Concur with the OP.

Nintendo Land is not nearly as revolutionary as Wii Sports, but it's much better. I unboxed my Wii U after Xmas and played Nintendo Land with my family. It was a big hit.

Obviously, not all mini-games are created equal. My favorites are Mario Chase, Luigi's Ghost Mansion, and Zelda: Battle Quest. It's a really good party game, and it has huge replay value. And, like many Nintendo launch games, it helps players get used to the new controller.

I watched a video of someone playing for the first time.

The game spent the whole time i) taking control away or limiting the input of from the player, ii) telling the player what to do with giant onscreen instructions, iii) forcing the player to look at the pixellated, 2D U Pad map instead of the 3D screen where you could see what was going on and iv) telling the player they were stupid for not doing this.

What an obnoxious game. Have they heard of fun?

Yeah, Nintendoland is actually very good, certainly more depth there than Wii Sports and more variety. I played it with a bunch of people and we whiled many hours away in the couple of days after I bought the system.

I've been less inclined to play single player though as I've been distracted by NSMB Wii U, Trine 2, BLOPS, Nano Assault Neo, Little Inferno and several of the demos that are currently available. Some of the above also have the advantage that they can just be played on the small screen while the TV in the living room is occupied (a still underrated feature in my opinion).

I wasnt expecting much from Nintendoland but it's far better than Wii Sports (and Wii Sports Resort). So far I've had 4 casual gamers on it and all loved the Yoshi game and the DK one. In fact if it wasnt for the price of the Wii U I'm pretty certain Nintendoland would have sold the system to at least 2 of them. Even the annoying guide is actually quite amusing, using words like "screwls" and "contrewls" (just me? OK...)

Still yep think it's a great game :)

Kitler criticised it for being "just a minigame compilation" but it's more than that. At least half the games are fun enough to play on their own for hours. The competitive minigames (Mario Chase, Sweet Day, Luigi's) bring back memories of the chaos of Mario Kart battle mode.

If you could just see the looks on our faces, hear the crazy comments, and see the strategies we come up with to steal that candy, you would be a believer.

Very underrated feature.

Over the holidays I was playing Little Inferno and my father wanted to use the treadmill (which happens to be in the family room along with the TV). I just switched the TV to cable input, handed him the remote, and went into the living room. Never had to stop playing.

It might seem like something inconsequential, but it's a great feature for families or busy houses.

The reason it recieves praise could be because it's really good.  You know, unlike all of the ones that we criticize.  Have you played it?  

OT I think that the game is great and actually don't have any complaints about any of the minigames.  What a solid job Nintendo did showing all of the different things that the Gamepad can do with this.  I think that my favorite minigame is probably Link's Adventure or whatever it's called. 

Speaking as someone who has always hated Wii Sports. I absolutely love Nintendoland. The games have much more depth then I expected, and several are unbelievably addictive. I could play DK Crash Course and Balloon Trip for hours on end.

I also love the way Yoshi's Fruit Kart and Ninja Castle use the gamepad and controlling the ship in the Metroid games feels fantastic. Now I just need to get some friends together so I can play multiplayer.

The Zelda game was a hit during the holidays over here. I think it was played 150 times during the span of a week. Biggest player was my four year old nephew. Last year I played with him some Skyward Sword, with him controlling the sword and me moving around, but in this game he was able to do it all by himself and he loved it. He was even getting good with the bow at the end.

He's become a Zelda fan. He even spotted a triforce while walking around the city centre, he lifted his arms and started humming the lost woods... :*)

It seems like one of those games that doesn't seem all that good at first like Wii Sports. When you play it though it can be really fun. Wii Sports was just easier to market as it was an easy concept to understand.