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Nintendo Halts Wii U Production In Anticipation of Switch Launch (theguardian.com)
New submitter Shane_Optima writes: The Guardian reports that Nintendo has ceased production of the Wii U after a little more than four years. From the report: "In late January it was announced that Nintendo had ceased production of the Wii U console. The follow-up machine to the hugely successful Wii had sold fewer than 15 million units worldwide since its launch in 2012. PlayStation 4 sold more in a year. Wii sold more than 100m in its lifetime. What happened? How did Nintendo, one of the oldest and most respected companies in the video game industry, get it so wrong? And did anything good come out of the Wii U era? How will the machine be remembered, if at all?" Perhaps it could have something to do with the fact that the Wii U bundle didn't include a Wii remote-type controller, and the much-hyped secondary screen was most commonly used for solo gaming -- the exact opposite of the Wii's emphasis on a social experience and is an area where they have to compete with cell phones, tablets and their very own DS line. Nintendo still seems hellbent on selling a console-tablet hybrid, but at least this time it sounds like an interesting controller will be included.
I bought one last Christmas for the kids - was about $250 bundled with Splatoon and Super Smash Brothers. I picked it up largely because our last two Wiis had expired and I wanted to move to hard drive-based games. I really only invested in the upgraded party games: Mario Kart, Mario Party, Mario World and they did a pretty good job with those. One of my son's also picked up Skyward Sword and played it (as a Wii disc).
I think what will be shortly be written on Nintendo's gravestone will be its inability to capitalize on its second tier franchises: the Metroids, Starfoxes, Sonics, Megamans, and Kid Icaruses of the world, and its inability to get on the DLC bandwagon. They'll also be smacking themselves for not fully building out the "Ocarina Zelda" line - almost indisputably one of the best games ever. (And when they tried...it was that shitty "Mask" game rather than the MMO or moar tunes that would have been huge cash cows.)
As Nintendo buyers, we've shown an incredible ability to buy more of the same - the gameplay is almost always excellent (except you Starfox Zero/3) - and we'd be happy to buy more levels, more worlds, more tracks. Nintendo finally got on the DLC bandwagon with Mario Kart (and yes, we bought them all...er both) but they've lately behaved like the DNC to American voters: we try to vote with our pocketbooks and they still try to feed us crap no one wants anyway.
Also, I think someone saw a pot of gold with the stupid Amibo doodads. I still haven't bought any of those and probably never will.