What I don't understand is why EVERYONE HATES THE WII U.  I mean I have one and it's one of the best systems I have. They always say things like "The Wii U pad is a joke" and "It doesn't have any good games". Can anyone tell me why people hate the Wii U so much.

There are a few solid reasons for not owning a Wii U. I personally would want to own one, but my money is limited, and the drawbacks would cause me to not get one over something else. The first is that the games available are very limited. There is only a small array of games available for the system. While it does have its gems, they are not enough to draw people to a system primarily devoid of games, especially when it is lacking multi-platform titles, the titles that seem to be big hits with the mainstream market. There is also the power of the hardware itself. The system is pretty much only on par with the PS3, and the X360, and those two systems have been out for a number of years. There is no excusing the fact that it is a weaker system, and it will be left behind when it comes to game porting because of its lack of power when compared to the other offerings on the same market. The size of the hard drive is another limiting factor. Games tend to take up some serious space, and so do updates to system software, as well as to the games themselves. If people need to purchase excess hardware to have their console functioning properly for a number of years, they will likely avoid it. Slow menu load times are another issue. When speed is everything, and time is of the utmost importance, every second counts. That is my take. Personally, I still want a Wii U, but I acknowledge that it is inferior in many ways.

The WiiU is no where near as powerful as its competitors. It has little third party support and will most likely not get any due to the fact that it is so hard to port games over to it because of what it runs on. Nintendo's marketing department is a joke, it is truly laughable how they are marketing this console. The "controller" and the Wii stick thing is a novelty that got old very fast, I compare it to FMV games. It blew your mind at first intill you realized you would much rather be playing a game without it. The name is stupid (person opinion on that). Nothing really original is being put out on it but to be fair nothing too original is being put out on any console. That is why people hate the WiiU.

While I plan to get one eventually, that's only because I'll have to if I want to play new Zelda, Mario, and Harvest Moon console titles. That said, I can list a few problems with it:

1. The idea is outdated. When the Wii came out, it was innovative (though I hated the design), which is why people flocked to it. Now people are over it, because it's (pardon the oxy-moron) old news. We now have Kinnect and PlayStation Move if we want real motion control gaming (come on, swinging a remote back and forth isn't real motion controlled gaming), plus we have a wider variety of games that use no motion control on the PS3/PS4 and XBox 360/XBox One. So basically we can have halfway motion controlled games that make us swing a stick, or we can have a choice between normal games and games with full body movement motion control. Which sounds better really?

2. Nintendo didn't even try this time around. Seriously, look at the past two generations: ds - 3ds. Wii - WiiU. Basically they slapped on a new feature (stereoscopic 3D, and a tablet controller respectively) and called them new. Nintendo is clearly tired and feeling uninspired. Quite honestly they need to fire their concept/console designers and hire some young blood with fresh ideas in there. They're just piggy-backing on last gen's smash hits, hoping they can give a repeat performance of what they did back then instead of actually trying like Microsoft and Sony did.

3. As GenesisJunkie already stated, nobody wants to port over to the WiiU for a few reasons. Namely how much trouble it is to rebuild the games around the different controls and such (which also limits the Indie scene, which is a huge part of gaming now, and will only get bigger this generation), and the fact that the WiiU is one of the worst selling major consoles ever. This results in there being far fewer games that anybody wants outside of Nintendo exclusives, and for most people, they can get their Nintendo exclusives fix with a 3ds.


Do I think the WiiU deserves the hate? I won't say yes or no. I think it's a sub-par system based on a weak and worn out idea, but it has some incredible games on it (Nintendo exclusives only). What I do think is that Nintendo deserves the "hate" they're getting for trying to slip by with giving us the same thing they gave us last gen, and getting full price on what's essentially a minor upgrade and a new controller. I also think Nintendo had better up their game and give us a serious console next generation, or they'll go under. If not next gen, then the one after, Nintendo will have to deliver a traditional system, or seriously downsize or close altogether. I would hate to see that happen, but they're bringing it on themselves.


In the end, I haven't given up on Nintendo, and that's why I feel so strongly about what they're doing. I don't want to imagine a gaming world without Nintendo, and I hate to think what kind of impact that will have on the industry and gamer community as a whole. Nintendo is the company that's keeping the games more true to their roots with the new Mario and Zelda titles they've been releasing. Here's to hoping Nintendo wakes up over the next five years.