Read more here: http://uk.gamespot.com/features/the-shortcomings-of-the-wii-u...

Beginning quote:
"The Wii U introduces exciting innovations to the world of console gaming, but a clunky OS and a concoction of cheap hardware sully its potential"

The closing comments:
"At the end of the day, it's rare that hardware manufacturers are able to include every feature under the sun at an affordable price. The Wii U does many things well, but so much of its promise is lost on the inferior tech in the GamePad and the console. It will be interesting to see how these are addressed down the road, but at the moment, it seems that the Wii U is anything but next-gen tech. Is it unrealistic to expect Nintendo to do more than simply innovate? Its intent came from a good place, but the result leaves a lot to be desired."

Those comments sounds bad to me, I am canceling my pre order today as its seems its not next gen as I most feared. Even though I love mario, it doesnt sound like its worth over 300 quid, I will buy it next year when things pick up and more games get released. (

Edit

Just read another depressing article that got released an hour ago: http://hexus.net/gaming/news/industry/48549-atari-veteran-bus...

A quote from the article:
"Nintendo has survived a long time and witnessed many other companies crash out of the games hardware industry; like Sega, Atari and 3DO. While the big N might not set buyer’s minds alight with the Wii U, it is sitting upon a huge pile of cash from the Wii’s success and will be able to keep going for another generation, you would think."

"The games industry is in particular turmoil right now with the huge popularity of smartphones and tablets as casual gaming devices; these devices are getting more powerful and better for gaming all the time. Would Nintendo be better as a game-making company without the own-brand hardware? No one at Nintendo seems to think so; Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo US, says that Mario on an iPhone will never happen."

"UPDATE: Reports say that the Wii U is sold out ahead of its launch here in the UK."

Did you actually have a pre-order?
I seem to recall that you and Knux seemed to have a 'thing' about digging up all the negative crap and taking it as gospel.

If you've had a bad case of twitchy-arse then you can sleep well now, can't you, but seriously, what kind of knob advertises their indecisiveness and then sets out to spread gloom and doom to feel justified about their decision?

I, for one, really don't care about your nervous disposition or the opinions of every other nerk who is heavily swayed by negative fanboy opinion.

Look, I had the Wii from release and it's first 6 months of games were shyte.
Then I bought a PS3. It's first 6 months were shyte too, gaming-wise.
Nobody knew how to get anywhere near the best out of them.

But they got better.

The Wii U has not only got a great range of launch titles compared to the above examples but I can still play all of my Wii titles on it.

Good luck, don't hurry back....

Yes I have a pre order. I'm just very concerned with all this negative press the new console is getting, Spending over £300 on a new console that's not next gen is a big problem in my eyes. Money is scace now as Its still a recession over here, so I have to spend my money wisely

Sorry if this news upsets you as it does me, but its best to know the truth about the Wii-U hardware now. Its just a real shame as I had high hopes for this, I'm kind of upset with all this negative press. Been a Nintendo fan for over a decade but I have never seen such negative press for a supposedly next gen console.

Regardless if I cancel my pre order, I wish the best for Nintendo and I hope they manage to pull through with this console.

"inferior tech in the GamePad" is nonsense and saying it's not WiFi shows how bad they are at understanding the tech involved.

Proof, Step 22: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nintendo+Wii+U+Teardown/11796/3
Broadcom BCM4319XKUBG

Dual antennae 5GHz wireless device which is the same as the high bandwidth part of dual band routers. Which means lots of data but some problems with walls. It's the same frequency that's used for the highest end WiFi standard to date (802.11ac) and is how you get speeds upto 150Mbps on WiFi. The Wii U uses a slightly modified version of WiFi to achieve the performance it does.

To suggest that the GamePad is using inferior tech especially with regard to the wireless transmission of images is absurd in the highest degree. This device wasn't designed to be used in a different room to the console, if it had been the image quality and latency would have been much worse and they would have used 2Ghz instead of 5Ghz.

USB 2.0, resistive touch panels, and only a 30ft range for the Wii U GamePad. What is this, E3 2011? We've known there will be no capacitive screen for Nintendo and you can't take the GamePad with you on the train. The tone of their hardware review sounds so dire but it's just a tempest in a teapot.

That was a terrible read..

They stop spreading it. Or continue. Or go away. Or do something useful in life.
Tick where appropriate

Lets list their complaints:

• 8GB is not big enough... fair
• Menu is too sluggish... fair
• It supports external storage via USB2 (solves first point)
• It doesn't do USB3 (minor irritation) or thunderbolt (they're dreaming)
• Nintendo is pedantic about what sort of external drive will work (legal stuffs)
• GamePad doesn't use WiFi (it does)
• Not capacitive screens.... fair-ish (it is designed to be used primarily with buttons remember)
• Battery life is short... fair (although good news is there's plenty of space for a larger one... and it's not a portable)
• Wii backwards compatibility doesn't add any features .... (it has Wii backwards compatibility)

"Is it unrealistic to expect Nintendo to do more than simply innovate?"
Is simply innovating a bad thing?

edit: interesting point about the Wii backwards compatibility. There is literally a 512MB flash chip on the console itself which is almost surely used for Wii functionality. So when you don't use the extra memory for the WiiMode it's likely because the console doesn't even have access to it.

Yeah, I would not take anything Gamespot says about hardware as the gospel. They are a site that primarily focuses on game content, not hardware. Also, assuming that the reviewer was using the console at the Gamespot offices, there's a good chance that a ton of other wireless signals got in the way of the one between the Wii U and the Gamepad.

Sorry everyone, I just canceled my pre order, I know you will all be disappointed in my decision but I just couldn't keep convincing myself it's worth paying over 300quid at the minute with it being a poor line up too. I had been thinking long and hard about this for the last week and believe me it wasn't easy, In the end the cons just outweighed the pros. As a loyal Nintendo fan that has bought everything from day 1, it saddens me I have to make this decision.

But I will definitely buy one in the future. I can't wait and see what next year brings, hopefully the big IPs like Zelda, Mario Kart, Pokemon ect when released will defo regenerate my interest x10 and I will happily throw money at Nintendo for a Wii-U.

Your loss

I can't wait for it personally.

@xBASSxMONSTAx
I really couldn't care less whether or not you're getting one and I don't think anyone else here does either. The thing that people are annoyed about is the gamespot review of the thing which is riddled with technical errors. It's clearly written by someone who doesn't know what they're talking about. I say this as someone who was defending IGN's criticisms of the Wii U in another thread.

Personally I'm getting one on Friday and am pretty happy about it. Sucks to be you having to wait for it.

Same here
Wait for it, personally I can't.

I had Zorn and Thorn in my head for that.

Sounds like you missed out. Well enjoy the cash anyway.

I probably have. But now I can use the money for the family's Christmas presents.

Yea, just remember......lately, no matter what innovation comes out, there is somebody there to dog it, and give it a poor review. Most of the time I think these people already have their mind made up. They likely don't even have the console for more than an hour or two. Get your advice from people who have the console, on whether to cancel or not. After a week I can say it integrates nicely into our entertainment center. It is bug free no freezes or glitches. Its fast and hooks up seemlessly into our internet network. Graphics are awesome HD on our plasma, and nice and crisp on the gamepad. The gamepad is light, well laid out, complete, and totally innovative. The OS is choked full of fun features like miiverse, eshop, forums, etc. My only gripe is the slight wait inbetween some screens, but I am sure firmware updates will shorten this.