RolStoppable said:
curl-6 said:
1) Many would have you believe that people "just don't want Nintendo games any more" because of the Wii U, but sales of 9.36m for Mario Kart 7, 9.35m for Super Mario 3D Land, 7.37m for New Super Mario Bros 2 show this is blatantly untrue. 3DS's 43m sales also show that "people don't want Nintendo hardware" is false as well.
2) The real problem is, people won't spend $300 USD to get their Nintendo fix when they can get it on 3DS for half the price.
3) Their libraries are too similar; why get a Wii U for 3D World or NSMBU when you can play 3D Land and NSMB2 for less? To the audience for these games, HD is simply not a big enough lure to jusify spending an extra $150.
4) Wii U software needs to differentiate itself from 3DS, to do things impossible on 3DS and be notably different in approach to 3DS's offerings in the same series or genre. For example, make Zelda Wii U nothing like Link Between Worlds.
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Let me dissect your post.
1) Good job here. Although you are merely disproving the statements of trolls and idiots, so the bar to succeed was so low that it laid on the floor.
2) Now this is where video game history needs to be taken into account. If your reasoning doesn't hold up through different generations, then it's wrong. Last generation people spent $250 on the Wii (including a game) while the DS was $130, so roughly half the price (yes, this is stretching it a bit); both systems sold really well, so price wasn't an issue. The generation before the GC didn't sell well even after it dropped to $99, making it effectively about as expensive as the successful GBA; once again price wasn't the issue. Therefore the price argument is debunked.
3) But you bring more to the table than just price, so let's look at the libraries. Last generation people bought Wiis to play Mario Kart Wii and NSMB Wii despite Mario Kart DS and NSMB being available on the DS. You also mention graphics as a reason, but the gap between Wii and DS resolution and graphics is similar to the gap between Wii U and 3DS. Similar games didn't lead to a reduction in sales for either system or for individual games, so your hypothesis is incorrect.
4) If we go back to the sixth generation in order to look at another duo of Nintendo systems, the GC had very different games compared to the GBA. Much of that can be attributed to the lack of horsepower of the GBA that prevented it from realizing 3D games, but the reason is irrelevant; what matters is that the libraries of GC and GBA were clearly different. The GC failed to sell regardless, so you are left with nothing. Therefore we can conclude that the 3DS is not cannibalizing the Wii U, because that assertion is contradicted by video game history.
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I disagree with all three legitimate responses here.
For #2, let's not be forgetting what made the Wii so popular to begin with; the motion control fad. A good portion of the casual crowd likely won't sign up to buy another version of Mario. But a good chunk of them will sign up for the ability to flail their arms in the air like five year olds. And once they buy the console, there's far less of an obstacle towards them buying the better version of a similar pair of games
For #3, see above response. Very few people bought the Wii solely for games that had similar versions on the DS.
For #4, it certainly isn't the only factor, as we've been arguing. The simple fact that something had a lineup exclusive to it does not mean it will inevitably succeed. The reason the Dreamcast failed wasn't because Sega had some incredible portable device that was dealing massive damage to it.
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