When comparing Wii U vs Xbox One, the Slant community recommends Wii U for most people. In the question“What are the best latest generation gaming consoles?” Wii U is ranked 3rd while Xbox One is ranked 10th. The most important reason people chose Wii U is:
Nintendo has some of the best hot-seat multiplayer games outside of the world of first-person shooters. With New Super Mario Bros. U, Super Mario 3D Land, Nintendo Land, and the upcoming Super Smash Bros. U, Mario Kart 8, and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Nintendo already has some of the best hot-seat multiplayer options of the next gen consoles.
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Pros
Pro Multiplayer games
Nintendo has some of the best hot-seat multiplayer games outside of the world of first-person shooters. With New Super Mario Bros. U, Super Mario 3D Land, Nintendo Land, and the upcoming Super Smash Bros. U, Mario Kart 8, and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Nintendo already has some of the best hot-seat multiplayer options of the next gen consoles.
Pro Nintendo's world class exclusives
The best feature of the Wii U and all Nintendo devices is Nintendo games. Nintendo is one of the best developers in the world, and have an unbeatable track record for incredibly fun, clever, and polished games, and as always, they're only available on Nintendo platforms.
Pro Fills the gap for PC gamers
If you have a PC, you already have most of the things that Playstation 4 and XBox One offer. Many games for those platforms will receive PC ports, often with better graphics, better controls, and more options.
The PC, however, tends to be weak when it comes to local multiplayer, and in genres like platformers and fighting games that benefit from a standardized, gamepad-like controller. These are the exactly things the Wii U excels at - the Wii U's controls allow for interesting and flexible multiplayer games, with symmetric or asymmetric gameplay, using classic gamepad, motion controls, or some combination of the two, and Nintendo's highly regarded exclusive franchises provide a solid collection of content in these genres.
Pro Extra screen on the gamepad
The gamepad's extra screen allows for some cool unique features. It allows you to play games off screen, allowing you to keep playing if someone else wants to use the TV.
Pro Great for streaming media
The Wii U has applications for Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube. While pretty much every device supports those services, what makes the Wii U unique is that the gamepad is a much better interface for choosing media than fumbling with the controller.
A great feature for YouTube is that it allows you to search for the next video to play on the gamepad without interrupting the video on screen, making it the best platform for YouTube parties.
Pro Cheaper than competitors
Cost less than most consoles, which makes a good choice for those on a budget or not looking to break the bank.
Pro Free online multiplayer
The online multiplayer is free, which is great for those not looking to have any type of monthly or yearly fee attached to their gaming console in order to get online gaming.
Pro Kinect allows controlling the console using voice commands
Pro Kinect enhances normal games
The Kinect is no longer just for new play controls. With its next generation high quality camera, it can now enhance other games with cool features, such as tracking your face and automatically logging you into your account, as well as being able to automatically re-arrange your UI position for multiplayer games.
Pro An external hard-drive can be connected to increase storage space
Pro Kinect is optional
Xbox One can be bought without a Kinect and allows for GPU performance increase of up to 10%.
Pro Stream games to PC
Pro Great Twitch streaming app
Pro Blu-ray playback support
Cons
Con Not easy to hold if you have tiny or large hands
Con Lowest processing power of any next-gen console
Con Slow adoption rates have lead to few games being made for the platform
Con Very few games with proper Kinect-support
Con Kinect's voice control still needs some work
Con Many games have to resort to upscaling
Many games designed for multiple platforms, those developed for PS4 & XO especially, have to be upscaled when deployed to XO due to lack of raw graphical power.
Con If you have a Windows PC, you aren't losing much.
Most of the XBOX titles get ported to Windows, sooner or later.
Con Pay for online multiplayer
On top of having to pay for the console and games you have to pay for online multiplayer, not once but monthly.