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[TheDrowningMan]

This is pretty week analysis. This is exactly what people were saying about how all PS2 owners were guaranteed to jump to PS3. Some did but many either didn't buy a console or went to another console. It doesn't work that way, only the core audience is very likely to "jump" with a company to the next gen. Casuals have been proven to be easily attracted by any side. There will be plenty of those who will stay on 360 as long as COD and Madden come out on it.

To a greater extent than usual given that there's no CD/DVD/HD style leap, a (still) moribund economy and, crucially, the act that 360/PS3 have been slow burners adopted over time, not sensations. An awful lot of people have only leapt on the band wagon post-2009. They ain't buying a replacement, especially if the price is $400 crazy.

 

[syko de4d]

i hope that will show sony/ms that no one really wants a weak Console

 

[RurouniZel]

PS4

:O

If they call it Orbius or however that's spelled I wouldn't blame 'em. ;P

 

[anaron]

i hope that will show sony/ms that no one really wants a weak Console

 

[Majmun]

55k is for 5 weeks???

Damn, february will be brutal then. I`m expecting <40k sales

 

[allan-bh]

We know if DmC < 200k is accurate?

 

[Saint Gregory]

unappealing as in 1) it has a bare software library 2) it offers little to nothing above current consoles with much larger libraries, support, and lower priced.

I wouldn't say that it offers nothing but I would say that what it offers isn't reflected in its price... yet. And worse is that Nintendo has done nothing to illustrate what the console offers to the average consumer.

An officemate asked me what the difference is between a Wii and a Wii U and I realized then that I couldn't put the differences into terms that meant anything to him. So that is the problem Nintendo faces but it's an issue that they should have solved during R&D. If you can't market a product then why make it?

 

[maabus1999]

I know people love panic mode Nintendo, but the current status of the Wii U worldwide is beyond panic mode saving. They are just lucky to have the 3DS to keep cash flow positive, but the Wii U has so many issues beyond price and software shortages that I don't see a good turn around inbound.

Look at what currently makes the 3DS successful and you can see it is a completely different business strategy then can be used on the Wii U. Then look at where the WW market segmentation is going for home consoles, and you can see there is a massive problem in value to the consumer.

The only way for the Wii U to turn around is a major shakeup of the business culture of Nintendo and somehow "rebrand" the system (which is rare in the business world but can be done). Get a Wii U ver 2.0 out not named "Wii U" but is 100% compatiable with the old one, and you can try a rebranding strategy. Rebranding strategies at this level can take up to a year or more though to get going.

 

[Beer Monkey]

An officemate asked me what the difference is between a Wii and a Wii U and I realized then that I couldn't put the differences into terms that meant anything to him. So that is the problem Nintendo faces but it's an issue that they should have solved during R&D. If you can't market a product then why make it?

Tell him it's a Wii with a touch screen and roughly the horsepower of a 2005 Xbox 360.

I know people love panic mode Nintendo, but the current status of the Wii U worldwide is beyond panic mode saving.

Calling a console dead in 3 months is a bit premature IMO. But they've got work to do. More than they had to do on the 3DS.

The Vita, on the other hand, it's been a year and I don't see a way out. They had nine months to build up before their first holiday season.

 

[Crawl]

WiiU

Vita

Both consoles have 4 letters.

In Japanese, 4 means death.

COINCIDENCE?!?!

Spoiler

;P

So if the next xbox is simply called "Xbox" we know what that means!

 

[Drek]

The question now is who wins next gen? Sony seems to be aiming for the hardcore and MS seems to be playing off of LIVE along with a more balanced approach. We as a collective may not like it but with Nintendo losing the casuals and Sony NOT having the same appeal toward casuals with LIVE and Kinect, MS may just take next gen surprisingly.

Casuals don't keep systems alive, Nintendo proved that with the Wii. Casuals don't care about Live, and Kinect is far from the phenomenon that the Wii was.

Also, casuals do not buy $400 launch systems. A huge part of the Wii's casual appeal was it's $250 price point compared to the 360 and PS3.

Core gamers dictate terms early in the generation short of a casual fad, which tends to bring new temporary customers in, not shift core customers at all. MS knew this with the 360 and their heavy core gamer focus early on. They've changed management over the years and are moving away from that concept. Unless they have a particularly effective marketing strategy (like subsidizing consoles through cable providers) they could quickly find themselves behind in the software race.

 

[dino1980]

Well this is great news!

This hopefully means that Nintendo will invest alot of money and time in releasing new great IPs or already existing ones in a faster pace!

WiiU next Dreamcast in terms of quality games and new IPs.

 

[popeutlal]

What irony - It was Wii that saved Nintendo. It was also the Wii that killed Nintendo...potentially.

 

[Saint Gregory]

Tell him it's a Wii with a touch screen and roughly the horsepower of a 2005 Xbox 360.

And this is the kind of stuff that meant nothing to him. I keep trying to explain this to enthusiast gamers but we're the only ones who pay attention to these things. All the average person cares about for the most part is games and price and I couldn't explain to him how games would be any different with a pad controller or why the console is so expensive when compared to a Wii.

This is something that Sony and MS need to be concerned about too.

 

[Mithos]

I wonder what the sales numbers would have been if Wii U have had all the multiplats the PS360 got.

Dishonored, Far Cry 3, Dead Space 3, Crysis 3, DmC, Tomb Raider, Remember Me. (Am I missing anything?)

I wonder if many former Wii owners have upgraded to a PS3 or 360 lately. After a few years with a Wii, either of those would feel like a generational leap.

It has nothing to do with anything, I was just idly wondering.

Picked a PS3 up at the $299 price change, have 20-30 games so far but its collecting dust and have been for many months, I just keep adding the free PS+ games never playing anything).

It's not a matter of quality for what is there. The point is if you don't want NSMBU or ZombiU, maybe Nintendoland, there really isn't any reason at all when you can instead pick up an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 instead and indulge in their far superior software library.

Yeah as of now ZombiU is the only game I'd pick up a Wii U for, a while I was even gonna double dip for ME3 Special Edition just to support it, but that was before the time when EA decided to destroy it with ME: Trilogy for the same price for every other platform.

 

[TL4E]

Lack of good software leads to poor hardware sales leads to poor software sales, news at 11.

 

[U2NUMB]

I seriously doubt that whatever the 720 will offer in terms of entertainment will warrant an upgrade for the casuals. They'll be perfectly satisfied with what the 360 offers.

I would say do not doubt Microsofts ability to market themselves. They are masters at that and in the US the Xbox brand is damn strong. Outside the US it is hit or miss. I think this next gen will be a two horse race between Sony and MS with Nintendo left far behind. PC will continue to grow also but next gen consoles will for a while be a big pull.

Crazy ass year.

 

[BadWolf]

And this is the kind of stuff that meant nothing to him. I keep trying to explain this to enthusiast gamers but we're the only ones who pay attention to these things. All the average person cares about for the most part is games and price and I couldn't explain to him how games would be any different with a pad controller or why the console is so expensive when compared to a Wii.

This is something that Sony and MS need to be concerned about too.

Not to the same extent as Nintendo.

Their system are making a clear generational leap. People won't mistake a PS3 for a PS4.

 

[Exterminieren]

This hopefully means that Nintendo will invest alot of money and time in releasing new great IPs!

Nope.

Panic Mode Nintendo doubles down on what's proven.

Compare the successful IPs spawned on DS and Wii with the waves of Mario on 3DS.

 

[jvm]

Aaaaand, we're back.

Column went up.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...nuary_performance_is_historically_abysmal.php

 

[InsaneZero]

Well this is great news!

This hopefully means that Nintendo will invest alot of money and time in releasing new great IPs or already existing ones in a faster pace!

WiiU next Dreamcast in terms of quality games and new IPs.

No, "Panic Mode" Nintendo means rushed releases of tried and true franchises. See: Gamecube.

 

[maquiladora]

Aaaaand, we're back.

Column went up.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...nuary_performance_is_historically_abysmal.php

Thank you.

 

[michaelius]

Well this is great news!

This hopefully means that Nintendo will invest alot of money and time in releasing new great IPs or already existing ones in a faster pace!

WiiU next Dreamcast in terms of quality games and new IPs.

Mario Skiing U, Mario bobsley riding U, Mario&Luigi party games U, Mario cooking simulator, Mario...

When Nintendo feels endangered it respond with Mario not new ips

 

[omonimo]

 

[kinggroin]

Looking at how Nintendo handled the software issue on the 3DS immediately following the price drop...


... not sure I want panic mode Nintendo.

I'm thinking I just want a new Nintendo all together. With a new vision that includes feature parity with its competition in the online space.

Who also digs into the war chest, NOT to achieve some ridiculous goal of making the lowest power consumption iteration of a currently competing platform, or makes no real effort to cater to or accommodate 3rd parties, but rather expand its studios to cover more genres. Or create a platform that conforms to industry standards and expectations to prevent as many barriers to entry for 3rd part developers.

I'm done with current Nintendo and all its panic mode iterations.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

Aaaaand, we're back.

Column went up.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...nuary_performance_is_historically_abysmal.php

Well that puts things in perspective. Really uncertain road ahead

 

[infinityBCRT]

Aaaaand, we're back.

Column went up.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...nuary_performance_is_historically_abysmal.php

What are the Dreamcast's numbers from launch until Sega announced they were pulling the plug?

 

[AdventureRacing]

No, "Panic Mode" Nintendo means rushed releases of tried and true franchises. See: Gamecube.

What the what? The gamecube was nintendo at their absolute best, if that's what we end up getting more of than put me down.

 

[Saint Gregory]

Not to the same extent as Nintendo.

Their system are making a clear generational leap. People won't mistake a PS3 for a PS4.

That's not what I meant. I don't think that there will be any confusion about the other new systems being successors of the current gen but I do think that unless the PS4 and 720 replace the PS3 and 360 in terms of pricepoint and have full BC then Sony and MS are going to have a difficult time communicating to the general public why they need to upgrade, especially since so many PS3s and 360s have been sold recently.

The enthusiasts will of course jump in immediately but what will prevent both of the other consoles from falling into the post launch trap the Wii U is in now.

 

[Gahiggidy]

So if the next xbox is simply called "Xbox" we know what that means!

"Loop" has 4 letters.

 

[Van Owen]

That's not what I meant. I don't think that there will be any confusion about the other new systems being successors of the current gen but I do think that unless the PS4 and 720 replace the PS3 and 360 in terms of pricepoint and have full BC then Sony and MS are going to have a difficult time communicating to the general public why they need to upgrade, especially since so many PS3s and 360s have been sold recently.

The enthusiasts will of course jump in immediately but what will prevent both of the other consoles from falling into the post launch trap the Wii U is in now.

They'll have commercials showing games that look substantially better than current gen.

 

[jcm]

Aaaaand, we're back.

Column went up.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...nuary_performance_is_historically_abysmal.php

Holy Cow. (If it's not ok to include your images here just say the word).

 

[Gahiggidy]

What the what? The gamecube was nintendo at their absolute best, if that's what we end up getting more of than put me down.

Pikmin, SSBM, and Luigi were very, very polished... but the followup games from Nintendo (in house), Sunshine and Wind Waker, could have used 6 more months in the oven.

 

[fabricated backlash]

They're boned. Truly boned. I don't see them make a comeback from that.

 

[jvm]

Holy Cow. (If it's not ok to include your images here just say the word).

Fine by me. We watermark them now, so they're not passed around (generally) without some reference back to the original site.

 

[shinnn]

X360 up YoY? crazy.

 

[Gahiggidy]

nvm.

 

[jvm]

X360 up YoY? crazy.

Not on a weekly average basis.

 

[Saint Gregory]

They'll have commercials showing games that look substantially better than current gen.

Again, you're talking in terms that mean a lot to you (and me) and most dedicated gamers. We're not the mainstream. I guess we'll find out the truth in about a year.

 

[Pyronite]

Far Cry 3 is selling very, very well.

 

[Jonboy]

SIAP. This chart doesn't make it look so bad...like...at all.

 

[Version 3.0]

This is exactly why people need to be fired.

No kidding. Calling it Wii U after the name confusion with the 3DS may be the dumbest thing Nintendo's ever done, and that's saying something.

Not only did they repeat their own mistake, they repeated a mistake they'd been warned about, loudly, from all sides. And a mistake I thought they'd acknowledged, maybe I'm mis-remembering or it was a bad translation.

 

[Pie and Beans]

What the what? The gamecube was nintendo at their absolute best, if that's what we end up getting more of than put me down.

People can point to the rough ugly beginnings of 3D gaming in the N64, the refinement but awkward era of the Gamecube, but nothing comes close to the fucking SNES.

Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Super Metroid, Zelda: A Link To The Past, Mario Kart, Star Fox, F-Zero, Kirby Super Star, Panel de Pon and (while theyre not my cup of tea) you've got Earthbound and DKC bringing up the rear.

Thats Nintendo's peak. They've never operated on full cylinders since, no matter what individual best evers you can pluck from subsequent eras. That may be because theyve increasingly had to give more of a shit about handheld game dev and split the quality pot, but thats why going all handheld will hopefully help them find themselves again. If that takes Iwata being ousted and someone new bringing a firestorm of restructuring and new direction, its gonna be a better outcome in the long run.

The WiiU is a pale reflection of what a Nintendo console should be all about.

 

[Fabrik]

I'm not worried for WiiU yet. It's more of less following the 3DS pattern.

1) A bit expensive and no must have titles at launch (Although Nintendoland is IMO)
2) A bit of product confusion (Wii -> Wii U/DS -> 3DS)
3) Fukushima/Economical crisis

But then,

4) Ocarina Of Time 3D <-> Pikmin 3/The Wonderful 101
5) Price drop
6) Mario Kart 7/Super Mario 3D Land <-> Mario Kart U/Mario 3D U for the holidays.

Boom.

 

[Zaventem]

I went through 68 pages.. it was worth it.

 

[A Human Becoming]

SIAP. This chart doesn't make it look so bad...like...at all.

Unless if you read the article where jvm astutely points out the 360 suffered shortages and the PS3 cost $100+ more.

 

[michaelius]

The enthusiasts will of course jump in immediately but what will prevent both of the other consoles from falling into the post launch trap the Wii U is in now.

Software - every single multiplatform will look and work superbly to ps3/x360 versions serving as a reason to upgrade.

 

[Schnozberry]

SIAP. This chart doesn't make it look so bad...like...at all.

Yeah, not all is lost yet. Wii U is going to be on a rocky road for the next few months, but I wouldn't count on Nintendo knee jerking and deviating from their plans quite yet. They have a lot of software planned for the 2H of 2013.

Also, its not as if all those systems were released into this moribund economy either. All the new hardware launches have sputtered post 2008 economic crash.

 

[chubigans]

SIAP. This chart doesn't make it look so bad...like...at all.

If you forget the fact that the 360/PS2/Wii were severely supply constrained, sure.

 

[Version 3.0]

The enthusiasts will of course jump in immediately but what will prevent both of the other consoles from falling into the post launch trap the Wii U is in now.

It matters a lot less when you have an old, but still viable system on the market. If a PS3 owner doesn't go for a PS4 right away, Sony can still sell them games, and maybe they'll jump in when it's cheaper. But when you have a dead system (Wii), and a new one that isn't selling (Wii U), then you're not selling games to anyone. Your customers have probably moved on.