Wii U "on fire" meaning 70-80k per week. When PS3 sold that much it was an epic low and crisis that is recalled to this day. Tells so much about where Wii U is.

The bottom line is - all Nintendo die-hards and Padib need to take a close hard look at these numbers:

NES 62 mil
SNES 49 mil
N64 33 mil
GCN - 22 mil
Wii U - tracking below GCN

Wii is nothing more than an anomaly, they caught lightning in a bottle once, good for them, but that audience is long gone playing on smartphones and tablets. Now it's back to basics and this little list shows you the real power of Nintendo franchises and what the future of Nintendo is going to be if it doesn't open up to 3rd parties and regain a chunk of the regular core market.

Super/New Wii U  can't come soon enough

WhiteEaglePL said: oniyide said: WhiteEaglePL said: BeElite said: WhiteEaglePL said: I still believe next year will be Wii U's peak. It just makes sense considering everything I could think of. Ever consider the comp will be in its second year and dropping software left and right that the wiiu is not getting ? Worse of a potential PS4 price cut would really not help wiiu sale more.   Or as PS3/360 wined down wiius paltry 3rd party support will be even less.   Or that ninty already dropped thie biggest game Wiiu will get. So? The Wii did not get majority of the 3rd parties too due to the audience... but it did get 3rd party games for "its" audience. A lot in fact How is the Wii U different in that case? It's got Hyrule Warriors ect.

well for one, thats not a 3rd party game. for two lets be real. Wii U isnt getting the same volume of 3rd party games that the WIi received not even close. Hell it might not even get GC or N64 level

In order to be a late bloomer would mean to get its numbers up. Staying steady at 70-80K all year long aside from the boost that all systems get during the holidays would be doing just that. More systems going to homes will get more people buying it and bringing it home. This gen system sales are down. 70-80K per week for a system that only gets a great game a few times a year is "on fire" to me.

Gotta love this "Wii is an anomaly/fluke/doesn't count" nonsense that gets thrown around. Wii is no more anomaly than NES or SNES. Those three are what happens when Nintendo gets it right. N64/GCN/Wii U are what happens when they fuck up.

I agree with the marketing.  Third party is irrelevant.

Whether you want to accept it or not, every single console lives or dies depending on 3rd party support. The only exception is the Wii and that was lightning in a bottle, never to be repeated. It shouldn't be a surprise that Nintendo's last successful home console (besides the Wii) was one with very strong 3rd party support. 3rd party publishers are in no way shape or form irrelevant. 

Nintendo cannot keep momentum for WiiU going with 1st party support alone. That leaves huge 3-4 month gaps in between major releases. What's released on the WiiU since Mario Kart? 3 months with basically nothing. 

Whether you like it or not - it's true. Nintendo broke the rules of the game, went in another direction, found a different market and struck gold. Good for them. But that market is gone, that customer is gone and they have no clue how to find a new customer now. Moreover, they have abandoned the majority of their original customers when making that move. NES and SNES were a totally different thing - typical "core" consoles, they were the PS4s of their generations, not the Wiis. And it wasn't just Nintendo getting it right, it was Nintendo getting it right while not having such a fierce competition (SEGA was always the underdog). N64/GCN/Wii U is what the reality is with the big boys around. Wii is a fluke until they prove they can repeat that success with another strange OTT console. So far they have no idea how to do it and the Wii U Gamepad is the best proof for that.

There is no going around it, unless Nintendo claws its way back into the minds of core gamers, it will be squeezed out of the home console market. Add that to the fact that smartphones are dealing major blows to their handheld business and you have a company in some serious trouble on the horizon. We can only hope that the decent number of not-cartoony franchises like Bayo 2, Xenoblade Chronicles X and Devil's Third are the beginning of a new trend and not just a short experiment. Ninty has a lot of homework to do to change its image and teach its gamers to play mature games (1st and 3rd party). Stuff like that won't happen overnight. The fact that Splatoon doesn't feature Mario is another good sign though. We will see what the future brings for Nintendo I will support them once they cut the price of Wii U and release a Metroid Prime, even a Trilogy HD Remake

Nintendo's inhouse dev teams already know the WiiU's working through and through but the dev kits can always improve seeing as how the instruction set for the WiiU is much more efficient for game making. Better dev kits and suitable art-styles to round off the corners that need to be cut for perfomance (like Splatoon which is nothing short of EAD magic and a good artstyle to cover for weakness) will allow them to keep making high quality looking games. There is nothing quality lacking in a console that achieves unbreakable 60FPS at 720p (though it obviously has issues when you start doing things like 4 player vs. in MK8). To eyes like mine, 60FPS are worth more 1080p which is part of why I will not upgrade my PS3/360 until the new gen actually starts doing 60FPS, I don't give a rats-ass what the resolution actually is.

The bold is also a misnomer. Its graphically weak but the actual technology in some parts of it are anything but "weakest". In fact the gamepad (in particular that mundane little magic inside that lets it do off-TV play) was nothing short of cutting edge work when it was released.

SNES and Wii had very stiff competition but still won. Wii U/N64/GCN are the result of Nintendo badly managing their systems, NES/SNES/Wii are what happens when they handle them well. 

I agree with some points, like that Nintendo needs to do a better job of diversifying their appeal, but the Wii did not abandon their fanbase; expanding into Wii Sports/Fit did not stop them making Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Twilight Princess, Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Metroid Prime 3, Xenoblade...

I wouldn't expect a price cut till next year, they will do their "cuts" with bundles and deals like MK8 (+free game) or Bayonetta 2 (+free game).

Their current marketting strategy is to make the games more affordable and desirable while keeping the WiiU itself at the same price point. They could cut the price, since they have been making profit per console for a while now, but they seem to believe (and I don't really doubt them, its another way of working in price cuts) that making the games better deals will work out for better in the long run.

I can easily see someone on the fence being pulled over by all the free game promotions because, while he may shell out the 200-300$ for the console, he sees a road of many game deals (multi shots like MK8 or Bayo2, or just deals in general with bundles) he otherwise wouldn't find.