I have bought the Wii U finally! The deals were good and it was time to buy it. I got the Mario and Luigi bundle. Then got some games. I'm downloading Zelda: The Wind Waker HD right now.
After spending some time with the system, I have to say that I'm very impressed with the graphics, firstly. They pop out at you, literally. I started off playing the Mario U game, which is similar to the Mario of the 90s but with a modern take - much better graphics, enhanced soundtrack, different challenges and a lot more. I don't know whether its me, the gamepad controller or the game but I've been getting beat quite bit . I've already experience "Game Over" a few times.
When I first opened up the Wii U, it took a few minutes to find out what was what and how everything worked. One thing became clear quickly was that the gamepad is the main driver of the system. You control everything from it and it sends that information to the TV. In many cases, you can simultaneously see whats happening on the gamepad (such as browsing through menus) on the TV. It's a different take. I would say that it works just fine. Sometimes it can take a bit longer but nothing is perfect. All in all, it is fine.
One of the things I was wondering about was the Netflix and general video streaming experience on the Wii U. So far, it has been decent. The Netflix software, which is preinstalled along with many other media software, seems to be designed for the Wii U. Things generally work well. There is a search button where you can type in what you're looking for. I don't search for what I want to watch on the Wii U since it is much easier and better to do that on the computer. All I do is type in what I want to watch - so search on the computer and watch on the Wii U on the TV.
I was a bit concerned that the videos might not play in HD many times. This hasn't occurred much - sometimes the videos might get a bit blurry but that isn't the norm. The display quality seems to be excellent most of the time. However, the Netflix software has been slightly glitchy for me sometimes. I would get an error message that the video cannot be played. After doing a bit of a search, I found out that I have to uninstall the Netflix software and then reinstall it. I've done this a few times. It has been working well for the past few days though.
As you guys can see, I haven't played too many games yet. Some Mario U and some Mario Kart. Interestingly, I've played Mario U a bit more than Mario U. I have to say that Mario Kart 8 has excellent graphics in every way. Attention to detail, colors, special effects, water, crowds, karts - all top notch. The maps vary widely and have a huge number of differentiations between them. The graphics seem to be one of the best attributes of the game. Not sure why but Mario Kart doesn't feel as "sharp" as previous version. It doesn't seem to have that special feeling that Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64 had. Maybe its me but I don't seem as impressed by it. Maybe its because I've only played the 100cc setting. Maybe its because the racers are not properly differentiated like they were in the past. This time, the karts vary but the drivers' all appear to have the same qualities - someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Overall, its a decent game but seems to be missing something from the Mario Karts of the past - cannot pinpoint it exactly. Maybe its a combination of things.
I should mention that the music is excellent in the few games that I've played. Probably some of the best video game music around. Attention to detail in the limited games I've played is top notch.
I am glad to have bought the Wii U. It's a great system for both gaming and streaming content. I even browsed the web a bit and it worked well. Now I just have to play some more of the games I have!