Why we’re excited for the Wii U launch

The Wii U launches on the 18th of this month!  You all know by now that we enjoy console games, and we’re fans of Nintendo consoles.  Some of you have expressed skepticism over what the Wii U will offer gamers.  Back during E3 of this year we wrote at length about the console, some of the games coming out, and how we felt that Nintendo and the Wii U had the best overall showing of games this year.

Here are some of the games coming out for the Wii U (at launch) that really convinced us that the Wii U was a must-buy.

ZombiU for the Wii U

What really got us excited about ZombiU were the parallels we could see between ZombiU and games like Dark Souls.  We’ve read that the game will be brutally hard, and filled with the same trial and error gameplay experienced in Dark Souls.  A game about surviving against zombies should be difficult, unforgiving, and provide that sense of complete danger.

Some of the features look great.   When you die, your character turns into a zombie that you will encounter while you play the role of a different survivor.  You can actually kill your zombie-self and take back your gear.   Integrating other players in their own single-player games, like Dark Souls did, is something we’ll probably see a lot of on the Wii U and in ZombiU.  For example, when you die your friends will get alerted and get to come hunt you down.

The Wii U GamePad is going to really make the experience unique.  If there’s anything that ZombiU will have that other Zombie survival games can’t have, it’s the integration of these controls and what they allow the player to do.  The video below highlights them nicely.

More after the break.

New Super Mario Bros. U

New Super Mario Bros. U represents more than just a new Mario game.  There are a lot of exciting things about this particular game that we’ll touch on in a second.  Nintendo is bringing their first party titles to a new and shiny platform with all the added benefits of the GamePad that no one else can imitate, and finally we’re getting more from Nintendo than just ‘waggle’.

Specifically about NSMBU, it appears to be a return to the ‘Super Mario World’ style — our favorite Mario game.  The over-world map will hopefully allow for branching paths and secrets.  We love the Yoshi integration, and we’re hoping to see him integrated a lot more, like he was in SMW.

There’s also the GamePad functionality that will allow people to provide blocks and other assistance.  We immediately thought of how this will allow for all sorts of new speed run tactics , and new layers of fun and depth for people to participate.

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Those are just two of the games we’re anxious to play when the Wii U launches.  Within the launch window there are so many good games like LEGO City Undercover and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.  Anyone doubting that the Wii U will provide awesome games hasn’t been paying attention.

We’ll get our reviews of these games up as soon as we can get our hands on them and play.

  • I’m going to give that video a coolness factor of 10 on a 10 point scale. Do you know those sci fi movies of the future where some kind of 3d control screen appears floating in the air and the character slides his/her hand through the air to control it? It reminded me of that.

    It also made me a little dizzy. And reminded me that I can barely even use all the buttons on a PS3 so I think I would fail at this. I’m kinda a point and click mouse guy really. But it’s amazing when I see what they can do now.

  • The only issue I have so far with the Wii U is finding one…preorders are apparently sold out everywhere and so it seems unless I camp out in line I am not going to get one on release.

  • Even if someone offered me one for free I would not be interested.
    This device is all about gimmicks.
    Not to mention it will have the graphics of a current gen 7 year old console.
    And of course that Nintendo games never drop in price.

    I am curious about Microsoft’s and Sony’s next gen system.

    Currently enjoying myself with killing floor on the pc. Older game, but if you like coop fps games its good.

  • @ Zyler I honestly was like you towards the Wii, especially after i bought a gamecube and literally got maybe 3 games during the entire course of that generation. But both Nintendo’s announcement that their console will have a bigger focus of what N64 was, which is to say it will have it’s kiddie games similar to Wii but will also have the opposite, which is what the Wii was missing.

    As far as it’s graphics, its better than both the 360 and PS3, and the gamepad idea is something that will definitely revolutionize the console market. I also don’t think Microsoft or Sony will have a system coming out until winter 2014. Nintendo games never drop in price? I’m not sure how accurate that is, but the first thing that came to mind was, since when do Sony or Xbox games drop in price? I remember getting Red dead redemption nearly a year after release and it was still 59.99.

  • @Graev Yes I heard microsoft is busy with integrating a tablet for xbox.
    I could care less about that. Or all the extras my xbox and ps3 do besides playing games. (I do like the blueray player of the ps3)

    @Joe I bought a Wii myself and bought maybe 3 games for the Wii in all that time. I mainly used it to play oldschool games on.
    Never had N64. I went with the playstation and xbox that generation.

    Right now the WiiU is about as interesting to me as a PSvita. Another device aimed at gimmicks and no games I would like to play on it. (besides perhaps the persona game, but i already played that one on ps2 and I do not buy a console for just 1 game.)

  • @Zyler Well the quality of games isn’t going to change based on the console, so that’s irrelevant, i do like the direction the PSvita and the Wii-U are going with the gamepad ideas, but like i agree there’s no games, but i believe that’s a problem with consoles as a whole right now, not specifically the systems. also Xbox was during PS2 and Gamecube generation, not N64 just to be clear.

    Games for this entire generation have been far too focused on Internet play, the perfect example of this is the Halo and CoD series, they re hash nearly the same game, with a few new maps, slightly improved graphics, and a new whopping 3-5 hour campaign and charge you full price, when it’s nothing more than IMO DLC pack. Wouldn’t be so bad if there were games like that, then more solo/campaign style games for the other crowd/demographic. Problem is “lengthy” games nowadays are 20-30 hrs, tops and they are rare to say the least, which is just pathetic, an average campaign nowadays is somewhere around 6-10 hrs, i understand they want state of the art graphics, but I’d much rather slightly worse graphics with a way better, and lengthier solo experience.

    People keep buying Halo and CoD, because well frankly, they’re stupid, so the game designers refuse to change because the money keeps rolling in, if the gaming community would smarten up we’d finally see some changes, not only would games become more jam packed with content, they’d also be a hell of a lot more innovative, and creative, i’ve seen so many generic games come out in this generation it’s absolutely pathetic.

    Overall i like the Wii-U, i think it has a 2 year edge at least, on whatever next gen console Microsoft or Sony releases, so even if it is behind tech wise of those future systems, it’ll enjoy a couple year reign, making it worth the purchase. I also believe that like i said in my first post it will publish equal, if not better 3rd party releases to that of the 360 & PS3 along with top notch first party games, like zelda, hopefully a new super smash, and multiple mario games, making it more than worth the purchase.