Wii U and Why a New Product Requires New Experiences

[teigaga]

RolStoppable said:

superchunk said:

But that is their way. So for them showing prettier new graphics is the way they can instantly demonstrate that its a new console with new experiences. Plus, its not just their graphical increase... but both of them have multiple new IPs coming along as well.

Nintendo only had ZombiU. A game that is not visually "next-gen" by major standards and who's gameplay is not easily transmitted through a commercial. Then if you do play it, you either love the style or hate it. Everything else existed in pretty much the same way, last gen.

I think Nintendo needs to do it with major changes to their IPs, through the gamepad, and/or massive graphical upgrade. It has to be quickly noticeable via a commercial that its new.

You've been here long enough to remember the 360's and PS3's first year struggles. Two consoles with graphical increase and multiple new IPs. It didn't work back then, it's not going to work now. It took the PS2 pipeline of games to dry up and price cuts to get things moving.

The Gamepad is new, it's just that it is lame and expensive. That's a dangerous combination. Nintendo could have easily succeeded in the eighth generation by making gaming affordable, but that's not the route they chose.

I'd say it did work. The PS3 didn't perform to its full potential but both system did fairly well.

Xbox 360: 8m- Pretty good year for the successor of a system which only sold 22m for its entire life. It only had 2 System sellers (Oblivion and Gears)
PS3: 9.5m- Pretty good for a $600 system which didn't launch in Europe til spring 2007 and had no killer apps year one. 

Year ones sales are slow, the masses aren't interested in a new $400-$500 system, they never have been.  Even a lot of hardcore gamers aren't. However Nintendo couldn't have simply taken the cheap route because they would still face the dilema of the fleeting casual audience and having to compete with the PS3/360 + arrival of PS4/ONE.