The Nintendo Wii U is an important system. It's the first step into the next console generation, after the longest generation to date. It's Nintendo's first console after the world-changing anomaly that is the Wii. It's an attempt to create a new standard for game controllers. It's a console with pervasive digital distribution of retail games. It's a delivery system for a really good Mario.
It also has some troubling issues that I'm not sure how to interpret. The system update enabling all online features – eShop, Miiverse, Netflix, system transfer, and even Wii backwards compatibility – arrived late Saturday night, just three hours short of this posting. I had reason to believe this update would be here in the middle of last week.
Not only does that mean this review had little time to evaluate broad swaths of the Wii U's functionality, it has me worried about Nintendo's ability to handle the new online network. I won't judge the online too harshly for something that happens before launch, but I can fairly say the launch is already suboptimal. This review will be updated as we have time to examine features.
In any case, the stuff that does work is pretty nice.