I'm an early adopter of the Wii U and I wanted to share my pros and cons of the console.
Pros:
Standard Controller Style
The Wii U has a controller with control sticks and buttons by default. I love that! When the Wii U was first unveiled and it showed that it came with a more traditional controller, that is when I was sold immediately. The Wii was pretty impressive and had some cool experiences, but the control scheme just wasn't for me. The games I enjoyed the most on the Wii had the least amount of motion control (Smash Bros Brawl, Mario Kart with nunchuck, Mario Galaxy). I couldn't wait to play Nintendo games with a more standard controller experience again.
And it feels great. The gamepad is awesome. It feels like a Super Nintendo controller with analog sticks and triggers with a screen in the middle. It has a nice Nintendo quality directional pad. The triggers ZL and ZR on the back feel nice and in the right spot. The Pro controllers also feel great. I don't mind the placement of the analog sticks and playing games is everything I wanted with them.
Off-TV Play
The Wii U gamepad has the ability to play games without having the TV on or turned to the Wii U input. I didn't realize how much I would enjoy this feature until I had it. In my situation as a family we share a single TV. Having the ability to play my console games while the TV is in use by someone else has increased my game time tremendously. The screen is just the right size for it and the speakers sound pretty good for most games. A headphone jack is also available.
MiiVerse
Miiverse is the Nintendo version of Twitter. Each game has a community to post within. Users can post a 200 character text, or draw something the size of the gamepad screen, select from 5 Mii expressions to convey emotion, tag the post as an accomplishment, impression, or question, mark it as a spoiler, attach a screenshot in some scenarios, and follow other users. There are game developers on there verified by a checkmark so you can see Nintendo news and they even respond to feedback and comments.
This was another feature that I was suprised that I enjoy as much as I do. It's been great fun to see the amazing artwork that people have made using a stylus on the gamepad screen.
Most people are really friendly and if you are stuck anywhere within a few minutes you can usually have a reply to a post. It is nice having a whole wealth of game related twitter feed style posts for each game released (even the virtual console games!).
Seriously, go to https://miiverse.nintendo.net/ and browse some of the communities.
Games
This is a Nintendo console so it's going to have the awesome library of Nintendo franchise games. We can expect the Nintendo triforce / holy trinity of Mario, Zelda, and Metroid to have a release or two on the Wii U. Lots of friends complain that Nintendo just "re-hashes" their franchises for each system. It's hard to defend that sometimes because it is the same universe of characters for each game, but they are always really high quality and usually have a unique feature that sets it apart from the rest of the series. They also sell really, really well. A common phrase I hear often is "I can't wait for an HD Zelda, or Metroid, or Mario game."
Standouts for me so far have been: New Super Mario Bros U, Luigi U, Lego City Undercover, and even Nintendo Land.
CONS:
Pro Controller Support
So one of the main reasons I wanted the system is standard controller support, which turns out to not be supported as much as I thought it would be. Wait what?
Yes that's correct, not every game supports the pro controller! Imagine my disappointment when I learned that if I want to play Mario or Nintendo Land with my family that we needed to go buy Wii Remotes. The gamepad is supported with every game but the pro controller is not. (Mario Bros U has since had it patched in which is awesome) I have to check the back of the box and read several reviews of games, or google search just to see if pro controller support is included. Disney Infinity shows it's supported on the box, but it really isn't and on their site they apologize for the improper packaging.
Why is it even a question whether it is supported or not? Why is it not supported by every game? And why is it so hard to find out if it is?! It can't be too much different than wiring up support for the gamepad controller which every game already has.
Off-TV Play Support
So the next item in my pros list is also not supported by every game. I can understand a few select games not supporting it (like Zombie U) as they are built around having two screens, but they still could be done on a single screen. So guess which games get more play time from me?
This feature, along with Pro Controller support should be in every game. It should also be easier to find out if it is supported or not for the game instead of having to google and research.
Trophies/Achievements
This is one area that some people may disagree. I've already seen other blogs pop up from people saying they are happy to be free of trophies/achievements with the Wii U and the effects they have on gaming. I have seen some strange multiplayer behavior in Halo 3 regarding achievement hunting. Like all things in life, achievement hunting can be taken to the extreme and have some negative effects on people.
But I personally feel that Trophies have improved gaming overall. For games that I really enjoy it has added so much depth and accomplishment. I really did play through Shadow of the Colossus HD five times in a row to get the Platinum trophy. It was completely worth it because I love that game and the sense of pride I feel when I look at that trophy and the memories it triggers are priceless. I experienced more parts of the game than any other time I had played it before. I feel even more deeply in love with it because of this. (For example, I had no idea that you could hang onto an underwater fish or a flying eagle.)
If I don't love the game, I'm OK with not getting 100% of the trophies and it doesn't distract me or take away from the enjoyment at all. But I sure do love seeing that I completed the story mode (and what the date was) when I look back through my accomplishments.
Nintendo didn't implement a running total/profile level achievement system. MiiVerse does have some forms of accomplishments but it's no where near the same level as MS and Sony. I think that is a serious misstep for gaming. Imagine what Nintendo could have done with it. Some Nintendo themed trophies like coins, or 1ups, or something would have been awesome to have right out of the gate.
When it comes to third party games that are available on the Wii U and PS3 or Xbox 360, I generally will go for the PS3 version for trophies. As tempting as Off TV play is, I love having the trophy history.
Games
According to comments on internet gaming sites the Wii U "has no games". For me I think there are plenty of games on it. The Wii U launched with 29 games! Yes there were re releases of earlier games but for Nintendo fans it was awesome to have them.
For those of us that are heavy into gaming we most likely owned several of those releases already. It wasn't too exciting to see that we can get Batman, Mass Effect 3, or Darksiders again, without trophies, and for full price. (Especially when the Mass Effect Trilogy costs the same for the other systems).
The main reason I have this con here is because the Nintendo franchises don't release fast enough sometimes and third party support is sparse in between. It's nice to get some of the big hitters but it's too bad that not every game available for the other two consoles will be available on the Wii U also.
Wrap Up
So those are the pros and cons for me. I love the Wii U and will continue to play it. I'm excited for all of these fall releases coming up and for what Nintendo has in store for the future.
It will probably not be my go to system for every game though due to lack of trophies/achievements and how some of the basic/taken for granted features like pro controller support and off-TV play are not implemented in every game.
What do you think about the Wii U? Do you agree with my pros and cons?