Nintendo Confuses Shoppers with Two New Wii Bundles
- Thread starter MikeWehner
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(sigh) fine I'm done trying to explain how people don't always use logic when they purchase things against an rationalist, but just as a note. if your going to be "yelling" at someone over not reading the link you sent them correctly at least be clear yourself on what that link contains: Ipod shuffle(2GB), Ipod nano(16GB), Ipod Touch gen5 (32/64GB), Ipod Touch gen4 (16/32GB), and Ipod Classic (160GB) these are all current models, and even after going to each ones page none of them have any indication of older referebed models. the only older item mentioned is the Touch gen4.CriticKitten said:
rationally speaking bad articleIamShmgeggy said:
4 words
Oh, joy. I get to be one of those "always knowledgeable" retail clerks who has to unravel customer confusion. Well, at least the Wii Bundles will likely sell (I foolishly pooh-poohed Skylanders last year) unlike those Karaoke machines that've sitting in the back for the last ten months.
Makes sense actually. The Wii U is obviously going to be sold out so you might as well give your costumers something to hold them by till you can restock.
When I saw stores selling a Wii Sports bundle...again...after who knows how many years, *I* was confused.
Anyway, it's not such a bad idea. They're trying to get rid of all the Wii consoles they can before it's officially a last gen. console. However, there will be some confusing and disgruntled customers out there.
I can easily imagine little Jimmy pleading for a new WiiU console. Mommy and Daddy head over to the local GameStop to get one but they soon realize it's been sold out even before its release. They think about this for a while. Little Jimmy must have his gift! He's been such a good boy. and gaming seems to be his thing. Well, if he can't have the WiiU, let's give him the Wii, the couple says. He can get the WiiU later when it's cheaper, they add. Besides, it's basically the same thing. And they have Mario games too! Little Jimmy loves those!
I'm not saying parents are dumb. I'm saying parents don't see gaming like we do (Unless they're gaming parents themselves). To them, getting CoD: World at War for 10 bucks is a better deal than getting Blops 2 for 60. They see it as being essentially the same thing but cheaper. And they're kinda right.
From a personal experience, I've seen it at work all the time. Desperate parents just wanna go home with a videogame-related gift so they settle. I have a feeling Nintendo knows this too and that's why we now have all these Wii bundles.
I still do, up until today. I'm an adult now but still...
TL,DR: Parents aren't lazy or retarded. They just don't want to:
1. Ruin the element of surprise and Santa Claus and stuff. Even today, my parents hate to just tell me to pick my gift. And again, I'm an adult.
2. They don't wanna spend much, not because little Jimmy doesn't deserve it but because spending a lot of money is never ok with parents
3. They don't appreciate the difference between a WiiU and a Wii. To them, they look kinda the same, they do kinda the same so they must be kinda equally good. And if a Wii is their only choice, they'll take it.
4. They do it out of the goodness of their hearts. Yeah, I'm justifying their...whatever with this.
Anyway, it's not such a bad idea. They're trying to get rid of all the Wii consoles they can before it's officially a last gen. console. However, there will be some confusing and disgruntled customers out there.
I can easily imagine little Jimmy pleading for a new WiiU console. Mommy and Daddy head over to the local GameStop to get one but they soon realize it's been sold out even before its release. They think about this for a while. Little Jimmy must have his gift! He's been such a good boy. and gaming seems to be his thing. Well, if he can't have the WiiU, let's give him the Wii, the couple says. He can get the WiiU later when it's cheaper, they add. Besides, it's basically the same thing. And they have Mario games too! Little Jimmy loves those!
I'm not saying parents are dumb. I'm saying parents don't see gaming like we do (Unless they're gaming parents themselves). To them, getting CoD: World at War for 10 bucks is a better deal than getting Blops 2 for 60. They see it as being essentially the same thing but cheaper. And they're kinda right.
From a personal experience, I've seen it at work all the time. Desperate parents just wanna go home with a videogame-related gift so they settle. I have a feeling Nintendo knows this too and that's why we now have all these Wii bundles.
This, exactly this. again, it's not that parents are dumb or lazy, it's just that they don't see the difference between similar items like we do. It's like when you wanna buy your mom that pretty sweater she saw the other day but the store doesn't have it anymore so you buy her something similar. She might like and you certainly did with good intentions but that's not what she wanted. And it's true; in my case, if I asked for Megaman 5, I'd get Megaman 2, if I asked for Final Fantasy 9, I'd get The Legend of Dragoon, if I asked for a Game Boy, I'd get a Fun Boi. Once, I asked for Mario Kart and I got The Jungle Book. By the time I was a teenager, my parents had just given up so every time I asked for a videogame, I'd get clothes.TimeCruiserMike said:
I still do, up until today. I'm an adult now but still...
TL,DR: Parents aren't lazy or retarded. They just don't want to:
1. Ruin the element of surprise and Santa Claus and stuff. Even today, my parents hate to just tell me to pick my gift. And again, I'm an adult.
2. They don't wanna spend much, not because little Jimmy doesn't deserve it but because spending a lot of money is never ok with parents
3. They don't appreciate the difference between a WiiU and a Wii. To them, they look kinda the same, they do kinda the same so they must be kinda equally good. And if a Wii is their only choice, they'll take it.
4. They do it out of the goodness of their hearts. Yeah, I'm justifying their...whatever with this.
18 words.
7 words.
4 words.
See, THIS is the kind of efficiency in poo-poo-ing I can appreciate.
Here's the deal: If you think the majority of parents even KNOW that the Wii U exists, we are going to disagree right from the start. Does the public at large have a better handle on what the Wii is than most consoles before it? Sure, but they only learned about it AFTER it became the hottest gift for the holidays. The Wii U doesn't have that luxury, and by carrying the same name with one single letter added on I don't think it's helping non-gamer parents and relatives distinguish between the two.
I'm not accusing Nintendo of INTENTIONALLY confusing buyers, because that doesn't benefit them in the least. I'm simply acknowledging that you could go to a Wal-Mart and potentially have 4 or 5 different Wii bundles on the shelf, compared to one Wii U option. If a kid gets the wrong console, is it the parent's fault? Maybe. Is it the kids' fault for not being certain their parents have a handle on the situation? Again, maybe. But either way, Nintendo isn't helping the situation at all.
It's my feeling that Nintendo is probably banking on the Wii U being sold out at most stores, and they want to make sure there's plenty of hardware on the shelf to fill in the space. That's fine, and that makes sense from a business standpoint, but if the Wii U does in fact sell out at any given store, you now have a white, black, blue, and (if the store still has any NSMBW bundles left, like some local stores near me) a red Wii bundle on the shelf. If I'm a parent who might have bought a Wii 6 years ago and it's been in my kids' room since then, what are the chances I'm going to know exactly what is going on when I walk into a store with a christmas list that has "Wii U" scribbled at the top -- especially if the Wii U isn't on the shelf? You can argue who or what is at fault until you're blue in the face, I'm simply acknowledging that the situation exists.
I think this is a good discussion to have, but remember who we're talking about here. When I'm at a big box store looking at movies, I *still* get grabbed by parents in the games section who start their plea for help by saying "You're young, you probably know about this stuff..." And I do, and I help them when this happens, but what if someone like me isn't around? It probably doesn't end well.
7 words.
4 words.
See, THIS is the kind of efficiency in poo-poo-ing I can appreciate.
Here's the deal: If you think the majority of parents even KNOW that the Wii U exists, we are going to disagree right from the start. Does the public at large have a better handle on what the Wii is than most consoles before it? Sure, but they only learned about it AFTER it became the hottest gift for the holidays. The Wii U doesn't have that luxury, and by carrying the same name with one single letter added on I don't think it's helping non-gamer parents and relatives distinguish between the two.
I'm not accusing Nintendo of INTENTIONALLY confusing buyers, because that doesn't benefit them in the least. I'm simply acknowledging that you could go to a Wal-Mart and potentially have 4 or 5 different Wii bundles on the shelf, compared to one Wii U option. If a kid gets the wrong console, is it the parent's fault? Maybe. Is it the kids' fault for not being certain their parents have a handle on the situation? Again, maybe. But either way, Nintendo isn't helping the situation at all.
It's my feeling that Nintendo is probably banking on the Wii U being sold out at most stores, and they want to make sure there's plenty of hardware on the shelf to fill in the space. That's fine, and that makes sense from a business standpoint, but if the Wii U does in fact sell out at any given store, you now have a white, black, blue, and (if the store still has any NSMBW bundles left, like some local stores near me) a red Wii bundle on the shelf. If I'm a parent who might have bought a Wii 6 years ago and it's been in my kids' room since then, what are the chances I'm going to know exactly what is going on when I walk into a store with a christmas list that has "Wii U" scribbled at the top -- especially if the Wii U isn't on the shelf? You can argue who or what is at fault until you're blue in the face, I'm simply acknowledging that the situation exists.
I think this is a good discussion to have, but remember who we're talking about here. When I'm at a big box store looking at movies, I *still* get grabbed by parents in the games section who start their plea for help by saying "You're young, you probably know about this stuff..." And I do, and I help them when this happens, but what if someone like me isn't around? It probably doesn't end well.
Not sure Nintendo needs to push the WiiU anymore, Amazon.co.uk seems to have decided that they have far more premium pre-orders than they will get allocations for the forseeable future. I doubt that any stores will have issues shifting WiiU stocks quickly till well after christmas if then.
This is a cynical move by nintendo who clearly are trying to shift more cheap consoles, knowing that their production lines arnt capable of meeting wiiU demand especially as they will make a loss on the early ones. Sony have done this before not sure i recall there being a similar stunt with the 1st xbox.
This is a cynical move by nintendo who clearly are trying to shift more cheap consoles, knowing that their production lines arnt capable of meeting wiiU demand especially as they will make a loss on the early ones. Sony have done this before not sure i recall there being a similar stunt with the 1st xbox.
LoLBrainst0rm said:
So you haven't caught onto the game then. They are mostly playing dumb to mess with you, and most kids don't understand how money works till they get a job and live on their own so pretending to not know what the kid is talking about works well in getting something that you can afford instead of what the kid wants. As a side note my father is from the 50's and could probably rattle off the major consoles of each generation easily, and as a grandpa he's probably still going to play dumb for his grand daughter.
I don't think we should be questioning my Dad's capacity for ignorance here. Trust me. It's formidable. All I'm saying is that relying on *any* group to have basic knowledge of something is a crapshoot, and with the Wii U having little buzz outside the gamer community and (as far as I've seen) zero marketing, I just don't see this working out on anything near the scale Nintendo is hoping for.medv4380 said:
You think they have to do much advertising before the Black Friday Ads? At this point the Pre-Orders have guaranteed shortages and exceeded Nintendo's expectations so advertising really isn't needed until the Holiday Sales Ads start in the US, and for the UK the first ad hit a few days ago. I'd be more concerned if pre-orders weren't hitting the projections since those are an early indicator for demand. The E-Bay markup should be interesting to watch.Brainst0rm said: