The Video Game Critic

I respect your opinion because this is your review site, but I would be pissed if I bought a console based purely on your reviews. The Wii U , if judged by your grades, seems to be the best new console. That is completely false. It is by far the worst of the 3 and if not for 3 or 4 games, it would be useless.

Well if I could only keep one of the three, the Wii U would be a slam-dunk. And I suspect that going into the future the Wii U will be far more desirable than the PS4 or XB1. What does everybody else think?

Honestly, I think that based on your grading system that it makes sense for the Wii U to score higher on "Collectability " then the other consoles... It didn't actually score much better (in many cases it was worse) than the XB1 and the PS4. While the Wii U doesn't have a large library of games it seems tailored towards being a big collector's item in the future- it has the Amiibos which is something else to collect entirely or can accompany your console, it has a small selection of AAA titles, and then a pool of hidden gems. The console also didn't sell that well and a lot of the physical releases had low production runs (even official Nintendo titles).

The XB1 and the PS4 are not that collectible and despite having a wider variety of games may not offer much (especially the XB1) after the life cycle of the console ends... Who knows though...

The Wii U is not a good console by any stretch of the imagination. The PS4 and Xbox One aren't particularly interesting (they're basically scaled down PCs) but they are competent in fundamental ways that the Wii U isn't. Do not buy a Wii U in 2017 unless you are a collector trying to pre-empt the market. If you are not a collector but simply a person who likes to play games, buy one of the others. Or, even better, a PC.

One thing the Wii U has that its competitors arguably do not is an excellent, varied library of first- and second-party exclusive games. The majority of Wii U titles published by Nintendo themselves are at the very least worth playing. The best retail titles on PS4 and especially the Xbox One tend to be multiplatform: just Google "best ps4 games" or "best xbox one games" to see what I mean. Admittedly, the relative lack of third party support is glaring and was a huge factor in the Wii U ultimately being a flop, but that doesn't diminish the quality of the games it actually has.

While I have disagreed with some of the criteria by which reviews are made, I'm confident 'history' will vindicate Dave's grades on Wii U in the future. It's the modern Dreamcast.

I don't know what you mean about the PS4 not having any exclusives. Have you seen their current and upcoming lineup? They have ALL the exclusives!
Infamous: Second Son, Talos Principle, Unravel, Gravity Rush 2, The Last Guardian, Uncharted 4, The Order: 1886, Rime, Wild Guns Reloaded, Bloodborne, Toki Tori 2, Fat Princess Adventures, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Poncho, Grow Home, Bound, Brut@l, Death Stranding, Detroit: Become Human, Eitr, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Nier Automata, Manifold Garden, Matterfall, Nights of Azure, Velocity 2X, Contrast, No Man's Sky, Salt and Sanctuary, Shadow of the Beast, Until Dawn, Vane, Wild.

And these are only the list of games I own or want to own, and they don't even count all the PSVR exclusives. PS4 is THE console for exclusives. And one more thing that adds to its collectability: Limited Run Games releases limited physical copies of digital only games for the PS4 and Vita only. So if you want a disc version of Firewatch, Shantae: Risky's Revenge, Octodad, The Swapper, and many others, you'd better hang on to that PS4.

The touch pad is kind of a gimmick, but one innovation you neglected to mention is the headphone jack on the controller. It makes it super easy to play a game while my wife is asleep upstairs without disturbing her or having to drag a 15-foot wire across the floor to the console. And the share button I only use to record footage for my own viewing pleasure later. You don't have to stream to the internet.

The power and eject "buttons" are indeed terrible. Thank the lord they replaced them with real buttons on the PS4 Pro.

I was annoyed that he rated the PS3 so low when he didn't bother to review a large number of the exclusive games and the same thing has happened to the PS4. The Wii U's life is pretty much over but we're still going to get at least two more years of PS4 support! I understand missing a few hidden gems but he should really hold out on reviewing systems until most of the key titles have been covered.

I am pretty confident that the PS4 is a generation I will miss. Once the Scorpio is released (im not an Xbox guy BTW) then Sony will probably (if they dont already) have their next big thing all lined up. With that said, anything I want to try out will probably be hitting that generation, so whats the point of picking up a PS4? GTA 6, Red Dead 2, Star Wars Battlefront 2, RE7. It will all be on that.

As for the WiiU, I can see how collectibility will be a factor in its grading. With so little sold and so few games made in comparison, it will most definitely be a sought over console eventually. Heck, some of the boxed bundle sets are already going for some pretty good $$. It one of those weird scenarios where there was pretty much just enough made to appease a niche market, and that niche market will be holding on to their games and consoles, so it will hold its value much more than a PS4/Xbone.

I agree, I tend to look at the Wii U as a modern Sega Saturn. I can see physical copies of some of its more uncommon games on disc, such as Wii Sports Club, going for hundreds of dollars in the future. A boxed copy of that game already commands $80 online as it is and it hasn't been available at retail for years. I picked up my Wii U in 2014 shortly after Mario Kart 8 was released and if it hadn't been for this site I probably wouldn't own many games for it but I made an effort to pickup a lot of physical copies of games based on reviews here and figuring that the Wii U would be a sought-after console in the future based on how poor sales were even back then. I'm pretty happy with my collection so far and there's still some games I want to get for it.

I still like the Xbox One (I've had a lot of fun with coworkers on Destiny) but if I could only have one system this generation it would be the Wii U, overall it's been my favorite of the three. I think mainly it's my favorite because a lot of the games tried new things whereas Xbox One and PS4 is just more of the same that we already saw and played on the 360 and PS3. That, and the Wii U is definitely king when it comes to modern 2D platformers and local multiplayer.