Don't compare WiiU and GameCube

[Mummelmann]

phenom08 said:

Mummelmann said:
What is this nonsense about "Nintendo knows this and that and have learned X and Y" always being thrown into every argument. They clearly haven't learned and have shown time and time again, the three past years being the closest for evidence, that they do not learn and aren't able to keep up at all times, they have reverted back to becoming followers instead of leaders in the market and shown very poor judgement in the development process, architecture, philosphy and launch of the Wii U and have very much set themselves up for their current predicament, it was long in the coming and all but obvious from the first time they showed the Wii U.

Their stress and rush, paired with the inability to see the importance of things such online features and gaming, ease of use in connectivity with other players, uniform formats, full support for 3rd party peripherals and something as given as advertising shows a company that is living in the past.
Going from the destructive force that was the peak of the DS/Wii combination and into this; Wii U barely moving and the 3DS combating against the approaching death of the dedicated handheld market (another thing that is/was painstakingly obvious to many without Nintendo goggles on) shows that they are far from infallible, they are not contemporary enough, out of touch with the technology applied in almost all gadgets, oblivious to cost efficency and getting hardware for their buck (SSD drive with no room and a super expensive tablet controller that is trumphed by all other tablets on the market?) and, most of all; damn stubborn and set in their ways.

Nintendo are too Japanese to succeed in the West in their current state, its as simple as that. They have made grave mistakes and shown poor judgement of the console market, they have underestimated their competition, riding too long on the ripples of the Wii's viral marketing and grown too fond of their own ways and exellence to see the need for renewal, keeping pace with the market as a whole and humility in any form.

OP: You need to wake up and smell the roses, which is the current state of the market and Nintendo at this stage. They are not in sync at all and the Wii U was a mistake from the first stroke of the designers pen and there is nothing that any amount of games, peripherals or pricing strategies can do about the core problem; the basic lack of appeal and the miscalculated and highly erroneous design and aim straight between two markets where neither is being reeled in and most likely never will be.

All your Nintendo related posts smack of a naive and surreal lack of insight in how things work as a whole, you sound like the dreaded Sony fan anno 2007, the nemesis of all Nintendo fans across the globe.

Its funny you are always commenting about Ninty and how the WiiU wont be successful but you never ever state which company will beat them. Why is that? Are you afraid of being wrong? So Mummelmann will PS4/720 sell better than WiiU this December if they have launched by then? Its their opening holiday, I dont see why not especially with the WiiU failing hard.

The PS4 and 720 won't have a stellar december at all, I think. What I think they'll have are sustained decent sales throughout the year due to a stronger core following, good 3rd party support, terrific online and connectivity (that I don't give a shit about, mind you, but a lot gamers do as server figures and streaming service numbers will show you) and an overall design philosophy that appeals more to the modern market. I'm not saying that they'll appeal to me much though, from what I've seen so far, the PS4 is focusing mainly on the things I don't care for in gaming and I see no reason to own one in the near future. What casual gamers do won't matter for the Wii U or or the others since they've moved away from home consoles and even handhelds and will remain where they are for now.

Will the Wii U be outsould by the PS4 and 720 in december (and november, depending on when they launch)? Yes, I think it will. News value alone would allow some decent sales for the newcomers, there appears to be a fairly good launch line-up ready and the pricing is bound to be less ridiculous than with the PS3 and 360. I could be wrong though, only time will tell for sure. Without the news value, I think it could be hard for the Wii U to sell as much during holidays 2013 as it did in 2012, unless there's a significant price cut and all the big guns arrive at once to elevate the weekly numbers through the entire season. If a 3D Mario, Mario Kart, Zelda and a price cut hit at once, it will be a daunting task for the PS4 and 720 to beat the Wii U, the trouble is that even if this scenario came true, the Wii U would still suffer slow sales (certainly slower than the competition) for almost the entirety of the new years and spring/summer of 2014 due to the console being designed the way it is, the Gamepad in particular.

The 8th gen will be shorter than the 7th gen and will move considerably less hardware and software, I think that both the PS4 and 720 will outsell the Wii U lifetime but not by a huge amount, overall I think that the market leader will end up with something along the lines of 36-37% marketshare and similar figures on software, 3rd party platform exclusives will basically disappear. Development cycles for hardware are going to go faster while sales will slow down for a multitude of reasons. I think the Wii U will end up selling somewhere around 40-45 million, if you must have a figure, part of the explanation lies in your quote from me in your sig (that I do hope you'll keep) and the main part lies in the simple fact that the Wii U is not a desireable product simply due to the nature of its design philosophy and backwards tech, teamed with poor 3rd party support, poor implementation of the features the Gamepad might offer (much like we saw with the Wii-mote, a truly unfulfilled potential if I ever saw it) and weaker connectivity, less features, less streamlined hardware and software solutions (storage, 3rd party peripherals, OS, e-shop, servers etc). The lack of faith and support from retailers is hurting it as well and will continue to do so, Nintendo's own shipment figures and fiscal results will speak volumes towards this.

Overall, I expect the 8th gen to suffer a historical first; recession in the home console market and the death of the dedicated handheld device.

I'm not afraid of being wrong, I''ve been wrong numerous times but always stayed on the site and always own up to it. Something tells me you don't have the mettle to do the same though, there have been plenty of users like you who simply vanished when things turned sour for them. For my part, the console wars are mostly out of interest for the numbers themselves, I don't feel invested at all in the three manufacturers or their offerings at this point since they all seem to be moving in a direction that would take them even further from what I want (Hollywood games, gimmicks, poor writing, mindless action, silly niche over-the top games, uninteresting online wankfests and childish renditions of once proud franchises and themes). I'll stick with my PC and likely be fine with just that for a long time.

The lack of appeal in the Wii U is not about hardware specs (like the OP seems to think I'm implying), its the sum of a silly controller, poor hardware solutions, lack of support for gadgets, peripherals and, of course, 3rd party titles likely being absent through most of its lifetime and the fact that it is aiming at two different markets without really providing any base designed incentive for either to purchase it. Games and pricing can and will boost weekly sales, but only short terms, the core design of the console and Gamepad will remain the same no matter what and this problem cannot be advertised away either.

Does this answer your questions?