HD Wii?

[Mr Puggsly]

JWeinCom said:

The Wiimote again wasn't a good idea, because it wouldn't really generate much buzz.  I really like the Wii-mote, but it was indeed a gimmick.  A fun gimmick that I very much enjoyed, but still a gimmick nonetheless.

I don't think the tablet was a bad idea in and of itself.  The idea, I believe, was to create a system that both casuals and core gamers could play, with the more experienced gamer using the Gamepad, and the less experienced gamer using the Wiimote.  And this works wonderfully in the multiplayer games of Nintendo Land.  They just never marketed it right, and never expanded upon that idea. 

I knew the Wii U was dead as soon as the second E3 hit.  I was really excited to see how Nintendo would start using the Gamepad in cool ways.  Instead... we had Mario 3D World.  Great game, didn't use the Gamepad except in a few minor levels.  Tropical Freeze, where you could actually turn off the Gamepad.  Pikmin 3, Bayonetta, Wonderful 101, Xenoblade, Wind Waker, Mario Kart 8... and while I really enjoyed all of these games, I couldn't help but think I'd rather play them with better graphics and no gamepad.  And again, none of these really casual games. 

The Wii U selling poorly wasn't the result of any bubble.  It was a result of the Wii U being a crappy system with next to no games to justify its main selling point.  The only way you could really say it was a bubble is if they tried to release another similar system and it failed, and that just didn't happen.  Nintendo basically stopped their casual experiment cold turkey.  Would another Wii like system have sold well, or was it a bubble?  We can't say for sure, because Nintendo didn't realease another casual system.

The Wiimote wasn't JUST a gimmick, it was a viable and unique way to play games. Many games also worked fine with a Wiimote and nunchuck. Certainly more intuitive than to the casual gamer than full gamepad with a touchscreen on it.

What buzz did the Wiimote create? None really, an improved Wiimote would have probably created more buzz. On day one it was pretty obvious to me Nintendo doesn't have many unique ideas on how to use this control.

The thing is Wii U isn't a crappy system... they just did some crappy things with it. I feel Wii's success was a bubble and the great casual success wasn't gonna happen again. Wii U feels like a casual system that tried to get a core following. If they simply made the tablet control an accessory and kept pushing the Wiimote, I guarantee Wii U would have been more successful.