I don`t think there is a reason to worry about Wii U.
Xbox 360 and PS3 may have sold very well last year, but they had a great in important software and i don`t see that happening this year. I`m not talking about good or great games, i`m talking about the ones that sell the machine.
Let`s not forget that November/December both companies, specially MS, had great promotions in the states. For example, i remember seeing Kinect for 100$ and that was a great push for Xbox360. Will that happen this year? Can it have the same effect?
Thing is, despite that, both are seeing less sales than last year and normally means that, after so many years on the market, the same market is shrinking. And a price drop might not be as effective as it was before.
And speaking of prices, for the first time - if memory doesn`t fail me - it`s the first time a new generation arrives and the old generation is still highly priced. To me, this only eases the transition to future new console owners. It`s one thing to compare a 99$ console to a 300/400$ console, and another is to compare a 149/249, etc.$ consoles to a 300/350 console.
The hardcore belongs to no one. It belonged to Nintendo, then, Nintendo and Sega, then, Sony and now MS and Sony. The hardcore goes where it feels at home. If Nintendo can provide that to them, they will come, sooner or later.
In terms of power, no one knows for sure, although most rumors point out to a better machine, i hope that it is only, as said, 2x better.
I don`t prices to go up again and pay 70/80 dollars/euro for games, pay more for DLC, pay more for internet use.
Big budget games that everyone loves seem to need millions in retail just to break even. If this gets worse i´m afraid it won`t be sustainable to developers, to hardcore gamers and the market in general that might even shrink because of a pricier market.
The best thing Nintendo could have ever done to get the casual/tablet/smartphone users was to turn it`s controller into a tablet. The first thing a gamer, like one of those above, will see, is something everyone is familiar with: a tablet.
There`s no better way to attract a customer than to use something that they are already in touch with.
And, like with hardcore gamers, casual gamers go where they feel at home. Nintendo has Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Mario Kart and New Super Mario Bros to convince them to come back. Not to mention special games made with the tablet in mind!
