Since the tech demos at E3 I can honestly say -without reservation- that the Nintendo WiiU is the first Nintendo product I have no interest in buying. I don't think a handful of HD Zelda and Mario titles are gonna be enough for Nintendo to do battle against the Next Gen consoles. We got a demo unit for the WiiU in our store 3 weeks ago with no playable demos, just videos and slide shows... The thing comes out on the 18th!!! I'm not impressed with the hardware, the games look like 360's lesser titles and most of the launch titles are already out and have been out for months. It seems needless to have a DS style screen for the tv. That said, the controller is huge, unnecessarily complex, and over priced, but at least I can watch tv on it... But I can already watch tv on my tv, so that's not a selling point.
In my estimation this device is releasing FAR too early. Expect supplies to be scarce between now and next July (which would've been a mor logical launch point based on available software...). That said, from a hardcore gaming standpoint this release reminds me of the Sega Saturn launch, which was a major snafu on SEGA's part and the beginning of end that eventually knocked SEGA out of the console market. Something's off at Nintendo. The 3DS (a blurry mess of hand-held gaming tech) was the first signal that Nintendo might need to re-evaluate it's approach to the market.
Lex
