Innovation is something that is something that is part of the lifeblood of Nintendo. The 123-year-old company has been creating unique products dating back to their time as a playing card company. Over the course of the last century Nintendo has branched out their business in a variety of directions, some more successful than others, but in the early 1980s they finally found one that stuck – video games. The release of the Nintendo Entertainment System quickly established a little known company out of Japan as the biggest name in the industry, and one of the few that has endured as a major player for almost 30 years.
Fast forward to today, where Nintendo is riding the wave of their most successful home gaming console, the Wii, by following it up with something they hope is an even more hit, the Wii U. It's the first video game console to offer a fully integrated second screen gaming experience, as well as Nintendo's first real push to establish an online gaming community for their fans, and they're even making a grab to take over you TV. As the first out of the gate for the next generation of gaming consoles Nintendo is hoping to get a jump on consumers, and take over their living rooms before their competitors even announce what they have next.
The Wii U is an intriguing piece of hardware and it's symbolic of a lot of firsts for Nintendo. It's the first time that a Nintendo console is in HD. It's the first time that a Nintendo system home to an online gaming community. It's the first time that Nintendo will be making full console releases available as digital downloads. Sadly, these are all things that Microsoft and Sony have been doing for years, and, for the most part, doing well. Nintendo's wait and see attitude may have paid off for them as a company, but it may have also lost countless gamers to the competition in the meantime. That's not to say that Nintendo hasn't crafted an amazing machine in the Wii U, in fact, it's the console that will singlehandedly change the way people play games for years to come.
Being released as two different models, the Basic and the Deluxe, the Wii U offers gamers choices as to how they want to play. The Basic model retails for $299 and includes a white Wii U console with 8 GB of storage space, the GamePad, appropriate AC adapters, an HDMI cable, and a sensor bar similar to the one that the Wii used. The Deluxe model includes a black Wii U with 32 GB of storage space, everything that's included in the Basic edition, and GamePad cadle, as well as stands for the controller and the system. Retailing for $349, the Deluxe edition also includes Nintendo Land as a pack in game.
The Wii U's system is sleek, and familiar. In terms of the interface it bridges the gap between the Wii and the 3DS, and mixes it with the Mii Plaza (now updated, and called WaraWara Plaza) on the second screen. Navigation is easy as a swipe and click on the GamePad's screen to get everything going. Depending on your proximity to your TV, you don't even need it on to get a game started and loaded up. In fact, for the games that support off screen play, you might not have to turn your TV on at all. Getting stuff loaded in advance might be a good idea, as that seems to be one of the places that the system struggles – booting up disc based software and loading system applications. Just expect that it is going to take longer (really only a few seconds) than you're likely used to.
Nintendo has made it clear that they fully supporting pushing the Wii U into the digital age, and that's evident by the extent of downloadable content that has been promised to be on the horizon. However, they don't really provide a place for it all. The Basic model of the Wii U comes with only 8 GB of internal storage and the Deluxe model has only 32 GBs available – 4.2 GBs of which is taken up by the operating system. Leaving only 3 GBs of available space on the Basic model might be enough for owners looking to store a ton of Virtual Console games, but don't expect it to replace those discs at retail. Fortunately, Nintendo has allowed for hard drives up to 2 TB to be connected to the system via USB and serve as a second storage location. So, problem solved, as long as you have an extra USB hard drive lying around.
High definition graphics are clearly here to stay, and Nintendo has openly embraced them on the Wii U. The preferred output for this system is an HDMI cable (which is included in the box), a serious upgrade from the Wii's component and composite cables, providing crisp graphics that can not only finally compete with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. However, with underlying technology that is seven years newer, this console might even be able to surpass them in due time.
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