Wii U - General Discussion Thread

The Kirby series amiibo are selling very well, though.

Just because they aren't scalper bait anymore doesn't mean they're dying. 

 
I think that the problem is that there really isn't a compelling reason to buy them because the software support seems 'meh'.

You can buy them to collect them, and I'm sure people do. People will collect anything.

In games, though, you sort of expect complete games so you'd get annoyed if the amiibo was needed to unlock a critical portion of the game. In addition, you'd get annoyed if, while playing the game, you needed the amiibo (or a different one) to replay a section. It's something that almost gets in the way.

So, they do the other bit which is that amiibos unlock special parts of the games but none of those are earth shattering. amiibos unlock, from what I've seen 'meh' things in games.

As little as they're supported on the Wii U, which has the reader built in from day one, they're supported even less on the 3DS which needs either a new 3DS or the reader accessory (something else you have to buy to make your amiibo do something 'meh' in very few games on the 3DS).

I kind of agree: I think they're dying out.

If amiibos were there from day 1 on both the 3DS and the Wii U AND did something compelling in most of the games then they may have been interesting.

 
Except what they do varies greatly between games. Yea, a lot of them do unlock paint jobs, but several of them offer game breaking assists (especially the Kirby series amiibo in Planet Robobot).

And the only amiibo series that hasn't sold well was Animal Crossing, mostly in the US, and the biggest reason for that was the lack of true mainline game to use them in.

Just because Nintendo's providing actual stock and they don't go for hundreds on eBay anymore doesn't mean they're dying anytime soon. The Super Mario series will sell well with little kids and those who couldn't get their Smash variants before (or prefer Classic Wario to Biker Wario) and I'd be willing to bet those Breath of the Wild amiibo sell like hotcakes once they're released.

The latest sales data was released back in April so it doesn't include the Kirby series or the second Splatoon wave, but the Link amiibo alone sold more than 700,000 units just in the first few months of 2016 (that's regular Link, not the Twilight Princess Link) with Pikachu and Zelda not far behind.

And for all the talk of how useless the Animal Crossing cards are, they still sold 28 million copies between their release and March 2016. There will probably be a bump in sales once the New Leaf update launches.

Nintendo's amiibo are going to be just fine. They're not dying out anytime soon.
 
So, I always planned to eventually get a Wii U and now that Nintendo has stated they stopped production I'm looking to pick one up.  Any rumors of clearance sales or anything upcoming or is the consensus that existing Wii U's on store shelves will be sold at full MSRP?

 
woodcan said:
So, I always planned to eventually get a Wii U and now that Nintendo has stated they stopped production I'm looking to pick one up. Any rumors of clearance sales or anything upcoming or is the consensus that existing Wii U's on store shelves will be sold at full MSRP?
Click to expand...
The answer was during Black Friday. Your question is weeks too late! I'd say now your best bet is eBay.
 
Spybreak9 said:
The answer was during Black Friday. Your question is weeks too late! I'd say now your best bet is eBay.
Click to expand...
I looked during Black Friday and didn't see any deals. Since you had me questioning myself I even looked back at the CAG Black Friday deals Google doc and confirmed there were no deals.

 
woodcan said:
So, I always planned to eventually get a Wii U and now that Nintendo has stated they stopped production I'm looking to pick one up. Any rumors of clearance sales or anything upcoming or is the consensus that existing Wii U's on store shelves will be sold at full MSRP?
Click to expand...
I don't believe the console had any sales to speak of on Black Friday, but I'd get one know if you are interested. Plenty of quality titles to pick that are exclusive to the Wii U. I believe Best Buy has a Wii U/3DS sale this week on games too!

 
Wii U had no deals this year (Black friday) on the hardware. I've been watching for one for a coworker. However, I think he is gonna cave and buy one at MSRP.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Nintendo hasn't necessarily ended production of Wii U for the NA market. NoA announced:

"We can confirm that as of today, all Wii U hardware that will be made available in the North American market for this fiscal year has already been shipped to our retail partners. We encourage anyone who wants Wii U to communicate with their preferred retail outlet to monitor availability."

Why give the detail about "this fiscal year"? Take it for what you will, but they just might want you to buy full price now, only to release a discounted bundle (LoZ: BotW bundle?) next fiscal year, which conveniently begins after the expected/announced release date for the Switch. Depending on Switch price point, NoA in their right mind can't have Wii Us sitting on the shelf at a similar price, whether they be new or old bundles. Or maybe they'll go back into production just for the "buy a Switch, get a Wii U for free" offer!!! :whee:

 
Weren't the 8GB Basic models recalled as well? If LoZ: BotW is to actually release on Wii U as well as Switch, I still can't understand how Nintendo wouldn't have Wii U units to sell along with the release of the game.

 
Spybreak9 said:
Nope, quite the opposite, they're recalling them.
https://www.geek.com/games/nintendo-is-alledgedly-recalling-the-wii-u-from-major-retailers-1683245/
Wow, I had no idea. I grabbed my Mario Kart 8 Wii U 2 years ago during BF from Amazon.
Click to expand...
Interesting news. This would make sense, though. Nintendo is probably trying to do retailers a favor while actually also trying to make sure it doesn't de-value its brand by allowing customers to get Nintendo products at clearance prices. Last thing Nintendo wants to do is let people think they can buy Nintendo products at great discounts. No way would they permit customers to buy the Wii U at $100.

It's also this delicate balance where Nintendo probably would prefer no one buy the Wii U given every sale of one would likely cannibalize a Switch sale come March. Makes more sense for them to just push the 2DS/3DS, which I suspect Nintendo will keep supporting to some degree in 2017 based on how well or poorly the Switch does out of the gate. Given the Switch is far from a sure-fire success, Nintendo would be wise to keep the 2DS/3DS market afloat so as to have another place to sell their games.

People here wonder why Nintendo products aren't put on clearance. That's because there was a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2007 that lifted a near century ban on producers having control to dictate minimum pricing. Since then, companies like Nintendo essentially can lock prices with retailers so as to ensure their products are sold at certain prices. It's not 100% but I would presume both suppliers and sellers don't want to burn the other so they tend to agree upon certain restraints on sales and clearances.

This is surely the reason why Nintendo products rarely ever go on sale or are found in clearance bins. No doubt you'll ever find a core Mario or Zelda game on clearance short of the retailer having gotten approval from Nintendo to do it.

 
romeogbs19 said:
Nintendo is probably trying to do retailers a favor while actually also trying to make sure it doesn't de-value its brand by allowing customers to get Nintendo products at clearance prices. Last thing Nintendo wants to do is let people think they can buy Nintendo products at great discounts. No way would they permit customers to buy the Wii U at $100.
Click to expand...
What is the value of the Wii U? What is the value of the NES Classic? Is it what Nintendo says it is? What if it struggles at Nintendo's MSRP? Is anything less than launch price a discount? What if a fair but decent discount moves a tremendous amount of units and therefore leads to more software sales? If Nintendo doesn't want to sell at a discount, why then did they sell those n3DS Super Mario Editions for 67% the n3DS's "value"?

I don't think anyone was expecting to pay as little as $100 for the Wii U, and I personally don't think Nintendo would have had to price it that low. From the consumers POV, to still be asking $300 is kinda ridiculous though. People still love Nintendo. Look at the NES Classic. Look at how quickly those n3DSs SM Editions went! But the MSRP is also a delicate balancing act... and what balancing did Nintendo exactly do with it to move Wii U units?

As always with Nintendo, the recall is just a rumor. Anybody know of a console that was recalled or ended production before its successor launched? Saturn maybe?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
In any case I just ordered a 2TB portable hard drive with Y cable to hook it up to my Wii U. They can do whatever they want, until it doesn't make them money. Obviously they're still not in the desperate stages and actually considering how much money they have they can sit on a low for a while. That's why the "low" priced sales from BF will go down on my hard drive. Grabbing Super Mario Galaxy 2 for $10, eh that's pretty cool.

 
phantomphoenix said:
What is the value of the Wii U? What is the value of the NES Classic? Is it what Nintendo says it is? What if it struggles at Nintendo's MSRP? Is anything less than launch price a discount? What if a fair but decent discount moves a tremendous amount of units and therefore leads to more software sales? If Nintendo doesn't want to sell at a discount, why then did they sell those n3DS Super Mario Editions for 67% the n3DS's "value"?

I don't think anyone was expecting to pay as little as $100 for the Wii U, and I personally don't think Nintendo would have had to price it that low. From the consumers POV, to still be asking $300 is kinda ridiculous though. People still love Nintendo. Look at the NES Classic. Look at how quickly those n3DSs SM Editions went! But the MSRP is also a delicate balancing act... and what balancing did Nintendo exactly do with it to move Wii U units?

As always with Nintendo, the recall is just a rumor. Anybody know of a console that was recalled or ended production before its successor launched? Saturn maybe?
Click to expand...
You can't make that comparison because Saturn was before 2007. The court decision allows companies to maintain a price point regardless what consumers think.

You should stop and think whether Nintendo actually wants Wii Us sold at this point. They have to be thinking that it might do more harm to their brand, and it was better to ensure that anyone willing to pay $150-200 for one would be a Switch sell. When you're that close to a new home console launch, why bother trying to sell the old one to you, which has a larger library, and effectively cannibalize your sales potential?

As for the 3DS sales numbers, it probably speaks to Nintendo's own concerns about how successful the Switch may or may not be. The 3DS provides a nice back-up option should Switch's take-off be slow, or worse, burn out.

More critically, I think you're proving Nintendo's problematic messaging with the Switch already. Nintendo has tried to market the Switch as the "successor to the Wii U." That is the official marketing line. Switch is a home console, not a hand-held device. According to Nintendo, the Switch does not therefore replace the 3DS.

That you're bleeding the Switch and the 3DS together shows another huge problem for the Big N's marketing team.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Spybreak9 said:
In any case I just ordered a 2TB portable hard drive with Y cable to hook it up to my Wii U. They can do whatever they want, until it doesn't make them money. Obviously they're still not in the desperate stages and actually considering how much money they have they can sit on a low for a while. That's why the "low" priced sales from BF will go down on my hard drive. Grabbing Super Mario Galaxy 2 for $10, eh that's pretty cool.
Click to expand...
BTW, you also bring up another good point. One of the reasons Nintendo has demanded their MSRP on their published games to stay at $60 at retail is because it's a smart way to shift consumers to digital purchases, where Nintendo gets 100% profit.

Nintendo has deliberately been squeezing supply on 2/3DS physical software for the same reason. It's nary impossible to find new copies of Legend of Zelda: Link B/t Worlds - and that then would force consumers to buy digital.

It sadly means that consumers who want physical copies are basically paying a premium (which I'm fine with). This is one reason why I usually will go out of my way to pay a little more for Nintendo's physical releases.

I am NO fan of this digital download future, and I've said it elsewhere, but when games go digital or when physical releases start to need huge day 1 patches or worse, DLC to actually get the whole game, I'm done with this industry.

In this sense, I like the Switch. The cartridge format and the likeliness that the machine will have very small internal memory should mean most games will shy away from patches and downloads, and push to release games that are done. At the very least, I expect Nintendo's games to be that way.

Why do I get the feeling the Switch may be the last console I buy?

 
^ Isn't it obvious, their Switch, is not even a slight metaphor on how they're putting changing into this new system that acts as both a Wii U and a 3DS, they are literally switching strategies combining all their stuff into one portable gaming home console. Very interesting strategy and , to me, it makes sense of their previous actions.
 
I hope someone can find a Wii U in stock and sitting on the shelf next to a Switch after release, both at the $300 price. :lol: Crazy that Wii U released at a higher MSRP. Switch at $300, which is arguably overpriced, is Nintendo indirectly confirming that the Wii U was in fact overpriced/overvalued.

 
Super Nintendo - Own it.

Nintendo 64 - Never owned it.

Gamecube - Own it.

Wii  - Never owned it.

Wii U- Owned it.

And as of now, Nintendo Switch is in the "never owned it" column. My opinion hasn't changed from the reveal trailer through the hour long conference (though I did lose my shit over Super Mario Odyssey) . My main concern is still with the controller: Those slide controllers looked tiny. If they really integrated all the past consoles into one, then they made the wrong decision with N64 and used a controller with an analog stick awkwardly in the middle. I would need to see and experience the system in person to truly judge, but by the time they make any improvements (battery life? better fitting controllers? )  then it might be close to the time they release a new console which I would end up getting.

So my original plans remains:  Buy a 3DS instead - preferably with Super Mario Maker bundled. I use Wii U to play current and past gen Wii games and I plan to do the same with 3DS and experience current and past DS games on it.

And yes, I own an original NES.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'd recommend store.nintendo.com to get a refurb unit, if you want a backup.

They're $200 (or were the last time I checked).

It's not a bad deal (well, a little pricy) because if your Gamepad goes out then what are you going to do? Luckily, they seem pretty rugged.

In the past, Nintendo has been good about repairs so if your Wii U suddenly goes on the blink they'll typically support it for a price out of warranty (you send it in to get repaired and when I had to do it with my old Wii it was something like $60 or so (long time ago)).

 
Debating if I should get a Wii U from Gamestop or go with the Nintendo refurb from their website.  Been picking up Wii U games whenever I see them cheap.  Wish Nintendo would make the Switch backwards compatible with Wii U discs somehow.  Would definitely get me motivated to buy a Switch.

 
What's the price difference?  A Nintendo refurb would almost 100% be the safer/better choice.  Gamestop refurbs can definitely be hit-or-miss.

EDIT:  Unless you mean "new" Wii U from Gamestop.  After reading it again, I imagine that's what you meant?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top