How are you feeling about the Wii U future

[RCM]

I own the Zelda edition Wii U and generally like the system. If you enjoy the narrow selection of software (stuff from Nintendo, Sega, Platinum) you'll probably be OK with the system, but Wii U will more than likely go down as a failure in the eyes of the public. Nintendo heavily benefited from the success of Wii and did well in the short term, but there were serious cracks showing up early on in the Wii's cycle that Nintendo failed to correct (such as their third party problem). Then they released a largely unnecessary and underpowered successor to Wii that everyone knew was dead in the water. The success of Mario Kart 8 is an anomaly that sold more to the preexisting base vs. new customers.

[retroman]

I am happy with mine, and not worried at all. Same song and dance we all have heard before. Heard it with the N64, and that was a great system. Then we heard it with the Gamecube, and that turned out ok as well.

[Gamevet]

Personally, I like the WiiU better than the PS4 or the Xbox One.
Not sure how it will do. Sales seem to be slow. No one ever asks for it at my store.

Nintendo is long overdue for the next NEW blockbuster title. You can't just hash the same games over and over. No matter how good the next installment of Mario Kart 32,Pokemon 54a and 54b or Super Smash Bros 27 might be it gets old.

I'm pretty much burned out on platformers. I've played that style of game for nearly 30 years and really don't have a lot of want to continue playing them on a regular basis. I have no desire to play Tropical Freeze, the latest installments of Super Mario Bros. or Rayman Legends. I'd be more interested in the Wii U if it had a new version of Pilot Wings, Wave Race, Star Fox and F-Zero. Star Fox is coming out, but I need more than that one title to even consider dropping $300 on a Wii U.

I've held back on buying a PS4 or Xbox One, because most of the titles on those consoles can be played on my PC. I have no doubts that I will eventually get one of those consoles within the next year though, because I know that the 3rd party titles will eventually start flowing for those systems by this fall.

[frogofdeath]

Just reiterating what has already been mentioned, but the price is what is keeping me from purchasing a WiiU. Get it down to that magical $200 mark, with game, and I'd probably take the plunge. There are plenty of games, already out and in the near future, that hold my interest but the console price is still a deterrent.

[Richter Belmount]

The death of wii u has been greatly exaggerated. Alot of the people who like to say the Wii u is doomed are the people who don't understand video games. All of those people are the people who only see the quick turn around for mobile games and call of duty , they are all about a quick turn around selling and buying shares for game companies. Shareholders dont want to stick with Nintendo because they dont see the fast turn around like you would see at the other game companies like ubisoft , activision and EA , but betting against Nintendo is stupid because they do have all the franchises and properties that do make money they just take longer to develop like any other higher quality game should , they always prove themselves when their innovations when they do pay off and with their dominating portable market. Nintendo is always all about the long term but they earn the ire of fly by night shareholders. Its prob best Nintendo keeps playing smart than listen to their shareholders...

Quote of a Nintendo Stock Holder at Share holders meeting. (they really dont understand games..)
''Q9: I don't know about games, and don't care about game-related questions, but your shareholders haven't said anything about the stock price dropping. What kind of a shareholder meeting is this? Tell me about the business administration. (audience applause)
A9: Thank you for your pointed opinion. Shareholder meetings are for us to communicate with shareholders. It's important for shareholders to know what we as a company are doing, and what kind of entertainment we are providing.''

This my own theory and I guess their is some half truths there considering Miyamoto himself said thought the Wii U wasnt doing to well , but I like to think that the industry all around isnt doing to hot in sales , business is just down at the moment but I still feel Nintendo is at a advantageous time. They kicked ass at E3 , the sales are a bit up from Mario Kart 8 , they have money in the bank for any down times and have some of the most anticipated titles for the holiday season. Business is down all around and other companies dont have much to offer atm but Nintendo has plenty to offer.

[Tanooki]

Well I don't feel it's doomed, as it they won't just pull the rug out from under it. My beef is the lack of non-Nintendo made games to give the system variety, more shelf real estate at retail, and in general any form of respect from the dicks in the media and the trolling game producers who go on file saying really dumb crap instead of keeping it to themselves.

I don't hate it, hell compared to the Wii I love it, but all the downing on it has wrecked my motivation to turn it on much at all along with the lack of something I want to play on it. I've got a few games I need to finish but I always get side tracked. I'm hoping Bayonetta 1/2 among a few others turn out solid as that would be helpful. You're right, part of the problem is the me me entitlement want instant gratification crowd which Nintendo has not shot for really much at all and third parties are those kinds of fools that go in hard, fast and expensive and want it back fast, not wanting it back over a year. You're right the industry on the whole isn't doing really well and hasn't for awhile, it's more and more volatile due to their dumb fascination with hollywood sized budgets and trying to cash in as fast as movies at the theater do as well, they just don't plan to make that dough over a year or even six months, and they shoot way large and tend to try and play it safe leaving a lot of creativity overlooked or forced into the digital rental(download) format. Nintendo is doing fine at the moment, thanks to Mario Kart 8, but when you compare it against the multiconsole tripe that Sony and MS gets, it's the same kind of scale of sales and profit that comes in bursts with an expected huge seller. You'll get the boom in console and game sales around those, just like you do at a system launch mostly, but overall things have been stinking for a few years now if you remove those outlier given big safe sellers.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

I just bought 2 wii u's, one for me and one for my nephew and while I like it a lot, I can already tell that once I get sick of mario kart this thing is going to be collecting dust as the worlds most expensive paper weight, same as the original wii.


You know what would save the wii u in my eyes? Releasing a 3ds adapter much like the og gameboy player for the gamecube that would let me play upscaled 3ds games on my tv and gamepad. That by itself would justify the 300 I spent/threw away for me. So many great 3ds titles that I will never experience because I don't give a shit about handheld gaming (vita excluded)

[Tanooki]

I would use the WiiU somewhat regularly if you had your wish of the 3DS/2DS adapter device. It would be cool to use the WiiU tablet along with my LED TV while saving the battery of the XL I have.

I can not remember the last time I turned the thing on which saddens me as I do have games unfinished but I just have zero motivation to play it. It has fallen into a valley like the Vita where I loved the hardware but nothing comes out on it I want and it has such a lack of developer support the grimness of the situation demotivates my usage of it to a dust collector. I got a PS4 a couple days ago, and the time alone on Wolfenstein so far (I think around 6 hours~) is more than I've put on the WiiU probably most of the year.

[Gameguy]

You know what would save the wii in my eyes? Releasing a 3ds adapter much like the og gameboy player for the wii u that would let me play upscaled 3ds games on my tv and gamepad. That by itself would justify the 300 I spent/threw away for me. So many great 3ds titles that I will never experience because I don't give a shit about handheld gaming (vita excluded)

There is a type of adapter for the 3DS like that, but it's not from Nintendo and it's very expensive.

http://www.3dsvideocapture.com/product/24

[LaughingMAN.S9]

There is a type of adapter for the 3DS like that, but it's not from Nintendo and it's very expensive.

http://www.3dsvideocapture.com/product/24

Jesus!


Lol I don't think I want it THAT bad

[otaku]

I'll buy one for mario kart alone just like I did the wii everything else is gravy and I got plenty of play out of my wii given how little it cost me I'm sure given nintendos deep pockets and great series it will do just fine.

[PreZZ]

Well, nintendo deserves to crash and burn this generation, this is long overdue... they need to LISTEN to what WE want. No more kiddy branding (wii u, seriously?), good online network, and machine specs on par or better than the competition, good controller design and get rid once and for all of the wiimotes, and no cheesy marketing bullshit like the gamepad, and also put some decent multimedia features like streaming.No more WAGGLING! I own wii u and i do like it occasionally, but i play all my other systems a lot more. Playing fps with the pro controller is terrible, so are driving games with no analog, and when i played mk8 online i was so pissed off by the awful online lobbys and options, the servers were better than this on dreamcast in 2000. If nintendo had released a console as powerful as ps4, i could have all the third party games i want PLUS the first party nintendo games I could live with only one console. Wii u will get sales spike once in a while when they release zelda, smash bros and mario but thats it, people want to invest in a console that kids and parents will like, and sony and ms are doing it.

[Leo_A]

I don't agree that much of that is an issue.

machine specs on par or better than the competition

I don't think they need to compete on horsepower. They tried that with the GameCube and look what good it did, they lost yet again to a brand new competitor for the 2nd generation in a row and dropped to 3rd in the marketplace.

They essentially made it work on the Wii until the couple of years prior to the Wii U when the HDTV revolution finally overwhelmed the Wii and the lack of 1st party releases, Wii's bread and butter, dried up as Nintendo prepared for the Wii U.

I think it would've been foolish to abandon the concept of tailoring their hardware to the level that they felt they needed for their own game visions and return to competing on horsepower to draw away a small minority of the sports, FPS, and GTA crowds. Nintendo's return to prominence needs to be on the merits of what it does that the competition doesn't, not a late last ditch desperate attempt to just copy them.

good online network

Their online infrastructure seems to be fine. Maybe a few enhancements here and there, but it performs well and accomplishes most of what's asked of it. All I really want to see here is an account based DRM solution for DLC.

and get rid once and for all of the wiimotes

Wii remotes as a secondary option are fine. If anything, one should've been packed in to encourage more use of it where appropriate since we're not getting much of anything tailored for it. On the Wii, it was often utilized inappropriately. But it shined in specific areas like arcade style light gun shooters and other limited instances.

But nobody, even Nintendo, seems interested in utilizing it for much more than just an option or to fill out multiplayer with. A consequence I presume of it not being a standard part of the bundle. Despite the ubiquitous nature of the Wii, there is a proportion of Wii U owners that lack a sensor bar and Wii controllers (And I'm sure a decent percentage that does have the equipment, lacks Motion Plus capabilities for all or a portion of their Wii remotes). That knowledge that it's not universal is a deterrent for publishers.

good controller design

The gamepad is fine. They shouldn't of put so much emphasis on the screen as being their innovation for this generation without ideas and games to justify it (I think they rather amateurishly decided to bring their DS innovation to consoles, a feature that really was never what it was cracked up to be that has all but dried up now that the casual segment has moved to their phones), but it's still a fine controller even if the screen is of little use beyond for off-screen play.

Only adjustments I'd make is making the high capacity battery standard and the triggers should've been analog. And it really needs to be sold standalone at stores or at least at Nintendo's own online store. Not for multiplayer, but so it could be replaced by the customer when necessary. It should be on store shelves for about $80 even if Nintendo is taking a loss at that price.

A non-replaceable controller that's integrated into many critical functions (They're slowly patching requirements out, but you still can't do many things like adjusting system settings or hitting the okay prompt after a firmware update without it not to mention a selection of the game lineup also mandates it) is a very bizarre move as far as I'm concerned.

No more kiddy branding (wii u, seriously?)

The branding stunk from day 1, I think. But I know what they were after. They were so desperate to bring that value forward (100 million Wii's, after all) that I think they lost their way and let it strangle their new system rather than benefit it.

Ideally, they should've found a way to continue identifying a line of next gen software tailored for the Wii remote and multiplayer with that brand, but named their system something else. Or at least make it clearer and more obvious that this was their next gen hardware rather than a Wii add-on if they absolutely were convinced that they needed those three letters as part of their system's name.

Even Wii 2 would've been a better name than this.

[Tanooki]

LeoA the gamecube was gimped from the get go despite the guts of it being right for once. They went with a 1.5GB mini-dvd versus a full size DVD player, and they also went with the goofy controller that lacked a vital top button the other two guys offered up too, plus they didn't take online seriously even to the weaker effort Sony did compared to MS. Between the two doing ports (I know this first hand with Defender on Gamecube as it was my last game at Midway) and the storage, kept a lot of titles off the system. Despite that tough the GC got the most third party support past and present since the SNES era which is sad. Sure the Wii bucks that, but it was a disruptive tech that pandered largely to the non-normal gaming audience, and you can't keep disrupting and win, it just doesn't work.

I agree though that Nintendo needs to fail, and fail hard to get hopefully enough sense to get a reality check and do it right the next generation. In another thread on here yesterday stuff came up and I went into a description of why the WiiU is where it is now and all thanks to not third parties one bit but entirely Nintendo. My brother is a producer for Pipeworks (formerly worked for Rockstar, EA, Sega-Sammy, and THQ-Volition and has lots of connections who talk) and third parties approached Nintendo with a slick opportunity along with Sony and MS this generation asking for specific needs for CPU power, GPU capabilities, memory, storage, online capabilities for what they wanted to do over what PS3/360 could handle. Nintendo basically told them off in nice terms basically stating they make hardware around their plans for their games and ideas along with staying within a budget. They had that tablet in the works, they had a $300~ budget to work with at retail to sell for, and to meet those goals with the tablet they could only pull of a moderate boost over the PS3/360 capabilities by using/reusing modified parts while having a CPU that's tricky to code for to eek out more oomph. As a result most third parties told them to fuck off, some others tested the waters with limited support, and others tried and well with effort put to it. Ubisoft/Activision went sloppy with COD and AC3 with older games with framerate/visuals problems, and EA went all in doing boosts of old games or best versions with Most Wanted and sold for crap. EA quit, the others stunted their development and left them with nearly no one left all because of them thumbing the nose at the hardware requests. Had they done it, they had it promised to them to get the games Sony and MS would, all the ports shared between the three and potential for unique stuff too.

Nintendo did themselves in and they and they alone deserve what happens or not with WiiU. Sure the name didn't help with the confusion it causes, but it's the hardware stubbornness and brushing off a free pass on the past to get all the goodies this time. THey know how to handle handhelds quite well, look at the 3DS but for some reason they're brainless and stubborn on consoles. Personally I think Iwata needs to be taken out back and shot, and anyone else lock step with him as they're burying the company under ignorance. Some if not most the board needs to be fired and replaced with people who know what needs to be done before it's too late.

[Leo_A]

LeoA the gamecube was gimped from the get go despite the guts of it being right for once. They went with a 1.5GB mini-dvd versus a full size DVD player, and they also went with the goofy controller that lacked a vital top button the other two guys offered up too, plus they didn't take online seriously even to the weaker effort Sony did compared to MS.

I really doubt that the lack of a shoulder bumper was significant.

And I don't believe that storage was a major issue for the GameCube during the height of that generation back around 2002/2003. The wide variety of 3rd party releases, typically including almost everything that was released to both the PS2 and the Xbox (Along with its share of exclusives and also often being the only other console to receive a project that otherwise would've been exclusive to either the Xbox or the PS2), attest to that.

I'm sure it would've increasingly become a problem and could partially explain why the GameCube seemed to start to fade slightly earlier than the Xbox well in advance of the release of its successor (Despite having sold in similar numbers). But it doesn't really change the point that in many ways, the GameCube represented Nintendo's last attempt to go head to head against the competition in the videogame arms race yet it didn't get anywhere despite capable hardware and strong software support.

And while Nintendo didn't take online seriously and I'm not about to argue that point, it wasn't due to a hardware deficiency. Sure, it would've been nice to see a broadband modem be built in. But the hardware itself was fully capable of online multiplayer. Developers, Nintendo themselves topping the guilty list, simply didn't take advantage of that asset.

Plus, online multiplayer really wasn't a major factor that generation. The Xbox was popularizing it for consoles, but even there, support was rather infrequent and few titles that had it really thrived with a healthy sized online community. And the figures for its subscription base, floating around somewhere at this forum, was just a fraction of its total install base.

Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 are really where it became the norm and was the generation where Nintendo's lackluster online support, despite decent offerings like Mario Kart Wii rather than the near total lack of support the GCN saw, was most evident.

[Tanooki]

It was significant as an excuse for a few people. When it came to Midway and doing Defender, they had initially decided because of the lack of a second L button on top they would just let it go and leave out a function of flight the game is in desperate need of in the later stages of the game to fight correctly, strafing. Being a bit of a sneak because it pissed me off, despite the 'design' being locked into a milestone I went behind their backs and contacted the company we farmed it out to and did something about it. Inspired by a mix of the N64 Starfox and Turok controls I whipped up a design with a painless button combo so that controls would be fully restored and emailed it straight to the developer. They were impressed with it and added it into the game, but due to Midway meddling it ended up as alternative control C (and D where it mirrors, A/B do that too.) I know that some FPS games specifically were not released over the controller as well as some sandbox (gta like) stuff.

I'm not trying to be rude here, don't take it that way, but it's not really what you or anyone buys. I didn't buy it either in that era, kind of blinded with my care for the Big N then far more than I do now, but that's really what happened. The storage issue like the controller was a problem. When you have a large game that needs to pull data from this or that, breaking it over various discs can make it daunting with heaps of wasted space having mirrored data on each disc to function, or they just say fuck it and quit because it can't be done. 1.5GB vs 4.6GB on a disc was a big issue to some and is a reason why you saw some entire genre's almost entirely skipped like RPGs. I know the system itself wasn't deficient with the online, but even with the BBA Nintendo didn't send out proper support or guidance with it to developers and such the support was just not added in. Even after putting it out there they made the thing, they didn't even bother to send out the 'how to' guide on it until it was basically up for sale which is why basically no games supported it. It wasn't a huge thing that generation, but the media wanted people to think it was as did developers which is why you always saw those stories and reviews where developers would bitch abou the Gamecube not having support and reviews of identical games minus multiplayer getting sold 1pt(on a 10pt scale) or worse lower for excluding it, even if the game was superior other than that.) You are right at first the storage issue wasn't much of one because those earlier PS2 and XB games hardly filled the discs and stuff that filled more than what a GC disc could do could easily be compressed (FMVs, audio) nicely without a killer loss on the GC. That's why for the first couple years you saw a lot of ports from developers, some even listed as the 'best version' like Beyond Good and Evil, but in time more and more sequels and new games were dropped for the Cube and the space was the problem along with the controller in some cases. That's as you said just like why you saw more and more of the GC fading away faster than the XB.

The gamecube was the last home console of Nintendo's I really loved and thought had a lot going for it. I didn't even have any intent on buying another system as it kept me busy with all the third party games around their stuff and had it not been for my entry into the industry back in 2001-2 and then the media after that for a stretch it would have stayed that way. I remember all this stuff very well and it was depressing at the time to see it happen but it really did keep games off the system over stuff as simple as a button, the disc size, and the total lack of support or care about online with the BBA.

You got no argument out of me as far as online goes, they have been and stay a generation behind up to date. The PS3/360 era really made it clear with their shitty bound to system pre-Nintendo Network setup where nothing look at an account or tied to anything but hardware and the conversion to that NN setup of theirs made that clear when the lights got flipped off on a heap of DS and Wii games that needed that crap network like Mario Kart. Sure they kind of tried but not really, it was almost like the non-PSN account era of the PS2 with their Final Fantasy game and little else. Then this generation now is like a large step towards the PSN(PS3 era) setup with the Nintendo Network, but still bound to the machines with their ignorance but at least with a unified setup. Yet now Sony and MS are fairly well equals in the PS4/One era because they at Sony learned their lesson. Nintendo still takes online not entirely seriously with that setup since it causes headaches for the end user.

[Leo_A]

I'm not trying to be rude here, don't take it that way, but it's not really what you or anyone buys.

It really doesn't matter if anyone bought into it or didn't, regardless if it was a developer, a publisher, or just a lowly customer. I wasn't putting forth the GameCube as the top console of that generation where its technical capabilities were concerned or was out to ignore its issues. I just suggested that it was very much a legitimate contender technically (Unlike the Wii or Wii U that essentially were a generation out of date with what innovation there was centered around the controllers themselves), yet it still didn't get Nintendo very far.

I think Nintendo screwed up their implementation of it, but I think they had the general idea correct by deciding to go their own way instead of directly competing against Sony and Nintendo. I don't think re-entering the videogame arms race is going to be some magic elixir that will cure their woes.

I almost find it difficult to even picture a way out of this. Folks aren't just buying Xbox and Playstation hardware as a stopgap until the day Nintendo releases the most powerful hardware of its generation, they're still going to have to be won over. I almost think they need to just forget it, release hybrid hardware so all their eggs are in one basket instead of this two front war they're fighting, and relegate themselves to a Nintendo specific platform.

They have enough development resources to provide a steady stream of releases to a single hardware platform and who knows, if it appeals to customers enough, maybe it will naturally change the tide for 3rd party releases. Even if it requires extra effort on their part, 3rd parties ultimately are going to chase their customers.

If those consumers are on a Nintendo system and they want to buy their 3rd party releases there rather than on the Xbox or Playstation, publishers will be left with little choice.

[Tanooki]

I understand that as a consumer you didn't. It was a contender, that's for sure, for awhile it was most definitely. Other than the few issues I listed, it got a good supply of support in stark difference compared to the N64 or the systems since too. It really was in a way Nintendo's last good hurrah of third party gaming which gets kind of overshadowed. It just didn't get them far because of the disc size storage, the lack of the button, and the lack of their willingness to step up to the level at least of what Sony did with their BBA that killed the support. Instead of learning that lesson, they decided to play disruptive tactics and cheapskating with the Wii and then WiiU again and it's causing them a heap of pain once the fun of the Wii disruption wore off. They're now realizing the Wii profits weren't from gamers but families looking for a cheap everybody box to play the pack-in game and little else with because those who did game did buy the WiiU and those who parties family style did not and we wee where that put them.

I think they blew it where you don't on doing their own thing. Implementation is entirely it. Personally I've been saying for a few years now (not here) that what they needed to do was combine their handheld and console R&D and make something as an all in one. I saw a shimmer of it with the WiiU but damn they did it badly. I think if they decided to just support one box, one stand alone system like the 3DS but had in a way like the Neo-GeoX or various Android things where you had a powerful in your hands portable that had a TV support subsystem so you could run it either way, they'd be far better off. Imagine if there was not WiiU sequel in 3 years, but one bitching $300-400 handheld that had a neo-geo-x like TV dock that you could pop it into and use a wiiu pro controller like pad to sit on the couch. An all in one device that uses still perhaps proprietary mini memory cards like 3DS and uses some fairly potent HD level parts. We see doing that on 3DS so far with cheap development costs with high output quality has kept many third parties in love with them on that front, maybe that's their way out if they refuse to match part for part potential on a console. Nintendo needs a find a way to bring non-Nintendo first party only buyer gamers into their fold again and maybe a box like that would do it, and if not that, they need another strategy because their appeal to the fanboy only designs aren't cutting it anymore.

[Leo_A]

It just didn't get them far because of the disc size storage, the lack of the button, and the lack of their willingness to step up to the level at least of what Sony did with their BBA that killed the support.

Like I said, I really don't think disc capacity was a significant factor. If a game was on the Xbox and the PS2, chances were excellent that there was also a GameCube version. And then we had games that were either exclusive to the GameCube, appeared here first before their success led to their publishers porting them elsewhere, or a fair number of efforts that otherwise would've been a PS2 or a Xbox exclusive had there also not been a GameCube version.

GameCube wasn't hurting technically, although like any system, it obviously wasn't without some drawbacks as you've stated. And it also wasn't hurting for software support (At least compared to the Xbox... PS2 obviously saw many exclusives due to its dominance), yet it still managed to lose to a complete newcomer in the market that was also all but a non-factor in Nintendo's traditional home market. The 2nd such loss in a row.

Going their way definitely was a good plan, I believe. Look at the DS for an example if you think the Wii's early success (before HDTV's became so widespread and Nintendo wasn't supporting it much with software, leaving it left to wither) doesn't count and isn't relevant. It's roughly the equivalent of a mid 1990's home console where horsepower is concerned compared to the competition that wasn't far removed for the console generation that was just about to be replaced.

Yet it sold nearly double the hardware that the competition did.

I think they blew it where you don't on doing their own thing.

I still think they screwed it up terribly, business wise (I'm personally having far too much fun with it to throw it under the bus where entertainment is concerned and think that the masses overlooking it are missing something worthwhile).

I just don't think the general concept was a bad one, they just messed up the details. You're essentially agreeing with me with your idea of where they should go from here which is anything but following the Xbox One and the Playstation 4 or leapfrogging them technically. To keep portability with common hardware, I'm sure the tv experience won't be much different than what the Wii U/360/PS3 could provide.

Implementation is entirely it.

It doesn't matter how well done something is without a plan to back it up and allow it to shine.

Personally I've been saying for a few years now (not here) that what they needed to do was combine their handheld and console R&D and make something as an all in one.

This, I subscribe to fully.

Not only do I think this is all but mandatory if they want a chance to succeed again and save their console line and protect their rapidly shrinking handheld market, but I also agree that they waited a generation too long to try it. Even if the console and the handheld were two difference pieces of hardware along the lines of the Vita and the Vita TV, just the common hardware core and the advantages that brings to the table like reduced cost and most of all, all of Nintendo's development efforts going towards one platform, would be a lot of help for Nintendo.

And they better be doing just that. It's easy to forget since it's considered a success and games like Super Mario 3D Land are keeping it busy for its fans, but the 3DS has been a pretty weak performer. The casuals are mostly gone, 3rd parties aren't doing much with it, it got off to a very slow start and needed a quick and drastic price drop to change its momentum, sales are already on the decline, it's selling far below what the DS did while going up against a very successful competitor (Where as the 3DS is facing the Vita), it's failing by considerable margins at meeting their sales projections, it isn't propping up Nintendo's balance sheet which its handhelds have done in the past in the face of softness in the console business, etc.

If they don't reinvent themselves, their handheld side could soon be in the situation their console line is today. They need a merger to save both if they're to survive against Sony, Microsoft, and smartphones as an independent hardware manufacturer. If they're going at it largely alone, they simply can't afford to be waging war on two different fronts.

[Tupin]

Expecting both a new console and a new handheld to be revealed at E3 2015 for Nintendo. Probably a Fall 2016 release for the console, four years after the Wii U. The bare minimum number of years they have to support something without having to call it a failure. As for a handheld, maybe Fall 2015 or Spring 2016.