Nintendo WiiU : Thread 04

[gIzzE]

I think Nintendo games are still popular with kids. They sell enough 3DS systems and copies of Pok?mon and Mario Kart. I don't think nostalgic 40 year olds are a a key target at all for their products.

3DS is popular, but as a home console most kids are not interested, those at the age where they spend their own money on games anyway.
My daughter is now 19 and she came back from London for New Year, we got talking about consoles as I have hundreds out in the den, and the ones at 21-22 got Nintendo, the ones at 17-18 just laughed at Nintendo, there is a whole generation of gamers they have lost.

i was genuinely surprised and a bit gutted.

It doesn't take too many years to drop out of the loop.

[Guts]

Saw this today, and it's very close to how I feel about all the recent Nintendo doom and gloom.

http://www.nowgamer.com/features/224...m_you_are.html

That's so true.

Just proves that the quality of games doesn't have almost anything to do with how well a console sells. People in general are dumb sheep, easily controlled by marketing speech, hype and "awesome graphics" and the comments on that story prove it. So f*****g depressing really.

Also, all talk of Nintendo franchises losing their popularity is total BS. NSMB, Twilight Princess and Mario Kart Wii sold more on the Wii than any previous entries.

[gIzzE]

That's so true.

Just proves that the quality of games games doesn't have almost anything to do with how well a console sells. People in general are dumb sheep, easily controlled by marketing speech, hype and "awesome graphics" and the comments on that story prove it. So f*****g depressing really.

I agree.

If it isn't cool on the playground it won't sell.


Young kids will buy Nintendo, and enjoy it.

But then you have this age group, High school, where it is all about Playstation Vs Xbox, Nintendo doesn't even get a look in.
Their memory of Nintendo is the Wii, that is as far back as it goes, there is no nostalgia.

Will they go back to Nintendo later in life? No.

[Team Andromeda]

Just proves that the quality of games doesn't have almost anything to do with how well a console sells. People in general are dumb sheep, easily controlled by marketing speech, hype and "awesome graphics" and the comments on that story prove it. So f*****g depressing reall

Isn't that yet more excuses for Nintendo ? . If graphics were the be and end all, the XBox would have creamed the PS2, the Master system would have creamed the NES, the Vita creamed the 3DS Ect,Ect. People are more than quick enough to stick the boot into the Vita despite it having just as many must have games as the Wii U.

There's a simple reason why 3DS is outselling the Vita and that's strong In-House 1st party support from Nintendo backed up with strong 3rd party support . If only Nintendo could grow a brain and see that whats the Wii U needs .In the end the blame lies solely with the Nintendo .

buy a Nintendo machine for Nintendo games, buy the other two for everything else and use your daily tools for the quick fix.

And that's why Nintendo is seeing Market share retail and 3rd party support go down the toilet for the consoles (non Hand Held) . In the NES days you didn't have to buy the likes of Master system, Nintendo and the 3rd parties made sure you didn't need to look elsewhere if you only hand a NES . In the Snes days you didn't need to also buy a Mega Drive or PC-Eng, all you needed was the Snes as the main console NCL and the 3rd parties pumped out the classics to make sure all you needed was the SNES and even in the N64 days you could by in large own just the N64 and be very happy midway through the Cube lifecycle that all began to change...

Nintendo started to lose out the rivals who embraced on-line , who made sure that either by In-House or through published games and strong support for 3rd parties there was enough games coming out each month to hold interests in retail It's just caught up with Nintendo the gamer wants more than just the odd miracle game every 2 years, wants more than last gen spec for current consoles, wants to play mates on-line and likes a healthy choice of games coming out each month and that's where Nintendo fall flat on its face and is the real reason the Wii U is in the mess its in and all of Nintendo own making

[gIzzE]

So to sum up, Nintendo just haven't kept up with their audience??

[dvdx2]

But who is the target audience?

I'm now in my 40's, I grew up with NES and SNES, I buy the Nintendo hardware because it feels nostalgic, it is the same as Watching ET or Back To The Future on a Sunday afternoon, great for an hour or so, but not really something I will do for an 18 hour session like I would when I sat round with all my mates.
And to be honest, after an hour or so on most games these days I am off thinking about other things, like getting back online. How sad!

So who is Nintendo's target audience, the goalposts have shifted since I grew up, the graphics are so good now that many games don't need to be cartoony, that worked back in the day of 16x16 sprites, we had a fat Italian plumber because it was easy to replicate in screen, try and replicate a buff looking secret agent and it could have been an ant for all we knew wit the graphics so poor.
Plus kids get older faster now, they want to be far more grown up before their time, or maybe they don't? Maybe that is peer pressure?
You can see why many see Ninteno as a kids machine though, there is no nostalgia from them, no rose tinted glasses to put on as you hand over ?300 to play Wind Waker or Super Mario Bros again. But many are still at the age where there will be one console and then a couple of games every birthday or Christmas, and if you want to play any more you better make sure you have the same machine as everyone else at school.

I simply don't enjoy games as much as I did a few years ago, in the last 3 years the only game I have not got bored of before the end was Last Of Us. Wind Waker got about 50% done and sits there, Mario 3D World I like but don't rush to get home and play it, in fact not been played since Xmas, and Zelda on the 3DS has sat unplayed for 2 weeks since I got to Lorule.

All my mates are the same, as if when we hit 40 we simply couldn't be arsed any more, we all buy the latest N product, but no one really plays it, if you had told me at 35 that in 5 years time you would be bored of gaming I would have laughed, but I am.

And that is Nintendo's biggest problem, they are building machines that will impress and make 40 year olds smile, but to be honest, we're not interested any more. They need to attract the new breed, problem is, most of them are not interested in Nintendo any more either.

Shame.

Agree mate- i'm pretty much in the same boat. I do enjoy occasional retro though, but my interest in modern games is pretty much dead. When i was 30-35, i would have jumped at the ps4/new xbox, but now, i really cant be arsed at all.

When i was younger i remember saying really stupid things like 'i'll be gaming till i die', but when you realise later in life how much damage it did to your social life, hands and anxiety levels, and you are glad you have shaken the addiction. It would be my worst nightmare now to sit gaming 4-8 hours per day. A total unproductive waste of time.

Still love my n64 though - fzero gx and pilotwings 64....bliss

I'm sure nintendo do have a chuckle at 'gamers hysteria' regarding their actions; they have more money than god, so i doubt they really give a monkeys chuff about criticisms to their business plan. Lol

[Team Andromeda]

So to sum up, Nintendo just haven't kept up with their audience??

Haven't kept up with the times and forgot about the core gamer when trying to case the causals . Casuals are great for headline sales , but the core gamers are the ones that buy the games each and every month .

[wakka]

When i was younger i remember saying really stupid things like 'i'll be gaming till i die', but when you realise later in life how much damage it did to your social life, hands and anxiety levels, and you are glad you have shaken the addiction.

Wow, that's a bit deep. I feel like gaming enriches my life. An evening spent play a great game that fires up my imagination feels much more productive than flicking through TV channels or idly browsing the web. OT though.

To be fair I am quite a bit younger than you and my feelings may change as I get older.

[importaku]

Core gamers are the plague of the hobby, they are so fickle. Looking on here how many people REALLY support by buying games every month?

[fishbowlhead]

So to sum up, Nintendo just haven't kept up with their audience??

Plus they forgot to do any advertising. Like any, at all. The general population won't buy something obscure that they have no idea of how it works, what it does, how to use it or even if its a new machine.

The branding folks at ninty need a serious kick up the arse as well, theres a reason Sony stuck with sequential numbering, it shows your customers quickly and clearly that it is in fact a new console, by using U instead of Wii2 they fudged any brand loyalty they could of kept as its just obscure to the average consumer.

[Brad]

Core gamers are the plague of the hobby, they are so fickle. Looking on here how many people REALLY support by buying games every month?

*puts hand up*

Plus I buy Disc games from my indie. I'm single-handedly keeping this industry alive basically.

[Guts]

I kinda agree with dvdx2. I've been feeling pretty apathetic with gaming (especially main stream games) recently. It all seems pretty much the same recycled crap over and over and over again. Huge production values, "cinematic" gameplay (zero player input), unoriginal and streamlined gameplay. And the "Next Gen" is even worse than the last. 3DS has been pretty much the only ray of light in the current blandness of mediocrity.

I don't know. I turn 30 soon and it feels like there's very little offered on the AAA front any more. I'm still happy to play Mario World on the SNES though or old PC games for example, but I play maybe 1 hour a day, if that. Maybe I'll devote my time entirely to retro and indie games in the future.

It's probably like South Park put it:

[speedlolita]

I'm 23 and I feel that way guts. Hell, I discuss games far more than I play them.

[Guts]

Yeah, same here. I spend way more time on the Internet following news and reading stuff about games than playing them.

Anyway, when Nintendo gets a Mario Kart bundle out for the Wii U, I'll pick it up. Hopefully capture some of that childhood magic back.

[chopemon]

I spend way more time on the Internet following news and reading stuff about games than playing them.

I found this had a really negative effect on how much I enjoy games and the rest of my life. I kept up with all the news and drama in the 'gaming scene' and I really hate doing it now. Got sick of hearing about the big games and not the games I like and got so sick of all the drama and outrage people cause.

I've found it really beneficial to cut out 99% of games sites, podcasts and twitter in my life and spend more time playing the games I like.