Wii U - General Discussion Thread

So how does this TV remote feature work exactly? So I have a DirecTV box plugged into a HDMI port.

Do I need to actually switch to the box's on the TV to watch tv, or is it handled directly through the Wii-U?

I don't think I will see much use of the Wii-U controller as a remote unless I don't have to switch to my DirecTv box.
 
[quote name='crunchewy']They don't recommend flash drives because of "flash media having a limited number of writes", but I don't think they actually stop you from using them. I find their concern about the "limited writes" sort of odd, though, seeing how the internal storage is flash. ???[/QUOTE]

We will need to get someone in here who knows more than me (there were two IT guys a few pages back, Lyth and someone else, my apologies for not remembering), but I'm unsure if flash and solid state drives are 100% the same thing. The Wii's internal memory was flash as far as I know, and I don't think anyone had a problem with that.

I know I've heard about a max number of read/write cycles available for solid state drives, but I seem to recall that there has been software advancements to getting past this, and that it's not so much an issue these days. But again, someone who knows more than me will have to confirm that.

USB drives definitely have a built in limit, and I suspect Nintendo is more or less covering their ass about the whole thing.
 
The thing is that even if the writes stop working, the reads will not. So you aren't going to lose any data. Well, you won't as long as Nintendo comes through with a way to copy between devices. Right now you can't. But I suppose you could copy to internal memory, then to another device, so maybe you already can as long as you have enough storage space internally to do the transfer.
 
[quote name='crunchewy']The thing is that even if the writes stop working, the reads will not. So you aren't going to lose any data. Well, you won't as long as Nintendo comes through with a way to copy between devices. Right now you can't. But I suppose you could copy to internal memory, then to another device, so maybe you already can as long as you have enough storage space internally to do the transfer.[/QUOTE]

Write endurance was a concern 8 years ago. They're just generating copy to cite in case a user does something stupid and hooks up some antiquated POS, loses data somehow, and bitches "ALL MY DATAZ" to Nintendo.

The fact that they allow USB flash is what's important. Good on 'em.

Also, if you were to actually reach the write limit (very hard to believe), there's nothing preventing you from getting a new drive and reading data from old, writing it to new, and picking up where you left off. But on modern flash storage, you aren't gonna reach that limit.
 
[quote name='Strell']We will need to get someone in here who knows more than me (there were two IT guys a few pages back, Lyth and someone else, my apologies for not remembering), but I'm unsure if flash and solid state drives are 100% the same thing. The Wii's internal memory was flash as far as I know, and I don't think anyone had a problem with that.[/QUOTE]The concern for write limits are primarily in environments where data is constantly being updated and written to the drive. I've often heard people suggesting that you not defrag a SSD on a regular basis because that can result in a lot of writes to the drive. On the Wii U it isn't as much of a concern because you're primarily using the flash storage to manage tiny game save files or rarely installing a downloaded game.

Also, the Wii U probably has some hardware measures set to ensure that whenever you overwrite a save file it is not always written to the exact same location. That would evenly distribute the wear-and-tear over the product's lifespan.

... at least that's my understanding of things. As Strell mentioned, maybe a tech person can shed a bit more light on the topic.
 
After a few days, my only complaint so far is how slow apps are to open. Takes far too long to multi-task which I guess won't be much of a problem for normal use but I still wish it were a bit snappier.

I do, however, greatly enjoy that I can turn it on and navigate without the gamepad/touch/pointer and just use the Wiimote buttons.

Overall, very happy so far and excited to see where the OS/software goes in the coming months/years
 
[quote name='Thrinn']Also, the Wii U probably has some hardware measures set to ensure that whenever you overwrite a save file it is not always written to the exact same location. That would evenly distribute the wear-and-tear over the product's lifespan.[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't count on that to be true. For all we know, Nintendo didn't implement it because they didn't want to pay for a license. It's also not true if the drive is close to full.

It's typically bad to use flash as a cache.

Lastly, once the flash is unwritable, I don't think you can read it either.
 
[quote name='Lyth']Alright. What about free games?[/QUOTE]

Nope, no free games yet, either. The demo for Rayman Legends was supposed to be out at launch but I haven't seen any news of it yet. I want to try running a game off a USB thumb drive since Nintendo doesn't suggest it, but also doesn't say that it won't work. However, I'm not going to pay 59.99 for a download only, launch title. I really want to play ZombiU but I'll wait for it to come from Gamefly.
 
[quote name='BREVITY']Put on a new 500GB HDD single USB 3 type last night and tried to format it. It took forever setting at the checking screen and then shut off. I am wondering if it will ever work? Its a new slim Seagate drive.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Seagate...USB 3 Hard Drive&cp=1&lp=1#tab=specifications[/QUOTE]

Is that drive USB powered or AC adapter powered? Nintendo recommends( requires?) that the drive be externally powered
http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wiiu/en_na/external_usb_storage.jsp
 
Its not externally powered but though the recommend that I didnt think it would mean that it wouldnt work at all.


Also I got the Turtle Beach N11 headset for the system. Having owned many gaming headsets from Turtle Beach and others I got to say these feel like crap. Their construction is not all that good at all. They sound fine but just about any headset with an inline mic works fine with these. I think I am going to return them.
 
Ya I mean something like your Apple Earpods from your iPhone or those cheap but super good Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 headsets that you see on sale for 15$ all over the place. It needs a Audio/Mic Connection: 3.5mm, 4-pole. Something that has an inline mic.
 
Wow at the whole USB drive having to have its own power source.

This thing just continues to underwhelm me. From games not looking as good as they do on current gen systems, to all the other little issues people are having, it's just looking ugly right now.
I will open mine and set it up, and then lock it back up for Christmas. Hopefully all the major kinks will be out by then.
 
You MIGHT be able to download Wii U's day-one patch in the background...

http://kotaku.com/5962224/you-might...s-firmware-update-in-the-background?tag=wii-u

And it sounds like that goes for any patches, including game patches.

[quote name='dragonjud']Wow at the whole USB drive having to have its own power source.

This thing just continues to underwhelm me. From games not looking as good as they do on current gen systems, to all the other little issues people are having, it's just looking ugly right now.
I will open mine and set it up, and then lock it back up for Christmas. Hopefully all the major kinks will be out by then.[/QUOTE]

If it makes you feel any better, I've had no issues with my system. First party games look great, and I don't think anyone expected third party games to blow us away graphically (I know I didn't). Black Ops 2 looks mighty fine though, and plays really well.

And some hard drives require an external power source, that can be true whether or not its plugged into a Wii U or a computer. Some devices have the power capacity to power an external hard drive, others do not. I wouldn't expect a game console to have a huge power capacity in it for external devices. Use a 2.5" portable hard drive and you should run into little issues. Most of the hard drives that require external power are the 3.5" really huge not-so-portable USB ones.

You're always gonna see more complaints than you will see praise, especially considering that this just launched. That's because those of us who have no complaints are too busy playing the system to complain. Those complaining...
 
[quote name='BREVITY']Ya I mean something like your Apple Earpods from your iPhone or those cheap but super good Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 headsets that you see on sale for 15$ all over the place. It needs a Audio/Mic Connection: 3.5mm, 4-pole. Something that has an inline mic.[/QUOTE]

I dunno if the use changes per game, but I plugged in my iPhone earbuds w/ mic last night and the mic test in system settings was still registering as coming out of the built-in mic on the gamepad.
 
Where have you read that games don't look as good as on the 360/PS3? I have not read that, rather the contrary. BLOPS2, for example, runs at rock steady 60 fps at 720p on Wii U, while not managing steady 60 fps on 360 & PS3 while running at sub-HD (less than 720p, scaled up) resolution. That's the word from Treyarch.
 
I havent tired it out, but via GoNintendo here is a way to use an SD card as you extral hard drive for a Wii U.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaBQFRsWxeo

The benefit would be absolutely no need for a external power source, the drawback of course is having something so closely hanging of the console.

This of course assumes you were OK with the higher cost per GB for an SD card, which I was/am in favor of not having to have an extra power supply running.
 
I thought he was then going to disconnect it from the adapter and plug it into the Wii U itself. Did he try that? Perhaps once the game is on there it would work? If you're going to use an adapter then you might as well get a flash drive instead. Though I guess if you have a spare SD card and adapter already....
 
[quote name='crunchewy']Where have you read that games don't look as good as on the 360/PS3? I have not read that, rather the contrary. BLOPS2, for example, runs at rock steady 60 fps at 720p on Wii U, while not managing steady 60 fps on 360 & PS3 while running at sub-HD (less than 720p, scaled up) resolution. That's the word from Treyarch.[/QUOTE]

It depends on the game. The Wii U port of Warriors Orochi 3 has been said to look better thanks to the additional RAM but runs at a lower framerate with fewer characters on screen at a time. Ubisoft had also said they were having some problems getting AC3 to replicate some of the minor graphical effects found on the PS3 and 360 versions. Granted it's a new system. Developers haven't had a chance to get familiar with things and learn how to get the most out of the hardware.
 
[quote name='Richard Kain']At the moment, one of the best deals on Wii U games is at Toys'R'Us, who are running a buy 1, get 1 40% off deal on all Wii and Wii U titles. 40% off of $60 is $36. Averaged between two $60 games comes to a price of less than $50 each. (not unreasonable for brand-new titles)[/QUOTE]

And I've seen people using TRU's sale as a death note for the Wii U. Games clearanced on launch day! It may be tinfoil hat time but I think there is something fishy with a lot of the Wii U reporting. My system runs fine and the games look beautiful. I also didn't unplug my console during the update and then try to pretend that I lost power or something to mitigate responsibility. :lol:
 
[quote name='Octopod']And I've seen people using TRU's sale as a death note for the Wii U. Games clearanced on launch day! It may be tinfoil hat time but I think there is something fishy with a lot of the Wii U reporting. My system runs fine and the games look beautiful. I also didn't unplug my console during the update and then try to pretend that I lost power or something to mitigate responsibility. :lol:[/QUOTE]

Or a sales strategy basically get everyone in to buy their wii U and games there. This same thing happened with Xbox and PS3 if I remember. I really do not see this as being the new Virtual Boy. The reporting is because it is a new console Xbox and PS3 has similar "brick" problems and it took a few months of updates and what not to get everything up to 100% across the board for Xbox >3yrs.
 
[quote name='Strell']You guys looking for internal STD's should be waiting for Cyber Momday.[/QUOTE]

...wait what's this about STDs now? You Nintendo haters have taken this shit to a new low.
 
[quote name='maximumzero']...wait what's this about STDs now? You Nintendo haters have taken this shit to a new low.[/QUOTE]

LOL at strell being a nintendo hater
 
[quote name='Strell']We will need to get someone in here who knows more than me (there were two IT guys a few pages back, Lyth and someone else, my apologies for not remembering), but I'm unsure if flash and solid state drives are 100% the same thing. The Wii's internal memory was flash as far as I know, and I don't think anyone had a problem with that.

I know I've heard about a max number of read/write cycles available for solid state drives, but I seem to recall that there has been software advancements to getting past this, and that it's not so much an issue these days. But again, someone who knows more than me will have to confirm that.

USB drives definitely have a built in limit, and I suspect Nintendo is more or less covering their ass about the whole thing.[/QUOTE]

SSD is the same as flash, except not restricted by the slow write and read times that USB 2.0 has (although, this is irrelevant with the Wii U, as it'd be connected by USB). Some SSD's used DRAM and some use NAND for storage.

The write limits are so high, that you shouldn't worry. :)

[quote name='Lyth']Anyone want to do me a favour?

It's pretty tricky to pick up a Wii U in China. I've tried a website called "Taobao" which is like eBay, but all of the sellers on there speak Chinese, and mine is quite limited. Plus, all Wii U's are about $400-$500 for the Basic Model.

If someone could pick me up a Wii U 8GB White model (US version) and ship it to me, I'd be thankful. Obviously, I'd pay. I have paypal, and everything.

If this is against the rules to ask, let me know. I plan on sticking around these forums, so I hope to not get in trouble.

EDIT: Meant to ask - Is there a VPN setting in the Wii U's network options? Is there any game demo's on the store (or free games?)[/QUOTE]

Bump :). Could use a favour, :3.
 
HotMarioHata.jpg
 
So the more I read about the Wii to Wii U system transfer, the more annoyed I am.

My Wii moved to my bedroom, my Wii U is the living room. I don't want to move everything over to the Wii U, as I'd like to keep some VC titles for bedroom play (the old NES/SNES games seem perfect for late-night in-bed playtime... no?). But no, apparently it's ALL or nothing? Kinda bullshit, and I wonder if this is something that will be revised.

But then I'm stuck with not being able to move over my Wii game data to play onthe Wii U.. and I cannot play the Just Dance games, or most of the Wii games in my bedroom.

Also, how exactly does the transfer work if you have more than just what's on the Wii memory? Is my save data on the SD card just unmovable? This is pretty ridiculous, and also pretty disappointing. Maybe I'll just move my Wii back to the living room, and they can live happily next to one another.

Way to fuck this up Nintendo.
 
[quote name='mikemgmve']But then I'm stuck with not being able to move over my Wii game data to play onthe Wii U.. and I cannot play the Just Dance games, or most of the Wii games in my bedroom.

Also, how exactly does the transfer work if you have more than just what's on the Wii memory? Is my save data on the SD card just unmovable? This is pretty ridiculous, and also pretty disappointing. Maybe I'll just move my Wii back to the living room, and they can live happily next to one another.[/QUOTE]

Saved game data, if I recall correctly, isn't locked to any particular Wii system, so you could technically pop in an SD card and copy it over to another Wii (or the Wii U) system. Of course, some games don't allow the save data to be copied, moved, or both, so it all depends on your game.

As for the stuff on your SD card, you do need to put it back onto the console before doing the transfer if you want it all moved nicely. I had numerous save files and WiiWare/VC games on an SD card, so I moved back as much as I could, and I made sure to move back the save game data, and then did the transfer. Any games you bought on your Wii can be redownloaded on the Wii U system if you had already bought it (the transfer moves your purchase history to the Wii U), so I didn't have to put all the actual games onto the console.
 
I wonder how long it will be before someone breaks the encryption and formatting, and manages to upload Wii U games online from their HDD. (vice versa as well. Downloading games online for free, and adding them).

Hopefully Nintendo found a way to prevent this for as long as possible.
 
I give Piracy a year max but then again I whole heartedly think this will be my very last console purchase especially if Blu is the new standard for movies for the next 10 yrs. At this point I hardly use my Xbox and my PS3 is basically Netflix machine.
 
[quote name='bjstucker']I give Piracy a year max but then again I whole heartedly think this will be my very last console purchase especially if Blu is the new standard for movies for the next 10 yrs. At this point I hardly use my Xbox and my PS3 is basically Netflix machine.[/QUOTE]

This. I pray that blu-ray is the norm for quite sometime, especially now that alot of the big releases have been released already. Hopefully studios go deeper into their catelogs. I don't mind if blu-rays and DVDs exist together for the next 10 years as long as blu is the superior format on the market.
 
I am contemplating on getting a Wii U, I will be getting a 20% discount on the 5th and 6th of December and have been thinking about using that to get a Wii U. I like the white console more than the black one but the hard drive thing is driving me loco in the coco! I haven't pulled the trigger yet on it though. I'll be browsing around here seeing every cags opinion on it and trying the demo units at major retailers for my decision.
 
Plugged in my new SeaGate Slim 500GB HDD (single USB 3 cable) and it didnt work. But my 1TB Western Digital (single USB 3 cable) worked fine. In case that helps. It seems the single cable thing works for some drives.
 
Enjoying my Wii U experience thus far. Miiverse and Nintendo Network finally bring Nintendo to the modern age for online communities.

Nintendo Land is better than I expected. A shame there's no online support, particularly for the multiplayer only games.

Gamepad is pretty awesome for the two games I have thus far, NL and NSMBU. Boost mode for SMBU is pretty fun. Also glad this one isn't short on content like NSMB2.
 
Spent some time with the WiiU after the fucking 2.5 hours of updating. I love it. I don't know what it is, but it has some charm my PS3, or PC doesn't give me.

Plus loving the miiverse features in games. Overall, glad I bought it.

Also if NSMB U keeps up the level design I been seeing in the first world, this may be a GOTY contender for me. That game is awesome. Can't wait to try more when I get a chance.
 
Does the Wii emulator not include the friend code system? I don't see anywhere to add them or anything and the menu has been dwarfed down to just channel management stuff.

(I had my original wii stolen a year back and nintendo just restored all of my nintendo points i'd previously spent to my Wii U. I don't plan on re-buying most of the games i had again and i was going to gift games to my nephew and a friend of mines son, but it appears I won't be able to do that).

[quote name='Rig']A, B, X and Y? They had this layout on the SNES.

Plus, this makes VC games from that era the same layout as they were/should be.[/QUOTE]
Just saw this- I don't mean the buttons. I meant the placement of the analog stick on the upper/outer and the buttons on the inside of the control.
 
Anyone else having issues connecting to Netflix? It let me attempt to login, but I think I mistyped the password (it's the only reason I can think of on my side) and now anytime I attempt to use the Netflix app, it tells me it is unable to connect to Netflix at this time, and gives me a useless URL to go to. Then my only options are to Retry or Exit.
 
I haven't been this pleased with a new system purchase since the Dreamcast. The aesthetics of the miiverse, the gamepad integration, and especially the off-tv play are just utterly fantastic. The WiiU won't necessarily appeal to everyone, but once they get that virtual console going, it will meet all of my gaming needs.
 
I'm not sure why everyone is rushing to put huge HDDs on their WiiU. My Wii was supported by a 2GB SD card for the life of the system. Having 32GB when I know damn well I'm not buying full retail games digitally seems like enough. We are CAG, and we know the best deal will come from buying at retail.

The only way this would change is if the VC games increase in size by a lot.
 
I think the big sleeper title is Scribblenauts. I had very low expectations given how much of a letdown previous games in the series were, but Unlimited is an absolute gem.
 
[quote name='nbballard']

Other than that- i'm still puzzled by the strange control layout sticks and buttons inverted from industry standard (why reinvent the wheel?).

[/QUOTE]

But there isnt an industry standard, the 360 and DS3 controllers each have differently placed analog sticks on the left side.

As for which layout is best, it would depend on the games being played, but I think reaching down for the button cluster is easier than reaching up and my experience with the Wii U Gamepad feels much more intuitive than when I use the 360 controller.

Of course, this all assumes you think you need dual analog sticks of the same size. The Gamecube controller didn't have them and worked well enough, but it had a lot of decisions that have since been abandoned...
 
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