Nintendo Apologizes for the Wii U Set-up Process
You can add 'software updates,' to the list of life's certainties.
We've all been there. You fire up your console to play some games only to be told you can't do anything until you've installed a very important update. Sometimes, these only take a few minutes. Other times, they can take quite a while. This can be especially annoying if you're just trying to squeeze in 10 or 20 minutes of play time before leaving the house or getting back to work.
If this kind of thing frustrates you, imagine how it feels to be forced to do a massive update right out of the box. You're excited to get your new toy home and see how she runs. Once you get everything all plugged in and fired up, you're told you have to wait even longer to get started because of updates. This is exactly what owners of Nintendo's new Wii U are facing. Even Nintendo recognizes users' plight.
Speaking in an interview with IGN, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said he's sorry for the lengthy set-up time involved in getting the Wii U up and running.
"Personally I think that users should be able to use all the functions of a console video game machine as soon as they open the box," IGN cites Iwata as saying. "So I feel very sorry for the fact that purchasers of Wii U have to experience a network update which takes such a long time, and that there are the services which were not available at the hardware’s launch."
The Wii U went on sale in the United States on November 18 and the company shifted 400,000 units in the first week of availability. It launches in Europe on Friday.
A simple message "Update available" "Install Now" "Remind me Later"
Choices Nintendo! There is no need to force updates.
A simple message "Update available" "Install Now" "Remind me Later"
Choices Nintendo! There is no need to force updates.
Helps develop pacience, and that is required in the future if you plan to have a girlfriend
The "apps" on it also need updating. I tried the YouTube app to see how it worked and it needed a 10 minute update too.
The web browser on it seemed surprisingly quick.
Overall, I was impressed. NintendoLand, the game that game with it, is nothing to write home about, but it does help showcase what the system can do. I'll get my money's worth out of it I'm sure.
So you refused whole systems with slews of games based on them needing updates? I take it you don't purchase games or any MMOs at all ever either? Its not a big of a deal as most people make it out of. Leave it on overnight and it will be ready to play in the morning. Simple, easy and its kind of a lot easier than shoveling snow out of your drive way so you can make it to work.
What are you, like 5 years old, ever hear of grammer?
Ever try to play games on a PS3? First time I tried to play GT5 I had to download an 300 Meg update, then a 120 Meg update, then a 180 Meg update. All systems do this, it allows the developer to fix problems that were discovered after the devices where made.
Do you really think all the Wii Us were made in the week before they were released? No they where made months before, get over it people.
I didn't buy Wii U, and have no plan to buy one. I have Wii, PS3, XBox 360, and a decent gaming PC, which are quite enough at the moment. And I think Wii was a heck of a gaming console. Maybe still is.
But there is a major danger they face: I still remember when a game console was just as easy and ready to use as a home appliance, with the added benefit that it was regarded as a technological marvel and a lot of fun. You just had to plug in the cartridge and turn it on. It worked right away, there were never any firmware updates, and games only very rarely had any bugs.
Nowadays, with consoles being more than that, by also having more and more functions of a PC, including all the firmware updates, game patches, the danger is that they may get too close to PCs and eventually become extinct. I remind those who are too young to know, back in the mid eighties and early nineties, there were consoles, and then there was the PC, but there were also two hybrids, all in one computers inside the keyboard, that had better graphics and sound than the PC and were ususally connected to a TV (although they could be connected to a computer monitor), I'm talking about the Atari ST and the Commodore Amiga. As soon as the PC got better graphics and better quality sound (thanks to AdLib and Sound Blaster soundcards), they soon faded away, and by the mid nineties, consoles on one side, and the PC on the other, had won.
This bad enough back when we lived in the lower '48 and had a 25mbps cable internet connection with unlimited downloads. Now we live in Nome, AK where the standard speed is ~100kbps and we're capped at 10gb a month. Considering how much consoles depend on the internet these days, I wouldn't even consider buying a new one.
Hardware has gotten exponentially more powerful, heck - exponentially-exponentially ^ love more powerful.
Yet speed and reliability is worse. Clearly we have gone off track somewhere. Now even Nintendo, the masters of solid products, is no longer immune.