Was it a ghetto Target?

I was out of town for all the E3 shenanigans, but catching up...geez! I couldn't have been more thrilled with everything Nintendo showed off. The digital event really did feel like an event, and I certainly love the emphasis on gameplay (over cinematics, guys in suits bragging about numbers, etc.).

There's an excellent chance I'll wind up buying every single Wii U game they showed. (Errr...not The Devil's Third, though!) It's a tossup between Splatoon and Sunset Overdrive as the E3 title I'm looking forward to the most. Might be a bit before I pick up Hyrule Warriors; it comes out the day before my wedding (!), and I think I'd rather be playing the following month's Bayonetta double feature once I have a chance to really sit down and game again.

More than anything, I wanted Nintendo to make me feel excited again, and they definitely did that...moreso than what Microsoft and Sony showed off, although I see plenty of stuff for my Xbox One and PS4 that I'll be getting over the next 12-18 months. The 3DS did get short thrift, which is disappointing, although I guess that gives me a chance to pick up all the games that've been on my wish list. At least Nintendo didn't completely ignore it the way Sony did with the Vita.

No, they probably just finally sold out of their initial shipment...

So I picked up a Wii U today for the hell of it I guess (had a lot of luck on eBay selling crap). Not a great first impression. The setup took forever and all the system menus and UI functions are so damn slow its ridiculous. Then, I decided I should update it. 60-90 minutes estimated time...IF the wifi didn't disconnect every 2-3 minutes (wifi is flawless on all my other devices, including the 360 sitting 2 inches away). No problem, I'll just wire it up real quick. NOPE! No ethernet port. What a joke. All we wanted to do was play some Mario and it's been over 2 hours of nonsense and it's currently still updating. No wonder Nintendo has a foot in the grave. Glad this damn thing was free.

You can buy an Ethernet cable adapter if you're having trouble with the WiFi connection.

I finally got it to download the update...dreading my free download of Pikmin tomorrow though. Gotta love Nintendo's stance on online gaming...

Not to sound like a fan boy, but your experience is not the norm. Your Wii U may be defective. My menu / UI is pretty fast and I have never once had wifi drop. The updates are never anywhere near that long for me. By comparison, my PS3 is much slower overall with set-up and updates. I hope it gets better for you!

Yeah, he probably has a defective Wifi chip in his Wii U.

The updating still takes a very long time regardless, especially if it's an older unit -- the first update on mine took 4 hours -- and the UI was horribly slow when I had a Wii U from Launch through August 2013. It was honestly the most sluggish game console UI I'd ever seen.

I hear the most recent update sped up some aspects of the UI which was much needed, however Stu has a long update to go before he gets there.

After rebooting the console and yelling at it, the wifi held up for the rest of the update. Still took us nearly 3 hours to be able to play a game. And yes, it's super slow...especially compared to my Xbox One. At least Mario was still fun.

Did you document exactly what you yelled at it? This might be helpful for future troubleshooting conversations.

Yeah, I have other problems with the U (mostly with the stupid controller), but nothing like what discostu is going through. All that stuff; updates, playing games, etc were a breeze.

Wow...maybe I'm just lucky then. I'm pretty sure my longest update was about a half hour and that was a one time thing. Others have been pretty quick and not very frequent.

I bought a Wii ethernet->USB adapter from monoprice for pretty cheap so if you need to wire it into your Lan, its pretty easy and cheap

It depends on when you updated yours. I got mine around launch which meant everybody was updating. Stu got his during the single biggest spike in sales since launch. Again, everybody was updating.

Yeah my longest update was the launch patch at 45 minutes...but yeah, it was launch day.

What's odd is that I find the wait time for setting up the Xbox One to be pretty long, and then the install times whenever I buy a new game... ugh. The WiiU is much better in that respect (but not in anything related to connecting online).

Finally watched that Amiibo video... so those toys are only to play with UI characters?

I told myself I wasn't going down the Wii U road after my Wii turned into a paper weight but I couldn't help myself, I missed Mario games. I bought the New Super Mario Bros U pack over the weekend. Now I need to buy new Wii controllers after giving all my old Wii stuff to my parents. They got me back.

call me shallow, but I would pick up a Wii U tomorrow if they made the stamp system universal, with a running total like trophy/achievements.

I would buy one tomorrow if it played GameCube games

I really hope it happens eventually.

The controller adapter for Smash Bros. Wii U sold me. I didn't know when I'd get one (just eventually), but if I can swing it around the holidays I'll pick one up.

I still have my GameCube hooked up but the fact that I Can use my WaveBird on the new Smash Bros. is awesome.

I wonder if it will work with other games as well?

Came home from a run to Target with a few games since they were having their sale. I've never owned a Mario Kart game or owned/played a Donkey Kong platformer but I bought Mario Kart and Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze. I had a little bit of an issue redeeming my PIN and getting my free game but it was totally worth it for free Zelda. Can't wait to dive into Wind Waker again.

Shovel Knight is fucking awesome!

Picked up TLoZ: The Minish Cap for $8 on the WiiU Shop the other day... the kids are having a blast with it. They play it on the controller while others just watch tv.