Rockodoodle

The Wii U surely got more CPU power than I've expected but in the current state the game's able to make i5 processors sweat. Above all this is due to ongoing physics (especially tyre) testing but in the end I guess at least slight compromises have to be made when it comes to physics calculations on the Wii U. Not because of poor porting (as far as I've seen the devs are working really hard on the Wii U version since a while now, the engine is smoothly scalable and Nintendo seems to do their part on supporting us very well too) but because of the lack of sheer processing power. On the other hand optimizations haven't been really started yet...

Professional reviews are pretty much worthless as they don't actually review the games. Look into some reviews from unknown bloggers if you want some real reviews.

No, you just collected as many as you could to increase your score at the end of the level. Getting hit reduced your ring count to 0.

It's really not that surprising. People have forgotten what a launch is. Actually it'd be more accurate to say that those who even CAN remember what a launch is like have forgotten and there a LOT of gamers who never seen a launch before. No seriously, think about how long these systems have been out. The 360 came out in like 2005(I'm pretty sure), that was 8 years ago. So essentially it could be argued that any gamer from kids in to the mid-teens give or take have really never seen a launch. The last systems launched when they were only like 5 or so at most.

Take that in to account, and take in the kind of hype that comes up for a launch, and it's not surprising that a lot of people would expect gigantic things out of a launch. Console launches are not really 'fun', they're just super hyped up and they're hyped up for what is coming in the future, not what is there from the start. The Wii U had a 'drought', so does every single console when it launches. Developers just aren't far enough along in the development process and there aren't as many games in production for the new systems when they come out.

I also think devs have forgotten what launches are like. They're all acting like the WIi U is a plague because it doesn't have a 50+ million install base. Once again, that's normal. No matter how good a system is, it takes time for them to grow an install base. And third party devs aren't doing themselves any favors by short changing the few games they are putting out for the Wii U. Right now they only people who logically have a Wii U are hardcore gamers, and they pay attention to when a dev is lazy. All these devs are doing is pissing off WIi U owners and showing that there is no point buying their games because they aren't going to put in the tlc that's expected anyways. The next gen consoles are going to have the exact same problem with the install base, possibly worse, and I can't wait to see how third parties react.

I think it's going to be really interesting next year to watch the PS4 and Xbone. These systems have been getting hyped up to extreme levels and there's no way they're going to meet that hype. I also think this is part of the reason why the adoption rate for the Wii U has been low. People are being smart consumers and waiting until all the next gen consoles are out before they start buying. I'm curious if the two new HD twins will get panned like how the Wii U has been when, after Christmas, their sales go down and their games are relegated to 'last-gen ports'. (I seriously doubt it :/)

My thoughts exactly.  I showed my wife (who is not a gamer) the trailer and she thought it was awesome.  Then even the next day she told me she couldn't wait to play it with me, without me even mentioning it.  Big success in my mind!  I look forward to having it around to play as a family