What's an ideal number of players for Wii Party U? Would it still play really well with two people?

Okay, this fucking Wii U controller's battery thing is getting fucking ridiculous. I last used it a week ago, and made sure it was fully charged when I turned off. Now, a week later with zero use, the battery is completely drained. This goes beyond something that should be typical to something that's downright defective. Heck, I just tried turning on my old Gameboy DS-lite, which I haven't turned on for a year, and it booted right up with a full charge, no prob. So if that can hold it's charge, why can't this? This is supposed to be progress? We've actually regressed here. And it's fucking bullshit!

$11.99 @ Best Buy

High Capacity Battery - $32 (+ship) @ Nintendo.com

We've only played it with 3-4.. but two people would be fine.

I'll play it today with one of the kids and see how it is in 2-player scenario (but since this just like a Mii version of Mario Party, I would expect the experience to be the same.

Thanks! My fiancee and I love Nintendo Land two-player, and we're both into board games, so this'll hopefully be a good fit.

I never understood that cradle set... doesn't the console come with a cradle anyway? Or is that just the "premium" or whatever edition, you know, the one with the online discount that expires soon that was almost completely useless for the first year of the console's life?

slop101, did you not own a Wii? We were talking about this earlier in the thread, but the Wii controllers, balance board, etc. are all terrible at keeping a charged battery.

Not even close to this - those all kept a strong charge after a week of no use. And what about my example with the DS-lite and how it kept it's charge for close to a year? Even if it's a bluethooth issue, it leaks far quicker than any other bluetooth device I've ever seen.

I would guess that the peripherals have to stay active in some way, even in sort of a sleep mode, so they can communicate with the console. The DS doesn't have that requirement, so it can be completely powered down.

Lego City: Undercover dropped to $39.99 on Amazon. I think that's a new low...?

Anyone play the U version of Splinter Cell Blacklist? Good, bad, great? I hear the U version's the best one?

I'm really down on all of the news here lately, both the sales numbers and Iwata basically admitting they screwed up with the Wii U. I mean, I'm glad they finally recognize what's going on but I'm really worried they are going to just give up on it well before they were originally going to. Heck, part of me is worried that they'll get so freaked out that they'll decide to just join the masses and start producing a bunch of generic type of games. Blah. This is really too bad, I personally love the Wii U.

What I would like to see happen -- and I think it's fairly realistic! -- is that Nintendo will ride out the Wii U. They'll keep supplying this console with some really terrific games. They'll use this platform as a testbed for different ideas. These may not be fully baked, but they'll experiment and refine over the next few years. When Nintendo's ready to launch their next console, the best of these ideas will be sharp, full-featured, and exactly (or at least a lot closer!) to what they need to be 'cause they'll have been battle-tested.

It seems wildly unrealistic to me that Nintendo can turn the Wii U around, but I think they might be able to at least stop the bleeding. If they do a sharp pivot and say "we're going to start over with a new console!" -- abandoning the Wii U...trying to learn their lessons as they go while rushing into a brand new system -- then they're doomed for failure.

I heard there's plans to release a Wii U without the tablet. Just the Pro Controller which would knock the price down considerably.

That's not the solution. The tablet is the central idea behind the WiiU. Embrace it, but know that innovation isn't always profitable on its own.

Exactly.

Obviously a lower price will help somewhat. At this point, though, people either don't know about the Wii U or don't have a reason to care. If Nintendo drops the price to $199, some people who are on the fence might shrug and say "okay, I'll bite", but you'd see a quick spike and then things would die down again. They need to really excite people about the console, and without that, a price drop can only accomplish so much.

Nintendo needs to make people want the Wii U. As things stand now, Nintendo isn't just struggling to deliver the message; they don't even know what the message is.

There are a lot of bigger changes they need to make over the next few years (improving their pipeline of software, fixing their fundamentally broken marketing, listening rather than just dismissing developers/gamers/marketeers/NoA/NoE with "fuck you, we're Nintendo!", better networking/accounts/social, better differentiating between their portable and console philosophies, among many other things), but the big one for the Wii U is convincing people that they want it...that they need it.

I fear that they are so far behind by this point, and there is so much bad news coming out of Nintendo, that even with a price drop it may all have totally scared off a lot of people. Many people may view it now as a bust, something they may sooner than later totally give up on, and see no point to jump in at all regardless of the price.

If they are sticking with it, and I hope they do as you said before Adam, then they need to slash the price and blatantly flat out assure the public that they are NOT going to be giving up on it any time soon.

It is the solution though. Nintendo doesn't even support the damn thing. It's a glorified peripheral that happens to come with the console. Lead by example or dump the dead weight. Why would third parties waste time developing something cool for it when Nintendo doesn't bother? Game boxes are already appropriately labeled, dump it and move ahead.

Sell it separate for $100 (with Nintendoland) and offer the console for $200 with the Pro-Controller and a game. People already think it's an add on peripheral anyway.

It doesn't matter if the tablet was the central idea behind the Wii, people buy Nintendo consoles for the games not the gimmicks. The tablet is nothing more than a gimmick. I'm pretty sure people could get by without such innovative ideas as blowing the trees in Mario 3D World if it meant saving $100 on the system.

I absolutely agree that Nintendo doesn't know what the hell to do with the gamepad (from a gaming or marketing perspective), but the disinterest and apathy towards the Wii U run so deeply that I don't think ditching it would make a meaningful, lasting impact either. Not in a positive way, at least. The lasting impact from the fragmentation and confusion would linger.

I think it's very possible that they'll make the gamepad optional at some point, but if it's a move out of desperation in the short term, I'd be pessimistic about the outcome. I still argue that the Wii U isn't selling because people don't want it. The gamepad is a challenge. The current price is a problem. Removing those obstacles still leaves the core issue of borderline-no one wanting the Wii U.

(Just in case anyone thinks I'm a doomsayer, the Wii U is my favorite console these days, I've bought more amazing games in its first year than I ever have for any other console's freshman outing, I have more Wii U games I'm looking forward to in 2014 than any other platform, and I even love the gamepad. I just think the management, marketing, and leadership of Nintendo are a total disaster.)

They can't drop the game pad. It's one thing separating the system from being considered entirely last gen. As the PS4 and XO pick up steam, Nintendo needs to release games that are memorable, fun, and make good use of the gamepad. Otherwise this would be like trying to sell the Gamecube to people who have a PS3.

Completely agree with dropping the gamepad. It hasn't been used in any meaningful way in 6-9 months. Even Nintendo isn't using it effectively. For God's sake the screen is the horn for Mario Kart. The horn.

Drop the gamepad. Include a pro controller. Drop price to $199. Include digital downloads of Super Mario and Luigi U. Nintendo has enough cash to ride this thing out as is, but if they do that the machine will never reach any significant sales. Drop the pad and drop the price and it has a slight chance of being peoples second machine (Nintendo player) or family machine for people that don't want to drop $400+ on a new console.

They did sell people that owned a PS3 a Gamecube. It was called a Wii.

If Nintendo wanted to, they could drop the game pad, patch the games that "use" it, and make it an accessory going forward, but (as others have said) it would lose its edge or purpose.

Just to counter point, if the tablet is the Wii U's selling point, where are the sales?

I don't mind the tablet. Its a lot better than I thought it would be, but I do wonder how things would be if it never existed and the system came with the pro controller.

I don't think the situation would have been any better. If it were Pro Controller only, there would have been nothing to separate it from the 360/PS3 other than the 1st party games. In that scenario, I think the sales would have been worse.

At least in my circle of friends who grew up with the NES and SuperNES, they just want a Nintendo system that plays Nintendo games, and feel the Wii and the Wii U were/are too gimmicky. They want to play the games with a 'normal' controller.