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Wii U


deanb
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28 members have voted

  1. 1. Buying a Wii U?

    • Pre-ordered/will buy before launch
    • I'm waiting for a specific franchise announcement
    • Will buy it when cheaper
    • Probably not buying
    • Definitely not buying
    • Flipping it


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What gets me is they must have known for many years that the wii u would be coming out with the gamepad so I don't know why they couldn't have completed a lot of the development of these games and just had the tweaking/optimising for when the specs were finalised. Nintendo is supposed to be famous for the way its hardware and software work together so why weren't they developed in tandem?

 

It just seems like the hardware department was locked in a room and when they were finished they dropped one on the software department's desk. Even the OS isn't optimised properly :/

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Skyward Sword wasn't that long ago, and the way I see games I also see animated shows. I mean, c'mon, you get some actors to yammer into a microphone while all the South Koreans work day and night drawing the frames.

 

I GIVE IT ONE YEAR!

 

But seriously, these major titles take both time and effort. Maybe if the Zelda team jumped right aboard Wii U dev kits after Skyward Sword hit store shelves we could be seeing more footage, but human beings have to breath (as long as we're not cyborgs before 2018).

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Aaaaand Smash Bros Wii U to be shown at E3.

 

I still don't think these announcements were earth-shattering or anything, but they have reassured me about my Wii U purchase. I was on the brink of regretting it. The only thing I'd really still like to see would be DS games on the eShop.

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Skyward Sword wasn't that long ago, and the way I see games I also see animated shows. I mean, c'mon, you get some actors to yammer into a microphone while all the South Koreans work day and night drawing the frames.

 

I GIVE IT ONE YEAR!

 

But seriously, these major titles take both time and effort. Maybe if the Zelda team jumped right aboard Wii U dev kits after Skyward Sword hit store shelves we could be seeing more footage, but human beings have to breath (as long as we're not cyborgs before 2018).

 

I just really want Zelda to get out of this end of console-cycle pattern they're in with Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. While I loved Skyward Sword, the lacklustre response it got was at least partly because of it being released on a system people had moved on from. If they can have the new game out holiday 2014, that'd be ideal... Three year turnaround is fairly reasonable for most developers (except Team Ico!).

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That goddamn tablet has so much potential, off-TV play is the greatest thing ever, if only there were more games to play on it.

 

Re: Team Ico: The Last Guardian was one of the reasons I bought a PS3 two years ago. Take that, me.

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I think it's fairly universal among Nintendo games, at least so far.

 

What I'm worried about is that they might focus too much on trying to create games that use both the tablet and the TV as an integral part of the experience, thereby making it impossible to play on just the tablet.

 

If I can't play Wind Waker HD on the tablet alone I'm going to be seriously disappointed.

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http://gamasutra.com/view/news/185684/Nintendo_cuts_Wii_U_3DS_sales_projections_for_full_fiscal_year.php#.UQmx6b9EHuw

 

According to this, they're raising their previous expectations of 6 billion yen to 14 billion because of foreign currency exchange gains. It has also been rumored that some of their handheld devices, in fact, print money. I've yet to see confirmation.

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  • 2 weeks later...

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2013/02/08/activision-disappointed-by-wii-u-launch/

Activision not doing well form the Wii U launch

 

http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/the-wii-us-short-term-success-is-in-jeopardy-and-its-all-raymans-fault

And there's this whole load of stuff brought about by delaying Rayman Legends for Wii U (the version of which is currently made) so that they can do a multi-plat in September. And this is Ubisoft too, and they've generally been one of Nintendo's closest third party studios.

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I understand Ubisoft's decision to make Rayman Legends multiplatform, though I am disappointed as I think it would have helped to sell Wii Us, which it unfortunately needs help with.

 

What I don't understand is why they had to delay the Wii U launch to make it simultaneous with the PS3/360? I actually think it will lower sales. Wii U owners are starved of games at the moment, so people who are only really on the fence would have bought it just to have something to play. Waiting to the end of the year there will be more games, so less keen buyers can look elsewhere. There will also be all the noise of the new sony and MS consoles so he game is going to end up being a blip on the radar when it comes in september.

 

I'm kind of annoyed if I think about it.

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I'm gonna guess a split marketing campaign? Marketing is a major expense for games these days and if the cost of marketing to Wii U is the split second it takes to say "and Wii U" that's a hell of a lot less than an entirely dedicated marketing campaign purely for Wii U, then getting the engine going all over again in September.

 

And yeah the Wii U needs it. That was for Nintendo to have resolved by now, but they're hardly top of the list when you go "platform makers with good third party relations".

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They'd already built a lot of momentum which they've now lost, and will not get it back in septemeber when new consoles and the xmas AAA games will be centre stage. Anyway, if the marketing for origins was anything to go by I could have subbed them by sticking my had down the back of my sofa.

 

Everyone was saying Nintendo have improved third party relations a lot, but you never know how much of that is hot air as everyone seems really positive before consoles come out and then mess them over and blame them for any of their own failings.

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Nintendo don't get it. They're running very close to going the same way as Sega. They got lucky with the Wii otherwise they would already be a software / handheld only outfit by now.

 

Instead of gimmicks like second screens, that value of which is incredibly hard to communicate to a casual audience, Nintendo should have focussed on getting their online right. The main reason MS stole a tonne of market share from Sony and took the lead was that they got online so right. It took Sony about half of the PS3 life cycle to catch up and now the PSN and XBL are pretty much on par. Nintendo's offering on the other hand is still an ugly mix of friend codes and gamertags, their online store is no where near as well supported or marketed as PSN or XBL and they have openly stated they "Don't believe in the cloud."

 

On top of that, their third party support is pretty woeful. Leading up to the launch of the Wii U a lot of developers still did not know exactly how online would work.

 

Finally, Nintendo don't even know how to sell the thing. Calling it a Wii U was a big misstep. The average consumer does not know that this is a new console. A lot of them think it is just the new gamepad. Calling it the Wii 2 would have established it as a new console. Calling it something altogether different would have too. People don't associate "U" with any form of progression. That's what numbers are for. The advertising for it is terrible. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=choXYYvjMMY#! You don't actually list features in an advert. That's dumb.

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Finally, Nintendo don't even know how to sell the thing. Calling it a Wii U was a big misstep. The average consumer does not know that this is a new console. A lot of them think it is just the new gamepad. Calling it the Wii 2 would have established it as a new console. Calling it something altogether different would have too. People don't associate "U" with any form of progression. That's what numbers are for. The advertising for it is terrible. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=choXYYvjMMY#! You don't actually list features in an advert. That's dumb.

Yeah, I seem to recall having this conversation over and over again since the Wii U was announced. You'd think someone from Nintendo would have noticed the confusion in the year and a half between the announcement and the release. Nintendo really doesn't know what it's doing.
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Their branding department needs to be fired. You can forgive the 3DS but the WiiU as well. The names are definitely not different enough for consumers to understand the difference. Repeated mistakes obviously mean it's whoever is in charge of internal branding. You don't need numbers, you could just call it the SuperWii or something like that (though SuperWii XD).

 

Regardless I own one and all i really use it for is the occasional doodling. But I wanted to own the platform and I do and I don't regret it. I know it's going to be abysmal support but I don't have a Wii anymore so it's fine by me.

 

Problem that Nintendo misses is actually an important issue. Japan is the land of handhelds and the RoW is primarily a home console based world (or PC in some markets). The 3DS underperforming in the west is fine so long as it pulls incredible sales in Japan. On the other hand homeconsoles do better in the rest of the world than Japan, particularly these days so if the WiiU isn't performing well here then they need to make games that do well. I mean take a look the 3DS sold more than the PS3 in Japan last year (in a year that it's not doing bad) gives an indication where their market goes. PSP and DS did better than their counterparts on the home console space. Generally in the RoW it's the other way around and a home console doing handheld numbers isn't good. In fact it's downright awful. They need to strategize products appropriately. You don't have a catch all scenario these days. You need to identify markets and sell products appropriately. Yes the world is ready for a new console, despite the PC market and the WiiU failed to capitalise on it. There is a demand for something new in an economy that's convalescing - Nintendo just didn't deliver that product.

 

I doubt they'll go the Sega way that soon but they'll be relegated to something a lot smaller at this rate.

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Wii Street U (great name!) is available for free download but will be chargeable in the future so get it while the getting's good as I doubt it is anything you would want to pay for.

 

Also, Tank! Tank! Tank! is now a free download for the basic version with the limitation I think that you can play it three times a day. From the reviews that is probably more than enough but it's supposed to be good enough fun as a party game.

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