Poll: Faith or No Faith: Nintendo Wii-U, Struggling Sales, and Improving Morale

[Bad Jim]

I think the Wii-U will turn out like the 3DS. Low initial sales, has a gimmick that few of us are interested in, and everyone predicts Nintendo going bankrupt. But then they start bringing out a few decent titles and it everything changes.

The "3DS will fail threads have been replaced by "Fire Emblem: Awakening is awesome" threads. In a year or so, the same will be true of the Wii-U.

 

[krazykidd]

I said this in the other WiiU thread but i'll say it again . Upcoming titles is good an all , but what's my incentive to buy one now? Why would i buy a console now , then have to wait 6 months- 1 year for games i want . I want to be able to play games back to back , not wait 3-4 months for another game . While i'm sure the sales will multiply in a year-2 years time , there is not enough games to justify buying one now.

 

[alphamalet]

Until Nintendo improves its relationship with 3rd party publishers, I will remain skeptical about the Wii U. Sure the Wii U will have first-party support with franchise that we all know (a little too) well, but those are becoming stale to me. What really interested me about the Wii U is what other developers besides Nintendo were going to do with the tablet controller. From the sound of things, it looks like those offerings will be scarce indeed.

Also, in b4 jeffers.

 

[Hero of Lime]

The Wii U will most likely do fine in the end. At the very least it will wind up like the Gamecube, a decent success, but obviously disappointing to the company. It's already been said a million times, but once more of the big games come out, the stronger sales will follow. We've gone through this with 3DS and PS3, slow starting consoles that wound up being a lot more successful. So yup I have plenty of faith in the system, I bought it day one so I hope everything turns out OK for the system.

P.S. Pikmin 3 may not seem to be a crowd drawing game, but I would say it is the best game I have played this year so far, and yes, I played and loved the media darling Last of Us.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

It'll do fine, but it'll miss it's whole "we're breaking into the hardcore market!" thing Nintendo clearly was trying to do and it'll fall back on the usual first-person titles. I'm still not going to buy it, it's too expensive, has none of the games I like and has an unnecessary, stupid gimmick. But it'll still do decently well because lolmario.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

Hmmm. I'm really not sure. I feel like that because the console is cheap, people might end up buying one eventually to play Ninty's games but I'm not sure about its lasting appeal. So far, it doesn't seem like 3rd parties are interested in making 3rd party ports for it so anyone who plans on playing the next great games from 3rd party developers would need either a ps4, xb1, or a halfway decent pc. If I ever buy one (and I'm thinking about it) I certainly won't be paying $350 for it and I won't be buying hardware locked digital games. Hell, the only game I'd really want for it so far is Super Smash Bros but Ninty was kind enough to port it to the 3DS so I might be buying one of those in the future

Basically, I can see people buying it when some this holiday season's games come out but I don't see a whole lot of people using it as their only gaming device or even their main gaming device

 

[Roberto Perez]

In my opinion is all about the lack of games right now and the price point, which in my country is 400 bucks, Will it be as succesfull as the 3DS, not at all, the 3DS has the benefit of being the only handheld console worth buying and any good handheld game WILL find its way there, therefor anyone who wants to play handheld is goona buy one eventually.

The WiiU on the other hand suffers from terrible PR campaing, proof of that is that even today MOST non-gamers have no clue that the WiiU exist at least in my country. Second even if they have a few exclusives I m dying to play (Pikim 3 and wonderful 101) it does not justify investment at the moment.

As far as the super mario 3D w/e, it COMPLETLY lacks the amount of spark really needed to draw people(non-nintendo fans), by first impressions it doesnt even hold a candle to mario galaxy, it feels like a downgrade in every way, and super mario kart 8 just doesnt seem THAT appealing I guess it just feels TOO familiar.

And finally Smash and Zelda, I cant pinpoint why but they just dont look very impressive, the diference between their predecesors seems blurry at best (if at all), so far aside from the new characters in smash bros and the Bottle thing in Zelda theres no diference between their predecesors.

All this you gotta consider it form an outsider- non hardcore gamer pointof view which is the place where most money is made

 

[xPixelatedx]

Take this from someone who said the exact same thing about the 3DS when every industry analyst and 4chan troll said otherwise.
[HEADING=2]The wiiU will succeed[/HEADING]

If you think it will fail, you are a moron.
[small]That said, it won't be the powerhouse the wii was in the market. But will it dig itself out of it's hole? Hell yeah it will.[/small]

Three things factored into the 3DS's 180, and that was a price cut, sudden abundance of advertising and then the appearance of the core Nintendo library not far behind. All these things are in the horizon for the wiiU. You can hate Nintendo all you want, and just not give a damn about their games... but don't feign ignorance. You make us all look stupid afterwards, like so many did with the 3DS.

I don't like M$ or their shitty Xbone, but even I am smart enough to say that while their pre-orders were slow and the initial start will be rocky, the Xbox1 will sell like crazy once Halo 5 appears. That's all it takes. Expect similar explosions when Zelda and Smash bros pops on the wiiU.

 

[Colt47]

Nintendo is just doing what they always do: Make flexible electronic toys with interesting functionality. By the very nature of their market they are always taking a risk when releasing new hardware since they never know if an idea is going to take off or not. Nintendo has been in this position before when they released the Virtual Boy back in the 90s.

Actually, I remember when they released the super scope for the SNES and how goofy that item worked when someone had a flat screen TV (a novelty at the time). Even before that there was the crazy balance ball controller thing that never worked right for the NES, the Power Glove, the speed board, that crazy light gun that had a mind of it's own depending on the alignment of the moon...

Didn't they have some weird controller addon for the Nintendo 64? I remember the rumble pack, but that was fairly standard fair.

Edit: I'm still ticked off at how they don't have a good system set up for the 3ds so that account information can be easily moved to another console without having said second console present, though. The 3ds XL is miles better to play on than the original 3ds.

 

[Something Amyss]

The gaming community as a whole is incredibly myopic, and has the collective memory of a goldfish. People will constantly moan about something one minute, then instantly forget their complaints the next minute as soon as a sexy looking game comes along. People were saying exactly the same thing for around a year or two after the PS3 came out. "Oh Sony, you fucked up! It hasn't got any games! It's too expensive! You've killed the Playstation brand, Microsoft has got you guys cooked!" Now, the PS3 has outsold the 360, and got far more must have exclusives.

I like how selective you are, there. You yourself have recently cited damage to the PS brand, called into issue the Sony "war chest," and so on. Now that it's convenient, you are instead thumping how it's a success and people saying those things were wrong. And I wouldn't exactly call a statistical dead heat from numbers that don't factor in all stores (including major chains left out of the methodology, leaving big holes) a win for either console.

Honestly, it looks like you selectively ignore whatever data will allow you to best support Nintendo. It's like Fox news for fads.

Regardless, there's another important factor with the PS3. 6ish years ago, Sony started actually addressing those problems people were having. Things like cost. A good chunk of the sales came from when price point came closer to parity with the 360. Funny how people "forget" when things are actually changed.

I mean, how exactly is Nintendo going to address the primary complaints of the WIIIIIII U? Ditch the tablet? Give it an upgrade so third party support will touch it? Roofie the entire adult population, steal their credit cards, and order millions of consoles?

Actually, that last one might work best for them.

I mean, let's ignore the "no games" claim, since everybody erroneously claims that's always been true of all consoles. Where do they go with the rest of the issues at hand?

 

[Something Amyss]

Nintendo is just doing what they always do: Make flexible electronic toys with interesting functionality. By the very nature of their market they are always taking a risk when releasing new hardware since they never know if an idea is going to take off or not. Nintendo has been in this position before when they released the Virtual Boy back in the 90s.

Actually, I remember when they released the super scope for the SNES and how goofy that item worked when someone had a flat screen TV (a novelty at the time). Even before that there was the crazy balance ball controller thing that never worked right for the NES, the Power Glove, the speed board, that crazy light gun that had a mind of it's own depending on the alignment of the moon...

Didn't they have some weird controller addon for the Nintendo 64? I remember the rumble pack, but that was fairly standard fair.

Edit: I'm still ticked off at how they don't have a good system set up for the 3ds so that account information can be easily moved to another console without having said second console present, though. The 3ds XL is miles better to play on than the original 3ds.

With the exception of the Virtual Boy, all your examples are peripherals. Even the Virtual Boy was effectively a side project, with a primary console and primary handheld out without actual successors. The Wii U is not. This might actually be less a problem if this were merely a peripheral.

Oddly enough, with hardware their biggest problem is routinely an issue of support, something that's usually within their power to fix.

The point being, it doesn't have to be the gamble they turn it into.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Take this from someone who said the exact same thing about the 3DS when every industry analyst and 4chan troll said otherwise.
[HEADING=2]The wiiU will succeed[/HEADING]

If you think it will fail, you are a moron.
[small]That said, it won't be the powerhouse the wii was in the market. But will it dig itself out of it's hole? Hell yeah it will.[/small]

Three things factored into the 3DS's 180, and that was a price cut, sudden abundance of advertising and then the appearance of the core Nintendo library not far behind. All these things are in the horizon for the wiiU. You can hate Nintendo all you want, and just not give a damn about their games... but don't feign ignorance. You make us all look stupid afterwards, like so many did with the 3DS.

I don't like M$ or their shitty Xbone, but even I am smart enough to say that while their pre-orders were slow and the initial start will be rocky, the Xbox1 will sell like crazy once Halo 5 appears. That's all it takes. Expect similar explosions when Zelda and Smash bros pops on the wiiU.

The difference being Nintendo was already dominating the handheld industry with the regular DS. The 3DS was a definate upgraded version, and people were having trouble with either price, games, or both.

The Wii-U falls in an awkward middle position by not being current gen, but also not quite next gen in terms of hardware compared to Sony and Microsoft. And again it's skewing the console market with it's hardware, making it less appealing for third party developers.

It might've actually been a better idea if Nintendo launched their new console around the same period Sony and Microsoft do. It would've probably taken away a lot of the confusion among consumers whether this is just some periphiral version of the Wii, if the console got markted in the same breath as the PS4 and Xbox1. It would also then be seen as a cheaper next gen alternative for all those parents buying their kids the next big console. Since now when the PS4 and Xbox1 launch, the Wii-U will likely be regarded as being in the same league as the Wii.

 

[Nazulu]

I really don't know, and I can't answer for everyone else. After the Wii I feel they just lost the plot and what I loved about them had died. Then the Wii U came a long and I found out it works a hell of a lot better than the Wii, including they are not completely forcing the gimmick (except for when you buy it) and I can use a more basic controller if I want to (not for all games though ).

Yeah, yeah, the games look alright but I can't get hyped up at all after the disaster that was Brawl. I couldn't believe how terrible the game play mechanics are, and I'm a fanboy that used to like anything Nintendo. They definitely don't make 'em like they used to. Sure they might have some interesting ideas but now I have to wait to see if hey don't fuck up majorly with certain parts.

I want them to succeed. I want to get the Wii U, but I want it to be because they are doing a great job. At the moment they are making too many basic fucking Mario games. I actually wish Mario was more like Sonic now with a story that actually goes somewhere. I couldn't believe there was nothing said about the previous Mario Galaxy in MG2. They really need to snap out of this routine and prove they can actually go anywhere again.

Also, they really need to do something about their 3rd party problem. I can't believe how slow it is right now.

Can't believe, can't believe, can't believe

 

[Soxafloppin]

The WiiU needs a Lost Kingdoms sequel (too bad Fromsoftware are a bit busy with Dark Souls II) to get me on board

That or maybe another Pokemon RPG like Colosseum and XD (focusing on pokemon from gens 1-3)

Sadly, I don't see either of these happening

 

[Mudokon]

Take this from someone who said the exact same thing about the 3DS when every industry analyst and 4chan troll said otherwise.
[HEADING=2]The wiiU will succeed[/HEADING]

If you think it will fail, you are a moron.
[small]That said, it won't be the powerhouse the wii was in the market. But will it dig itself out of it's hole? Hell yeah it will.[/small]

Three things factored into the 3DS's 180, and that was a price cut, sudden abundance of advertising and then the appearance of the core Nintendo library not far behind. All these things are in the horizon for the wiiU. You can hate Nintendo all you want, and just not give a damn about their games... but don't feign ignorance. You make us all look stupid afterwards, like so many did with the 3DS.

I don't like M$ or their shitty Xbone, but even I am smart enough to say that while their pre-orders were slow and the initial start will be rocky, the Xbox1 will sell like crazy once Halo 5 appears. That's all it takes. Expect similar explosions when Zelda and Smash bros pops on the wiiU.

well said man, for example my plan is that when the new zelda comes out ill buy the wii u and till then the price will drop and it will have a larger library too and i think im not the only one who thinks like that as for the bankrupt thing is not going to happen cause if anyone checks the sale charts of handheld systems nintendo is selling like a hell. the wii u will definetely succeed.

 

[xPixelatedx]

The wiiU will play out like the 3DS

The difference being Nintendo was already dominating the handheld industry with the regular DS. The 3DS was a definate upgraded version, and people were having trouble with either price, games, or both.

Given that Nintendo was already dominating the console market, and that the wiiU is a big upgrade to the wii, you basically just described the current situation.

The Wii-U falls in an awkward middle position by not being current gen, but also not quite next gen in terms of hardware compared to Sony and Microsoft. And again it's skewing the console market with it's hardware, making it less appealing for third party developers.

Again, you just described the the wii word for word. People (yes even non-casuals) bought the wii to play the Nintendo games... even if it wasn't anywhere near as powerful as a 360 or PS3. That didn't seem to matter at all.

the Wii-U will likely be regarded as being in the same league as the Wii.

That we can agree on, but it's not a bad league to be in. It's a successful front, even if it isn't successful in all ways. The price cut alone will start getting it into more casual homes as well, as we all know the wiiU will get one long before the Xbox and PS4.