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JGarret on 21 March 2013
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Screamapillar said:
Soundwave said:
Screamapillar said:
Soundwave said:
curl-6 said:
BatMaxExposedWorld said:

If you want to sell the whole "last gen tech" (more or less) then yes, you need to have a killer hook of a controller. 

And that doesn't just go for Nintendo, If the Playstation 2 was a moderately more powerful Playstation 1 with an Eyetoy in the box, the GameCube and XBox would've wiped the floor with Sony, because who the hell wants to pay another $200+ to play PS1-esque games with some watered down hook? 

If you are going to lower tech route, then your interface appeal has to be through the roof. That's Nintendo's own fault for putting themselves in that position, if you're not going to give people the rush of a large hardware upgrade, then you have to bring something else that's special to the table. It's Nintendo's job to IMPRESS the consumer, Nintendo fans sometimes make it sound like it should be the opposite, that the consumers need to work on understanding Nintendo, lol. 

That is not how home entertainment works, people have a lot of choices for their entertainment dollar today and have no time for a company that doesn't know what its doing.

I understand your point... basically that because Nintendo no longer participates in the tech-race with graphics that the only selling point their consoles have is through the interface.  I think that's mabye 30-40% true.  Not false, just not the whole truth.  You have to take into account that they have by far the largest number of recognizeable and popular franchises of any modern entertainment company.  In other words, the value of their brands is pretty much unequaled by anybody. 

Since the Wii/DS generation, they've also made enormous gains in spreading their brand awareness.  A lot more people from outside the realm of videogames are aware of what Nintendo is and what they do nowadays.  Thanks to the broad success of their previous two hardware systems, they have a much larger addressable market going into the Wii U/ 3DS generation than they had from the GCN/GBA era before the original Wii and DS.  It's not as if their addressable market has gone back down to what it was during the GameCube era.  Nintendo is by no means a niche company any longer.  Even though Wii U sales are slow, it is not because the Wii U as a device isn't appealing, it's because there's no reason to pick one up owing to the fact that Nintendo announced the delay of significant software releases in January.  Potential buyers are merely biding their time.

I hope you´re right about that, but I wouldn´t rule out that possibility just yet.It´s possible the Gamepad with its asymetric gameplay, the design philosophy behind the Wii U, won´t resonate with the market, but that´s something we´ll only be able to find out once the other problems are taken care of (price/marketing/games).

If, even after a price cut/better marketing/Mario Kart/WiiFit U/WiiSports U/games games and more games/...the system still appears to be heading for a Gamecube/N64 like performance, one could conclude the device itself isn´t appealing.