What the hell is Wii U? - Is Nintendo's new console just too confusing?

MMGN: Nintendo is handing out simplified comparison charts at PAX East this week, clearly showing why the Wii U is a worthy improvement over your crummy old Wii.

Is it really just too confusing for the wider public? Would the Wii U have sold stronger numbers if it were called Wii 2?

[PopRocks359]

Unfortunately it definitely seems that way. Nintendo does need to get better marketing out there. The current campaign has been nothing short of idle and ineffective. My guess is they really expected the Wii brand name to sell the console, which even I'll say is pretty foolish on their part. However I don't think it's an issue that can't be rectified.

[iGAM3R-VIII]

Agreed, I think it that because it isn't called Wii 2 people think there isn't much of a difference. The marketing is pretty dumb considering they trashed the Wii on an ad

[PopRocks359]

Honestly, in my view dropping the Wii moniker would have been a better idea altogether. Look at all the Wii products from the previous generation. Wii is a standard household name that is also not selling a truckload anymore.

Nintendo really should have thought about starting fresh, especially considering that the Wii U's more central direction is pretty different from the Wii's initially casual direction.

[Reibooi]

Yeah as PopRocks said they should not have called it Wii anything. I understand why they wanted to and if they insisted then yes it should have been Wii 2 and not Wii U. But they thought the Wii sold a crap ton so lets keep that name and people will buy it but what they forget is the Wii sold well because it was the in thing at the time and with things that like casual consumers will move onto the next thing. Hence the massive sales drop and pretty much no games on the Wii aside from XSEED releasing games Nintendo should have long ago.

In addition Wii U doesn't sound like a console. The Wii had a ton of different add on pieces that had Wii in the title such as the balance board or the motion plus. Without the 2 people that don't know any better likey assumed it was just another add on for a console they don't want or already have and don't use much anymore. Nintendo needed to be more clear.

All that said I will be getting one at some point assuming the games I want don't get cancelled or something unlikely like that. About 5 really good games I want to play will be coming and 5 is good enough for me to pay for the console.

[Wenis]

yeah, not calling it the Wii 2 was such a bad idea. Simply because of what they did with the DS, they had the original DS and then they had the DSi. It was the same console essentially, but with one letter added to the end. Now with the Wii U, they did the same thing by adding 1 letters to the end, except it is a different console, so to the average consumer they probably just think its a Wii with a touchpad controller, just like the DSi was a DS with a camera. I really don't know how Nintendo managed to make what seems like such a big mistake with naming it.

[WrAiTh Sp3cTr3]

I think it would be confusing to a not-so-intelligent person.

[ElectricKaibutsu]

From the article: "This thing is doing as good a job of selling itself as Google Wave."
lol
Yup, Nintendo needs to figure something out. I can't believe it took them 4 months before they did any advertising that even addressed the issue of no one knowing what the hell a Wii U is. Marketing majors are going to study this failure for years.

[caseh]

I still can't get past the fact its called a WiiU, sometimes I imagine a conversation between two people who are not that clued up on games consoles:

P1: 'Are you getting a WiiU?'
P2: 'A Wii what? A Wii me?'
P1: 'U!'
P2: 'Me!?'

*sigh*

[Reibooi]

this made my day. very funny.

[iGAM3R-VIII]

lol ima have to stel that joke, bubble for funny tho

[decrypt]

Wii U is a controller for Dolphin 2.0 :P

[Ck1x]

Why are so many people knocking this flyer? Its no different than a comparison of features between an IPhone, IPod touch and IPod Nano! Yes there needs to be a clear marketing point from Nintendo on the WiiU, but I don't think this take here is all that bad for the non serious gaming public that may not know the difference.

[NastyLeftHook0]

nintendo has amazing franchises.

[Gamer-40]

What the hell is Wii U?
It is a console. Not too complex.

[kirbyu]

I'm so tired of hearing this. Talk about something else, please.

[strickers]

Why is it so hard to accept it is not that appealing and a weak hardware design?
Too complicated for a Wii audience , too clumsy for tech audience and not focused enough for the hardcore gamer.
Hence , only the hardcore Ninty audience want it and that is not a large enough group.

[Rockefellow]

I'm not part of the "hardcore Nintendo" audience, and I picked one up after seeing their plans for the system. Where do people like me fit in your little schematic?

[madjedi]

" I picked one up after seeing their plans for the system." Everything i have seen from nintendo, screams they have no plan of attack to begin with.

Look up oddball. Stickers is generalizing the various groups.

Maybe e3 will show nintendo's plan to us, i see nothing atm that represents a plan.

[Rockefellow]

Sorry, I suppose I meant the games that have been revealed so far. I'm interested in quite a few of them, and they're mostly going to be exclusive (the Monolith Soft title, W101, Bayonetta 2, Pikmin 3...).

It's true that Nintendo seems oblivious to how vague their plans are to the general public. It's almost embarrassing. I know I'll get a SSB, Zelda, and Mario down the line, though, so I'm satisfied.

[OrionNoctis]

I believe the developers might not feel like put extra effort to make the Wii U pad work properly in every game released... i might get one tho jus because of Monster Hunter...

[RAFFwaff]

Yeah even though the console plays wii games and can use the peripherals, I really think nintendo made a mistake in keeping the wii moniker. Yes, Sony keep adding a number to the name playstation and Microsoft, but the wii really was a radical departure and had its own niche in this console generation, while the wii u is going in another direction now with more processing power and the gamepad with assymetric gameplay.

[Red95]

Too confusing? Or just way ahead of it's time so game developers can't comprehend it's beauty?

[madjedi]

Tablets have had games for several yrs now, remember the articles we are sick of. How mobile gaming will kill off the console market articles ect.

No part of it is ahead of it's time, portability old, touchscreens are old, the only remotely new feature is off tv play. I can't see the appeal unless you have to share the only tv with rest of the household.

The really confusing part about the wiiu is who did nintendo design the console for in the first place. It's not the casuals or tablet/smartphone crowd(with that os) or the hardcore(by the hardware choices).

Who is the target market, because i don't see who it is supposed to appeal to, short of nintendo fans and even then it's not a pretty sight atm.

Sorry the dreamcast was ahead of it's time, i see nothing ahead of it's time about a gen 7 console with a expensive tablet controller.

[Jek_Porkins]

I think maybe to an ignorant parent it might not be too obvious, but same with PlayStation and Xbox.

Kid: "Mommy, get me a PlayStation 4"
Mom: "You already have a PlayStation"

I honestly think people are making too big a deal out of it, I mean it didn't affect the 3DS, which is similar sounding to the DS.

[LOL_WUT]

Naming the console Wii 2 could have saved Nintendo from all this confusion. I still think it's a silly name. ;)