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d21lewis on 27 September 2019
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SammyGiireal said:
Soonerman said:
You said in your article that poor hardware specs killed the Wii U but that also made the Wii a hit. If anything we have learned that games and price its what really gets a console going. But more importantly, the biggest mistake (IMO) that Nintendo did with Wii U was the name. It was just too confusing and potentially made it sound like it was just an updated overpriced Wii. The system needed a new name like previous Nintendo consoles to install it as a different new console.

Yes, The Wii was a hit with the casual, non habitual gamer masses. Many Hardcore's including myself did buy one (I did in 2011) in order to play the Mario Galaxy games and Skyward Sword. The Wii U came into a completely different environment with a different premise that didn't appeal to the casual masses, and being underpowered made it unappealing to the Hardcore's especially at the high price point (as you stated). In 2012 no one except the Nintendo faithful was going to jump into the Wii U when it didn't offer anything that couldn't be found on the 360/PS3 for much less and in many occasions in better form. 

Power made the 300-350 dollar investment a precarious one when the PS4 was $399.00. Power wasn't the only Wii U killer, but it had a part to play.

Even with no 8th gen competition the Wii U was selling pretty badly. I remember seeing Reggie on CNN around Christmas and the reporter saying that the console wasn't selling like the Wii. Reggie replied with something like "It's selling out everywhere. If you see one, you better snatch it up." You could tell he wasn't confident, though. The PS4 and Xbox One were just nails in the coffin.

The saddest part was after their launch when Reggie was trying to say the Wii U was the number selling console of the generation...leaving out the fact that the other consoles had just launched a few weeks before.