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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 remember it was (at least in the stores) hyped that separate screens (like the controller that comes with the Wii U) would be sold separately and we would be able to have 4 screens on it. Well that never happened.
Another bummer, was the fact that the launch came with an horribly slow OS and it took like forever to switch games. Plus the fact that the update was gigantic, so even on a 12 Mbit line it took like a good 5 hours to download the firmware update. This was a major setback, not to mention extremely annoying for kids expecting to play the games straight out of the box.
Just as a nail in the coffin, the good games didn't come out before 6 months after the launch and we where starved of good stuff, to top it off the Netflix application had a lot of bugs in it and rendered my Netflix viewing useless for 4 months. The Youtube app was hugely flawed as well, and the much anticipated Nintendo TV (which my unit kept promising would launch soon) never launched, but was an app...that never uninstalled - but gave us a message "No service in your area", enough to disharthen you every time you checked it out.
And the nails in the coffins kept coming, no new Zelda game, just raking in money on old-refurbs (Windwaker became Windwaker HD, followed by the next in the series, but still just HD remakes). Mario Maker was exciting the first 2 weeks, until I discovered that people just made simple "press-and-run" games that made all the good games "hidden", just to get scores so people could upload MORE levels themselves, of the same kind...and haul more votes. Mario Kart 8 was great, but I quickly got bored with it after a few weeks too.
Personally, the best games on the Wii U (for me) was Splatoon and Super Mario 3D world. It had awesome replayability and I ran trough it twice. Splatoon I kept playing every day for a month.Good times, as long as it lasted.
Personally, I don't think there's much wrong with the platform itself, the switch is gonna suffer the same fate if they keep people waiting for the big titles, and charge 60$ for 10 year old wiimotes. No more relaunches, we want fresh titles, and keepem coming if you want us to fatten your wallets.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
It seemed like an updated HDMI version of the WII at launch. The graphics didn't seem improved from what I saw advertised or in the store. The hand held controller seemed like an attempt to get me to buy another 3DS (which if it would allow existing 3DS units to work that way might have been a selling point). Lastly, launch games were not that great.
So in the end it didn't seem worth shelling out the money for what appeared to be a minor upgrade. As time passed there were some good games, but with rumors of a new console it still didn't seem worth it.
I'm holding out hope for the switch, but without a good line up of games I don't see a compelling reason to buy a new system.
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.
I have a Wii U and I really like all 4 of my games for it!!!
Ok, let's be honest, the Wii U was a pathetic flop because :
a) The controller (touch panel) was too big
b) You couldn't reasonably buy a second touch panel controller. This means that when buying for children, their main audience, parent's would have to deal with fights over the pretty controller.
c) The price was too damn high. This will be the problem with the switch as well. Nintendo does not target an audience who makes video games a religion. Instead they target children and casual gamers. They make the absolute best games in the world as well. The problem is, it's just too expensive. I would have probably bought a second Wii U (as my first is in my office currently) for the house and considered buying more games if the prices were closer to the casual gaming prices.
d) iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, etc... if kids already have an iPod, iPad or iPhone, then why would they need a Wii U? My kids completely ditched Wii and Nintendo DS for iPad and iPhone. The games are far inferior, but if I could buy a proper Nintendo game for iPhone, I would pay $20. I would even consider buying a Nintendo branded Bluetooth game controller cover for the iPhone for up to $100. The point is, Wii and Wii U suck up the TV. But on iDevices, we can use our TV while the children play video games on their own screens. There is absolutely no value for a parent to have a game console connected to the TV. And Nintendo DS is soooo 2009.
I will buy a Nintendo Switch. I more than likely won't purchase many games for it as the prices are far too high. I also will share the device with my children instead of buying them their own. If it cost $199, I'd buy 3 on release day. If the games we $30-40, I'd probably buy quite a dozen over time. However at the current pricing point, I'll most likely only buy one device and then probably Mario Kart and Zelda. I imagine we'll grow bored of it quickly with only only one device and only two games. I also suppose we'll talk badly about it to our friends because it wouldn't provide enough entertainment with our game selection being so limited. I can easily imaging the device collecting much dust.
I think the most important thing to understand for Nintendo is that it would be far better to release a lesser device at the right price point and good affordable games than it would be to try and be another XBox or Playstation which both are devices designed for people who are too poor to afford PCs or too stupid to use them.
I think I am their target market. Our Wii is aging and my kids are growing but not yet grown (oldest is middle school). I want a console with engaging, playable titles that won't bore them. On the other hand, I'm not ready to immerse them in the apocalyptic nightmare killiastic gore storm that I bathed in throughout my own 20's. Sure, we want all the new, awesome doodads, resolution, headsets, multiplayer, massive multiplayer, etc., but please with a plot that doesn't involve clubbing down either little old ladies or baby seals, or wielding bone saws. Maybe some scheming plumbers and giant megalomaniacal apes?
When I had to settle for a PS4 last year, what I really wanted was the awesome, high-powered, market-leading Nintendo console of my dreams. Where were you, Nintendo?
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
No it isn't.
In fact, I think you're confusing a lot of things, because HDMI supported LPCM from the get-go - it was in all the way when HDMI only supported 1080i.
Granted, due to the pixel clock, resolution did have an effect on the number of channels, sample rate and resolution, so if you have a low bandwidth video like 480i, you only could get 48kHz 2 channel PCM. Once you hit high-def 8 channel (7.1) 24 bit 192kHz was available - all you needed was a 720p or 1080i signal.
But 5.1 discrete PCM channels was definitely well supported. During the war, support for high def codecs like Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD, etc was iffy, and you could only really count on PCM, Dolby Digital or DTS. But by 2009, all receivers I saw were supporting PCM (it's in the basic HDMI spec), TrueHD and DTS-MA.
And by 2012, it was a non-issue.
Heck, 2012 Blu-Ray players often have multi-channel HD codec decoders, so if your receiver didn't support TrueHD or DTS-MA, you could set them and get 7.1 via LPCM. These days, no one bothers so Blu-Ray players have gotten cheap and only license a stereo decoder (with downmixer) if you try to set them to PCM only output. It's a super common problem on AVS Forums nowadays, in fact.
Sony's PS3 also only supported LPCM for surround sound gaming, and that was 2007. I still remember being disappointed when the Xbox360's HDMI out only could do encoded 5.1 and not LPCM.