By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Soundwave on 23 September 2013
Edit Thread
DevilRising said:
Arius Dion said:
The Wii U isn't resonating with the market at all. That is fact, sales numbers are as close to facts as we can get right now. The reasons are numerous, variables that are controllable and not, but the one thing that is funny to see is the consumers being blamed for not buying a 'luxury' product, or not seeing the value in it. I've found that hardcore Nintendo fans are no different than any other hardcore fan; If you don't like something a company does or how its operating, you are just a hater and not a true fan.

After nearly a year, the Gamepad is still being spoken of as if it is full of 'potential' but there is no concrete game that resonates with the market to illustrate this potential. All games upcoming play better with the Remote Nunchuck combo, or Pro Controller. WSC requires M+. The Gamepad is an albatross, the sooner this is seen, the better off Nintendo will be. This whole system has been a clusterfuck of bad decision making, at the worst possible time as the economy is really struggling.

Amazing how much praise Gamecube receives on forums, meanwhile it was a huge market failure. The problem here isn't gamers like Richard, the problem lies with Nintendo. They've managed to create a system that repulses the majority of gamers to appease a loud minority. So be it, they will enjoy lackluster sales, and become a joke in the market they saved..just like the Gamecube days.

 

 

You really have to love how everything you just said 100% completely ignores the fact that the top reason Wii U has sold so poorly this year is LACK OF SOFTWARE. It's not rocket science. People don't feel like buying a new console that "has no games". Now that it is going to "have games", and now that the price drop exists making it $100 cheaper than the PS4 (WITH a pack in game), and with Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros. and Zelda U looming on the horizon next year, there's pretty much zero chance the Wii U's sales aren't going to drastically improve. Couple that with what they're doing with Wii Fit U and the downloadable Wii Sports gamings coming out in the next couple months, and I think it's not a far stretch to think the Wii U will have sold at least 6 million units by year's end. 5 mil. minimum.

"The internet" likes the Gamecube, as you say, because it had some great games, which it did. It sold poorly because it had the opposite problem of the N64. N64 had great exclusives, but very few multi-console ports. GC had plenty of good ports, but outside of a few third party games, very few exclusives not made by Nintendo. PS2 sold so because of two things: the fact that it was a cheaper DVD player than most on the market at the time, and the fact that GTA III was PS2 exclusive for at least a year or more. If GC had magically (in a Bizzaro universe) gotten GTA III exclusive instead, you can bet your ass the system would have sold much better.

But regardless of all that nonsense, the Wii U, in this day and age, has almost no chance of selling less or even on par with the GC. It will, in fact, very likely outsell the N64 as well. I would say that 50 million lifetime, at least, is guaranteed, just on the fact that brands like Mario Kart, Zelda, and Smash Bros. are more popular now than they were in 2001. So whatever your ultimate point was, I'm sorry, but you're a bit off base.

2D Mario is a far bigger brand than Zelda and Smash Bros. (NSMB Wii outsold both Wii Zelda games and Smash Bros. Brawl combined) ... so why isn't that at least pushing Wii U sales to even GameCube levels? Shouldn't it be enjoying that post-Wii surge in popularity that you're banking on applying to other franchises? Perhaps the Wii formula really was driven more by the popularity of Wii Sports/"get off the couch" gaming. 

The other thing I think that's happening with Mario is, NSMB and Mario Kart Wii on the Wii came out at the perfect time. A lot of people were hungry to revisit Mario because a lot of people hadn't played a Mario platformer or Mario Kart game since the NES or SNES days. Many folkes skipped the N64/GCN in favor of a Playstation or quit gaming altogether. 

So playing Mario for the first time again in 15-20 years was special. They got the Wii for Wii Sports, which brought them "home" (to a simpler time of gaming). And Mario ... Mario was like going home and seeing that old restaurant you spent hours at growing up. You just have to stop in and get a slice of pizza and an ice cream milkshake (best in town) just like you used to back in the day. 

It was nice nostalgia trip for a lot of people. But the appeal of that passes, NSMB Wii/DS was special ... NSMBU feels more like "didn't I just play this game a couple of years ago?". It's not generating the same feeling. If you go back to that childhood restaurant every day you might realize why your taste buds moved on from greasy pizza and milkshakes. 

The Wii/DS era was just the perfect storm of factors all coming together in Nintendo's favor for 3-4 years. You can't just throw out more Marios, in fact that strategy is probably the exact opposite of what Nintendo should be doing. They're saturating the market with Mario games because they're confused as to why people haven't accepted the Wii U (or even 3DS) to the level they were expecting, and in doing so they're taking away the prestige of Mario.