Crazy for wanting Wii U?

[Aikouka]

Interesting. More info?

From a quick but limited searched, it looks like these models will read the discs:

Hitachi LG GDR-8161b (IDE)
Hitachi LG GDR-8162b (IDE)
Hitachi LG GDR-8163b (IDE)
Hitachi LG GDR-8164b (IDE)
Hitachi LG GDR-H10NBLK (SATA)

I don't think any of them are made anymore, so you'll have to hit up eBay for them. The prices vary wildly, but you can probably find one for around $10-15.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

A lot of artsy Wii games hold up rather well if all you do is increase the internal rendering resolution. The lack of HD is huge reason why I strongly disliked the console now that I think about it.

while I might feel somewhat the same way, for the games that still look absolutely amazing after seeing what they can look like on Dolphin, it gives me all the more respect for the art direction that went into them in the first place to allow the games to look so good with so very little

Dolphin emulated wii games looks good for the most part. Especially 2d stuff. Games like COD look pretty poor though.

no doubt, and that's pretty much because games like COD only look good in the first place via brute force methods rather than art direction that caters to the hardware that is available to it

of course I wouldn't want to play a game like COD on any console, let alone the Wii. (Not that I'd be thrilled to play Call of Doody on PC either )

 

[reallyscrued]

A lot of artsy Wii games hold up rather well if all you do is increase the internal rendering resolution. The lack of HD is huge reason why I strongly disliked the console now that I think about it.

Ugh.

Huge missed opportunity for Nintendo. If they would have increased internal rendering resolution to just 2x native on the Wii-U during backward compatibility gameplay (not even 1080p, just 720), I would have bought one at launch.

It's ridiculous how amazing Wii games look when up-rendered, and how much it detracts gameplay when trying to play 640*480 stretched out on an HDTV. The alaising in 80% of ambitious games on the Wii completely turned me off.

Getting Dolphin to work with Wiimotes and the accuracy of emulation is spotty but some screenshots of Dolphin running at 1080p internally (even higher resolutions than most PS360 games) with AA applied look like pre-rendered screenshots in realtime. I've waited my whole life for console graphics to reach this level and when the hardware can finally deliver, Nintendo refuses to.

I guess now they can release Super Mario Galaxy HD Collections or something in the future for $59.95...but I guess there is no hope for games that never get remade.

 

[dagamer34]

Ugh.

Huge missed opportunity for Nintendo. If they would have increased internal rendering resolution to just 2x native on the Wii-U during backward compatibility gameplay (not even 1080p, just 720), I would have bought one at launch.

It's ridiculous how amazing Wii games look when up-rendered, and how much it detracts gameplay when trying to play 640*480 stretched out on an HDTV. The alaising in 80% of ambitious games on the Wii completely turned me off.

Getting Dolphin to work with Wiimotes and the accuracy of emulation is spotty but some screenshots of Dolphin running at 1080p internally (even higher resolutions than most PS360 games) with AA applied look like pre-rendered screenshots in realtime. I've waited my whole life for console graphics to reach this level and when the hardware can finally deliver, Nintendo refuses to.

I guess now they can release Super Mario Galaxy HD Collections or something in the future for $59.95...but I guess there is no hope for games that never get remade.

I'd actually stomach HD re-releases if it meant playing games in HD. I mean, they look f*$*(ing amazing.

 

[mmntech]

I'd actually stomach HD re-releases if it meant playing games in HD. I mean, they look f*$*(ing amazing.

Sony has done an excellent job with the PS2 HD remasters. It wouldn't be hard to do since the Wii and Wii U both use the same CPU architecture. No need to run emulation or re-code like Sony has to do.

As for the OP's original question, I'd wait at least six months to a year. I took a look at IGN's list of upcoming Wii U games. There's not a lot. Lesser still with solid release dates. Pikmin 3, Rayman Legends, FIFA 13 are the big ones. So if none of the launch titles really tug at you, you'll be waiting a while. It was the same deal with the 3DS. Even its lineup is still kind of meh. You really have to like Nintendo's first party franchises to buy into their systems. They haven't gotten a lot of decent third party support since, oh, the SNES days it feels.

 

[dagamer34]

There is little point to buying a Nintendo console unless its for their 1st party games and 3rd party exclusives (mostly the former). Like stated above, they haven't been the de facto go-to console for 3rd party developers in almost 20 years. But their 1st party games are the best in the business. The company sticks around for good reason.

 

[Nintendesert]

I'll wait to see what the next Legend of Zelda game brings. I'm not too enthused by the offerings at this point though that Zombie U game looks pretty intense.

 

[ondarkness]

Bought one at launch.
online downloads are pretty cool. Indie games are my type of games so it's a cool casual system for me.
I have always had nintendo systems. I hate that xbox got rid of free multiplayer lan type of gaming for pay-xbox live only gaming.
The wii U gives you up to 5 multiplayer gaming at home, that's totally what I love. Close friends having fun gaming at home instead of playing with random online gamers. It's a different type of fun, I prefer it. Xbox live has expired and I wont be renewing.

I play if or video chat on it or browse on it daily. I got Halo 4 for free and haven't bothered to plug my 360 back in.

So far I have the AURORA indie game. its awesome!
Tekken is really fun, esp the volleyball option.
Mario is as expected. pretty fun
TANK TANK TANK is japan arcade multiplayer fun. CRAZY FUN!
Assasins creed is really fun free online, this is the main reason I got it for.
Nintendo land is casual fun. Good to introduce to non gamers.
I borrowed Zombie U since everyone is talking about how freaky and creepy it is.

The RAYMAN Demo is almost perfect if you loved the old Sega Saturn Rayman- Will be buying the game when it comes out.

Fifa demo is fun too.

The crazy part is that I'm 32 and haven't really invested myself into any system since the wii. I didnt love it but I had it. I have the 360 for assasins creed and street fighter.

I'm totally digging the wii U, although I will admit that I was really on the fence about it. Now I'm going to gift it to my buddy in Texas so we can game and vid chat on it. FREE ONLINE! =)

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

I'd like both a Wii & Wii U.

 

[tipoo]

I *want* one, I'm just not sure if it's a good idea yet. Picmen 3 looks really fun, but I'm not sure if anything I've seen yet is worth a 350 dollar (plus 15% tax for me) console purchase. Few of the other exclusives are even close to must-have for me, and all the cross platform games are already cheaper on other consoles (ie darksiders 2, batman, etc have all been out on ps360 for a while).

And I'm not sure of its longevity, I don't want another Wii situation where it misses out on all the best cross platform games due to the PS4 and Nextbox being too different from it architecturally.

 

[Doppel]

And I'm not sure of its longevity, I don't want another Wii situation where it misses out on all the best cross platform games due to the PS4 and Nextbox being too different from it architecturally.

I cannot imagine anybody could argue this WON'T happen. It will be technically too inferior to the next gen for most developers to bother creating something for 720/ps4 and also for the Wii U, exactly as you see now because the Wii is technically so far behind the 360/ps3.

 

[tipoo]

I cannot imagine anybody could argue this WON'T happen. It will be technically too inferior to the next gen for most developers to bother creating something for 720/ps4 and also for the Wii U, exactly as you see now because the Wii is technically so far behind the 360/ps3.

I have no doubt that it will happen for many games, as some cross platform games are already having trouble with the Wii U CPU. But it depends on the individual game, if it isn't too heavy on the CPU and can work with 1GB RAM the Wii U should be fine. Even if the GPU is less powerful than the other next gen systems, that's just a matter of dialing things down, and not as vast a difference as with the Wiis archaic GPU.

 

[fenderlove01]

I think you are crazy.

 

[Carmen813]

I have no doubt that it will happen for many games, as some cross platform games are already having trouble with the Wii U CPU. But it depends on the individual game, if it isn't too heavy on the CPU and can work with 1GB RAM the Wii U should be fine. Even if the GPU is less powerful than the other next gen systems, that's just a matter of dialing things down, and not as vast a difference as with the Wiis archaic GPU.

My sense is that is because it is a new architecture and limited time to optimize, not that it is a weak CPU.

 

[tipoo]

My sense is that is because it is a new architecture and limited time to optimize, not that it is a weak CPU.

Things can certainly be optimized for it, but my sense is that it's also just a plain old weak CPU. From what the hacker revealed about the clock speed, to the more important developer comments (ok, they said the same thing about the Cell, but that's a bizarre architecture, this is just a tri core), to the SIMD units, to it just being 30mm2 on 45nm which is about the transistor budget of a SINGLE core Atom or a single core on the Xenon, etc etc.
Yes, they will be able to squeeze more out of it as programming always does over time, but it's also a hardware thing.

 

[reallyscrued]

I cannot imagine anybody could argue this WON'T happen. It will be technically too inferior to the next gen for most developers to bother creating something for 720/ps4 and also for the Wii U, exactly as you see now because the Wii is technically so far behind the 360/ps3.

This will certainly happen but hopefully not to the extent of the alienation of the Wii this (last?) gen. Now that the Wii U has the shader capabilities, maybe it will go more like this when the NextBoxPS4 come out:

They will play BF4 in Ultra settings at 1080p

Wii U will play BF4 with CPU and RAM intensive settings at Low/Medium (Physics, Geometry) at 720p.


Although, one can only hope.

 

[reallyscrued]

Bought one at launch.
online downloads are pretty cool. Indie games are my type of games so it's a cool casual system for me.
I have always had nintendo systems. I hate that xbox got rid of free multiplayer lan type of gaming for pay-xbox live only gaming.
The wii U gives you up to 5 multiplayer gaming at home, that's totally what I love. Close friends having fun gaming at home instead of playing with random online gamers. It's a different type of fun, I prefer it. Xbox live has expired and I wont be renewing.

I play if or video chat on it or browse on it daily. I got Halo 4 for free and haven't bothered to plug my 360 back in.

So far I have the AURORA indie game. its awesome!
Tekken is really fun, esp the volleyball option.
Mario is as expected. pretty fun
TANK TANK TANK is japan arcade multiplayer fun. CRAZY FUN!
Assasins creed is really fun free online, this is the main reason I got it for.
Nintendo land is casual fun. Good to introduce to non gamers.
I borrowed Zombie U since everyone is talking about how freaky and creepy it is.

The RAYMAN Demo is almost perfect if you loved the old Sega Saturn Rayman- Will be buying the game when it comes out.

Fifa demo is fun too.

The crazy part is that I'm 32 and haven't really invested myself into any system since the wii. I didnt love it but I had it. I have the 360 for assasins creed and street fighter.

I'm totally digging the wii U, although I will admit that I was really on the fence about it. Now I'm going to gift it to my buddy in Texas so we can game and vid chat on it. FREE ONLINE! =)

If you get to play Black Ops II online with the Wii U, could you please comment on it?

I have never been interested in a COD game (or any FPS on a console) but I decided to take a look anyway. I'm very surprised. By using the Wiimote/nunchuck for aiming makes the gameplay look like it's a really deep lightgun game. It looks like a lot more fun than dual analog.

 

[ondarkness]

If you get to play Black Ops II online with the Wii U, could you please comment on it?

I have never been interested in a COD game (or any FPS on a console) but I decided to take a look anyway. I'm very surprised. By using the Wiimote/nunchuck for aiming makes the gameplay look like it's a really deep lightgun game. It looks like a lot more fun than dual analog.

This is exactly right. The game feels solid with the pointer being you rather your thumb. It adds an enhanced more intuitive level of gameplay.

 

[cmdrdredd]

This is exactly right. The game feels solid with the pointer being you rather your thumb. It adds an enhanced more intuitive level of gameplay.

Its still slower which ruins the gameplay entirely. Its faster to flick a mouse or move an analog stick than to move your arm side to side.

 

[reallyscrued]

Its still slower which ruins the gameplay entirely. Its faster to flick a mouse or move an analog stick than to move your arm side to side.

I think we have opposing opinions on this. I never liked the idea of CoD as a twitch shooter. I think Quake/UT has pretty much evolved into CoD which feels silly to me. And you're absolutely right, the gameplay has slowed with Wiimotes...and I like it.

It's slower overall because it takes more time to aim. It takes more precision of your wrist, and the game's pace makes it feel like old school Rainbox Six in close quarter situations. (Youtube Vids on Black Ops II with Wiimote)

Playing Metroid Prime with the wiimote was loads of fun, but that's not a true FPS and has lock on mechanisms. I'm intrigued by what a full fledged, modern HD shooter's landscape would feel like with in this case.

 

[Doppel]

I'm intrigued by what a full fledged, modern HD shooter's landscape would feel like with in this case.

I'd like it, but only integrated with a gun like the PS3 move system did for killzone I think. I've never played it that way, though.

 

[Ashenor]

I ended up buying one from craiglist that was opened, Nintendoland was still sealed for $300 for the Deluxe. My Dad gave me the money back since he was looking for something for a Christmas present and i could not think of anything else i wanted. Picking up New super Mario Bros from someone on craigslist for $40 bucks new and i think might be getting Zombie U from my sister.

 

[lawlz]

The Nintendo systems/games are a nice break from intense games like BF3. Nice to just sit down, enjoy a game and relax, and not have to rage at some noobs for doing something stupid.

 

[SandEagle]

I ended up buying one from craiglist that was opened, Nintendoland was still sealed for $300 for the Deluxe. My Dad gave me the money back since he was looking for something for a Christmas present and i could not think of anything else i wanted. Picking up New super Mario Bros from someone on craigslist for $40 bucks new and i think might be getting Zombie U from my sister.

good deal. :thumbsup:

 

[Axon]

I'd get the Wii U if there was a respectable library of games, so I don't think you're crazy OP.