Nintendo Wii U Released: Review Roundup on What the Media is Saying; How Does It Fare?

The Wii U was released yesterday to North American retailers and will sell in two sets - deluxe and basic.

The basic console is being released with a suggested retail price of $299.99 and comes with 8GB of internal software and a white hardware. it comes with the Wii U GamePad, Wii U GamePad Stylus, Sensor bar, Wii U console AC adapter, Wii U GamePad AC adapter and HDMI® cable. Users can purchase the Wii U GamePad Stand, the Wii U GamePad Cradle and the Wii U Console Stand separately.

The deluxe package comes with a suggested retail price of $349.99 and features a black Wii U hardware and 32GB of internal storage. It also comes with Wii U GamePad, GamePad Stylus, Sensor bar, Wii U console AC adapter, Wii U GamePad AC adapter and HDMI® cable.

So, what are the critics saying?

PJ Hruschack, Technology Tell: So far, I'm pretty impressed with the Wii U. I've only played a couple games and spent a couple hours on it but it's been enjoyable. My main frustrations right now are the updates. Every friggin' new thing I press requires some update. Considering the hour+ I spent waiting for the system update, I'm waiting to perform the rest until I can let it grind while I do something else (eat dinner, go for a jog or sleep).

Stephen Totilo, Tech Spot - At the very least, we've got a bold new player on the scene. Consoles are hard to judge on their launch day. Developers usually need a lot of time to get used to the hardware before they can make their best games on it. The machine you can get on day one is therefore a vessel of potential, but seldom the conveyer of an instant masterpiece. Consoles are also no longer static. They evolve through firmware updates, gaining new functionality by the month and year. The Wii U is a product of these factors. It has a strong but not stunning launch line-up and it starts its cycle with the instant blemish of one promised feature-the vaunted Nintendo TVii service-not being available on day one.

Britton Peele, Dallas News - There is, potentially, a huge audience for this system that I don't fully understand. I understand the more "hardcore" audience - the ones who, like me, have been playing Mario and Zelda games since the 80s and 90s. I think I mostly understand the new generation, the young children for whom the Wii U might be a first console. But I'm not positive I fully grasp everyone else - the people who bought a Wii for Wii Sports and maybe Wii Fit, but not much else. Will the Wii U appeal to those people the same way the Wii did, or does it try too hard to recapture the "core" gamers and alienate the Wii Sports crowd? Those are hard questions to answer, especially until we see more entries into the game library. But I do think the potential is there for the Wii U to be something incredibly special and unique, if put in the right hands and given the right creativity.

Andrew Hayward, Tech Radar - The Wii U is the next step, and like its predecessor, it's something different from the pack. A brand new standalone console, the Wii U may initially offer graphics power comparable to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, both of which have been on the market for several years, but that's not its main selling point. What sets the platform apart is its focus on the new Wii U GamePad, a large amalgamation of a traditional controller and a tablet, featuring a 6.2-inch touch display that can work in tandem with what's being shown on your TV.

Kyle Wagner, Gizmodo - Should You Buy It? - Yes, if you know you want the next version of the Wii. While technologically, the Wii U sort of feels like the step you'd take before you get to motion controls in the Wii, that doesn't mean it doesn't totally fit into Nintendo's ethos of interaction. It's fun. It's something your family will enjoy using. If you're looking for a network-enabled media center, like the Xbox or Apple TV, though, definitely wait before purchasing this. The demos we've seen have looked pretty decent, but not being ready for launch isn't a great sign. Same goes for the robust third party support of traditional, big-time games that never quite made it to the original Wii. It could be that everything will work wonderfully once it's out, but being cautious never hurt anyone.

Ebenezer Samuel, New York Daily News - No matter the version, you're getting a forward-thinking console that attempts to deliver more than mere graphics horsepower. As usual, Nintendo tries to think ahead, marrying a tablet and controller to create the Wii U Gamepad. The company hopes that this innovation catches on in the same way that motion controls once lured moms and pops to stand up and bowl and hit imaginary tennis balls when the Wii first hit stores six years ago.'

Matt Peckham, CNN Tech- Whether that's true or not, the Wii U already feels like a much more robust and fascinating idea, one that shows even more promise, in my opinion, than the Wii did in 2006. That's partly because the Wii U is still a Wii (a radically more powerful Wii with a second screen that floats around your living room, true), and motion control still factors big in the Wii U's future.