WiiU - Part 1

[Iceman]

Originally Posted by Soapy

Well, iOS in general and Facebook. I think that's where the people who made the Wii such a success are getting their gaming fix, and I don't think those people are necessarily interested in ever buying another console. And it's not just the casuals, it goes the other way too. A lot of gaming enthusiasts who previously only played on consoles are eyeing the PC pretty hard as it becomes more and more accessible.

Am I saying that all of the consoles are going to fail and iOS gaming is going to completely take over? No. All I'm saying is that all three of the current consoles, the Wii in particular, were just in the right place at the right time and the next generation probably isn't going to hit as hard due to people having other options.

I don't think there is room for 3 consoles to fully succeed again. That last gen was a one-off mix of circumstances. But whoever survives should be ok. And mobile gaming I don't think is taking as much away from AAA as is being suggested. AAA by definition is supposed to be the top tier of gaming driven by technology and that technology (bar pc which as a result is seeing a rejuvenation) is the oldest it's ever been in the history of games.

Consoles are locked to bedrooms/lounges so anything 'on the go' is complementary rather than direct competition. I don't know how big the population is of those who want to play a mobile game for hours at home & who would previously have bought a console.. but now won't.

I can see the middle tier of games being hurt but generally those games have been relatively overpriced (at launch) and under par for a long time.

[the dmg]

Originally Posted by Spidey-Bat

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

Originally Posted by Soapy

Nintendo always makes money on their hardware. It will be a success in that regard no matter what. But I don't think the Wii U will be anywhere near as successful as the Wii in terms of pure sales numbers and mainstream adoption. I think Nintendo will be lucky if the Wii U sells more than 40 million units in its lifetime.

For the most part the same thing goes for Orbis and Durango as well. There's an ongoing massive shift in the video game industry and in the audience for games, and I don't think it will favor consoles and AAA gaming.

Wii was in the right place at the right time, and that won't happen again any time soon. That goes for all the consoles. I'm thinking most consoles will hit around 60 million tops.

Originally Posted by Benstamania

Ok, we'll year I agree with you there. It's also why I don't think the next generation is going to be expensive.

1.) People do have other options now... And console developers know this.

2.) The WiiU launched at 350..Kind of setting a price point that people will expect. I know the next gen will probably be more powerful.. But Microsoft and especially Sony can't afford people going with Nintendo again over their system.

3.) Part of me expects a WiiU price drop by Summer. Maybe not but Nintendo will take drastic measures to get sales where they want them... Even taking more of a loss. Look at how it worked for the 3DS.

4.) The Steambox. I fully believe that this thing will be a home console game changer... More so if it does have the ability to upgrade the memory and graphics card. I originally thought it would affect PC's more but now I know it won't. I really think the big Three have a new challenger in the home gaming market... More so if Valve does what they normally do and price low.

Plus the other factors of a financial crisis that people weren't in when Wii and the other consoles launch.

I think if Steambox becomes marginally successful, it will mean good things for the home console ecosystem.

Originally Posted by Iceman

I don't think there is room for 3 consoles to fully succeed again. That last gen was a one-off mix of circumstances. But whoever survives should be ok. And mobile gaming I don't think is taking as much away from AAA as is being suggested. AAA by definition is supposed to be the top tier of gaming driven by technology and that technology (bar pc which as a result is seeing a rejuvenation) is the oldest it's ever been in the history of games.

Consoles are locked to bedrooms/lounges so anything 'on the go' is complementary rather than direct competition. I don't know how big the population is of those who want to play a mobile game for hours at home & who would previously have bought a console.. but now won't.

I can see the middle tier of games being hurt but generally those games have been relatively overpriced (at launch) and under par for a long time.

That's why I think Nintendo went in this direction with the GamePad, and not to necessarily capitalize on the tablet craze. With the GamePad for a lot of games, you can take your experience away from the screen, and the apps that it does have or will have available will make it so that you pick up the GamePad instead of other devices. It's trying to do all this to sustain itself against some of those threats, but who knows if that kind of integration will work down the road.

I'm not sure if they'll release an app for it in the US, but in Japan there's an online food order app similar to GrubHub available on the Wii U.

[terry78]

Lord, the food app we don't need over here.

[the dmg]

Originally Posted by terry78

Lord, the food app we don't need over here.

I agree to an extent, but I like the idea of having to just hit the Home button then open up a food app, order, and then get right back into the game without having to use my phone or computer to do that., as it was shown in that Japanese Wii U preview before the console released.

[Soapy]

Originally Posted by Benstamania

3.) Part of me expects a WiiU price drop by Summer. Maybe not but Nintendo will take drastic measures to get sales where they want them... Even taking more of a loss. Look at how it worked for the 3DS.

I think there will be a price drop, but it will be announced at or around E3. You have to remember that the crazy price drop on 3DS (as well as the ambassador program, don't forget that) was fueled not only by low sales, but by there being a serious software drought from launch until the next holiday season. That's not really a problem with the Wii U as far as I can see.

4.) The Steambox. I fully believe that this thing will be a home console game changer... More so if it does have the ability to upgrade the memory and graphics card. I originally thought it would affect PC's more but now I know it won't. I really think the big Three have a new challenger in the home gaming market... More so if Valve does what they normally do and price low.

I don't think the Steam Box will be as big a deal as some of us are hoping, but I do think it will be the first step of something big for Valve and the gaming industry. Also, I think the Steam Box will be more expensive than you would like, but keep in mind that there will be a variety of Steam Boxes out there.

Originally Posted by Iceman

Consoles are locked to bedrooms/lounges so anything 'on the go' is complementary rather than direct competition. I don't know how big the population is of those who want to play a mobile game for hours at home & who would previously have bought a console.. but now won't.

I'm not saying the people I was referring to are playing mobile games for hours on end in lieu of consoles, I'm saying that those people never played games for hours on end and that's why they're choosing mobile games over console games.

[Iceman]

Originally Posted by Soapy

I'm not saying the people I was referring to are playing mobile games for hours on end in lieu of consoles, I'm saying that those people never played games for hours on end and that's why they're choosing mobile games over console games.

Oh yeah, I wasn't saying you were saying that.. was agreeing with you. What I am saying though is that many of those people didn't both buy consoles previously AND won't buy one now. Or at least the number of people who fit all 3 of those categories will be not as large as expected. I think most of these people are additional assets for games companies to tap and they will also get back most traditional console gamers once the new gen is a year or 2 deep. Mobile games dominate the moment someone steps out of the house but when at home I think TV, films, PC (including facebook I guess) games & internet surfing are bigger competitors for a potential casual console gamer's time.

So the rise of mobile I see as coincidental rather than the driver of the decline of console retail games. We've never been this deep into a console generation before and I'd wager all the earlier generations would have seen a similar decline if they had gone on this long.

[FVD]

Finally picked one up and so far am playing Assassin's Creed III and NSMBU. I do hope the new Tomb Raider and GTAV will make their way onto this console later as well.

[Matt Mortem]

So it looks like I'm finally getting my Wii U this month. The issue I'm having is what games do I buy? The only one that looks appealing is New Super Mario Bros U.

[Soapy]

You don't want to wait a bit to see if they announce a price drop at E3 or GDC?

[Benstamania]

Unless early adopters get a grandfather thing like the 3DS..Free games and whatnot.

[Matt Mortem]

Originally Posted by Soapy

You don't want to wait a bit to see if they announce a price drop at E3 or GDC?

A price drop seems unlikely as Iwata said they're pretty much selling the Wii U at a loss. Besides, I won't have the money for it this summer. I don't have discipline enough to not blow it between now and then.

[Iceman]

http://www.examiner.com/article/xbox-720-or-playstation-4-release-date-discovered

BF4 on wii U?

[Matt Mortem]

Just bought the Wii U. I'm waiting on the Gamepad to charge, then I'm off to play. I need to Nintendo to release some damn games now. I hope Pikmin 3 comes out next month.

[Duke]

So far for the WiiU, I only have Nintendo Land, along with some other Wii games.

[Benstamania]

Developers are really ticking me off with being afraid of this system. Seriously.

Ray man shouldn't have been delayed... It should have released now on the WiiU then ported to other systems in September... Now I find out that Aliens Colonial Marines... Which the WiiU is the lead platform, is also delayed.

Annoying.

[8Diagrams(WU)]

Originally Posted by terry78

Frankly a really good Zelda or Metroid game would keep people satiated for a minute.

You got it. Basically nintendo needs a radical change of approach from the bottom up. This is their second system release that is short on games that has hurt the sales. You need your mario, metroid, zelda (these need to be announced like yesterday) and others at release date and then bring in the 3rd parties as well. They need to pump out farmore games and that means developing more internally and then still get the 3rd party support. They do have good assets for development like retro studios in Texas but they need to help them expand to make more titles and put a slightly more North American flavour to the system.

Now they have to start aiming at the hardcore crowd exclusively because console gaming for the family and casual gamer does not seem to be sustainable. Their marketing strategy has to change completely. I dont have a WiiU yet but Im hoping to see a metroid prime type game and then Ill jump in. I also would like to say that Ubisoft is run by a douche for pulling that stunt.

[Benstamania]

Yeah, Ubisoft gets a black mark from me now... To the point where I might not even get the game...

[Soapy]

Originally Posted by Benstamania

Developers are really ticking me off with being afraid of this system. Seriously.

Ray man shouldn't have been delayed... It should have released now on the WiiU then ported to other systems in September... Now I find out that Aliens Colonial Marines... Which the WiiU is the lead platform, is also delayed.

Annoying.

I was on NeoGAF a couple days ago and a developer was saying that at a recent event he was hearing that a lot of developers were either thinking about, or already have, cancelled any Wii U projects they were working on.

On one hand, you can't really blame them given the Wii U's sluggish sales. On the other hand, it's a perfectly valid argument to say that maybe if the third parties would just nut up and put out software for it, then the sales will increase. Sort of a "chicken and the egg" scenario.

Personally I think the blame has to fall on Nintendo at the end of the day. I think here recently they've developed a very bad habit of putting out their software prematurely before they have a solid software lineup ready to support it. In the Wii U's case, given all the reports of technical issues, they may have even put it out before the hardware itself was ready.

There is always going to be a contingent of gamers that will buy a new console just because it's the hot new thing, but the vast majority of people aren't going to bite until there are games they want to play. Nintendo needs to learn this, and the need to learn that they can't count on third parties to support their platforms for them.

I think a great way they could tackle this issue is to take the core idea behind the Wii U and take it to its logical conclusion with their next console; make a console/handheld hybrid. A system that you can take with you and play your games wherever and then "beam" the image out to your TV when you're at home. That way they can focus all of their development efforts on the same platform and have a steady stream of great games for it year round.


tl;dr - Nintendo needs to put out more games in a timely manner.

[Matt Mortem]

The extreme lack of games is a problem right now. As I was purchasing my Wii U I was looking for games and none of them look remotely interesting, and the ones that did I have on other platforms. I ended up getting New Super Mario Bros U (which is awesome), but unless some big things happen by April I'm gonna end up regretting this purchase. For me, I choose Nintendo because of it's first party titles. Third parties are usually better on other platforms. I want Mario, Zelda, Pikmin, etc and for Nintendo to not have those availability at launch or even on the horizon is ludicrous.

[Spidey-Bat]

The WiiU's sales haven't been sluggish. It's performed better than the 360 and PS3 during their respective launches. I think the problem you have today is companies don't want to do anything that isn't guaranteed to turn a huge profit. They don't want to create a new IP, make marginal profits, but then turn it into a successful franchise. They just want every game to sell like CoD. Honestly, the industry could use another crash.

[Matt Mortem]

That's true. Hasn't the Wii U sold a few million units?

[Benstamania]

When "next gen" hits and games are 70 bucks the WiiU will pick up major steam...

[Matt Mortem]

Originally Posted by Benstamania

When "next gen" hits and games are 70 bucks the WiiU will pick up major steam...

I think the Wii U will pick up when the games start showing up. I imagine once the big announcements at E3 happen the Wii U might get a little surge. I just want some solid release dates. At the absolute minimum, give me some damn release dates.

[Benstamania]

Oh I agree... It will shine at E3, but I'm serious... When games start selling for 70 bucks (something Game Stop is already preparing for) People will start looking at the WiiU... More so gamers that wrote Nintendo off.

[Matt Mortem]

Originally Posted by Benstamania

Oh I agree... It will shine at E3, but I'm serious... When games start selling for 70 bucks (something Game Stop is already preparing for) People will start looking at the WiiU... More so gamers that wrote Nintendo off.

Definitely. Right now the Wii U is looking kind of sad because the only thing you can compare it to is what's available now. Obviously consoles that have been around 6+ years are going to have more games and more going for it than a console that's been out 3 months. Once the ball gets rolling with the Wii U, I think it's going to really put up a fight. Everything I'm hearing and reading about the new Xbox and PS4 has me leaning more and more on Nintendo. I have extremely high expectations for Nintendo's E3 announcements.

Nintendo really should have had the Virtual Console ready to go right away. At the very least that might have held people over until more stuff came out. Also, I don't know what the reason for the delay was, but Pikmin 3 really should have come out by now.