The Misunderstood Console Called Wii U

I don't intend blogging about Nintendo only even though I'm a fan but there are a few things about the Wii U I just have to get off my chest. If there's any console that still has the ability to impress it's the Wii U, but both developers and consumers don't really understand the road Nintendo was taking with this one and neither do I, but I can put a few pieces together to see what the picture shows. So just stick with me for a bit and maybe you'll see things from Game Watcher's view.

I remember when the Wii U was first unveiled back in 2011, the gamepad pissed me off to be honest. But after seeing the video that  displayed the different things it could do I saw great potential in the console. I'm an upcoming indie developer so even I could think of a few gameplay ideas that utilize it's touchscreen and motion controls, truly a next-gen console... or so I thought. I din't see what was coming...

...sigh.

Half-assed ports, cancelled titles and rapid decline in 3rd party support. The Wii U dream died a lot faster than most people thought. The reason? we've heard a number of them ranging from the console's technical abilities to Iwata's philosophy but what I see is pretty much different. The Wii U was in fact built with 3rd party developers in mind, don't believe? Nintendo is well aware of the rising cost in development and the number of developers that have fallen out of the gaming train and decided to make a system that doesn't demand much by making it compatible with existing game engines, but everyone's forgotten Nintendo approached numerous developers while creating the Wii U and talk as though they were selfish when building the console. It saddens me bruh.

I still believe in the gamepad...

I remember hearing ReviewTech USA say Nintendo should ditch the gamepad and make a console like everybody else. I love his videos but I wonder how such a thing even came to his mind. Smartphones have shown us that interest in gaming has gone beyond the hardcore gamer, but traditional controls are confusing and hard to understand and this makes console gaming less accessible. Touchscreen swings to the other extreme, so it's Nintendo's intention to use this to expand the horizon of console gaming. Besides, the gameplay can offer fresh experiences and new mechanics to core gameplay but when Ninty themselves aren't doing much with it, it's fitting to call it a gimmick at this point.

Gaming... who's doing it right?

Is it old school to think more about gameplay than graphics? These days I guess it is when we have developers saying things like graphics making up 60% of the gaming experience so they prefer to go for a few more textures rather than improve gaming experience. Nintendo's view point with the Wii U is a good one, it's not just what developers want even though it'll do them good if they accept it. How about the fanboys? They'll list the specs like they know stuff yet show them a screenshot of a new IP and they won't be able to trace what console it belongs to until it's announced, then they start talking about inferior and superior graphics. Was funny enough seeing them fool themselves in the comments of Shokio's video making a split screen comparison between two Wii U footages of RE: Revelations (I still laugh when I remember it, will address graphics and 3rd parties in a different post though). Though the Wii U's future is still blurry at this point, it'll be interesting seeing what happens to this misunderstood console.