I've logged more time playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 than any other game on Wii U. I have not planned on buying Ghosts, but this is a good sign. Still though, I'm not sold. After how much BO2 was shafted it's going to take more to convince me to buy another CoD game on Wii U. I need to see more continued DLC support. I was one of many who felt like they were a victim of  bait and switch when I purchased BO2 expecting DLC and never got it.

They probably don't think that lowering the price will cause sales to increase much. And they'll lose a lot of money by selling the game for a lower price to the market they monopolize, the digital market. They know those wanting digital and those wanting the game immediately are going to pay the $60 no matter what. And bargain hunters are going to buy the game off amazon anyway because even if the price is dropped in half they will still buy the game off Amazon for $23.

In my opinion the best game on the EShop is Trine 2. It's a must have and is much better than a lot of the "real" games I've played. Also it has the best graphics to date for any game on Wii U. Check out some of the beach levels, the graphics are absolutely stunning. The use of color in the game is mind-bogglingly beautiful. I put it even above Donkey Kong TF in graphics. Goes on sale all the time, grab it.

Also the Cave looks great, I've played the demo some.

As far as non-VC games, that's all I can recommend. I agree that the EShop as a whole is pretty bad but there are some gems there you just have to try them out.

Sweet deal! I've not been too happy with my Wii U Pro controller because the analog sticks are above the buttons and the surface is slippery...glad this one is built like a standard controller. Definitely giving this one a try, it looks flat out superior to the Pro Controller for games like CoD.

I would like to purchase one but when I got to select the shipping destination, "state/Province", Canadian provinces don't show up? What is this!? I AM OUTRAGED! D:< 

Edit: DOES NOT SHIP TO CANADA!!! D:< 

Yep, no shipping to Canada. Stinks for you sorry

I'd love to see TMNT come back.

But my #1 game I want to see is Donkey Kong Country. My SNES broke and I never got around to beating it when I was younger

Mine is ready, but I've instead equipped it with a rubber covering to help protect it if I get the urge to throw it after I get redshelled 10 meters before the finish line.

Mario U

Luigi U

Zombi U

Nintendoland

Madden

Ninja Gaiden

DK Tropical Freeze

CoD Black Ops 2

Wii Fit U

Jeopardy

Pikmin 3 (just sold it)

Store Purchases -

Trine 2

D&D Mystara

Kung Fu Rabbit

Toki Tori

Also own a handful of virtual console games.

Any of the games would be a good choice, I wouldn't go with Party U as it's a collection of mini games, not a real game. However there is no Mario Party yet on Wii U so if you really want a party game it might be an OK choice.

The other 3 are top notch 1st party releases however so I'd go with one of those instead.

I've not played Windwaker HD, have played the other two. Of Pikmin and Mario U, I definitely got more enjoyment out of Mario U. Mario U and Pikmin are both short though. Not sure about Windwaker having never played it.

This is just a small $15 digital release. No biggie.

Withholding complete judgement until we get more details but it looks like the same game to me with a few more futuristic machines built in. I didn't see anything "different". The only reason I might have to switch from Black Ops 2 is that the Wii U community for it is so low now it is hard to get a group for anything but team deathmatch. By the time Advanced Warfare comes out it may be completely dead.

This is an awesome promotion. I am almost out of room on my Wii U and have contemplated getting an external hardrive. With this promotion I'll most likely do it since the money I save on the game will go a long ways towards paying for a harddrive. have yet to play Windwaker HD.

I don't share my console with anyone so looks like this is moot for me.

Depends on the price, I may buy it at some point just for LOLZ if it drops to around $25.

Couldn't imagine playing an MMO on a console...you need MOAR buttons than what you can get on a handheld controller.

I applaud Microsoft for doing this. It's smart, they're correcting their mistakes. People don't want the Kinect shoved down their throats.The question is when will Nintendo wise up as well and start offering the Wii U for $199 without the gamepad?

Taking out Kinect to add in a start menu.

 

Dumb move offering without the gamepad and $199? That price point is to close to the 3DS XL. Not only this but the Wii U just became profitable recently. Why on earth would you drop the price that much and start loosing money for each console sold? Cheap Mcguffin

From what I've heard the gamepad costs around $100 to produce so it would be the same profit margin if they price the console at $199 without the gamepad since they are currently selling the console with the gamepad for $299. They would be making (or losing) the same amount of money per console sold. If it costs less than that to produce each gamepad then I stand corrected.

and the cost/ time to make the system and games work without a gamepad costs how much? and the cost/ time to have other 3rd parties who developed games with the gamepad in mind costs how much?

 

and loosing a key marketing advantage of off tv play for most games costs how much?  and loosing the ability to play VC on the gamepad costs how much? and what about the time and money nintendo is putting into bringing ds games to VC on wii u?

 

are you serious?

None of what you mentioned is a big issue. There are only a handful of games that require the gamepad, and none of them are top tier exclusives. Off TV play is nice but it's not a make or break feature for most people. All virtual console games can be played on the TV like every other game.

As far as menu and nintendo e-shop navigation goes, that can be fixed easily with an update. After all there's no real reason we have to use the gamepad to navigate these menus, it's an arbitrary restriction.

Bottom line the vast majority of people buy or will buy the Wii U for the top tier exclusives - Super Mario Brothers U, Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Pikmin 3, and Super Smash Brothers U. None of which require the gamepad. And even beyond those, very few games require it. Zombi U, Nintendoland, Game & Wario and a few of the Wii Fit U mini-games are about it.

To me it makes no sense to continue to force people to spend an extra $100 for a gamepad that is not needed to play 95%+ of the console's games.

All that said I love my gamepad and use it all the time. But most people would rather save $100. And I want to see Nintendo and the Wii U do well, I think the extra cost of the gamepad is the key problem holding the console back.

That's what keyboards and mice are for. Can't remember if the Xbox One does but the PS4 supports both. FF IV on PS4 allows you to use both.

Seems wierd to me. I don't understand why you would hook up keyboard and mouse to a console. I'd just play the game on my PC at that point. I suppose some people only have a console and no PC? In that case it would make sense I suppose. Or if there's console exclusive MMOs....maybe there are I have no idea.

Nice review. I disagree with a few points however. I do find the battle mode to be a serious letdown, not refreshing, as the tracks are too large and you end up just driving aimlessly. To me it makes battle mode unplayable. I also have a few other complaints such as no online in game voicechat, too many alts of the same character (mario, baby mario, metal mario, ect) instead of more variety of characters, and no special unlockables to give you incentives to gold cup higher difficulties.

However, I still love the game. I personally gave it a solid 4/5 stars.

Thanks!

 

The baby characters don't bother me, they're mostly for the kids to play as when they play with their parents.  Let bygones be bygones I always say!

I wouldn't mind one or two, but 4 seems excessive. There's so many other characters from the Mario universe I would have rather seen instead - goomba, magikoopa, hammer brothers, King Boo, Diddy Kong, ect.

nice but am wondering Will watchdogs be available for download in eShop because if its available i will cancel my watchdogs preorder

I don't think anyone knows for sure, but I know there are a few Ubisoft games like Rayman Legends and Zombi U that are available in the eshop so I would bet it will be available digitally.

When I was a kid I put hundreds and hundreds of hours into playing Mario Kart on the SNES.

What I loved about it was there was much more skill involved and less luck compared to newer kart games - there was no blue shell to prevent someone from getting a huge 1st place lead and item drops overall were much rarer (you got one per lap or so, in MK8 you get more like 3 per lap).

Also items were less powerful. The only super powerful/race changing items were the lightning bolt and star which were rare to get. Usually you got a green shell, a banana, a useless feather, or a useful red shell.

I haven't rebought it, but since my SNES stopped working this year I may consider it although MK8 is keeping me very busy nowadays.

Excellent review, I agree with you on a lot of points. The only big flaw with the game is its length, I was expecting 8 worlds and was super dissapointed when the game ended after I beat the 6th world boss. I was also annoyed by lack of character balance (Dixie is overpowered) and lack of anything new except for updated graphics but overall I really enjoyed the game and the developers did a great job.

For DLC I want battle tracks. Because battle mode right now is pretty much unplayable. The standard tracks are just too big and drawn out.

I'd like to see some improvements to online play as well...something more than a single rating. Nintendo should take ideas from call of duty and give us achievments, improved and detailed stats, cosmetic unlockables, ect.

Online play is so important. I want things to shoot for or I'm going to lose interest. We should have cosmetic unlockables for things like winning a certain number of races, winning a race on each track, hitting a certain number of racers with a boomerang, ect.

I've played most of these. I wasn't a fan of Pikmin 3 or New Mario Bros. U. They are both very short and Pikmin 3 is repetitive.

I'd recommend Windwaker HD - I haven't completed it but from what I've played so far I can tell it's easily the best overall game. 

All in all it comes down to what kind of game you like to play - do you want a platformer, adventure, hack n slash or multiplayer game? I'd check out some reviews and promo videos and decide based on that.