alex15810

That said, you can get a good workout from Wii Fit U if you plan right. I have used it when I couldn't get to the gym. If you're looking to burn calories and get a cardio workout, I'd create a custom workout consisting of something like this -

- Run all 4 obstacle courses (in my opinion the best and most fun exercise Wii Fit U offers)

- Hula Hoop (high a level as you can handle)

- 10 minute run. There's a few options, either do a straight run or play a running game where you have to find miis.

That alone will get your heart pumping for a good 30 minutes or so. 

I've found it's pretty much pointless to use the game for the muscle building and yoga once you've learned how to do the exercises. Just write them down along with how many repetitions you need and do them without the game. Going through the game doesn't add anything, takes too long, and is unnecessary. I really don't need to hear "good job!" "great workout!" and have the game tell me when to start and stop. I've found that getting the balance board balanced on your TV for these exercises isn't much of an indicator of whether your form is correct. So overall using the balance board for yoga and strength exercises is pointless in my opinion.

A lot of the stuff in Wii Fit U is fun but doesn't give you a workout, particularly most of the balance board stuff.

I really like the pedometer functionality. If you're into walking, using the Fit Meter to track your steps and in turn synching it with the game can be very satisfying. If you're not very active, sticking to a goal of say 10,000 steps a day will really help you drop pounds even if that's the only activity you do.

But as with everything, remember that if you're looking to lose weight changing your diet is way more important than exercise.

It's a game I may get down the road but not day one.

Game looks beautiful and fun but I have a few concerns. My main concern is it won't be challenging enough and I'll find it boring. Hopefully I'm wrong. I'll read some reviews after it comes out.

Besides, I still have plenty of puzzle/platformer type games I've yet to get to on the Wii U that I'd rather play first.

I'm still only about 1/2 the way through Trine 2 which is an absolute gem of a game. I'd also like to get to other platformer/puzzle/action type games like the Cave, Darksiders 2 and Ninja Gaiden. And I still haven't bought SM3D World.

Also I have Smash coming which will certainly dominate several months of my playtime. Not to mention play time going to my current favorite games - Orochi Warriors and MK8.

I always had the idea that if mario touched let's say...a goomba...he got hurt because getting that close allowed the monster to bite him, claw him, ect.

As far as the time deaths, I think that is mario getting so frustrated that he admits defeat and commits suicide , or the door closes on the other side when the clock reaches zero so he knows he can't complete the level and commits suicide on that basis.

Ok I'm being sarcastic on the last part obviously...but  I don't think its supposed to make sense story wise.

Woot I'm excited. Gonna have to dust off the MK8 disc haven't played it in a few weeks.

I think all of you make good points that 3rd parties backed out. And they did, I'll give you that. But let me give you my 2 cents -

This whole awful domino effect in the end was Nintendo's fault. It's their job to make their console an attractive one for 3rd parties to develop games on, not vice versa. The 3rd parties are a business. If the console isn't profitable to develop or too risky to develop on then they have every right to take their developer hours to Sony and Microsoft.

Maybe Nintendo didn't directly cut off 3rd party support, but all of their dumb decisions like horrible marketing, horrendous year 1 game release schedule, flubbing the name of the console, making the console a challenge to develop on because of the decision not to make hardware competitive with Sony/Microsoft, ect. are all Nintendo's fault.

Maybe Nintendo doesn't deserve all the blame but they certainly deserve some if not most of it. Maybe 3rd parties gave up too soon but as I see it in the end it is mostly Nintendo's fault for not making the console attractive enough to 3rd parties.

I"m not worried, Nintendo products are high quality.

My super nintendo's power supply just stopped working this year. Parents bought it for me soon after launch. Controllers still work fine...even through all the abuse my childhood put them through.

My ps1 controllers both still work. My ps2 controllers both died after about 8 years.

Wireless probably are more fragile but I'm sure they'll offer replacements in the future. What I'm hoping is they make the settings accessible via other controllers eventually so if the gamepad dies I won't be forced to replace it.

I don't see any information in the article as to what period that is for. I'm guessing it's 7/1/13 - 6/30/14? If so, Mario Kart only came out in May so the vast majority of those numbers are sales before Mario Kart 8.

Right now the Wii U is narrowly outselling the Xbox One. 59.1k worldwide sales the past month over Xbone's 57.7k. And we're over 2 months now after MK8 release so it looks like Wii U is getting some sort of permanent bump from MK8.  No, of course the Wii U isn't going to be a huge hit or even come remotely close to PS4 numbers but I think when it's all said and done it will have OK lifetime sales.

6 months ago Wii U was selling only 39k monthly. 24k monthly prior to MK8.

Atleast we're not in last place. I hope Wii U can hold it's edge over Xbone.

I still get frustrated with all the negative press Wii U gets yet it's outselling Xbone and you never seem DOOOM articles about Xbone.

As others said above, I just use the Pro controller for the vast majority of my gaming. It has a gigantic battery life.

And if you do prefer the gamepad, instead of spending a lot of money on another battery just keep an extension cord handy and plug the charger into the gamepad for those times when red light does come on. With an extension cord not having enough reach from a plug won't be an issue. This is what I did while playing Zombi U and other games that require the gamepad.

Maybe consider a new battery if having the charger plugged into the gamepad while playing really bothers you that much.

I don't see any way that there won't be a Smash Brothers bundle. That's my bet for the next bundle coming this christmas. The other releases I doubt it. If Pikmin 3 and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze weren't big enough games to warrant a bundle I don't see how games like Hyrule Warriors or Bayonetta 3 will be. Then again there was a bundle for Zelda Windwaker, a release, so you never know. There was also a bundle for Zombi U, which I bought when I got my Wii U last year.

Awesome news on the automatic progression. It's extremely annoying how many times you needlessly had to press "OK" when performing exercises. Press OK to select exercise, press OK after useless "take a break" screen, press OK after calorie total is updated, press "OK" to bypass instruction screen, press OK to start exercise, ect. I hope this is an improvement. I've long wanted to be able to just select the exercises I wanted to do and have them automatically play without having to pick the wiimote up and down constantly.

The Fitmeter thing is kinda nice for some, not for me because I accidently put my fitmeter through the washer and haven't bother to replace it. What I really want to see is some DLC offering extra obstacle courses. Nice to see some kind of additional support for the title though.

Just wanted to add a follow up comment and say how much I've enjoyed this update. I did 3 one hour long workouts using Wii Fit U in the past 4 days. This is such a huge improvement, you can now keep your heart rate up as it goes from exercise to exercise without interruptions or multiple confirmation screens every 5 minutes. For anyone who's been ignoring Wii Fit U I highly recommend you give the updated version a go.

I even wish they'd go further and give us the option to cut every interruption screen that's not an exercise - calorie counter progress, high scores, "why not take a break" screens, tip screens, ect. I just want to do the exercises without interruption...sort of like a fitness DVD.

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.

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