at e3 they stated it was a console we (wii) could play (casuals/party games), but also a console for U (hardcore/single player/online multiplayer). Obviously a failure at both aspects as nintendoland did not have the draw wii sports did and the "unprecendented 3rd party support" dried up after one year of late ports. I think they were trying to compete with ps360 which was beyond stupid for the time.
At this point i'm starting to hope the nx is a super powerful machine that i can play select 3rd party single player games and 1st party nintendo games. Not sure how much longer i'll be playing online multiplayer games since i'm never on at the same time as my friends anyway.
So i guess the best "gimmick" they could produce for me would be being able to play zelda, metroid, dishonored 2 and shadow of mordor 2 all on the same system. But if they're going to do that then they HAVE to pay for older ports. Would be happy to rebuy those games to keep all the games on the same platform, but i'm SURE i'm in the minority. If Nintendo really wants back in the market, they're going to have to take a chance and spend big with little return this generation in order to rise to the top of the next generation. Being a publicly traded company, i don't see them being able to do that as a primary business strategy so it seems to look grim. I suppose it depends on what kind of supplemental profit they could, hypothetically, come up with. Again, i don't think they'll go this route. Probably just the near-beginning of the end for nintendo home consoles (it will take a while).
Sorry, got a little off-topic.

Before launch and 1st year: your parents, casuals

After they realized it was a massive bomba: the hardcore Nintendo fans

The Wii actually had quite a few games aimed at the "core" player, the hardware just sucked so the effort in some of these games was dubious though some of them were decent from what I gather (Godfather: Black Hand was supposedly good). From Nov 06-June 06 alone I got:

Madden NFL 07, Need For Speed: Carbon, Tiger Woods PGA 07, SSX Blur, Medal of Honor: Vanguard, Excite Truck, Dragon Ball Z, Tony Hawk Downhill Jam, Red Steel, Call of Duty 3, Trauma Center, GT Pro Series, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, The Bigs (MLB), Scarface, Mortal Kombat Armageddon, Legend of the Dragon, Monster 4x4, Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV, The Godfather: Blackhand Edition, Prince of Persia: Rival Swords, Driver: Parrallel Lines, Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition.

That's probably about the same as the Wii U in number of titles, maybe even more to be honest not to mention "realistic bad azz Zelda doood!" day 1 also.

Real artists don't target audiences, they simply do their thing.

Nintendo isn't an artist, its a company that exists to make money.

I'm guessing casuals but as time went by, casuals weren't showing up thus they tried going after more core but that audience was long repelled away hence WiiU's one of two feet in the grave.

I would seriously question some of your "core" titles such as excite truck, dragonball z, legend of the dragon and monster 4x4. Half the other titles are "core" I suppose in name but were never really going to appeal to the core gamer crowd, such as Scarface  and The Godfather.

I could throw in some sports titles like Fifa and Madden fr Wii U, and some shooter games like 007 Legends and Sniper Elite, or franchises of other media such as walking dead but those games aren't really the heavy hitters.

Also, Windwaker is by far the better title.

*edit* Oh, and thanks for reminding me, Resident Evil Revelations too.

Wind Waker may be better in your opinion, but that is not the general opinion among XBox/PS type "core franchise" loving gamers.

Fact of the matter is the Wii U could've had every third party game from PS3/360 it would have made zero differnce because who the fuck by 2012 who liked any of those types of games didn't already have a PS3/360? Someone who got stuck frozen in cave between for all of 2005-2011?

you are a genius

When I used to visit this site I thought you just had it out for Nintendo. Since I've come back your insights have been invaluable as a fan. Thank you.

If your selling a product, it cant hurt to actually understand your buyers, and maybe be aiming to make something they actually want to buy.

Doing your own thing, just doesnt work.... not for consoles.

Most people look at nintendo and think "this lacks features Playstation & Xbox, have had since early 2000's".

A few really like the nintendo software (games) and that keeps nintendo consoles afloat (or has until now), but theres fewer and fewer of us.

I honestly think this is how most people (not hardcore nintendo fans) look at nintendo: