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Can the Wii U Survive Against the PS4 and Xbox One?

Posted by Soulskill on from the how-much-can-one-plumber-do dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Now that both Sony and Microsoft have announced their next-gen consoles, and we've gotten solid information about their hardware, technology, and features, Eurogamer asks whether Nintendo's struggling Wii U will be able to hold its own once the new competition arrives. 'Wii U has tanked — there's no other way to put it — with even the release of traditional big-hitters like Dragon Quest 10 failing to make a dent in the Japanese market. If you believe certain analysts, April saw things getting even worse in the U.S. with the Wii U shifting under 40,000 units, easily outsold by the 360 and PS3 — and, even more embarrassingly, the Wii.' If the Wii U doesn't see a miraculous turnaround, Nintendo may be left with the difficult choice of whether to port its software to competing consoles. It'll also serve as a bellwether to see if the big gamer complaint about the new Sony and Microsoft consoles — that they're only partly about games — is honest. 'At a time when the goal of its competitors is to own the living room, the extent of Nintendo's ambition is simply to be in it — a dedicated games console, and no more.'"

11 of 335 comments (clear)

  1. They're going for gameplay. Again. by ReallyEvilCanine · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The Wii was/is far behind its competitors when it came to graphics becaue that wasn't the point. The gameplay and experience was. The game Bully only really makes sense with a Wiimote. And they're doing it again.

    All those "classic" 8-bit games -- Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Archon -- became classics not because of the awesome graphics they packed into a ROM space too small for a fucking To Do list for your mother these days but because of the gameplay. Compare and contrast with Clickfest Diablo 3.

    Tanking? Nintendo are out there not resting on their laurels and working on the one thing that leads to long-term success. Or do you play Minecraft for the incredible graphics experience only achievable with a €3,000 rack of graphics cards?

    1. Re:They're going for gameplay. Again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Actually, all of those "lo fi" games you mention were, in fact, graphically impressive when they came out.

      The Japanese have a wonderful ability to take success and iterate over and over, but Nintendo is having a harder time keeping it fresh.

      Oh, and Minecraft does take advantage of high-end hardware quite nicely. I doubt that the Wii U has the chops to do much with that engine before the CPU grinds to a halt and the memory fills up like a sinking ship...

    2. Re:They're going for gameplay. Again. by DrEldarion · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Going for gameplay? The Wii had the following:

      1) The same old Nintendo standbys that they rehash every generation, except now with tacked-on motion controls that everyone hated.
      2) A ridiculous amount of gimmicky terrible games that companies pumped out to appeal to the loads of casual gamers who bought the console.
      3) EXTREMELY few and far between good titles which took advantage of the Wiimote in a non-gimmicky way, like Boom Blox.
      4) Games which didn't use motion controls at all and could have been done on any console, but were gimped and put out on the Wii because of the huge install base.

      You're making the classic mistake of assuming that power = graphics, as well. Power lets you do better AI, it lets you have more objects on screen, it lets you do better physics, etc. etc. For a great example of how a game had to be made far worse to allow the Wii to run it, look at all the problems with Dead Rising.

      Every gamer I know who has a Wii played Wii Sports to death, maybe played a couple other games on there, and then has let it collect dust. Every non-gamer I know who bought one only uses it as a Netflix box. The Wii may have been a financial success for Nintendo, but it was a dud of a console as far as entertainment value goes.

    3. Re:They're going for gameplay. Again. by ReallyEvilCanine · · Score: 4, Insightful
      1) The games that had stood the test of time for. gameplay.
      2) Terrible gimmicks are Nintendo's fault? I like DDR (because I can beat my wife at it). I like Mario Kart (my kid likes to play with me). I like LfD and the old arcade-style quick games that Sports and similar offer. My wife likes the yoga shit. NfS sucks because it tries to force non-native controls on the Wii controller, just like the shitty port of Bully to the PC did.
      3) Again, how is this Nintendo's fault? Fucking FIFA 2013 is nothing but a goddamned rebadge of FIFA2012. How is that you blame anyone but the publisher?
      4) Games don't have to implement motion control anymore than PacMan had to find a use for the fire button that all home 8-bit consoles had at the time. Again, whose fault is this?

      I live in Germany; we ain't got no Netflix (but we do have USB sticks and a Samsung TV capable of playing damned near anything in an AVI wrapper).

  2. It's a bad decision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Can't think of what to write without going insane with all the restrictions on the xbox one, so I'm just going to say that it's a bad decision. I won't even comment on the Wii considering it's useless. The ps4, hey I all ready have my bluray player in my PS3. The halo series has been going downhill, I couldn't even muster getting myself through all of the last halo game and the 13th release or whichever one we're on with call of duty, not worth it for that arcade game to invest in a new $500 console.

  3. used games by anthony_greer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I will buy into the platform that lets me buy and sell used games openly, without paying a tax to the mothership.

    I buy maybe 1 or 2 games a year for my xbox 360 and I buy them all used because I play to relax and to me Halo 3, 4, 5, 6 whatever all look pretty much the same, I run, I shoot I am happy. That said, I will ony buy a next gen console that allows me the freedom to do two key things:
    1: Loan games to friends, and play games that I am loaned
    2: Buy and Sell used games freely without paying a pimp fee to MS/Sony/Nintendo/Activision/EA/whoever

    Simple as this: if I cant walk into game stop 30-45 days after a title is released and buy it for ~1/2 new price, and sell my 2-3 year old game back for like $5 to lower that cost a bit more, then I just wont game at all because its too expencive for what it is. Again, I have plenty of disposable income, so it isn't an affordability thing, its a value issue.

    1. Re:used games by anthony_greer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Also, What about longevity, if the thing has to phone home, what happens in 20 year when my kids want to mess around with an xbox one they got for $10 at the garage sale next door? long after all the servers are shut down, hell, for all we know, ms and sony may not even exist at that point! what then I ask?!?!

      I can still fire up the Playstation (the first one had no numbers after the name kids) and play gran tourismo (again, before the numbers :) ) just like I did in grade school, but kids who get xbox one or PS3 or whatever may not have that same right.

    2. Re:used games by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I feel the same way, but what you need to remember in order to leave an intelligent and useful comment is that the game industry does not care about you. You simply don't represent enough additional revenue. How much do you think your participation in the used game market increases the initial retail value of a game? Five dollars? Ten at the outside? There's just no reason for anyone whose motivation is profit to cater to you. That leaves out anything more serious than a hobby effort. I hope that means that you've already reconciled yourself to playing indie and hobbyist games, because that's what's coming for you at this rate, on consoles at least. There has been some successful push-back against DRM on PCs, but there has also been massive acceptance of Steam even though it features DRM which prevents resale of used games, even if you bought them in a brick and mortar store. Once you're not able to resell console games, PC games will surely follow en masse.

      Those of us who only buy one or two new games per year, if that, are simply not able to influence corporate direction in the gaming market. We are going to have to look elsewhere if we want to continue gaming. I've funded one game on kickstarter and I pay (very little, but something) for indie games through humble bundles, but sadly only one of the humble bundle for android games (contre jour) actually runs on my phone without crashing. In spite of most of them being tinkertoy games by comparison to A-list titles, they use as much disk space or even more.

      I guess I'll spend more and more of my gaming hours in emulation in the future, being more or less completely unwilling to pay for games... Grand Theft Auto V may be the last A-list title I ever buy new, which I probably will do. I don't have a Wii U (asymmetric controllers THPPPPT) and I'm not planning on buying an Xbox One or a PS4 no matter what. I'm getting an Ouya but I'm buying it on the strength of XBMC (which runs but so far without hardware decoding) and running emulators and I may never buy a game from them. If it even runs games properly that's a side benefit to me. So in short, what reason do corporate publishers have to care about either of us?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  4. Mobile and Tablets are killing the console market by lord_mike · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yes, the games are less exciting and on a smaller screen, but the devices are nearly ubiquitous right now, and the games are a fraction of the price of a console game. People get used to paying $0.99 for Plants vs. Zombies, then wonder why it costs $20 for the same game on the Xbox? Add the possibility of similar bargains and freedom with the upcoming Ouya (but on a larger screen), and suddenly, these consoles and their respective games seem massively overpriced for what you get. Yes, they offer a richer experience. Is it worth 10 times of the cost of a similar iPad version? That's what consumers are grappling with right now. Add in the fact that the console makers treat their customers like garbage, and many people are saying, forget it. I'll just play games on my phone.

  5. Which... by _KiTA_ · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Which one is the one of the three that allows used game sales? (To the point of EA refusing to work with them when they refused to let EA block used game sales on their own?)

    Wii U? ... Yeah, ok. Good luck with your XBox One ("Now with less games"(tm) ) and Playstation 4 ("Oh god we forgot the games.") purchases.

  6. Re:Spoiler alert: no. by Chaos+Incarnate · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How is a Steambox any less of a "corporate wet dream" than the Xbox One? Just like with the One, you can't sell games or let other people borrow them. At least the Xbox One will let other people in your house play; the Steambox won't even do that.

    --
    Benford's Corollary to Clarke's Law: "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."