Wii U, the new Wii?

After its previous console,Wii, hit the game market hard with its innovative specs in 2006, Nintendo revealed its new successor game console, named Wii U, which Nintendo hopes to capitalize on a soft-core audience. As the highly anticipated game of the year, the Wii U is expecting a great deal of supply and demand, so much that most online and in-store pre-order options are closed up and out of stock. Wii-U is scheduled for release on Nov. 18, 2012.

The Wii U has 1080p graphics, 2 GB of memory (more than 20 times the memory of the Wii) and an innovative touch-screen controller called the Wii U Gamepad, all of which are Nintendo’s attempt to appeal to a wide audience.

The console will be released in two versions: the white Basic Set and the black Deluxe Set. The main differences are: the Basic Set includes a white 8 GB console, a white GamePad, two ac adaptors, sensor bar and an HDMI cable, pricing $299.99; the Deluxe Set includes a black 32 GB console, a black GamePad, two ac adaptors, sensor bar, an HDMI cable, GamePad cradle, GamePad stand and console stand, pricing $349.99.

Also, the Wii U is backwards compatible, meaning that the old Wii users can keep playing their old games.

Moreover, Nintendo dropped the price of its 6-year-old Wii prior to the launch of Wii U. On Oct. 15, Nintendo stated that the Wii will cost $130 in U.S. as opposed to the original price of $150. This seemed like an attempt to shift its attention from Wii to Wii U and to maximize the sales of the newer console. When Wii launched in 2006, its initial price was $250; considering Wii U’s new features and new technical innovations, the pricing seems more reasonable.

However, Wii U supports a confusing voice chat feature that Nintendo still has to find a way to solve; the voice chat feature is not standard across all games; in fact, it is limited only to a handful of specific games, such as: Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Assassin’s Creed III and Mass Effect 3. Although Nintendo stated that these three games will not be the only applicable ones, Nintendo is going to leave it up to game developers to see if they can manage to put in the voice chat feature into their games. This feature makes the whole idea of voice chat for only “select games” not so appealing to consumers. Additionally, although the GamePad has a built-in microphone, Nintendo strangely decided not to make use of it and instead have gamers purchase a licensed headset, another troublesome and costly part about Wii U. “That is going to be a hassle,” Miguel Sheker, senior at Yorba Linda High School, said, “I need to think about college. If I don’t have any Wii U users at college or enough games to efficiently utilize the voice chat feature with, I have no point of buying it.”

Although Wii U seems to have several unperfected features that ought to be resolved in the next couple of weeks, Nintendo fans all over the world still seem extremely excited about the new console, as the pre-order rates have shown. Some Nintendo fans decided to wait until they make sure that their favorite games feature voice chat, as Miguel agreed, “I am probably going to wait until their new Super Smash Bros comes out.” On Wii U’s release day, Nov. 18, gamers will certainly find out if Wii U will become another revolution within gamers or simply a confusing mess.