Nintendo’s latest console, the Wii U has not been doing terribly well, sales-wise. I think this is quite a shame, because it seems to be awfully good to me, so I’ve decided to write a blog post explaining the upsides of the Wii U and why I think you should buy one.
While a lot of people complain that it’s overpriced, it is still about two hundred pounds cheaper than its competition (the Xbox One and the Playstation 4). Furthermore, while the improvements to the Playstation 4 and Xbox One over the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 seem to be rather minimal, the Wii U makes a lot of big changes and improvements from its predecessor (namely, the HD graphics, Miiverse integration and gamepad controller).
The gamepad in particular is a feature I am very fond of. I’ve read complains that very few games make any real use of it (even though Nintendo Land makes excellent use of it) but I think those complaints are missing the point of it. I don’t think the gamepad was designed with the idea of bringing an innovative new way of playing in the world of video games, but rather as an object of convenience. Often I’ll come downstairs, hoping to play a game, only to find that the television is already in use, meaning I will have to do something else instead. But with the Wii U, that does’t matter because you can just play the games on the gamepad without needing to see it on the television screen. Since I’ve gotten it, whenever I want to play one of my Xbox 360 games and the television is not free, I find myself wishing it had the gamepad, because it is just so incredibly useful.
And other than that, the console has quite an excellent selection of games. I can only personally vouch for Nintendo Land and New Super Luigi U (the two games I have so far) but there are an awful lot of games I am very keen to try: ZombiU, Rayman Legends, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Super Mario 3D World, Pikmin 3, Sonic Lost Worlds, Lego City Undercover and Scribblenauts: Unlimited, to name a few. Plus, there’re so many good games on the way too, Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros. for Wii U, a Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem crossover, a Zelda and Dynasty Warriors crossover and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (I’ve preordered this and am very excited for it to arrive!). So I have to say, from my point of view, the Wii U is the most appealing of the current generation of home consoles.
(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)
