On day 1, the new system was down right
disappointing. I understand that the new touch pad is the gimmick of
the hour but must everything go through that tiny screen? On this day I
find that far too much action happens on the small screen.
Even if the TV and the touchpad is showing the exact same image, the
actual input comes from the pad. You can't even use the directional
buttons to make selections. Nope. You have to touch the screen. Which
means eyes must be taken off the TV. You might
as well forget about the beautiful 60 inch set you have and just stare
at the pad! I was so mad. Not that I have a beautiful 60 inch set.
Just an example, the Nintendo eStore can be viewed from your TV just
fine, but if you want to go into an item, say,
to browse the description, you have to use the touch pad. Drove me
nuts. What happened to old fashioned d-pad and the A button? Bah.
On day 2, I was determined to do
something different. Today, the goal is to ignore the touch pad until
absolutely necessary and focus almost strictly on the TV screen. The
difference it made to the Wii U experience was like night and
day. I was using the new Wiiverse app (more on that in a minute) and
you can scroll through the app with the analogue sticks and some
features have button short cuts (you can go back a menu for example, by
using the good old B button). This means that I
was using the TV screen most of the time to read posts. Unfortunately,
to use any of the more 'advanced' features like 'reply' or even to make
a 'new' post, you have to tap and tap and tap. Grrr. But I'm getting
used to the dual screen setup and there's
less anger towards the machine.
Day 3 was the day I popped in a real
game to try. Nintendoland it is. Didn't spend too much time with it,
but there was some nice things to do with the touch pad so it didn't
seem so stupid anymore. Played the Legend of Zelda 'attraction'
as they call it (more like mini game) and you use the pad as a
'viewfinder' of sorts where you can tilt it around to aim and shoot
arrows at enemies. It was suprisingly fun. I also tried Octopus
Dance. It's a rhythmn action game whereby you follow the instructions
of an AI NPC and try to copy it's dance moves. Harder than it sounds!
You also have to switch from looking at the TV to the pad screen and
vice versa whenever the game randomly 'flips' the perspective of the
dance. Very nice! I'm coming around to the Wii
U. Actually liking it now.
Day
4. Mario time! Popped in New Super Mario Bro. U and played it. It
was…. blah. It's Mario. You jump, you eat mushrooms, you jump some
more. *snore* Wooops! Sorry about that. To be honest, I was excited
about starting Mario.
After I did, however, it grew old and fast. Sorry, Mario lovers, I
grew past this guy around the time when games went 3D. BUT, the Wii U
grew on me nonetheless. That's because I found the joys of Wiiverse!
What is it? It's basically Nintendo Twitter.
You can't carry an app around your phone like real Twitter, but on the
Wii U, it's the primary method of communicating. Your Friends can be
access from here but you can also access a great many other things. The
app works almost exactly like Twitter, right
down to the 120 charaters or so space limit. You can broadcast your
posts or you can view other posts, give them 'thumbs up's and follow
other users. Because of the nature of the touch pad, you can even use
the stylus to draw your post rather than type them!
There are some talented artists in the community. Each game has it's
own 'community', or forum, and you can post into any one of them
regardless if you've ever played the game. But what sold me was the
integration of the app into actual gaming. You can
take screen shots and post them to the game's forum. You can post from
within the game and the post will even include which level of the game
you're currently in at the moment. I still haven't figure out
everything yet, but already the excitement is difficult
to contain.
It's Nintendo, so I don't think they'll
ever grow out of their old habitats, but if Wiiverse can be integrated
into Facebook or the real Twitter where if you post there you post
everywhere, then I think it'll be the best thing since 3D
polygons. Even as it is, I can't wait to be able to use it for other
games besides Mario. Right now, I'm playing Farcry 3 on the 360. It's a
very beautiful game, and sometimes, I'd be high up on a cliff somewhere
and there would be a breathtaking view for
miles around. Those are the times when I wish I could take a picture
and post it for all to see. Alas, there is no Miiverse on the 360! But
give it time, maybe, and I can do that, some day, on the Wii U, with
another beautiful game.
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