RF Generation Message Board

Honestly, the thought of it being "dead" scares the hell out of me. That being said, is it as bad as everyone is making it out to be? Will games still be released for it? This seriously worries me.

Nintendo will release games for it. I read an article about Nintendo cutting the sales forecast by 70%. It also said the price cut and release of the Mario game didnt sell as many units as they thought it would. Too me it sounds like it is going to be like the N64 again.

But at least the N64 was supported by 3rd parties to an extent :P

I am sure the Wii U will get some third party support. I dont see them getting huge blockbuster third party games. The cost now a days would be hard to justify.

I'm still rotting for it. I think they released it like a year too early and now the games they have planned are being sorely needed right now. The N64 had a problem like this too where it didn't get a good amount of games until a while later.

Hope you meant 'rooting'; The R.U.S.T. (RFGeneration Undead Security Team (TM) ) is currently on paid vacation and not at all involved in a secret mission involving an underground government facility and possible outbreak.  Also they are not hiring at the moment but several positions may soon become available.

Oh, right, the Wii U.  I hope no-one, especially the big N's shareholders, expected another runaway success in line with the Wii and even 3DS.  But sales on the Wii U are undeniably sluggish compared to the company's projected numbers.  I'm honestly more surprised with the sales success of the Xbox One, and slightly surprised at how well the PS4 is selling. 

Calling the undertaker at this point is way too premature; we're not dealing with another Virtual Boy.  My guess is once the price drops down to the magical 199, the Wii U will begin to flourish, though likely to only reach Gamecube-type success.  In a way, the success of XB1 and PS4 will work to Nintendo's advantage; the other two are unlikely to have a price drop because of it, and that leaves the Wii U to drop price and clean house as the less expensive alternative, original GameBoy style.

Despite everyone comparing the Wii U to the other two new systems, I think they're apples and oranges in terms of games and the market itself.  I'm glad I have one, and also glad Nintendo has way too much in its favor to be going away any time soon.  We play the silly thing almost every day, and it would be daily if our kids had a say in it. :D

I bought a Wii U back in September, so I'd really hate to see it go under anytime soon.  There are a few third party games in development for the Wii U right now, but third party development may very well cease if Nintendo doesn't start moving some consoles soon.  I keep hearing talk that Smash Bros. and Mario Kart will be system sellers when they are released later this year, but we'll just have to wait and see.

At any rate, with games like Smash Bros., SMT X Fire Emblem, the Xenoblade followup, and an inevitable new Zelda title coming out sooner or later, there should be plenty to keep Wii U owners satisfied at least for the foreseeable future.

Why are you surprised by that? I agree with you it isnt going away anytime soon. But in years to come with how far they are behind other consoles and phones/tablets eating away at the handheld market Nintendo could be in a world of hurt.

i think it's too early to say, it's just over a year since it came out. the PS3 had very little going for it either in the first year or so, but it surged in popularity and now towards the end of it's life it's getting some amazing titles. i hardly expect the Wii-U to be a juggernaut in sales, but really who did? releasing a year before the other systems was probably it's main mistake, every time a console gets a release window like that it always seems to end badly for it. i really do hope it's like the N64 or Gamecube, and not the Dreamcast.

Way too early to call any Gen-8 console "dead", but I don't see the Wii U becoming a serious threat to the PS4 or XBone, or providing a strong third party library.  The next Zelda will probably boost interest, but if Super Mario 3D World and the NSMBU Bundle didn't meet sales projections, then Mario Kart and SSB won't either.

Price, mainly.  In the current economic climate, I didn't expect a $400 game machine to sell 4.2 million units in such a short time last year, and even though its behind, I certainly didn't see the XB1 moving 3 million so fast either.  I didn't think they would fail or anything, but those are impressive numbers to me, especially since there are no 'Halo' or 'Gran Turismo' caliber exclusives to move systems yet.

By the end of this year, Nintendo will have already release all of their big guns (Mario 2d and 3d are already available) : Zelda, Donkey Kong Country, Smash Bros, Mario Kart and certainly a new version of Animal Crossing will be out sometime this fall or early next year. I'm sure they will move some millions of Wii U's, but GameCube had them all (except DKC) and ended selling just around 20 million units, not counting the fact that it had better 3rd party support.

So, if during the next E3, Nintendo is not able to show a truly innovative experience (hardware or software), that generates a lot of buzz for Wii U, the way Wii Remote, Wii Sports and Super Mario 64 did during their time, my answer would be…probably.

I am not surprised at all. Hell I know one guy that bought 7 Xbox One's. Is the Wii U consider part of the Ps2 and XB1 generation? Seems to me it is Xbox 360 and PS3 generation. Seems like it came out 45 years too late not 1 year early.

Of course, there will be exceptions, but a person buying half a dozen $500 systems is not the average consumer, even in the video game market.  I'm a big fan of the 360's LAN capabilities and own several systems for our network, but I had to do it slowly and at discounts for each system.  Even then, you and I are definitely in the minority for owning so many 360s and we represent a niche market.

In our store, when it comes to XB1/PS4, I'd say of those who ask about them, about 40% are not terribly interested in either at this point, 50% are interested in one or both but cannot afford it, and only about 10% already have one or the other.

When it comes to the Wii U, I'd say 20% have little or no idea what it is, 30% want one but are waiting for a price drop/more games, 30% have no desire to get one, and 20% have one.  Interestingly, I don't tend to hear stories from people who own one but don't like it, the folks who don't want one always mention their disappointment in the Wii, and for the folks who don't know much about it either think it's an add on for the Wii or have never heard of it at all.

Oh I know he isn't the norm. Even in achievement circles he is extreme. Other than people on this site I only know one person that has a Wii U. He only has it for his kids.

Dead? I don't think so. In the words of Public Enemy: Don't believe the Hype.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/01/eas_peter_moore_states_that_nintendos_a_great_partner_in_reaction_to_claims_of_dead_relationship

Just thought this thread was perfect for this. How is EA and Nintendo's relationship anything but dead? EA have released 1 Wii U and 1 3DS game in the last 12 months. What the hell is Peter Moore on?

Unfortunately "The Hype" is what kept Nintendo a float with the Wii.

Wii Sports any one?
I have played shit 3rd party Kinect games that were more involved than that was. And i spent probably 100 hours with Wii Fit.

There is the new Wii Fit U or whatever that is called. Curious to see if that snags a new market segment but i doubt it.

Someone already mentioned that the Wii U is still only a little over a year old so it's much too soon to predict the console's future.

One thing is certain though, the 3DS is doing very well for Nintendo. If anything, Nintendo might shift gears and focus on their handheld.

If they were wise they would find a way to merge handheld and console. But who knows what will happen.

He is on wanting to make money.

What they need to do is let me play my ds and 3ds games on my tv through the goddam wiiu controller. THAT would sell systems. Even if the 3ds games weren't in 3d.

I think it boils down to how long Nintendo is willing to wait for sales to increase.  Both the N64 and Gamecube didn't get off to as bad of a start as the Wii U, so it's hard to draw that comparison.  With the exception of Nintendo's handheld success, the closest similarity is to the path the Dreamcast trod.

The marketing for the WiiU was awful. As someone only hearing about it through the grapevine and not actively reading about it, I didn't even know it was a system, much less a 'next-gen' (haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa) one. I honestly thought it was a Wii add-on until fairly recently.

Nintendo is looking like it will go the way of SEGA, although honestly there are probably not going to be any more generations of gaming consoles as we think of them after this one anyways.

Streaming will take over. If Nintendo was smart they'd develop a cheap roku like device to grab an early share in that market. Can only hope they can freaking name it so that it sells.

As long as Nintendo keeps being successful from handhelds, pretty unlikely they will die.

They won't die, not for a long time, but they may have to retreat to becoming solely a game developer for other systems if they can't provide anything anyone wants in the home console market. They've been very innovative with their last few consoles, but they don't really seem to base these innovations on what the consumer is looking for. They've just been surviving on nostalgia and, as Terzi said, niche things like WiiFit taking off.

And we've had this discussion before, handhelds aren't any longer for this world than consoles. It would be a huge mistake for them to retreat to just handheld, unless they want to start developing tablets and smartphones.

From a financial standpoint if anyone exits the console business next, it's Sony.

I'll drop this right here, this is an article posted last year when they also posted losses.

http://playeressence.com/microsoft-and-sony-are-closer-to-going-third-party-than-nintendo-lets-get-the-facts-straight/

It will be a very long time before Nintendo is in financial jeopardy. The numbers tell the story. And we have all seen Nintendo consoles slump in sales before, GCN, N64 anyone? Will Nintendo bring it back, who knows? At the end of the day, the Wii U isn't dead. All I hope is that the company learns from their mistakes and come back with something every gamer can't resist. But with 3DS printing money, the company isn't going anywhere. But I hope the Wii U has made the picture clearer for Nintendo, the Wii was lightning in a bottle. It wasn't going to strike twice for them. Nintendo said they have a different business model that needs to be put in place. 2014 should be interesting to see just what they have planned.

Yeah, everybody wants Nintendo to go the way of Sega but they've all forgotten why Sega abandoned its hardware business (except the arcade side, which has actually been profitable for them throughout all of their console woes). Everything Sega tried after the Genesis was a massive financial failure, the CD lost money, the 32X flopped, the Saturn was only relevant for a couple of years in Japan only and lost money everywhere else, the Dreamcast was promising but too easy to pirate. All their handhelds sold like moldy bread too. Sega had no money, not a single dime to its name when it went software only.

Nintendo is sitting on a mountain of cash, the 3DS is doing a respectable job of offsetting losses. The Wii and DS were literally money factories for them, the Gamecube was profitable even if it was completely crushed in sales by the PS2, the N64 was also profitable even though it was manhandled by the PS1 on sales charts. Nintendo's stock price has already rebounded to the price it was at before this announcement, which is a result of this track record. Nintendo made the mistake of trying to chase after the casual market once again, but their marketing is not focused on the product, only on trying to persuade the public with Nintendo's family friendly image. This worked for the Wii, but is not working for the WiiU.

Let's take a look at the competition now. Microsoft's Xbox business has been bleeding money since day 1, and has lead to quite a few higher ups that have been clamoring for them to sell their console business off. These voices have not quite been the majority, but these decisions made in the stock room are based on financials, we might think of this as a group of evil rich men, but they're just trying to protect their investments and themselves. Losing money to the ether does nobody any good. The recent youtube marketing fiasco is not doing anybody any favors here, and could land some people (albeit outside of Microsoft) in hot water, leaving the Xbox as a tarnished brand name.

On the flip side the Playstation brand has been one of Sony's strong points since they got into the business. The meteoric rise of the first Playstation was an industry wide phenomenon, it came at a time when people thought Nintendo could not be beaten. Sega tried, and were neck and neck in North America, but lost worldwide at the end of the 16 bit era. Nintendo sat on its laurels with the N64, waited too long, and the PS1 firmly entrenched itself as the Nintendo slayer. This continued with the PS2, with both consoles selling well over 100 million. Its easy to see why Sony loves its Playstation brand. Even the weak PS3's start came with a strong finish of over 80 million just as the PS4 launched. The rest of Sony's businesses just seem to lose money though, so when the PS3 was losing a lot of money the company as a whole lost a mindnumbing amount of money.

Bingo

i agree with link and psycho, i would think unless things went really downhill for a long time with nintendo it'll probably be sony or microsoft that drops out first. both of them have massive empires outside of video games, they really don't need to be in this business to survive. nintendo has nothing but video games (that i know of, even if they have much else they're only well known for gaming). i feel like that would make them more likely to hold on until the bitter end, and more likely to adapt to try and fix their problems instead of running at the first sign of trouble.

I guess I'll weigh in on this again.

In addition to my "to early to tell what Nintendo's future is" point I will say that I don't think the Wii U is dead and Nintendo won't fail or flop in the games industry. Give the Wii U some time and we'll see more clearly what lie ahead. After Bioneta 2 and X (or whatever is ends up being called) people will being very excited about Nintendo again. If a new Zelda game with a new story comes out this topic will be less popular.

I think it's a bit unfortunate that Nintendo isn't targeting older demographics more. So it's cool and fun to call the Wii U a kiddie console. The conversation extends to calling Nintendo irrelevant in a gaming scene with guns, violence, explosions and fast cars.

Michael Pachter, who seems to like to trash talk Nintendo, is a sensationalist. I don't know why how he's a credible industry analyst.

I hope it does not die out any time soon.  Although I don't play it much.  My kids love it.  They love Disney infinity, New Super Mario Bros./Luigi Bros., and 3D world.  Hopefully Nintendo can continue to make Mario/Luigi/Wario/Princess type games and also put out a Zelda game for the Wii U.  It's definitely not going to attract the "GAMER" crowd, like PS4 and Xbox One.  But for the casual gamer it is worth buying at the 249.99 with the Mario/Luigi pack in.

I had to pay over AU$400 for mine :( .

BTW people comparing the Wii U to the Dreamcast or Saturn really need to stop.  The only real comparison is that EA have disavowed both consoles at some stage.

i compare it because of it being released a year before anything else and doing poorly compared to the competition :P didn't know about the EA thing for the dreamcast. but i don't really believe it'll go that route, i just think that's the closest comparison at the moment when trying to compare it to something in the past.

Just read a great article about how Nintendo's poor communication to consumers and developers has hurt the Wii U.

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/HugoSmits/20140127/209411/Shut_up_Nothing_is_wrong_with_Nintendo_WiiU.php

The gist is that when the Wii U was announced no one knew if this was an add-on for the Wii or a new console, and consumers are confused by all the various DS iterations. Opinions on how Nintendo can reinvigorate the system are offered too.

As cool as some of the models of Nintendo handheld are they would probably do a lot better just sticking to one option. Lots of data shows that people like having options, but are significantly more likely to buy something if very few options are available to them.

Nice to know you've done your research, Crabby. It's something that seems counter-intuitive, but holds true - more options is likely to attract more attention, but less options = more purchases.

Its important for me to know this stuff now so that I can manipulate people into sales...... MWA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

;)

Reshelling the consoles isn't a real problem. There are plenty of non-collectors who will repurchase a system to get the new hotness or that cool new design.

Having a standard, XLite, Lite, XL, XXL, and neutered version of every system definitely seems more problematic. And as that has been the trend in the past i suppose i could see where there might have been some consumer confusion. But seriously i don't understand how they feel there was enough level of confusion to cause that kind of major impact...

It sounds like people assume that all the people who would/should have bought a Wii U but didn't were so inept that over the last 1.5-2 years they were never able to figure out that it was a brand new system and not some redesign.

Will this help?

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/library/events/140130/02.html


DS games on the Virtual Console. I've seen people talking about this on multiple forums and discussing it on various podcasts forever.

HT:neogaf

The only thing that blew me away from their announcements, is that they are finally working on seperating the Nintendo Network accounts from being tied to a system. I am hoping this opens up the opportunity for cross buy games on VC/eShop.

http://games.yahoo.com/news/nintendo-boss-halve-pay-profit-dives-104753497.html

Having worked in retail, I can confirm this.  I can't count how many times people asked me what the Wii U did that their current Wii didn't, and which 3D games would play on the DS.  Nintendo made a huge mistake by naming the Wii U and 3DS so incredibly similar to their predecessors; many customers assumed they were minor updates like usual.  By redesigning the DS model 3 times, many consumers assumed the 3DS was simply another revision.  The same goes for Wii U.  It looks similar, it plays Wii games, and it even uses Wii remotes and nunchucks.  Nintendo needs to do a much better job of differentiating their products and conveying to customers how much they "need" a NEW generation of hardware, not simply a revision of something they already own.

As unimaginative as Sony's PlayStation(insert number here) naming scheme is, it conveys to the customer that it is a new generation of hardware.  The "Slim" and "SuperSlim" monikers also clearly identify it as a simple revision.

I see the Microsoft situation a little differently.  Although I think the Xbox One name is confusing for those who owned and remembered the Xbox, Microsoft has been doing a pretty effective marketing campaign advertising the benefits and the "need" consumers have for this all-in-one entertainment center.  If Nintendo can follow a similar page to Microsoft and focus on letting the consumer know that the Wii U is a brand new, next generation machine, sales should increase.  Although they've had pretty disappointing sales numbers, it has only been just over a year since launch.  I don't see Nintendo achieving Wii sales numbers, but they're certainly capable of surpassing the GameCube.

Doing things right.

Also doing things right here:
http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=221453
But that is ANOTHER drop in support from a major 3rd party player. Even if it seems minor.

Yes.

So that's why your shelves are full of different games, but only copies of Silent Service are actually for sale.

If I had several Silent Services I'd be retired on a beach somewhere

I should make a bunch of generic looking arcade cabinets. When somebody walks up to it they have to press a button to turn the screen on. When its done fading in they would see the title screen of Silent Service. They would laugh it off at first and shake their head before going to the next cabinet and turning the screen on. Same title screen. All of these machines are just CRTs with an NES hooked up and Silent Service in the system.

That would be pretty expensive though, what with the price of those carts.

We'll need a kickstarter for that.  I'm sure we could raise the $30,000 necessary for a Silent Service arcade.