Topic: If you could change one thing about the Wii U what would it be?

Honestly, I would change the name even though I totally understand why Nintendo named it "Wii U".

Being new =/= feeling new. Nintendo could release a console for $150 that only played 8-bit games with no other features, and it would be new. But it wouldn't feel new, it would feel old.

The Wii U, at first glance (which is what most products get, not because consumers are dumb, but because there are enough options that researching everything isn't feasible), doesn't look/feel like a new system. It looks like a slightly better PS3 that has a screen controller attachment.

That goes for Xbox One and PS4, as well. Being similar to Xbox 360 and PS3 is basically THEE type of message they WANT to give when you see their new consoles, especially in their commercials. The cross-gen games have made that immediately clear since day one, and the Xbox/PS fans are buying into it. I'm not saying that's a bad thing either, but if you are really going to say that about Wii U, then Xbox One and PS4 are going to be thrown into that definition by a whim, honestly.

Gamers that played Watch Dogs on Xbox 360 compared to Xbox One got primarily the same experience, and the only thing they are riding on is being slightly better than Xbox 360 and PS3, at least for the time being, until the generation is farther in.

Communication. Chatting with people is far more cumbersome than it should be.

Its advertising campaign.I barely see any advertisements for the Wii U by itself without focusing on one game.Nintendo keeps dishing out these ads on ONE NEW GAME that's coming out for the system every month,then they repeat without showing a lot of the system off on TV for a while.It is the main reason why the system is just not selling well and not as popular as the PS4 and Xbone.

I completely agree.Nintendo is trying too hard to be the "family and kid friendly" console when most of the people who own it are long time fans in the first place.They need to drop all of the Friend Codes and stuff and just allow for people to send each other friend requests.Also,games you buy on the eShop shouldn't be unplayable when your NN account gets banned or terminated because the mods on Miiverse are absolutely terrible.

Friend codes aren't even a thing on Wii U, and you can friend request anyone as long as they allow it. They are talking about communication after that, which is pretty much restricted to Miiverse posts, excluding voice chat/messaging.

Also, I've never read or come across someone who got banned from NNID and got screwed like that.

There are no friend codes, you do just send people a friend request

I would say better online, 3rd party support and the like, but it's clear that most people that are into those things own a system in addition to a Nintendo one that can take advantage of those things. Myself included. If Nintendo bothered to get those things, not many people would care that much. (Although better online networks would be nice regardless).

However, I really wish Nintendo took better advantage of virtual console releases on the Wii U. I'm talking along the lines of their entire backlog, from NES to Wii, as well as the various other non-Sony and Microsoft systems. It would seriously help the lack of software coming to the system, since there just isn't enough on the Wii U coming out on a consistent basis. Considering that the Gamecube adapter exists, the controller excuse can't be used anymore.

Not tying purchases to the system would be nice, too.

The word you people are looking for is unfamiliar. Not dumb, unfamiliar. The average person is not dumb because they do not immediately realize the Wii U is entirely different from the Wii, rather they are unfamiliar with video games and therefore do not immediately recognize the difference.

Some of you throw around the word dumb as if this site consists of a bunch of geniuses. There are a few decent reasons that allow someone to feel more intelligent than the general public, ie. being in the medical profession, being an engineer, being a professor.

Being an avid follower of Nintendo news does not qualify you for that position.

To be fair I don't remember any tech product where what it does wasn't fairly immediately apparent to me. Though I am a Computer Science major and have a fairly broad knowledge of tech so I guess that's probably why. I still don't get how people could have thought the GamePad was a portable console, but I don't get how people think a lot of things so.....

Also on that note, looking at the way they're advertising the new 3DS? I feel a little bit uneasy about the way they're presenting it. To me it looks like they're trying to say you need to buy it if you want to play future 3DS games. Like it's an actual new console. I reckon it seems a bit unclear, moreso than any potential confusion around the Wii U ever was.

@AlexSays
We've already had one comment about NNIDs being tied to the console(which it's not), friend codes(which aren't on Wii U) and another about not being able to message on Miiverse(which you can). People on this board don't know everything about the Wii U, and alot of the comments on the previous page already make that very clear, even though they would be supposedly "avid followers", as you claim.

The same thing happened when Miiverse was announced for 3DS and eShop was going to be a thing on other devices. People ended up asking if those features were going to be available, when there was already information about it online. These people are still considered "avid followers". They just don't know to use the Google search bar

TL;DR - People aren't attentive, which is why they are unfamiliar.

I don't really understand how Nintendo is supposed to get people aware, though. They're still working on making the console better, and a lot of the information people should know about the console isn't really something that Nintendo would advertise or bring to anyone's attention, especially if it's not finalized.

A Miiverse commercial, would make more sense now than it did at launch, but they could be adding a ton of features, for all we know, and it's because the console is a work in progress, to put it simply.

My main change I would make would be the exact same change I would make for Nintendo. The complete inability to do anything about anything in a reasonable amount of time. "Oh Wii's relevance is dying? Don't worry, Wii U will be out in another 18 or so months! Wii U's launch advertising is poor? Don't worry, we'll advertise better IN A YEAR. Mario Kart 8 doing well? Don't worry, we'll have another game in 4 months!"

I've seen plenty of Wii U and 3DS game commercials on Cartoon Network(before it was a separate paid channel), and Nickelodeon. I just don't think Nintendo is interested in advertising, for the time being, for whatever reason.

Graphics are something that is super easy to convey to an audience at first glance. If a game looks visually impressive, the system looks more "new". Graphics aren't the only thing that does this, but they are one of them.

The Wii's motion controls also has this easy conveyance. I'd even argue that, for a short time, the 3DS's 3D had it. They are all things that might come up when I'm talking about crazy new things happening in tech with friends. A Nintendo system with a tablet controller is not one of those things. It's something that has to be explained.

I get what you are saying, but I would say that Wii U having a tablet controller is different enough to take notice, at least in the console space. The graphics are also better on Wii U, especially when it comes to 1st party software, thus far.
If we were to open the topic to including smartphones and tablets, THEN it would start to look like something Airplay or Chromecast would do.

I'm pretty sure even people that saw Wii U announced at E3 were confused, which seriously doesn't make sense. They specifically showed stuff that Wii couldn't do, and some people were still confused.

I do wish the Wii U would play DVDs. Just having the Wii U and my cable box hooked up to the TV would be ideal, but I suppose it's a minor gripe.

the system itself... nothing really comes to mind. I just wish Nintendo had negotiated more third party exclusives. They had to have known what was going to happen. Perhaps not how fast but still...

...Or experienced. And therein lies the problem i see for marketing the WiiU imo.