Dealing with Two-screen gaming.

WiiU9There is a strange disconnect in having to look at two screens that are disparate size, and are so far away from each other. It works beautifully on the DS because both screens are in front of your face at all times, but that’s not the case with the Wii U, and you’ll often have to look at one or the other, or worse, awkwardly from one to the other, repeatedly.

It can be quite a jarring experience, but it’s one that’s quickly and easily overcome when it’s part of the experience. Ubisoft’s ZombiU is probably the best example of this, where its used as a game mechanic and actually helps create much of the game’s atmosphere and tension.

Another use of the second smaller screen, and one that I’ve ended up using more than I’d like to admit, is the ability to mirror the game on to the smaller screen. I’ve often hooked the Wii U up in the bedroom, not even plugging it in to the TV, and played Mario from the comfort of bed…or the adjoining bathroom. HD games like Mass Effect , Assassin’s Creed and Mario on the bog? Yep.

The other big feature that two-screen gaming brings is “Asymmetrical multiplayer,” which was a big buzz-word at this year’s game trade shows. Nintendo Land best highlights that, with a delightful selection of genuinely clever and well-thought out Nintendo themed games that can be played, and will be replayed replayed over and over again with one player will using the GamePad and with the rest armed with Wiimotes. The tablet player might be playing something akin to a RTS game tapping along at the screen,  while those with Wii motes might be pointing at the larger TV, trying to shoot all of his spawned alien troops. That’s a pretty crude example, but I’m pretty sure you get the idea – and it’s something used to great effect for “hot seat” multiplayer. That’s not to say that online multiplayer suffers either. In fact, in a game like Black Ops 2, two people can go online for multiplayer mayhem from the same console, with one using the tablet and the other using the whole TV. Split-screen gaming…only without the split screen.

System specs and Verdict

WiiU2

There’s been all sorts of supposition as to the system’s power, and while it might be true that right now it’s actually a little weaker than the current HD consoles, I think It’s actually pretty impressive that the Wii U, at this early stage of its life is running games, largely unoptomised, nearly at parity with systems that have had 6 years worth of development knowledge behind them. If you’ll recall, many early Xbox and PS3 games were little more than HD versions of Xbox and PS2 games. I’m not in any way implying that the Wii U is going to make a mockery of the next Xbox and PlayStation, but I do believe that it’ll soon leapfrog what we’ll be seeing on the current ones.

Much of that is thanks to the DX11 complaint AMD GPGPU that powers the visuals. It’s certainly a little more technologically advanced than the aging DX9 tech in the 360 and PS3. The “GP” bit in the front stands for “General Performance,” meaning the system can tap in to the GP for calculations on things like physics and other things to help offload hits from the arguably weak 3-core IBM PowerPC that makes everything else run. Is it really “next-gen” though? We’ll have to see.

And how do Wii games look upscaled?

Oh right. I did mention that there’s full backwards compatibility. From the main menu, you can launch a “Wii” menu, which boots the system in to that familiar Wii menu. You can run pretty much all of your old Wii games and connect just about every peripheral. Honestly though? You needn’t bother, because it looks awful. Upscaling is very different from up-ressing, and in effect all you’re doing is stretching a 480p image out to 1080p. If you have a Wii already, you might not want to throw it out just yet.

That aside. what I can say is that I have fallen in love with the Wii U. The silly lack of local support aside, it’s probably going to become my primary console for multiplatform titles, especially those that aren’t quite so multiplayer focused. That’s not because Nintendo’s online offering is weak. Far from it; it’s certainly leaps and bounds ahead of the Wii’s (not that that’s saying much, really), but more that my friends are to be found on other platforms.

I do worry though that without consumer and developer support that the Wii U, like its predecessor will end up being used for nothing but Nintendo first-party titles. That’s a pretty expensive Mario machine. there are honestly just a handful of games that make the system worthwhile right now, with the bulk of them being ports from the other consoles.

And as much as I love the Wii U, that alone makes it hard for me to recommend the thing to those who already own a PS3 or Xbox 360. For those gamers caught with nothing but a Wii though? Buy one. Buy one now. Right now. Go on. What are you waiting for?

Last Updated: December 11, 2012

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