How are you feeling about the Wii U future

[Tanooki]

I'm curious what peoples take on this either as owners or not. Clearly they lack third party releases, in particular on discs. The stories were if they could move millions of systems opinions and development would change. Mario Kart is moving a heap of systems and games in buzz words 'over night' pretty much. How do you all feel about the future of the system with this and also Smash Bros a little later on? Not much was shown at E3 which causes some concern, but there were a couple solid second party things on the plate like Bayonetta. I own the system and I wish I had more options from outside of Nintendo. I have stuff like COD Ghosts, DuckTales, Rayman and Resident Evil but they're all also on other systems too, nothing unique which is a shame. Bayonetta will be, and it's the only system of that horsepower that will see late year the Cars project, and there's the Xenoblade title too, but I feel there just should be more to keep the system a focal point of use and not just a casual box to use every now and again.

[Tupin]

I think with Miyamoto's latest comments about the "Nintendo genre" and how they "don't want to be 'cool'" kind of shows Nintendo's attitude towards it. They've basically given up on third parties, at least traditional ones. They're going for indies.

Even if Nintendo had produced a system on par technologically with the PS4/XB1, third parties would still snub their noses at it because they don't want to compete with Nintendo. Nevermind that stuff like Halo and Infamous always sell better on their respective systems than third party games. It's just this bias that Western developers have had for decades and it's not going away.

That being said, I'd expect a new system to come out probably Winter 2016, early reveal at next E3 and more information at E3 2016. That's about as early as I think they could push another system out. And they'd definitely have a 3DS successor ready by then, could work with their new ideas of integration of handhelds and consoles. Even with mobile competition, Nintendo can still hold its own. The Vita is basically dead.

As an owner who bought it on launch day, 2013 was not fun. 2014 is looking better even if it is mostly Nintendo titles and I kind of have to paraphrase the movie Frozen despite my dislike for it: "I never needed third parties anyway."

[Az]

The wife picked me one up as a birthday gift a few months ago, prior to that I was kicking around the idea of picking a used one up if the price was right so I could play NSMBU.

At this point I'm totally satisfied with the system. Just like the 3DS, there's going to be game types unique to the system and there's going to be types you'll never see. Right now I own a handful of games for it,all are a ton of fun and even if they pulled the plug this year I'd still be content with what I have. Full on hardware and software backwards compatibility also helps tremendously to enjoy the handful of Wii exclusive releases I really like.

My only complaint is that I wish they would just integrate the regular Wii shop into the Wii U shop. I'm sure having it separated into the dedicated Wii mode only hinders potential buyers and you can bet that a lot of people don't even know it's there. Throw all that VC content from there onto the Wii U shop and be done with it!

[Leo_A]

I think it's a great system, I just wish it had GameCube compatibility (Including a USB adapter to interface a Game Boy Player to it) and that Wii U specific controllers could substitute as Wii Classic Controllers in Wii mode. And it's not a Wii U issue, but an account based DRM scheme for DLC is also long overdue and the lack of such a thing is damaging to both the Wii U and the 3DS.

If the Wii U ended today though, I'd still be pretty happy with it. But I think its days are numbered and anticipate that it could be replaced as early as Fall 2015 and no later than Fall 2016 (The latter of which is what I'm betting on). I'd be very surprised if there's a major exclusive next year other than Zelda as they change gears to developing next generation software and I suspect that 2015 will be its last year for halfway decent support.

Frankly, I think their 3DS and Wii U lineups right now already indicate that such a process is well underway. Zelda will again be the Nintendo console swan song for the third generation in a row (Twilight Princess closed out the GameCube and Skyward Sword closed out the Wii for major 1st party releases).

[PizzaKat]

I'm quite surprised that a couple of posts here think a new system is coming in a couple of years. I believe they will ride it out. It will make a profit but will probably finish behind the XBox One. The third parties other than a few titles here and there are pretty much gone from this generation. They have no one to blame but themselves and I hope they learn from this. I enjoy mine as the PS4 has nothing interesting. Super Mario 3D World is one of the best games that Ive played in awhile. its just too bad it didn't sell consoles.

For their next console I hope they can get third parties, I don't want have to buy another console to get third party offerings. If they can be like the SNES they'd do a lot of sales. People saying "I don't care for third parties etc." can't realize that many other people such as myself do. More powerful system, Nintendos first party plus third party support whether it be boring FPS, fighters, and the like will most likely equal much more sales and more games for people to buy while they wait for Nintendo's own games.

[WCP]

I'm quite surprised that a couple of posts here think a new system is coming in a couple of years. I believe they will ride it out.

Here's the thing...


You'd think that if Nintendo really felt like they should do their damnedest to make a legit go of it with the Wii U, that they would have lowered the price by now (significantly), and then maybe they could legitimately get back into the mix.

The fact that the price is still ridiculously high, tells me that Nintendo is going to "let this one die on the vines". In other words, I see them sticking it out with the Wii U for the next couple of years, but not actually trying to really bend over backwards to try to make the Wii U a market share contender. If they really wanted to try to get the Wii U back into the mix, they need a bundle for $199 that includes Mario 3D World. Or even a $199 bundle that includes Mario Kart 8.

I know some people would say... "Are you F'ing crazy ? Mario Kart 8 in a bundle for $199 ? The Mario Kart 8 bundle is $329.99, how are they going to drop the price $130 ? "


Well, I don't know how they are going to do it, I just know that if they were serious about actually having the Wii U legitimately compete, that is exactly what they would need to do, along with a new marketing campaign promoting it. For me, the fact that it hasn't happened yet is very telling.

[Leo_A]

I'm quite surprised that a couple of posts here think a new system is coming in a couple of years. I believe they will ride it out. It will make a profit but will probably finish behind the XBox One.

There is absolutely no reasonable chance that this system will ever be profitable and the Xbox One will most certainly sell several consoles for every Wii U system that is sold.

Nintendo has no incentive to push this generation any longer than need be since it's a lost cause with their only goal being to minimize the losses and hopefully change their momentum somehow so they can regain profitability with their next generation hardware. They're not even anywhere close to GameCube style sales performance here as they close in on the Wii U's two year anniversary (A system that was never sold at a loss, I might add).

They will let it stay around just long enough to provide some semblance of a reasonable lifespan to placate their dedicated fans. Fall 2016 which I'm betting on will mark the 4 year anniversary which is reasonably close to the 5 year or so average folks expect from Nintendo systems. Once that happens, they will quickly phase it out once their next generation hardware is ready to go just like Microsoft did with the Xbox.

And with all this hybrid handheld/console talk, the age of the 3DS, and the downward momentum of the system and its greatly diminished software calendar, it might happen even earlier with a Fall 2015 or spring 2016 date at the latest since the 3DS will be ripe by then. If a hybrid platform of some sort is indeed the course they're taking, it's going to be the timing for the need of a 3DS replacement that they're going to key off for deciding when to launch their next generation platform rather than keeping the failed Wii U going a while longer just to keep up appearances.

[Tanooki]

I think both sides are right on this. They're holding out at this rate and keeping quiet about it standing their ground and just running the PR re-run about stuff while doing a fade with the Amiibo stuff. One thing most people don't ever bring up is something I've been saying over a year now and Nintendo around E3 finally said themselves which got me thinking I'm not that far off the mark. Going forward now they're an one internal entity and just a year ago they ran like two companies split for console and handheld. They merged them after a years worth of horrid failures and losses even the 3DS couldn't prop up due to the WiiU tanking which sucks. I was saying next go around since they refuse to do what third parties want in a system to get their support and because they like to stand out and play the unique card, they need to just take the merger to the next logical step.

All in one device. Think of like the Neo-Geo X. You have the entire system in an expensive handheld, and then you have a dock with an HDMI cable and controllers that go with it for multiple players, yet you can undock the console and keep it going. The WiiU in essence is kind of just that already with their off-TV play which all but an extreme few games support because no one wants to uniquely use the tablet for play like ZombiU did. Think if they could do a $300 all in one box that you can carry anywhere, then when you want, toss into a dock and play on your big old TV at home. The system could have pretty beefy capabilities given what the most top of the line tablets do these days. Since they seem to still be asininely resistant to having a touch panel from the 21st century like on Android and Apple devices they got the cost down there a lot, so they'd have more room for the CPU/GPU, ram and the rest and with how relatively cheap larger sized mini cards (think 3DS) are you could get a lot of game into such a little thing. They'd have just one source of revenue and they downright own and still own the home dedicated gaming device portable market. Third parties rush enough to make games for their handheld and they do get good dough out of it for a minimal cost versus what console games for and we've seen the general quality the 3DS can push.

[brainerdrainer]

I feel great about the future! I'll always love my Wii U!

[Buyatari]

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.

[Rickstilwell1]

They should make a 3D perspective console version of Mole Mania where you can even tunnel further underground and explore the underground tunnels in addition to the overworld.

[Tupin]

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 think Splatoon is going to be pretty big.

[Tanooki]

They should make a 3D perspective console version of Mole Mania where you can even tunnel further underground and explore the underground tunnels in addition to the overworld.

I never played the GB game much but it did show Miyamoto's charm in design, and I think what you're getting at there actually could be fun enough that I'd even buy it.

[Zthun]

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.

Yeah, but innovation is not what people want. There's a small minority of gamers that want new stuff but sales show that people would rather buy the same stuff over and over again.

Corporations make decisions that are in the best interest of their shareholders, not their consumers.

[WCP]

Nintendo still has that Disney-esque magic touch.

They bring it out every once in awhile...


Super Mario 3D Land for the 3DS is absolutely overflowing with that Nintendo Magic. I don't have a Wii U, but I'm guessing both Mario Kart and the 3D Mario World on Wii U are both overflowing with that Nintendo magic. Luigi's Mansion on the 3DS. The recent Zelda on the 3DS. Nintendo can still bring it.

The Toad game on Wii U looks interesting.

I'd love to get a Wii U, but Nintendo needs to make it extremely hard for me to resist, and right now they are making it very easy for me to resist. If they can put a package together with either the 3D Mario World or Mario Kart packed in, and get the whole package at $199.99, then I'd actually jump on the bandwagon. We are still talking about like $218 after tax. Not exactly chump change. But I'd really spend the full $218, but I gotta get Mario Kart or 3D World thrown in the box, and it has to be brand new. Nintendo just can't seem to lower the price much, which tells me they are paying WAY too much for the parts they put in the box. It doesn't make any sense. They should be able to sell a package at $200 and break even by now.

[Rickstilwell1]

Yeah, but innovation is not what people want. There's a small minority of gamers that want new stuff but sales show that people would rather buy the same stuff over and over again.

Corporations make decisions that are in the best interest of their shareholders, not their consumers.

I think the main problem is that gamers are lazier than before and instead of researching games they just go "well I know Mario, those are always fun." ditto with Zelda, Pokémon, etc. And so those are always the ones that sell. Video games have just been around so long that the older casual gamers have gained a comfort zone and have a harder and harder time stepping outside of it as they get more real life responsibilities.

I'm kind of guilty of it myself, but I do step out of that zone by saying I also want to try all the new RPGs. That should get me a lot of unknown franchises right? The problem is that RPGs usually aren't ready for consoles in large quantities until later in the systems' lives. I'm sure they helped boost the PS3 a lot in later years.

[Zthun]

I think the main problem is that gamers are lazier than before and instead of researching games they just go "well I know Mario, those are always fun." ditto with Zelda, Pokémon, etc. And so those are always the ones that sell. Video games have just been around so long that the older casual gamers have gained a comfort zone and have a harder and harder time stepping outside of it as they get more real life responsibilities.

I'm kind of guilty of it myself, but I do step out of that zone by saying I also want to try all the new RPGs. That should get me a lot of unknown franchises right? The problem is that RPGs usually aren't ready for consoles in large quantities until later in the systems' lives. I'm sure they helped boost the PS3 a lot in later years.

I disagree with you about gamers are lazier than before. I really think it boils down to two factors: social status and money.

People want to play what their friends are playing, so they continue to buy the same things over and over again, regardless if the games are good or not. They want to be a part of a group. The Wii gave accessibility to a lot of people that weren't gamers before and now there's millions upon millions of people that are playing modern consoles. Most of the are casual gamers that have very small libraries thorughout the life span of the console.

Even though $60 is cheaper today than it was 20 years ago when adjusted for inflation, America especially has thrown the majority of the money supply at the top and it's not trickling down to the middle class. That big recession in 2008 burned a lot of people and most just aren't willing to drop $60 on an unknown when they can play it safe and buy something that has a high chance of them liking it.

[Leo_A]

I really doubt that the Wii has brought many people into the console fold that wouldn't of been here otherwise. Most of the people that were Wii owners that have transitioned to the Xbox One, Playstation 4, and so on would've been here Wii or no Wii. The people that wouldn't of given this world a second thought had the Wii not been a casual hit largely didn't stay around.

[8-Bit Archeology]

My thoughts on the Wii U.

Professor Layton
Animal Crossing
And Minecraft

Where the hell are they already!!!

[8-Bit Archeology]

My thoughts on the Wii U.

Professor Layton
Animal Crossing
And Minecraft

Where the hell are they already!!!