Wii U Discussion

[cidbahamut]

Re: Wii U Discussion

This is like saying RE6 is RE4's fault and yet RE6 had dozens of bad ideas of its own while RE4's flaws were few.

Because Kinetic totally would have existed if the Wii didn't adopt motion controls. Right. Keep telling yourself that.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Wii U Discussion

Because Kinetic totally would have existed if the Wii didn't adopt motion controls. Right. Keep telling yourself that.

Do you blame the egg for a bad omelet or do you blame the cook?

[cidbahamut]

Re: Wii U Discussion

Do you blame the egg for a bad omelet or do you blame the cook?

I blame the TV cook you got your instruction on omelet making from. The one who told you rat poison was an excellent seasoning.

[Icemage]

Re: Wii U Discussion

It's not even a question of whose 'side' you're on.

The proof is in the sales. The Wii U is tanking in sales. That's not a debatable point. All that's left is to debate why, and all I'm hearing is "no, Nintendo didn't mess that up".

Unless you're one of those who are so lost in delusion that you think 200K monthly sales worldwide is a healthy thing for a brand new console to have five months into its life cycle?

I've said before that I do intend to eventually buy a Wii U, and my position still hasn't changed, but I'm not dropping $350 for what is effectively a paperweight. Sooner or later Nintendo will figure out HD development and games will arrive; I've no worries about that, but I'm not about to reward them with an early purchase when there's literally nothing I want to play available yet and when there are so many kinks to still iron out in the hardware.


Icemage

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Wii U Discussion

2gil:

I honestly think Wii U looks fun as heck, but it's most certainly a luxury at this point, even in the context of its own industry. Like IM I intend to "eventually" get one, but I'm honestly in no rush.

/2gil

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Wii U Discussion

The proof is in the sales. The Wii U is tanking in sales. That's not a debatable point. All that's left is to debate why, and all I'm hearing is "no, Nintendo didn't mess that up".

No one is arguing that it isn't, either, but most of the dissenting reasons are generic, old bullshit and not looking at the rather unprecedented state of the market. It seems like almost no one is willing to accept the idea that this sort of trouble may also be coming for PS4 and the next Xbox in spite of the fact 3DS struggled and Vita and Wii U are struggling now.

And the line-up this fall doesn't seem to help the case for new platforms. GTAV, BF4, Assassins Creed, Watch_Dogs and Call of Duty could wind up cannibalizing any potential for PS4 and the next Xbox to have a successful launch. If I can get those games fhis fall on existing consoles and PC, why upgrade? That's what people will ask.

When PS3 came out PS2 had some indication of it was winding down (even though software support remained for years). Xbox was practically done before 360 showed up, Wii is pretty much over as of this month in North America, same has Gamecube was for Wii a few months in. PS3 isn't going anywhere and 360 may not be, either.

I don't think either will hang on like PS2 did, but I'd be surprised if they were done in the next year. Then you have kids that want tablets and phones rather than consoles because that's what their friends have.

Its just not quite the scenario we had going into a new generation in years past. Wii U may just be a victim of the difference so far and PS4 and the Next Xbox could struggle in the same way.

Actually, if we look back and PS2 when PS3 launched... well, we just had it so good that even if money wasn't an object for PS3 at the time you still had the fact that PS2 had done so much good a lot of people just were not ready to move on like Sony was hoping they would. I think that really has a large chance of repeating itself. I mean, there's a bit more personal and financial investment in digital markets and content this time - lots of people aren't just going to let that stuff go.

[Icemage]

Re: Wii U Discussion

No one is arguing that it isn't, either, but most of the dissenting reasons are generic, old bullshit and not looking at the rather unprecedented state of the market. It seems like almost no one is willing to accept the idea that this sort of trouble may also be coming for PS4 and the next Xbox in spite of the fact 3DS struggled and Vita and Wii U are struggling now.

True, but if you look at the market as a whole, PS3 and Xbox 360 are in fact holding their own. They're still declining slightly, but slightly still means people are still buying millions of them per year. Most of the market erosion is coming from the Wii. Hence, there's still a market for heavy game buyers who aren't satisfied with mobile or tablets, and who aren't buying the Wii U.

3DS/Vita are the handheld market and respond to a somewhat different demographic, but I agree the handheld consoles face an uphill battle, since no one buys handhelds to be the cool kid these days. I expect PS4 and/or Xbox will do alright. Not Wii levels of sellouts probably, but likely they'll do fine at launch, as both have enthusiastic audiences who have a lot of disposable income, similar in some respects to how Apple is, only without as much mass market appeal.

Sustained sales could, however, be problematic, especially if Valve's Steambox / Ouya / AppleTV become an unexpected factor. We'll know more by this summer I'm sure.

And the line-up this fall doesn't seem to help the case for new platforms. GTAV, BF4, Assassins Creed, Watch_Dogs and Call of Duty could wind up cannibalizing any potential for PS4 and the next Xbox to have a successful launch. If I can get those games fhis fall on existing consoles and PC, why upgrade? That's what people will ask.

Battlefield 4, Assassin's Creed IV, and Watch_Dogs are all cross-gen confirmed, and all three fall into genres that your typical early adopter will likely find appealing. I'd bet money on the next Call of Duty to also be cross-gen as well, and all of these games will look, play, and perform better on the new consoles.

GTA V is an interesting case study. Take Two likes money, and there's no way Rockstar doesn't have dev kits for everything under the sun, so it wouldn't surprise me to see a next-gen version of GTA V announced at some point. Maybe not right away, but GTA is one of those rare franchises that people will go out of their way to buy hardware for. Sales of both PS3 and Xbox 360 got a noticeable bump when GTA 4 was released, and I find it difficult to imagine that either Sony or Microsoft or both wouldn't be working with Take Two / R* to facilitate a much better performing port on their next consoles.

Sure, some people won't care and will just buy it for the console they already own, but I think there's a solid enough core of early adopter gaming enthusiasts to lift at least one of the two new boxes to a successful launch (maybe even both).

Its just not quite the scenario we had going into a new generation in years past. Wii U may just be a victim of the difference so far and PS4 and the Next Xbox could struggle in the same way.

I don't think it's as gloomy as you suspect. There's still a market for consoles; what ails the Wii U more than anything is the lack of games, and that's something that you can squarely pin on Nintendo's shoulders. Even if the market is as bad as you say, the Wii U's lack of software is not doing it any additional favors.


Icemage

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Wii U Discussion

I don't know about the Ouya at all. I thought it might be a neat little niche thing, but now that it has SNES and N64 emulators actually listed in its launch line-up as "titles," I'm just not so sure about that. I guess some homebrew and neat indie stuff could still happen for it, though I suspect it will be bought more as a curiosity than anything else.

Steam Box and Apple TV could be disruptive, though. While most people would still buy PC, its hard to deny the appeal of having some of your Steam Library in your living room and being able to download user mods would be even better.

I really don't think those franchises having PS4 and next Xbox versions is going to be as helpful as you think, though. In generations past, sure, we could scoff at people's inability to discern one generation from the next but visually even we're having a difficult time with that now. Nicer maybe, but not quite as bleeding edge as the jump from PSX to PS2 or PS2 to PS3.

I looked at the new Unreal 4 engine demo the other day and its just the same lazy design with marginally better graphics and bullshots.

[Kailea]

Re: Wii U Discussion

I wonder if many of the people that say the Wii U sucks, have even really given it a chance.....

I have all the current consoles, and even many of the past ones, I have fiddled with almost every controller out there.

many of the complaints with the Wii and Wii U, seem to be "motion sucks" well yes at first it did, I will agree, but with the motion plus controllers and the new Wii U pad, there really is no problem, it works fine. That and many games offer other ways to control, like the classic controller for Wii, or the Pro controller for Wii U

Wii U is a nice system, and I am glad I got one, in fact with all the BS floating around about PS4 and Xbox 720, I am not sure if I will even get one right away, I want to see what is really going on with those two systems before I even think about touching them.