Nintendo Wii U (Thread 2!)

[Brad]

Yep. Their possible mistake (if they've actually made one - time will tell) is thinking that it was all down to sheer brilliance on their part and that they can replicate that success. There was no way for them to know how successful the Wii would be and in come ways they may have got lucky. Explaining Wii to my Mum and Dad was easy. Getting them to play Wii bowling was easy. They would be scared to even pick up a WiiU pad.

Nintendo need gamers to buy into the WiiU. There are plenty on here who will, as long as the Marios, Pikmins, Zeldas and Metroids come but is the average COD/Fifa/GTA gamer interested? Do nintendo care? Does it matter? Why do I even care enough to write this?

[PaTaito]

Yep. Their possible mistake (if they've actually made one - time will tell) is thinking that it was all down to sheer brilliance on their part and that they can replicate that success. There was no way for them to know how successful the Wii would be and in come ways they may have got lucky. Explaining Wii to my Mum and Dad was easy. Getting them to play Wii bowling was easy. They would be scared to even pick up a WiiU pad.

Nintendo need gamers to buy into the WiiU. There are plenty on here who will, as long as the Marios, Pikmins, Zeldas and Metroids come but is the average COD/Fifa/GTA gamer interested? Do nintendo care? Does it matter? Why do I even care enough to write this?

I wonder had they saved skyward sword, and developed it around the WiiU as a release title if things would still be the same? I mean i dont know about everyone else, but if the original wii hadnt had Zelda TP, i wouldnt have bought one until later on.

Then again zombieU is highly rated and that genre is on fire right now...

[fishbowlhead]

Yep. Their possible mistake (if they've actually made one - time will tell) is thinking that it was all down to sheer brilliance on their part and that they can replicate that success. There was no way for them to know how successful the Wii would be and in come ways they may have got lucky. Explaining Wii to my Mum and Dad was easy. Getting them to play Wii bowling was easy. They would be scared to even pick up a WiiU pad.

Nintendo need gamers to buy into the WiiU. There are plenty on here who will, as long as the Marios, Pikmins, Zeldas and Metroids come but is the average COD/Fifa/GTA gamer interested? Do nintendo care? Does it matter? Why do I even care enough to write this?

Agreed on all points. The Wii practically sold itself to fringe buyers that want a console to casually get involved with but without all the hasstle of learning how to use a completely foreign devise, hense why the Wii being made into channels and a remote worked so well.

The wiiU seems much more a core, singular device for one person, at least from my point of view anyway, as such will be much harder to get masses to impulse buy, or even away that's its a brand new console rather than a refresh design of the Wii.

[Pikate]

Agreed on all points. The Wii practically sold itself to fringe buyers that want a console to casually get involved with but without all the hasstle of learning how to use a completely foreign devise, hense why the Wii being made into channels and a remote worked so well.

The wiiU seems much more a core, singular device for one person, at least from my point of view anyway, as such will be much harder to get masses to impulse buy, or even away that's its a brand new console rather than a refresh design of the Wii.

Also never underestimate the marketing power of not actually being able to buy something (especially at Christmas). I remember loads of people at school getting a Wii just because everyone's parents believed it was out of stock everywhere. "Demand/Popularity" in gaming is a self-fulfilling prophecy really, in terms of the non-"core" if it's seen as a must-have it instantly becomes it.

Which is quite paradoxical since I think a lot of the "core" who pre-order, create the hype for these things start to do the opposite once we make things mainstream. I mean we've all seen people who passionately dislike COD, GTA... Most things that are critically acclaimed, multi-million sellers, yet (and I include myself in this) hero worship Rayman Origins/Legends and Zelda Games... Which when you boil down to the basics don't really offer much in terms of gameplay that you can't do on a SNES, infact Zelda has essentially been the exact same game since Ocarina of Time. And yes Zelda is of course mainstream being a Nintendo game but most people buy it for it's graphics and quality, we buy it to enjoy it then comment on how it's no LttP/OoT/Wind Waker/Okami.

And again I've never bought a COD, they don't appeal to me, but I could have said that about Bayonetta and I still bought/played Bayonetta simply because it was more of a "core" game, like Fez or Braid or Persona 4: Arena or all those other things we gaming hipsters look at and subconsciously tell ourselves because we own that we're not a "****-muncher".

[MisterBubbles]

But now the trouble is games sells systems, and with pikmin 3 & rayman legends on their extended holidays until say early summer and september what is there to drive sales, and all that time gives Sony & Microsoft time to get their huge marketing budgets and campaigns going.

[fishbowlhead]

Oh dear, it seems I've fallen into a hipster plural. The worst kind of plural, I hope I don't start playing the synth board soon and riding a fixy bike

[Neon Ignition]

With the WiiU I'd say we're looking at a repeat of the 3DS. A short term slump before a massive increase in sales. If E3 goes the way it's billed and Nintendo have the likes of Mario and Mario Kart ready it won't matter what sales are now or what the next-gen brings, they'll still do bumper numbers come Xmas.

[Synthesthesia]

I want a reason to get one :/. If pikmin 3 was out I'd likely buy one now, and I hope they've got some good stuff to show at e3, but until then...

[Dogg Thang]

I want a reason to get one :/

And this pretty much takes it right back to marketing. I'm so weak-willed when it comes to games systems but I have to have a reason. And as much as Bubbles says that games sell systems (usually completely correct), the DS and Wii sold on the promise of the interesting hardware rather than the software. And maybe that's what threw Nintendo with both the 3DS and the WiiU. Maybe they thought the hardware alone would be inetersting enough to make a huge splash, and actually I thought they were right about the 3DS (shows what I know, although that was also a huge branding misstep).

When it came down to it, the 3DS actually did need the games to sell. And so Cazytaxinext is likely right - once we see some games, the WiiU could just build and build like the 3DS did.

[parkinho]

With the WiiU I'd say we're looking at a repeat of the 3DS. A short term slump before a massive increase in sales. If E3 goes the way it's billed and Nintendo have the likes of Mario and Mario Kart ready it won't matter what sales are now or what the next-gen brings, they'll still do bumper numbers come Xmas.

Yeah I think this is likely, especially if they coincide the release of a new Mario/Mario Kart with a price cut and a more coherent advertising campaign.

I can see the new PlayStation and Xbox also suffering from slow starts when they eventually land, particularly if they come with hefty price tags.

[Family Fry]

Isn't anyone slightly worried that it will be left behind, especially 3rd party support when these new MS/Sony consoles hit? If they are hitting a higher level than Wii U, developers may not bother porting especially if the fan base doesn't increase as much as they would like to see.

[teddymeow]

If Reggie or Miyamoto stand on stage and show the games announced during the last Nintendo Direct then that should help things immensely.

I know that Iwata said that they would be playable at E3 but I'll believe it when I see it.

I only have 2 games for my Wii U now; Mario and CoD. I would still have Sonic & SEGA Transformed but the sound is borked so went back to the PS3 version.

By borked I mean that you can only hear the music and other racers through the TV and your character and engine sounds through the GamePad. Not great if you use a headset.

[EvilBoris]

That will happen, they may of well of called it the Wii-2, because there isn't going to be anything worth playing outside of what Nintendo and their money can make/buy and even then I'm not convinced we will see as many gamers games as we would like. I feel like this is just vessel to sell Professor Layton remakes.

I can't wait for Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101, but I'm not holding my breath for anything else. I guess we will have to wait and see.

[Synthesthesia]

I think the problem is that it's not apparent straight away that it's that different of an experience. I've been told it is, on here and from journalists on podcasts etc but it doesn't appear that way from the outside. And without more than a couple good looking games, it doesn't draw in someone who isn't excited about it based on it being Nintendo alone.

With the "next-next gen(r)" consoles like Durango and Orbis, we kind of know it's something new. (hopefully) Much improved graphics, where as the Wii U is kind of a side step in this regard, I already have something that does graphics to the Wii U's standard. I'm not saying that graphics are all that matters, but it does differentiate the product and give you a reason to have a new system.

I'll probably buy Sony's/ MS' next console based on those improvements alone (although there does have to be at least 2 or 3 good looking launch games) if the prices aren't too ridiculous.

[EvilBoris]

The thing that worries me the most is that I get excited the most about the Nintendo franchises, but the franchises that I want to see again are nowhere to be seen.

The thing that excites me about the Orbis/Durango is to see the new games and the new IPs along with the new graphics. I don't think I can still another generation of nothing but sequels with improved graphics. Of course there are exceptions to this, but It'd be pretty bleak if all we got is another selection of FPS and Scripted 3rd person action games.