I have to confess that the biggest use I make of the Wii-U is Netflix. And after I'm done watching something on Netflix with friends, sometimes someone will want to look up something about an actor or series, or play a YouTube clip of something tangentially related.
Looking things up on the 'Net is something we can do, with a bit of hassle, on someone's phone. But as far as displaying anything on a decent-sized screen...
I'm not going to say that the Wii-U's browser is anything to write home about, but at least it's there. Having to juggle multiple devices just to look up a FAQ, or check the arrival time of your flight as you're going to the airport, or... what have you... That's dumb. Just unnecessary and dumb. Yes, some of these features you can do with the smartphone that almost everyone has, assuming you can get reception and/or an open Wi-Fi access point- but why should you have to? Why should you have to put down your $300+ device to fumble with the touch-screen on a much smaller device for such basic functionality?
All I can say is that I hope these missing features aren't missing for long, because their absence is a non-trivial blot.
C'mon, Nintendo. We're only asking you to join the latter twentieth century.
As far as comparisons to the XBox One go, though: Ah, no. Does not compare. People weren't angry that Microsoft was promoting online functionality; people were angry that Microsoft wanted to use online functionality to cripple their users' access to their purchased content for Microsoft's benefit, integrate their box into their TV-watching experience for features that most people with cable and/or DVR already possessed, and devoted significant portions of its processing power and RAM to doing so to the detriment of playing games. Apples and freaking oranges.
Looking things up on the 'Net is something we can do, with a bit of hassle, on someone's phone. But as far as displaying anything on a decent-sized screen...
I'm not going to say that the Wii-U's browser is anything to write home about, but at least it's there. Having to juggle multiple devices just to look up a FAQ, or check the arrival time of your flight as you're going to the airport, or... what have you... That's dumb. Just unnecessary and dumb. Yes, some of these features you can do with the smartphone that almost everyone has, assuming you can get reception and/or an open Wi-Fi access point- but why should you have to? Why should you have to put down your $300+ device to fumble with the touch-screen on a much smaller device for such basic functionality?
All I can say is that I hope these missing features aren't missing for long, because their absence is a non-trivial blot.
C'mon, Nintendo. We're only asking you to join the latter twentieth century.
As far as comparisons to the XBox One go, though: Ah, no. Does not compare. People weren't angry that Microsoft was promoting online functionality; people were angry that Microsoft wanted to use online functionality to cripple their users' access to their purchased content for Microsoft's benefit, integrate their box into their TV-watching experience for features that most people with cable and/or DVR already possessed, and devoted significant portions of its processing power and RAM to doing so to the detriment of playing games. Apples and freaking oranges.
