Wii U - thread 3

[danstan21]

Three months into owning a Wii U I'm still not really sure how I feel about it. I actually really like the hardware (which was a steal at the ?150 I bought it at) and the underpoweredness doesn't bother me - the Wii's lack of power didn't stop me enjoying the good games available for it. The Gamecube and Dreamcast taught me not to judge a console's content by its sales, so they don't bother me either so long as Nintendo doesn't drop support entirely. There are even a few games lined up over the next year that I'm really interested in - Pikmin 3, TW101, Bayonetta 2, MK8, SSB4 and X are all games I'll pretty much certainly buy and enjoy. Most certainly I do not regret my purchase...

...On the other hand I look back on some of the slightly-lesser-known titles in Gamecube library with two Starfoxes, F-Zero GX, Chibi-Robo, Pokemon Colosseum / XD (yes I actually really liked those), Custom Robo, Kirby Air Ride, WarioWare Inc, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Donkey Konga 1-3 and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, and it makes me feel that Nintendo is simply not innovating as much as it used to. Sure, the controller may have been fairly standard but the gameplay in most of those titles was innovative in some sort gameplay aspect - a far more effective way of creating innovation in my opinion. Now Nintendo is just letting so many old franchises die out but claiming innovation from the hardware perspective. I know, Sin & Punishment, Kid Icarus, Chibi-Robo and Pikmin are all making / have made a comeback (although Pikmin is another example of some Gamecube-era innovation) - and I'm very glad of those, but there are many old franchises not being attended to that it saddens me won't return. Idk, maybe I'm just bitter because of how Miyamoto talks about F-Zero these days

[nakamura]

F-Zero GX in HD with 30 player online would do.

[capcom_suicide]

The last of us shows that new IP can still top the charts. Nintendo should be able to come up with new IP too...

[danstan21]

F-Zero GX in HD with 30 player online would do.

Absolutely agree in principle, but without analog triggers on any of the controllers it'd be impossible / significantly worse.

[nakamura]

Ah yes I forgot about that. Another great innovation.

[J0e Musashi]

They'd just bring out another controller non? That's what they usually do.

[Neon Ignition]

The staggering thing is that when 3DS started to grind to a halt Nintendo pulled out the stops to turn it around and it worked a treat, however they're so reluctant to make any big effort to do the similar with WiiU.

They could easily price drop in Japan or the US, they could have a triple AAA ready for Xmas given most their studios haven't put one out in years, they could mine their ip's as a WiiU Animal Crossing or Pokemon would be big business, they could do a free VC/E Store offer as with the 3DS turn around, they could do a Buy 3 get 1 free on the Xmas line up again like on 3DS, they could do special edition WiiU models such as Mario Red for 3D World etc

Like with the Vita, this gen, I've never known major console makers make such p*** poor effort and be so casual about their dwindling market share.

[danstan21]

They'd just bring out another controller non? That's what they usually do.

I doubt it. Miyamoto has already pretty much outright stated he doesn't know what to do with the series to make it appeal to a wider audience, so I doubt they'd release a separate peripheral which would limit their audience for the game further.

[nakamura]

Basically we are at a stage where everything has to sell 5 million copies.

Crash.

[J0e Musashi]

I doubt it. Miyamoto has already pretty much outright stated he doesn't know what to do with the series to make it appeal to a wider audience, so I doubt they'd release a separate peripheral which would limit their audience for the game further.

It's not just F-Zero that would use analog triggers though. I think it's pretty much a given that another controller will be released myself. Nintendo are kings of add-ons and extra hardware. There is no reason why Wii U wont be subjected to the same thing.

[MisterBubbles]

And there lies the whole problem in the whole industry, why does F-Zero need to go to a wider audience? Im sure RE 6 tried that and Capcom now states it was a mistake. Make games within your budget and market it to sell around the same numbers your previous version done, anything up and above is profit.

[nakamura]

It's like making a rugby game but because the fanbase is small, making it more like football.

[dvdx2]

Really rather sad the way the wiiu has turned out. I was in my local games store the other day and it just seems to still be filled with launch games. It actually reminded me of a shop trying to sell the remaining items of a soon to be non stocked product.

Other than the usual churn, what is really going to help pick this great bit of kit back on its feet?

[GluedOnBeard]

I'll be buying Pikmin next month definitely and plan to play that quite a bit and know a few people buying the console to play it. That will help even if only a little.

[nakamura]

Played Pikmin 3 last week. Not my thing but it looks amazing.