Wii U is a success - sort of

[Brad Bishop]

Interesting thing about the Wii U:

In all of the talks about the Wii U being a failure for Nintendo and what it was that they could have done better, I haven't seen, "Yeah, I'm sorry I bought one," but instead a lot of, "I'm glad I bought one." (usually preceded by a ".. don't get me wrong.."

I just thought it was interesting as you'd expect it to be, "Yeah, I bought one.. What a mistake that was.."

 

[thepcgameguy]

I actually really enjoy the Wii U.  My kids also love it.  I just wish there were more games.  If you or your kids like lego games its almost a must buy for lego city undercover, great game and I wish Wii U would get more games like it.  

In the past month the Wii U gets more activity than the 360 or ps3 in my house.

 

[dmaul1114]

Well with it only selling 5 million or so, its mostly been bought by diehard Nintendo fans like us.  So of course we're happy with it as there are a solid handful of great first party games on it already, and more coming this year.

The problem for them is that niche of diehard Nintendo fans that buy up all their hardware has shrunk and/or is fine getting their fix on 3DS, so overall sales are awful.

Anyway, like you I'm pleased.  I bought the Mario/Luigi bundle at $300 knowing I'd probably buy and enjoy 10-15 games on the console over its life span and I'm perfectly fine with that.  It's a secondary machine for me to my PS3 currently, and eventually to PS4 when I take that plunge.

 

[Brad Bishop]

I think it's a little more than Nintendo Fanboy stuff. I wouldn't categorize myself as a Nintendo fanboy. I just happened to notice that out of all of the generations of consoles (and I go way back) that Nintendo had the games (though they seem to keep churning through the same characters) that I'd go back and replay.

I guess I'm comparing it to someone who loved their Atari 2600, got the Atari 5200 because it was so much better, and then, not too soon after, regretted it. I think the same happened with the Sega Genesis add-ons, the Atari Jaguar, and maybe the Saturn. From what I understand the Dreamcast folks were happy, even though that one took a dive.

 

[dmaul1114]

I didn't use the word fanboy.  Diehard fans are just what you described.  People that have been playing and loving Nintendo games for years and still buying their hardware to play them. Fanboys are the annoying, obsessed fans on message boards and elsewhere defending the company like they own majority stock in it.

But yeah, the Wii U is much like the Dreamcast.  Nice hardware (albeit underpowered relative to the try next gen stuff that came a year or so later in both cases) with some great games, but just not selling well.  It's not just a lousy hardware or idea like the 5200 (button on the controller broke quickly for almost everyone), add-on like Sega CD (add-ons never sell well), or just bad idea like the Jaguar.

Wii U is a nice console with a decent library for Nintendo fans, just like the Dreamcast was for Sega fans.  Unfortunately both fell victim to not having enough third party support, and getting ignored as people waited for the more power consoles coming in a year or so from the competition.

 

[dothog]

ITT confirmation bias.

 

[Brad Bishop]

I didn't use the word fanboy. Diehard fans are just what you described. People that have been playing and loving Nintendo games for years and still buying their hardware to play them. Fanboys are the annoying, obsessed fans on message boards and elsewhere defending the company like they own majority stock in it.

Oh, I didn't take it like that. I only used 'Fanboy' because my brain wasn't thinking of 'Diehard fan'. Take my post and replace 'Fanboy' with 'Diehard Fan' and I think it still applies. I'm really not a Diehard Fan. I just happened to notice that, in the past, it's the system that has the games I keep going back to.

 

[kill3r7]

ITT confirmation bias.

^This.

I love my Wii U but that's because I love videogames and especially Nintendo made games. That said, there are plenty of things I can complain about such as archaic networking/online multiplayer, eshop, the gamepad battery life is pretty lousy, lack of third party support, etc.

 

[dmaul1114]

Oh, I didn't take it like that. I only used 'Fanboy' because my brain wasn't thinking of 'Diehard fan'. Take my post and replace 'Fanboy' with 'Diehard Fan' and I think it still applies. I'm really not a Diehard Fan. I just happened to notice that, in the past, it's the system that has the games I keep going back to.

Fair enough, though I'd say that's pretty close to being a die hard.

One has to be super into Nintendo games (whether you want to call it diehard or not) to own a Wii U as there's very little else there other than a couple things like Zombie U, Rayman, Lego games etc. And third party support isn't going to get any better with the dreadful console sales, and being way underpowered compared to PS4/X1 which will make ports harder going forward.

 

[Blaster man]

Interesting thing about the Wii U:

In all of the talks about the Wii U being a failure for Nintendo and what it was that they could have done better, I haven't seen, "Yeah, I'm sorry I bought one," but instead a lot of, "I'm glad I bought one." (usually preceded by a ".. don't get me wrong.."

I just thought it was interesting as you'd expect it to be, "Yeah, I bought one.. What a mistake that was.."

Most people - when speaking about it's failure - aren't referring to how well it's enjoyed by those that purchased it. They're talking about it's sales numbers and the massive losses it's causing Nintendo to take. If I make a movie that costs 500 million dollars to make and it sells 1 million dollars in tickets but those people LOOOOOVVVVEEE the movie, the movie is still a failure.

 

[pROvIs]

I really like mine and I don't think its going away.  Nintendo does need to get a good steady stream of games going for it though so they can get it in more peoples hands.

 

[Corvin]

Most people - when speaking about it's failure - aren't referring to how well it's enjoyed by those that purchased it. They're talking about it's sales numbers and the massive losses it's causing Nintendo to take. If I make a movie that costs 500 million dollars to make and it sells 1 million dollars in tickets but those people LOOOOOVVVVEEE the movie, the movie is still a failure.

Exactly. Also you aren't going to get a lot of people that spent $300-$400 on a system and games verbally hating it. You'll see a lot of, I wish it had X game or Y feature, or this part of the system needs work.

 

[crunchewy]

They have a more big games out than the PS4 and X1 and it's not making a big difference. So it doesn't really seem like pumping out more games is the answer.

 

[pROvIs]

They have a more big games out than the PS4 and X1 and it's not making a big difference. So it doesn't really seem like pumping out more games is the answer.

I see your point but I still don't think its enough.

When you buy the PS4 and the X1 you are buying into the future where all titles will be.

When you buy the Wii U you are buying into the future where all Nintendo titles will be.

The problem is there aren't many stellar big name exclusive titles.

Mario 3D Land

Pikmin 3

Zombie U

Wonderful 101

NSMBU

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate

Lego City Undercover

When you look at that list you can dismiss most of them as remakes, more of the same, ports, or kids games. Granted I like those games but its easy to see how people without a Nintendo itch wouldn't be interested. Factor in that many with a Nintendo Itch already have a 3ds or Wii, the problem compounds.

When you look at the non-traditional games it adds a bit more value with Wii Fit/Wii Sports etc but again those are upgraded versions of the same. They really need several titles to distinguish and justify the platform in a big way. This is what they had to do with the 3ds as well.

 

[dmaul1114]

Other than the huge fluke success of the Wii, Nintendo has saw big drops in consoles old every generation from N64 (which sold a lot less than the SNES) on.

They don't get the third party support, and their franchises just don't have the same appeal they did in the 80s and 90s as people have moved on to shooters, racers, sports games etc.

Pumping out more Mario, Metroid, Zelda etc. games won't help them.  They need to get some exclusives in genres that sell consoles in the west if they want to get back in the game.  Be it hiring on some people with experience making them to work in house, buying up some western developers, or paying some third parties to make a big game or two exclusive.

Really, it's probably too late for Wii U.  They're best bet it to figure out an attractive hardware get up for their next go around from both a specs and price stand point, and launch it with some big online shooter exclusive AND at least one or two of their big games like Mario and Zelda.  Also have Madden etc. at launch.

Show people right out the gate that their new system will have big online shooters (including major exclusives), sports games etc. with all the online features of the competition, AND be the only place to play Nintendo games.  Right now they only have the latter, and that just doesn't sell any more.  And even doing all the above, it would still be a long shot and gamers today are just more loyal to Sony and MS as other than us 30+ year olds, that's what they grew up gaming on.