Well...I bought a Wii U

[MinisterofDOOM]

Yep. It was inevitable, with me being a huge fan of multiple first-party Nintendo series. The Windwaker bundle is a pretty decent offering, and there are plenty of other good titles just hitting shelves or on the horizon, so I figured it was time.

Initially, I was a pretty big detractor of the gamepad dealie. Having used it, I have changed my mind. Nintendo's implementation is excellent, and it becomes something of a homebound handheld. More than that, though, the gamepad becomes sort of a living room entertainment hub, but one that's far more natural and effortless than MS's Kinect. The gamepad even includes TV and cable box remote capability, so it just becomes your universal remote...which also happens to operate your console.

Playing games on the gamepad screen only is a nice and surprisingly doable touch. I can play Windwaker in bed or just on a closer screen when my horribly blind eyes grow tired with contact-lens fatigue.
And perhaps the best aspect of the gamepad-centricness of the Wii U is that it has FINALLY broken Nintendo of their attachment to the horrible Wii Remote/Nunchuck duo. No more stupid motion controls! The gamepad's battery life is not grand, but most games that use it can be played with the "Pro Controller" which is basically an Xbox 360 controller clone, and that controller has a much longer battery life.

OS/firmware/software-wise, the Wii U is both impressive and disappointing. The OS can be VERY slow to respond (shades of the Wii anyone?) but a lot of inbuilt applications can be launched alongside your game without interrupting the game. That includes the surprisingly usable web browser (surprising because every previous Nintendo console browser has been all but unusable), and Nintendo's "Miiverse" social gaming hub, where you can post about games, share screenshots, and ask for or provide help for other gamers.

The 32GB of flash memory is pretty disappointing in a $300 console, but even most full-size game downloads clock in at under 2GB, so it ends up being plenty of room. Wind Waker and Mario 3D World each clock in at 1.7 GB. Even the visually GORGEOUS and vast Pikmin 3 is only 4.8 gigs. Still, after installing a dozen games (some virtual console titles) I'm looking at only 11GB left. Fortunately the device supports multiple USB hard discs, so I'll pick up a 2TB USB HDD and call it good.

Also on the disappointing side is the firmware/OS's feature-lag compared to the 3DS. The two consoles have similar functionality GUI-wise. Both have two screens, one touch-capable. But where the 3DS has support for useful things like Folders (why do so many operating systems bungle this and launch without these, only to patch them in later...iOS, PSVita, 3DS, Wii U...). There's also none of the promise cross-compatibility with friends and online services between the two.

The Wii U's multitasking is to be lauded, though. Unlike my PS3, Xbox 360, or 3DS, the Wii U will download content WHILE I'm playing a game. Installation (especially of DLC, which requires launching the game and THEN waiting for the install) is a little clunkier than it needs to be. But the downloads are effortless and nonintrusive.

I haven't messed with media apps (Netflix, Youtube, Amazon Instant, Hulu Plus, etc.) because I have chromecast for that, which is inevitably faster and simpler to use.

My library for the week-old console currently consists of:
Wind Waker HD
Pikmin 3
Super Mario 3D World (A blast in single- and multiplayer modes, but it also sort of makes me want to quit and play Mario Galaxy instead).
Earthbound (so glad they released this on VC...one of my favorite JRPGs--the contemporary setting is a nice change from everything else).
Super Metroid (a perennial top-3 on my list of greatest games of all time)
And Super Mario World
In addition to some lightweight barely-game stuff like Animal Crossing Plaza.

Lots of content to plow through. As with most Nintendo consoles, launch titles might have been underwhelming, but once the Nintendo EAD machine builds up steam, you're looking at a constant flow of high-quality first-party stuff.

My next purchase will be a Pro Controller so I don't have to take breaks in Wind Waker or Pikmin marathon sessions every ~4 hours to let the gamepad recover.

[hitbychance]

MY friend has a wii U and after playing the mario and the super mario 3d i honestly want to purchase one. Have you had any issues with yours? also which games are you looking forward to the most?

[MinisterofDOOM]

Primarily any new first-party nintendo stuff. My Wii and Gamecube collections are the same thing...either Nintendo titles, or third-party exclusives.

I'm definitely looking forward to the next Smash Bros.

I'm hoping Nintendo does something with Metroid to make up for the atrocity that was Other M. If we're lucky we'll even get a retcon to erase the horridly generic story Other M and Fusion have built around an formerly unique character. Those two games reduced Samus from a lone survivor to just another soldier. Alongside Corruption's introduction of hordes of other, outlandishly-equipped bounty-hunters, Samus has really lost her sheen character-wise. I miss the lonely, dramatic feel of Metroid 2 and 3. A woman with a largely unknown past, fighting to save what was left of it and protect the univese in the process. There was little need for exposition. The settings told us all we needed to know. Metroid might catch crap for the bikini reveals at the end (which, it's worth noting, only happen after ultra-complete playthroughs--otherwise she just takes off her helmet to show that your assumptions might not have been entirely accurate). But ignoring that one issue, its heroine is a far more interesting female lead than you'll find in most other games. It's a shame Nintendo has reduced her to a clone soldier.

I'm also interested to see what happens with the next Zelda. Nintendo has gone through a phase of "let's do something different for the sake of being different" and Other M and Skyward Sword are examples of that. While Other M was an unqualified disaster, Skyward Sword had a lot of great Zelda gameplay and story hampered by some pointless design decisions. More recently, A Link Between Worlds has shown that Nintendo still understands what makes Zelda great. So while I have high HOPES for the next Zelda title, I don't really have much faith that it'll live up to those hopes.

Kirby is the one series from Nintendo that is consistently fantastic (with the arguable exception of Canvas Curse, whose touch screen controls got in the way of the fun). Even when it goes way off on a limb (epic yarn) it's still brilliant. No matter how cutesy and approachable it manages to be, the superbly-honed platforming and the sense of goofy humor remains. I'd argue any day of the week that Kirby is a superior platformer to Mario. Very different approaches, but Kirby is the more interesting one. It also has the best music (not that Mario's music isn't excellent...but compared to the likes of Green Greens, or Butter Building, or Gourmet Race, it's just not on the same level).

And then there's stuff like Fire Emblem, which is something of an anomaly--a hardcore turn-based strategy game with permadeath and character-building that somehow remains popular to this day.

Mario Kart 8 should be great. Hopefully online is less laggy than MK7's. Internet matches in MK7 are pretty much pointless.

I'd love to see a Wii U Animal Crossing tie in the scope of City Folk with the new features of New Leaf. Though I have to admit that I do prefer to be able to take my town with me, so the portable entires in the series are the ones that get the most playtime from me.

I'm hoping we'll see another Paper Mario sequel as well. The last one was superb, and it was a handheld title. A full-on big-console followup should be excellent.

Lots of stuff I'm looking forward to for it.

Another bonus: it still plays Wii games. So even though my old Wii is down for the count due to a shot bluetooth module, I can still play my Wii library. And I don't miss the GCN capabilities of the Wii since my early-model (digital-out-equipped) black gamecube is still working fine.