Let's start with the contents of the package. I bought the Deluxe Edition (pictured left) which comes with the black system, black GamePad, all the necessary hookups (including an HDMI cable) and a copy of Nintendo Land. Also included are a few superficial pieces such as two cradles allowing you to rest the system on top of those, and have it sit vertically, a small cradle that you can rest your GamePad on, and the most useful inclusion in my opinion is the charging cradle for the GamePad. Similar to the charging cable of the 3DS you plug the AC adapter into the back of the cradle, and all you have to do is rest the GamePad on top and it charges. The Deluxe Edition also comes with a 2-year subscription to the Nintendo Network Premium service. This allows you to earn rewards points when you make purchases on digital items in the Nintendo e-Shop. One of the downsides to an out-of-the-box Wii U is they are assuming you either own an HDMI-compatible TV, or that you still own an original Wii. The Wii U will support the red/white/yellow AV cables that come with the Wii but if you don't own these or have an HDMI compatible device, you will need to purchase one or the other (I recommend the cables.)
Moving along, The GamePad feels very natural. It is surprisingly lightweight and very ergonomic. It feels like it's either JUST the right size or maybe a tad too big but overall it's extremely comfortable. The screen provides a decent resolution which will be a little grainy depending on what activity or game you are doing at the time, but overall the quality is damn nice.
If you haven't yet bought a Wii U you probably heard about the horrendous update on day one. Open up the box for your system, get everything hooked up, start putting in some primary information and then.....a system update must be performed. DAY ONE. What the hell, Nintendo? You better be glad I'm not a child who just got this for Christmas and was so excited to play it that I pestered my dad to the point of alcoholism to set it up for me. Although I must admit I was equally as heartbroken. Had I known this was going to happen we would have started the update, then left to get food but unfortunately we got food before setting it up, then sat there and watched the screen guessing what percentage the unmarked progress bar was at. Learn from our suffering: start the update, then go kill an hour doing something else.
The next feature I toyed with is the TV button and MAN this thing is so cool. It turns your GamePad into a universal remote for your TV and cable box. To set it up, just select if you want just TV or TV and cable. It asks for the brand of device you have, then you test a button or two to see if it works. Mine clicked on the first try. I can control my TV's power, volume, channel up/down, manually enter a channel number, or change the input on the TV (between viewing shows, games, DVDs, etc.) If the cable box is set up you can individually control the power for the TV or cable box, and you also have access to a Guide button if your cable provider has such. You can access all features of the TV button without the system even being powered on, which I discovered accidentally.
The Wii U menu has two screens. By default the GamePad's screen is a lot like the 3DS main menu, with a bunch of individual bubbles for apps and digital downloads. The top left spot is always reserved for disc games. The television display shows the WaraWara Plaza where your Mii along with many others will be gathered around talking about the games and activities going on in MiiVerse. You can switch these at anytime, so that you may use the touch screen to see what some of the other Mii's in your plaza are posting about.
Speaking of MiiVerse, I will give you my first impressions of that here. The coolest feature is it really is a social network for gamers. You can ask a question on the New Super Mario Bros. U Community, and you will receive a notification when another MiiVerse user has replied to your thread. You can also hand-draw pictures to post, or browse the various threads and see other people's amazing work. Some games that enable MiiVerse will allow you and other users to post helpful, encouraging, or taunting posts along the way. Cleared that level without taking damage? Take a few moments to boast to the world. Struggling with a certain section? See what other people did to get through. MiiVerse IS monitored (thank God) by a Code of Conduct basically saying no personal information, no harassing, nothing of a sexual nature blah blah blah. If you breach the code of conduct you will get warned or banned, depending on your infraction. Trust me, I tried to link this site, and got a warning to change my profile.
The internet browser built into the Wii U is surprisingly fast, and fairly reliable. The biggest downside is it doesn't support anything flash related. You can view content solely on the GamePad by closing a curtain on the television screen with the push of a button. You can unveil this curtain at anytime to show other people in the room what you're looking at. If you have a Mii set up, they will do minor entertaining things in front of the curtain so people sitting around won't get bored. I played Rock, Paper, Scissors against my Mii...and it won. Jerk. If you're playing video content on the screen you can set it so that you can still continue browsing other pages on the GamePad as well.
Some of the other features that are available on the Wii U at the time of this posting are the YouTube, Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Video apps. If you have a subscription to the necessary services you now have another device you can access them on.
The launch lineup of the Wii U is admittedly a little lackluster. Nintendo Land is surefire gold, supposing you have someone else to play it with. But I'll be doing a Nintendo Land review next so you can get more details there. New Super Mario Bros U., ZombiU, Scribblenauts Unlimited, Assassin's Creed 3, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, Ninja Gaiden III: Razor's Edge, along with Nintendo Land have all been making a splash as the best titles to come out at launch while the other 15 or so have been getting mediocre reviews. There will be better games coming out within the next few months including Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101, and Rayman Legends, among others. Plus as developers start getting creative with the software I'm sure we'll see some interesting projects arrive. I will be posting reviews of the few games I have been able to play shortly, so look for more details soon.
I hope you enjoyed my first impressions of the Wii U and maybe got you to consider buying one. Check out my review of Nintendo Land in the very near future here at A Gamer's World and be sure to contact me with questions, comments, stories, etc.
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