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[Jeels]

sure it doesn't address everything, but when Nintendo solves one complaint the solution just causes more.

I don't think you realize that they haven't addressed any complaints. Titles that were promised as launch still aren't out yet (not to mention launch under delivered). There's a barren drought, and beyond the ridiculous 'launch window" list, there is no real release calendar beyond May.

And its even more ridiculous when one realizes that they abandoned the Wii for a good year and a half. If they weren't making wii software, they sure as hell have a horrible problem with time management.

Showing a bunch of games with little to no direction means nothing. It was done out of desperation.

 

[Iacobellis]

But how many of these titles aren't ports?



I think you're looking at the system through rose-tinted goggles. Sure it was a good deal better than the Wii U, but it was trash compared to monolith that was the PS2.

When you compare any sixth generation console to the PS2, they lose. Sony had an absolute juggernaut on their hands.

 

[kevcampbell]

GameCube-level sales are already here. Take a look at my chart.

Damn

 

[Neff]

But how many of these titles aren't ports?

I'd wager the majority of unannounced games aren't ports. For the moment, there's not much money to be made outside of the PS3/360 pool when it comes to multi-plats.

Ports certainly wouldn't hurt, though.

 

[Canis lupus]

I'm very pessimistic. The drought has to do with Nintendo having difficulties adapting the HD era and having its resources split into 2 platforms. The effort they put into saving the 3DS has hurt/delayed WiiU development significantly. I don't think we'll even see Mario Kart this year in store shelves.

 

[polyh3dron]

GameCube-level sales are already here. Take a look at my chart.

holy shit.

dooooooooom

 

[I NEED SCISSORS]

Nintendo should just admit it's a flop and call it a day. It may be just about holding in there now, but wait until the real next gen consoles arrive to completely bury it. My prediction that it's going to be dead within 2 years seems to be progressing nicely.

 

[Bill Rizer]

GameCube-level sales are already here. Take a look at my chart.

And it took even less time, given GCN launched in Japan on september 13.

 

[JazzmanZ]

I'm very pessimistic. The drought has to do with Nintendo having difficulties adapting the HD era and having its resources split into 2 platforms. The effort they put into saving the 3DS has hurt/delayed WiiU development significantly. I don't think we'll even see Mario Kart this year in store shelves.

even through its been confirmed the new mario kart is playable at this years E3?

 

[Wickerbasket]

I'd wager the majority of unannounced games aren't ports. For the moment, there's not much money to be outside of the PS3/360 pool when it comes to multi-plats.

How many of these unannounced games have been quickly cancelled or moved to other systems given the sales of the Wii U?

I just have a hard time believing there's a load of games that haven't been announced yet that are going to release any time soon, and it would be even harder to believe if you said it was from third parties.

 

[StevieP]

How many of these unannounced games have been quickly cancelled or moved to other systems given the sales of the Wii U?

I just have a hard time believing there's a load of games that haven't been announced yet that are going to release any time soon, and it would be even harder to believe if you said it was from third parties.

Many titles were cancelled before the Wii U launched. Take that as you will

 

[Dave Meltzer]

How many of these unannounced games have been quickly cancelled or moved to other systems given the sales of the Wii U?

I just have a hard time believing there's a load of games that haven't been announced yet that are going to release any time soon, and it would be even harder to believe if you said it was from third parties.

Lets not let logic get in the way of some good old fashioned optimism.

 

[Pachterballs]

Amusing how someone said "this GameCube 2.0" thing is getting old, only for a spread sheet to show up and show just how true the remark is.

And it's worse too

 

[Kodiak]

There is absolutely no hype for this thing out in the world. No one in the mainstream gets it in the same way that they got the Wii. People think its an add on or controller for the existing Wii. Hell, none of my friends got it until I sat them all down and made them play Nintendoland for an hour.

Nintendo has some major PR campaigning to do to even get the general public to understand what the product is, much less desire buying one.

 

[aquavelva]

The system needs big games. Nothing else will fix the Wii Us issues

 

[Chittagong]

At this point the Wii U is a joke sadly. System is approaching fast 6 months out, still Pikmin 3 nowhere to be seen, Wii Sports U and Wii Fit U missing in action, no new Mario or Zelda announced, no Mario Kart shown, no trace of Smash Bros, Metroid all but forgotten, Pokemon train missed, Animal Crossing lol no, 3rd parties condemning the console left and right, original IP as far as ever, online system and account system a shambles. Considering the library Dreamcast launched and died with, Wii U is a still born unfortunately.

 

[D-e-f-]

Already not true since everyone seems to love the Dreamcast.

 

[MarkusRJR]

I'm very pessimistic. The drought has to do with Nintendo having difficulties adapting the HD era and having its resources split into 2 platforms. The effort they put into saving the 3DS has hurt/delayed WiiU development significantly. I don't think we'll even see Mario Kart this year in store shelves.

Yup. They really should have expanded during the Wii/DS days.

This drought, terrible marketing (and now lack of marketing), brand perception/console name (no one knows if it's a console, tablet, or Wii accessory), and high price (due to the Game Pad) are pretty much why the console is in the state it is. We'll see if Nintendo can fix it at E3, but if they don't turn it around during the holidays it's definitely going to be have GameCube-esque sales.

 

[JoeM86]

At this point the Wii U is a joke sadly. System is approaching fast 6 months out, still Pikmin 3 nowhere to be seen, Wii Sports U and Wii Fit U missing in action, no new Mario or Zelda announced, no Mario Kart shown, no trace of Smash Bros, Metroid all but forgotten, Pokemon train missed, Animal Crossing lol no, 3rd parties condemning the console left and right, original IP as far as ever, online system and account system a shambles. Considering the library Dreamcast launched and died with, Wii U is a still born unfortunately.

1. Mario & Zelda were announced in January's Nintendo Direct. Mario is due this year and will be playable at E3. Smash Bros was also confirmed to have presence at E3 ergo it has a trace
2. Pokémon's first game is coming out next month in Japan for the Wii U. It has a strong retal presence despite being a download title and has figures which will also make money for Nintendo
3. The only reason Dreamcast had a massive library at launch in the west was because it came a long time after the launch in Japan so it had first and second wave games in the launch.

 

[farnham]

they were late with expanding but they can still do so. there are still financially unstable publishers and developers nintendo might be able to snatch up. they need to do so quickly though.

 

[JazzmanZ]

At this point the Wii U is a joke sadly. System is approaching fast 6 months out, still Pikmin 3 nowhere to be seen, Wii Sports U and Wii Fit U missing in action, no new Mario or Zelda announced, no Mario Kart shown, no trace of Smash Bros, Metroid all but forgotten, Pokemon train missed, Animal Crossing lol no, 3rd parties condemning the console left and right, original IP as far as ever, online system and account system a shambles. Considering the library Dreamcast launched and died with, Wii U is a still born unfortunately.

thats cute, you expect Nintendo to unleash every single money making IP they have all at once.

 

[jeffers]

with those number, wiiu did about 25-30% better in japan over that period, but pretty similarly worse in US, though released in japan in sept, usa nov - if thats had an affect (e.g. slightly more software at launch? or maybe more hype? dunno any specifics). woulda been helpful to have totals on the sheet though (i just rounded everything down to k's)

 

[Blades64]

I understand how you feel, I love Halo and some of other Microsoft exclusives but I'm not going to pay about $400 for the 720 + Xbox Live fees, but that's my problem, that still doesn't make me want them to go third party, I'd love if Nintendo and Sony teamed up and make gaming hardware together and have all Nintendo and Sony exclusives on it so I don't have to buy two consoles but that's not going to happen.

And in my opinion calling the Wii U a sinking ship after 4 months is to early, you got to wait when games come and about a year to know were the Wii U will take place.

But that's my opinion.

Man, you have grown. Your points are well thought out lately. I agree with everything said in this post.

 

[i-Lo]

Mario and Zelda games will ensure Nintendo's survival.

 

[JoeM86]

They also said Pikmin 3 and W101 would be launch titles, didn't they ? And almost no one gives a shit about a Pokemon spin-off eShop title.



The problem is that we have no reliable roadmap. When the only 1st party titles announced for this year are titles that should've been out during launch window and the remake of a Gamecube title things look pretty grim.

Delays happen, it's unfortunate but it's better than a poor game coming out. They're still listed for Q2 and we'll see more in the next Nintendo Direct

People DO care about Pokémon spin-offs. Pokémon Rumble as a subseries has sold millions. The original topped the Wii download charts for years and the 3DS one was among the first 3DS games to hit one million units

 

[AniHawk]

At this point the Wii U is a joke sadly. System is approaching fast 6 months out, still Pikmin 3 nowhere to be seen, Wii Sports U and Wii Fit U missing in action, no new Mario or Zelda announced, no Mario Kart shown, no trace of Smash Bros, Metroid all but forgotten, Pokemon train missed, Animal Crossing lol no, 3rd parties condemning the console left and right, original IP as far as ever, online system and account system a shambles. Considering the library Dreamcast launched and died with, Wii U is a still born unfortunately.

the dreamcast launched when the console had ten months to build a library. it would be like the wii u launching this september with... well, everything from e3 2012, and promise of mario, smash bros., and mario kart just a short couple months away.

the dreamcast also floundered in japan. sega never had a lot of success in japan, but they were coming off the saturn, which they did well with. not sure if it's related to the release schedule, or the weird timing from sega in starting that generation in 1998.

 

[Pachterballs]

At this point the Wii U is a joke sadly. System is approaching fast 6 months out, still Pikmin 3 nowhere to be seen, Wii Sports U and Wii Fit U missing in action, no new Mario or Zelda announced, no Mario Kart shown, no trace of Smash Bros, Metroid all but forgotten, Pokemon train missed, Animal Crossing lol no, 3rd parties condemning the console left and right, original IP as far as ever, online system and account system a shambles. Considering the library Dreamcast launched and died with, Wii U is a still born unfortunately.

/MSGsalute

 

[Crom]

Nintendo should just admit it's a flop and call it a day. It may be just about holding in there now, but wait until the real next gen consoles arrive to completely bury it. My prediction that it's going to be dead within 2 years seems to be progressing nicely.

Nintendo screwed up badly with the Wii U but you are crazy if you think they should abandon it and screw over people that have bought it already. It hasn't even been out for a year yet.

Your prediction is going to be wrong (no matter how bad you want it to be right)

It will have a miserable 1st half but they are going to pull out some big guns for the holidays and are going to have decent season.

 

[D-e-f-]

At this point the Wii U is a joke sadly.

System is nearing 6 months out, // 4 months and 3 days is "nearing 6 months"?

still Pikmin 3 nowhere to be seen, // playable at PAX East, still a Q2 game
Wii Sports U and // there never was a Wii Sports U
Wii Fit U missing in action, // granted, they haven't shown it but it's still a summer game
no new Mario or Zelda announced, // flat out not true, they were both "announced" in January with the former being playable at E3
no Mario Kart shown, // playable at E3
no trace of Smash Bros, // confirmed for E3
Metroid all but forgotten, // fair point so far
Pokemon train missed, // what does that even mean? Pokémon Rumble U is coming to the eShop and even uses NFC figurines
Animal Crossing lol no, // err what?
3rd parties condemning the console left and right, // "condemning the console?" yea whatever that means ...
original IP as far as ever, // that old hat again ...
online system and account system a shambles. // in shambles?! the ONLY thing wrong with anything there is that the accounts aren't transferable by the user. nothing about the "online system" is in shambles in any form whatsover.

Considering the library Dreamcast launched and died with, Wii U is a still born unfortunately.

response bolded in the quote.

Nintendo should just admit it's a flop and call it a day. It may be just about holding in there now, but wait until the real next gen consoles arrive to completely bury it. My prediction that it's going to be dead within 2 years seems to be progressing nicely.

The thing has been on shelves for four months. Slow down a bit...

 

[Chittagong]

thats cute, you expect Nintendo to unleash every single money making IP they have all at once.

I do. They did so when announcing GameCube, DS, Wii and 3DS. They used their IP to build excitement even though some took ages to surface. Why not on Wii U? It's not some new stroke of marketing genius, but much more likely that they simply are not staffed up to HD development and don't have stuff running and looking impressive yet. Because, what else do they have to build hype than their own IP?

 

[farnham]

I do. They did so when announcing GameCube, DS, Wii and 3DS. They used their IP to build excitement even though some took ages to surface. Why not on Wii U? It's not some new stroke of marketing genius, but much more likely that they simply are not staffed up to HD development and don't have stuff running and looking impressive yet. Because, what else do they have to build hype than their own IP?

If nintendo first party is the only remedy of the system nintendo better release those games quickly and announce them as soon as possible.

That said nowadays they seem to simply make announcements without even having a game too (smash 4, SMT X FE)

 

[BabaJii]

Nintendo should go hand-held exclusive. They're wasting their time and money with home consoles. Nobody cares.

 

[NotLiquid]

If nothing else I find it impressive how Wii U can do Gamecube numbers right now without games like Super Smash Bros. Melee on launch and I'm not sure whether it says more about the former or the latter console. Should be interesting to see how much the market thinks of Nintendo once their big hitters come around if that's the case.

 

[JazzmanZ]

That said nowadays they seem to simply make announcements without even having a game too (smash 4, SMT X FE)

would you rather they don't announce anything at all?

 

[Chittagong]

If nintendo first party is the only remedy of the system nintendo better release those games quickly and announce them as soon as possible.

That said nowadays they seem to simply make announcements without even having a game too (smash 4, SMT X FE)

Their own innovation singlehandedly carried the Wii, DS and 3DS, while Capcom 5 and the Dream Team did little to the success of GCN and N64 respectively. The 3DS fortunes were turned by Mario Kart 7, Super Mario 3D Land, Kid Icarus appearing at the eleventh hour, same for DS with Nintendogs and Brain Training. Nintendo's only saviour is Nintendo.

there never was a Wii Sports U

And that's the problem exactly. Their biggest IP last gen, yet they go "nope won't use any of that momentum, even though we made this HD Wii Sports demo to the keynote." Just do it Nintendo!

 

[hirokazu]

I wonder what Ambassador games I am going to get when they rip the RRP to pieces?

Last time they gave us Ambassador program games for free. Now they're selling it to all owners for 30¢ a pop, disguised as "Famicom 3oth Anniversary"!

 

[NeonZ]

That said nowadays they seem to simply make announcements without even having a game too (smash 4, SMT X FE)

We don't know SMT X FE's development state, and Brawl also was announced before development started, so that one is hardly surprising.

 

[shinra-bansho]

Does anyone remember the Nintendo Direct just two months ago with all the stuff they promised and how EVERYONE agreed it helped save the Wii U.

Sorry but that's a warped perception of reality.

 

[Krev]

If nothing else I find it impressive how Wii U can do Gamecube numbers right now without games like Super Smash Bros. Melee on launch and I'm not sure whether it says more about the former or the latter console. Should be interesting to see how much the market thinks of Nintendo once their big hitters come around if that's the case.

It's the successor to the pop-culture phenomenon that was the Wii. It would be very sad if it couldn't do Gamecube numbers, games or no games.

 

[Raven77]

When will these hardware manufacturers learn that you wont sell your system until you have some GAMES worth getting.

If Nintendo didn't see this coming then my God they are in some serious trouble and it may be time for a "changing of the guard" so to speak.

I will not pay $350 bucks for a machine that is as powerful as 2 other consoles i've owned for years until their is a compelling / great game on it that I can't get on the others.

And that's the problem exactly. Their biggest IP last gen, yet they go "nope won't use any of that momentum, even though we made this HD Wii Sports demo to the keynote." Just do it Nintendo!

Lol and NO having a Wii Sports U at launch would have been one of the WORST decisions they could have made. All it would do is send a message to the tens of millions of gamers who either skipped the Wii entirely or bought 1-2 games for it total that Nintendo still doesn't give a damn about them and is focusing once again on the casual grandma "gamer".

 

[Plinko]

Maybe I'm underestimating the amount of people who'll buy a console for Mario Kart, but looking at the N64 and Gamecube sales, I don't think I am.

Don't get me wrong, I certainly think it can do Gamecube numbers with Nintendo's first party releases but I'm sure Nintendo was hoping for more.

I'd definitely like them to be more aggressive in their pricing and marketing, but as it is right now they have little to market.

I don't get why you feel the need to skip the most recent console version's sales but mention the two iterations well before.

So after a full year of resolute failure on the market, and just as the PS4 and Durango launch.

Doesn't matter. If they want it, they'll get it.

As others have said, a bundle with Mario Kart and Nintendoland at $299 looks decent for families against a higher-priced PS4 and Nextbox with presumably no included games.

Do I think is thing will have a major turnaround? No, I don't. But I do think it is ludicrous that people instantly assume:

1) After 4 months this thing is dead with no hope of recovery

And

2) PS4 and Nextbox are going to sell record amounts, completely eliminating this thing from the market.

 

[MarkusRJR]

Jeez it's really easy to see who the Nintendo fanboys are in here...

Delays happen, it's unfortunate but it's better than a poor game coming out. They're still listed for Q2 and we'll see more in the next Nintendo Direct

You're implying that they're going to be working on it constantly so that's why it was delayed? It's much more likely that the delayed it to fill in the summer line up. Miyamoto himself said that they just shifted it. For all we know the game could be done already or that they just took members of the team away to work on something else.

The game should have been released by now.

 

[Dave Meltzer]

I don't get why you feel the need to skip the most recent console version's sales but mention the two iterations well before.

Because Wii was a freak that sold based almost entirely on Wii Sports. You can't assume Mario Kart is going to sell as well in the future as it did on Wii because Wii U is never going to be anywhere near as close in popularity as Wii.

 

[shinra-bansho]

As others have said, a bundle with Mario Kart and Nintendoland at $299 looks decent for families against a higher-priced PS4 and Nextbox with presumably no included games.

It will look poor against a sub-$200 XBOX 360 or PS3.

 

[Plinko]

Because Wii was a freak that sold based almost entirely on Wii Sports. You can't assume Mario Kart is going to sell as well in the future as it did on Wii because Wii U is never going to be anywhere near as close in popularity as Wii.

So you resort to the market 10 years ago?

I don't think it will sell as well. But Mario Kart Wii sold over 30 million copies. That's not "based almost entirely on Wii Sports."

 

[TreasureHunterG]

Amusing how someone said "this GameCube 2.0" thing is getting old, only for a spread sheet to show up and show just how true the remark is.

And it's worse too

When GameCube came out: PS2 had a year advantage and Xbox came out by the same time. Wii U came out with a 1 year advantage with no competitors around. It's strugging? Sure, but keep in mind PS3 and 360 are still around and strong sales wise, even Wii is still holding. As much Wii U is doing badly, is very different from the scenario GameCube had in it's first months.

Anyway, this reminds me the 3DS situation before the price drop, how fucked up it was and how people was expecting Vita to crush it.

 

[Plinko]

It will look poor against a sub-$200 XBOX 360 or PS3.

As stated earlier, games sell the system. If the Mario Kart/insert game here they want is new and what they want, it doesn't matter.

Same goes for PS4/Nextbox. If there are some great games available, it will sell.

 

[Wickerbasket]

I don't get why you feel the need to skip the most recent console version's sales but mention the two iterations well before.

Isn't it obvious? It's because the Wii U has nothing in common with the Wii. It would be unfair to compare the sales of the Wii U against the anomaly that was the Wii because it makes it look in even worse a position.

 

[Plinko]

Isn't it obvious? It's because the Wii U has nothing in common with the Wii. It would be unfair to compare the sales of the Wii U against the anomaly that was the Wii because it makes it look in even worse a position.

Do you apply the same view of the market to all products, like other game systems? Apple products?

 

[Dave Meltzer]

So you resort to the market 10 years ago?

I don't think it will sell as well. But Mario Kart Wii sold over 30 million copies. That's not "based almost entirely on Wii Sports."

If every house in the world had a Wii U right now, Mario Kart would sell a shitload. But Mario Kart hasn't historically been a game that has set a platform alight. There's a difference between a game that can sell well and a system seller.