Vinniegambini said:
Soundwave said:
Vinniegambini said:
Soundwave said:
I honestly don't think the library is as big of an issue as the hardware concept itself.
This is the game machine no one asked for. It doesn't have a hook as strong as the Wiimote which created a ton of excitement with casuals and interested even core gamers enough to want one (even if it was as a secondary/"pull it out when the grandparents are over" type thing).
It doesn't represent enough of a hardware leap beyond the PS3/360 to excite core players who want a real upgrade after 6-7 years of that generation cycle.
The console is flawed from its conceptual stages period.
They can throw all the Mario Kart, Mario 3D, Metroid, Zelda, DKC, etc. they want at the console IMO. It won't change things much, without the casual bubble to carry them this is just going to end up like a glorified GameCube. This is just like the GameCube when Nintendo fans kept saying "wait for Mario, Zelda, and Mario Kart!". They even had Resident Evil. Still didn't work. People didn't want a purple lunchbox console that didn't play DVDs and didn't have GTA or a proper successor to GoldenEye/Perfect Dark.
Barring some kind of new miracle, breakout franchise that brings in a new audience, but Nintendo seems very reluctant to spend any real development + marketing dollars on a franchise that isn't tied to their existing IP. |
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- The Wii didn't need to play DVDs because it had a monstrous hook in the controller broke all barriers for gaming, had novelty appeal off the charts, and was the hot thing to have for 3-4 years. The SNES didn't need it because it was the defacto game platform of its time, it had all the third party support and the strongest first party games.
- Nintendo did cash in on the nostalgia of Mario 2D, but it's fading now. When the NSMB series started, a lot of people hadn't played a 2D Mario since Super Mario World in 1990/91. That was 15+ years ago for a lot of people. But now that everyone has played NSMB on the DS or Wii just a few years ago, it no longer as much of a "big deal". The first new Star Wars movie in 20+ years is a huge deal. The next Star Wars movie just two years later ... not so much. People like Mario, but Nintendo's misused the brand by oversaturing Mario into too many games recently, as such a new Mario really isn't the same big deal. They've also shot themselves in the foot by recylcing a lot of the art style and music tracks from the various NSMB games.
- Consumer electronics are changing, I don't think people want a "toy console" anymore. Even kids don't want that. By the time they get to 10 or 11 years old they want what their old siblings/adults are into. The "toy/family console" is an outdated concept from the 1980s, people want products with Apple-like sophistication and styling, not something that looks like Fisher Price made it. The Wii broke rules because again it had a revolutionary new concept/controller and did borrow some design cues from Apple in its glossy white minimalistic chic. But really IMO all that did was buy Nintendo an extra 5-6 years of time. Now that the Wii casual bubble has popped, Nintendo is back in the same position they were with the GameCube. Wii U controller looks like a trainwreck of ideas mismashed together however, it's far too bulky.
- Animal Crossing IMO is primarily a handheld game now, and it's better suited for that anyway (10-15 minute short bursts of play). AC on the Wii did not sell that great. Mario Kart is bigger, I'll give you that one, but this is a franchise that's now 20 years old and on its 8th iteration coming up ... dare I say franchise fatigue looks to have set in with the 3DS version already.
- Wii U will be like a modern equivalent to the GameCube, though it's already trending a lot like the GameCube. Nintendo has forecast 4 million Wii Us through its first March, the GameCube shipped 3.8 million through its first March ... pretty darn close. I agree it will probably sell more than the GCN just because the market as a whole has expanded, but like the GCN, I think it will be third place because like the GCN it's fundamentally not an appealling hardware concept.
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- ''People didn't want a purple lunchbox console that didn't play DVDs'' - Like mentioned previously, both the Wii and SNES did not play DVD's nor cassette's during their respected periods and both had a foothold and sold nonetheless. Thus, your point of people not buying a console because it does not have a DVD player does not stand.
- ''a new Mario really isn't the same big deal'' - Both NSMB2 and NSMBU sold 5.9 and 2 million respectively, the 3DS version in less than 6 months, and NSMBU in less than 2 months. I hardly call that not a big deal. These are ever green titles, they have long legs as oppose to modern games such as Mass Effect who need to cut the price on their software early in order to achieve their targets, maitain revenue and meet their goals. Though I agree it was a mistake on Nintendo's end to release both titles so closely.
- You are generalizing too much.
- Mario Kart 7 with 7.7 million in less than 2 years and counting. No franchise fatigue reported as of yet.
- In 1 year, Xbox 360 sold less than 6 million. Today, the cummulative total is over 70 million - One cannot assume or predict how the market will react.
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To your first point I stand by it. The reason I used the GameCube as an example of a hardware philosophy that consumer's did not agree with.
Nintendo told consumers to accept a more kid-like console with no DVD playback. Circa 2002 .... that's not what the market wanted, so they rejected it. Didn't matter that it had Mario, Zelda, Resident Evil, Tales, Mario Kart, Rogue Squadron, F-Zero GX, etc. (some really great games actually).
I'm using that as an example of a hardware philosophy that is out of touch for the time period that it's released in. I believe the Wii U has a similar problem -- this is not the console people in 2013 want and without soccer moms going crazy over it again, Nintendo will be in a tough spot.
As times change what people want from a console becomes different. Right now people are tired of the PS3/360 generation, they've had those systems for 6+ years, if you're going to ask them buy another system, it had better be a large step beyond what's on the market now, either that or Nintendo needed to have a controller that blew people's minds. They don't have either, and that's the problem.
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