Slow Wii U sales?

[VG_Maniac]

It's probably both. Nintendo knew they left $$$ on the table during the original Wii launch. They could have sold double the number of Wii's that they had, but they had legitimate supply issues. This time, they are determined not to under supply, but at the same time, the demand is nowhere near the original Wii demand. In fact, if you think about recent hardware launches during the Thanksgiving time frame, the Kinect was probably in greater demand that original year that it came out.

I've been at a number of Targets, and seen the Wii U demo station just totally ignored, with all the other demo stations being used by people. It's weird.


The only reason Nintendo was even able to sell that first 500,000, is because they had about 375,000 of their diehard supporters jump on the bandwagon on day one. The other 125,000 went to the Ebay/Craigslist speculators. I'm guessing that 50K of that 125K that went to the Craigslist / Ebay crowd will be returned at some point. I think their NPD numbers in December will still look halfway decent ( it is Xmas afterall, and parents still want to excite their kids with a hot new gift ) When we get to January and February, I think they will be WAY off. Nintendo will probably have a press conference, and they will say they are revising their estimates.

They need some killer software and quick.

I considered buying one on launch day to resell it on Ebay. I'm sure glad I didn't.

[WCP]

I considered buying one on launch day to resell it on Ebay. I'm sure glad I didn't.

Some people are actually making some money with the deluxe versions. The basic versions are a very hard sell. Last time I bought consoles to try to make a profit was the PS3 / Wii launches. It's a lot of hassle for minimum profit. I might try to do it with the next Xbox and PS4, but I kinda had the feeling that the Wii U wasn't going to sell like hotcakes. I think the price is $50 too high on both packages. If the Deluxe was $299 and the Basic was $249, I'd be much more interested. I'm sure the rest of the public at large feels the same way.

[Schiggidyd]

Maybe Nintendo needs to realize that their system is full of gimmicks and just resort back to the way it once was. I've had way more fun with the Gamecube. Wii U is so tacky..

[Gameguy]

Maybe Nintendo needs to realize that their system is full of gimmicks and just resort back to the way it once was. I've had way more fun with the Gamecube. Wii U is so tacky..

They do need to go back to how they sold consoles before the gimmicks, like calling it an entertainment system instead of a video game console and packing a robot buddy with it. No gimmick there.

[WCP]

There actually is one thing about the Wii U I find really appealing...

For me, the most interesting thing about it, is being able to use the Wii U Gamepad as a little portable game station around the house (well 25 feet within the Wii U base console). If only it had a better range. It will be really interesting to see if there is some 3rd party hardware that can "extend" that range. The idea of being able to take that gamepad anywhere around my house and even in the backyard, etc, etc is kinda cool idea. Yeah, I can't take it with me in the car or on a plane, but I still really like the idea of being able to be in bed playing a triple A console game on a decent screen.

I've heard that people have already made lists of all the games that allow you to play it without using a TV at all. I'm not surprised at all by that, because to me, that's the killer app for the thing right now. The fact that you can't play Virtual Console games on it though is an absolute crime against humanity. What the F is up with that ? I mean, imagine playing all of Nintendo's classic games on that gamepad wherever you happen to be in your house (again, within range of the base console).

[kedawa]

Can't you do the same with PSP/Vita, or is that just a feature for some games?