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blackstarr on 12 November 2012
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Squilliam said:
VGKing said:
Squilliam said:
It seems strange how different the Wii launch is to the Wii U. Before the Wii launched I heard the mainstream media talking about it whereas the Wii U forces me to actively look for information and even the gaming sites don't seem to be saying much about it. It has a big launch but it is as if no one cares that the sequel to the best selling console of a previous generation is launching.

I think the Wii left a bad tastes in everones mouth. Especially gamers.
3rd parties once again were a small presence on the consoles, the only publisher that is probably happy with the Wii is probably Ubisoft. Just Dance is extremely successful.

Plus the Wii U isn't necessary doing anything too innovative. Mainstream media is more excited about the new iPad than the tablet controller on the Wii U. The media has been trained to expect yearly release of new products. The most successful products out there are yearly releases.(Call of Duty, FIFA, iPad, iPhone...etc)

I think Nintendo needs to focus less on HOW you play, and more on WHAT you play with the Wii U. Gimmicks aren't a selling point anymore.

The Wii was limited in success pretty much to sports type games like Mario Kart/Wii Sports/Fit/Dance and 2D games. There are only so many of these titles which will entertain people I guess, the content has really fallen short compared to other leading systems. The sales of the Wii now are nothing compared to the sales of the PS2 at a similar stage in lifecycle.

The main problem with innovation is that it is a game which gets harder every time you do it. It was  a heck of a lot easier to impress people with new gameplay mechanics 10 years ago because the ideas which worked stuck and the ideas which didn't were shelved. As a console designer sitting back with the old drawing board it is very difficult to create something entirely new and indeed the Wii U is mostly iterating off of existing touch screen development and it is more a convergence than an entirely new idea like that the Wii brought to the table.

The main problem I have with the idea of the Wii is the fact that there is now an iPad coming up right behind with a similar interface and fast improving performance and in front is likely new consoles from Sony and Microsoft which can easily add the ideas from the Wii U cheaply whilst creating their own unique selling points as well. The Wii U feels stuck in the middle whereas the Wii was off on its own for much of its life and arguably offered a completely different experience, an experience which the other consoles really failed to match before it became worn out.

The casual market is... maybe an attractive market because they're all about the word-of-mouth, buy-it-because-my-friend-says-to... But the Wii casual userbase was relatively short-lived and unreliable.. Families bought a wii, played tennis for a year, and then gave it a rest. And now they've all moved onto playing Angry Birds on their ipads and iphones.

The Wii moved a ridiculous amount of units, but at what price? It alienated a group of gamers that decided that Nintendo wasn't "core" enough for them. 

There's a great interview with Scott Moffit about the Wii U launch here: http://venturebeat.com/2012/11/11/nintendos-scott-moffitt-tells-us-what-we-need-to-know-about-the-wii-u-launch-interview/view-all/ and he talks about how consoles are now trying to "future proof" much like HD televisions are. You buy a new television once every five years at minimum, because it really has reached a certain threshold on how much better TVs can become. He says that it seems consoles are going the same route... Which I can see as well.