Without discounting the issues plaguing the console's launch, I have to admit that none of those were particularly evident during my first day with the system. After standing outside for an hour with the kind grandmother in front of me, I walked away with a system that provided an enjoyable hour of tinkering around with the UI and Nintendo Land and then a great time playing with four friends for a few hours this afternoon. At no point during that playtime did any of those issues wreak havoc: Nintendo Land handles the gamepad integration beautifully, and also allows it to be switched between players with great efficiency. Playing games like Mario Chase/Luigi's Mansion/Animal Crossing with the Gamepad is made more enjoyable because you don't have to wait very long between rounds, and can swap without feeling like the gameplay environment is changing. It's the same kind of social gaming environment the Wii offered back in 2006, and I definitely had a sense of deja vu based on my first days with that console.
That said, I'm treating this console in a very specific way. I don't have time for much single player gaming, so I only picked up Nintendo Land. I have the other consoles, so I'm not expecting the system to provide a pipeline to feature-rich third party titles. I didn't really have any expectations for the Wii U: I made my decision to purchase just this week, and it was more out of curiosity than out of extreme excitement. I knew I would eventually buy the new Nintendo console, and cannot imagine myself stopping this tradition at any point in the near future, but early adoption was more to be a part of the conversation than to fulfill my deepest gaming desires.
It's creating a very weird launch climate, though. The system has been sold as a new way to play, pitched as both a new interface for gaming and the "one box" living room solution all console manufacturers are trying to sell. And yet it arrives without that "one box" solution properly operational, and with a host of technical/software issues that work against its gaming capacity beyond Nintendo's own titles. I can totally see why Nintendo is losing the PR war on NeoGAF, in other words, but I can also see why it didn't come close to losing the PR war with the less industry savvy gamers who came over this afternoon. While I can't possibly speak to longevity, these people were sold on what the console could offer based on sitting down and playing the games. If Nintendo sells enough people in that environment, I'm not sure the other factors will even matter.
Bottom line: from lining up at dawn to frantically tossing away candy to escape the incoming guards, I had fun today. It wasn't $370 of fun just yet, I will grant you that, but nothing I've seen so far suggests that kind of apocalyptic disaster being depicted elsewhere. A fine launch day, on the whole.