Wii U - General Discussion Thread

AFRO insomniac said:
Xenoblade HD.
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Are you talking about X, or is there a rumored HD remake I haven't heard about?

As for the drought, it's certainly painful, but I have faith it'll turn around. Look at the 3DS. Nothing worth playing for the longest time, and now I have a backlog 5-6 games deep on the thing.

 
Got home from Best Buy with my new copy of Rayman Legends, but when I opened it up, this is what I saw:

[customspoiler='Bad Things in Here']
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The case looks perfect on the back, so there's no way that happened on the way home. Now I have to go all the way back to return it for a new copy.

 
FriskyTanuki said:
Got home from Best Buy with my new copy of Rayman Legends, but when I opened it up, this is what I saw:
[customspoiler='Bad Things in Here']
BTk04cAIEAEt8jh.jpg
[/customspoiler]

The case looks perfect on the back, so there's no way that happened on the way home. Now I have to go all the way back to return it for a new copy.
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WOW! JUST WOW! What happened to quality control? It doesn't even have cover art on it. I'm pretty sure someone did that on purpose.
 
Went back to Best Buy and the CS person there was nice enough to let me exchange for another copy, which happened to be their last copy of the Wii U version. I had her open it up at the counter just to double check that it was a good disc so I didn't waste more of my time going back.

That game is fantastic and really seems to be the best version since everything was originally designed for the Wii U. There's a lot of content in there and they do a good job of opening it up really quickly so you can jump around to see what each of the worlds has to offer. They even did a good job with integrating the Challenges app stuff into this so I was instantly at Awesomeness Rank 1 with all of my cups carrying over and a special Funky Ray skin as a reward for checking that app out.

 
I have never ever seen a disc of any sort dented like that.  Wouldn't it have to be melted for that to happen?  Wow...

 
FriskyTanuki said:
Went back to Best Buy and the CS person there was nice enough to let me exchange for another copy, which happened to be their last copy of the Wii U version. I had her open it up at the counter just to double check that it was a good disc so I didn't waste more of my time going back.
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I think most places open it anyway so you can't come back the next day and return a new copy for your money back.

 
io said:
If the X and SMT/Fire Emblem games end up being good, those along with Pikmin 3, some of the VC stuff (like Earthbound which I bought but have yet to play), and a few staples like SSB, Zelda, Mario Kart (and hopefully a Mario 64/Sunshine style Mario game) are all the games I really need to justify my Wii U purchase. Anything beyond that is gravy. Sure, Nintendo needs more than that - but I don't.
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if that new smash bros & kart turn out really good. that will be my deciding factor on getting a wii u. because i know the online community will be large. as it is now... no.

 
You can literally look at every major tech company these days and make an argument as to why they are on their way to failure. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Samsung, Apple, so on and so forth are constantly having the negative aspects of their portfolio greatly exaggerated. It's getting to be so old and tired at this point that I've completely stopped listening now.
 
I'm looking at getting a Wii U, but I have one question at the moment.

Is the Wii U region locked for Wii games? Can an American Wii U play Wii games from Europe? 

I have a gut feeling that this is a no.  I want to play Another Code R, but it was never released in the North America.

 
Don't know about Wii mode region locking,Probably doesn't help, but if you have a halfway decent PC the Dolphin emulator emulates Wii very, very nicely and doesn't require crazy specs so that it may be an option to pick up Another Code R from an import shop and play it that way?

 
Deader2818 said:
It was the 10th best selling game in August and its only one one system. 115,000 units isnt bad at all.
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It's still pretty bad for a "AAA?" game that cost a lot to develop. I really don't think they planned on sales being that low. They sold what, 2 million New Super Mario U? If they continue to make games that lose money, I guarantee you that they stop making any games that have the remotest chance of losing money. Nintendo is being dragged into the current gen with all the problems that hit other publishers.

 
Yeah, but this isn't a flash-in-the-pan 360/PS3 release that needs to make 90% of its money in the first month.  Pikmin 3 will have a long tail and sell just fine over the life of the system.  No, it will never make NSMB numbers, but it doesn't have to.

 
People often mistake what makes an AAA title.

Nintendo games usually keep selling well over the life of the game. Fire Emblem only sold 180k its first month but is considered a huge success.

Like I said, being on one console only always makes the numbers look small when you see games sell millions at first.

 
io said:
Yeah, but this isn't a flash-in-the-pan 360/PS3 release that needs to make 90% of its money in the first month. Pikmin 3 will have a long tail and sell just fine over the life of the system. No, it will never make NSMB numbers, but it doesn't have to.
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I'm not so sure about that..

What kind of a tail are you expecting? I know that the Wii's games had a long tail but that console sold so many units every year that there were constantly large numbers of customers buying in for the first time. Nintendo is going to have to repeat that...

DNukem170 said:
Since when is Pikmin a AAA franchise? Just because it's first party doesn't mean it's AAA.
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That's why I had it written (AAA?)...

Deader2818 said:
People often mistake what makes an AAA title.

Nintendo games usually keep selling well over the life of the game. Fire Emblem only sold 180k its first month but is considered a huge success.

Like I said, being on one console only always makes the numbers look small when you see games sell millions at first.
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If this tracks the same as most games, it will be on target to sell between 250,000-350,000 lifetime.

edit:

Here's a chart that shows each console's respective sales after launch (ie the Xbox 360 one shows Nov 2005 - Aug 2006). Bear in mind that the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii were supply constrained. The PS3 had a price tag of 500/600 dollars until e3 in July of 2007 when they released the 80gb for $400 (you can see the bump in the chart). It will be interesting to see how the $50 price cut and Zelda bundle help the Wii U. As of August, the Wii U was floundering badly - even at it's lowest month leading up to the e3 price cut (June), the PS3 was still selling more than twice as well as the Wii U at that point in time and that was at a price tag significantly higher and in 2007 dollars.

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So what traumatic childhood even scarred Blaster man so badly that he has to pull out his Pachter-fu every time he gets an opportunity to shit on Nintendo?  Did a band of wayward ROBs murder his family and the only revenge is to post video game financial infographics with a righteous fury?

 
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MetalSlugger said:
So what traumatic childhood even scarred Blaster man so badly that he has to pull out his Pachter-fu every time he gets an opportunity to shit on Nintendo? Did a band of wayward ROBs murder his family and the only revenge is to post video game financial infographics with a righteous fury?
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Whoa and I'm supposed to be the one with the problem here...

 
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That may be a bit extreme, but the graph showing Wii U sales was pointless - though actually it seems from there that sales are much much higher than I have been hearing.   Didn't one of the CAGcast guys, echoing Pachter, say they only sold 60,000 in the whole second quarter?  Those numbers in the chart aren't great, but they are over 100K for every month except May.  That's not nearly as bad as I've been hearing either stated or implied.  Now if that continues through the price cut and holiday season, it would be a disaster.

But still, that really has nothing to do with Pikmin 3.  If the numbers for that game are 100k+ in the first month, then, yeah, I'd say that is pretty good.  That probably isn't too far off how Pikmin 2 did.

 
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io said:
That may be a bit extreme, but the graph showing Wii U sales was pointless - though actually it seems from there that sales are much much higher than I have been hearing. Didn't one of the CAGcast guys, echoing Pachter, say they only sold 60,000 in the whole second quarter? Those numbers in the chart aren't great, but they are over 100K for every month except May. That's not nearly as bad as I've been hearing either stated or implied. Now if that continues through the price cut and holiday season, it would be a disaster.

But still, that really has nothing to do with Pikmin 3. If the numbers for that game are 100k+ in the first month, then, yeah, I'd say that is pretty good. That probably isn't too far off how Pikmin 2 did.
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Well I didn't make the graph myself. I think you're right that it's higher than it should. IIRC they sold something like 180k in the last quarter.

I guess the real question regarding Pikmin 3 is, can Nintendo make a profit selling that number of games? If they can then they can keep making more. As you've read in the past, I have a hard time believing that they can turn a profit with those sales numbers. Nintendo basically came out and said "HD is hard" (not in those words) and indicated that they hired some new staff (or at least contractors) and games were delayed. Delays and new staff obviously drives up costs. Nintendo (home) consoles live and die by first party development - especially now. If they think that a game will sell 200k-300k lifetime will they make that game in the future?

One thing is for sure, the Wii U is hurting Nintendo's financials a lot. The 3ds is extremely profitable and sold a lot last quarter. The XL + regular together sold more YoY yet Nintendo was dragged down so much by the Wii U that it (more or less) lost money but managed to eek out a profit via a lucky currency exchange (Japan was printing more money than the US).

Now I'm sure that Nintendo doesn't want to go down the Sega route but if they give up on Wii U and release a console without an expensive controller, they would be fine. Doing something like that once isn't going to ruin their reputation. Sega on the other hand pumped those things out constantly and they were all farily pricy. Genesis - Sega CD - 32X - Saturn - Dreamcast. The Genesis launch in 1989 and the Dreamcast launched in 1999. That's absolutely different than if Nintendo were to give up on one platform. Obviously people that own it already don't want that to happen since they've got a vested interest in it and I know you (io) have said in the past that you think it will go on for another 5ish years but I doubt that.

I shall re-evaluate after the coming holiday season. If the Wii U takes off then I'll reverse some or all of what I said. If it can't do well this coming holiday then that will likely confirm my current beliefs.

 
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All this talk got me back to playing Pikmin 3 again.  That game really is fun - I had just put it aside for a while to play some 3DS games and Disney Infinity on the PS3.  Also, afterwards I went messing around with TVii again.  It really can be useful - on screen guide with instant channel switching when you select something.  Plus there is MiiVerse support.  My son and I had some fun drawing doodles on Rick Harrison (giving him hair for example).  There is definitely some appeal to the things Nintendo is trying to do.  It is too bad some influential gamers dismiss all that out of hand.

And for the casual crowd who bought Wiis for the one Wii Sports gimmick, there is a lot more casual-type stuff to do on the Wii U.  Part of the problem is that no one knows about any of it.  Considering that you also get a Wii with the Wii U (thus keeping your Wii Sports and other titles' compatibility while saving shelf space) it should be a no-brainer upgrade for a lot of people (at least the types who drop $400-$600 yearly for iPads and such).

 
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io said:
All this talk got me back to playing Pikmin 3 again. That game really is fun - I had just put it aside for a while to play some 3DS games and Disney Infinity on the PS3. Also, afterwards I went messing around with TVii again. It really can be useful - on screen guide with instant channel switching when you select something. Plus there is MiiVerse support. My son and I had some fun drawing doodles on Rick Harrison (giving him hair for example). There is definitely some appeal to the things Nintendo is trying to do. It is too bad some influential gamers dismiss all that out of hand.

And for the casual crowd who bought Wiis for the one Wii Sports gimmick, there is a lot more casual-type stuff to do on the Wii U. Part of the problem is that no one knows about any of it. Considering that you also get a Wii with the Wii U (thus keeping your Wii Sports and other titles' compatibility while saving shelf space) it should be a no-brainer upgrade for a lot of people (at least the types who drop $400-$600 yearly for iPads and such).
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I agree that no one knows about it. I think that the price point is a problem too. $350 was too much and I believe that $300 probably is too. A big part of the unknown here is if the casual market is lost forever due to tablets and smartphones. For all we know, they may never return.

 
I feel horrible not buying Rayman and Pikmin 3 yet. I will eventually once the holidays are over (since I got 5 concerts to save up for, a PS4 and of course countless other video games).

Personally Nintendo is not dying. I never bought a WiiU to play multiplatform games. I bought a WiiU to play Mario, Zelda, etc. My PS4/PC are for multiplatform games and I am ok with that. X and SMT x FE will probably be some of my favorite games to play in the next few years, if they are on the level of Nintendo's previous quality for RPG games. Lets not forget Sonic Lost World, which I am really excited for.

Plus yes the WiiU is $299 but that's will be with Zelda this holiday. I think parents would see that as a good deal, considering the PS4 is $400 without any games.

 
Hey guys! I just grabbed a Wii U and am loving it so much! I'm disappointed it took so long to pick one up. It's awesome playing Monster Hunter on my big TV. There's so much stuff I love about this console and I've barely scratched the surface of all that it has to offer. I'm downloading Pokemon Rumble U as I type this! I plan on picking up Pikmin next paycheck. I've got some questions though. Is Lego City Undercover worth hanging on to? I don't know if I'll play it or not, especially with Monster Hunter, Pikmin, and The Wonderful 101 going into my collection. Is it just more of the same LEGO formula? Like the Star Wars and Super Hero games? Also, I'm wondering if there are any "must own" games I should look in to?

Thanks guys!
 
I haven't played Lego City but from what I understand it is basically the same as the others without the licenses.  So it doesn't appeal to me all that much though I may pick it up if/when it gets cheap.

Scribblenauts Unlimited and NSMB U are some other good games to get.

 
Lego City at it's core is pretty much another Lego game, but I really enjoyed the humor, it's the first one I've enjoyed in a long time.

 
I personally loved the shit outta Lego City Undercover.  Felt like the closest thing to an "exploration"/"experimentation" type platformer (ala the N64 glory days) than anything else recently.  Granted, this is in the open city, not so much the individual missions, which play like typical Lego games.  My only gripe:  The best part of the game imho is exploring the city for secrets, bricks, characters etc... and there's no music.  None.  Get in a car?  No radio, not even the generic soundtrack that plays during the missions. 

If only they had gone the extra mile for radio stations (or a soundtrack of any sort) and fixed the pretty nasty load times (which don't impact the open world exploration segments) this game would been an instant classic for me.

 
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Just to put a bow on all of Blasterman's doom and gloom, Nintendo will be fine. Price cut this holiday will work along with new games they have on deck (like Mario Land). Nintendo should have called this Wii HD, packed in a new Wii Sports + Resort mash-up and they would have done much better. Think about how Super Mario sold the orig. NES, so they packed in SMW with the SNES. This time around they should have realized that Wii Sports sold the last console... not Mario... and did things according to the new paradigm.

 
I think "Wii HD" would have been a better name.  But the problem is, then they might not have been able to do the gamepad thing and, really. that is a cool feature.  I mean, that would have made it too different from the Wii so that it wouldn't just be an HD version of the Wii.  If they included any version of Wii Sports/Resort then they would have had to pack a Wii remote in as well and while they offer BC with those (even for Wii U games) they wanted to get away from that and I understand why after the dropoff in Wii sales kind of meant that fad was over.

On the other hand, I think the general public would have understood better that the "Wii HD" was a new HD-version of the Wii better than they currently understand that the Wii U is not an add-on for the Wii.

 
They should have just gone with a different name altogether.  NES->SNES is the only other time they tried consoles with similar names, every other console has been unique.

Then again, I don't think people are that stupid.  People "get it" with Playstation and Xbox when they have similar names as their predecessors.  I just think the lack of games and price has tempered what was already going to be a hard sell.  The casuals were never going to hop back on board, especially at $300+.  Grandma ain't buying a console whose controller has more than a dozen buttons plus a screen with infinite control possibilities. Simplicity is why the Wii was a success, that was never gonna happen again.

 
Well, I do agree about the gamepad being an awesome feature (especially since I was the one who thought of it back in the N64 days and flew out to Nintendo to show them... email me for the Magazine article if you have doubts), but I didn't think about the need to include a Wii-mote. I guess they could have found ways to use the gamepad only or just bit the bullet and included a Wii-mote at $350 (and pushed Nintendo Land as an added sale title). I think they also could have released a "Greatest Hits" line at launch of HD upgrades to their Nintendo Select line... imagine Mario Galaxy in HD at launch... and could have even offered a digital only upgrade program or something. The whole online store has been poorly managed from Day 1. I think they should have offered a FREE download of the original Super Mario Bros. with the Wii, but they could have done it again with WiiU... Give people a reason to go online into the store! The $0.30 games were nice, but imagine an ad on the box that said SMB was included FREE (or any game really) to get people interested/excited about the VC and get them to start downloading games.

 
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