Veknoid_Outcast said:
I wouldn't put too much stock in the ports and multiplatform titles that launched with Wii U, or the games that were already in development for different consoles when Wii U launched. Wii U will be OK in 2012-2013 with its tremendous first-party software, some third party exclusives, and enough general third party support to stay afloat. What really matters is 2014-2016. I really think Nintendo upgraded its console to protect it against the future, not to steal consumers from Microsoft and Playstation. What I mean is that the Wii U is designed to win over old and new consumers, and KEEP them. The Wii was a revolution but it faded in the home stretch. Many Wii owners, I'm sure, tried out new video game platforms after the Wii began to decline. All serious video game enthusiasts, if they have the money and time, will by a Wii U so they can play its exclusives. The biggest and most important audience are those who are only marginally interested in video games -- the people who are now buying 360s and PS3s. If the Wii U is the cheapest option during the eighth generation, and it gets enough of the sexy third party games, it can definitely win over consumers and keep them happy until the ninth generation. Like I said before, the key question is how powerful will the next generation systems be, and what choices will Rockstar, Bethesda, and others make. If the 720 and PS4 have incredible horsepower and third parties decide to develop specifically for those platforms, Wii U might be left behind. But if they have incredible horsepower they will be incredibly expensive (unless sold for a huge loss) and consumers might balk. However, if they are close in horsepower to Wii U (which I suspect they will be), then there is no reason Wii U cannot earn those high-profile third party titles. Unless the developers don't think their games would do well on Wii U, which might be true of some games. But I'd be shocked if games like Grand Theft Auto and The Elder Scrolls sold poorly on any system. |
Those titles releasing now and in the next 10 months are incredibly important because they could be enough to tide people over until the other consoles are released and that would pretty much take away any advantage Nintendo might have had by releasing early. Then it becomes a matter of what compromises Nintendo had to make to launch earlier becoming disadvantages.
I think both the next Xbox and Playstation consoles are going to be significantly more powerful than WiiU so it will all come down to people choosing between better graphics, AI, physics, etc or a controller that offers the possibility of better interaction with games. As for third parties they will go where the core gamers go so November/December 2013 will pretty much decide the future of console gaming.
If we see a significant shift of core gamers to the next Xbox/Playstation to play Call of Duty on those platforms then the vast majority of third parties and AAA games will move to those platforms and the specs they have. If core gamers instead opt to get a WiiU because they feel the WiiU Gamepad will make a better experience for them then WiiU will be the lead console for many AAA third party games.
It's not going to matter in 2014 and 2015 because it's all going to be decided before that. People tend to want to play online games with their friends so it'll be a snowball effect for whichever side wins at the end of 2013. As for those that argue about budgets, it's the same arguement that was had between Wii and 360/PS3 and what we've seen is that publishers go where the audience is regardless of the budget.
