Simply the Wii U is disappointing at best. Why do I say that? Because this system is basically what the original Wii should of been to start out with. This system that is to be their next gen of consoles, at best has similar specs to the current gen xbox 360 and PS3. This assumption is strictly coming from the gameplay that they are showing at E3 and that some of the games they are demoing even run sluggishly on this new system. Which leads me to another point, have you noticed that they have not one time mentioned anything about the system itself; ie, specs, ram, power usage, cpu, video card chip? No you haven't and the reason I think that they aren't telling anyone is they don't want people to realize this is not a great powerhouse of a system that they are trying to sell. Also, to further emphasize this point, if you look at the press conference and the demo's the entire focus is on this big new touch screen controller and what it can do. So they obviously want you to pay attention to the cool controller and not the system itself.
The Wii U controller is a neat idea but it seems huge and too clunky to hold for long periods of time. Also, I have a hard enough time paying attention to one screen let alone two of them at the same time. I just don't see this as anything more than a novel idea that will only be good for showing maps and other pause menu items on. Which would be a good time to put this controller down because dang that thing looks like it would be heavy after holding it up for more than an hour.
Which brings me to my next point. If you have to make another controller and call it a "Pro" controller for serious gamers then what is that saying about the controller that you are so adamantly trying to push at E3? It says if you want to play games seriously for long periods of time, you are going to have to purchase a different controller. That isn't a good sign either in my book.
It also doesn't help that more than half of their third party games available at launch were released almost a year ago on the other systems. There are a few exceptions to this but very few of them. Considering this, you would of thought that Nintendo would of came out strong with some of their own in house games. Which are powerhouses in their own right and made people want to buy Nintendo's in the first place. What did we get? A 2D Mario game, and Pikmin 3. No Zelda, No 3D Mario, No StarFox. A system with no great games at launch will not sell well. You would think Nintendo would of remembered this from their 3DS launch just recently.
Nintendo had a lot going for it this E3. The only next gen system coming out this year, a new controller that even Microsoft is semi-copying, and an opportunity to win back developers to it's systems. Sadly, what it delivered was an underwhelming system that is no better than the other current gen consoles and some developers saying they will never develop for this Nintendo console.
Nintendo has always been a very stubborn company, in the past this worked out great for them and they made tons of money. Now though, they are bleeding money simply operating. They need this system to work, to win the console wars. For this upcoming year maybe it will, but then the new xbox and playstation will be announced and this system will be all but forgotten just like the Wii.
If this would have been released instead of the original Wii, the current status of the console wars would of been drastically different. Not only would the Wii U have a crazy new control system but it would of been able to handle any of the current gen games out there. You would of gotten the best of both worlds. Which Microsoft and Sony would of still tried to copy with the limited success that they have had with movement controls. I hope that this isn't all they have to offer with this console, and maybe before the actual launch we will get a few glimpses at some truly awesome games for the Wii U, but for now I will pass. Sorry Nintendo.
