Wii U Catch-All

shoptroll wrote:

iOS and Steam are still the gold standard in my book

On the other hand, my Wii > WiiU transfer went just fine while my new iPhone refuses to sync with the proper iCloud account. My iTunes store and iCloud accounts are different because they were two different things back when they both started. On setup I only get one prompt to enter an Apple ID though. As a result it looks like my new iPhone can either sync purchases or it can sync contacts but not both.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Wii U related - had a bit of a scare.. my TV's Wii U display was tinted pink. My oldest Xbox360 started doing that shortly before getting the old red ring, so it made me nervous. After some tinkering about it seems the Wii component cable I've been using since 2006 gave out - switching to HDMI fixed it. Unfortunately now I have to use the HDMI switcher I've been avoiding. My TV is also from 2006 and only has one HDMI port, which I'd been using for my cable box. Ah well, first world problems.

Also, an hour of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate:

Scary with the pink tint, never like to see that on something new. Glad it wasn't a major problem.

Also, huzzah for Monster Hunter in HD!

In other news, it's 1:16 AM and I just finished the main story mode of New Super Mario Bros. U. So pleasantly surprised by this one after disliking the prior three games in the "new" series. If there's some kind of software drought in the summer for Wii U I might try for getting all the big coins, but for now it's getting put to bed. I've started Scribblenauts Unlimited and like it, but I think I owe it to myself to really dig into ZombiU at this point.

Stele wrote:

Yeah I'm not yet confident that PSN titles on my PS3 will transfer in any way to the PS4.

They should, but who knows what kind of licensing issues there might be?

If they're PS3 games, the common scuttlebutt is that the PS4 won't be backwards compatible with them at all because of how different the system will be. The possibility is a real bummer for me because I've never had a PS3, and I'd been hoping to play the stuff I'd missed on the next system.

Regarding licensing issues, man, Sony's got this page on the PSN store that tells me I can buy a certain PSP game on my Vita. The instructions tell me to go to the PSN Store on my Vita and download it. I cannot get it without having a PS3, though, for whatever reason. I guess they don't want to pay Sega to let them *sell* it on another platform? Take the goddamn page down if so. Christ. Point is, you're right. Nothing should be taken for granted during the generation shift.

Wii U related - had a bit of a scare.. my TV's Wii U display was tinted pink. My oldest Xbox360 started doing that shortly before getting the old red ring, so it made me nervous. After some tinkering about it seems the Wii component cable I've been using since 2006 gave out - switching to HDMI fixed it. Unfortunately now I have to use the HDMI switcher I've been avoiding. My TV is also from 2006 and only has one HDMI port, which I'd been using for my cable box. Ah well, first world problems.

Also, an hour of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate:

Unfortunately for me he's playing from the very start of the game. I've seen just about everything shown at least twice.

Blind_Evil wrote:

If there's some kind of software drought in the summer for Wii U I might try for getting all the big coins, but for now it's getting put to bed.

I definitely recommend doing this. I haven't 100%-ed a Mario game since Wario Land (Super Mario Land 3) and I've had a lot of fun trying to get all the Star Coins and alternate routes. There's not a lot of alt. exits compared to Mario World, but some of the Star Coins have been tricky. Plus the Star Road levels are interesting. I really appreciate how Nintendo designs their Mario games so that they're not too painful to beat, but they'll certainly make you earn that 100%.

I've been having a really great time with Mario. At first, I felt a bit jaded, since I have played all of the New games and 3D Land, so I've been Marioing almost constantly over the last couple of years, but it won me over pretty quickly. I love the fact that I can keep playing on the controller, too, but is there any way of turning that screen off when I am playing on the TV?

Don't forget to do the challenges; I love doing time trials with my Mii dressed as Mario! Little things and little minds, I suppose.

Speaking of Miis, the photo function is a really great idea, and takes the pain out of building characters quickly.

Zombie U is SO HARD! Which is, of course, brilliant. Getting killed by the zombie of your own character is such a head slapping moment, especially since there is then a second zombie to kill when you go back with a third character.

My only gripe about the Wii U is the lack of optical out. I didn't read much about it before I bought it, and could not believe that they had left it out. So stupid. Zombie U without surround sound to scare the pants off me is a travesty.

Does COD:BlOps IIU have the option to control it with a nunchuck and remote a la Metroid Prime 3, or are you restricted to the dual-analog sticks of the game pad and pro controller? It's heresy I know, but I love how that felt like a light-gun game taken off the rails.

spider_j wrote:

My only gripe about the Wii U is the lack of optical out. I didn't read much about it before I bought it, and could not believe that they had left it out. So stupid. Zombie U without surround sound to scare the pants off me is a travesty.

This. The Wii U forced my hand to upgrade my old receiver...

To those who got the black Wii U pack, which includes Nintendo Land, was the game a disc or a download code? I have no recollection of seeking it at all.

Physical disc here in the US.

spider_j wrote:

To those who got the black Wii U pack, which includes Nintendo Land, was the game a disc or a download code? I have no recollection of seeking it at all.

Physical disk for me, from my HMV-bought one.

spider_j wrote:

Zombie U is SO HARD! Which is, of course, brilliant. Getting killed by the zombie of your own character is such a head slapping moment, especially since there is then a second zombie to kill when you go back with a third character.

I've not put a lot of time into it so far but I'm LOVING a lot of things about Zombie U. The whole Dark Souls style death mechanic especially.

spider_j wrote:

To those who got the black Wii U pack, which includes Nintendo Land, was the game a disc or a download code? I have no recollection of seeking it at all.

Physical disc for me.

Thanks guys.

re: Zombie U -- I had no idea other players zombie corpses could show up in your game! That's kind of cool.

Just dropped one right outside the safe house entrance and transferred everything from his completely full backpack to my storage chest. Not going to be hurting for med-packs or flares any time soon!

I do like this game a LOT.

Woke up very pleased to find out that because of the way we're paid at my company, one of the major government deductions is excluded from our final year's paycheque so I've got about $165 more than I planned which means I don't have to return the copy of ZombiU I got on sale! Can't wait to dig into that tomorrow.

So what's the deal with the virtual console stuff? Will it stay in the Wii menu or are they going to move it out to the main menu? I would think classic games on the gamepad would be a big selling point for the new system.

Vargen wrote:

So what's the deal with the virtual console stuff? Will it stay in the Wii menu or are they going to move it out to the main menu? I would think classic games on the gamepad would be a big selling point for the new system.

I can't imagine why they'd want to keep it in the Wii section. My hope is that there will be a firmware update this year which adds native Virtual Console support to the console while expanding the library to include at least Saturn, Dreamcast, and Gamecube titles.

I certainly hope so as well. I don't mind it being in the Wii menu (aside from the fact that it takes twice as long to load the Wii menu as it does to actually physically boot up a Wii console) but it would be nice to have it on the main screen to be able to better organise it and also get access to the games on the GamePad.

I just added everyone from the Wii U list. My network ID is Horsemeat

I managed to get a survivor to last almost 2 hours on ZombiU last night, which is a definite improvement on the previous 12! 6 of those died on the same mob.

He had some really good equipment, so I need to track him down. Unfortunately, he died in the midst of a seriously nasty mob. I'm not going to cricket bat my way through that little lot.

Am I right in thinking that mobs spawn into the map as you go along? I will swear blind that I methodically cleared every single area behind me, no radar pings or scanner hits, and then I got ambushed from behind by 4 with 2 or 3 more in front of me.

I was in one of those annoying situations where it was a huge distance back to the safe house, carrying 4 grenades, 3 guns and a bunch of ammo, too.

I think that it must have been scripted, though I have no idea what the trigger was. I scan every room and smash the head off anything and everything, so I don't think that they were lurkers. One was a spitter, two helmeted.

I'm going to have to get back to my former self, hope that he has wandered away from the mob, go back to the safe room and store some stuff, and, as you say, grenade the rotting flesh off the rest!

spider_j wrote:

Am I right in thinking that mobs spawn into the map as you go along? I will swear blind that I methodically cleared every single area behind me, no radar pings or scanner hits, and then I got ambushed from behind by 4 with 2 or 3 more in front of me.

Not 100% certain about that. I know that triggering story related stuff (picking up a key item, etc) generally sets off some scripted attacks that come out of previously cleared areas, areas repopulate when you reload the game and I've had a random player corpse show up outside the safe-house door once. but I'm not sure how often (if at all) random zombies spawn into an area though.

Do you decapitate any prone corpses you come across? because I've had one or two of them surprise me by getting up so I systematically splat every corpse I pass just in case And dormant zomb's don't show up on the FEARdar*

I don't think I've seen any respawns in an area while I was still in it but then I'm playing on normal/chicken-mode and I can barely last for 20min or so before the tension gets the better of me, so maybe that makes a difference.

spider_j wrote:

He had some really good equipment, so I need to track him down. Unfortunately, he died in the midst of a seriously nasty mob. I'm not going to cricket bat my way through that little lot.

I have a spare grenade sitting in my stash for just that situation. Those things are AWESOME for clearing a room.

- also, I assume you've advanced the story far enough until you...

Spoiler:

get the zombie 'splodin serum from the doctor in the palace bunker - that thing's saved me from the insta-death "bite" attack a couple of times

?

* Because that's what it is. The game is SIGNIFICANTLY more tension filled because of that bloody radar ping. If there's a Wii version of that Aliens game and they DON'T use something similar then they are seriously missing a trick.

stevenmack wrote:

* Because that's what it is. The game is SIGNIFICANTLY more tension filled because of that bloody radar ping. If there's a Wii version of that Aliens game and they DON'T use something similar then they are seriously missing a trick.

Yeah, they're doing that.

Randy Pitchford[/url]]Explaining that the WiiPad is "perfect for Aliens," Pitchford reiterated previous statements about the tablet screen's functionality in the game, detailing how it will be used as the motion tracker featured in Aliens, as well as an in-game map screen.

spider_j wrote:

I managed to get a survivor to last almost 2 hours on ZombiU last night, which is a definite improvement on the previous 12! 6 of those died on the same mob.

Am I the only one who feels that there should be a "one bullet left for me" option in this game? I know it would be horribly controversial to have suicide feature so prominently in a game, but I think that choice really makes sense in this game.

mrtomaytohead wrote:
stevenmack wrote:

* Because that's what it is. The game is SIGNIFICANTLY more tension filled because of that bloody radar ping. If there's a Wii version of that Aliens game and they DON'T use something similar then they are seriously missing a trick.

Yeah, they're doing that.

Randy Pitchford[/url]]Explaining that the WiiPad is "perfect for Aliens," Pitchford reiterated previous statements about the tablet screen's functionality in the game, detailing how it will be used as the motion tracker featured in Aliens, as well as an in-game map screen.

Oh wow. That actually makes me want a Wii U. I'm such an Aliens fanboy.

Hah! My new survivor girl's pre-zombie apocalypse career was "Pimp". Now she HAS to live to the end of the game!

Also, hit a really annoying game stopping bug earlier at a certain point:

Spoiler:

The scene at the top of the Tower of London where you need to clear the rooftop. I somehow ended up clearing the rooftop BEFORE the quest prompt asked me to, and then when it DID trigger there were no zombies left to trigger the NEXT part.

Had to quit and redo a big chunk to get back to where I was, which was annoying.

We finally found all the star coins in Mario U! Does anyone know the total number of secret exits? Our save is missing the 5th star, so it's either due to not finding all the exits or Nabbits. Pretty sure we missed a Nabbit or two, but not sure about exits.

derekrap wrote:

I just added everyone from the Wii U list. My network ID is Horsemeat

Likewise, just sent friend requests to everyone I could, ID GWJstevnmk

In ZombiU News... had to visit a certain location to find some antibiotics.

...forget extra ammo, I'd recommend packing a spare pair of underwear for the trip. Seriously.
(Also pack extra ammo).

The worst part is, I'm going to have to go BACK there to open up a locked door I skipped over. NOT looking forward to it at all. Zoe the Pimp can only take so much...

Digital Foundry did a neat comparison of NSMB U to NSMB Wii. Not a big change graphically, but it's the little things that count

ZombiU is down. Without a doubt probably my recommended "must have" game if you're grabbing a WiiU at the moment - best survival horror game of last year I think, and one that really shows off the pad to good effect. There's one really annoying bit that I DIDN'T like at ALL...

Spoiler:

The "King of the Zombies" bit. I hate it when a game take away your weapons and gear involuntarily to artificially boost tension (like this game needs any more of THAT), it's worse when they then throw you into an arena with a pistol that you can quite easily miss picking up. Lost a character there just trying to get my bearings, which felt like a bit of a cheap death. It would have been EXTREMELY annoying had I been playing the survivor mode at this point.

...but other than that it was fantastic.

And I...

Spoiler:

Got to DA CHOPPA! (with the panacea) in the little post-credit run as well

...which was nice.