Wii U in 2014

It's now 2014 and the new generation of consoles have officially begun. The PS4, Xbox One, and Wii U are all on the market so 2014 should be interesting. However now that the initial console sale figures have been released can the Wii U survive? Let's take a look at the numbers.

The Wii U sold 3.91 million consoles world wide in its first eleven months. The PS4 sold over 4 million units in its first 6 weeks. The Xbox One sold over 3 million consoles in the same time spand. Obviously this looks bad for the Wii U. The PS4 has already sold more consoles than the Wii U, and it is brand new on the market.

Let's not forget that Nintendo has not released it's November and December sales numbers for 2013. So it is very possible that the Wii U sold very well in those two months(and if it did Nintendo needs to tell people). Let's also keep in mind that both the PS4 and Xbox One sales numbers are for launch and holiday sales, which are always good. Even still both of these sales numbers are extremely impressive.

I do believe that the sales will taper off now that the holidays are over. I doubt they will drop as low as the Wii U's were in 2013, but they should drop significantly. Even if both the PS4 and XBone have slow sales the Wii U must not slow down. It must keep selling at a high rate, or it wont last through 2015. The release schedule for Wii U games in 2014 is almost non existent. Yes it will have some heavy hitters like Donkey Kong and Mario Kart, but it needs more. Nintendo has promised that there will not be a game drought this coming year. However since Mario 3d World dropped in November 2013 nothing has been released(I know its only 2 months). I'm just concerned that Wii U owners will be game less again in 2014.

Donkey Kong does release in February so we will  wait and see what releases after that. Now is the time for it to sink or swim. With both the PS4 and XBone looking mighty impressive Wii U needs to shine now more than ever.

Nintendo Are You There?

Hello, Nintendo...where are you? Seriously this is how I feel right now. We are now in November 2013 and basicallly have not seen much from Nintendo in months. In the past two months the Wii U has had great games release like:
1. Pikmin 3
2. Wonderful 101
3. Rayman Legends
4. Deus Ex Human Revolution Directors Cut
5. The Legend of Zelda, The Wind Waker HD
6. Batman Arkham Origins
7. Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag
8. Call of Duty Ghosts
9. Sonic The Lost World
10. Lego Marvel SuperHeros

I'm on Wii U, but nobody knows

That's the main games, but there others as well. So where the hell is Nintendo? The only commercials I've seen for any of these games was Sonic Lost World, and I'm sure Sega paid for those. All these third-party games are heavy hitters. I've seen both Sony and Microsoft have commercials for all of them. Yet Nintendo doesn't even make a commercial for its first-party games.

The average person has no idea that any of these games are on the Wii U. That's somewhat an over statement; most people don't even know that the Wii U exists. It's been out almost one year now and it's still practically unknown to the average consumer. It seems like Nintendo doesn't want the Wii U to sell. Iwata and Reggie keep trying to tell people the Wii U will be fine, but it's getting harder to believe.



The Wii U has an amazing line up of games right now. If Nintendo would just tell people about them the Wii U would be flying off the shelfes. I just beat Batman Arkham Origins (very fun game). Now I'm playing Wind Waker HD. Once I finish Wind Waker I'll get either Assassin's Creed 4 or COD Ghosts. This is what most every gamer would love to do, play the best first and third party titles back to back on one system. All Nintendo has to do is tell people that they can do that with the Wii U.

GameStick is Coming Soon

It seems like Android consoles are pretty popular right now. By "popular" I mean multiple companies are making them and shipping them out soon. Whether or not any of these will be successful is yet to be seen, but GameStick looks like it could be a contender.

 

 GameStick is being developed by PlayJam. It was funded by Kickstarter and it made $650,000, which surpassed it initial goal. It was originally going to release in April 2013, but after being so successful they had to delay it's release. Amazon.com has it listed for an August 26, 2013 release date.

 

 

 

Here are the Specs for the GameStick as listed by Amazon

• Includes: 1 GameStick HDMI Console + Bluetooth Controller
• Easy to navigate user interface with access to Android games at 1080p
• Under the hood: ARM Cortex A9 CPU / MALI 400 GPU
• Storage: 8GB internal flash storage (expandable to 32GB via SDMicro)
• Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n WiFi / Bluetooth 4.0

You get all of this for only $79.99 ($20 cheaper than an Ouya).

What really stands out about the GameStick is it's portability. All you do is plug in the HDMI dongle to your HDTV and you are ready to play.

GameStick is based on Android architecture, however it has it's own UI built specially for it. It looks nice and easy to use, but I'll have to play around with one to know how well it actually works.

One downside to the GameStick is that it wont use the GooglePlay App store. This means you will need to repurchase games you own. Also game selection could be limited since they must be approved by PlayJam. PlayJam has said that it has over a hundred developers who say they want to make games for it. So hopefully they will make good on their promise and keep the games coming.

We will have to wait and see if the GameStick is successful. It looks promising and hopefully it will deliver.

Does Ouya Matter

Ouya has finally been released. Ouya was a huge sucess on Kickstarter. It had a lot of people excited about the idea of an Android gaming console. So how is Ouya and does it matter in today's gaming market?

For starters Ouya is not a powerhouse. Ouya is designed with Indie developers in mind. This means that you wont see a lot of big budget titles releasing. However Sega has a few Sonic titles and Square Enix has Final Fantasy 3 on Ouya. So there are some exceptions, but overall it will have smaller unknown games. For the record I love Shadowgun on Ouya (just like I did on Xperia Play).

Not that there's anything wrong with that. I actually like a lot of indie games. As smart phones have proven there is a huge market for these games. So time will tell of people want to play these games on the big screen.

Okay so Ouya wont blow your mind with graphics but it is a really well built(and good looking system). The OS is also smooth and attractive. Every Ouya game is "free to try" so there's no upfront money to get playing. Overall the Ouya is a good, cheap console ($99).

Does the Ouya matter? I thought the Ouya concept was great when I first heard about it. However since then both Sony and Nintendo have been making huge efforts to get Indie games on their platforms. In theory the games releasing on Ouya will also be on Wii U, PS3, PS4, and PS Vita. Plus the fact most of these games are on IOS and other Android devices.

Ouya really is a cool device. At $99 it has huge potential to make waves in the gaming industry. I just wonder if it's a little to late. Either way if you can afford to buy one you might as well, it's fun.

GTA V Looks Epic

The new trailer for GTA V was released today. WOW! That pretty much describes it.This has to be the biggest, best looking game I've ever seen. I don't know if the story will be any good(though Rockstar has a good trackrecord) but the game play looks amazing.

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I'm assuming this is running on a PS3 or 360 since those are the only 2 platforms announced at this time. However it looks so good it could be running on a PC. I would wait for this on PC but GTA's usually take about a year to make it to PC. So I wont be waiting for this one. I'll be buying this day one on my PS3.

UPDATE

Rockstar has now said that all footage was taken from the PS3 build. That is one seriously good looking PS3 game! Do we even need next gen?

Wii U's Best Feature

Sometimes I forget why I bought my Wii U. There was one main reason I bought it, for that awesome tablet controller. Most games really haven't used the Wii U's tablet in any original way. Most companies just throw a map and inventory screen on it. Actually both of these come in handy while playing a lot more than you'd think. It's nice to be able to look down at the screen and see how much ammo you have, or where you are on a bigger map. Plus having these on the map free's up the screen of clutter.

However the main reason I like the tablet controller is for the off screen play. In case you don't know what this is I'll explain. If the game supports off screen play (and most do) you can send the picture from the TV to the gamepad and play the full game on the tablet. The screen is a good size so most games this works fine on. This works with two player games as well. Player one can play on the tv, while player 2 can use the gamepad screen. This way both players have their own screen. To be honest I really like playing on the tablet.

So you may ask "why do I need to play on the pad while I have a TV"? Well I'll give you an example. Last night I was playing Injustice on my Wii U. I had the game on my monitor and the moves list on the tablet screen. My wife wanted to use my PC (it's faster than her laptop and I have a 26 inch monitor). So I just sent the the game to the gamepad and kept playing. I've done this plenty of times to share the TV(monitor) or just so I can lay in bed(or couch) and keep playing.

This alone is a great reason to own a Wii U. It really is a great feature. It's hard to tell you why the gamepad is so great. If you haven't played a Wii U go the store and demo it. After a few minutes of playing you will really like the controller tablet.

Resident Evil Revelations HD

Resident Evil Revelations originally released on the Nintendo 3DS. Honestly this was the reason I bought my 3DS. I preordered and picked it up at mid launch on launch. Anyway it's a  great game. I think it's the best Resident Evil.

So with the HD version coming out tomorrow on Wii U, PC, PS3, and 360 am I going to buy it? Yes I am, because it's that good. I downloaded the demo off Steam and it looks and plays great.  However I will buy Resident Evil Revelations HD on Wii U. Since it was made for 3DS it makes sense to buy the dual screen version. Plus I like supporting the Wii U.

If you missed Resident Evil Revelations on the 3DS them buy it now. You wont be disappointed.

Lego City City Undercover: The Chase Begins

Just a heads up to all you Lego fans. Lego City City Undercover: The Chase Begins comes out on April 21, 2013 doe Nintendo 3DS. Gamestop has it now listed for $31.99. That's a good deal for a brand new 3DS game.

I played Lego City Undercover on the Wii U and I loved it. Just like the Wii U version this is an open world game. Think GTA only with Lego's.

 As far as I'm concerned this is a day one purchase

Tablet Gaming

Tablets are becoming more of an everyday product. Sales of tablets are higher than ever and will keep growing in the future. The question on my mind is how will tablets affect the future of the gaming industry. The next generation of consoles will probably be released over the next 2 years. By the time that happens more tablets will be sold and will likely cut into that market.

Right now a lot of tablets have HDMI outs and are capable of running HD games. Add a blue tooth or USB controller and you have a game system. Gamestop is actually selling gaming tablets now. Which come preloaded with a hand full of games.

What makes this even better is the price of these games. The average game on a tablet runs from free to $7. The average console game is $60. Plenty of people would still argue that tablet games are cheap knock off games. BUT with games like Grand Theft Auto 3, Shadow Gun, Dead Space, Infinity Blade, Mass Effect,  Real Racing and Modern Combat that statement can't be backed up. There are thousands of games at your fingertips with a tablet. Even if only 10% are high quality games that is still a few hundred games.

So will tablet gaming kill the next generation of gaming platforms? If the next gen consoles don't offer something new and inventive then yes it's very possible.