Global HW & SW Up! 19th January

[Scisca]

Mummelmann said:

Scisca said:

Mummelmann said:
What is this about no games? Where were the fantastic launch titles for the 360 and PS3? The 360 used Perfect Dark: Zero and Kameo as advertisement around launch, CoD was not a big franchise yet, things like NFL doesn't sell outside of the US and the rest were mostly region specific titles or even niche, or parts of franchises that would only grow later in the gen. The 360 was also sold at 399$ at launch, which is quite a bit more expensive, especially when you factor in inflation (adds quite a bit since this is nearly a decade ago).

The PS3's launch line-up? CoD 3, Ridge Racer, same sports games as the 360 that year, Mobile Suit Gundamn and Genji, the new IP Resistance and some niche titles, hardly earth shattering. And it was sold at a ridiculous 599$ at launch. You know what's even worse? It did better than the Wii U currently is even without being available in its biggest market; Europe.

Neither the PS3 nor 360 had a launch line-up that is anywhere near the Wii U's, Assassin's Creed III, part of what has become a behemoth franchise, Batman Arkham City, the sequel to a game that has sold over 6 million units and is among the most critically acclaimed titles in the entire 7th generation, CoD Black Ops 2, the sequel to the biggest gaming franchise in history, FIFA 13, sequel to a long running and big series, especially in Europe where the Wii U is doing the worst, Just Dance 4, the sequel to the smash hit series on the Wii that has moved over 25 million units in three installations and the monolithic New Super Mario Bros U, sequel to the 26+ million selling monster hit and part of Nintendo's biggest franchise by far (Super Mario games), available right from the start.

The Wii U also costs 349$, a fairly low launch price, historically, below average for sure. It is also the heir to a market leader and generation winner both hardware and software-wise, unlike the 360, which has battled its way up from obscurity.

What, its the economy's fault then? Then why has Samsung grown into an absolute hardware giant in the last five years? Why do people willingly spend up to 600$ on tablets and phones? PC's and Mac's are still selling like gangbusters as well, same goes for HDTV's and stereo. People are obviously not only willing to spend money on electronics, they're spending more than ever since the line-up is so diverse and costly in total.

No, the Wii U's problem is the essence of the product; its chasing two markets and missing both. This is not something to remedy with remakes, small price cuts, promises of exclusives in the future or even Mario Kart. The Wii U was built from the ground up with a major design flaw; the whole design itself. With the core being mainly stationed on the older HD consoles and PC and the casuals flocking to tablets/phones and social games, there is little left to maintain hardware sales.

You fail to recognise one thing. PS3 and X360 were next gen consoles. Nobody was denying it, they were cutting edge, everyone was hyped about them, crazy about their capabilities. They were something new, everything about them was shouting "next gen". Wii U? Is it really next gen? I don't feel so. At least so far not a single game has shown anything that would scream "next generation of gaming".

You tell me ports of big titles? Cool, but why should I care to buy a new console to play them, if there is no improvement over the version on console that I own? And that my friends already own? If they offered something new - better controls (like the Wii did) or graphics (like PS360 did) it would be a different story. Wii U is right now competing with PS360 and it fails to give us anything that's better than what these consoles offer. 3rd parties won't give Wii U anything better than they give to PS360, cause these markets are bigger and they don't want their main clients to feel like they are getting second quality goods for the same price, so all these ports are pretty much meaningless and don't make Wii Us launch a good one. A new console needs to show something new and the only way Wii U ever manages to surpass the quality of games on PS360 is by 1st party games that give us something new. Otherwise it will be at best equal to PS360 for now and significantly worse than PS4/Xbox8 in a year.

PS360 were a huge step forward when released. Wii was a revolution. Wii U? Not even half a step so far, they only managed to catch up with PS360. I'm not saying it's not capable of it, cause I think it is, but so far I haven't seen anything spectacular.

Your whole point is more or less exactly what I'm saying in the last paragraph. The Wii U as a product is flawed in the core design; it lacks the appeal and relevance to both markets (casual and core), no matter the games or price.

The problem is not bad games, its not a high price, its not the economy; its the console itself, its simply based on poor design decisions. The gamepad, for instance, is not intuitive like Wii-mote and seems dated and silly compared to modern tablets and smartphones and its certainly not something that most core gamers would want, and this controller is supposed to be the main appeal of the console.

Ok, but just look at my sig. I think Wii U will be a Gamecube 2. It won't struggle the way it does now once the 1st party games are out, no matter what the flaw is. It will become a console that gamers play 2-3 times a year, when a big Nintendo title hits the market. As for now I see no threat to this console's success. But success understood as generating profit, not winning the next generation. I see the final sales at 40-45 million consoles. More than GCN, since the Wii magic will help them move a few units. This is why it's in a better situation than the Vita. Wii U will survive and generate money for Nintendo once big 1st party games are out. Vita's future is unknown, though I hope the system pick up steam and stays ahead of the Wii U forever, as it has the full potential to do so.