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It actually happened to me too (Stranded at an airport with a Wii U)

D

DAREALGUMMY

Member
APOLOGIES FOR THE TERRIBLE PICTURE QUALITY
So I made a trip from California to Michigan last week and decided to bring along my Wii U. I had about an hour to waste before my plane boarded so I started to charge my phone and catch up on some Super Best FriendCast Podcasts. After 15 minutes, I realized there were more open outlets so I decided, why not? I plugged in my Wii U and enjoyed some gaming.
bLzFoUyl.jpg
and some 101
lN20PZyl.jpg

So when my trip ended and I was heading back home, the plane back to LAX was delayed and I got there late, missing my shuttle back home. I had about 10 hours to kill overnight and since I'm paranoid about my stuff being taken and I don't sleep well in public places, I once again got the Wii U out and had a blast.
First was a couple of sessions of COD while I was still actively awake.
OEhey03l.png
Then some Monster Hunter
79EIPVrl.jpg
and then when the final hours were winding down, I decided to catch up on some Orange is the New Black on Netflix
ob0GlAPl.jpg

I made it through the night, caught my shuttle back home and played some Wind Waker HD (Which I did not bring because the copy wasn't mine and I didn't want to lose it) butman it was great to have the system be so handy when you're stuck somewhere like this. I love off-tv play as is but this experience has made me love it even more. I really wish Nintendo would be more active in marketing this damn thing.
 
Oppo

Oppo

Member
So you're that guy :)

Nintendo should make a backpack type carrying case for the Wii U or something as there does seem to be a small segment of people who do actually like doing this.
 
Andrefpvs

Andrefpvs

Member
This is actually a pretty cool story.

I tend to keep my memories of gaming in unusual/new places, and they're usually quite nostalgic for me. Be it playing Pokémon while camping as a kid, or moving to a new home and be in a dark, empty room with nothing but a TV, a PS2, and a new copy of Persona 4. The list goes on.
 
K

Kuro Madoushi

Unconfirmed Member
What's a Wii U?

I keed! It's a nice feature that deserves more notice but it's getting drowned out by next gen and lack of games.

I do wish the range was longer too...I couldn't get connection when I walked into another room
 
M

MYE

Member
Yes the Gamepad is AWESOME!
Play time used to always compete with watching movies or shows on TV. Now I can do both <3

Nerfgun said:
So you're that guy :)

Nintendo should make a backpack type carrying case for the Wii U or something as there does seem to be a small segment of people who do actually like doing this.
Click to expand...

Agreed
 
GetemMa

GetemMa

Member
Nerfgun said:
So you're that guy :)

Nintendo should make a backpack type carrying case for the Wii U or something as there does seem to be a small segment of people who do actually like doing this.
Click to expand...

Why are you salty over this little anecdote?
 
N

Naminator

Banned
Thats a pretty cool story dude, glad that the console came in handy,


Although I don't think I'd ever want to be stranded somewhere with a WiiU.
 
Baleoce

Baleoce

Member
"Final boarding call for gate 5..."

*looks up from gamepad*

"shiiii"

*Picks up Wii U and runs with power cable in tow*
 
D

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
That's cool though, really, a regular handheld could deliver the same kind of thing. Still, why not?
 
M

mantidor

Member
cool story bro.

I kid, I kid, of TV play really comes in handy, the TV back at my place was broken when I first brought my WiiU so the feature was really a godsend.
 
D

Darmik

Member
I think it's a cute little benefit that should be advertised more. It works handy for me when I travel to my parents house and I have some downtime while they watch TV. Don't even need to touch the TV and I can play it anywhere in the house. It's a pretty cool benefit.

It would be handy on trains and flights too if you sit near a powerpoint. I believe the power consumption of the WiiU is low enough to make this possible. Which is pretty incredible as even my laptop didn't have enough power consumption to power games on a flight.
 
Hazelhurst

Hazelhurst

Member
Really cool.

Just think, Vita remote play should allow you to leave the console at home in this type of scenario. Wii U gamepad definitely has the better controls though.
 
B

Bronetta

Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
The novelty of console games on the go is pretty cool but I honestly think I would just stick with my 3DS and Vita.
 
Laieon

Laieon

Member
It's a bit early to be talking about stuff like this, the Wii U's only been out for a little less than a year after all, but things like this make me think that it would be kind of cool if Nintendo merged their handheld and console line come next generation. Just make it a tablet, bundle it with the equivalent of a pro controller. When you're at home, you could hook up your "tablet" to a TV and play it with the pro controller, when you're on the go you have a tablet that, like the Wii U tablet, has all the buttons you'll need. They seem to be moving away from motion controls, I could see something like this being the next step.
 
R

Rubius

Member
Baleoce said:
"Final boarding call for gate 5..."

*looks up from gamepad*

"shiiii"

*Picks up Wii U and runs with power cable in tow*
Click to expand...

Got your back brah.
apc-battery-backup.jpg

You should be able to save while walking . Even more without an actual television to drain the power.
You would get about the same battery life as an NGage. About 15 min.
 
Neff

Neff

Member
As ridiculous as it might seem to legitimise this practice, it should be noted that neither the base unit nor the Gamepad are terribly big or heavy. While far from frequently portable, as a pair, they're quite happy to travel.

Ryuelli said:
It's a bit early to be talking about stuff like this, but the Wii U's only been out for a little less than a year, but things like this make me think that it would be kind of cool if Nintendo merged their handheld and console line come next generation.
Click to expand...

The writing's quite blatantly on the wall now I think.
 
S

Spine_Ripper

Member
I don't know if it's because of your mentioning of Orange is the New Black(if you haven't seen this show yet...whatiswrongwithyou.reggie) or what, but this makes the Wii U sound much more appealing than most of their official ads do. That's some next gen shit right there. Good story OP.
 
U

UNCMark

Banned
In the background of one of your pics I saw your potential future wife walking by. Get your head out of the video games for a second, boy. But seriously, as long as you had something to do. I'd never in a million years bring a console with me on a plane. No way. I'd be too worried about it getting damaged. If it looks like a trip might be affected by weather, I just stock my tablet with tv and movies.
 
G

georgetheplushie

Member
One of my favorite things about my trip to California for a Smash tournament a few years back was my friends and me running into a group from Puerto Rico who also attended the tournament at the airport on the way back home. There was time to kill, and they had a LCD screen to play their Wii on the go, so we got a few rounds in. Didn't even matter that the screen was laggy or that we didn't speak the same language.

Console gaming at the airport is pretty cool.
 
weevles

weevles

Member
cool story bro!

I'm too worried of theft or damage to take my consoles anywhere with me, but it does show that Wii U's off TV play via gamepad is quite useful if you're willing to take it all with you.

Ideally, you'd use streaming off a true portable device like 3DS, Vita or Shield and leave the big box at home.
 
M

michaelius

Banned
Darmik said:
I think it's a cute little benefit that should be advertised more. It works handy for me when I travel to my parents house and I have some downtime while they watch TV. Don't even need to touch the TV and I can play it anywhere in the house. It's a pretty cool benefit.

It would be handy on trains and flights too if you sit near a powerpoint. I believe the power consumption of the WiiU is low enough to make this possible. Which is pretty incredible as even my laptop didn't have enough power consumption to power games on a flight.
Click to expand...

Or you could just buy 3ds/vita
 
H

Hiltz

Member
That seems like a surreal experience. It would have been funny if you sat near a kid playing on his 3DS ,and his eyes suddenly widened when he saw what you were doing, then the kid pulls on his mom's shirt to tell her look what I saw, and the mom goes, "Honey, there's no such thing as a Wii U. You're seeing things."
 
S

SporeCrawler

Member
Hazelhurst said:
Really cool.

Just think, Vita remote play should allow you to leave the console at home in this type of scenario. Wii U gamepad definitely has the better controls though.
Click to expand...

If you have free wifi around that is fast enough and provided that remote play works smoothly over wifi
 
Jinfash

Jinfash

needs 2 extra inches
Between Netflix and Hulu, which streaming app stupidly had the swap screen button prompt on the TV screen rather the gamepad, and did it/they get updated with a fix? I remember starting the Wii U once in my bed in an attempt to play some movies/shows only to realize I needed to go the TV to figure out how to swap displays.

From now on, very game or app that supports off-TV should be designed with the assumption that some users will not have TV turned out, maybe have a universal method of enabling the feature, such as an option in the TV remote app, or long press on the TV button. But I digress.

On topic: cool story, but personally I'd rather have my 3DS or Vita if I was in a similar situation. Having the Wii U I a carry-on, unpacking it, then packing it again in a hurry is just counterproductive.
 
L

LocalE

Member
weevles said:
cool story bro!

I'm too worried of theft or damage to take my consoles anywhere with me, but it does show that Wii U's off TV play via gamepad is quite useful if you're willing to take it all with you.

Ideally, you'd use streaming off a true portable device like 3DS, Vita or Shield and leave the big box at home.
Click to expand...

But when taking the console on the trip with you anyways, you wouldn't want to leave the console at home. That's usually called forgetting it.

And I bet I'd rather play something like Wonderful 101 streaming from a console right next to me as opposed to dealing with the input lag that must come with accessing the console over the internet while it's however many miles away from you.
 
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