Wii U Has 8 GB of Internal Storage

[mrstickball]

Khuutra said:

mrstickball said:

Khuutra said:

Those are the numbers I wanted, thank you.

You misrepresent my argument. I said that people will go to considerable length if they really want something, not to "any" length. THat would be preposterous - if I had said it. But since you're rpelying to an argument I didn't make, that can be safely ignored.

You exaggerate significantly in three respects.

1. Your binary breakdown of Nintendo's understanding of the online market is overly simplistic and does not allow for any particular strategy outside of what is already outlined here. Hell, this doesn't even allow for the very real possibility of Nintendo packing something like a 16GB SD card with the system, like they packed 2GB with the 3DS.

Certainly, my argument is predicated on the argument that Nintendo does not pack in an SD card. I've said multiple times that if they did indeed pack in a card, the likelihood of greater DLC/online support by 3rd parties increases significantly. But with no announcement, that makes me very hesitant to believe Nintendo will do it.

2. You insist that this decision is going to cut out great swaths of DLC buyers from the Wii U without citing any numbers or studies as to how many people that sort of decision is likely to discourage in the console space, adjusted for price normalization. Some will stop, certainly, but it's not possible at this point to establish how many.

I don't believe there are any numbers available, outside of the fact that few developers bothered with DLC on the Wii. That could be very telling of how they are to treat the WiiU if a favorable storage solution isn't offered to consumers from the get-go.

3. DLC is not going to be the primary deciding factor of the console war, and you cannot equate hard drive size with DLC advertising mindshare

Where did I equate hard drive size with advertising mindshare? My statement was concerning users' purchasing habits - that many seek to purchase content, but a lack of space may cause users to simply not purchase content. Its not only content, but other discovery methods for gaming - videos, demos, and the like.

The length to which you are letting this exaggeration color the conversation is worrying.

The lengths to which you are dismissive of online gaming and the need for a sizable hard drive is worrying. We will have this discussion a year from now, and I don't believe you're going to like what is happening to the WiiU in regards to its online presence against the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. Could I be wrong? Absolutely. But I do not believe I'll be wrong because my analysis is incorrect, but that Nintendo has addressed my issue with the console.

God that style is hard to quote. Anyway.

1. We don't know anything about how Nintendo is packaging the console. We don't even know if it's coming with a Wiimote. You are basing this hypothesis on the existence of hardware bundling that has not even been outlined yet.

2. The Wii did not have the same titles that the 360 and PS3 did, and even where it had equivalent, all the content would have had to be rebuilt specifically for the Wii, which actually does cost money. If developers can release DLC on the Wii U with scaled same assets that they used on the 360/PS3/720/PS4, then there is precious little reason not to, regardless of whether or not Wii U's userbase buys a ton of DLC. The added cost just isn't that high.

3. You did so here:

As for the argument of "If people want DLC, they will go to any lengths to get it". That is very, very wrong. If that were true, then no publisher would bother with marketing, press releases, or anything to notify users of DLC, its availability, or work with online services to push and promote downloadable content. Additionally, there are tons of white papers/sources out there that will state time and time again that users are far more likely to purchase content, or purchase a downloadable title if they are aware of it. Self-discovery is very over-rated in the digital world, and marketing is still key.

I was talking about memory, you switched it to mindshare. That transition was all you, even ignoring how you misrepresented the argument.

Dismissive of online gaming? Nonsense. It's quite important. But the points on which you exaggerate? Those stand. DLC will not determine the console war. It may well correlate with it, I allow - but it will not be the primary cause. To pretend so is folly.

1. Every Wii U I saw / played on at E3 had a Wiimote.  Given production lead times between now and a likely release date of November, its very unlikely that Nintendo can call many audibles to change the manufacturing/packaging process at this time. Heck, look at how long it took Microsoft to address some soldering on the 360 when they started getting the RROD. It took nearly a year of losses before they could fix the problem due to lead time and implementation. SD cards are a much easier fix, but it does take time to produce, manufacture, and bundle anything with a console, even an SD card.

2. Again, if revenues from DLC on the Wii U are small compared to Microsoft/Sony's next systems, then developers and publishers aren't going to focus on the Wii U, because they know the money won't be there. That will be a huge problem for Nintendo.

3. They go hand in hand. I'm trying to present very likely scenarios as to how users acquire content, and the problems that a lack of memory present. Lets say a percentage of users simply download content organically. That is, they simply see its available on the market, and purchase it because they know its available. Call them "Casual" purchasers of content. If they have insufficient space, then its likely they won't go out of their way to purchase an SD card, and they never convert on the content. Even if that percentage is low - say 25%, that will likely mean hundreds of millions of dollars in unrealized revenues for publishers and developers. That's my point. If a developer can make a game on "Console A", sell it for $50 and will make an average of $3 in additional content sales, do you think he'll promote that as much as the same title on "Console B" which sells for $60, and will make an average of $12 in additional content sales?