Tweet
Two days from Wii U's release in the US, and we still don't quite know what it is yet. We don't have a full picture of its features or its system software or how it will work online. We don't fully understand the digital glue that will stick this beefed-up HD Wii console to its GamePad tablet controller. It's a weird console.So - in its early days, at least - the burden of explaining Wii U will have to be shouldered by Nintendo Land. Like Wii Sports and Wii Play before it, this mini-game collection is part party game, part tech demo, part game design propaganda. It's meant as much to illustrate the potential of a novel hardware set-up as it is to entertain family and friends. To be quite honest though, it's better at the latter than it is at the former. Nintendo Land is a weird game for a weird console.
Its cute conceit, presented with perfect polish and charm, is that it's a virtual amusement park dedicated to all things Nintendo. It's somewhere your Miis stroll and cavort, dressing up as Mario or Samus or Captain Olimar before jumping into playpens where Nintendo's colourful game worlds are recreated out of stitched cloth, painted metal and shiny plastic capsule toys. It's completely disarming.
Read more…
More...