Nintendo Wii U… The Forgotten Console

Nintendo may not produce top end consoles, but they always bring a unique style to their games machines which gives them an edge, almost excusing their lack of power compared to competitors in that generation of console.

The original GameBoy might have had a rubbish mono screen, but it gave it an 8 hour battery life, something unheard of in its competitors. The Nintendo DS might not have been the most powerful, but the dual screen and touch capabilities as well as amazing battery life made it different.

The Nintendo Wii, was really just a repackaged GameCube and nowhere near as powerful as the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360, but its motion control made it an excellent family console, aimed at even those who didn’t like gaming.

However, after the mass success of the Wii released in 2006, Nintendo released the Wii U in 2012 – a console often forgotten, sandwiched between the Wii and the Switch – both very popular consoles.

While the Wii sold a whopping 101 million units worldwide, the Wii U sold a measly 13 million units.

But from a console point of view it is a great bit of kit. Rumoured as the Wii HD before its release, the Wii U takes the Wii and adds features it was lacking.

Packing a 1.24Ghz Tri-Core PowerPC processor and 2GB RAM (up from the 729Mhz PowerPC processor and 64MB of RAM of the Wii) and the ability to store its games on Blu-Ray discs, the Wii U was a fairly powerful machine.

Two versions were released. A white 'basic' version with 8GB internal memory and a black 'premium' version with 32GB internal memory. This might not sound a lot compared to the 100GB+ of its competitors but games run entirely from disc rather than being installed so the internal memory was for save games and downloads only.

The key selling point was the GamePad controller. This oversized controller featured a 6.2” LCD touchscreen as well as the buttons you would find on a regular controller. It meant you could play a lot of games without having your TV on, but it did mean the controller had to be within a close vicinity of your console.

The name suggested a backtrack on the Wii philosophy of being a family console. It was no longer 'we' as in everyone, but 'you' as in a personal console once again.

A massive bonus – and something many still don’t know – is the Wii U is fully backward compatible with the Wii games and all accessories. The Wii U system interface contains a section for the Wii and this then reboots the Wii U into Wii mode.

With the Wii U supporting HDMI (and the Wii not) this means Wii games can still be played on modern TVs.

Wii U games look stunning, aimed at taking advantage of the extra processing power and HD graphics with some main stream games like Call Of Duty Black Ops 2 looking damn near identical to the Playstation 3 version.

As with all Nintendo consoles it is the first party Mario titles only available on Nintendo hardware that keeps them afloat and why most people buy Nintendo consoles. New Super Mario Bros Wii U, Super Smash Bros U, Mario Kart 8, Super Mario World 3D, The Legend Of Zelda Wind Waker HD, The Legend Of Zelda Breath Of The Wild, Mario Party 10 and Yoshi's Woolly World all make up the best selling titles on the Wii U.

However, the Wii U never really took off. The GamePad was a good idea but the battery life was poor and gamers just didn’t see enough reason to splash a lot of money on an enhanced Wii, when you could pick up Wii consoles for next to nothing.

The lack of sales made a number of companies cut support either entirely or slimmed down such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Bethesda – which obviously impacted sales further, making it one of the lowest selling mainstream consoles ever.

In 2015 the basic version was discontinued and early 2017 saw Nintendo stop production altogether.

I own one. It is for my son and he loves it, and I love the fact I can watch TV or play on my console while he is sitting next to me playing on his Wii U via the GamePad. It also means I can have a cheeky bash on Super Mario Bros Wii U while my wife is watching her stuff on TV.

The Switch owes a lot to the Wii and the Wii U. While the GamePad was tied to the Wii U, it was a forerunner to a portable powerful console such as the Switch and the joy-cons from the Switch are redesigned Wii motion controllers.

So, don’t overlook the Wii U. It is a great console. It is really two consoles in one, with the GamePad being an amazing feature.

Written by Simon Royal. Follow me at twitter.com/simonroyal

Roku Streaming Stick Problems

Having recieved a Chromecast and a Roku Streaming Stick, I had hoped to compare and review both devices together, however due to various problems with the Roku, I was unable to do this. Many hours were wasted on this device and many expletives were uttered.

Firstly, the Roku asked for payment details on setup, and since I don't have a Credit Card or any of the other options I had to phone a premium rate number just to get them to setup an account without payment details. Luckily only a few minutes and they called me back to save me the expense on a long phone call, which was handy as there were more problems to come.

After sorting the account details, I had to restart setup on the device. At this point the remote decided to stop working, it refused to pair. Tried resetting the Roku, and resetting the remote, many, many times! It also kept rebooting itself and freezing up during the attempted pairing! Tried, on the suggestion of the helpline staff, using it in another TV in a different room as apparently the remote works on Wifi and suffers interference problems! They even suggested turning off the router, which seems a bit pointless since there are dozens of other wireless devices around this area and the router is of course needed for other stuff. Such a shame as this device was quite promising but it is going back to the shop unfortunately. The advantage over the Chromecast of having a proper remote (if it worked properly!), making it more standalone, would have been great.

Google Chromecast Unboxing and Review.

I recently picked up a Chromecast, they have not been out for very long here in the UK and I couldn't wait to get hold of one! Following is an unboxing and initial impressions of the device.

What's in the box?

Once the seal is broken there's a internal section (shown above) that slides out and opens up showing the device on top, with Getting Started instructions to the left on the lid.

Underneath is the charger, Micro USB lead and handy HDMI extender lead.

Simple Setup

The Chromecast is very simple to setup. Plug the HDMI end into your TV or Amp (with or without the HDMI extender). plug the supplied USB cable in the other end, and charger into the wall.

Once the device is all plumbed in, switch your TV to the correct HDMI input and follow the setup instructions onscreen. Everything is controlled from the Chromecast app on your Android or iOS device, or from Chrome browser. Everything should go well as long as you make sure both the device and controlling device are connected to the same router (for places that have wireless APs).

When idle the device shows some pretty wallpapers that change every few minutes.

Chromecast app on Nexus 7

Paused YouTube video

Then it's just a case of choosing what to send to your Chromecast. Out the box you can send YouTube videos and play music from the Google Play Music app, and send entire Chrome tabs from your computer, which is very handy!

Tech Thoughts on the big screen!

There are a growing number of little apps that allow you to do even more with the Chromecast. Localcast is one handy little app that allows you to cast media from your tablet, mobile, or web browser and has some other neat tricks. Also BBC iPlayer apparently works out the box though I have yet to try it.

The app and media server Plex is also very handy. I already had Plex setup on an Ubuntu Server PC and the Plex Android app has a cast button to cast content to the Chromecast, so photos, videos and music can be cast from a server upstairs down to TV in the living room.

Plex app and Air "Sexy Boy" streamed to the TV using the Chromecast

Chromecast is great for quickly showing someone a slideshow on a bigger screen, or a few YouTube videos, or for throwing a Chrome tab up on a TV like using a TV as a second monitor. With a growing number of Chromecast apps appearing it should be even more useful and I am still experimenting with more apps.

I found the setup pretty easy, as long as you have a decent network speed, and have not got a complicated amp/HDMI switch setup. It works best plugged directly into the TV if possible. It's certainly a lot less hassle then the Roku device (that I am about to return to the shop, more about that in another blogpost soon!)  The Chromecast works very well and I think it is great value for money and dare I say it, I love the Chromecast!

Update: Roku 'review' here.