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Forums - Nintendo - Am I the only one worried about the future of Wii U?

Mr Khan on 12 April 2012
Mummelmann said:


5: This is a tough one. It seems that Nintendo are hoping and thinking that they'll be able to go toe-to toe with the 720 and PS4 as far as 3rd parties are concerned and that this will magically lure the more dedicated gamers back to their platform. I don't think they can achieve this. What they need to do is focus more on aquiring talent in the form of 1st and 2nd party developers and also show some breadth and depth and produce 1st party fare outside of the standard Nintendo franchises which aren't about waggling about in poorly rendered sports, cooking, quizes, petting dogs or any other trivial activity.




Now, to your main, overarching, point; am I worried about the future of the Wii U?

Yes and no. I think it could be great but also think Nintendo need to focus on one direction and commit fully, they're branching off and trying to do something that could prove costly by trying to build a hybrid platform which will entice equal parts casuals and core gamers, the whole shebang could very well end up alienating both.

I honestly believe that it will do well, I do, but not exceptionally well. It won't move nearly as much software as the Wii, not even 1st party titles and it will end up selling a lot less than the Wii, perhaps a little over half in lifetime total. Furthermore; it will write history by becoming the first direct sequel to a market leader that didn't win it's generation.

History does not repeat itself, this generation should be living proof of that and the gaming market has become a fast-moving rollercoaster that you can't command but simply need to cling on to.

I think the move towards appeasing the core is more defensive than offensive. What you had this generation was a lot of multi-console ownership, and that was often by necessity for many households. If, in a household of 4, three demanded the types of games the Wii had to offer (expanded audience such and such) but one needed his/her Call of Duty fix (real CoD fix), or wanted GTA or whatnot, then they had to get a 360 or a PS3 to go along with that. What Nintendo's trying isn't to bull their way into Sony and Microsoft's core demographics and steal them out from under their noses, but rather to prevent a Wii U household from becoming a Wii U/Durango/Orbis household, as well as the more straightforward benefits of having a healthier and more well-rounded software environment on their platform (royalties and such)

Of course, such a strategy depends on snagging the mass-market appeal first, which, once again, is the critical question for Nintendo.



Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.

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se7en7thre3 on 12 April 2012

Absolutely nothing to worry about here, this will be Nintendo's "safest" console since the SNES. Its guaranteed to sell at least half of what the Wii did, so if WiiU can reach at least 50 mil it will be considered a great success.



chocoloco on 12 April 2012
Mr Khan said:
chocoloco said:

It is about exclusives for Nintendo as it always has been. Clearly though the gamecube and N64 proved exclusives do not win the generation. And so far the Wii U seems to not be doing the things the wii did to succeed which was to market to small time gamers or put something out there that non-gamers could easily pick up and do right away. This time they are not doing that other than the backwards compatibility. They are looking like they want to compete with Sony in MS again on their playing field withs more advanced tech and I say they will lose this time. It does not matter to me if the do well. I just do not think they will gain enough third parties and stay relevant after the MS and Sony comes out with new consoles. why? Because I assume Sony and MS will keep the PS3 and 360 on the market for a long time and the Wii U will be competing with those consoles that already have vast libraries. The Wii U will sell mostly to the people that love their first parties, but I do not think it will be enough to pull in the gamers that have grown used to the many things that are superior for Sony and MS. Mostly talking about online capabilities here, but obviously there are many other areas they do much better than Ninty.

I could care less about portables and of course the 3DS has more games, it is called a won year launch advantage.

1. Sony and Microsoft are only going as far as holiday 2013 before bringing their successors out. This is becoming more and more clear as time proceeds

2. Exclusives do win generations, and always have, but you need the right exclusives. The relationship between 3D Mario and 2D Mario, as well as some of the other missteps Nintendo took with their own games in the N64 and GC era shows simply that Nintendo lost their way, not that the rules of the game changed. The Wii U will stand or fall by presence or absence of Wii and NES-type titles.

3. Third parties need the Wii U just as much as Wii U needs third parties. Skyrocketing develoment costs mean they need somewhere to put their games. Whether they put them there well or shortchange the machine as they did with the GameCube is what remains to be seen. However, with the likelihood of third party parity increasing, then we have a playing field where the only competition is in exclusives, one in which (see point 2) Nintendo can utterly dominate if it so chooses.

A) I am clear that this seems probable they will come in 2013 and only furthers my point. The Wii U will be competing more closely with the 360 and PS3 than the PS4 nextbox because I see the Wii U being more like those consoles graphically. Once the PS4 and nextbox are out I presume they will be far superior in power to the Wii U as history has left me with no reason to think otherwise. At that point, I think the graphics whores and sony and MS fans will be ready to move on. The Wii U will be stuck competing with 4 consoles, PS3, 360, PS4, 720 and will not be that different to come anywhere close to dominating like they did early on this gen.

B) This is not the same rules. Times change. People are looking for devices that do many things. The Wii does the least of all the consoles during the current time period and was doing well before the big hitters you mention like 3D Mario and 2D Mario, not to mention Mario Kart came out. The Wii's initial seller was it's motion controls which were fairly unique and as I said easier to pick up. The early sales of the wii were driven by this freshness and uniqueness and not a strong 1st party lineup othee than wii sports. What I am saying is many things sold the wii, but early on it was not it's exclusives alone it was the controls. How can exclusives sell a product more than a minor amount if they have not come out or been announced?

C)Third parties will only need the Wii U if it sells very  well and quickly. If this does not happen it will probably be abandoned. This once again will be made worse after the PS4 and nextbox arrive and many graphics whore eager developers are ready to spend more of their capital on the MS, Sony combo.

Nintendo can only win by being fres. And the tablet is nothing new and not fresh. Just look at what the Vita PS3 can do. The wii U is a redundancy in the industry until the Nextbox and PS4 arrive.



davidd_err18 on 12 April 2012
chocoloco said:
Mr Khan said:
chocoloco said:
 

It is about exclusives for Nintendo as it always has been. Clearly though the gamecube and N64 proved exclusives do not win the generation. And so far the Wii U seems to not be doing the things the wii did to succeed which was to market to small time gamers or put something out there that non-gamers could easily pick up and do right away. This time they are not doing that other than the backwards compatibility. They are looking like they want to compete with Sony in MS again on their playing field withs more advanced tech and I say they will lose this time. It does not matter to me if the do well. I just do not think they will gain enough third parties and stay relevant after the MS and Sony comes out with new consoles. why? Because I assume Sony and MS will keep the PS3 and 360 on the market for a long time and the Wii U will be competing with those consoles that already have vast libraries. The Wii U will sell mostly to the people that love their first parties, but I do not think it will be enough to pull in the gamers that have grown used to the many things that are superior for Sony and MS. Mostly talking about online capabilities here, but obviously there are many other areas they do much better than Ninty.

I could care less about portables and of course the 3DS has more games, it is called a won year launch advantage.

1. Sony and Microsoft are only going as far as holiday 2013 before bringing their successors out. This is becoming more and more clear as time proceeds

2. Exclusives do win generations, and always have, but you need the right exclusives. The relationship between 3D Mario and 2D Mario, as well as some of the other missteps Nintendo took with their own games in the N64 and GC era shows simply that Nintendo lost their way, not that the rules of the game changed. The Wii U will stand or fall by presence or absence of Wii and NES-type titles.

3. Third parties need the Wii U just as much as Wii U needs third parties. Skyrocketing develoment costs mean they need somewhere to put their games. Whether they put them there well or shortchange the machine as they did with the GameCube is what remains to be seen. However, with the likelihood of third party parity increasing, then we have a playing field where the only competition is in exclusives, one in which (see point 2) Nintendo can utterly dominate if it so chooses.

A) I am clear that this seems probable they will come in 2013 and only furthers my point. The Wii U will be competing more closely with the 360 and PS3 than the PS4 nextbox because I see the Wii U being more like those consoles graphically. Once the PS4 and nextbox are out I presume they will be far superior in power to the Wii U as history has left me with no reason to think otherwise. At that point, I think the graphics whores and sony and MS fans will be ready to move on. The Wii U will be stuck competing with 4 consoles, PS3, 360, PS4, 720 and will not be that different to come anywhere close to dominating like they did early on this gen.

B) This is not the same rules. Times change. People are looking for devices that do many things. The Wii does the least of all the consoles during the current time period and was doing well before the big hitters you mention like 3D Mario and 2D Mario, not to mention Mario Kart came out. The Wii's initial seller was it's motion controls which were fairly unique and as I said easier to pick up. The early sales of the wii were driven by this freshness and uniqueness and not a strong 1st party lineup othee than wii sports. What I am saying is many things sold the wii, but early on it was not it's exclusives alone it was the controls. How can exclusives sell a product more than a minor amount if they have not come out or been announced?

C)Third parties will only need the Wii U if it sells very  well and quickly. If this does not happen it will probably be abandoned. This once again will be made worse after the PS4 and nextbox arrive and many graphics whore eager developers are ready to spend more of their capital on the MS, Sony combo.

Nintendo can only win by being fres. And the tablet is nothing new and not fresh. Just look at what the Vita PS3 can do. The wii U is a redundancy in the industry until the Nextbox and PS4 arrive.


I completly aggre with you chocoloco, Wii U is in a strange situation between ps3/360 and ps4/720 graphics, it will probably be the Dreamcast of the next generation. Of course, the games are what matter the most, and I am sure 1st party offerings are going to be fantastic, but I want major 3rd party games as well. A lot of 3rd parties only support a platform that can produce certain kind of graphics, and if PS4/720/PC will be the norm of next gen, they are just not going to try making Wii U games, besides a lot of them (looking at you Kojima productions and Epic!) just invent excuses to not support the Wii U.



Oromashu on 12 April 2012

I wouldn't be worried. Wii U will do fine. It has a strong base and good games, what is there to worry about? Your points are good and all, but still, you seem to be ignoring the elephant in the room, that is the PS4 and Xbox 720. We clearly get that those two machines will be powerhouses, but at present, developing for them could potentially be twice that of current gen. You could even see games being stocked at 100 dollars or more. Wii U seems like a safe machine that developers are going to want to get behind, if not for the reduced price with HD graphics. It's online infrastructure is going to be quite good, if what Nintendo says is true.

So no, I'm not worried. What I am worried about most is the PS4 and Xbox 720. Those two have the potential to make the 9th generation a one console market. As far as sales go, Wii U will more than likely win next gen. Mostly because it offers a different experience than the HD twins, why get the same old controller when you can get a tablet controller? It coincides with the tablet fad as well. Nintendo is releasing this at a good a time as any at least.

In terms of hardcore, I really don't see Nintendo chasing them as hard as PS4 and Xbox are. If Nintendo was, it would have a crazy tech in the hood to please that crowd. I think it's just Nintendo doing a little of both, which is fine for now. The Wii has a good fan base which will readily transition to the Wii U if Nintendo proves them with a unique, casual experience, as well as some niche hardcore games under the hood. Nintendo doesn't need to be a graphic whore, chase the hardcore, or any of that to win. They'll win because of their uniqueness and the fact that PS4/Xbox are looking to make gaming a luxury.

At any rate, time will tell. Next gen I'll only be picking a Wii U. First Party HD + Third Party support is enough of a sale for me.



Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward = best game ever made.

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Deoz on 12 April 2012
chocoloco said:
Mr Khan said:
chocoloco said:
 

It is about exclusives for Nintendo as it always has been. Clearly though the gamecube and N64 proved exclusives do not win the generation. And so far the Wii U seems to not be doing the things the wii did to succeed which was to market to small time gamers or put something out there that non-gamers could easily pick up and do right away. This time they are not doing that other than the backwards compatibility. They are looking like they want to compete with Sony in MS again on their playing field withs more advanced tech and I say they will lose this time. It does not matter to me if the do well. I just do not think they will gain enough third parties and stay relevant after the MS and Sony comes out with new consoles. why? Because I assume Sony and MS will keep the PS3 and 360 on the market for a long time and the Wii U will be competing with those consoles that already have vast libraries. The Wii U will sell mostly to the people that love their first parties, but I do not think it will be enough to pull in the gamers that have grown used to the many things that are superior for Sony and MS. Mostly talking about online capabilities here, but obviously there are many other areas they do much better than Ninty.

I could care less about portables and of course the 3DS has more games, it is called a won year launch advantage.

1. Sony and Microsoft are only going as far as holiday 2013 before bringing their successors out. This is becoming more and more clear as time proceeds

2. Exclusives do win generations, and always have, but you need the right exclusives. The relationship between 3D Mario and 2D Mario, as well as some of the other missteps Nintendo took with their own games in the N64 and GC era shows simply that Nintendo lost their way, not that the rules of the game changed. The Wii U will stand or fall by presence or absence of Wii and NES-type titles.

3. Third parties need the Wii U just as much as Wii U needs third parties. Skyrocketing develoment costs mean they need somewhere to put their games. Whether they put them there well or shortchange the machine as they did with the GameCube is what remains to be seen. However, with the likelihood of third party parity increasing, then we have a playing field where the only competition is in exclusives, one in which (see point 2) Nintendo can utterly dominate if it so chooses.

A) I am clear that this seems probable they will come in 2013 and only furthers my point. The Wii U will be competing more closely with the 360 and PS3 than the PS4 nextbox because I see the Wii U being more like those consoles graphically. Once the PS4 and nextbox are out I presume they will be far superior in power to the Wii U as history has left me with no reason to think otherwise. At that point, I think the graphics whores and sony and MS fans will be ready to move on. The Wii U will be stuck competing with 4 consoles, PS3, 360, PS4, 720 and will not be that different to come anywhere close to dominating like they did early on this gen.

B) This is not the same rules. Times change. People are looking for devices that do many things. The Wii does the least of all the consoles during the current time period and was doing well before the big hitters you mention like 3D Mario and 2D Mario, not to mention Mario Kart came out. The Wii's initial seller was it's motion controls which were fairly unique and as I said easier to pick up. The early sales of the wii were driven by this freshness and uniqueness and not a strong 1st party lineup othee than wii sports. What I am saying is many things sold the wii, but early on it was not it's exclusives alone it was the controls. How can exclusives sell a product more than a minor amount if they have not come out or been announced?

C)Third parties will only need the Wii U if it sells very  well and quickly. If this does not happen it will probably be abandoned. This once again will be made worse after the PS4 and nextbox arrive and many graphics whore eager developers are ready to spend more of their capital on the MS, Sony combo.

Nintendo can only win by being fres. And the tablet is nothing new and not fresh. Just look at what the Vita PS3 can do. The wii U is a redundancy in the industry until the Nextbox and PS4 arrive.

1) As time and rumors fly i doubt both orbis/durango will leap over wiiU by a big margin. I see the 3 consoles struggling against their predeccessors if thats the case. I still see MS being the graphics leader next gen, but the margin wont be that great. Of course this is implying both competitors wont realese "behemoths" like this gen.

2)Games like MK7, 3dland have showed to be popular even without the hype or fad of a gimmick.  I think its a matter of mixing both the gimmicks, price and the software. If they can show some really interesting casual software by showing off their "gimmicks" casuals will come.

3)Another chance to expand the audience of their games will be welcome by devs, with dev costs as how they are WiiU is a nice option to gain a little more without to much effort (ports) i dont xpect exclusives but i dont think they will let it go.

Also if the price is right, it will render the PS3/PS4 + Vita combo usless. Also this last needs Sony to actually implement it heavely and not just announcing it can.



mushroomboy5 on 12 April 2012
theARTIST0017 said:
radishhead said:
I honestly think the WiiU is going to go down the same way as the Gamecube - they're not going to get this "hardcore" audience, no matter how hard they try, and Microsoft own the casuals now. The 3DS will remain very popular, but I don't see the WiiU passing 30 million units


Just for your information you can't "own" the casuals, moreless an audience. The casuals flock to whatever is popular. And the Wii U has the backing of the once popular Wii audience which is very large.

uncertain if the bolded statement is even true...I work with plenty of middle aged housewives who still talk about their wii's quite a lot. Haven't heard a single mention of xbox from 'em. I don't think there's any reason to assume there isn't a casual market out there waiting to lap up the wii u



Mr Khan on 12 April 2012
chocoloco said:
Mr Khan said:

1. Sony and Microsoft are only going as far as holiday 2013 before bringing their successors out. This is becoming more and more clear as time proceeds

2. Exclusives do win generations, and always have, but you need the right exclusives. The relationship between 3D Mario and 2D Mario, as well as some of the other missteps Nintendo took with their own games in the N64 and GC era shows simply that Nintendo lost their way, not that the rules of the game changed. The Wii U will stand or fall by presence or absence of Wii and NES-type titles.

3. Third parties need the Wii U just as much as Wii U needs third parties. Skyrocketing develoment costs mean they need somewhere to put their games. Whether they put them there well or shortchange the machine as they did with the GameCube is what remains to be seen. However, with the likelihood of third party parity increasing, then we have a playing field where the only competition is in exclusives, one in which (see point 2) Nintendo can utterly dominate if it so chooses.

A) I am clear that this seems probable they will come in 2013 and only furthers my point. The Wii U will be competing more closely with the 360 and PS3 than the PS4 nextbox because I see the Wii U being more like those consoles graphically. Once the PS4 and nextbox are out I presume they will be far superior in power to the Wii U as history has left me with no reason to think otherwise. At that point, I think the graphics whores and sony and MS fans will be ready to move on. The Wii U will be stuck competing with 4 consoles, PS3, 360, PS4, 720 and will not be that different to come anywhere close to dominating like they did early on this gen.

B) This is not the same rules. Times change. People are looking for devices that do many things. The Wii does the least of all the consoles during the current time period and was doing well before the big hitters you mention like 3D Mario and 2D Mario, not to mention Mario Kart came out. The Wii's initial seller was it's motion controls which were fairly unique and as I said easier to pick up. The early sales of the wii were driven by this freshness and uniqueness and not a strong 1st party lineup othee than wii sports. What I am saying is many things sold the wii, but early on it was not it's exclusives alone it was the controls. How can exclusives sell a product more than a minor amount if they have not come out or been announced?

C)Third parties will only need the Wii U if it sells very  well and quickly. If this does not happen it will probably be abandoned. This once again will be made worse after the PS4 and nextbox arrive and many graphics whore eager developers are ready to spend more of their capital on the MS, Sony combo.

Nintendo can only win by being fres. And the tablet is nothing new and not fresh. Just look at what the Vita PS3 can do. The wii U is a redundancy in the industry until the Nextbox and PS4 arrive.

Why does a 1-year-gap further your point? There was a one-year gap between 360 and PS3, or between PS2 and Xbox/GameCube. If anything history suggests a 1-year gap is a good thing so long as you are able to support your platform (remember folks, Dreamcast was an anomaly. It was still doing well for itself when Sega pulled the plug because Sega was messed up as a company as a whole. Dreamcast would have outsold the GameCube and the Xbox if Sega had kept it going at least until 2004, because hell, with 2 years on the market, Dreamcast sold 50% of what the GC did in 5, and GC was only 2 million behind Xbox at the end of the day)

The Wii's initial seller was Wii Sports. Enabled by motion controls, sure, but we need to keep this fact foremost. Features NEVER significantly sell consoles. Games do. If the features enable console-sellers, good for them, but the games are at the root of all things.

The third party thing i'll grant can go either way, but only if we acknowledge the massive irrational conspiracy that exists against Nintendo platforms. If the publishers got their heads out of their asses, however, they know that porting costs are negligible (in terms of making a profit simply on the port, and adding revenue for the costs of the game as a whole), that the Wii U is deliberately easy to port to, and that (in all likelihood) Durango/Orbis are not going to be so insanely far ahead as to bring Wii U out of their league. If Durango/Orbis are that far ahead, even then third parties may still look to as many platforms as possible, because those games will be hella expensive to make.

And are we really suggesting that Vita/PS3 combo will have any impact on the Wii U? I don't even know how to begin deconstructing how wrong that is. It requires a 3,000-word answer or none.



Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.

Conegamer on 12 April 2012

You've made some good points, but how can you be worried about the future if you don't even know what it is for its launch yet?

We know far too little about the WiiU yet. I'm not worried. I may be, if it looks a bit flat at launch. But for now, we know far too little.



 

Here lies the dearly departed Nintendomination Thread.

Goodlife on 12 April 2012

Can we do positives instead?

1) Nintendo games (which sold huge amounts the gen) will be in HD. That will be glorious and will mean all Nintendo fans will get the system. Also, those who bought a Wii just for NSMBW/MKW may well be persuaded to get a Wii U because of the fun they had on those games.

2) The tablet. Why people aren't excited about the possibilities of this is beyond me. Touch screen is everywhere now, tablets and smart phones are taking over the world, you have all these reports about mobile games being huge. Well Nintendo just got themselves into that market. Angry birds, draw something etc etc, all there, in your living room. Facebook, twitter, google+, all properly integrated in a way consoles haven't been before.
And that's before we get into what possibilities the tablet offers to more "traditional" games.

3) For a year, the Wii U is going to have the best looking games. They will have the definitive versions of multi platforms (GTA etc etc) A year is a long time and will easily persuade some of the Dubebros to get it.