On Sunday Nintendo launched the Wii U in the USA. This is the first big console launch since the huge changes to the gaming environment brought about by smartphones and tablets. The console is reportedly already sold out and also there are reports of the first technical teething problems with Nintendo’s new baby.
Wii U sales
The Wii U console was released in two versions yesterday; the white 8GB basic bundle at $300 and the black 32GB premium bundle at $350. Reports from Forbes magazine say that the console is already sold out, even though Nintendo promised to avoid the early supply issues of the previous Wii. Forbes wonders how many purchasers queued up outside the stores to get their hands on a new Wii U to put it straight onto eBay. Apparently there are thousands of Wii U consoles now on eBay selling for over $500.
Teething trouble
When you first get your Wii U home and plugged in many features of the Wii U currently require a firmware update to work. The firmware update will, among other things, enable the Miiverse, eShop, Internet browser and backwards compatibility, explains an article on VG247. Users have reported a lot of problems and general displeasure with the firmware update. It’s a 1GB download which can easily take an hour to download to your Wii U and then reportedly takes a further half an hour to install. There are some reports of users “bricking” their new consoles unplugging or resetting their new consoles too early when the update isn’t finished.
Onboard memory seems a little low on the 8GB version of the console, for instance Nintendo Land is too big to be downloaded from the eShop and installed. For that and possibly other titles you’ll have to buy the game media somewhere. The 32GB version of the Wii U has only 25GB free after the firmware update (7GB used up), so it’s not surprising the 8GB version is struggling!
Games
Looking through the Metacritic site the highest rated games at launch are Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition, New Super Mario Bros. U and Scribblenauts Unlimited. These games score 84, 82 and 78 respectively which is not that inspiring. One of the games that was often featured in Wii U trailer videos and promotions, Zombi U receives a disappointing 70/100 score. Here’s a well maintained list of Wii U games released and scheduled.
The Wii U will be launched in Europe on 30th November, let’s hope that the firmware is already updated for buyers of the new console by then.
