Late June this year I got myself a Nintendo Wii U. After all these years it’s still exciting to unpack a new console. I decided to get a Wii U because Microsoft and Sony disappointed me with their new consoles and games and because I was ready for something new and for Nintendo. Having skipped the Wii and not having played much with the GameCube it was long overdue to give Nintendo another chance.
So far I’m loving the Wii U. New Super Mario Bros. U is an awesome game. Zombi U is a great game as well, but it’s too scary for me. I’m not a fan of zombies and especially not scary zombies. I’ve ordered Pikmin 3 as well and later this year a lot more exciting new games are coming to the Wii U. Can’t really say that about the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or the next generation Xbox and PlayStation.
One thing I’m loving less about the Wii U is the confusing WiFi setup. The Wii U can store several WiFi connecting settings. Depending on the security type of your WiFi network you can either use the connection for both Wii U and Wii games, or Wii U only. The Wii U interface is very confusing on this part and it took me a while to realize that not having a Wii compatible WiFi connection is fine for the Wii U and Wii U games itself. Which is good, because I wasn’t feeling anything for easing up my WiFi security.
After you figure that out the most annoying thing occurs: DHCP doesn’t work. Nintendo thinks it does, but it doesn’t. If you set it to DHCP it tries to connect and after a while it reports the access point can’t be found.
The solution is simple though. Instead of using DHCP you’ve got to set your connection settings manually. Just enter a static IP-addres, subnet mask and gateway (use ipconfig/ifconfig to figure out your IP-range, subnet mask and gateway). For DNS you can use Google’s servers: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. A more comprehensive guide on setting up your connection manually can be found at Kotaku.
I really like the Nintendo Wii U, but I simply can’t understand why DHCP WiFi doesn’t work. Setting up your network on your PlayStation 2 or GameCube wasn’t as painful as this is. Aside from this flaw I still think the Wii U is awesome and if you’re a gamer you should probably get one.