Wii U sells 400,000 units in first week [Joystiq]

[DP ServBot]

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2012/06/wiiu614.jpg (http://www.joystiq.com/2012/11/26/wii-u-sells-400-000-units-in-first-week/)
The Wii U has sold 400,000 units in the US, Nintendo America president Reggie Fils-Aime tells CNET (http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-57554183-235/nintendo-400k-wii-u-units-sold-1.2m-devices-total/). Over the same time period, Nintendo sold 300,000 Wii consoles and 500,000 portable devices for a total of 1.2 million hardware units sold in the US.

"Wii U is essentially sold out of retail and we are doing our best to continually replenish stock," Fils-Aime says. "Retailers are also doing their best to get the product to store shelves. But as soon as product hits retail, they're selling out immediately."

In November, GameStop reported more than 500,000 Wii U pre-orders (http://www.joystiq.com/2012/11/15/report-gamestop-wii-u-game-pre-orders-at-1-2-million-double-th/) and 1.2 million games spoken for ahead of launch.http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif (http://www.joystiq.com)Wii U sells 400,000 units in first week (http://www.joystiq.com/2012/11/26/wii-u-sells-400-000-units-in-first-week/) originally appeared on Joystiq (http://www.joystiq.com) on Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).

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[kupomogli]

Only 400,000? Brand new system plus Black Friday. That's a pretty low number.


"Wii U is essentially sold out of retail and we are doing our best to continually replenish stock. Retailers are also doing their best to get the product to store shelves. But as soon as product hits retail, they're selling out immediately.

Reggie is such a liar. The system is easy to find.


The Wii U is much more graphically intensive. If you do a side by side comparison, you'd find that third party games like Call of Duty look dramatically better on our system.

As I said above. Reggie is such a liar. The PS3 version of Black Ops 2 is a bad port like every other Call of Duty game, and the Wii U version runs much worse than the PS3 version.

Here's a Neogaf thread that has consolidated all the ports that have issues in comparison to the PS360 versions. Just about every one of them has bad framerate issues.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=500078

[megasdkirby]

Only 400,000? Brand new system plus Black Friday. That's a pretty low number.




In my opinion, I agree. I expected at least a million units or to not be able to find it in stores. It's quite plentiful around here.

I will still hold out until something remotely interesting comes out for it.

[RCM]

Remember, this is the first week. Wii U will have a solid installed base (1.5 - 3 million) by the time the launch window is over... whenever that is. I wonder what effect announcements for the new systems (Xbox 720, PS4) will have on Wii U sales and Reggie's boasts.

[Bubble_Man]

Agree with posts above. I was at Wal-Mart earlier today and saw a Wii U sitting casually in the display case. I might get one eventually, but not until the price goes down and the game selection goes way up.

[eskobar]

So if I travel to the U.S. I have good chances to found a WiiU on stores ?

Nintendo has always limited stock to increase demand, it happened with the Wii ... for the first 2 or 3 years I had trouble finding stock on every store I checked and made constant trips to the US ... :puppydogeyes:

[BetaWolf47]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Reggie's statement is true and false. I'm seeing Wii U in stock everywhere, but only the white 8GB version. I saw the black 32GB version once. So, everyone is realizing that the 8GB version is a crappy deal and scouring the town for the 32GB version, which probably IS selling out as soon as it hits store shelves.

[wingzrow]

To put this in perspective, how much did the Wii sell in it's first week? How about the PS3?

[Bojay1997]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Reggie's statement is true and false. I'm seeing Wii U in stock everywhere, but only the white 8GB version. I saw the black 32GB version once. So, everyone is realizing that the 8GB version is a crappy deal and scouring the town for the 32GB version, which probably IS selling out as soon as it hits store shelves.

Agree with this. I didn't see a single black 32GB in stock anywhere in the San Diego area over the four days of the holiday weekend and I went to quite a few Target, Best Buy, Walmart, Toys R Us and Gamestop stores over that period. I did see white units at several stores, although there weren't stacks of them and certainly not every store had them in stock.

[Greg2600]

To put this in perspective, how much did the Wii sell in it's first week? How about the PS3?

That was in a much stronger economy.

[Rob2600]

To put this in perspective, how much did the Wii sell in it's first week? How about the PS3?

600,000 Wii consoles in its first week vs. 400,000 Wii U.

[kedawa]

They're both crappy deals.
I'd say the 8GB system with a cheap external hard drive is about the best bang for your buck.

[BetaWolf47]

They're both crappy deals.
I'd say the 8GB system with a cheap external hard drive is about the best bang for your buck.
I don't know... $50 more, AND it comes with 4x the memory and a $60 game.

Well, both are still better deals than the Xbox 360 Core.

[The 1 2 P]

So if I travel to the U.S. I have good chances to found a WiiU on stores ?

Nintendo has always limited stock to increase demand, it happened with the Wii ... for the first 2 or 3 years I had trouble finding stock on every store I checked and made constant trips to the US ... :puppydogeyes:


I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Reggie's statement is true and false. I'm seeing Wii U in stock everywhere, but only the white 8GB version. I saw the black 32GB version once. So, everyone is realizing that the 8GB version is a crappy deal and scouring the town for the 32GB version, which probably IS selling out as soon as it hits store shelves.

Beyond the 8 gb systems that we have all saw in abundance no matter where we live you can also still get either system at gamestop's website (http://www.gamestop.com/browse?nav=16k-wii+u) with no hassle. 400,000 sales in one week is still pretty impressive but I seriously doubt this system will ever achieve the Wii's sales numbers or become sold out for half as long.

[Leo_A]

Pretty nice numbers for the original Wii at least.

I wonder if it has already or will reach the 100 million mark this Christmas season?

[treismac]

I might get one eventually, but not until the price goes down and the game selection goes way up.

Here, here. Slash a $100 or so off the top with 10 plus games that get me excited in the library and I might bite in two to three years. Of course if the right game or two came along...

[dgdgagdae]

Beyond the 8 gb systems that we have all saw in abundance no matter where we live you can also still get either system at gamestop's website (http://www.gamestop.com/browse?nav=16k-wii+u) with no hassle. 400,000 sales in one week is still pretty impressive but I seriously doubt this system will ever achieve the Wii's sales numbers or become sold out for half as long.

The deluxe version says "Backordered" at the link you provided.

[WCP]

I don't think the 8 gig version is as bad as everybody is making it out to be. I'd rather have that $50 in hand, and I can get Nintendoland used for a song early next year. Think about it. Everybody and their Moms are buying the deluxe version with Nintendoland. The amount of used Nintendolands in circulation is going to cause that game to be worth $$20 or less in a couple of months. If that.


I personally will never need more than the 8 gigs, because I won't be buying things digitally, and I seriously doubt that Nintendo will have tons of huge demos available on a regular basis. I have a ton of USB sticks floating around the house that I could use for extra storage if I really needed it.

[j_factor]

The real news here is that the Wii sold 300k in the same time period. That's pretty good.

[JSoup]

Here, here. Slash a $100 or so off the top with 10 plus games that get me excited in the library and I might bite in two to three years. Of course if the right game or two came along...

I'm probably not going to get one unless I get the same deal I did with the Wii. A vendor at a convention I was working a year following the Wii's release had 10 of them he just couldn't sell in whatever area he was in. People just weren't interested. Thought he might be able to unload them at the convention for a reduced price. Ended up getting one for $100 even. And even then the thing was useless to me until I modded it.

So, all that. That's when I'll get a WiiU.

[The 1 2 P]

The deluxe version says "Backordered" at the link you provided.

And now the 8 gb version does too. Guess everyone used the link at once. It also helped that it was posted in their Cyber Monday ad.

[duffmanth]

I'm not surprised that the Wii U sold those numbers, respectable I guess, but I don't think it's gonna sell what the Wii did though. On a side note, I was reading in the IGN review of the Wii U that the touchscreen controller doesn't charge while it's plugged into the console, you have to plug it into a wall outlet, kinda dumb this day and age.

[Bojay1997]

I don't think the 8 gig version is as bad as everybody is making it out to be. I'd rather have that $50 in hand, and I can get Nintendoland used for a song early next year. Think about it. Everybody and their Moms are buying the deluxe version with Nintendoland. The amount of used Nintendolands in circulation is going to cause that game to be worth $$20 or less in a couple of months. If that.


I personally will never need more than the 8 gigs, because I won't be buying things digitally, and I seriously doubt that Nintendo will have tons of huge demos available on a regular basis. I have a ton of USB sticks floating around the house that I could use for extra storage if I really needed it.

Yes, but for just $50 more you get another 24 gigs of on board storage (yes, I know most people won't even use the 8, but it's 4X for very little extra money), a stand for the console and one for the gamepad, the Nintendoland game and the dock for the gamepad. That's a lot of stuff for $50 no matter how you look at it, especially when the basic is already $300. I just don't think there was a point to releasing two SKUs when the price and feature differential wasn't significant enough to drive people to the basic SKU.

[Bojay1997]

I'm probably not going to get one unless I get the same deal I did with the Wii. A vendor at a convention I was working a year following the Wii's release had 10 of them he just couldn't sell in whatever area he was in. People just weren't interested. Thought he might be able to unload them at the convention for a reduced price. Ended up getting one for $100 even. And even then the thing was useless to me until I modded it.

So, all that. That's when I'll get a WiiU.

Not sure where this was, but the Wii was consistently sold out and in demand for at least 18 months after launch here in Southern California. Even after that point, the units still sold well when they were stocked by stores. That guy could have easily gotten MSRP just by listing them on Ebay, so I'm not sure why he took $150 below what he paid for it.

[Greg2600]

The real news here is that the Wii sold 300k in the same time period. That's pretty good.

People wonder why Sony sold PS2's forever, ditto Atari and the 2600. At lower prices you will continue to make a lot of money on a sure thing.

[Damaniel]

Yes, but for just $50 more you get another 24 gigs of on board storage (yes, I know most people won't even use the 8, but it's 4X for very little extra money), a stand for the console and one for the gamepad, the Nintendoland game and the dock for the gamepad. That's a lot of stuff for $50 no matter how you look at it, especially when the basic is already $300. I just don't think there was a point to releasing two SKUs when the price and feature differential wasn't significant enough to drive people to the basic SKU.

This is exactly why I expect the low-end unit to be relatively short-lived. If the price difference between the two was $100 or more, then the lower-end unit might be a more compelling option, even with all of the extras missing. However, there's really no reason to buy the cheaper model when the price difference is so small (which anecdotal reports about stock seem to be confirming).

Availability definitely doesn't seem to be a problem, though. I was in a local store yesterday, and they had both versions of the system in stock. I still couldn't be bothered to spend the $350, since I still feel cheated by my day 1, full-priced purchase of the 3DS. I'll wait and see what third parties are doing with the system a few months down the road.

[JSoup]

Not sure where this was, but the Wii was consistently sold out and in demand for at least 18 months after launch here in Southern California. Even after that point, the units still sold well when they were stocked by stores. That guy could have easily gotten MSRP just by listing them on Ebay, so I'm not sure why he took $150 below what he paid for it.

I found it odd myself, really. I looked up the dealers list from that year, he was from somewhere in Siskiyou County, California. Maybe it's not a pro-Nintendo area? :D In any case, it seemed like he was frustrated with them and just wanted them gone, cost be damned.

It's funny to recall that day, I actually visited his booth to buy a bronze PSP he had and then I noticed the Wiis.

[Griking]

It looks like the most uncomfortable controller ever.

Also on an unrelated note, does anyone else absolutely HATE the new Wii U commercial?

The noises in it make me turn the channel every time its on.

[Tupin]

It looks like the most uncomfortable controller ever.

Also on an unrelated note, does anyone else absolutely HATE the new Wii U commercial?

The noises in it make me turn the channel every time its on.
Try a demo of it out, it's actually very comfortable to hold.

[WCP]

The Wii U to me doesn't look like a very smart buy at all right now, unless you're a really hardcore Nintendo devotee. $350 plus tax is a HELLUVA lot of money. For what game ? NSMB Wii U is just more of the same NSMB formula that we have seen so much of lately. Nintendoland is just a mini-game fest. Zombie U is the only interesting 3rd party game at the moment, but if that game was on PS3 or 360 would anybody care ? It would be just another misc zombie game. I know it makes interesting use of the screen on the controller, but really ??? Not worth $378 (the price I'd pay with tax)

[Bojay1997]

The Wii U to me doesn't look like a very smart buy at all right now, unless you're a really hardcore Nintendo devotee. $350 plus tax is a HELLUVA lot of money. For what game ? NSMB Wii U is just more of the same NSMB formula that we have seen so much of lately. Nintendoland is just a mini-game fest. Zombie U is the only interesting 3rd party game at the moment, but if that game was on PS3 or 360 would anybody care ? It would be just another misc zombie game. I know it makes interesting use of the screen on the controller, but really ??? Not worth $378 (the price I'd pay with tax)

Actually, $350 plus tax really isn't a lot of money to a lot of people, especially when games are $60 new on release or more for a collector's edition. Dinner for four at a chain restaurant can run $70-$80. It costs $50 to fill up my car twice a week. I mean maybe if you're making minimum wage and have little disposable income, but if that's the case, gaming is probably too expensive anyway and a new console is the last thing you should be thinking about regardless of who makes it. I think the WiiU is a good system and I have really enjoyed ZombiU and Sonic All Stars Racing and being able to play Scribblenauts on an actual console on a big TV is awesome. NSMB is per formula, but it's a great formula and a lot of fun. Nintendoland is a mini-game fest, but the minigames are mostly pretty great and make good use of the familiar Nintendo characters. Are there "must have" games right now? Not really, but frankly, there haven't been must have games on any console at launch I can remember since Halo on the first Xbox. Before that it was Super Mario 64 on the N64. Must have games are like catching lightning in a bottle and while I am hopeful that the next Xbox and PS4 will have them at launch, I am pretty skeptical.

[BetaWolf47]

Yes, but for just $50 more you get another 24 gigs of on board storage (yes, I know most people won't even use the 8, but it's 4X for very little extra money), a stand for the console and one for the gamepad, the Nintendoland game and the dock for the gamepad. That's a lot of stuff for $50 no matter how you look at it, especially when the basic is already $300. I just don't think there was a point to releasing two SKUs when the price and feature differential wasn't significant enough to drive people to the basic SKU.
Technically, you can get 32GB of flash storage for less than the extra $50. Not sure if it integrates seamlessly like on portable media players, or if it's like SD card channel on Wii, but either way, it's an option.

[G-Boobie]

Technically, you can get 32GB of flash storage for less than the extra $50. Not sure if it integrates seamlessly like on portable media players, or if it's like SD card channel on Wii, but either way, it's an option.

It doesn't accept flash storage, except when you're in the Wii Channel. Otherwise, it's a POWERED, not un-powered, USB external hard drive if you want to expand your storage. My friend and I learned this by continually crashing his Wii-U by plugging in an un-powered USB drive and trying to download NSMB U to it. So that's three wall-plugs this idiot device uses, because it would be CRAZY to charge your controller by plugging it into the console itself. Gotta take up another plug with the terrible DS touchscreen home edition thing.

I cannot for the life of me figure out what the Hell Nintendo was thinking with this. Zombi-U is great fun, but NSMB U feels like a rehash of the last three NSMB games, Nintendo Land is OK for what it is... And I guess if you want to play worse versions of Batman, Assassin's Creed 3, or Call of Duty, that's also an option. It feels half finished. I can't even use the one I bought, because it straight up bricked halfway through the two hour long OS update, and Nintendo wants me to mail the Goddamn thing back to them. So I went to a friends over Thanksgiving to scope his out, and we ended up with two hard locks during Zombi-U requiring that the plug be pulled from the wall, three second load times between menu options, the aforementioned attempts to use the un-powered USB drive crashing the console, and discovering that he couldn't use the Wii-U controller to control his television because he has the gall to plug his TV and consoles in through his receiver, and attempting to do so caused the console to hang forever, requiring that the cord be pulled from the wall. Again.

I'm sure in a year's time Nintendo will have worked these bugs out, but I haven't ever been this angry and dissatisfied with a console at launch. If I had to describe it this very moment, I'd say that the Wii-U is basically a shittier, less together Dreamcast: a half-step into the next generation with a lot of ideas that's likely doomed to fail, and it's crazy that it came from Nintendo. The difference of course, is that my launch Dreamcast still works, whereas the Wii-U died before I even put a game in the drive. Awesome stuff.

So yeah. Serious buyers remorse, over here. When I get it back, i'll likely sell it and buy a new video card instead.

[Tanooki]

I find given the price, given the really shitty economy, unemployment, dollar value eating it and the rest the fact they moved that many WiiU's to be pretty impressive and goes up strongly against other launches. This isn't some cheap $200-250 handheld or system(wii) so having that many go in a few days is good. I too have seen a select few of the White, but not many of those, and no black ones at all here in my area of KY which is a big metro area. I think the stuff being around is a huge hit and miss thing all together.

The white unit isn't really worth the price. The black one being gone everywhere makes sense when you get a $60 game, a $20 charging cradle, and probably what they'd(annoyingly) charge $10 for(guess) at store.nintendo.com with those vertical stand up feet as the rest is in the white system other than the 4x over total storage. The storage is another problem unless I missed it no one mentioned, but the 8GB is a myth. That 8 is the chip, not what you get, the OS takes up a few GIGs. As it stands, there's already retail download disc based games that won't fit to the white system at all! If you're some sad individual wanting to help these pirates kill off physical media, that $50 you saved will be going right into a USB device so save that first game potentially.


Also to the comment about New SMBU being more of the same, amazingly and thankfully it's not. I think Nintendo finally listened to the amount of bitching online after the original DS and especially the Wii title. They both were short, basically had no soul to them at all and were boring, as if the game wasn't mario but some random cookie cutter shareware shit with Mario stickers painted over it to dupe you. I still can't stand to finish the Wii game as it sucks the care out of me after a few stages. The WiiU title though holy shit I'm enjoying it. SOmething with the stage design, physics, timing, the map, all the pieces coming together really feel like I'm playing the bastard child of a dirty night in the hay between SMB3 and SMW. It just is that good which shocked me given how bad SMB Wii and more or less the original on DS was.

Another complaint I'm getting fed up with is all the trolls online bitching how the WiiU underperforms on games, yet they conveniently mention that launch games are often times hastily assembled crap rushed with cut corners to have it out the day the system arrives. This is fact, it's not apologist whining. Take for instance all that crap about the COD game, it has been admitted as much as being a quick and dirty port of the 360 game with the appropriate assets changed. A game that was not optimized properly and just carried over and recoded as such to work acceptably on the WiiU off of the 360. They didn't spend a year or two working on it like the original game, it's a lazy ass port and coming from slime like Activision should anyone be surprised? That and others like Ninja Gaiden all reek of a quick and dirty port for cash when you have improper filtering causing muddy or jaggy visuals, framerate problems not of clipping but just annoying random slow downs especially in populated(moving objects at once) areas, and the rest.

What we really need to do is what people seem to give other systems passes for around the canned bitching, wait for the first 'new' generation of games that come from ground up work after people get their feet wet with the system learning the parts and the OS. In 12months or so, if you see this same crap AND the games aren't halfassed 360 ports, then Nintendo has a serious problem at hand. Until then, it's just trolling for attention.

[dgdgagdae]

$350 plus tax is a HELLUVA lot of money.

Kind of apples to oranges, but that's less than most tablets, and people seem to be snapping those up like crazy, even in a down economy.

[Bojay1997]

I find given the price, given the really shitty economy, unemployment, dollar value eating it and the rest the fact they moved that many WiiU's to be pretty impressive and goes up strongly against other launches. This isn't some cheap $200-250 handheld or system(wii) so having that many go in a few days is good. I too have seen a select few of the White, but not many of those, and no black ones at all here in my area of KY which is a big metro area. I think the stuff being around is a huge hit and miss thing all together.

The white unit isn't really worth the price. The black one being gone everywhere makes sense when you get a $60 game, a $20 charging cradle, and probably what they'd(annoyingly) charge $10 for(guess) at store.nintendo.com with those vertical stand up feet as the rest is in the white system other than the 4x over total storage. The storage is another problem unless I missed it no one mentioned, but the 8GB is a myth. That 8 is the chip, not what you get, the OS takes up a few GIGs. As it stands, there's already retail download disc based games that won't fit to the white system at all! If you're some sad individual wanting to help these pirates kill off physical media, that $50 you saved will be going right into a USB device so save that first game potentially.


Also to the comment about New SMBU being more of the same, amazingly and thankfully it's not. I think Nintendo finally listened to the amount of bitching online after the original DS and especially the Wii title. They both were short, basically had no soul to them at all and were boring, as if the game wasn't mario but some random cookie cutter shareware shit with Mario stickers painted over it to dupe you. I still can't stand to finish the Wii game as it sucks the care out of me after a few stages. The WiiU title though holy shit I'm enjoying it. SOmething with the stage design, physics, timing, the map, all the pieces coming together really feel like I'm playing the bastard child of a dirty night in the hay between SMB3 and SMW. It just is that good which shocked me given how bad SMB Wii and more or less the original on DS was.

Another complaint I'm getting fed up with is all the trolls online bitching how the WiiU underperforms on games, yet they conveniently mention that launch games are often times hastily assembled crap rushed with cut corners to have it out the day the system arrives. This is fact, it's not apologist whining. Take for instance all that crap about the COD game, it has been admitted as much as being a quick and dirty port of the 360 game with the appropriate assets changed. A game that was not optimized properly and just carried over and recoded as such to work acceptably on the WiiU off of the 360. They didn't spend a year or two working on it like the original game, it's a lazy ass port and coming from slime like Activision should anyone be surprised? That and others like Ninja Gaiden all reek of a quick and dirty port for cash when you have improper filtering causing muddy or jaggy visuals, framerate problems not of clipping but just annoying random slow downs especially in populated(moving objects at once) areas, and the rest.

What we really need to do is what people seem to give other systems passes for around the canned bitching, wait for the first 'new' generation of games that come from ground up work after people get their feet wet with the system learning the parts and the OS. In 12months or so, if you see this same crap AND the games aren't halfassed 360 ports, then Nintendo has a serious problem at hand. Until then, it's just trolling for attention.

In fairness though, it's not like the WiiU is some massively radical departure in architecture from other consoles. It's basically a pretty standard CPU and a GPU that is more or less the same as a PC GPU that's a bit old at this point. I agree with you that ports even on the PS3 well into it's life were pretty poor in some cases. At the same time, part of the problem could be that Nintendo doesn't have the same developer support resources as Sony and Microsoft, mostly because on the Wii there was limited third party support in recent years beyond shovelware and some niche publishers. I don't know how the WiiU will ultimately be judged, but just as I'm not going to condemn it completely, I'm also not going to blindly accept that some of the crap that has been released at launch is acceptable.

[Tanooki]

Yes that's complete fairness, these aren't foreign parts to a degree. We don't know the main cpu, but they do, at least parts of it. All these things aren't stock parts, it's all custom and have their own custom APIs and then whatever Nintendo throws at the wall to stick to it in their tools and kits. Often these kits end up being fairly shitty and again why you see game improvement is people use them, hate them, make their own and learn a lot more going forward. Your point of the terrible(still) PS3 halfassed ports of 360 games is where I was going with it. You are also correct they don't have the developer support. All the major third parties short of Activision and a few others on select projects has been lost for the last generation at the least if not longer. Only now you're seeing the grit the Wii lacked and the Cube from some parties too, hell even the N64 when you think about it. You got people who have never had to work with Nintendo on stuff like this or havent since their shit has been on big boxy cartridges we all love.

I'm with you I don't find some of the crap acceptable that's for damn certain, but the interesting point of the shoveled shit, is that it's typical fair for some of those companies to do this on a generational basis is all. Nintendo isn't to blame persay other than their past fuckups that drove these people off or just the immaturity of third parties shunning the Wii too. Whatever the case, stuff like Ninja Gaiden 3 and CODBO2 should not have been allowed to fly with halfass ports, but they're there and it's the same old shit we've seen enough of before unfortunately. At least some of it being shoveled isn't completely f'd up or better yet shows really little loss if any such as I have not heard any huge complaints with ME3 or AC3 either. If you stick to the unique titles they're holding up well too showing the difference in quality from quicky port to actual trying.

[jonebone]

Surprised no one mentioned the reseller angle. Yeah the WiiU sold 400,000 units, and probably at least 200,000 of those were bought solely for the intention of flipping. With such a lackluster launch lineup, I don't see any reason to buy it unless you are a huge Mario fan. Most of the other titles are rehashes of what is already available.

I'll get one for Pikmin 3 or whenever there's more solid games out. But now is definitely not that time for me.

[The 1 2 P]

Surprised no one mentioned the reseller angle. Yeah the WiiU sold 400,000 units, and probably at least 200,000 of those were bought solely for the intention of flipping.

I've actually been wondering about that angle as far as December 26 is concerned. Once all of those resellers on amazon, ebay and craigs list with 5 or more Wii U's end of not selling them by xmas are there going to be massive returns? Those(resellers) with the 8 gb systems are most likely to return them since you can still find them in some stores today and stock will only improve after the holidays.

[j_factor]

It doesn't accept flash storage, except when you're in the Wii Channel.

You've got to be shitting me.

[WCP]

Yeah the WiiU sold 400,000 units, and probably at least 200,000 of those were bought solely for the intention of flipping


I'm sure there was a pretty high rate of buyers that had no intention of keeping Wii U's, but 50 percent of all buyers ? I seriously doubt that. I would guess it's much closer to 20 percent (if that). Let's just pretend for a moment that it actually is 20 percent, that would mean that 80,000 of those 400,000 were bought with the idea of selling for profit. Not all of those 80,000 are going back to the stores though. People are indeed selling them on Ebay and Craigslist, but not anywhere near the profits they were hoping for. Instead, many of these profiteers are getting measly returns on their investment and the whole time/hassle that comes along with it. I really don't think that a gigantic tidal wave of returns is going to hit the stores anytime in the near term. Of that 80,000 , I'm guessing that maybe 30,000 are being returned. It's not going to be enough to move the needle. The only thing that is really going to happen though, is that flippers are going to stop buying Wii U's, and instead move onto something else. This will mean mroe supply in stores, and Nintendo's sales numbers for December will probably be a bit disappointing, and I think the post Xmas sales are really going to fall off the cliff, unless Nintendo has some amazing Zelda or Metroid trailer or something that comes out and shocks the internet and creates a huge buzz.

I think by mid to late January, demand for Wii U will be amazingly low. Of course, I could be 100 percent off the mark.

[Tanooki]

I think you're closer than farther off the mark. The people trying to clown consumers aren't winning this battle. Nintendo put out a lot of product and it's not handheld cheap, so it's there if you're patient and look or reserve, especially the basic system. There will be returns, but they'll get scooped up. We're talking a console here and at $300-350 it's more than fair, and it's not old 360 or ps3 insanity of 400-600.

[G-Boobie]

You've got to be shitting me.

I am not shitting you. Maybe they can do something about that via firmware update, but right now its powered USB drive or GTFO. The card slot is Wii emulation only.

[The 1 2 P]

The deluxe version says "Backordered" at the link you provided.


And now the 8 gb version does too.

And now they are back in stock. Between being able to order on Gamestop.com and finding stock just by walking into stores Nintendo has done a much better job of restocking their stores this time around. And because of that resellers will make very little money, if anything at all. Hopefully both Microsoft and Sony do a similiar decent job of getting stores well supplied and restocked when each respective system launches in the next two years.

[Greg2600]

Visited Game Stop yesterday, and took a look at the kiosk they had. For some foolish reason, the only game that can be played is Rayman Legends, which is not even available for purchase. Stupid. Otherwise I thought the graphics were really nice and the Wii U Pad was very high quality.

[The 1 2 P]

For some foolish reason, the only game that can be played is Rayman Legends, which is not even available for purchase. Stupid.

Same thing for Best Buy. 19 games are displayed and the only one you can actually demo is Rayman Legends. Toys R Us is worst since you can't demo any of the games displayed.

[kupomogli]

Actually, $350 plus tax really isn't a lot of money to a lot of people, especially when games are $60 new on release or more for a collector's edition. Dinner for four at a chain restaurant can run $70-$80. It costs $50 to fill up my car twice a week. I mean maybe if you're making minimum wage and have little disposable income, but if that's the case, gaming is probably too expensive anyway and a new console is the last thing you should be thinking about regardless of who makes it.

This. People have bad spending habits where they don't spend their money wisely.

[Gamevet]

Actually, $350 plus tax really isn't a lot of money to a lot of people, especially when games are $60 new on release or more for a collector's edition. Dinner for four at a chain restaurant can run $70-$80. It costs $50 to fill up my car twice a week. I mean maybe if you're making minimum wage and have little disposable income, but if that's the case, gaming is probably too expensive anyway and a new console is the last thing you should be thinking about regardless of who makes it. I think the WiiU is a good system and I have really enjoyed ZombiU and Sonic All Stars Racing and being able to play Scribblenauts on an actual console on a big TV is awesome. NSMB is per formula, but it's a great formula and a lot of fun. Nintendoland is a mini-game fest, but the minigames are mostly pretty great and make good use of the familiar Nintendo characters. Are there "must have" games right now? Not really, but frankly, there haven't been must have games on any console at launch I can remember since Halo on the first Xbox. Before that it was Super Mario 64 on the N64. Must have games are like catching lightning in a bottle and while I am hopeful that the next Xbox and PS4 will have them at launch, I am pretty skeptical.

I could afford it, along with the Wii, but I'd rather spend my money on PC hardware, PC games and games for the current consoles.

I picture the WiiU as more of the same, like we saw with the Wii. It'll have solid 1st party support, but the 3rd party support will be ports from older hardware, once the next Xbox and Playstation arrive. Yeah, there will be a handful of unique 3rd party titles that will be worth playing, but there will be too many titles that just don't cut it. I'll pass, unless I see something available on the hardware that convinces me it is worth my expendable income.

[Greg2600]

I picture the WiiU as more of the same, like we saw with the Wii. It'll have solid 1st party support, but the 3rd party support will be ports from older hardware, once the next Xbox and Playstation arrive. Yeah, there will be a handful of unique 3rd party titles that will be worth playing, but there will be too many titles that just don't cut it. I'll pass, unless I see something available on the hardware that convinces me it is worth my expendable income.How much more advanced do you think the 720 or PS4 will be? 1080P is the maximum you're going to get, and like I've said many times, more detailed graphics means more money spent in development. Frankly I think the 720 at least is aiming at a full media product that competes on all levels of entertainment rather than just games.


Same thing for Best Buy. 19 games are displayed and the only one you can actually demo is Rayman Legends. Toys R Us is worst since you can't demo any of the games displayed.I'm sure Nintendo sent the same demo disc to everyone, but the stores should just stick an actual game in there instead. Dumb.

[G-Boobie]

How much more advanced do you think the 720 or PS4 will be? 1080P is the maximum you're going to get, and like I've said many times, more detailed graphics means more money spent in development. Frankly I think the 720 at least is aiming at a full media product that competes on all levels of entertainment rather than just games.

Beefier hardware does more than just push a higher resolution, Greg. The more RAM you have, the less often you need to load and the better that applications run in parallel. The more power your CPU and GPU provide, the more you can do with AI, crowds, texture quality, environmental interactivity, level volume, installation speed, physics, and on and on. Better networking hardware results in faster downloading and better online play.

The Wii was quite simply far, far, behind the 360 and PS3 in terms of these things; this is why no Unreal Engine 3 game was ever ported. The hardware couldn't handle it. And before someone huffs and whines and declares that UE3 games are all frat boy nonsense and who needs them and so on, well, Nintendo did. Third party support degraded so badly by the third year of the Wii that it might as well have not existed, and what little there was existed largely because developing for the Wii was comparatively cheap. Those few were clearly not money makers, because they dried up fast: other than sports games, there hasn't been much outside of Nintendo first party games for the Wii in a long time.

Shockingly, Nintendo has done that very thing again, though time will tell whether or not it was a good idea. It's possible that the next Xbox and Playstation won't stray too far from their current specifications in order to keep costs down. It's possible that the next Xbox and/or Playstation will fail to find the kind of success they've had this generation. If these things happen, then Nintendo has a shot, but in all likeliness, they've put themselves in the same technological ghetto that killed them with the hardcore market last time.

\

[Trumpman]

Not getting burned again this time. Bought the Wii early on last gen and was very disappointed (as we all were, I think). I'm going to wait till there are several good games out -- Pikmin 3 does interest me, but honestly I think I'll wait till we've seen Durango and Orbis next year. Thinking of finally picking up a PS3 though, if they had a $200 bundle...

[Gamevet]

How much more advanced do you think the 720 or PS4 will be? 1080P is the maximum you're going to get, and like I've said many times, more detailed graphics means more money spent in development. Frankly I think the 720 at least is aiming at a full media product that competes on all levels of entertainment rather than just games.

.

The current gen consoles are way outclassed by what a PC from a couple of years ago could do. DX11 tensellation, MSAA, FXAA and 60fps in most games for starters.

Black-Ops 2 might look pretty good to a console only gamer, but I cringe when I see a tree with horrible physics, as it has a very lifeless swing. But, I still play the 360 version over my gaming PC, because I have friends I play online with.

[The 1 2 P]

Thinking of finally picking up a PS3 though, if they had a $200 bundle...

They had several $200 PS3 bundles over the Black Friday weekend and you didn't even need to leave your home to pick one up.

[BetaWolf47]

Only powered external drives? That really is unfortunate. I'm going to need the 32GB version for sure then.

[Rob2600]

How about a simple USB flash drive stick?

EDIT: I just searched Google and USB flash drives do in fact work on the Wii U.

[Tanooki]

Ive been made aware from family (who work for a third party of all 3 systems) MS and Sony are looking in another 1-2 years to bring out another run of higher cost hardware yet again with higher development costs for games. Mind you WiiU won't be in the toilet as far as Wii vs HD was, but I imagine a couple years into the other guys lives the WiiU will start getting denied ports just because it won't have the computational power to handle all the extra added details, complex AI routines, and the rest. Think of like one of those Koei Warriors games where you get like an army of 100 on screen at one time, the other guys each dude will have free flowing garments head to toe and have the ability to think on their own to certain levels, then the WiiU will have less flow and only key players won't follow patterned AI clusters and routines.

I have no idea really how far the mark will be off from WiiU to them, but it won't be Wii bad by any means, and by then that $300-350 system which even now is profitable once just 1 game is purchased will likely price itself $50+ lower so against some $400-500+ hardware it'll be damn tempting and the tablet will be a draw.

[G-Boobie]

How about a simple USB flash drive stick?

I don't know; we didn't try. If I had to bet, I'd say no, but someone should try it and post results.

[G-Boobie]

Ive been made aware from family (who work for a third party of all 3 systems) MS and Sony are looking in another 1-2 years to bring out another run of higher cost hardware yet again with higher development costs for games. Mind you WiiU won't be in the toilet as far as Wii vs HD was, but I imagine a couple years into the other guys lives the WiiU will start getting denied ports just because it won't have the computational power to handle all the extra added details, complex AI routines, and the rest. Think of like one of those Koei Warriors games where you get like an army of 100 on screen at one time, the other guys each dude will have free flowing garments head to toe and have the ability to think on their own to certain levels, then the WiiU will have less flow and only key players won't follow patterned AI clusters and routines.

I have no idea really how far the mark will be off from WiiU to them, but it won't be Wii bad by any means, and by then that $300-350 system which even now is profitable once just 1 game is purchased will likely price itself $50+ lower so against some $400-500+ hardware it'll be damn tempting and the tablet will be a draw.

I'll make a bet with you, Tanooki.

The next XBox comes out at the same cost as the 360, or cheaper. It will be a gaming console, but will also focus more on the streaming entertainment stuff. It might even be $99 or free, available from your ISP.

In order to get your free Xbox, you'll sign up for three or four years of XBL Gold at $15 monthly. At the end of that time, the console will be yours to keep; it's the same subsidy system that people are used to upgrading their cell phones with. If you cancel XBL early, you pay the full, not-contract cost for the console. If you were to tell the average guy that they could have a powerful next-gen console as an upgrade to their normal Internet service for the same monthly cost as HBO, I'd imagine that it would be pretty tempting.

If Sony were smart, they'd go the same route, but they demonstrate time and time again that they don't get it. Which is too bad, because they make and publish some excellent stuff.

[Rob2600]

How about a simple USB flash drive stick?

I don't know; we didn't try. If I had to bet, I'd say no, but someone should try it and post results.

I just searched Google. USB flash drives (a.k.a. thumb drives) do in fact work on the Wii U.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/631516-wii-u/64676309

http://reviews.cnet.com/consoles/nintendo-wii-u-deluxe/4505-10109_7-35452979.html

etc.

[BetaWolf47]

I don't know; we didn't try. If I had to bet, I'd say no, but someone should try it and post results.
There's a pretty big difference between a USB hard drive and a flash drive. USB hard drives need a USB port that outputs at least an amp of current. Smart TVs usually have a dedicated one amp USB port for USB-powered hard drives. Solid-state flash memory doesn't take nearly that much.

Relieved now that I know. Thanks, Rob2600.

[G-Boobie]

Nintendo recommends that you don't use a thumb drive for whatever its worth, but good to know that you can. Can you download whole games to it without issues? I'd check myself, but my Wii-U is busted and on a plane to Nintendo.

[Rob2600]

The reason Nintendo advises not using flash drives is because they have a limited amount of times they can be written to. But studies have shown it takes years to reach that point. Plus, the Wii U's own internal memory is flash, so yeah...go ahead and use it.

[segagamer4life]

Only 400,000? Brand new system plus Black Friday. That's a pretty low number.



Reggie is such a liar. The system is easy to find.



As I said above. Reggie is such a liar. The PS3 version of Black Ops 2 is a bad port like every other Call of Duty game, and the Wii U version runs much worse than the PS3 version.

Here's a Neogaf thread that has consolidated all the ports that have issues in comparison to the PS360 versions. Just about every one of them has bad framerate issues.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=500078


yup Wii U are in abundant supply here too... what b.s.

[Graham Mitchell]

yup Wii U are in abundant supply here too... what b.s.

In southern Cali the deluxe sets are hard to find, but I waltzed in to target over the weekend and picked up a basic set no problem.

Pro controllers are also a bit tough to find, so I preordered some third party ones that will be released 12/18. They're kinda cool, designed to look like super famicom pads with the colored face buttons.

[Bojay1997]

In southern Cali the deluxe sets are hard to find, but I waltzed in to target over the weekend and picked up a basic set no problem.

Pro controllers are also a bit tough to find, so I preordered some third party ones that will be released 12/18. They're kinda cool, designed to look like super famicom pads with the colored face buttons.

This past weekend in Orange County I saw deluxe sets in Target, Toys R Us and Best Buy and all three stores had Pro Controllers back in stock. Looks like a supply shortage is not much of an issue on the WiiU.

[The 1 2 P]

This past weekend in Orange County I saw deluxe sets in Target, Toys R Us and Best Buy and all three stores had Pro Controllers back in stock. Looks like a supply shortage is not much of an issue on the WiiU.

Similiarly I have found deluxe systems in Best Buy, Gamestop and Toys R Us in Pennsylvania as well as Maryland. I really hope nobody is still paying more than retail for these systems. And I'm so super curious to how this system is going to sell once the holidays are over.

[Tanooki]

Oh there's fools who do because scare tactics work or no one would use them.

The look of it seems to be that Nintendo has learned to game slimebags trying to hose people over with scare tactic words and pricing on their stuff. A heap of creeps tried it with the 3DS and they blew it out in such numbers the scammers in many cases looked like they sold at a loss or a break even. Perhaps they're doing it this time too along with their entire lack of a media campaign as well due to their troubles meeting demand on the tablet controllers (why they don't sell spares) and it is working. Also many people aren't that dumb nor cheap and just seeing the deluxe unit with more storage, a $60 game and other parts (like the $20 charging cradle) make it a better value which is why they're so much harder to spot than the white ones.

[WCP]

My local Craigslist is a joke. Totally littered with Wii U posts, and most of them are now having to settle for a $20 finders fee, if they can even get that. I think most of these guys haven't returned them yet, because they are holding out hope for the last Saturday before Xmas. Once Xmas has come and gone, then we will have a much better idea of the true demand for these things.


I still give Nintendo credit for selling so many, considering there isn't a single killer app like Wii Sports, and considering they are selling the thing for a full $100 more than the Wii sold for. The launch lineup is horrible, and they are still able to sell the thing pretty well. Once they show legit footage of a new Zelda or Donkey Kong or some huge game, then I think they will get a new wave of buyers that are currently sitting on the fence.

[Gamevet]

My local Craigslist is a joke. Totally littered with Wii U posts, and most of them are now having to settle for a $20 finders fee, if they can even get that. I think most of these guys haven't returned them yet, because they are holding out hope for the last Saturday before Xmas. Once Xmas has come and gone, then we will have a much better idea of the true demand for these things.


I still give Nintendo credit for selling so many, considering there isn't a single killer app like Wii Sports, and considering they are selling the thing for a full $100 more than the Wii sold for. The launch lineup is horrible, and they are still able to sell the thing pretty well. Once they show legit footage of a new Zelda or Donkey Kong or some huge game, then I think they will get a new wave of buyers that are currently sitting on the fence.

It sort of reminds me of the PS3 launch, where pure mayhem broke loose on launch day, with hopes that the demand for the console would be like that of the short of supply PS2. It didn't happen, and more than likely, it won't happen with the Wii U.

[Leo_A]

Not getting burned again this time. Bought the Wii early on last gen and was very disappointed (as we all were, I think).

I was actually very pleasantly surprised by the Wii. I was very turned off towards it prior to release between the motion gaming aspect of it and the name itself. But there ended up being plenty of traditional gaming available on it, Nintendo's classic franchises were still there, I enjoyed the Virtual Console, and I even ended up liking some of the motion stuff on it (And I particularly enjoyed the light gun revival of sorts that it allowed). And of course it had excellent compatibility with the GameCube with just a few issues that annoyed me (No Game Boy Player would be #1).

My library of retail releases is several dozen games in size and I have a similar amount listed on my to buy list. It ended up being a pretty nice system. In fact one of my favorite parts of the Wii U so far is its ability to nicely upscale Wii software. I'm looking forward to playing some widescreen Wii classics on my HDTV like Metroid Prime Trilogy (I've kept my Wii hooked up to my Trinitron since my set's scaler chip doesn't handle 480p material as well as I'd like).

[kupomogli]

Does anyone know what the week two sales for the Wii U are?

[Greg2600]

The reason Nintendo advises not using flash drives is because they have a limited amount of times they can be written to. But studies have shown it takes years to reach that point. Plus, the Wii U's own internal memory is flash, so yeah...go ahead and use it.

They can't be serious.

[j_factor]

I was actually very pleasantly surprised by the Wii. I was very turned off towards it prior to release between the motion gaming aspect of it and the name itself. But there ended up being plenty of traditional gaming available on it, Nintendo's classic franchises were still there, I enjoyed the Virtual Console, and I even ended up liking some of the motion stuff on it (And I particularly enjoyed the light gun revival of sorts that it allowed). And of course it had excellent compatibility with the GameCube with just a few issues that annoyed me (No Game Boy Player would be #1).

My library of retail releases is several dozen games in size and I have a similar amount listed on my to buy list. It ended up being a pretty nice system. In fact one of my favorite parts of the Wii U so far is its ability to nicely upscale Wii software. I'm looking forward to playing some widescreen Wii classics on my HDTV like Metroid Prime Trilogy (I've kept my Wii hooked up to my Trinitron since my set's scaler chip doesn't handle 480p material as well as I'd like).


I've never really understood why people bash the Wii all the time. It's easily my favorite console this gen, and I'm not a big Nintendo fan.

[The 1 2 P]

Does anyone know what the week two sales for the Wii U are?

It's total sales for November were 425,000 (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-12-07-nintendo-sells-over-1-75-million-systems-in-november?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=us-daily). So I'd assume it sold around 25,000 systems during week two.

[Bojay1997]

It's total sales for November were 425,000 (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-12-07-nintendo-sells-over-1-75-million-systems-in-november?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=us-daily). So I'd assume it sold around 25,000 systems during week two.

I think you're probably right, although the articles were all pretty vague about the period involved. One article even tried to claim that between November 18th and the end of the month was seven days. In any event, I think the really interesting number will be week 3 as that's when I started to see both basic and deluxe systems back in stores.