| green_sky said:
You ignored all other factors why the system might not be selling but okay. By the way have you checked this thread by Roland. (http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=173219&page=-1#1) |
I ignored nothing. I'm not asserting that NSMB U is a bad game. I'm asserting that it's not moving hardware in the way that NSMB Wii did, and the reason for that is that people who wanted that sort of game could have bought NSMB Wii with a Wii for a lot less money.
I take great issue with people who go "clearly the problem is with the Wii U hardware" - there's nothing wrong with the Wii U hardware. It functions exactly as you would expect, and is to the 8th generation what the Wii was to the 7th generation - lowest in power by a noticeable amount, but makes up for it with new ideas that weren't present in the previous generation, while its competitors continue with bumping the poly count and shader effects and don't do much else to change things up (unless you count anti-consumer actions like ramping up microtransactions, blocking used gaming, etc).
The Wii U has its problems, but Wii U sales aren't because of the hardware. With the right game, the system will sell hugely well. Wii was sold out for 2 years primarily because of one game - Wii Sports. It wasn't just a system-seller, it was a system-definer. Wii U has not had such a title, yet. I don't doubt that NSMB U will end up selling a huge number of copies in the long run... but people are not going out to gaming stores to buy Wii U in order to play that game. They went out and bought Wii for NSMB Wii, just as they went out and bought Wii for Wii Sports.
NSMB U is a great game. But if you want four player NSMB gameplay, you can get that for a lot less with a Wii. It won't sell the Wii U. 3D World will do better, although I expect it to primarily work during Christmas itself, rather than at launch, because there hasn't been a Mario title like it before (of course, it's still 3D Mario, so it won't do as well as NSMB Wii did). And the "NSMB U was at launch, and has a high attach rate" is completely irrelevant. Like I said, NSMB Wii made people go out and buy a Wii for THAT ONE GAME ALONE. NSMB U isn't able to do that. Which is no slight on the game itself. Few went out to buy a Wii for Mario Galaxy, and it sold well over 10 million copies, and was one of the greatest games of all time.
And to bring that back to the issue of Zelda... the exact same thing would apply with regards to a new Zelda, if it were too much like an old Zelda. It needs to be fresh and different in order to really be the sort of system-seller Nintendo needs it to be... and to be remembered fondly 5 years after release. Compare attitudes towards Wind Waker, Majora's Mask, and Twilight Princess. The most Ocarina-like of these was Twilight Princess... and while quite popular initially, it wore off quickly, and most people place it below WW, MM, OoT, and often Skyward Sword, too. Majora's Mask, which broke a lot of the traditions of Zelda, and threw all sorts of new things into the mix, is now called for as the game for Nintendo to remake - and when people talk about the style they'd like it in, they all point to Wind Waker's graphics - which were initially lambasted.
Twilight Princess sold so well because it was the Wii's premier launch "core" game. This gave it the sort of momentum it needed to get it into lots of homes. Zelda U won't have that benefit, as it will release likely 3 years after system launch (I'm expecting November 2015). It needs to be a fresh game, with its own feel and nuances. Note that I don't mention gimmicks - that's because I'm not saying it needs a new gimmick. It needs to feel like its own game, and not a paint-by-numbers imitation. If reviewers would start with "It's like a new Ocarina of Time quest, but in HD", then it has failed.
