The Wii U's Rotten Start & the Industry's Rotten Maturity

Phil at SuperPhillip Central writes, "Phil here with an opinion piece that I'm passionate about. Now, don't get me wrong and think SPC's other works aren't passionate. This subject is simply one that really gets my proverbial goat. The Wii U has not had a good launch or even a good week. We've heard developers flat out laugh at the system, and we've heard big time publishers admit that they have no games in development for the system (EA). It seems the industry absolutely loves dirty laundry, as Don Henley once sang. They especially love it when it's against a system they don't care for, because let's face it-- it doesn't matter if you're a ten-year-old kid or a "professional games journalist" (oxymoron there), fanboys come in all shapes and sizes. This piece talks about a number of topics, including premature Wii U death calls, the idiocy of killing off the Wii U already, unprofessional Twitter tirades, and the overall immaturity of the video game industry in general. Prepare to be holier-than-thou'd."

[weekev15]

I disagree that they havent had a good week. They have had a fairly mixed week. EA have panned them but then the Sonic exclusivity is a big deal.

[auragenz]

The last time Sonic was a "big deal" was the 1980's.

[Zjet]

1980s?

Sonic the Hedgehog released 1991 my friend, i pre ordered that bad boy because Sega had a huge presence in New Zealand in the NES and SNES era

we had the Sega Master system while USA was big on NES, most USA gamers consider the Genesis ( what we call the mega drive ) the first sega console

[auragenz]

Wow, you pre-ordered the first Sonic? That's soo awesome, I didn't realize we had really older gamers here.

Hey, what was it like to play a system with only one button on the controller? I know it worked for sonic cause all he does is jump around, but it must of been tuff for other games, right?

[3-4-5]

Also Nintendo E3 games playable at Bestbuy within a month.

[MilkMan]

Ea are fools that don't know their @ss from their elbows. Thats why they are going down the tubes. Next victim, FUSE.

[I_LOVE_MYSELF]

I feel like buying a Wii-U. I love my Nintendo games. All tjis immature behaviour won't stop me.

[diepdiep]

The overwhelming hate that Nintendo keeps getting makes me want to to support them more than ever now.

[Theyellowflash30]

Yeah, it reminds me of the Gamecube days. The harder the struggle, the more I'll support.

It's really just a matter of time before Nintendo turns things around. They just need the software to back up their system.

The Best Buy event is huge, it would have been nice if Nintendo had a major IP launching around E3 users at Best Buy could pick after trying out the game.

However, that takes time and promotion so it would be hard to launch a IP and do E3 at the same time.

[HexxedAvenger]

I feel the same way honestly. Lol

[arbitor365]

maybe you should actually take the time to look at actual reasons why people are so critical of nintendo and the wii u. instead of just burying your head in the sand. youre basically saying

"the worse nintendo gets, the more I will defend them"

some of you nintendo fans act like nintendo is your little brother or something. and you take everything personally.

[Stroke666]

well he didn't say the worse it gets he said "the harder the sruggle" and he used gamecube as an example that struggled to put out games but pulled around, though too little too late, at the end of its life cycle with some big hitters. I don't believe that will hold true with the Wii U though. I currently own one and its is aggrevating knowing that most of the people saying negative stuff about it never really sat down with one cause I have a muthafukin blast on my shit. and its not about taking it personally it about people/ fanboys/analyst generalizing nintendo and its fan like you just did. so anyone who is a fan of nintendo could take personal offense to what is said. Man i just miss the good ol'days when i had the nintendo system one of my cousins had sony and later on my other cousin got xbox and we'd bring them to eachothers house and game on all of them until the break of day stop to eat breakfast then continue again until lunch. nowadays all the so called hardcore gamer cares about is turning a m rated game on and setting it to demo mode to look at the graphics lol(an obvious exaggeration but you get the point)

[ToaLugia]

Wouldn't you try to support a company you like?

[Moonman]

Bubble for you....Nintendo is a zillion times better than EA ever was or can be. The hours spent playing Nintendo versus EA games is God vs. EA in comparison. :)

[MEsoJD]

I think a lot of this perceived hate(not saying that there isn't unwarranted) is confusion and frustration towards Nintendo's recent decisions/actions. To me Nintendo is still too traditional in their thinking in certain areas. Games bought from the online store need to be tied to accounts, a yearning to focus again on the hardcore yet implementing sub par hardware(lack of longevity), claiming 100% revenue of LPers, the lack of reaching out to third parties, calling it WiiU(confusing the general consumer), etc...

The WiiU would have been amazing if it came around the same time as ps3 and 360, but it's so underwhelming today.

I think Nintendo is a great software developer, but they aren't evolving fast enough in the hardware/sevice department. So I ask, why shouldn't Nintendo become a third party for home consoles and maybe eventually mobiles? The potential revenue would be huge and money can be focused on developing games.

[diepdiep]

Nintendo becoming 3rd party is out of the question.

[MEsoJD]

I'm sure the share/stake holders disagree. Also Why? (In your opinion.)

[Stroke666]

Well where to start... the name wii u from wii confused people about as much as playstation 2 did from playstation or dsi from ds. its the way they presented it that confused people. hardware is not sub par no is it obsolete. i can see where the games being tied to the hardware can be a prob but i'm sure nintendo will remedy those deserving of it. for example the person who traded their system in to the local game store can go kick rocks if you gave up your system you gave up your games on it. however if the system malfunctions I'm certain nintendo will remedy it in some way shape or form. in fact they have reached out to third parties but this thing called money runs the world so until they see money in the wii u then it is what it is. they don't put out games for our enjoy i'm sure you know. last but not least ps360 would be wii u's if it were possible back then. and last but not least, i agree with what the author says about them becoming a 3rd party, their games are so good because they are made with their hardware in mind taking that from the equation would leave something absent from the games

[lizard81288]

I feel the same way. Nintendo can do better but they don't try to. Us gamers are telling them to make online accounts but they just won't. Nintendo seems stubborn and stuck in the past. Look at the Operation Rainfall games. Nintendo of America said no but gamers said yes. Those games went to sell very well, but it took a long to bring them over because Nintendo was so stubborn.

[ziggurcat]

@ MEsoJD

"The WiiU would have been amazing if it came around the same time as ps3 and 360, but it's so underwhelming today."

i've been saying since day 1 that the wii U is what nintendo should have released 7 years ago.

[lilbroRx]

The tech in the Wii U was impossible to produce when the PS3/360 came out.

Its 2010 tech. That's 4 years advanced over the PS3/360.

The Wii U is outperforming the 360/PS3 running on 1/5 the energy.

[Mustang300C2012]

LMFAO

The Wii U is outperforming the 360/PS3 running on 1/5 the energy.

And? What difference does this make at the end of the day?

[brave27heart]

Makes a difference when its you paying the bills.

For me though its a case of why would I buy a console at £200 + to be just slightly better than the console I already have? What advantages does the Wii U have over my PS3? Just first party games of which there arent enough right now, and a gimmicky controller.

Its just not worth it.

[Picture_Dancer]

From what we all have seen till today 9 of of 10 multiplatform games looks worse on WiiU and the 1/10 looks better but came a lot months later so developer have more time to polish the game.

[lilbroRx]

@braveheart, that is a lie.

It was the "CPU" that dev complained about. Never the GPU which they all agreed was better. The CPU does not effect graphics.

It was only some launch ports that showed problems, and "looks worse" was usually the only problem they didn't show. Graphics were usually better in a few areas with a few glitches and here. That has been attributed to poor development tools released by Nintendo before launch.

All of the later ports have graphical and performance enhancements over the PS3/360 versions of the games.

Trine 2: Director's Cut is better all around.
NFS Most Wanted U is better all around
Deus Ex: Directors Cut is better all round
Sniper Elite 2 is better all around.

[lilbroRx]

Whoops, I meant @Picture_Dancer.

Braveheart is speaking truthfully.

[diepdiep]

@ MEsoJD

Better question:
Why would it even cross your mind to think that Nintendo should go 3rd party.

[MEsoJD]

Should be pretty obvious from my first comment. Nintendo isn't evolving fast enough in hardware, services, and mentality. If they don't change, I see it as inevitable. If people are only buying their consoles for first party, than there's something very wrong that needs to be addressed. I haven't seen a good counter to this question, yet I usually receive hostility from others.
Can you please answer the question?

[just-joe]

Going would be horrible. Nintendo manufacturing their own consoles enables them to dictate a creatively conducive environment for their game making mantra! Without this priviege the company's innovative fire would slowly become extinguished. I think someone else said it better:

The best way to demonstrate this is by looking at the closest analogue to this situation by summoning the ghost of Christmas past: Sega. Back when it was in the hardware business Sega had a roster of games such as Sonic, the Virtua series, and their racing games which could be relied upon to produce decent sales. However, they were also able to produce a regular supply of niche titles including Ecco The Dolphin, Gunstar Heroes, Comix Zone, Seaman, and so on.

These niche titles would have produced little (if any) profit but Sega were able to make these games due to their position as a hardware manufacturer. The main purpose of these games would have been to expand the library of games available on their consoles and thus encourage more people to buy the consoles, as well as make their consoles look more enticing to third party publishers to bring their games to them.

Another example of this is Shenmue. Although the gigantic cost of the games was one of the contributing factors to Sega’s downfall, they would never have even been made in the first place if Sega was not in the business of making hardware.

This also applies to the current console makers. Would Microsoft pump fortunes into making and marketing Kinect and Halo, or paying for Gears Of War and certain downloadable content exclusivity, if they didn’t make the Xbox line? Sony similarly spends huge sums on Gran Turismo and Uncharted for modest sales relative to their cost, and The Last Guardian would have been cancelled long ago if all that mattered were its profit margin.

So let’s imagine a scenario around 2006 where Nintendo exited all hardware production after the GameCube and Game Boy Advance to go third party. Firstly, all franchises which don’t have decent sales would be scrapped, meaning no Advance Wars, Sin And Punishment, Kid Icarus, or Fire Emblem (until Awakening the series had never been a big seller worldwide). Also, the biggest-selling single format game of the year so far, Luigi’s Mansion 2, would likely not exist given the lukewarm sales and reception of the first entry.

Secondly, there’d be no need to produce niche/experimental games to grow a console library, meaning no Xenoblade, Ouendan, Rhythm Heaven, or Pullblox. Plus, hardware showcases such as Wii Sports and Nintendogs would not exist.

Finally, there’d be no partnerships with publishers/developers to produce exclusive games, meaning no Professor Layton, The Last Story, Lego City Undercover, The Wonderful 101, and Bayonetta 2 – which Sega cancelled and was unsuccessfully pitched to various publishers before being picked up by Nintendo.

Bringing us to the modern day, that would mean a third party Nintendo would only be producing games for a select handful of franchises – namely Mario, Pokémon, and Zelda – whose quality would suffer due to requiring extra resources to make the games for multiple formats as well as reduced development times to meet budgets and deadlines.

[MEsoJD]

@just-joe

Now that's a response I can appreciate! I don't completely agree, but I respect your reasoning. I would elaborate, but I feel judging from my previous comments, it would be redundant. Much thanks!

[Stroke666]

Ummmmm dude you have a malfunction here is your answer, if you don't mind. If people are only buying nintendo consoles for their first party games then nintendo should capitalize on that and continue making consoles. its why halo is only on xbox, or god of war only on ps. now i have a question, if all games came out for all systems what would distinguish the systems from eachother? Keep in mind I understand already that in your opinion nintendo is lacking in the hardware department, but being a wii u owner I've yet to see anything lacking in the hardware. though i've never been a graphics whore to begin with. nintendo dances to the beat of their own drum and if its not quite the tune you can get down to thats fine but don't forget that while your suggesting changing that tune there are millions who enjoy dancing to it just fine.
edit: sorry about the repeat, albeit not as elaborate, response. I tend not to read others response to a comment before voicing my own opinion.

[rainslacker]

@joe

That was a very worthwhile comment and analysis. Much better than any other argument I've seen on the topic before, even though I don't completely agree.

Nintendo going 3rd party would mean that they would likely remain a publisher. A publisher does much of what Nintendo does now, and much of what you described in your comment. Outside of pursuing niche titles to make their console more appealing to more customers, there is no reason to assume they would stop trying to expand their portfolio and produce games that draw in customers.

The benefit of being a publisher and a console producer is that they can make more off a game, so sales don't have to be as high to return a profit...which in turns leads to more of those smaller performing titles to exist.

However, it seems that the indie scene is starting to fill that void, because console makers aren't really making those gem titles like they used to. They exist, but nothing like the 8 and 16 bit days.

As of yet, I haven't seen anything comparable to Nintendo making a game on the scale of Shenmue, God of War, Gran Turismo, Halo, etc. I don't think any of their game budgets are massively big. Maybe some of the games for the Wii U like Boyonetta or X. Nintendo fanatics please don't give me a list..I'm sure they exist but they aren't coming to mind for the time being.

[BosSSyndrome]

The thing is Nintendo's games are built around their hardware. Without the quirk of their consoles, you lose the quirk of the games. When you put Nintendo games on non-Nintendo hardware, you limit their creativity and lose a lot of the magic.

[level 360]

Ive'd been to a lot of second-half shops here in my area just to check out cheap games/blu ray movies and such and have been seeing a lot ( honestly ) of Wii U's on display, not just one on their windows but 2-3 even, that I think says heaps about the Wii U.

[Blacklash93]

I kind of agree on the maturity part, even if the guy did have a point that the Wii U is showing to be an undesirable platform.

A third-party developer should never, never slam entire demographics or markets. No matter how poor they are performing at the time. You very well may be biting your own ass in the future and paining relations like this is never going to amount to anything good. This guy should know that whatever he says about these subjects is going to, fair or not, reflect on EA's image.

[1nsomniac]

You cant really call it immaturity, people don't want to buy an out of date product especially when products of the same nature are due to be released that promise incredible new features & technology.

It should of been common sense to make a higher spec machine especially after the profit they built off the original Wii. There was always going to be too big a margin between technologies for Wii U to even consider competing.

It was just blind stupidity from Nintendo. Bring on the next-gen SNES already!

[yugovega]

so that's why no one retro games? and no one buys classic cars? and no one watches the original trilogy of star wars? some things are "out of date" to some but to others it's the experience that matters and not if it still looks or runs as good as the newest thing.

[1nsomniac]

You've answered your own statement & confirmed what I was saying.

People who do all the things you've mentioned are like it or not the minority. It doesn't make them wrong in any way but they will never compare market-wise to the greater majority than the newer more advanced cars, films & games etc..

[RAFFwaff]

love them or hate them, nintendo deserve more respect than so-called games industry professionals have been giving them. ea have no class. as gamers, we should unite a bit more against the worst company in america for the last 2yrs.

[arbitor365]

there is a quote I like

"the truth can sound like an insult, if you aren't used to hearing it"

and that 100% applies to nintendo and their fanboys.

every criticism of the wii u has been completely reasonable and would be levied at any console that made the same mistakes. If anything, the wii u has had it pretty easy. imagine if sony released a console like the wii u instead of the PS4. all hell would break loose.

[RAFFwaff]

so why doesnt ea give us some truth then, instead of shaky pr spin, which on the surface seems plausible about sales, but for the less naive is a corporate crock of shit. they have enough financial muscle to support wii u with SOME of their franchises until sales pick up during the fall. lesser companies are. and when you see the corporate whores that are Activision stating that although theyre 'concerned' about wii u sales they are going to stick with it for the forseeable, along with ubisoft's commitment, you quickly realise that this is actualy ea's attempt to cripple a historic games company. a show of strength. why? it can only be one reason: an ultimatum. 'use origin, or else...' so i say, well done for not backing down nintendo. integrity, innovation and concern for their consumers are traits that you will never find attributed to ea- the worst company in america 2yrs straight. thanks for your quote, but its meaningless. nintendo fans, hell GAMING fans in general know the truth. and it is simply this: wii u sales will pick up, 1st party titles will sell in tens of millions, many gamers (like myself) will choose either a ps4 or xbox 720 and then a wii u as their second console when more software arrives, and finally in 50yrs time nintendo will still be remembered and adored, while ea will be a footnote at best, or for attempting to monopolise the industry with dreck, while ruining established franchises, companies (looking at you Bioware), and gifting us the beauty that is online passes, day 1 dlc and of course who could forget their regret at the rise of pre-owned games?

[RTheRebel]

This Industry will crash soon

[Moonman]

Exactly, EA and idiots who think like EA will crash this industry!

[madjedi]

Lol if the industry does crash nintendo isn't going to emerge unscathed, say good bye to handheld and consoles sales.

They will bleed money just like every other company, actually a crash would hurt nintendo the worst, since all they do is gaming. But no moblie/smartphone gaming.

But by all means continue to wish for a industry crash, solely because nintendo is the favorite doormat atm.

You are some truly bitter fanboys.

[supremacy]

you know one thing most dont bring up? Marketing...

The wii had more marketing than the wiiu, and so does the 3ds but the wiiu is a confusing product in itself.

If anything Nintendo needs to use all that money they make towards aggressive marketing, heck this whole year could have been their if they had marketed this device with some solid releases.

The same could be said for the vita.

Its funny i say this because both the psone and the ps2 had so much marketing it was like spam on your tv for every show or sporting event you watched.
You couldn't go one day without that ps2 logo sound on your tv screen, the wii even had its own bowing i's on the screen, now that's a thing of the past and instead what you get is these very anticlimactic directs that only reach a small percentage of viewers and potential buyers.
Despite the tiring franchises, people love their Mario games, but i hardly see the little guy on tv commercials these days.
idk.

[Agent_hitman]

Why didn't Nintendo equip Wii U a 3.2Ghz tri-core chip inside the machine in the first place?..

The lack of processing power might be the main reasons why 3rd party devs are moving away from it.. They're expecting it to be more next gen hardware than current gen.

I might get disagrees with this but I have to say this. At the first place when the Wii U was unveiled in the public, people thought that it has equipped with modern components like CPUs. Many consumers were disappointed including devs when they found out that the CPU only clocks at 1.2GHz. But when it comes to GPU and RAM, they not much problem if you ask me.

[Apex13]

This is why games will be seen as a sub culture. Could you imagine if film studios carried on like this? We need each other to progress and the sooner that is realised the better. Screw EA for being big for their boots. ubisoft are drowning them out.

[ShaunCameron]

I wonder what the launch periods for other consoles were like, because I don't think the Wii U is doing that much worse. I mean, now many notable games came out for them within their respective first 6 months of release?