Slashdot Mirror
Is the Wii U Already Dead?
kube00 writes "The Wii U has been struggling as of late. Even Nintendo has admitted sales haven't been as high as they would like. So what went wrong? Is this just a fluke? Will the Wii U recover and bounce back? Will the PS4 and the next 360 come out the door and leave the Wii U in the dust? GoozerNation takes a look at some of the NPD's and speculates on what it all means."
They've cruised on their name, they've went with gimmicks, they've stubbornly stuck with being the kids console, they've put only a half-hearted effort into online play, they've all-but-resigned themselves to staying in the last gen, etc. And, most woefully of all, they seem to have put little to no thought into WHERE THEY FIT IN NOW.
Methinks they need something they probably haven't had in a long time--a conclave of their board and big-wigs to ask themselves some fundamental questions about what their mission is, how they are going to accomplish it, and how they're going to compete in the modern gaming market.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
I would have bought one already if it was a little cheaper. Nintendo stuff is supposed to be cheap and cheerful. $349 is too much, and the $299 version is too crippled to justify even building much less buying.
Drop $50 and I will take one today.
No, I don't think it's even close to dead. I want one but I don't have to have one because titles are still coming out on the Wii. It is my opinion that Nintendo thrives on being the cheapest option. Yes, I know that sounds stupid. But I feel like in every console war the Nintendo option is always at least a little cheaper than the Sony or Microsoft options. Sure, a lot of console makers lose money on consoles and make it up on publishing licenses but Nintendo still comes out with a lower price.
... "F it, I'll get him this with a couple games and an extra controller." The kid will initially be unhappy but learn to love it.
... I guess I'd be forced to buy it then.
But in order for that strategy to work, there has to be a comparison. The Wii U came out at a time when it seemed like the console wars were over -- or at least dormant. I think the market and the makers benefit from a three way tie because everyone wants a new console. But when it was just the Wii U the titles weren't that compelling and the hardware was, well, it was Nintendo hardware.
I predict the Wii U will have flagging sales just like their handheld consoles that come out with no competitor. And then next Christmas when the XBox 720 and PS4 launch, parents will walk into a big box store and little Tommy will want that new $500 PS4 bundle but their eye will catch the Wii U for $175 or $200 and they'll think
Or they could just release an exclusive Zelda title on it
Anyone have any guesses as to what new feature the Sony or Microsoft offerings could come up with to lockout the Wii U? I mean, there's no new disc standard or input device idea that I'm missing, is there? That'd be the only case where the Wii U would be in trouble -- if there was some new feature X like VR goggles that a consumer just had to have at all costs.
My work here is dung.
Why is this story given the Microsoft icon?
Other then the new Super Mario Bros Game. I literally have no use for my Wii U at the moment. Once the new Nintendo franchise games start rolling out I would expect to see quite a rise in sales again.
There isn't much that is revolutionary about the Wii U. Why should I upgrade?
...submitted to Slashdot by the writer of the article for a site nobody has ever heard of, and falls fall short of journalism.
I don't want a separate game console. I want Super Mario on my iPhone/iPad.
that's all
In the last generation the Wii proved dominant by simply setting a reasonable price point and being somewhat novel. Most Wii owners will admit that the machine only sees occasional use (sometimes only as a Netflix player at that) outside of major first party releases. If the WiiU "wins" this generation it won't be due to any brilliance on its part, it will be because Sony and Microsoft both made colossal blunders.
I can almost guarantee that if Microsoft releases an XBox 720 (only one SKU) for $200 that they will be the undisputed champions of this generation. Sony is clearly going for the high end again and will struggle to meet even a $300 price point. Fanboys will deride the console as not nearly as powerful as the PS4, but it won't matter because your games will still work and you'll have a lot more of them to choose from because publishers tend to flock to the most successful console.
I read the internet for the articles.
The console never had a chance. The Wii sold well because it was a cool party gimmick. "Hey look! We can bowl on our TV! The little avatar looks just like me! WOW!?!?11!" So Nintendo got a ton of casual gamers to buy in and had a nice little run. By the time the Wii U came out, those casual gamers' Wiis had already been gathering dust for years. They don't touch them anymore, so there's no way they're going to splurge on the new generation of hardware. The Wii and its brand of casual gaming were a passing fad. The Pogs, Tamagachis or Beanie Babies of the 'aughts. Meanwhile, the "hardcore" gamers never gave it a second thought. The graphics are underpowered, the controllers are gimicky and the game selection is terrible.
Seriously, what a piece of shit!!
The wiimote plus is a thing of beauty. All you needed was to make that mother more accurate...perhaps find a way to get it working without the sensor bar altogether and make some of the software available under homebrew fully available without modding. The Wii is an awesome media player, except that it can't handle high res nor can it handle h264 unless it's really low res.
The games on the Wii were social, they were casual, and so they weren't limited to geeks playing them.
Nintendo lost it's way with the U....it's just not appealing to any one group.
I've had Nintendo consoles since the original. I've also had XBoxes and the PS3. The Wii U actually confused me when it came out because it seemed more like it was a new handheld/portable. Not the new console and Wii replacement. I don't know if it was my complete lack of caring towards it, or their poor marketing. On the other hand I read all about the PS4 release and have been pondering the new XBox.
I feel like Nintendo just wasn't on the ball with this generation of consoles.
I will shred my adversaries. Pull their eyes out just enough to turn them towards their mewing, mutilated faces. Illyria
Nintendo, like a lot of other console manufacturers, seems to have had trouble transitioning to HD, and this has resulted in a lot of key games (like Pikmin 3) being delayed.
The system on demo at Best Buy just didn't do it for me. Why they decided to make a simple (if beautiful) side-scroller the only playable demo (the rest are just videos) is beyond me, when the title that supposedly comes with the system is meant to showcase the possibilities.
I was perplexed as to why they didn't put a game on there that really showed what the machine brings to gaming. When the first Wii came out, people were eagerly waiting in line for a turn to roll a bowling ball or play some tennis. There was often a small group cheering on whoever was currently playing.
It's almost as if they are intentionally not enticing me to buy the Wii U.
I think that the answer to this should be pretty obvious, the two main things holding back the Wii U are consumer confusion and lack of compelling titles.
The Wii U is too similar in name, function, and form to the Wii. Lots of people just assume that it's an add-on to the Wii, not a whole new system.
Also, there just aren't enough games for it. Of all the launch titles, only, what, four or so are worth playing (including a Mario Game, article writer)? Sure it plays Wii games, too, but I'm not going to drop $300-$350 on a console that I'll mostly use to play Wii games on until the software library fills out a little bit, because I still have my Wii for that. There is just no compelling reason for me to upgrade until there's more of an ecosystem out there for it.
I think actually their primary problem now, in 2013, is that their business is making games consoles. It doesn't matter whether it's cheap, has "gimmicks" (can we lay that one to rest BTW? Innovation isn't gimmickry, the DS killed the PSP, and the introduction of the Wii basically forced Microsoft to go in a new direction), or anything else. The problem is they're making games consoles. And the concept really doesn't have anywhere to go, not usefully anyway.
If I wanted something more powerful than a Wii I'd have already bought am Xbox 360. But in all honesty, what I want has changed in the last five years. We have tablets and smartphones. Our PCs are no longer hooked up to 15-19" CRTs, they have 1080p 25" widescreens. Oh, and the PCs have Steam on them.
Given these entertainment options, the attractiveness of a locked down box you plug into the living room TV, requiring the consent of the entire household to do so, to play games is really going out of the window.
Sony and Microsoft need to take note, because realistically, unless their next game consoles are significantly different from the box-with-controllers-and-some-way-to-insert-a-game-and-a-TV-out model, they'll flop too.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
The Wii U is probably going to become the new generation's Wii. It will have some awesome games, certainly. And of course there's always the Nintendo staples that will draw in sales. But let's look at what's happening right now.
Every console tends to have a relatively weak first year where there is a drought of titles, and devs are still getting comfortable with the system. Ever since at least the N64, Nintendo has had weak launches. And let's look at the games. Outside of a few Wii U exclusives like the new Mario game, much of the current library consists of inferior ports from the PS3/360 (Batman, AC 3, ME 3, etc.)
If the Wii U ports aren't keeping up with the PS3/360, then it will probably be left in the dust completely once the PS4/Durango release. But it's not the end of the world. Nintendo has sort of carved out its own niche to work in. Most hardcore gamers won't be content with a Nintendo console as their only console for a generation, but they'll still miss out on plenty of gems if they pass on picking up a Wii U at some point as a secondary console.
Why is the Wii considered a kids console? Every adult I know has and plays a Wii. The motion controller was much more than a gimmick, it was a functional, useful device for input.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
My family and I considered getting one for Xmas, but as others and TFA points out, there weren't any games we were interested in. I appreciate that Nintendo always seems to make Zelda and Metroid games "right", but any guesses as to when there will be a Wii U Zelda? Also, didn't they say they were rebooting Zelda, so that makes more more willing to hold off.
Heck, I (might) get it for Mario Kart, but no, gotta wait for that too. Maybe when Zelda and Mario Kart is available I'd get a used Wii U, as I'm not sure I'd care enough to even splurge for a new one; the kids have already pretty much moved on to other things (especially LBP on the PS3) in addition to various iOS games. Geez, they're not even teenagers and they already see Nintendo games as "retro".
Maybe it's just me (and I know it supports the old wii-motes), but I think the big controller is too weird and too big.
I'm looking forward to ouya console or the steam console.
They've cruised on their name
I'm sorry, which console maker hasn't and how do you determine who is "cruising" and who isn't? Playstation to Playstation 4? That's not cruising on their name? They've been in the game a lot longer than Microsoft or Sony ... so what?
they've went with gimmicks
I know, right. It's like those tired rhythm music games were only available on the Wii. Oh, and Sony and Microsoft keep leveraging innovative titles like Call of Duty 18 and Battlefield 5 and Medal of Honor: Get On 'Er.
they've stubbornly stuck with being the kids console
Right and if they hadn't, everyone would be criticizing them for not sticking to their bread and butter. It's cool you don't like those games but that's a market share and equals $$$.
they've all-but-resigned themselves to staying in the last gen, etc.
By releasing the Wii U a year before the XBox 720 and PS4? I don't get it. I think they're trying to offset themselves by a year and give consumers some breathing room to enjoy all consoles instead of making a choice. Sure, something released a year later better have good specs but can you point out the publishers that claim Nintendo just lacks the hardcore power for their titles? I haven't heard a lot of complaints and frankly, I own a Wii, Xbox 360 and a PS3 ... graphics are rarely a factor for me in which title I play. I value game play and Nintendo pays more attention to this than the rehashed shit I find on the other two.
And, most woefully of all, they seem to have put little to no thought into WHERE THEY FIT IN NOW.
I get it, you like first person shooters. Enjoy. I like how you totally overlooked the obvious to me: Nintendo games are games that I play when my friends come over and want to drink and have fun. The wiimotes are fun in person and the Kinect is actually trying to break into this market. You are explaining this from one of the most narrow and convoluted false narratives I've come across.
You're attacking Nintendo for owning their market share while the other two consoles do exactly the same thing. Hell, it's arguable that Sony and Microsoft are gutting each other by fighting over the same user base while Nintendo chugs along owning one. How are those XBox 360 and PS3 sales? Through the roof right now?
My work here is dung.
1) motion controllers suck
2) motion controllers suck
3) Wii lost the adult market with a lack of adult games
I haven't even seen one in any store that I have been in; or if I did I had no idea.
The first Wii with all its movement and potential for interaction had me (and my kids) drooling for one when they came out. But I don't think it has been on in 2013 and only a few times in 2012. No game has made me want to use it and none of my friends have said, "Hey have you seen this Wii game X?" Nor have my kids have not asked for any Wii games. I have no idea about what the Wii U and know noone who does know what it can do but I doubt it can be that interesting as I haven't read anything about any hackers (people doing cool things not the thieves) doing anything with it like people were with the WiiMotes when they first came out.
So did Nintendo make a crappy console or did they fail to market a good console? The answer is one or both of those options.
Personally I think that where Nintendo failed was that their first Wii fit into a market for fun simple games. So people didn't complain about the low specs. But now smart phones and tablets have eaten the market for fun simple games. Thus if you are going to make a console the lesson seems to be that you'd better make it nearly a super computer.
Because a lot of family-friendly and all-ages content shows up on the Wii, and as every teenager will tell you, 'all-ages' and 'family-friendly' is just code for 'games for babies'
Horrible marketing. It made it seem like it was an add on for the Wii instead off a whole new system. Talk about the new features!
Nintendo doesn't seem to have a good answer for "who is the market for this device?" It's not hardcore gamers. And the casual gamers that made the Wii a success have moved on to iPads and smart phones.
Nintendo needs to go somewhere that their competiors are not. In my opinion, they should be working with the Occulus Rift people to develop a box which can be worn as a backpack, which ties into the goggles. The VR Boy 2... They could concede lower quality graphics, but very, very low latency input and output to make the most of the VR hardware and minimize motion sickness effects. They already know a lot about building appropriate controllers. If this was well done, they could make the XBox and Playstation seem totally out of date. The way games used to be played, where you looked at the virtual world through a glowing rectangle with a plastic strip around it.
Because the 16-22 year old male can't see any reason for games that don't pander to him. If it does not have pointless levels of violence and lots of bewbs they are not interested.
Sure violence and sex can be fun in a game, but for them that is all there is. Games that are just fun are not on their radar. Worse yet are games that a child or family could enjoy because they are trying to prove to the world they are Real Men, which is why they behave like children.
and Nintendo is seemingly unaware.
Every kid I know want's either a smartphone or tablet. From my observation the only people playing consoles anymore are teenagers and adults that grew up with consoles many of which are increasingly shifting their attention to mobile. The younger kids have ditched their DSi for iTouches over the last two years and are playing casual and social games. When I visit family I am bombarded by nephews and nieces that want to play my iPad.
Nintendo is trying with a tablet but doing it horribly wrong. Instead of focusing on their hardware they need to focus on their software on established mobile hardware and ecosystems.
Every year more mobile devices activate than all consoles sold combined. Mobile devices also iterate with a much higher frequency. Most modern mobile devices are fully capable of rendering any Nintendo title if adapted for it.
My prediction is none of the new consoles will sell as well as the prior version and all will likely flop. They will fail for the reason that they focus on a living room that has become mostly vacant.
There is literally 5 games for it, and that was launch games. Of those, 2 were "party" games and they rest were ... meh.
The Target Wii U market is happy with their current Wiis. That's all there is to it. They've got enough games to last a long while. Unless/Until Nintendo sends a kill message to current Wiis, casual gamers won't trade up. And if Nintendo does send a kill message to current Wiis, casual gamers aren't crack heads who will run out and buy a Wii U. They'll go buy something without a kill switch like a jump-rope or hula-hoop.
It doesn't help that Nintendo apparently can't comprehend software to save their miserable lives. They can make games; but their grasp of the non-game software components is tragicomedic even compared to Sony, and that's saying something.
DRM is always user-hostile; but Nintendo's is just hilarious(even as their consoles are markedly easier to crack than Sony's or Microsoft's). Downloaded material is permanently locked to the hardware it was downloaded on. Even now that the Wii U has 'Nintendo network accounts' those are locked to the device they were created on. There is a transfer process for certain sorts of material; but it's the most ass-backwards and error-prone exercise one can imagine. Even better, the 'virtual' Wii within the Wii U, for backwards compatibility, counts as a separate device and is almost entirely non-integrated. It's just terrible at every step.
Sony's 'well, we could download updates in the background; but instead we'll make you watch' also isn't a masterpiece, and Microsoft is clearly sucking at the ad-money teat a bit too much in laying out their atrocious 'dashboard'; but that's at least evil rather than cluelessness.
The Wii U is great, but the trouble is, it's hard to get across what makes it so good in 30 seconds.
With the Wii, everyone saw the Wiimote and instantly saw that it worked as a tennis racquet, a gun, etc. Very little explanation needed.
The Wii U is the only console that isn't pegged on selling the latest sequel to the newest FPS. In other words, it is the only console that has titles that I care about. Between the PS4 and X720 there really are very few truly exclusive titles as those exclusive titles are so similar to non-exclusive titles that they don't matter.
People will rip on the Wii U for being insufficient in resolution or frame rate, but those are mostly people who want to buy Halo 27 and CoD 12 - Nintendo hasn't worried about those people for a long, long time.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
That's part of it. But it's only expressed that way because of a lack of titles that appeal to adults (and older teenagers).
They have some, it's just few and far between. I tried to be a grown up on the original Wii, there was about 1 title per year worth playing, maybe 2. And often it was desperation (the 007 game, yea, that would have been better on an Xbox, I regret buying it on Wii now that I have an Xbox).
Maybe the slow sales are because kids are finally going back outside and getting some fresh air and exerciser.
The Wii had a unique controller, a low price, and casual games. People didn't buy the Wii for its graphical power. In 2013, the Wii U is somewhat more powerful than the 360 and PS3, but not by much, and it does not bring a new interface. What is unique about the Wii U, to justify its purchase over the 360, or an original Wii, or an iPad with regard to casual gaming? I don't think it does. I do think the Wii U will be getting PS3 and 360 ports, and that will justify its existence.
Which is why they also appeal to older, never owned a gaming console, generations looking for "That thing that lets you bowl at home..."
I just don't think the perfect storm of the Wii can be reproduced. The first Wii had all the same problems the Wii U has (bad/last-gen graphics, few 3rd party titles, overpriced, etc), however, with the original Wii-mote they were able to introduce a new form of gameplay that was compelling enough to make it a mainstream hit.
This time around they've got 2 things going against them, 1: The Wii U pad is not nearly as interesting nor novel as the Wii-mote was. 2: Now most people are now aware that if you buy a Nintendo system there will be very few games for it beyond Nintendo's own first party ones (even though hardcore gamers have known this since N64 days).
You young'ns fail to remember what happened with the Gamecube: decent launch followed by a drought of games in Jan/Feb, in fact I seem to recall the Gamecube drought lasting through April. The Wii U has had no new games, of signifigance, released since its launch. Next month brings Lego City Undercover on 3/18 and Monster Hunter the day after. It's nothing more than the usual post-launch drought for any console.
Personally, i'm enjoying the Wii U, the off-TV gameplay using the gamepad is the unexpected killer feature. I spend most nights watching Twit/Twitch/Justin/Revision3 on the TV while playing a few levels of Mario or getting a workout with Just Dance.
-==- Buy a Mac and leave me alone!
Lack of DVD/Blueray player killed it. Seriously of you are making/using an optical drive using the same form factor as a CD/DVD/Blueray play, it can't be that much harder/more expensive to add that functionality into it.
I really only want one device that can play disks cluttering the area near my TV (and generally you can play games or watch TV/DVD). If it had been able to play my DVDs, I would have bought one.
Why is the Wii considered a kids console?
Because that's the easiest cheapshot for Under30-something PS3 fanboys to articulate.
Obviously their original Wii was bought by A TON of non-gamers who had never bought a console. That means a console budget of $0. So it was already a stretch and now they're expecting a lot of them to upgrade to a much more expensive version when the added features are very gamer-oriented? Hell no! That's what's really killing it.
If Nintendo is making all the right moves (as you seem to contend), why has their stock been dropping steadily for the last 5 years (from a high of over $72 to $12 now)? Obviously SOMEONE thinks they're screwing up, and it ain't just me. Maybe it has something to do with headlines like this and this?
Face it, they're NOT on the right path right now.
Um, wait wait wait, your argument had nothing to do with stock price, you were criticizing their console and now all you have to show you're right are stock numbers? Maybe Nintendo's just a shitshow internally? No matter how good your console is, it doesn't change how horrible management can be. Strange, why didn't you compare that to Microsoft's entertainment division numbers? Or Sony's playstation division numbers? Oh right, because those divisions are also doing terribly and it doesn't conform to your narrative.
Oh, you want a FUD headline? Well SOMEBODY thinks XBox is the worst console!
It's likely the PS4 and Xbox 720 won't sell that well either.
The manufacturers are aware of this, which is why their new consoles aren't as costly as the previous ones.
Make revolutionary games, and people will come. But what's left to revolutionize anymore?
Graphics quality come into it too. I've noticed Wii graphics aren't as good as X360/PS3. Look at the recent Ghostbusters video game on the X360 or P3 vs. the Wii...
We have a couple of Wii's at the house [ mostly relegated to Netflix now, but every now and again it is fun to break out the Lego game or Free Running] and a Wii U [ XMAS present with Zombie U ]. The Wii had a lot in its favor, it introduced a compelling new paradigm in its controller and really appealed to families with some very innovative and fun games. It was almost as if the Wii was an appliance more than a gaming console. The WII U on other hand has none of that going for it. For those that have Wii's already, why upgrade unless you want to play specific games? The price point is also expensive for this economy, I think more people are playing games on their smart phones via free or cheap apps or their computers via flash. Another thing that is also telling to me at least is when I visit my local Costco. It used to be that Costco had a reasonable amount of shelf space devoted to gaming hardware and games. Now, it is almost non-existent and as far as I've seen there are is nothing at all for the Wii U.
You are simply seeing a continuation of a trend that started when the original Wii release afterglow wore out.
Do you see what I did there?
Well, most adults I know have a Wii, but hardly any of them played it after the first few months they bought it.
If Nintendo is making all the right moves (as you seem to contend), why has their stock been dropping steadily for the last 5 years (from a high of over $72 to $12 now)? Obviously SOMEONE thinks they're screwing up, and it ain't just me. Maybe it has something to do with headlines like this and this?
Face it, they're NOT on the right path right now.
Way to not answer to a single one of the GP's counterpoints to your initial points. Well done. You are a debate master ... as long as it's a political debate I guess.
Hi, parent here.
I can buy a Wii for a lower price than the XBox or PS. I'm 8 years from angsty teenagers, so I don't have to deal with the desire for mature rated games for a long time. The Wii games are more fun for the tipsy adults when we have friends over.
The Wii U doesn't appeal to me because it looks more complicated and it costs more than twice as much. Talk to me when it is $150. I'd also prefer it didn't have big easy-to-break-looking, drain-its-batteries-all-the-time controller tv things.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
its the games.
people buy consoles for games. I've had the luxury of being able to afford consoles I don't need, so I bought the ps3 just to play the uncharted games even though I already had an xbox 360. The PS3 and xbox 360 libraries overlap more than any previous consoles have ever overlapped, with minimal differences between the same games on the different systems; but each has their system selling games (gears of war, halo for xbox). I'd consider buying a Wii U if it had some amazing games only available on wii u but i'm certainly not going to buy it for call of duty.
No, because it's still Nintendo's primary problem. The DS didn't kill the PSP. The PSP was the first successful non-Nintendo gaming handheld, and by "successful" I mean "sold substantially in the popular market", "had a lot of games", and "has a successor". That's pretty successful. The PSP may not have beat the DS in sales figures, but that's still a pretty huge win given the wasteland of other failed non-Nintendo handhelds.
Innovation isn't gimmickry, but the Wii was gimmickry. It did most certainly not force Microsoft to do anything. Sure, they came out with the Kinect. The number of good games using it? Zero. Sure, it's found a lot of non-gaming use, but that's irrelevant. It's irrelevant to gaming. Nintendo only finally at the end of the Wii's lifecycle managed to show motion controls could work ... but only as well as a regular controller at best. (Worse, Zelda Skyward Sword triggers my RSI too fast to be playable.)
For the casual market, maybe something like Ouya is sufficient. Even my Roku XS plays Angry Birds. But this is buying the Nintendo Lie: that everyone is a casual gamer. If anything, fewer people are becoming casual gamers, since so many people are growing up with video games. It's no longer just for nerds.
In the end, Microsoft and Sony only need to do one thing: make sure their consoles have games that Nintendo doesn't, or even just that they play games better than Nintendo. Given the last three generations of Nintendo consoles (Wii, Cube, N64), this is hardly a stretch.
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
a locked down box you plug into the living room TV, requiring the consent of the entire household to do so, to play games is really going out of the window.
I think that's why they went with the gamepad and the second screen option. Gabe from Penny arcade said he'll buy every game that supports that for Wii U over anything else because he doesn't have to stop playing if the family takes over the main TV... he can stream it to the gamepad and keep going.
Steam counterbalances the lack of physical ownership with genuinely useful services such as 24/7 access to your entire game library on any PC in the world. Sony and Microsoft clumsily follow, with confusing restrictions about 'registered devices' and 'deactivation codes'. Nintendo just piles on to the 'bad' side by restricting your purchases to a single device.
First of all, the Wii was a not a kids console it was a family oriented console. The Wii U , on the other hand, is not - have you even looked at it's library?
Darksiders 2, Mass effect 3, Tekken Tag Tournament 2; just to name a few examples that are not kid games and they exist for the Wii U.
The problem the Wii U has is that there are barely any games for the system, those that exist are mostly ports and because of that people don't want to buy the Wii U since they already own these games. In result developers don't want to make games for the Wii U because it sells too poorly. It's a catch 22.
Nintendo needs to publish a few games on their own to encourage gamers to buy the system so third party developers will make games for it. Bayonetta 2 will most likely help in selling Wii U's which is a step in the right direction for them but it will take a while until it gets released.
The Wii was a one-off event that won't happen again for quite a while, at least in those numbers.
The reason the Wii sold so well was because it was targeted as casuals an families.
There are both good and bad sides to this group.
The good part is they are absolutely huge untapped resources.
The bad is they don't like to buy expensive things often.
The Wii sold so well because it was something they never had, something that was highly accessible and something that was fun for all the family.
WiiU comes around. Who wants that? We already have a Wii, why would we want another one?
The NAME was a huge turn-off for one. There was even many news articles going on about how Wii doesn't play WiiU games. No doubt many games stores had to explain this so often as well.
The price being another turn-off. Wii sales absolutely stopped once it hit the saturation point. Games too.
After that it was just an odd sale here and there. Once everyone had a Wii and a couple games or so, that was it. They had no reason to get anythng else.
It was like if you made a perfect light bulb and sold one to every person who ever needed one. You just killed a HUGE income generator due to that.
Could another game-changer happen this generation? Hell, entirely possible.
Valve could come in and be all like "hey screw you console guys, my games are cheap and everyone loves them, your move".
Prices could drop, and if it did, it would likely get more people buying NEW games as opposed to USED games. People don't like buying used games because they are used (well, not all of them... some people however), but the problem is price forces them to go other routes, and the used market is where they go.
Piracy isn't even a percentage of the overall market, it is hilariously ignorant how games companies went after pirates when the REAL pirates were their own ignorant short-term greed per unit moved.
We just need to hope that things will get better. If it doesn't, I fear another huge crash.
Actually I don't fear, I will be around to take advantage of it. Indies are the ones that revive markets.
The PSP didn't sell well. Sony has had to re-invent it a number of times because it was a flop. "Has a successor?" - no, Sony has tried multiple times to enter the market, and largely failed.
I don't even know what the latest gen PSP looks like. I haven't seen it in any stores. Oh, I'm sure it's in some of the stores I've been to, but certainly the store selling it knows it's not worth promoting. The 3DS, by comparison, seems to be pretty much everywhere.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
I don't think you got that quite right. Nintendo last gen courted the casual crowd and were hugely successful at it, however they have realised this gen that this is much harder due to smartphones and tablets being good enough for the casuals. So Nintendo retargeted back to gamers, unfortunately the effort was half hearted and really nothing that would encourage xbox or playstation gamers to switch. Yes it is a warning to MS and Sony, but not the warning you say it is. The casual market has shifted, to be a success they need to excel at games to hold the gamers or they need to change significantly to try and find another market.
Nintendo should have released the Wii U 1-2 years ago when the Wii was just starting to decline. At that time, it would have been a perfect mid-generation console upgrade adding HD support, competing with the Kinect/PS-Move, and riding the general buzz of the time while giving it the power-boost needed to compete with traditional games on the other consoles.
Now it's simply too little too late, particularly at their given prices. Once the PS4 and Xbox720 are released Nintendo will be back to being the underpowered also-run of the next generation.
I've always been a fan of Nintendo, but it's been hard to find much compelling in recent years. Owning a PS3 and 360, the WiiU has no interest for me today ... though the idea of a no-TV play mode would have been a killer feature if I was still a teenager living at home.
I just traded my Wii U for a comparable Xbox/kinect system. My kids are already getting more enjoyment and use from the Xbox.
The Wii U is half baked. Maybe the hardware gets figured out by developers, and even Nintendo, but right now the shortcomings are to visible. Right from system menu navigation being so slow and frustrating that it made me not want to boot up the system. So yeah, Nintendo doesn't do well with the system software designed for their own System.
I was one of the unfortunate ones to get a system that kept locking up - luckily after over a week being sent from the East to West then back East, I got a working system - but while the system didn't crash anymore, it was still a pain to navigate, and the games were underwhelming.
It actually wasn't an easy decision to trade the system. Nintendo may work everything out... The gamepad was a unique feature, but not so unique now that Microsoft seems committed to "SmartGlass." But my final decision to give up on the Wii U came down to the kids --- do I get a system they can have fun and variety with now, or do I pay $60 - $70 for half baked ports that may or may not play properly and cross my fingers the kids can have a comparable experience 6 months, a year, 2 years down the road... Nintendo dropped the ball on this system...
On the other side of things -- maybe they do work it out. I had an Xbox 360 up until about 3 years ago - and the experience on the one I just traded for is much better than the one I got rid of. But I have a hard time thinking Nintendo can fully recover from this one with the PS4 and the next gen Xbox right around the corner... Add in the Steambox and the explosion of tablet gaming and it doesn't look good for the Wii U.
From the great 20th century author C.S. Lewis:
“When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”
Likewise, I'm in my 30s and I have zero interest in the PS4 right now because the vast majority of the games shown were violent M rated games or sports games. That's fine if that's what you're in to, but I want to play something fun. For me, Nintendo is a perfect fit.
If the Wii U is struggling it's not because it's a "kids console", it's because they put out boring M rated games as launch games. If I was Ubisoft, I would have made sure Rayman Legends was a launch game, not Assasins Creed III. If I was Nintendo, I would have made sure there was at least one other killer first party game out at launch (Pikmin 3 perhaps?).
I think the problem is correctable. I think the Wii U will bounce back. Do I care if every foul mouthed racist 10 year old has a Wii U? Nope. Let Nintendo make games that cater towards me, not little kids with something to prove.
Sure, they came out with the Kinect. The number of good games using it? Zero.
Correction: The number of good games (series) using the Kinect is one. The Dance Central series is hands down the best use of the Kinect as a peripheral to create a game that literally could not be done any other way. The problem is the same as most games on the Wii. Most developers use motion controls as a substitution for pushing buttons instead of starting with the concept that you can do things based on movement and designing a game solely working off that basis.
I like to think of online DRM as something akin to a college -- you pay for lessons until you learn something.
I never have liked the console idea. With a PC you can upgrade at your own pace, and you can buy the latest games cross platform. The manufacturers must be going banannas trying to create a game for four different platforms. It's no wonder prices are so high. If we were really smart as the gaming community we should expressly shun all consoles and just use a PC. Maybe then they would go away and prices would come down.
They should have sold it as Wii 2 and the Wii Tab.
I might buy one if it would just make game and level loading faster for my existing library, and eliminate some other long pauses like for popup menus. Egad that thing is slow.
Yup. My kids and I absolutely love that feature;
I would never have guessed how much we would use that feature. It wasn't a selling point of the WiiU at all for us.
But it gets used pretty almost daily.
I'll buy a Wii-U for $150...
it's an overpriced piece of shit compared to what's the xbox720/PS4 is gonna cost...
Exactly. I never saw any good reason to buy a game console. My kids did, and they bought some. I only ever touched them a few times. All you can do is - play games! If you want to do any "computing", you walk over to the desktop.
Gaming is alright, and in some respects, game consoles did it best. But, gaming simply isn't worth the effort or the expense of having one or more consoles sitting around.
And, it seems that the kids have come to agree with me. The Xbox sits collecting dust, the Nintendo boxes are lost under piles of clutter, the other boxes that I can't even identify are scattered between rooms where they collect dust. The games are tidily lined up on bookshelves, remaining undisturbed for months - maybe years now.
Mobile devices are heavily used, the desktops are heavily used, and the laptops see constant use. Game boxes? History.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
I use both wii and XBox all the time. Depends on the game i guess.
Also, upgrde to new Wii U? The cd drive stopped working in our Wii but instead of upgrading, picked up a refurb Wii for $80. I don't see any compelling new games that would warrant new system. For now, XBox is getting new game $$$s.
I drank what? -- Socrates
They're first out the door on the next generation so they have the most expensive system with the least games and the least budget options and their third party titles are mostly ports. People are waiting for the Nintendo games. I'll get one but when there is a Zelda or good mario game out.
The reason it was dead on arrival is that they changed too much that was cool and original about the first Wii and the only feature that is semi-cool about the new one isn't that big of a deal. Let's compare
Wii
Wii U
So, by changing the recipe without any real new innovation they alienated a lot of the Wii fans. I don't see any added value to the Wii U so I will stick with my Wii. I have my computer if I want 1080p quality games. What I want my Wii for is fun games where 1080p doesn't make a difference besides is Mario really supposed to be in high def I mean come on people!
I love consoles. I like the fact that when I buy a game, I know that I'm going to be able to put it in that little box and play it without having to worry about if my box meets the system requirements of the game or if I have a strong enough cell signal to log onto the games servers or if my software version isn't compatible.
I love PCs. I like the fact that it makes it easier to download lots of games and has more function than just a console. I like 25" 1080p widescreens, but I really like hooking my PC up to my 1080p 52" TV in my living room.
I don't want either model to die, and I don't understand why so many people think that there can be only successful model. I think there are a lot of people who, like me, love consoles and don't want to see the box-with-controllers-and-some-way-to-insert-a-game-and-a-TV-out model die. There's a demand for this model, even if you don't fit into it.
Steam counterbalances the lack of physical ownership with genuinely useful services such as 24/7 access to your entire game library on any PC in the world.
You cannot counterbalance a loss of ownership. You either get rid of the DRM, or you are anti-freedom.
Sure, use Steam as a platform from which people can buy games, but do not forcibly tie games to Steam. Do something like Good Old Games does, and you can even keep all the features Steam currently offers if you want.
I have actually got a Wii, I got it for last story. That was good... but I had to hook it up to a small display because else the graphics were just not acceptable anymore.
There is no such thing as a gamer, what one loves, the other hates but the Wii mostly seems to appeal to the extreme casual market. And that hurt the console because not many can afford to buy a console for just one game like me.
And the casual market is huge but Nintendo sells casual games for 40 bucks. The iPad sells them for a dollar or less. The iPad has high resolution graphics. The iPad has a controller with a screen that is not straight out of the 1990's. People keep calling the Wii U controller a tablet but if so, then it is a tablet from the dark ages that sold at your local chemist. LOOK at the screen spec, could they BE any cheaper? And Yes, I do know a Wii U controller is cheaper then an iPad but people, real people, don't compare costs like that. They want a iPad because they want one. They want a Wii U because of game... eh... what games? I stood in the shop, money in my pocket and there simply aren't any Wii U games I consider worth playing. And please don't come with typical twelve year old boy games, they ain't for me.
And that is really Nintendo's problem, they charge a premium for games that are no longer all that special. Once you could charge 1 buck for several minutes of playing pong but now adays, you can't. The market moved on and the Wii U hasn't. Not because its hardware is ridiciously low specced, not because its games are simplistic but because I can get casual games that Nintendo peddles for free on my phone.
And you might talk about a Zelda game not being casual but THAT is the killer right there. The gamer who wants games with a bit of meat is going to wait until there are enough games available to warrant the purchase of a console to play them. Fill the shelves with trivial casual games and you just dilude the perception of their being enough quality games for your hardware.
Nintendo went bargain basement with premium prices.
Name me the Nintendo Wii U games that won't bore a seasoned gamer to death. And if you say Zombie U, I will hit you with a slow motion cricket bat. It was the ONE title at launch gamers looked forward to and its reviews said it all. To simple, to easy, to little.
Nintendo needs to figure out what audience they want to cater for and the casual market don't pay premium prices for games. Why should they?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
How do you propose the DRM then? Remember, it has to work even if the purchaser is a kid.
Oh, and asking a kid for any personal information, which can include a name, email address, or anything else, is illegal. Yes, you cannot ask a kid for their email address because most child privacy protection laws prohibit it. Nintendo will get in a lot of trouble otherwise. Basically the only thing you can ask them in any jurisdiction is... nothing.
And yes, a lot of their consoles are sold to children under 13, where these laws often take place. And lawyers are instantly happy to sue otherwise.
The only unique identifier available is... well, the hardware serial number, which is very ephermeral since hardware can be bought and sold, but it's the only one you've got so far...
You don't need to remind DS and Wii owners that Nintendo doesn't comprehend software. Even at a lower level, it's clear they don't understand the fairly common OS concept of hardware abstraction, and that they stubbornly refuse to figure it out.
The DS was released back when WPA/WPA2 was... okay, maybe not "new". When the DS was planned, yes, WPA/WPA2 was probably "new". So, the DS couldn't connect to WPA/WPA2 wifi points, only unencrypted or WEP. Fair enough. So then the DSi comes out. Hooray! It can support WPA/WPA2, finally! Except... all old DS games can't. Apparently, DS games THEMSELVES make explicit calls to the wifi hardware with no layer of abstraction between them. That is, a DS game can't just ask the console "Give me a network connection, I don't care what the underlying encryption standard is", it reads data from the OS and makes its own calls to set it up, and Nintendo couldn't even be arsed to come up with an emulation layer to trick those games into using the DSi's WPA/WPA2 network access. No, their answer is to present an entirely separate configuration screen just for DS games in the DSi interface, going so far as to start the DS emulation just to load this screen. Worse, they figured this was as good an idea as they could get, as the exact same setup STILL EXISTS IN THE 3DS!
The Wii's SDHC support, though, that's another story. At first, the Wii only supported plain SD cards (no SDHC). This worked well enough for a while, right until Guitar Hero World Tour came out. DLC songs sure ate up the size limits of non-HC SD cards quick (and Nintendo wanted to push WiiWare more), so Nintendo released a firmware update that allowed SDHC cards to work. But, of course, you can probably guess where I'm going with this: Any Wii game released before the update that supports SD cards? They couldn't figure out SDHC cards at all. Even if the console understood the card, the older games wouldn't, apparently because nobody at Nintendo bothered to look up filesystem abstraction. Hell, I only had ONE class in very, very basic OS design back in college, and even I know why this is necessary in a modern OS, yet this is a company with supposedly thirty or so years of computer experience under their belts!
I'm completely convinced that if Nintendo gave up on hardware and went third-party, they'd fail. Badly. It'd make Sega look like their old selves by comparison. From what I've seen of their crazy broken hardware ("broken" in terms of "services not directly related to playing the game"), it seems to me that Nintendo's got a very, very stubborn culture and developers who entirely depend on having complete and total communication with the hardware designers, just like the old days. In fact, it just seems like Nintendo wants to pretend like it's the old days, and that things like XBox Live, Steam, smartphones, tablets, and the internet itself don't exist.
Frankly, I say, if you've always liked Nintendo in the past, like I have, then you'd better enjoy them now while they're still around. They won't be around much longer unless they get their heads out of their asses in a timer-just-reached-100 hurry.
If they dont start rolling out games. I mean come on, the Wii had several launch games. The Wii U struck me as odd because for the first time, Nintendo had no real launch games.
I don't care about new super mario brothers. It's 3d on 2D, and it's basically recycling the old games.
I remember when the Wii came out we had metroid prime 3, a new mario game, a zelda game (which kicked ass, even if it was just a port, it still rocked)and a few other cool games.
With the Wii U we get... new super marios which brings nothing new to the table.
The PS3 suffered as well on its launch because of the same issue, it had like, one launch game worth noting. Ridge Racer.
The gamecube had some good launch titles as well. The N64 had mario 64 and starfox and a few others, the SNES had super mario world, which was an epic game compared to what came before it.
Launch games help a system. Nintendo failed at that. plus every time I tried to play a Wii U demo, it was just a video..
In the US at least, the Wii U's release was a bit poorly timed, perhaps. Sure, the holiday season is a great time to launch, but given the current financial situation, the uncertainty in the markets at the end of 2012, and the strain people were already putting on themselves to make sure they could be where they need to be and get other gifts left higher-priced items like the U out of the budget.
Personally, I loved my Wii dearly until I sold it - and I only sold it knowing I'd be buying a U soon enough. I'm still not sure when that will be, but certainly before I even consider a 720 or PS4 or whatever comes out next.
The original WII was exciting as it was the first game console with direct user input through body motion using controllers. It made certain games easy to play, no matter what age. The WII U did not have enough new features or functionality to want those with the original WII to upgrade. In addition, between the WII and the WII U, tablets with long battery life became popular. You can play simple games, access the internet, catch up on email, facebook, etc. Tablets have much more capabilities that the WII.
For casual gamers, smartphones and tablets are now the new platform. For gamers, the XBox, PS3, and PC are the platforms of choice. The WII U just doesn't have a clear niche. If Nintendo wants to survive, they either have to convert their platform into a tablet version (i.e. a WII tablet game system) or they have to come out with a real console.
Is the Wii U Already Dead?
Who knows.
Has it lost market to a new competitor?
Probably.
Android smartphones and tablets became ubiquitous along with easily installable $1-$3 games, many of which actually being translated into or even originally produced in other languages than English. While my kids kinda enjoyed playing the 500pt "Learning with the PooYoos" in English on the Wii for a short while (as long as they had a parent next to them to explain and translate), they've had *far* more fun with "Pippis Villa Villekulla" and "Pettson's inventions" in Swedish on the Nexus 7, both games together costing about half as much of the mehish Wii title.
I grew up with Nintendo and love Metroid and Zelda and at this point I think a substantial chunk of their business is old time gamers like me, returning to new iterations of these games as much (if not more so) out of nostalgia as of expectations to experience something new and thrilling. To survive long-term, I think Nintendo should drop their own hardware and produce games across the hardware spectrum: from smartphones to PCs. Their franchises are strong enough to survive and would probably replace Angry Birds as the go-to mobile game very quickly.
I've always felt that Nintendo has stumbled onto their successes. Whether a new feature proved to be a gimmick or legitimate innovation was mostly dictated by the success of the console. Where there any long-term strategy they'd have better capitalized on the success of the Wii. Instead, they go and stupidly implement a gimmick that feels like a desperate grab at some of the iPad's market share. And that's part of the problem; they're trying to be all things to all people and doing none of it well. Compounding the problem is that they're trying too hard to distinguish themselves from the competition while failing to realize that first-party gaming already accomplishes that.
The Xbox360 and PS3 set the current benchmark and their successors will establish it yet again. So Nintendo remains behind the curve. It's not that graphics need to look realistic, it's that they need to be robust. The Wii U needs processing power on par with the competitors if Nintendo wants widespread third-party support. The Wii U should have been the Wii, but with improved motion controls and the standard controller packed in to ensure greater accessibility.
They need to either standardize their hardware, as Sony seems to be doing, or take Sega's approach and focus squarely on software development. Microsoft, Sony and Apple all have a wealth of experience and far more robust resources to draw on. But I think their fundamental problem is that they have no real vision.
Nintendo is a company of mediocrity anymore. They have no original ideas.
Lets look at the systems. Wiiu. Its basically a slightly upgraded wii, which was a gamecube with a new controller. The 3dsxl is a 3ds with a bigger screen. The 3ds is a ds lite with a 3d gimmick. The ds lite is a dsi, which is a upgraded ds. Thats all nintendo does, they slightly upgrade all of their hardware every so often and inbetween they just release hardware with new colors. The motion controllers, the 3d effect and everything they do is always someone elses failed idea from the past. And they basically are a toy company now since even their periphals are useless junk toys, like a football to put a wiimote inside, a plastic wheel to put the wiimote in and so on.
Nintendos games. Everything they make is just another cookie cutter game cranked out without a single thought. All they make it zelda, mario, pokemon, donkey kong and so on. When was the last time nintendo had a actual real original game? A decade ago when they made pikmin? And when was the last time before that? Another decade? I mean how many times will they put "new super mario bros" on games before it stops being new? Everyone complains about other companies who crank out the same old franchise games over and over again but they in turn praise nintendo for doing the same thing for over 20 years.
I bought a wiiu and I was sorry I wasted the money from the moment I got it. I was sick of that damned tablet after and hour. Nintendoland, new super mario wiiu and zombieu were boring as hell and I got it on launch day and I only played it for a couple days, its been collecting dust ever since then.
The wiiu was just more of the same and it was way too little way too late.
For anyone considering this system, come back in a year and see what the game library is like then. But until then, save your money because all the games on it you can play on systems you already own. Either literally like mass effect 3, or figureatively like super mario being exactly like the wii version or zombieu just being yet another zombie shooter.
YOU can do whatever you want, Valve in the meantime is drowning in a firehose of cash.
Ze Atomic Device! It iz Ztolen!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Exact opposite happening here. Our Xbox 360 is collecting dust (except occasionally when the kids want to play Tekken 6) & the kids are really digging the Wii U. They play NintendoLand, Super Mario Wii U & Sonic Racing all the time. 5 player gaming that doesn't involve the internet is a big hit at our house. Personally, I'm not too big on the Wiimotes, but I love the Wii U's GamePad. I also like the fact that I can, as of this weekend, get my retro F-Zero fix while the kids are watching TV, without having to fire up an emulator. Can't wait to see what else they release on the Virtual Console.
If Tekken or possibly Mortal Kombat ever comes out for the Wii U we may as well pack the 360 up for all the use it will get.
There is a war going on for your mind.
You probably haven't because it's successor is the Vita.
please look up the word "gimmick". it doesn't mean what you think it does. a gimmick can be an innovation. a gimmick isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Ditto. I'm just hoping it will support multiple GamePads soon so the kids will stop fighting (me) over it. :D
There is a war going on for your mind.
I didn't even know it had been released...
I'd also prefer it didn't have big easy-to-break-looking, drain-its-batteries-all-the-time controller tv things.
As a Wii U owner w/ 4 children, let me just say, you're wrong on both of these points regarding the GamePad.
There is a war going on for your mind.
They're still trying to pander to casuals, except they didn't anticipate the market adoption of tablets & smartphones. The system looks un-interesting because the target market already has a tablet (or ipod touch).
If WiiU would have come out 2-3 years ago, it would have been a different story. Probably would have been the go-to tablet for kids.
Nintendo is the best game maker in the business. For all the talk about smartphones and Call of Duty and frames per second, my 2 year old daughter couldn't give a damn about the 360 or the PS3 or the Nexus 7 with her apps. She wants her Dora on her DSi. And though I'd love to play Kid Icarus Uprising and Mario Sticker Star, I just can't seem to pry my wife off of Professor Layton on the 3DS. The 360 is where I meet my technically... ungifted family for game night because it's easy, not because I want to be there and not because they particularly want to be there. It's just.. easy. The Nintendo ecosystem is where my family games. And the PC is where I game. Steam + Nintendo = gaming bliss. brb, finishing up 999 on the DS before my daughter gets home. 999? Just some amazing game you're missing.
You just basically confirmed the old stereotype that the Wii platform is designed for old people, adults with casual mentalities, and children, and this is coming from someone who owns a Wii and Wii U.
Fruit Ninja Kinect is awesome. Kinect Party is pretty fun with kids. Kinect Adventures is sort of fun. I certainly play any of those three titles more than I ever play with the Wii.
IMHO where Nintendo dropped the ball this launch is not including Wii Sports with the package and going with Nintendo Land instead. Nintendo Land catered to the gamer demographic, but not the huge non-gamer crowd that Wii Sports collected.
It fails at getting the whole family involved. When Wii came out, literally the whole family, from grandma to my 5 year old cousins played bowling. They couldn’t get enough of it. With Nintendo Land, the younger kids play for 30 minutes then get bored, and the older crowd won’t go near it.
There’s some strange depth in trying to get a 300 in bowling. Chasing Mario around a maze is only engaging for so long. Trying to teach people who don’t game about Metroid and Zelda in a fast party environment doesn’t work so well, but saying hey, let’s bowl, is almost universal.
Every adult I know has and plays a Wii. The motion controller was much more than a gimmick, it was a functional, useful device for input.
I have one but it's annoying, I can only use it at night because we have too many windows, and I'm not closing the blinds and living like even more of a troll just so I can play a game during the day. Even at night the accuracy is crap, and none of the used games I come across have motionplus support. Can only bowl for so long.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I think we're seeing the outward struggle of a leader who feels the need to continue making the hardware so they don't become solely a software business, and It's translating poorly for the consumer.
While it would be weird to see BigN's triple A titles and franchises on Sony or Microsoft's offerings, I think it might too late for Nintendo to catch back up in the console hardware race, especially considering they skewed their release cycle. Sounds like we may see some major change drastically within the Nintendo-sphere here shortly...
In short: Iwata f**k?
Seriously. What the hell is Nintendo's intended market? What kid has hands big enough for that tablet controller? Who wants to rebuy all their Gamecube games as DLC? Whose grandma got confused this Christmas and bought Jimmy a Wii-U game because she knows he has a Wii, and doesn't know that the "U" signifies an entirely different platform?
Differentiate the product, trademark it sensibly, make sure it is aimed at an intended audience, and stop f**king around with "3DS" crap (Metroid 2 in faux 3D, oh boy!). Iwata f**k!
We have the Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, PS3, DS XL, DSi, PSP. Old gamer dad, 13 year old daughter who games infrequently.. Mostly the Kinect/Dancing games. 11 year old gamer son.
The Xbox gets used the most, PS3 gets used for netflix (because of the tv its hooked into) and blurays. DSXL haven't seen that one picked up in awhile.. DSi, very rarely. PSP barely used since it was bought, except for some good titles like God of War.
The Wii U has some cool features. The tablet works much better than I thought it would. Some of the games are pretty fun to play, especially the party games where the tablet has a different view. As group play, its probably been the most fun of any console. However, it gets old quick. I think its been a couple of weeks since the Wii U has been on.
I think the Wii was under powered, especially for first person shooters. I think the Wii U has enough power now so that the console can "keep up" and they can focus on game play. Quite honestly, I think the graphics on the Xbox PS3 are fine. The processors are fast enough to provide smoothly play. I'm really not sure what these new systems can do other than make the games prettier. They certainly aren't going to fix the horrible spawning issues in CoD. The maps only seem to have gotten smaller.. No decent MMORPG multiplayer seamless worlds that require extra horsepower, etc.
IMHO Nintendo should have waited and released around the same time, or shortly before with a beefier system for the same price its offering now. There are plenty of one console households around. Your not going to get them to switch until they see what all the systems offer. If at that point the Wii U is slightly less powerful but cheaper, then you may have people switch over to it. If its popular, then common titles like CoD will probably be developed based on the least powerful system, so won't matter if the other consoles are better.
If the new consoles that come out aren't that much more powerful than the Wii U and the Wii U has most of the games, then I won't buy another console. If the next generation of games can't be played on the Wii U, then I'll be buying an Xbox or PS4, not both this time. I think its a gamble for Nintendo because as we have see with the Wii, casual gamers don't buy alot of games. If the Wii U can't play the next gen games then I think its long term success is dismal.
"Thanks to the remote control I have the attention span of a gerbil."
If I want to access my game library anywhere on the planet, I can just employ external storage. The same goes for any other form of "entertainment". This can last for as long as I like.
The only stumbling block is DRM.
Unfortunately, Steam is still DRM.
It's a really pleasant cage but it's still a cage.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
It's not a catch 22 situation. It's a "chicken/egg" scenario.
---Technology will liberate us if it doesn't enslave us first.
Here is a simple method, don't have any.
The Wii UI is a brand new system.
It's little wonder that it can be bested by pretty much ANY established console. So your anecdote really doesn't mean much as you might thing.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Why is the Wii considered a kids console?
Because you will never see "Duke Nukem Forever" on the Wii. (and I wish this reply had ended at the close quote)
How old is that? Games consoles were around in the 1970's - that is 40 years ago!
The issue here is "Jaded oldies who find the average game no more exciting than writing PHP" (which is just like the BASIC they grew up with, apart from the client-server concept and the internet). They dont think today's console games are a heap better than Leisure Suit Larry, but find playing "Tiger Woods Golf 2009" to unlock the secret girlfriends is good exercise compared to writing PHP.
How many times do I have to tell you lot: the world is truely craving for a game in which you write PHP by throwning cow-pats at the screen with the Wiimote - lets face it, given the quality of most PHP code, it looks like it was done that way already!
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
It wasn't different/new enough from the original Wii to be a compelling buy.
Also, games. Have you heard of a Wii U game that you just had to have? Umpteenth Mario, we've played that before, even if this one is executed perfectly, we've still played it before.
We're probably entering an era where a static platform is no longer viable in the market. When software is moving to continuous release, then so must hardware follow suit. I hope I never buy another previous-generation compatibility breaking console again. I'm not talking about solving that problem by virtually repackaging old games and emulating them on the new platform after selling them to me again. I'm talking about buying them once, playing forever, on whatever current hardware I have.
was it ever alive ?
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
I thought it was cool that you could use the Gamepad to play (certain) titles just on the gamepad - but the range really isn't that good. We are in a smaller apartment, and I couldn't move past the living room and get a decent connection. annoying.
I had the Sonic Racing game as well, and while we liked it, the same game is available on Steam and Xbox cheaper than it was on the Wii U.. The gamepad didn't add much to it to warrant $20 more.
That's the other big issue moving forward (for all the next gen consoles). The current generation has a ton of games available, and buying either new or used saves so much money and gives so much variety over what we will get from a next gen console (I'm still not convinced the Wii U is next gen). The biggest advantage I see the next gen Xbox 720 having is it might actually finally have the horsepower to overcome the lag issue with the kinect.... I will really be watching --- it should be an interesting battle for the living room - but I somehow get the feeling that the Wii U may get lost in the mix...
I find stereotypes offensive when applied blindly to people.
To game systems... meh.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Nintendo needs to go the way of Sega, and get out of the console market entirely. They could do really well just focusing on innovative peripherals and high-quality games that go cross platform. They do both really well, yet can't seem to design a console that has any staying power for the life of them. Why not just cut out the weak part and focus on the strong?
my 1 yr old just stepped on the big fancy controller and threw it against the console =T
epic ownage.
there goes the deluxe edition.
I don't know about anyone else, but as an adult Nintendo seems to be struggling to make me not like the Wii. I got a Wii right when it first game out, and i enjoyed Wii Sports and Mario Galaxy and Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros and a couple others. However there's been a dearth of both good mature and "mature" third party games. There's been _some_ good mature content in Japan, but Nintendo kept refusing to bring over things like Xenoblade Chronicles, Last Story and Pandora's Tower. Ironically(?) they basically said it wasn't going to happen right around the time they promised that the Wii U was going to have more of a hardcore focus, which really diluted their message.
It doesn't help that the Wii was the first Nintendo console to have serious hardware issues. A lot of the people who got early versions of the console got hit by some kind of disk reading error that affected some pretty major games. Nintendo was willing to fix the problem for free, but you either had to ship the console off somewhere or find a local authorized repair center, and it was a big hassle to deal with. Then just about the point that Nintendo started changing their mind about the above RPGs my Wii got some kind of corrupted memory issue and forced me to reformat it. So now i've got Xenoblade and Last Story, but i'm afraid to start playing them on my Wii because i don't trust the memory. I could get a Wii U, and maybe i will at some point, but right now i want to avoid the early shipments in the hopes that any bugs will get ironed out.
And honestly, the wiimote is great for some games, but in my experience it's just not that good for other games. Sometimes the developers allow you to use an alternate control mode, but sometimes they insist that you have to use motion controls. (I believe it's Xenoblade that a friend of mine has that will let you use classic controls for the main game but insists you use a wiimote for the starting menus. It doesn't help that their Wii has trouble recognizing the wiimotes a lot of the time, so it's kind of a disincentive whenever they sit down and decide which game to play in the evening.) Sometimes i want to play a simple old school 2D game with simple old school 2D controls. Nintendo _could_ excel at that with their "underpowered" console, but they choose not to. If i want those kinds of games my choice is usually the DS, or more likely, the PC through Steam.
Of course Nintendo isn't the only company whose console isn't living up to the hype in my opinion. The PS3 has been kinda overwhelmed by "mature" FPS and 3rd person shooter games with a relative dearth of good RPGs and strategy games. I have picked up Disgaea 4, which was great, and FF13, which was okay, and plan to get Ni no Kuni, but that's not a great deal to base a console purchase on. If the trend continues i'm going to be waiting for awhile before picking up a PS4 too. Of course now that i know the PS4 won't be backwards compatible i'm kinda disinclined to buy any more physical PS3 disks.
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ALL consoles suck their first year or year and a half. If you're lucky, a console will launch with a fantastic game or two, and then games for the system will stagnate for a year or year and a half. ALL consoles follow this trend. The Nintendo DS did this. The Nintendo Wii did this. The Xbox 360 did this. The Playstation 3's games problem lasted for years. Going back as far as I remember, to the NES, we had this problem. The latest system to do this was the Nintendo 3DS. Now the 3DS is taking off like a rocket, and we all see that reports of the system's death were greatly exaggerated.
The Nintendo Wii U did not have a stellar launch lineup. This is not exceptional. Most systems have crappy launch lineups, and all systems suffer from a year or a year and a half of game drought. I do no claim to predict the future success of the Wii U, but I can tell you that tales of a console's death prior to its 2nd year birthday are almost always uncalled for.
The PSP moved some 70+ million handhelds. That's hardly a failure.
Seconded on Fruit Ninja and Party. Same kind of "mass appeal" stuff that Wii had, but ultimately a better delivery.
When it comes down to it, people are going to buy what is kick ass in at least one area. The WiiU doesn't kick any ass. Here's the problem:
Game library: Doesn't kick ass, but then it never does with a new console.
Hardware: Doesn't kick ass even when compared to current gen consoles. It's comparable to current consoles. It needs to not be comparable.
Integration: Missed the ass by a foot. Doesn't bring anything new or amazing.
New interactions and form factor: No asses have red marks.
Release strategy: Owners of asses are pulling up their trousers out of boredom.
Every couple of hours, someone writes about how Nintendo is, yet again, doomed, and has been since it opened its doors in 1889. Somehow, if a company is named Nintendo, its hardware sales, regardless of how good or bad, are simply "not enough." People were saying the Wii was dead when it was the highest selling console in history. People are saying the Wii U is dead when it's doing better than the PS3 did at that point in its lifetime. People were saying the Game Boy was just not powerful enough to sell any meaningful amount, and its lack of a color screen would surely be its undoing. Attempting to predict Nintendo and what they should do is a meaningless internet sport that got old in the 90s.
Totally agree with the AC. Having fun and enjoying family and friends is so miserable. I mean who'd want that when you can sit in your mom's basement playing the latest FPS or MMORPGz?
requiring the consent of the entire household to do so, to play games is really going out of the window
Isn't this one of the main points of the tablet controller? Turn the TV off and keep playing?
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
Perent here as well.
I like the Wii U because I get to see more of my teenage son. He's at an age where he's either out with his buddies or spending time with his girlfriend. (I come in as the financial enabler.) He plays Call of Duty on the controller -which he actually prefers it to the 46'' TV- and stays with us as the bluetooth connection doesn't reach his room. And yes, we talk. Not perfect, but decent family time considering his age.
I know where he's coming from. Once I was young an behaved like he does now.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
First, "mature" games as you refer them don't define anything. Having titles for over 18 only is not the same as not having games that appeal to adults.
Next, you bought about as many games as I (or most people I know) ever buy for a console. Even in your case this seems like a success. I have no idea what your direction was
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
There was basically zero advertising. People still thought it was just an accessory for the Wii even a couple months after it was released. There were almost no games worth buying in the launch window. You had games hardcore players had already bought for their 360/PS3 months ago, another 2D Mario platformer that was barely different from the last 4 "New" Super Mario Bros. games released in the past couple years, a tech demo minigame collection, and ZombiU (which, even if it is a decent game, has a retarded name and, again, basically zero advertising).
Most critically, they've abandoned what made the Wii such a big fad: an interface so intuitive that your grandma can play the game with you at Thanksgiving/Christmas. WiiU minigames are much more complex and much more "gamey," often requiring players to simultaneously be aware of the action on two screens at once, and with an interface that somehow manages to be even more complex than a standard 360/PS3 controller-based game. Wii's success was completely predicated on the fact that actions performed with the controller mimicked real world physical actions, such as swinging a golf club, tennis racket, or rolling a bowling ball. This type of gameplay has been completely abandoned on the WiiU.
Combine all this with the global economic recession and the obviously impending announcements of the PS4 and Durango, and you have a recipe for disaster for Nintendo. A recipe which says very little about the future of video games in general or the potential future success of said PS4/Durango. We're looking at another GameCube at best. A Dreamcast at worst.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPD
So is it Narcissistic personality disorders or National Democratic Party of Germanys. Come on Slashdot, not everyone understand buzz-acronyms.
You may think it's unimportant, but this is a product, and image is paramount if you want to attract customers, specifically, developers and players. If your developer demographics and player demographics don't line up, you get a flop of a product, not to mention the fact that console makers are aiming at specific player demographics in order to maximize their profits, if their demographics get skewed do to whatever reason, like image perception, their profits could suffer for it. I don't see the demographics I listed before as being very profitable since those groups, by your own admission, don't play the same games, or as often, as the core Gamer demographics, so yes, stereotypes in regards to economics and marketing do in fact matter.
And the kid purchases the game by entering their credit card info... Oh wait, kids don't fucking have credit cards! Get the parent to put in their info for the kid. Problem solved. Or the kid just lies about their age like they probably do for anything else online. There are facebook pages for babies. I think Nintendo would get by ok.
Nintendo needs to publish a few games on their own to encourage gamers to buy the system so third party developers will make games for it
It blows my mind that Nintendo didn't have a better lineup planned for the release.
N64 release: Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, and (I think) Starfox 64
Gamecube release: Luigi's Mansion, Rogue Leader, and a month later Super Smash Bros Melee
Wii release: LoZ Twilight Princess, Super Smash Bros Brawl a few months later
Wii U relase: an update to the same Mario game you've been playing for years (New Super Mario Bros U) with Pikmin 3 eventually and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate 5 months down the road
Apparently wizard is not a legitimate career path, so I chose programmer instead.
Graphics quality come into it too. I've noticed Wii graphics aren't as good as X360/PS3. Look at the recent Ghostbusters video game on the X360 or P3 vs. the Wii...
That is the Wii.
The Wii U is a NEW MACHINE ... (maybe that is the reason for slower post-Christmas sales) and its video is easily capable of exceeding an Xbox or PS3
You'll note the distinction i made between mature and "mature". I don't tend to care for the games that certain kinds of people tend to call "mature", usually FPS gore fests. I do like the games that _i_ think are mature, i.e. good RPGs and strategy games (preferably turn based) and the occasional platform or adventure game (preferably 2D.) Very few of the games i feel are mature are rated 18+.
Second, clearly our standards are very different. The collection of GameCube and PS2 games i have on my shelves dwarfs my Wii and PS3 collection. And my GameCube and PS2 generally didn't go for months without use. I haven't turned on my Wii since sometime last year (which was when i found out about the memory issues after a previous multi-month period of non-use) and the only thing i've used the PS3 for in the same period has been Netflix and playing DVDs/BluRays.
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Our PCs are no longer hooked up to 15-19" CRTs, they have 1080p 25" widescreens. Oh, and the PCs have Steam on them.
Meanwhile our 360 and PS3s are hooked up to 50+" screens, with proper surround sound and sub-woofers, all from the comfort of our sofas. The PS4 and xbox3 will bring that up to reasonable PC rig gaming levels. 1080p/60 will do us for many many years. Novelty shit like the Wii Wankstick, PS Move, Kinect are not for gamers, they're for children and non-gaming females to increase the market. Unfortunately for these three companies, that's a tiny attach rate market once the novelty has worn off.
It's not just about pandering to casual gamers. The Wii did that partly through having an innovative and interesting input device. I see the success of the Wii as a lucky accident that way. Who would have expected I'd find old people playing Wii bowling? That it was possible for people who weren't into gaming at all to use a Wiimote. There's nothing uniquely interesting about the Wii U that way though.
The Wii was the right technology at the right price for its marketplace. They've tried to duplicate that but with nothing innovative this time. They're not going to get lucky and happen to pick up a whole new market (the casual gamer then) this time.
It is really too early to say if it is a 'failure'. Sales are modest. Remember that at this time after the 3ds came out, most had dismissed it, too. Nintendo, upon releasing some good titles for it sales picked up and now there is not much competition between that and the PSVita. The same thing is likely to happen with the Wii U - there is simply no gorgeous killer game out for it. Yet.
Nintendo saw the writing on the wall - increasing the number of polygons your system can process will not ensure success. They had do something cool. A tablet controller is cool - make no mistake about this. I bought a Wii U and I really enjoy the off screen play feature more than anything. It's what enables me to play games while my girlfriend watches Gilmour Girls you know? Not bad.
Nintendo has always packaged together proven, well engineered components - and if the Wii U is the most powerful console they could come up with, you can bet that the conservativeness of the specs more than pays off when you don't have to replace a faulty unit in two years. People scratch their heads wondering why Nintendo is still around this day in age don't realize that Nintendo is the only company that consistently delivers products that can take an absolute shit kicking and still run years on- partly because of their mission statement to appeal to families I think.
I've been a fan for a long, long time. If Nintendo were to go all XBOX and shove ads in my face and sell me a console that fails that would change very quickly. I am very thankful for the fact that they still do things their way.
76.3 million worldwide as of last March. Maybe you consider selling 76 million units "a failure" but you're the only one. Do I smell some fanboyism here? Sure, this is about half of Nintendo's 153 million DS units as of Dec 31, 2012, but considering this is Sony's first handheld and Nintendo has had a dominating stranglehold on the market since 1989 with the Game Boy, that's a pretty good first attempt
The fact you don't know what the Vita looks like simply means you don't pay attention to the news, or the news you do pay attention to is simply focused on Nintendo-only products.
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
actually, you just described a gimmick. please look that word up, it doesn't necessarily beg a negative connotation.
Mario Kart was not a day one title, but it was very soon after launch. I picked up my pre-order from Toys R Us, while staring at a Turok poster.
Good-bye
Have you heard of the game "Transformers: War for Cybertron"? The Wii version is called "Transformers: Cybertron Adventures."
If you bought "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" for Wii, you might notice some substantial differences between it and the other platforms (e.g., PC). Blood and gore is practically non-existent, and the bad guys actually say "I'm sorry" after Wolverine's done tearing through them. I wish I were making that up.
There are exceptions -- take "Madworld," for example -- but by and large, "family-friendly" pretty much does mean content-neutered.
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
you really think 22 year olds can even remotely be lumped into the same category as 16 year olds when it comes to attitudes toward games? okay, i'm 23 now, but my friends and i have always been into all types of games - strategy, adventure, action, puzzle, rpg, the list goes on. in fact, i rarely play first-person shooters and couldn't care less about "bewbs" (that's "boobs" by the way - what are you, 16?) in video games.
thanks for the stereotype though.
It may be that the problem is not with the Wii U but with consoles in general. The availability of smartphone and tablet games may have changed the gaming landscape permanently. Game enthusiasts may turn up their noses and point out that mobile device games lack the diversity of controls and graphics quality, and most of them are simplistic compared to mobile games--which is true--but it is unclear just how much that means in terms of the market for consoles in the $ 200+ price range running games in the $50+ price range.
For many casual gamers, mobile games are good enough, considering that they run on a device that you already own, so you don't have to buy dedicated hardware, and the games are about the price of a candy bar. Each game may not have the depth of a console game, but if you get tired of one, there are plenty more. And at the other end, the true gaming fanatics play on computers, not consoles.
It may be that consoles will end up being neither here nor there, appealing to a diminishing market of moderately enthusiastic gamers that is too small to yield the profits required to justify the sort of massive development effort needed to create games with the graphics and play sophistication that console gamers expect.
Of course, Nintendo's systems have never been hard core--they've always been more oriented toward families, so perhaps Nintendo is more vulnerable to competition from mobile device gaming. On the other hand, so far there doesn't seem to be a huge degree of anticipation of new gaming systems from Sony and Microsoft, and both companies seem to be having difficulty articulating just what their new-generation systems will offer to convince consumers to shell out hundreds of dollars in up-front costs for new consoles.
The original wii filled the casual gamers market with a simple remote that even my 84 year old grandfather could use (this is the guy who's mobile phone went off so he put it under the tap to get it to shut up). Nintendo came up with simple, fun games and few additional accessories to go with it.
For this market, graphics/HD are not really needed and are not especially important. Why bother to upgrade?
"Hard Core" gamers would go and buy the Xbox720/PS4 when they come out as graphics/gameplay/improved physics are important. Not so much for more casual gamers.
I have a Wii, and have no intention of buying the WiiU.
Tekken is already out on Wii U
Everyone I have showed the Wii U too loves it and was unaware of what it was. My 'hardcore' gaming friends love ZombiU. They love the suspense. They love the gamepad as an inventory management - minimap - sniper scope. It is a fun game. My casual friends like being about to play it without a TV. Everyone likes the 5 player - 1 v 4 mini games. It is a good system. Call of duty looks good. Mario is good. Their online play is finally good (although it is inexcusable that you cannot sign in on a friends console).
One last thing: Sometimes I wonder; "Is that someone's signature? Or do they type that at the end of each post?"
You cannot counterbalance a loss of ownership.
I didn't say "loss", I said "lack of". While I too disagree with DRM, you cannot lose what you never had.
For a car analogy, it's like leasing a car vs buying a car. You didn't "lose" ownership when you leased the car, you never had it to begin with.
No one knows what it is. Everyone I have shown, likes it. Good graphics. Online play (really this time). The game pad is a welcomed addition to every game I have played on it. Mario. COD. Nintendoland. ZombiU. They are all great games done well on the Wii U.
One last thing: Sometimes I wonder; "Is that someone's signature? Or do they type that at the end of each post?"
But all consoles aren't for 'hardcore' gamers. Consoles defy logic in this sense. Yet, despite the naysayers, they persist, because they do have their benefits. Pick up a Wii U. Play ZombiU, COD, Mario and NintendoLand and tell me these aren't fun games that the respective audience wouldn't enjoy.
One last thing: Sometimes I wonder; "Is that someone's signature? Or do they type that at the end of each post?"
I agree the Nintendo approach to DRM is pretty busted compared to, say, Apple's way with the iTunes store. Locking my purchases to a single piece of hardware is asinine, compared to the Apple iCloud, where everything I've ever bought can magically be on every device I own. My kids can find any game they might ever conceivably want on my iPad, but they have to brandish my iPad at me to get me to input my password to actually complete the transaction. The whole system is built around a knowledge of my personal info... If nothing else, The Big N knows their demographic. They wanted a DLC system that was fully usable and purchasable by kids, but the Child Online Protection Act is pretty cut and dried. No personal info from kids under 13. You buy DLC on a Wii using "Wii Points" There is a mechanism for buying points on the console using a credit card, but it is also possible to obtain points from a "Wii Points Card" which can be bought, for cash, at places like 7-Eleven and CVS, then added to the console. No way to assure the person on the other end is over 13, so they play it safe...
Depends on if the PS4 and\or XBox3 will have a comparable (or better) tablet. If not, the WiiU will always have the tablet over the others. The PS4 promises interactivity between the Vita and smart phones. Smart phones are increasingly becoming a staple, so being able to interact with a console would be a huge leap in usability. Will smart phones interact with the PS4 and TV screen in the same way the WiiU tablet does? Hope so, far from guaranteed. Sounds more like Sony's doing an OnLive thing with them. Perhaps the XBox3 will be able to use smart phones (including iOS and Android, not just Windows devices) in ways like the WiiU's tablet; that would all but remove Nintendo's edge here. Probably not all that likely, but if any console could integrate with iOS and Android phones to the extent of WiiU tablets, 4 or more at a time, I'd bet on that console leading the generation by a good margin as long as it was ok otherwise.
Also depends on how cheap Nintendo can afford to make the WiiU in comparison of the others. I very much encourage powerful consoles that can bring the power of not-too-old gaming PCs, yet it still should give Nintendo an edge on console price, even counting the extra cost of making the tablet. If they can leverage that, they should sell enough to keep a place in the market, even if the weak specs are a deal-breaker for many.
Finally, while it's up to personal preference, Nintendo is still making games that some people find great. Even New Super Mario Bros. U, which was clearly a quick game they knew they could have ready for launch, and the fourth in the NSMB series, is a lot of fun to play, both for the level design, and the fifth player that gets to place blocks with the tablet. With successes like Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 in their recent history, the hope is that the WiiU's library will have some further winners over the years. So with any luck it will make reasonable sales and achieve that.
The 8th generation of console gaming should be a good one. With the "big three", the Ouya and other Android boxes, Steam Boxes, increasingly easy PC-TV integration, and better tools for porting games across platforms, there should be something for everyone, and a lot of surprises along the way.
iTunes in my Nintendo and Nintendo in my iPod. That would be a killer combo.
One last thing: Sometimes I wonder; "Is that someone's signature? Or do they type that at the end of each post?"
It's funny, because I see all these 'Consoles' going the way of the Dodo Bird to be honest. People are Mobile now (Except me) and they want to play their game while riding on the Subway etc. You can tell me I'm wrong, it's OK, that's what I see from my seat. TV's, Consoles and to some extent, even Cars are becoming something like "Oh, that's what Dad use to do" kind of thing. It's becoming uncool.
The Technology is available to make hand-held Consoles (Yes they have them) and that's where it's going. They should start moving their focus to Mobile gaming and stop pandering to 30 year olds whom are becoming too 'old' to be bothered with these games. But they are focused on wasting money on Items that sit under a TV, that Dad plays, while the Kids play their Smart Phone.
A complete crash of the Gaming market is coming as these companies lose focus on who their audience is. My young brother is one of these audience members, he likes the freedom of the Mobile, and despises the insane Console DRM and Ads on Xbox shoved in your face, so do his young friends. What I have said is what people hate to hear, the truth about what's coming is hurtful to people, Humans are born to fear chance and what the Future holds. Are they right to fear the Future? Sometimes, but not all change is bad; except when money is the leading focal point of an Items existence.
> How do you propose the DRM then?
Distribute the games on a medium that isn't designed to be easily created with ordinary consumer hardware. Back in the day that meant cartridges. These days it would probably look more like a USB flash drive (or maybe like a memory card), except instead of flash memory inside it would have a ROM chip. The device is designed to read the game software from that medium -- not from a CD, DVD, or hard drive.
This doesn't stop really determined pirates who have a lot of resources to throw at the problem, but nothing does. It *does* stop casual piracy in the short term, way more effectively than any software DRM ever devised.
In the long term people will figure out how to read and make images of the games that anyone can use in an emulator on a PC -- if you know where to look, you can easily find ROM images and emulators on the internet for all the old eight-bit consoles -- but that only becomes really practical once the console hardware is sufficiently obsolete to be easily emulated, i.e., after you're already selling at least the subsequent generation of console if not the one after that. From a business perspective, as a maker of proprietary systems, you're going to *say* that this hurts your business; but in practice it isn't actually important, because even if everyone knew about it (and not everyone does), people who might otherwise have bought the game don't generally wait 10+ years just because they know old games are often available in emulation. It might have some impact on your ability to sell titles like "Seven Classic Wii U Games for your Wii 2030", but that sort of nostalgia fodder is never going to be the bulk of your revenue stream in any case.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
That ain't the problem Hoss, the problem is they bet the farm on casual gaming and that business has moved onto the tablets and smartphones, simple as that. They were able to get away with it last time because the systems were expensive enough that if you wanted casual AND hardcore you could simply pick up a Wii and a PS3 or X360, smartphones and tablets were not even really an option for most.
Now you can get a tablet that works great for a hundred bucks, I've played with $80 Android phones that play casual games like Angry Birds great (in fact many of the smartphones and tablets I saw come with several games like Angry Birds or Cut The Rope) and with those they not only have the games but the advantage of carrying it in your pocket.
Nintendo made their bed now they gotta lie in it. while everybody else spent the money to come up with next gen consoles they bet the farm on casuals and cheap tricks. Well the cheap tricks aren't selling and the casual customers have moved on. and the hardcore aren't buying Wii U. The big question will be if Nintendo stays in hardware or goes the way of Sega, as the handhelds are being replaced by smartphones and Nintendo just doesn't have a plan B.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
The same people that now prefer tablet gaming over console gaming happen to be right in the center of Nintendo's demographic. That's their real problem. It's a problem for MS and Sony too, but to a lesser degree.
I can't help but think Nintendo doesn't take itself seriously anymore. The specs are all laughable (especially the storage) and the controller is just a touch screen with buttons. This console has failed to generate any excitement with me. The name's retarded too.
It's not. It may be on par with a 360, but not the PS3, and it exceeds neither.
The Wii U doesn't appeal to me because it looks more complicated and it costs more than twice as much. Talk to me when it is $150. I'd also prefer it didn't have big easy-to-break-looking, drain-its-batteries-all-the-time controller tv things.
It's the only thing that gives it potential to be not yet another clone of the xbox/playstation formula. We've used it a bit and the asymmetry is quite fun as a party game, like for example one hides and the others seek or whatever. However, it's not the same kind of "pick up and wave a racket" killer like the Wii and it's just not different enough that other companies will use it for something important when they can have a nearly identical xbox/ps3/wiiu game.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
The Wii U is not Nintendo's problem; its their marketing division.
Have you seen their commercials for the 3ds and Wii U? Not sure how it is in the rest of the world, but in the Netherlands it seems to be targeted towards the dullest, mind-numbing, aged 30-something. Their commercials look like they could be right from Tell-Sell. "But wait Mike, there is more..." ... scrap that, those are more enticing than the Nintendo commercials...
It's all as simple as this, the portable game consoles ran face first into the other great computer toy, the 'Tablet' and lost. Face it at least between portable game consoles and tablets, the tablet is the better choice because of greater flexibility.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
N64 release was Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64 and NOTHING ELSE.
There wasn't even a single third-party title on release day.
In Japan, it launched with Mario, Pilotwings, and a chess game.
The GameCube had a dozen launch titles, though some were ports from other consoles.
I think part of what's hurting Nintendo a lot with the WiiU is that some of the most anticipated third party launch titles - particularly Lego City Undercover - got pushed way back. LCU still isn't out.
Easy piracy killed the sales of hardcore games, that's why. MadWorld, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and others undersold after riding waves of pre-release excitement. Casual buyers didn't employ USB drives full of ripped games. Call it the Dreamcast effect.
I keep hearing this -- "Smartphones & tablets killed the console", but I just don't see how the very simple sorts of games without physical controls that you find on them in any way compete with even DS games let alone Wii/PS3/Xbox360 games. Maybe in the future when consoles are dead those games will move to tablets and phones, but not today.
The wii remotes work on the wii u as well, and most games don't need the tablet at all, especially the casual ones. But yeah it's expensive and so are the games.
It's not a catch 22 situation. It's a "chicken/egg" scenario.
Not really, it's not a question of which came first. Spoilers: the egg came first.
Tekken Tag Tournement 2 is available on the Wii U.
I think Tekken Tag Tournament 2 has a Wii U edition.
A confusing stupid name (bad marketing), a horrible online experience, forcing us to buy gimmicky control schemes, clinging to the broken pricing model (that the other current-gen consoles will continue to do until the console market crashes again). I loved Nintendo, their first party games were awesome but they've become an EA styled parody of themselves. They should just call their new games Mario 2013, Mario 2014, etc. They gotta pack it in and do a Sega (go software only). Release their classic NES/SNES games for $1 on iOS and make the new 3D mario games for PlayStation 4 or Xbox 720. Maybe let a company who "gets" online design the online experience.
I'm not a Linux user but I play one on TrueNuff.tv
> It's a really pleasant cage but it's still a cage.
Do you ever lock the doors to your house?
"You can justify anything by putting it in quotes, adding a famous name and making it a sig" - Albert Einstein
The Wii just didn't have online play in the same league as xBox 360. The xBox connected the teens together online with xbox live. They could chat and play and shoot...a verbal audio 'facebook' for teen gamers. Wii never had that and a generation was lost to it. The Wii U has the Miiverse setup that is a huge step forward from the Wii and its game-specific 'friend' codes but it's still a ways behind the psychopathic Xbox Live. Nintendo has its principles but they might be its undoing.
It's pretty sad, even for /., that regurgitating the same tired old false memes about "teh kiddie!" and "teh gimmicks!" gets modded Insightful. Literally everything about your post is false, but I have to ask: If you hate Nintendo so much, why even waste time thinking/talking/posting about them? This isn't even a rhetorical question; I'm genuinely curious.
You spew really pleasant hyperbole, but it's still hyperbole.
Actually, it's not even pleasant.
Wii came out after XBox 360 it was essentially a cheap next gen console with a novel interface. Kinect kicks Wii's but (why have a controller when you can use your body?). This time around they came out first with a relatively low powered machine. I suspect hardcore gamers are waiting to see how much better the graphics will be on the "real" consoles that are pending. The rumor mill and existence of kinect kind of did away with the expectation that Wii U would be novel and the casual gamer market by now have all moved over to smart phones and tablets.
Systems don't really matter, games do. When people buy a console it is usually to play specific games, sometimes just a single one.
Whatever the age or the technology behind the console is, if there are great games on it, it will sell. It's that simple.
Do you ever lock the doors to your house?
No. Don't believe the hype, security is mostly theatre. How many crooks go to rob a house but then find a locked door and say "oh damn we're screwed, let's move on until we find an unlocked door"?
What the f ever, I love my Wii U I'm excited as hell about the games coming out this year and the future. I have all systems except the Xbox PC wannabe...I play my gaming PC, ps3, and Wii U equally. I think Nintendo main problem is the Billions of dollars Microsoft spent convincing everyone that Nintendo is a "kids" system, and therefore couldn't possibly have any gaming value. All I notice is Nintendo releasing a product and Microsoft and Sony emulating it in one way or another. I'm going to keep playing my favorite games on whatever console they come out on. This is a silly article and way too soon. As far as I know they are ALL using AMD graphic chipsets...with varying degrees of sophistication.
Perhaps you live without an unlimited spending on toys budgets but most people do not. Quite simply "Little billy you can either have the portable game console or the tablet choose but we don't have enough money for both, let alone a smart phone as well". So no, by far the majority family of four can not afford, 4 laptops, a gaming desktop, 4 tablets, 4 smart phones plus phone accounts, a big screen TV, a game console and two portable game consoles, plus content accounts for gaming, for music, for television and movie content.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Right, I traded [thing] for [Microsoft thing] because [talking points].
Who outside of Microsoft PR cares what 'smartglass' is? Presumably a name given to Microsoft's version of someone elses thing to make it seem like they're doing something new and not playing catch up again.
With all I've heard about the new XBOX and PS tying games to the original purchaser will the ability to have a healthy used game market make a difference?
To start ... it has the same old games with a new coat of paint. Mario this, Mario that .... and nothing else.
Then add the price .... and the fact that it forces buyers to buy extra controllers just to play with another family member ... and you have a dead product.
I haven't been able to afford a game console in over five years.
Speaking as a Wii owner, the Wii U just doesn't offer enough to get excited about. I was really excited about the Wii. Taking gaming from sitting still with a gamepad in hand to standing up and doing things was exciting. I saw people having fun with the Wii and decided that I wanted one, too. It's the first console I ever bought, although I would have bought a console back before color monitors were common on PCs, if I had had the money back then.
The Wii U doesn't really compel me. Perhaps that will change if I see more people playing cool games on it. As it is, my PC has better graphics and Kinect sounds exciting with being able to play games without having to hold a controller. Compared to the Wii I already have, the Wii U offers a new controller that I don't really know what to do with. It seems unwieldy. If I were to buy a console now it would probably be a Wii U, but given that I already have a Wii, I'm not really in a hurry to upgrade.
Part of the story here is that the Wii is really good. I really like it. The one thing that I feel is wrong with it is that its graphics capabilities are really underwhelming. The Wii U certainly improves things, but, as far as I can tell, it's already a couple of generations behind PC graphics, so by the time the Wii U has been on the market for a couple of years, its graphics capabilities will be woefully outdated. At some point, we may reach the point where graphics have become good enough and this won't be a big deal anymore, but I feel we're not quite there yet.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
Every adult I know has and plays a Wii.
Are they all four feet tall? You might be being deceived...
And that was for Mario, as well as my and my kids' anticipation for the next Zelda, Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Mario Party, and Metroid. We'll probably get a PS4 too, but the decision to buy a Wii U was a no-brainer. Those games are coming, and yes, they'll be worth a new console.
Light a fire for a man and he'll be warm for a day. Light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
No, but they did have Madworld and House of the Dead Overkill (which was funny as hell)...
It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
You should look into "play offline."
Works great.
Just like a bunch of other crooked companies.
Fuck Valve, fuck that malware trojan shit Steam and fuck DRM. GOG and TPB are the places I get my games from. I can access them anywhere in the world and I don't have to put up with malware DRM.
Well, at least Super Mario 64 was a killer app that moved consoles off the shelves. What does the Wii U have to compare to this? (I seriously doubt New Super Mario Bros U can compare, but I haven't looked at the numbers so I could be wrong)
Apparently wizard is not a legitimate career path, so I chose programmer instead.
No she isn't. Ok its probably built tough, but it does have bad battery life. You will have to plug it in every night. It will run out of power halfway through a game and make you play plugged in. Almost every time I turn on the Wii U, I end up needing to plug in the GamePad.
The reason that the Wii U isn't selling as good is the same reason that the Wii sold a crapload. The ones buying the Wii weren't the hardcore gamers that wanted the latest and greatest. They didn't care about next gen graphics, they didn't need octo core GPUs with terabits of RAM. They weren't the guys shouting racial slurs at each other in deathmatches. They were people who never gamed before. They were sorority sisters and grandparents. They were people looking for something a little more than farmville. They were people that just wanted something to have fun with. They wanted Mario Party, not Halo.
The problem now, is that these people don't see any reason to buy another console when the one they have now works just fine. Like I said, they aren't technophiles that need the latest console. Nintendo's market is full of people that won't buy a Wii U until their Wii breaks down, and even then, they'll probably just get another Wii since it's half the price of the new console.
XDInd
The WII U remote brings a lot of piece to my house. It reduces those fights of "I want to watch U-verse" vs "I want to play the WII" ... The only downside is only one remote with the glass display, and I'm fairly positive my 9 year old will break it in a million pieces before the year is out. I'll cross that bridge when we get there. The Wii U was mom's purchase, with the hope that she would get her TV back. So far its largely worked as planned, even though we rarely watch it in the family room. 70% of what I want to watch I can't with the kids in the room anyway. I think she has discovered the same thing, but her % of viewing materials inappropriate for children is probably a lot lower than mine. So it didn't make any difference for me other than a reduction in fighting over the TV in the family room. Throw in a horrible Netflix interface, and that is enough to keep the kids happy. Their enjoyment though, not mine. Wii has always been a kids system, and I pretty much think it always will be. There is plenty of money in that.
Now if U-Verse actually had all of the hockey games on demand without asking for another bundle of money -- that would make me happier.
Freedom is merely privilege extended unless enjoyed by one and all.
Sometimes. But I don't hand the key to some Company. I keep it in my own pocket, under my control.
Did you have a point ?
From what I know, wii kept old the old driver versions installed and games would request the one they knew worked when loading. So an older game would load a pre-sdhc support driver.
I'm not saying that doesn't suck, but that is why.
Well, even if it is 2013 and we have tablets and 25" LCD's all over the place, I have consciously switch from playing games at the PC to playing games at my PS3.
I cannot stand upgrading my PC every half year and trying to follow M$'s next version of DirectX Something just to be able to play game X.
I have encountered really bad behavior of expensive joysticks at expensive soundcards when trying to steer planes in flight simulators, and I was never able to calibrate any joystick/joypad on an soundcard I had. Maybe it got better with USB based joystick but anyway.
The PC controllers are "cheap" compared to the PS3 ones and the PS3 ones usually come without a cable (unless they need charging).
All in all, I enjoy sitting one my couch and switching on my Onkyo 10:2 sound system to play e.g. Fallout 3 on my beamer (approx. 9') or LCD 42" TV. Nothing in the world beats this, even the downloading times of updates when inserting a new game are less enervating then upgrading my Windows box again.
BTW: the PS3 sits next to the TV anyway for watching Blu-ray movies
just my 2 cents
No she isn't. Ok its probably built tough, but it does have bad battery life. You will have to plug it in every night. It will run out of power halfway through a game and make you play plugged in. Almost every time I turn on the Wii U, I end up needing to plug in the GamePad.
you're doing it wrong. you're supposed to drop it after 30 mins, say "fuck this shit" and go for a beer.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
The original Wii sold like hotcakes for a number of reasons. The WiiMote-based motion control was novel, and lent itself to casual games, opening a whole new market that, at that point, no one had really addressed. Nintendo, M$ and Sony all launched in time for Christmas 2006, but the Wii undercut XBox 360 and PS3 by HUNDREDS of dollars. $249 bought a complete system including save memory, a pack-in game, and even AA batteries for the Wii Remote. Buy ONE THING and Junior can rip it open Christmas morning and immediately start playing. They even managed (however accidentally) to engineer a Tickle-Me-Elmo style shortage. Nintendo doesn't have any of that this time around. There are no supply constraints to build buzz, and M$ and Sony aren't launching until next Christmas. When they launch, M$ (and possibly Sony, if they're smart) will match Nintendo's pricing. In the meantime, WiiU competes against lame-duck consoles that stubbornly refuse to be notably inferior to it, let alone more expensive than it...
Nintendo failed to ship a solid launch lineup of games. One game (a rehash-mario title at that) and *maybe* Zombi-U isn't enough exclusives. The rest of the remarkable titles are playable (and probably better) on other platforms.
Ship 2-4 major, interesting exclusive (or timed exclusive) games and someone might pay for the box.
I'd contest. Nintendo is in the business of making "Game Machines." For most of the past 20 years, their "console" business has been second-earner to their portable handheld device business.
Really, what has always sold hardware is compelling new experiences. The Wii offered something new and unique, that was also fun. The Xbox 360 had enough power under the hood to be compelling in a different way. And the PS3 was (and is) the best Blu-Ray player you could buy.
Sadly, the WiiU and PS4 appear to be playing catch-up with Apple & Google, instead of striking out on their own. The big feature of the Wii-U is a touchscreen. While nice, we've already had the DS. The big feature of PS4 appears to be Facebook, and that already exists too. Of the 2 traditional console makers who have tipped their hands, neither seem very compelling. The Kinect 2.0 might be high enough fidelity to provide unique new experiences, or it might be another Kinect-sized dud. We shall see.
On the other hand Apple is selling a lot of tablets, and many of those are secretly gaming machines. A lot of phones are gaming machines. And PC's are on the powerful end of the development curve at the moment, making them compelling living room devices. It's a shame Windows 8 is so terrible, but overall those are just another gaming medium as well.
The ______ Agenda
You should look into "play offline."
Works great.
for a while. until it decides it wants to go online.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Actually, it's worse than you think. If you look at descriptions of how the Wii works (and presumably the DS, too), the problem isn't driver abstraction. You could load the new drivers with the old games but Nintendo is so completely paranoid about never breaking anything that they refuse to update code ever. Every single revision of the Wii drivers are kept around and each game says what version of the drivers it uses (not the minimum version, the exact version).
Are you crazy? The software gets better on a system over time, but if a new system can't beat the previous generation of existing systems its going to have some serious issues. Eg, Dreamcast may have been the first and slowest of the 4th gen systems but it sure kicked the crap out of PS1, Saturn, and N64 - even on launch day.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
The Xbox DRM System validates to 1. The purchasing Xbox Live account OR 2. The purchasing Xbox hardware. So if you buy a game, you can play it while logged into your Xbox Live account no matter the hardware, or your Xbox can play it no matter who is logged in. They have a simple and automatic (though slow) system for updating all of your games to consider whatever your current Xbox is, to be your purchasing Xbox.
The PS3 gives the logged in PSN account 5 downloads. You can play nice and download to just your PS3. Or you can be a jerk and download to 4 friend's PS3's as well. Those all work fine.
Apple, of course, allows for any iTunes login to download to any device, and that download will work indefinitely. It will not, however, backup or update if the user doesn't log in under that iTunes account again. I believe Google Play works the same way.
Steam is intrinsically tied to your user login, but as long as you're only logged in to one machine at a time you can use everything you've ever bought.
So yes, there are much better systems out there.
The ______ Agenda
You cannot counterbalance a loss of ownership.
Such charming absolutism. Here's the thing. With or without DRM, you don't "own" games... so there's that whole argument out of the window. Unless you are suggesting a boycott of games altogether?
Now we are just quibbling about license details, which can be be nicely counterbalanced to the benefit of all parties. Arguably steam does just that.
If I want to access my game library anywhere on the planet, I can just employ external storage. The same goes for any other form of "entertainment". This can last for as long as I like. The only stumbling block is DRM. ...And hardware / software which advances, becoming incompatible with old hardware and software. Also, maintaining proper on-site and off-site backups of said software, ensuring everything has viable access to the media, etc. Oh, and that whole "you don't actually own it they're just selling you a revokeable license" stuff which has only rarely been tried.
There are lots of cages. The Good Old Games cage is nice, in that the existing copyright restrictions mostly don't stop me from demonstrating to students even if the technical limitations of old games can be a PITA. Steam Cage is nice, in that explicitly flows freely from computer to computer and legitimately gets out of your way to do anything legal with it, yet is restrictive enough that publishers put modern games on it. But you can't sample, remix, etc from either of them, and that's the bigger cage anyway.
The ______ Agenda
As far as I can tell, Non-Family-Friendly games are basically the Rip-off-the-head blood voyeurism type that appeal to teenagers, and Heavy Rain. And while I pretty much bought a PS3 for Heavy Rain, there hasn't been another good game in the past 5 years that really needed to be "adult." All "adult," games seem to be a 14-year-old's power fantasy.
The ______ Agenda
"Methinks they need something they probably haven't had in a long time--a conclave of their board and big-wigs to ask themselves some fundamental questions about what their mission is, how they are going to accomplish it, and how they're going to compete in the modern gaming market."
You're already at +5 insightful. If I could, I'd make it +6 on the basis of that line. The inability to ask that question is what's currently going wrong not just with Nintendo, but with a lot of Japanese developers (though Nintendo are probably the worst for it).
There just seems to be this incredible reverence when it comes to Japanese games development for the "grand old men" of the industry; Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata at Nintendo, but other companies have them too. These guys were absolutely fantastic at one point in their career, but the world has moved on since then and they've not moved with it.
We're a bit more brutal in the West. You're only ever as good as your last couple of games over here. Remember when John Romero was revered? Or Peter Molyneux? They both developed, or contributed to the development of, some of the best and most important titles in the history of computer and video gaming, yet they're both pretty much standing jokes these days because of the crap they went on to do later. Even where the fall from grace is less dramatic (read: entertaining to a certain kind of mind), it's no less real - David Braben spent a long time in the wilderness after Frontier: First Encounters (though there seems to be a bit of a rehabilitation going on at the moment with his new project).
In other cases, former titans of the industry just kind of slip from prominence. John Carmack has never been associated with a gaming disaster and has been one of the key driving forces behind the technological development of gaming, yet he's slipped away from the limelight and his influence in the industry is nothing like it was. Unlike the cases above, his retreat from the limelight has been dignified, but it's still been real.
It's going on at the moment. Under Randy Pitchford, Gearbox put out two of the best first person shooters of modern times in the Borderlands series - but can his reputation survive Aliens: Colonial Marines and the cross-industry mudslinging its aftermath is currently generating? I think it will be difficult.
And then there's the world of the uber-publishers grinding out their annualised franchises. Lots of people thought that the loss of key Infinity Ward personnel would put an end to the Call of Duty bandwaggon - but instead it just kept on rolling. It may not say particularly nice things about us, but in AAA Western games development, the commercial machine matters a lot more than the individuals now.
Meanwhile in Japan, a lot of the key industry positions are still filled by people whose last major achievement was in the 1990s. The last time Nintendo tried anything genuinely different with one of its franchises was Mario 64, in 1996. As others in this thread have noted, their software strategy is to pretend that every UI and online development since around 2000 just hasn't happened. The over-riding impression is that what goes into their games and their consoles is whatever least offends the sensibilities of a bunch of grumpy-old-men who still instinctively feel that they are the gaming industry and can still dictate consumer tastes in the way that they could when they were one of a tiny number of players in the market.
And oh boy are they still trying to control that market. Others have noted that they have a DRM policy that would make even Ubisoft blush. They're also the chief advocates of region locking and are the first people ever to mandate it on a handheld (a good reason to boycott the 3DS if ever there was one). They're also incredibly prescriptive about which games can come out in which territories, usually based on some really, really odd ideas about Western vs Japanese tastes (cf. the need for Operation Rainfall).
If Nintendo were an entrenched m
Also, TFA is incredibly biased. Take for instance:
It was announced the Wii U sold 600k in December, and the 3DS, 360, PS3 all sold better than the Wii U did.
Sounds great on face value. Until just a couple of sentences later...
The 360 sold over 200k units, which for a console on its last legs is great.
So, even though by their own admission, the 360 sold a third of the units the Wii U did, they still trumpet that it outsold the Wii U.
And let's not forget the PS3 here. That too had a slow start, yet now its worldwide sales are comparable to the 360's. It's simply too soon to tell how successful the Wii U is going to be.
I don't think there has ever been a time in history where Nintendo hasn't followed this pattern.
They have forever gone from flop to success to flop to success over and over and over. The Wii was a massive success, I predicted about 4 years ago their next offering would be a flop, based on their history alone.
At the time, I suggested I got the impression that Nintendo gets high and complacent on it's success, and then creates a flop, but when the flop inevitably causes massive problems, they then are forced to innovate massively to survive and they create a new success as a result. I still feel this is probably the case with Nintendo.
I bought a PC in 2008 and have made one single upgrade of the video card. Its basically a Core2 E8400 (3GHz) with a Nvidia 275GTX. There have been exactly zero PC games in the last 5 years that have not run smoothly on this machine. Worrying about specs for PC games is more or less a thing of the past, these days if you can play one decent game you can play them all.
I'll take steams anti-freedom any day against going out to the snowstorm to find some gamestore that want's twice as much money for the game just so I can "own" it. I don't really want to own it, i just want to play it for 30 hours or so.
You can get tekken on wiiU
Woohoo, another opportunity to lambast Offline Mode in Steam!
Go home and log in to Steam, then simulate a drop in internet connection by unplugging the cable / disconnecting from wireless. "Huh. Networking is down. I'll reboot to see if that helps." is the next step. Boot back up and log in, then load up Steam again. "No internet connection; Load up in Offline Mode?" it will ask. Press that option and... "Cannot load in Offline Mode at this time." What is this?! Why can I not access my games in Offline Mode? The internet is down, and I want to play Deus Ex: Human Revolution! It doesn't even have a multiplayer component! FFFFFUUUUUUU!
Offline Mode is for when you expect to be offline for a while, for instance if you're moving house or you're going on a trip. You need to tell Steam that you'll be going offline by loggin in to Offline Mode before you go offline. Now, this isn't such a big deal if you have a smartphone and can tether to be able to cache your credentials properly, but we're simulating connection loss at the client here. Now picture if the problem is with Steam's ISP, or with Steam itself. Imagine if Steam goes bankrupt and the administrators don't let Gabe pump out his "We pinky-swear to unlock game libraries" patch. Good times, huh?
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
If anything, fewer people are becoming casual gamers, since so many people are growing up with video games. It's no longer just for nerds.
Hmmm... I think we have different definitions of "casual gamer". I myself grew up with computer games; ZX80, NES, Game Gear, access to MegaDrive, PlayStation, PS2 as well, and through most of that PC gaming too. I still, however, would call myself a casual gamer, as I am too busy to be a serious gamer. I don't have the time to complete Skyrim for the third time (hell, even once). But that's not a casual game, that's sirius bizniss. Wii Sports, Angry Birds, $CasualGameX are all great for when I have 20 minutes between getting home from work and cooking dinner, or while I wait for the g/f's shitty soap to finish so I can put Monster Truck Madness XIV or whatever on the TV, or while my code compiles, or while my Blender rendering finishes, or while....
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Wii U already has Tekken. It's apparently Tekken 6 based with newer things.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tekken_Tag_Tournament_2
You are taking it out of context and missing that the 600k and 200k were for different sales periods, December and January.
In December, Wii U sold 600k. According to here, the 360 sold 1.4m, easily trouncing the Wii U.
In January, the Wii U sold 57k, while for the same period the 360 sold 200k.
Thanks for the link to the data, that's useful stuff! :)
IMO, the original article was badly worded... I interpreted "come January" as "sales up to the start of January", i.e. from launch until the end of December.
Mind you, I still think it's too soon to start comparing sales figures. Many people I've spoken to, including a lot who own Wiis, haven't even heard of the Wii U yet, so possibly the biggest problem is that Nintendo's advertising to date hasn't been successful enough.
How about some variety? As a consumer, I most certainly want to be pandered to, as we all do. I do not need uberviolence everywhere on Nintendo, but more Zelda or SSB type games and less bobblehead avatars would go a long way. Most games on the Wii are pretty fun, but they are mostly devoid of any passion and soul, like the developers were just cranking out another widget. Ocarina of Time was a religious experience. Wii Bowling?... reminds me of a bar arcade game.
The fallacy in your argument is the order of purchases. If you go to less wealthy neighborhoods the order is usually: "TV, Laptop/Desktop(one), Smart phone for Parent(s), then game console. Only after that is done do they even consider portable game consoles, more laptops, more smart phones, and a "gaming desktop" would be near end of that list. Also Content accounts for limited budgets? ha.
And it's not just a matter of having limited spending. It's also a matter of having a limited number of pockets in one's pants.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Don't forget "Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers". Sadly I'd have to say DNF was a better game...
It supports up to two of those screen gamepads, however it halves the FPS from 60 on one to 30 for each due to bandwidth constraints.
You can hack at IOS (not iOS, IOS, the microkernel that runs on Starlet) and add SDHC support to any IOS you want.
In fact, you can even hack IOS so that it can redirect access from the SD card through Wifi. You can even redirect disc access through Wifi. It's a program called Riivolution. I used it once while texture hacking; just save the texture file to the right folder, tickle the game (e.g. leave area and come back) until it reloads the texture.
As mentioned by sibling posts, the problem is that Nintendo wanted to keep a fork of every single IOS ever, and games will always use the IOS that they request. So you either hack the IOS which gets loaded by your game, or you hack the game to request a new IOS, or you write a loader which ignores the IOS the game requests and loads a pre-specified one (e.g. Gecko OS uses IOS36, I believe)
:(){
Innovation isn't gimmickry, but the Wii was gimmickry
I beg to differ. See, everyone always complains about the Wii's motion sensing. Yeah, it's pretty gimmicky and there are very few times that it actually works well.
But one thing that NO ONE ever gives credit to the Wii for is the POINTING. The ability to use a pointer in game is absolutely amazing. I never enjoyed shooters on the console until I could use the Wii to aim. The pointing technology in the Wii revolutionized games that were ported from other systems. My hit ratio in Resident Evil 4 went from 75% (on a good day) to 90% (on just about any day). It was much more fun to play Okami on the Wii than the PS2.
Rag on the motion controls all you want, but the pointing controls for the Wii made it the superior console in my opinion. The only thing better than the Wii is a computer with a mouse and keyboard.
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He has a point though. It's all about control - Valve has the control, the customer has bugger-all. I don't trust that Valve will be around in the long term because life is very uncertain, and who knows what future Steam will have then. Maybe it'll be sold off to EA who impose draconian changes to how it works, who knows. What I do know is that if I have DRM-free games on my computer, I have the control. I can back them up, move them around and I don't have to give a damn about another vendor. Who cares if hardware becomes incompatible in the future? DOSBox/ScummVM/VirtualBox show this to be a non-issue.
Yes I know, the future of Valve and Steam as a "what-if" could mean nothing; heck I could die tomorrow and make my concerns rather pointless. But as users we're losing control over everything these days, as the balance of power shifts strongly over to the corporations. This is not a good thing, and I fear not enough people care anymore about their rights so long as they get the goods, no matter how clearly they're being fucked.
Raenex is a dickhead
Since my family purchased a WiiU last November, it has been the primary gaming console in my house (replacing the old wii, which had been gathering dust in the basement, and the Xbox 360). Nintendo's odd FB knockoff Wiiverse is pretty clever. The WiiU gamepad opens up some interesting possibilities. The system has promise, as underpowered as it is. I think lack of software is currently the biggest problem right now. We bought Mario, and played it to completion, and now there's nothing else, months after release. I own ME3 for 360, ZombiU and Ninja Gaiden III could be good, but I usually play with my 3 year old in the room, so murder simulators are out. That leaves a bunch of franchise party and dancing games, and maybe a Madden? We've gone back to playing old Wii games lately. Nintendo's launch titles have historically been more appealing. If there was a new Zelda or Metroid coming out, more people might bite the hook. I don't think the system is dead, but Nintendo's gotta get the ball rolling on some new hotness--because cross-platform games won't sell any more consoles.
Distribute the games on a medium that isn't designed to be easily created with ordinary consumer hardware. Back in the day that meant cartridges. These days it would probably look more like a USB flash drive (or maybe like a memory card), except instead of flash memory inside it would have a ROM chip. The device is designed to read the game software from that medium -- not from a CD, DVD, or hard drive.
There's no way we could go back to that now. Why go to all the cost of producing multi-gigabyte ROM chips when they can pump the games out on BluRay for a few cents per copy, and particularly when the games would still get illegally dumped and distributed anyway! They'd just be going to great expense to put a small bump in the road for the pirates.
In the long term people will figure out how to read and make images of the games that anyone can use in an emulator on a PC -- if you know where to look, you can easily find ROM images and emulators on the internet for all the old eight-bit consoles -- but that only becomes really practical once the console hardware is sufficiently obsolete to be easily emulated, i.e., after you're already selling at least the subsequent generation of console if not the one after that.
You don't have to wait 10+ years if the console was already obsolete when it was released. Case in point: Dolphin was emulating Wii games with a high degree of accuracy and compatibility for a large part of the Wii's active lifespan. Yes, the hardware requirements were a bit steep (though not so much now) to run games perfectly, but it shows how weak the Wii's hardware was (i.e. barely a step beyond the Gamecube) that a very playable emulator was available while Wii games and consoles still sat on store shelves.
> The motion controller was much more than a gimmick, it was a functional, useful device for input.
Gentlemen, there is a troll amongst us.
Having been a male older than 22 for the entirety of the existence of the Wii, I disliked the games because they didnt provide any intellectual stimulation. It was 99% happy fru-fru bullshit. No strategy games, nothing outside of a handful of first party games with any semblance of plot - no real substance. It was a console wrapped around a half baked control scheme that lent itself VERY well to Wii Sports, and.... well yeah - let's not kid ourselves, if you look at the game sales numbers, the Wii will ultimately be remembered as "the Wii Sports machine.
Young parent here - give your kids games that teach and utilize strategy for their sakes. As someone who grew up on RPGs, historic fiction, and strategy games, I can't begin to tell you how much gaming with strategic problem solving helped me later in life.
Unfortunately, the Wii has almost nothing in these categories. :(
Chess? :)
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
they need steve jobs... oh wait hang on isn't he...