Who else is getting Wii-U at launch?
For me, it'll come down to 4 things, all
equally important:
1) Price ($350-$399, more expensive than the Wii was at launch but will be totally worth it if Nintendo puts out acceptable hardware that will be supported.)
2) A great
launch lineup (we're talking at least two genuine must-haves amongst a sea of "eh, it's ok for a launch title").
3) A clear demonstration by the end of E3 that quality 3rd party support will be present on the Wii U, and that
maintaining quality support and reaching out to devs will be one of Nintendo's biggest goals this gen.
4) By the end of E3 we need to know everything about Nintendo's online restructuring. And it needs to be
good, and it needs to be
present from day 1. If Reggie gets on that stage and gives us a bunch of BS "check that box!" platitudes and a launch date of "sometime
after the launch of the Wii U" I'm out, and I won't be looking back until the mid-gen price cuts hit.
And really, there's no reason why Nintendo can't hit all four marks here. They've had
plenty of time to prepare the Wii U's launch, and that was
before the year-long silence after first unveiling it. In my opinion the 4 things I listed above are bare minimum, and anything less than that would be an embarrassment to the company.