[sarsamis]

fuck, it auto-powered down on me. it really shouldn't do that when you have active downloads. turning that setting off this time.

[Mikey]

Can you plug an ethernet cable into it?

[BenoitRen]

I recall reading that you need the Wii's Ethernet adapter to do that (yes, it's compatible).
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Get Xenoblade Chronicles!

[sarsamis]

That's good to know. Does it significantly improve download speeds?

Also, jesus, installs take forever on it too. It seems like it's going to take about an hour to install this game. The PS3 and 360 would do this in minutes. I know it's an SSD and has a slower write speed, but this is insane.

[BenoitRen]

Wired should be faster than wireless, and this seems to be true for a friend who has tried both.
_________________
Get Xenoblade Chronicles!

[Felix]

fuck, though, nintendo, a wireless n chipset isn't functionally any cheaper or slower than gigabit ethernet on a home network -- I'm supposed to be grateful that someone has made a product that lets me string old 100mbps wires over my living room?

[sarsamis]

I feel like the problem is probably just that Nintendo uses some shit-tier form of solid state memory, which would explain the awful install times too. Like, there's just an old ass SD card in there or something.

I guess they already won because I bought the thing and will keep buying these things for a handful of franchises, but I'm getting frustrated with the level of not give a shit on their end.

Every piece of software made by Nintendo is also cropped off a bit on my TV. I thought it was just something up with my TV or that the gamepad had a different aspect ratio or whatever at first, but 3rd party games have no such issue. Little Inferno looks exactly the same on the pad as on the TV.

[Felix]

I actually like the idea that their "solid state drive" is like, an old SD card in a cigarette case.

[another god]

How are you guys doing with the hard drive size? Is it usb3.0? I feel like the memory is going to be a huge bottleneck.
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interdimensional

[sarsamis]

I don't see the space being a problem, especially since it takes external harddrives. I guess, at worst, if it weren't USB3.0 you might want to move games from the external drive back onto the Wii U before playing them (assuming you can do that) for the faster read time.

Personally, I doubt I'll ever use all 32GB I have now. I'm just pissed I can go to and from gamestop and get lunch in the time it takes to write something to whatever's embedded in the thing.

[Dark Age Iron Savior]

[SuperWes]

Did Donkey Kong Country do well on the Wii? I was under the impression it was a great game that didn't really sell well. I'd take a new Yoshi's Touch and Go any day!

-Wes
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[firenze]

[Rud31]

So guys how is the battery life on that controller in reality?
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My Hawt Blog Vita Games

THERE ARE DEFINITELY WORSE VIDEO GAME PODCASTS

[LandRoverAttack]

[Family Computer]

welp I ended up getting one of these. They just came out with a NSMB bundle so it seemed like a good time.

Can't believe they have the nerve to charge $10 for Earthbound when every other SNES game is $8.
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3DS Friendcode: 2337-3480-4823
PSN: play2forget
This summer, become Buried In Games.

[sarsamis]

My Wii U hasn't been getting much use since YouTube stopped working in its Web browser for some reason. The thing was nice as a living room "hey check this out" Web browser but now not so much since I find the YT console app infuriating. Has any of this changed in the past couple months?

[CubaLibre]

[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

If I can save up $300 I'd like to get the NSMB bundle by the end of the year, but that's a major "if". Otherwise I'll probably just wait for Smash Bros. or Xenothing (whichever comes first) to get mine.

Can't say I'm not a little curious about Wobderful 101 or Wind Waker HD, though. (yes, even in spite of the bloomsploitation visuals)
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Just another savage day on Planet Earth.

[nuttyevans]

W101 is a cool game with surprising depth. It's also a Platinum game which means I'll probably never ever play it to completion due to my awful skills.

[BenoitRen]

Still waiting for Project X.
_________________
Get Xenoblade Chronicles!

[Family Computer]

I kinda really like playing games on this system. The game pad is big and comfy and really lends itself well to a cozy night by the fire, doin' some gamin'.
_________________
3DS Friendcode: 2337-3480-4823
PSN: play2forget
This summer, become Buried In Games.

[Rud31]

[BenoitRen]

[Wall of Beef]

[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

[DJ]

[Felix]

I agree with most of this post.

Errata:

- The guys romhacking New SMB to "Newer SMB" (http://newerteam.com/) are anecdotally doing a pretty compelling job and I keep meaning to give it a look.
- Sonic has been pretty good again in the past couple of years (and with polished PC ports!), just looking at Generations and Racing Transformed
- I agree Platinum is hit or miss. I keep almost buying Bayonetta from PSN after having played Vanquish (B+), Anarchy Reigns (B-), and the Revengeance Demo (C+) but I haven't quite gotten there yet.
- No one has cracked the 3DS encryption in almost 3 years and not for lack of trying, so you might have to wait a while there.

I wouldn't mind trying Wonderful 101 or Pikmin 3 but I doubt I'd really be head over heels for either of them based on the limited feedback I've heard. 3D World looks shaderrific but 3D Land took way too long to ramp up in difficulty and wasn't really essential in any way despite being actually decent.

[Broco]

[Family Computer]

[Rokkan]

[Felix]

yeah, SMA4 e-reader levels > Mario Galaxy

otherwise I generally agree (but I already knew most of this stuff from way back)

[Rud31]

Is there a way to try those e-reader levels in an emulator?
_________________
My Hawt Blog Vita Games

THERE ARE DEFINITELY WORSE VIDEO GAME PODCASTS

[zombieman000]

Haven't looked into this much but there are tool(s) to add the levels to a save file
http://www.caitsith2.com/ereader/sma4.htm
http://sma4ecard.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBm6AWWxxUM
Also read that corrupting the save data on a European ROM would unlock them somehow?
I wanted these badly enough to buy a Euro cart and it had all 32 of the levels. Have no clue how to do it via emulator or on the actual cart.
There is probably a patched ROM that would avoid all of this but am having trouble finding it.

[Felix]

I got you covered Rudie

two savefiles because that's how the game stores them and it can only store half the set at a time -- for most emulators you're just going to want to rename this to the same thing as your rom and put it in the same directory and it'll be automatically loaded.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xr4x61k5v56j1g5/Super%20Mario%20Bros%203.sav

and

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b3fdla6i7eb5nz9/Super%20Mario%20Bros%203e.sav

[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

So hey, I finally got one of these. Sold some friends my old Wii, transferred all the data, and here I am.

Haven't had a chance to play it much and I won't have much more of a chance before I head back to school, but what I've had a chance to mess around with so far makes me pretty eager.

I'm also realizing that the fact that no one is buying this system means I can find games/ports on the system for way cheaper than they ought to be going for. I think I saw Mass Effect 3 somewhere for 10 bucks. The Wonderful 101 and ZombiU are already under $25 on Amazon. Even Batman: Arkham City and Assassin's Creed III, games that I wouldn't otherwise have had much interest in, are tempting offers at $20 or less. Even though I could be playing most of those on my PS3, simply having the option of playing them streamed to my GamePad while lying in bed or hanging out on the couch with friends of family members watching TV is proving to be a way more enticing prospect than I had anticipated. Spending some time last weekend doing exactly these things really sold me.

I got the bundle that comes with New Super Mario Bros. U, and also bought Nintendo Land with it for $18. I feel like NSMBU is not really the best showcase of the Wii U hardware, given how it looks and plays pretty much identical to every other NSMB except with nicer textures. Playing it after 3D Land is a powerful reminder of just how bland the NSMB series is. It basically feels like a bunch of levels thrown together in a Mario World level editor and slapped on a disc. This isn't the worst thing, mind you. I tried playing co-op with some friends but they weren't really into it, so it wasn't that fun. I'm hoping it's a lot more entertaining when you're playing with at least semi-enthusiastic couchmates.

So, in terms of Wii U games I want to play, my hit-list right now is Mario 3D World, The Wonderful 101, Deus Ex: Human Revolution DC, and The Wind Waker HD (despite looking unequivocally worse than the Gamecube version, I'm eager to see how they modified/rebalanced the game for the remake). Also maybe ZombiU, and those other games mentioned above. Oh, and since there's still a Wii in there, I want to get The Last Story before it becomes hard to find, but I also kind want to wait for it to drop below $30 so I can't decide whether to just get it now or keep holding out.

Anything else currently out for the system that I should look into? Any highlights on the eShop?

Also: what is the point of Miiverse. Like, what are you supposed to get out of it. Plz help I don't think I get it and 99% of the posts on there are just the sort of retarded semi-literate drivel I go out of my way to avoid on sites like Twitter and Facebook and everything. That 1% has some pretty impressive sketch work tho.
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Just another savage day on Planet Earth.

[nkcyborg]

I like the new Donkey Kong game when I ignore the collectibles. It has a nice weight and technical difficulty that 3D World doesn't develop until the later levels. I don't know of any must-play eShop games that aren't cheaper/better on other devices.

Miiverse is Nintendo's attempt to create a social media marketing tool for children. The result is GameFAQs circa 2000 with illegible handwriting.

[Felix]

There's a Wonderful 101 demo on the eShop that'll give you a good feel for the game, you're not gonna want to play it on the pad though (for a couple of reasons that will become apparent) and that pretty much turned me off from buying it (also the fact that the the disc version is so much cheaper than the download, which irritates me).

it has a version of fifa 13 that's actually just fifa 12 with updated rosters (and nice use of the touchscreen), but fifa 12 was one of the best sports games ever made, and nobody wanted to buy fifa on the wiiu so it's really cheap

likewise, if you haven't played Mass Effect, it has the only version of 3 that allows you to just watch plot recaps from the first two games and pick the choices you want to import into your save from a list, which is my preferred way of playing Mass Effect since 3 is a lot better designed from start to finish than the first two. also very cheap.

the Wii emulator is remarkably poorly implemented (only outputs 480p, you have to recreate Miis in Wii mode when it would've been really easy to write a shim layer, can display Wii games on the gamepad screen but can't actually use the gamepad as input) and I'd just recommend playing any Wii games you want on Dolphin

3D World is completely great (I've spent ample time both playing it on the gamepad in my lap and on the TV with 4 players). maybe some stuff they haven't announced yet will be great too because Sanic Kart 2 is all the Mario Kart I need and I don't really care about online Smash Bros!

[BenoitRen]

[Felix]

sed s/emulator/compatibility layer/

sed s/Dolphin/Dolphin, if you have a computer that can do it/

[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

Benoit are you new to Felix's PC/emulator superiority complex? I know it's insufferably smug and obnoxious, but it's best to just ignore him when he gets like this.
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Just another savage day on Planet Earth.