Soundwave said:



zippy said:
Well the last couple of weeks has seen Wii U close in on weekly 360 sales, and this is only with a few B release games. So when Mario Kart, Zelda and co hit, i dont see the 360 as a big threat to Wii U.




Mario Kart really isn't going to fix everything. Neither is Zelda, not that that one matters much as it's probably not coming anytime soon.


zippy

If lego city and Monster Hunter ( a revamp of and old Wii game) can ignite a decent sales spike, then imagine what games like Zelda and Pikmin 3 can achieve. I also think 3D Mario and Mario Kart have a good chance to be ready for Christmas time, and maybe a price cut. 3D Mario, Mario Kart, price cut...didnt harm 3DS did it?

The 3DS honestly still isn't selling that great in the West. I think this is a big misnomer that Nintendo fans have. Even Iwata himself has said they are unhappy with the sales of the 3DS particularly in North America in a recent investors briefing.

Throwing Mario over and over again at every problem doesn't fix everything. It makes a subset of Nintendo fans happy, but that's about it.

If you consider FIFA/Madden and NFS 3rd party support then yes.

No. The majority of people interested in brand new 8th gen consoles are not going to buy 7 year old systems instead.

Well lets see here. Lets say I'm a parent. I bust my ass at work every day to provide for my family. I have some young kids, the wifey tells me to go get them a game console as a birthday/Christmas gift.

Looking at Best Buy.com for 2 minutes to see their retail prices + factoring in a $99.99 XBox 360 ... I can get

XBox 360 Console - $99.99 (lets assume this rumor is true)

Lego Star Wars Collection - $19.99

Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 - $19.99

Soul Calibur V - $19.99 (good for two boys)

Viva Pinata - $14.99

Skylanders (Starter Pack w/3 figures + base) - $74.99

Total - $250

Can't even get a basic Wii U for that. Explain to that parent why they should get a $300 Wii U instead. Good luck. Skylanders is the *hot* game right now for kids too, not any Nintendo property.

Daddy gets this, and the kids are very happy, the mom's happy too that you didn't spend an arm and a leg.

http://www.amazon.de/Nintendo-Wii-Konsole-Basic-Pack/dp/B004ZKI7EM

Excuse me, but I can get a basic WiiU for that price. I could even throw in a game. Of course you would still be able to get more games for the Xbox360, but you also can't sell a new console for 100€.

One other drawback with buying a cheap xbox for kids is that netflix is behind a xbox gold membership wall.

Nintendo has banked on this formula before "don't worry kids will choose Mario no matter what", but for 10 years it was wrong. If Nintendo doesn't offer a complete package, then people simply go elsewhere (see: more kids grew up with a Playstation than an N64, and more kids grew up with a PS2 rather than a GameCube). Kids simply like video games, if there isn't Mario, then they'll play Crash Bandicoot or Spyro.

Things like Skylanders, LEGO, Disney, Star Wars, Kinect, sports games, etc. are all on the 360. Kids aren't really that narrowminded, they go into a store and find a 100 interesting things on every system just by looking at the box art.

I think even a lot of households that are Wii-only this past gen, but they're looking to upgrade to something else now, may say "y'know this Wii U is interesting, but this 360 has a lot of fun games too, and is much, much cheaper". It's a tough sell.

Third parties will be supporting the ps4/ps3/720/360 about the same for the next 2-3 years. So this actually hurts next gen ps4/720 sales more than the wiiU. Don't be surprised if 2014 is dominated by the wiiU while the other four systems struggle due to 3rd party sales being split between those 4 systems. Until third parties stop supporting the ps3/360, I see the wiiU dominating next gen. Once Nintendo markets the wiiU correctly, and they launch wii fit U, wii U party, and hopefully wii sports U, the sales will go up(assuming the wiiU is marketed correctly). Then once Nintendo launches the rest of the already announced games, the wiiU sales will sky rocket and Nintendo will be dominating sales again(maybe not for the entire generation, but at least 2014, and maybe 2015)

If it's the 4gb, then I'll pass. I'm waiting for the 250 GB model to drop in price to at least $199.99 then i'll bite so I can finish Vesperia and Alan Wake.