger, best mentality of these items. Each item is liberated by the adjectives introduced in Super Scribblenauts, but now, I can take those items and make them my own. I can literally make them my own. I summon them to my item editor, change every characteristic imaginable, give it a new name and it is now mine, my own, my precious. It is without a doubt the best item editor any console has ever seen. I don't know why I would want a stick that grant's me invisibility and shoots grenades that don't explode, but that isn't the point. The point is that I can make it and it's mine.
3. Investing in the Community. You won't find me on forums or comment sections or chat rooms about games. This may be to my detriment. I'm not much for the anonymity of the internet. On the WiiU, however, I found myself commenting on people posts. I reached out to people asking for help. I found people with similar thought processes and taste in games and I friended them out of the blue. There is something about the way that Nintendo set out to integrate the Miiverse into the game experience and into the DNA of the WiiU itself that makes me want to contribute. Add in the fact that their filtering software and community driven tools for reporting poor behavior not just work, but work well, and I'm in a community of gamers that I'm not ashamed to introduce my family to. It's a brand new world of interaction for me in a gaming community.
4. The Controller is Enough. This is a silly, stupid, mediocre feature that really shouldn't be mentioned, except for how amazing it is. "Hey, can you turn that down? We can hear those brains exploding in the kitchen!" "Yeah, sure." We've all had that conversation before, but now, turning down the volume requires no additional effort or searching for remotes or reaching for the "right" remote. The WiiU Gamepad is the right remote, for the TV and cable box. This isn't about me being lazy; this is about Nintendo wanting their console to be a part of every interaction the living room and I commend them for it. No, this isn't some amazing new and crazy feature and no, it won't revolutionize gaming, but I love changing the input to the Blu Ray player for my wife when I want to make more hover tanks that shoot exploding sheep on my Gamepad.
The WiiU is far from perfect. The load times between standard menu selections are a little ridiculous. The friend system isn't quite as intuitive as it should be in Fall of 2012. There isn't a "Halo" or "God of War" to drive sales yet. There is, however, a strong pulse and piles of creativity in Nintendo's WiiU.
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