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Forums - Nintendo - Biggest mistake Nintendo made with the WiiU

S.Peelman on 24 June 2013

Honestly, this apparent 'naming-confusion' is beyond me.

How is the difference between 'Wii' and 'WiiU' more confusing than 'XBox 360' and 'XBox One'? Between 'PlayStation Portable' and 'PlayStation Vita'. Between 'Nintendo Entertainment System' and 'Super Nintendo Entertainment System'? Why do people immediately know those are successors while they are at a loss as to what to make of 'WiiU' compared to just 'Wii'?

Better yet, how do they know the difference between each generation of iPads? Apple doesn't even attempt to market them differently each generation. They're all just 'iPad'. Wether it's an iPad 1, 2 or 3. They even share the exact same packaging for crying out loud! I actually tried to find the difference on the boxes of the iPads 2 and 3 here in my house. There is none. Zero difference, except an extremely tiny text on the bottom of the box in light-grey text saying ( c )2012 instead of ( c )2011.

How do people know immediately whether they're buying an iPad 2, 3 or 63, but not the WiiU which actually has a different name, different box, different look, different game-boxes and a different friggin' controller?

No, the name's not the problem. People aren't that stupid.

That said, they should've made the 'U' in the logo the primary feature instead of the 'Wii' .

EDIT: Made the copyright logo like this: ( c ), otherwise without spaces you get this: lol >.<...



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disolitude on 24 June 2013
TheLastStarFighter said:
disolitude said:
TheLastStarFighter said:
Most of the people who bought the Wii are very knowledgeable about their console. They also enjoyed it and bought a lot of games.

Nothing wrong with expanding on the Wii brand. As was said by VO, however, they should have called it Wii 2. People love sequels, and associate higher numbers with something better. This would have been the same idea as Apple's iPhone 1, 2, 3.. and so on. People would love to buy the new, better version of Wii called Wii 2.

Regardless, the biggest problems with Wii U are a lack of must-have software, poor marketing, and strong value in the PS360. A lot of people were still buying PS360 and they still have great games coming out, and are cheaper.

Wii U needs a new marketing campaign that promotes it as a high-tech innovative new product and some great new games. The fall lineup should help, as should the killing off of PS360 with the arrival of the more expensive successors.

You really think that the majoity of Wii purchases were made by knowledgable gamers? I'm not saying that there aren't some, but if Wii didn't appeal to the casuals, party folks and people who saw Wii Sports and Wii Fit as games of choice...I see Wii selling a lot less than PS3 and 360 today. They'd lose half of the Wii sales easily without the blue ocean...

Your perception is shared by many hardcore gamers but isn't reality.  The vast majority of Wii buyers weren't grandparents or stay-at-home moms playing Wii bowling or weighing themselves.  The single largest chunk of Wii buyers were the mainstream.  They were families, adults, children, people who like new things.  The people that made it a massive seller are people who saw the motion controls, like Nintendo franchises, wanted something new and the price was right.  These are people that in the past probably bought mainstream hits like GTA, probably bought Guitar Hero, obviously bought Wii Sports and many probably love COD right now.  They are not tech heads, but they know what a Wii is.  They're not idiots.  And they did buy upwards of 10 games per console, not the Wii Sports and Fit and that's it that detractors like to say.

The problem is that Nintendo hasn't given this mainstream a reason to buy Wii U.  Some may not be fully aware that Wii U is actually Wii 2.  But moreso is the problem that they don't care.  Nothing about Wii U has been exciting enough to make them want it yet.  The advertising was bad and the "coolest" exclusive was Zombie U.  They may also have bought a PS360 when the price came down and they picked up an HDTV, relegating the Wii brand to second place in the home.  Wii U needs games and promotion that tell the mass market it's worth their time.

I disagree with your point of view about who exactly bought the Wii. Gamecube didn't even break 25 million while Wii did 4 times that. The games made by Nintendo weren't that different from what Gamecube offered apart form Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Wii Music and other hits that appealed to non gaming community.

Not to mention that the few hits that they had with core gamers almost always worked better with standard control scheme (Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Zelda). Mario Galaxy alone did not sell 75 million extra consoles. 

I am not saying that these people were idiots either. Far from it. These people don't revolve their lives around gaming like some folks in this site. The people that made the Wii such a success have busy lives and Wii was able to appeal to them with its simplicity and immediate appeal of motion gaming. We're the idiots actually when you think about it...posting on sites about videogames when its nice outside. :)



kitler53 on 24 June 2013

first off - i swear we've argued this point to death already but...

second off - wiiU's name is no where near as big of a mistake as not having any quality software from launch week until september. i might be a bit off on the end of the drought. i forget wiiU's exact upcoming release schedule but regardless it has been waaaay too long.



Madword on 24 June 2013

I think it was not learning from the development lessons of both Sony and MS, who really struggled moving up to HD and which led to the term "No games" for quite a while.

Nintendo totally under estimated making games in HD and how difficult it would be, and they probably should have had more games in development and for longer. I think if they had, the knock on issues with 3rd parties would have been less of an issue and they would have definitely sold more consoles (meaning 3rd parties would be more inclined to develop for it).

If you look at Sony/MS for this coming gen and see the range of software (AAA to indie) - about 15 titles in a year, you can see a totally different level of support.



Making an indie game : Dead of Day!

Zero999 on 24 June 2013
Veknoid_Outcast said:
I have to disagree. I think the "Wii" brand is very strong and very much a household name. In some ways it's actually stronger than "Nintendo." Divorcing its new console from the Wii brand would have been a big mistake for Nintendo.

However, Nintendo could have done something more pedestrian with the name, like Wii 2.

xbox 360 was named that to avoid an inferior number than 3 (because of competitor ps3). so wii 2 is out of the question but i think super nintendo wii would work wonders.



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MonstaMack on 24 June 2013

No Wii U Sports



It's just that simple.

zorg1000 on 24 June 2013

I think thats a reason but not the biggest reason. The biggest problem is all the exclusive games originally planned to be released by now have been delayed to the 2nd half of the year. Also there should have only been one sku at $299

32gb Super Wii w/Nintendo Land-$299

January-Pikmin 3
February-Rayman Legends
March-Lego City Undercover
April-Wonderful 101
May-Game & Wario
June-Wii Fit U

Then games like Luigi U, Party U, Sonic Lost World, DKC Tropical Freeze, Mario 3D World would fill out the 2nd half of thr year, so on average 1 solid exclusive per month. Multiplats would just be icing on the cake. I dont think sales would be massive but much bettet than they are now.



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.

Gamerace on 24 June 2013

Lots of excellent points being made which I pretty much agree with all of them to some extent.

Primarily - WiiU is misnamed because it's much more of a Gamecube 2 than a Wii 2. I don't mean in sales (although that's reflective) I mean in principal. Wii was all about getting rid of the dual analog controller to bring gaming back to the masses by lowering the barrier to entry. Which worked wonders which Apple/Android and to a lesser extent Kinect are now benefiting from. By bringing back a dual analog controller, with a touch screen that serves no obvious purpose (aside from the under-advertised off-tv play) Nintendo lumped Wii2 back into the same basket that PS3/360 are in - to it's detriment because those systems have the same features - often better and WAY more games for a lot less and they are cheaper systems.

With Wii, it made sense to own a Wii and an HD system because they offered different experiences (aside from Mario/Zelda games). WiiU is basically a PS3 with an added touch screen but no games. Why would I buy one if I already own a PS3/360 or buy one over a PS3/360?

The best thing Nintendo could have done to answer the threat that mobile devices presented is to create a system that did things mobile could never do (take the Wii idea of simplicity, motion, fun, up to the next level). Not incorporate the same functionality as mobile - poorly on a controller that ditched Wii's main premise and then turn around and name it WiiU.



 

UncleScrooge on 24 June 2013

I think it's the opposite actually: People did not move on at all. They still dig motion controls and want more Wii-like software. But instead Nintendo made the gamepad which is pretty much the opposite of the Wiimote. *Nintendo* moved on, customers simply didn't move along with them.



prayformojo on 24 June 2013

Completely agree and anyone who DISAGREES with you hasn't talked to a lot of non gamers. Everytime I bring the Wii-U up, I get the SAME response "oh yeah, that's that tablet for the Wii, right?". The worst thing Nintendo did was think the Wii brand was still on peoples "to buy" list, and branded their next console around that concept.

Nintendo should pull a Sony and redesign the console, color, retail/game boxes and they should do it ASAP. Then hire some really smart PR people to make some commercials and go on a media blitz. I'm 100% confident that if they went that rout, the Wii-U would come storming back to life.