You can compare the Wii U to the Wii. But you can't say "One of the most successful game console launches in history did better than this new one. Therefore the new one is a failure."Crono1973 said:
A sense of dread shrouds Nintendo?s Wii U
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So what I've read so far glossing over everything, the gist is that the Wii U is failing because its 7 year old counterparts are nearly selling as much as the Wii U. Nevermind the fact that the Wii U is little under 2 months old and has a smaller library. Near full backwards compatibility with the Wii itself will also help push some consoles along because I'm sure there are people out there that figure a little bit of extra money for the added bells and whistles is money well spent.
I doubt Nintendo's getting their knickers in a twist over this. The Wii U had an excellent launch and time will only allow its sales to grow. Hell, where I live the Wii U was out of stock before the damn thing was released. Want to pre-order that shiny new Wii U(Deluxe Edition)? Tough luck, Nintendo's telling us to hold the fuck up. Here's a waiting list you can join as soon as more consoles are available. And now that it's out? They're constantly sold out of consoles. When I went and bought my Deluxe Wii U, I was lucky to buy it when I did because it was the last console available and someone literally walked in wanting to buy it not even a minute after I made my purchase. If that's not a sign that this console is already immensely popular and will continue to grow, I don't know what is.
I doubt Nintendo's getting their knickers in a twist over this. The Wii U had an excellent launch and time will only allow its sales to grow. Hell, where I live the Wii U was out of stock before the damn thing was released. Want to pre-order that shiny new Wii U(Deluxe Edition)? Tough luck, Nintendo's telling us to hold the fuck up. Here's a waiting list you can join as soon as more consoles are available. And now that it's out? They're constantly sold out of consoles. When I went and bought my Deluxe Wii U, I was lucky to buy it when I did because it was the last console available and someone literally walked in wanting to buy it not even a minute after I made my purchase. If that's not a sign that this console is already immensely popular and will continue to grow, I don't know what is.
Please listen to the people trying to talk to you in this thread. They have more perspective than you.
The one point you bring up that has weight is that game sales are down across the board this year. But at the same time most consumers are gaming on woefully obsolete hardware at this point.
I have a hard time seeing the Wii U doing anywhere near as well as the Wii.
Most Wii buyers have learnt their lesson, I think.
Most Wii buyers have learnt their lesson, I think.
I must admit I never really bought into the hype of the Wii U, my hype has been destroyed by Mr Peter Molyneux. I do admit, Lego City Undercover looks extremely fun...
If Nintendo ever lets Pokemon Snap 2 be developed for the Wii U, and I cannot imagine a more PERFECT CONSOLE for it, then I will actually get one. But currently... /shrug
If Nintendo ever lets Pokemon Snap 2 be developed for the Wii U, and I cannot imagine a more PERFECT CONSOLE for it, then I will actually get one. But currently... /shrug
Price is a tricky thing to argue in this case. The Wii launched at 250 USD, and when compared to the 400 dollar xbox and 500 dollar PS3, it certainly seemed to be a steal. The truth of course is that the Wii U is only about 12 percent more expensive when you account for inflation and that leads to a natural question: what exactly is the Wii U competing with? AT this point, most people who are going to purchase either a PS3 or a 360 already have, and given that the vast majority of the most sought after franchises are cross-platform, there is relatively little reason to pick up the competition unless you have intense interest in the relative handful of quality exclusive titles. For the most part then, the Wii U competes with nothing save the 300 dollar price tag and at this moment there simply isn't a particularly compelling argument for why you should spend that kind of money on the device.shrekfan246 said:
There is a problem with this stratagem however. With such a small install base, the incredibly risk adverse big companies that make most of the games people talk about have little reason to develop games specifically with the Wii U in mind. This means that little effort will be given to capitalizing upon the potential strength of the device which means, for the short term at least, the big games coming on the device are going to be cross-platform games. This gives no compelling reason for a current gamer to switch given the fact they have spent years cultivating an online space and social circle to play these sorts of games already.
That means, in short, the only real hope for the device comes, yet again, from Nintendo. Sure, there is always a chance a third party will make something interesting for the product - it just isn't terribly likely in the next few years. This leads to a second issue.
The Wii and DS were wildly successful in large part because they targeted an audience normally resistant to gaming - success in essence came from the fact that they successfully entered a market segment no one else had managed to breach. The Wii U on the other hand targets the average self-identified gamer. Given that precisely zero effort has been made to clarify for the masses that the Wii U is, in fact, a new console and not just a new controller (which seems to be the common perception), it seems reasonable to assume that Nintendo has abandoned the casual audience when it comes to marketing the device.shrekfan246 said:
The problem, of course, is exactly what I pointed out before. The device is now competing for the attention and dollars of people who already have a console of their choice, and who have spent years building their gaming habits around it. Without a strong library of quality titles, these people have no reason to switch and without people switching, the odds of building that necessary library quickly drops dramatically. To top it all off, whole swaths of functionality found on the competing consoles are not even mentioned as possibilities yet. Rudimentary online functionality (an improvement over the Wii but vastly inferior to the PS3/360), archaic store structures and pricing models, and a near complete lack of multi-media functionality are all issues the Wii U needs to overcome in some form or fashion to actually compete.
I don't believe it is truly either. The problem the Wii U faces is simply that it seeks to attack a market seven years after that market was established with a product who's one interesting bit of functionality has yet to be used in any interesting way.shrekfan246 said:
That isn't to say that the product is doomed by any stretch - just that the device is going to have a hell of a time making any sort of headway building a new market quickly. And that's kinda the kick in the pants for Nintendo - they need to build that market before the market shifts with a new generation of devices from the competition.
Take your pick:ClockworkUniverse said:
-Supply side problems (e.g., some limitation of manufacturing capability)
-Intentional limitation of resources to make it appear more desirable
-They aren't hard to get at all
The latter has been my experience but then again I am only able to look in stores in a single city. And from what I've seen, I can get a Wii U at any of a half dozen stores. Of course, a cursory search of the internet has <a href=http://www.walmart.com/ip/Nintendo-Wii-U-8GB-Basic-Console-with-GamePad-White/21944099>revealed that it is <a href=http://www.walmart.com/ip/Nintendo-Wii-U-8GB-Basic-Console-with-GamePad-White/21944099>remarkably <a href=http://www.gamestop.com/wii-u/consoles/nintendo-wii-u-8gb-basic-set/104795>easy to <a href=http://www.target.com/p/wii-u-8gb-basic-set-console-white-nintendo-wii-u/-/A-14174036#prodSlot=medium_1_1&term=wii%20u>find.
And, it is important to recognize that a few middling million units out the door is not much of a market. They need tens of millions.
Yeah, okay, looking for the deluxe set has made me forget that the basic set is actually not that hard to find.Eclectic Dreck said:
And I would be very impressed had it reached that number this soon after launch.Eclectic Dreck said:
It's because WiiU does nothing that most buyers think would worth the investment of its new hardware.Crono1973 said:
We haven't seen advancements in graphics or sound YET,neither in gameplay. And it seems that just moving the inventory screen from the main screen to a second screen doesn't justify by itself the 350 euros Nintendo asks from us,at least here in Europe. I know that the gamepad's screen have more potential and it could be used in different and more imaginative ways, but only Nintendo cares enough to build games specifically designed with that in mind.
Ports doesn't make use of the offered potential,and its something that is not going to change.
Why should I pay 350 euros ?
Give me a good reason. (or reasons)
To play Mass Effect 3 ? I already played it in 1080p at 60fps on my PC a year ago.
Or maybe to play NSMBU ? I played NSMBWII a while ago and it had the same story,same mechanics,same protagonists,same gameplay,same graphics,same art design,and the same style of music.
To buy WiiU,then WiiU will have to offer me fresh experiences I can't already get without it.
That's why gamers buy new consoles every now and then. If new consoles didn't offered new experiences,then there wouldn't be a need for new consoles to be made,and we would probably still be playing on our old Atari 2600s. What makes people to buy a newer machine of a certain type if they already have a machine of the same type,is that the newer machine will do new things or just the old things but better.
Until that happens I won't be spending my sweet and hard earned money no matter how many commercials Nintendo throws everywhere.
The Wii had the benefit of being something completely new to most people, and the comparatively low price tag made it appealing to first-time buyers.
The Wii U has the potential to do many complex and interesting things with gaming, I think a lot of people are just waiting to see the technology properly utilised and not squandered like it was with the Wii, before they decide to buy one.
The Wii U is not the Wii, and whatever my personal feelings about Nintendo, I don't think they intended it to be.
The Wii U has the potential to do many complex and interesting things with gaming, I think a lot of people are just waiting to see the technology properly utilised and not squandered like it was with the Wii, before they decide to buy one.
The Wii U is not the Wii, and whatever my personal feelings about Nintendo, I don't think they intended it to be.
I wouldn't expect them to have that number this soon after launch. They've only been manufacturing them for a portion of a year. The point is that in order for the Wii U to compete with the current generation of consoles such that third parties actually take significant risks developing for the system (in other words, third parties try and figure out how to best use the fancy game pad by trying various schemes) the Wii U needs to be a significant force. And the Wii U doesn't have unlimited time for that to happen - eventually Microsoft and Sony are going to launch their new shiny boxes and the Wii U will once again almost certainly be the technologically inferior device that has a neat trick or two it can do the others can't.ClockworkUniverse said:
Nintendo is competing directly for a market they ceded years ago. Right now, they have an advantage that they have yet to capitalize on. Sure, they got the box out the door and even sold a few million of them. But, currently, few are sold on the promise that the controller is actually going to produce much that's interesting, or at least much that's worth the current asking price. And the audience that made the Wii and the DS a success is gone. Either bored with the concept or busy playing cheap or free games on other devices they already have a reason to use.
That isn't to say the device is doomed; it simply means Nintendo needs to deliver something to convince the general gamer population that the thing has merit quickly or risk being buried when the generation turns again.
Nintendo needs to get better about naming their game systems. I work for a retail store and we get returns on 3DS and Wii U games several times a week because people can't figure out the difference. I try to give people a heads up on the Wii U titles, but I thought we were past that with the 3DS games. Apparently I'm wrong, as just the other day I had someone trying to return a 3DS game.
I understand that brand recognition is important, but one letter or one number is not enough for the common parent to see the difference. I admit that the 3DS name makes sense, but a lot of people think they can play the games for it on their regular DS because the cases say that the games can be played on '2D or 3D.' Plus I overhear a lot of people that think the Wii U is just a tablet.
Not all people have this problem, but you'd be surprised as to how many people don't do research on the internet before buying a product. In an age where most people have access to that on their cell phones, I find it incredibly baffling.
EDIT: I thought I should note that this isn't a rampant problem, nor is it the reason for the lower-than-the-Wii-launch sales numbers, I just thought it was an interesting problem, although a bit off topic, I suppose.
I understand that brand recognition is important, but one letter or one number is not enough for the common parent to see the difference. I admit that the 3DS name makes sense, but a lot of people think they can play the games for it on their regular DS because the cases say that the games can be played on '2D or 3D.' Plus I overhear a lot of people that think the Wii U is just a tablet.
Not all people have this problem, but you'd be surprised as to how many people don't do research on the internet before buying a product. In an age where most people have access to that on their cell phones, I find it incredibly baffling.
EDIT: I thought I should note that this isn't a rampant problem, nor is it the reason for the lower-than-the-Wii-launch sales numbers, I just thought it was an interesting problem, although a bit off topic, I suppose.