I could have not listed either Criterion or EA...but it's called a wash, it happens. The same could be said for Eidos, not bringing Thief but helping with the Deus Ex port. I included it because Criterion stated they will bring all NFS games to the Wii U at the same time as other consoles, so that's a pro. EA isn't supporting the system in any other way, so that's a con. Oh no! I mixed publishers with developers! It's not like the publishers don't have their own development studios or anything....and support is support.

It is more about the relationships than anything else. Why would they support the system for 1 or 2 games at launch, but not when the system has far more units sold than either the PS4 or the 720 at launch? 

The lack of support at the moment and the ports is due to timing rather than anything else. Remember Me, Lost Planet, DMC, Dragon's Dogma, Darkstalkers were all far too along in development to justify bringing them to the Wii U  without delaying the other versions. Most developers didn't even get final dev kits until launch. Dark Arisen is essentially an expansion that includes the original....so a small team likely just focused on the extra content and nothing more. There is no reason the Arcade Cabinet couldn't be coming in the future.....is it REALLY that big of a deal?

Besides, you are ignoring the vast majority, and the point, of the article. I even say that until E3 is said and done, nothing is for sure.

Eh...I really don't think so. I can understand why it is easy to think that, but the backlash would be intense. It would mean another 3 month drought but with 2 games coming out instead of 0. Nintendo is smarter than that.....I hope. They are still both "Q2" games and there is a Japan ND tomorrow that will talk a little about Wii U stuff, I think the US version is only 3DS. Maybe when the update rolls out next week we will get one that talks about the Wii U. Their investor meeting is coming up after all, have to convince them that they will be profitable this year.

I think you're biiiiaaaaasssseeeed.

Seriously, you title a thread "Optimistic Thoughts." You've branded you opinion and give no option for people to vote positively for the Wii U, without being "optimistic."

I think Wii U will have a lot of 3rd party support, and I don't think I'm optimistic what-so-ever. I'm hoping for a FFXV exclusive, but that's being a bit optimistic there. lol

First of all, your picture is mildly terrifying, haha. It does seem like people are missing the point of the article a bit (not you, but others). It isn't that the Wii U will get every 3rd party game ever, or that they have the best 3rd party support of any of the big three, or even that they will have the best 3rd party exclusives.

It is simply that they will get more support than many think and that the visual difference between the multiplat ports won't be nearly as bad as last gen. It will be more akin to the PS2/GCN/Xbox era with the Wii U being the PS2 and the PS4/720 being more like a PC or the Xbox. Definitely more powerful, but not to the extent that things will be impossible. Not until the Wii U is on it's way out in 6ish years anyway

I agree that being optimistic would require a certain level of insanity, thinking that things like FFXV being an exclusive or that 3rd parties will flock to the Wii U and give tons of exclusives while giving only multiplatform ports to the others. The Wii U will be just fine though, maybe even quite a few surprises.

Problem is Wii U isn't PS2, and Sony has always been good at getting a lot of 3rd party support. During the 6th gen, most games were developed for the PS2, and then ported to the GCN and X-Box, rarely with issue. I don't see too many devs developing for the Wii U and they upgrading the visuals for PS4/Nextbox. Some will, especially for established multiplatform franchises like Assassin's Creed, and hopefully Mass Effect, but then FPS's will likely be exclusively unavailable on Wii U (e.g. Destiny, Battlefield 4).

As for FFXV, I doubt it will be exclusive to Wii U, but I'm hopeful that it's a Wii U/PS3/PS4 multiplatform title. I think WiiU will get a lot of support from Japan, Nintendo really is dominating the handhelds with the 3DS, and the Wii did really well in Japan. Sony is having trouble holding solid footing there, and I find it hard to see devs exclusively supporting the 3DS, and then ignoring the Wii U.

Mass Effect won't be on Wii U...because EA, haha. I agree that it isn't the PS2 and won't have that kind of support, but the downgrading of visuals from the PS4/720 won't be nearly as drastic as the downgrade from PS3/360 to Wii. In the end I think that the visual difference will just be more like the difference between a PC game and a PS2 game from the same time. I would have included these images in my article, but I didn't really get around to talking about that specific subject: 

Nintendo seems to be regaining Japan more and more as Sony seems to want to capture some of MS's western audience, and it could come back to bite them in the butt. But again, until E3 is done we really don't know. Iwata said that they have stuff from 3rd party publishers so the support is definitely there. It's going to be a fun generation, especially if you plan on owning more than 1 console (as I do, once the price is right/games).

Criterion made NFS and decided the WiiU-port. FIFA was gimped and I think the license includes a 'release on all major platforms'-option. Mass Effect was nice, but the other platforms got a trilogy.

I don't say they necessarily 'hate', but they decided some time ago to simplify the market by getting rid of some console-makers. That worked for Sega. That didn't work Wii-generation for Nintendo. They try again this gen. Same that Capcom tries with Vita. If sales of the devices pick up, EA and Capcom will release games - but first they look if they can kill the system by not supporting it.

I 100% agree.

However the WiiU - PS4 jump is a bit bigger then the PS2 - XB Jump. PS4 is about 8-9x more powerful then the Wii U, X-Box was just under 4x as powerful as the PS2. However, the differences will be less obvious (read OP article) because of dimishining returns.

@bold. Exactly.

I wrote the OP article ;)

:)