Roundtable!

Since launch, the display quality of the Gamepad has come under a bit of fire. Whenever I play Nano Assault off-TV, I think, "Pshaw! There's nothing wrong with it! It's super-sharp!" But yesterday, I finally used the television to play Wii U and tried Nano Assault on the TV screen for the first time. MAN, it looks a lot better. But the resolution isn't the problem. It's mostly the brightness and the vividness of the colors. The Gamepad display seemed more 'matte', while the TV seemed more 'glossy'.

Which is kind of weird. Because if Nintendo KNEW that that was an issue, they could've just compensated for the difference, like with the consistent brightness of 2D and 3D mode on the 3DS (maybe?). But perhaps that would've gimped the television display, which would be bad, considering multiplatform games? I'm wondering if it's some sort of side-effect of the video-streaming technology.

You know, like the image losing glossiness in the air. Glossiness air resistance...

Yeah, I'm obviously reaching here. It's probably just some kind of limited color depth thing. Maybe even an issue of software optimization. I dunno. What do you guys think of the Gamepad display?

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I have more issues with the way the Wii U displays on my TV than I do with the actual display on the Gamepad. Sure, it's lower-res than my television, but it will be good for games that use maps, inventory management, etc. on the bottom screen. The finish looks fine to me too.

The only thing I wish the Gamepad had was multi-touch, but the face buttons almost render the need for it moot. That and analog triggers (not sure why those weren't included in the first place). Despite the lack of those features, I'm happy.

Yeah, I'm happy with the screen on the Gamepad. The screen is small enough that I really don't notice much of a drop in quality from the TV display to it, even though I know it's there.

Relatively speaking from where I am sitting on my couch while I play, the screen size is nearly identical to my 46" 1080p tv. I couldn't be happier with how that turned out.

I can definitely see a difference in the color saturation between the Gamepad and the TV, but I'm perfectly fine with it. It doesn't make playing Mario on the Gamepad any less fun.

Very happy with it. The image quality is better than I expected and the pad is great as an 'around the house' handheld or portable TV/Netflix device.

R&D money well spent, I think.

Yeah, colors are a bit off, and that's a bummer. I wish there were an easier way to change the brightness, too: if you do it while in the eShop, watching a video, for instance... it kicks you out of the eShop.

The touch stuff is fantastic, though, way more responsive than the 3DS.

I also wish that it had some sort of button control for brightness. The 3DS, too.

A lot of early reviews were ragging on the touch screen sensitivity, too. It seems fine to me. Maybe because we're used to the DS?

Wait, the 3DS has a touch screen??

I've noticed the color loss compared the screen to the tv.....but its not a huge deal breaker

Yeah, the colour loss is the one thing that bothers me. Aside from that, the screen is nice and big. Resolution is low, but really no big deal. I quite like it!

I think it's pretty great for what you pay for. The quality is fine, but the video compression can get to me sometimes. I don't have a problem with it in games, but I can't watch Netflix on the Gamepad, the compression is really bad.

The gamepad is awesome. It doesn't bother me at all. I expected the quality to be less than what it would be on the TV. No qualms at all.

@Guillaume

That's so annoying to me that you can't go back to the home menu from within certain apps without closing the app. It happened to me too when I wanted to adjust the screen brightness while in the web browser.

I also noticed the lack of vividness of colors and lower contrast. But I'm pretty sure this is down to the video compression being employed. The screen itself seems to be very nice.

@Anand
I played a lot of Wii U at Nintendo World this weekend, it was my first long-term exposure to the system. My thoughts were this:

1. The WUG screen looked kind of grey-ish and washed out, the blacks and colors didn't seem as saturated as my other devices (3DS included). This is probably due to the thick plastic membrane of the old-school touch sensor.

2. I didn't like the thick plastic bezel around the perimeter of the screen, and how it's set down below the surface instead of being flush like an iPad or practically any other touch device, and it looks like dust and grime will collect in the crack under the bezel (just like with the DS/3DS), irksome. This is probably something Nintendo couldn't avoid without using a modern capacitive screen, but it struck me as another con to using the older technology.

3. The screen doesn't feel as responsive as a phone or tablet (or Vita) but it's completely functional, better than the 3DS which I basically punch with my thumb in games like OoT.

4. NSMBU was a disappointment graphically, I was surprised by how primitive it looked, not much of an upgrade from the Wii game, jaggies and all. I know I know graphics aren't important, only gameplay, but since this is a new system I was looking for some eye-candy.

5. Rayman was the best demo, graphically/artistically just stunning, and the music is gorgeous/rocking, and it was fun as hell. I think they had 3 stages playable and I played them all twice. The touch screen stuff was basic but fun as well.

6. One machine was playing several minutes of high-quality footage for The Wonderful 101 and it looked amazing.

7. Maybe I'm just used to my 3DS but the face buttons seemed enormous and spaced really far apart, no biggie I'm sure it's something you get used to.

deathly_hallows said:

4. NSMBU was a disappointment graphically, I was surprised by how primitive it looked, not much of an upgrade from the Wii game, jaggies and all. I know I know graphics aren't important, only gameplay, but since this is a new system I was looking for some eye-candy.

No way man! I thought the Wii version and DS/3DS versions looked like generic garbage, but NSMBU is on a whole different level. The artstyle is a significant improvement and looks absolutely gorgeous at times and just the amount of activity on the screen is a huge step up. NSMBWii might have had what, 2 layered backgrounds that felt very static, NSMBU has multiple layers in the background, there's foreground activity, tons of particle effects, everything is always in motion and vibrant and alive, it really feels like the 2D Mario game we should have gotten since they revived it with NSMB.

IGN did a video comparison of the 2 games, and while it certainly shows how outdated NSMBWii looks, it really doesn't do NSMBU justice. But really, get a Wii U, play NSMBU for a bit then go back to NSMBWii, the difference will be night and day.

The only thing I wish it had was a more responsive touch screen. It works fine for the most part but for typing on it, I often find myself having to tap a letter more than once because it doesn't register.

VofEscaflowne said:

The only thing I wish it had was a more responsive touch screen. It works fine for the most part but for typing on it, I often find myself having to tap a letter more than once because it doesn't register.

This.

I have no problem with the resolution or colours on the screen but the touch screen can get annoying at times. Sometimes it's too sensitive, sometimes not sensitive enough. I haven't really found an effective way to type messages efficiently either. The chicken peck typing method seems to work best.

[video][/video]@Bjomesphat
Yeah maybe I'm being too harsh, it's obviously much better, the level with the giant glowy stars was really pretty, I was just surprised to see jaggies and some dithered compressed-looking textures. It probably didn't help that Nintendo World has like 60" screens and the cord on the tablet is only like 2 feet long, sitting on a couch away from the TV you'd never see those imperfections. Still, Rayman didn't have any of those issues, it looked smooth and vibrant and basically perfect, like a living painting, my jaw dropped when playing that game.

I actually prefer the Gamepad to look at compared to the TV.

As others have stated the colors are dull compared to my TV but that's fine. I do like the fact that they put bits of rubber on the edges that rest on flat surfaces. The resolution is better than the 3DS so I'm happy. The streaming functionality is still pretty crazy to me until I walk out of range (out of the room). Overall, I'm pleased that I can play most of the games I already have on the gamepad alone.