Can Nintendo save the Wii U?

[Giorgio]

Just two (of course) obvious cents: Software sells hardware. Doomsayers were saying same things for the SNES; Donkey Kong came out; boom.

[Raithos]

The Wii U doesn't need saving if you ask me. It's like a panther waiting in the dark, ready to strike. By this time next year Nintendo will be using Wii U money as toilet paper just from the units sold by the established IPs coming out in the next few months. The Wii U is a great system, lacking games, that will slowly come into its own over time. The next year will bring the games Nintendo fans have been waiting for. But until then, Xenoblade, Sin and Punishment, and Sonic Colors have never looked better (illegal emulation aside) than they do being played on my Wii U. And I cant wait for Sonic Lost World, X and Zelda U.

[mue 26]

I don't understand how Nintendo could let their new console slide into such a dire position. They had the money, clout and experience to do everything right this time around...but they seemingly did everything wrong. Can anyone fathom just what Nintendo's thinking was?

They need to slash the price heavily going into Christmas and start pumping out some much needed marketing. I'm not really sure even that will turn around it's fortunes, because the software is still so lacking, but they really need to start firing all cylinders right now.

I hope the Wii U doesn't go the way of the Cube ultimately did, but I'm not going lie, I seriously worry that the Wii U will never be as appealing to me as the Cube was. It may have been a financial flop in the end, but everything about the Cube and it's software was vintage Nintendo. It was a great console with some stellar games. Right now, Nintendo seem to be making similar planning and managerial errors it made with the Cube, but the Wii U has none of the charm of the little box.

Pikmin looks good though.

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

Its interesting that people see the gamecube as a failure.

Also Pikmin 3 is really really really good, first "real" WiiU game I've bought.

[mue 26]

Well I assume it was a financial failure. It was a great console for gaming though.

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

Well I assume it was a financial failure. It was a great console for gaming though.

Nah, even with them giving money away to developers, buying up studios and not selling a ton of systems they actually sold it at a gain. Plus most of the software that sold well was 1st party stuff. They made out pretty well, they actually were able to post higher/similar profits then Sony's playstation division and Microsoft's xbox division.

The Wiiu is actually in worse shape then the gamecube since like all other consoles its being sold at a loss. Theres a lot of 1st party stuff coming out though, so profitability could be back really quickly.

[Raithos]

Also Pikmin 3 is really really really good, first "real" WiiU game I've bought.

Yeah it looks fun from what I have seen. Comes out here on the 4th so I might pick that one up

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

Well it comes out everywhere in the US on the 4th, I just know how to get around that kinda stuff sometimes.

I've not played much, but its a pretty interesting game because of how good it looks, also interesting how many different type of control it gives you.

[mue 26]

I love Pikmin. So Pikmin 3 plus Earthbound on the Virtual console or whatever is enough to make me vexed at myself for not having a Wii U right now. Also want these Pikmin keyrings http://stars.nintendo-europe.com/?p=1 *sigh*

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

Pikmin 3 is pretty solid man.

[ys]

They need to slash the price heavily going into Christmas and start pumping out some much needed marketing. I'm not really sure even that will turn around it's fortunes, because the software is still so lacking, but they really need to start firing all cylinders right now.

It will be interesting to see what they will do. Considering Ubisoft asked for a price cut earlier to get a bigger user base but Nintendo repeated that they won't do so soon. Even with Ubisoft and some others supporting less because of this (and the console's online component).

Personally, I think that it will be easier to judge after a few big Nintendo titles have been released.
But I guess something didn't go exactly as planned considering Iwata apologized a while ago for the Wii U sales. Plus those rumors of him stepping down/getting fired. Of course, this could just be shareholders expecting too much again, coming from the Wii and its sales.

[mue 26]

Nintendo surely have some kind of plan, and that plan will surely include a price cut (and probably some kind of major re-branding effort). If they don't then I think the Wii-U is dead. Nintendo seem stuck in their own world and in the past too in many ways. In fact, in some ways they seem to actually be regressing in a bizarre manner, this response from Iwata sums it all up

"From some people’s perspective, it might seem like a kind of restriction. However, we hope people can appreciate the fact that we’re selling our products worldwide," Iwata told me, acknowledging that Nintendo has "historically" worked with region-locked systems. "There are many different regions around the world, and each region has its own cultural acceptance and legal restrictions, as well as different age ratings. There are always things that we’re required to do in each different region, which may go counter to the idea that players around the world want the freedom to play whatever they want. "
Iwata noted that the strategy behind regional approaches to hardware and content was something not unique to Nintendo, that it was something the entire industry had to "grapple with" and manage. "I hope that game fans can understand that the industry isn’t doing this solely out of business ego," Iwata said. "There are some reasons behind it."

Wake up Iwata! Region locking in general is now completely idiotic and archaic, over the last generation Sony has pretty much completely abandoned it, while you have actually re-introduced region locking to the worst possible platform for it, handheld portable consoles!! Mentalists.

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

Well lets be fair here, we nearly lived in a world where if you weren't in the country your console was bought it wouldn't turn on. Xbone's original region locking policy was a tad more extreme.

Lets really look at this logically, What was the Xbox One's selling point, they said Tv like a million times. The Wiiu has an app called Tvii, guess what it does, almost everything the Xbox one does in regard to that whole "TV" presentation. During the Playstation 4 reveal they put a lot of time on "sharing" especially when it comes to the games, well functionally the only thing MiiVerse doesn't have that the PS4 does in that regard is video sharing.

The WiiU will have been out for a year before either of those consoles introduces their "next big thing", both are alredy available with the Wiiu.

Game consoles in general are looking at the wrong things to try and sell. Thats why I think they all have a really rough road ahead.

[Bluecast]

Then there are people who ignorantly say how it's too weak a console as it's just on par with 360 or slightly better. When the system can run Final Fantasy XV and the PC version of Watch Dpgs and Direct X 11,UT4.

I remember Eurogamer had no idea what they were talking about to they shit all over the GPU but in reality it's not based on any existing GPU and very custom and very expensive. THe GPU cost about a 100$ to put in.
Neogaf took a took at it with a 2500$ Photo
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=511628

Then a developer said how the GPU is several generations ahead and the CPU is far better than given credit for and far better than 360 and not needing to be optimized for their game.
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/0 ... t_consoles

Be closer to the next Gens PS2 compared to Gamecube/Xbox so be a smaller gap than people think.

[LishaoGPK]

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Nice. If there's one game that's ever even begun to come close to the mysterious atmosphere and epic scale of Shenmue II, it's this game, in my view. Only on Nintendo.