The State of Nintendo

While it’s awesome to get games like Darksiders 2 and the newest Call of Duty on the Wii U, gamers who already own Xbox 360s or PlayStations won’t have a reason to invest in a new piece of hardware. Nintendo’s tagline for its last console was “Wii would like to play”. Yes, Nintendo, we would; just give us something we can play.

[potedude]

I think the announcement of the PS4 has taken much of the wind out of the WiiU's sales.

Who wants to buy a next gen console when a better next gen console is coming out in a few months? With some pretty impressive specs.

That, plus the majority of Wii owners are most likely casual gamers who don't even know a new Wii is out, let alone wanting to rush out and buy one, means Nintendo have lost both the 'hardcore' gamers and the casual market.

Quite an impressive feat...

[Shnazzyone]

Eh, until the nintendo exclusives finally hit and ps4's price is actually announced... On the positive side. MH3 U is totally gonna hold me over until that happens.

[R00bot]

@Miyamoto

Today I actually saw a Wii U going for cheaper than an Xbox 360. Granted, it was an Xbox bundle with two games, but it's still pretty absurd.
And the PS4 will probably be way more.

[MurDocINC]

Alot of sales come from parents, what they are going to look at is price. PS4 and 720 are rumored to be $500+, while Wii U might be $300 at their release. Wii U will have more kid friendly games. Also old wii games and soilless can be used with it. I think alot of parents will steer to wii u.

[deafdani]

Soilless? 0__o

[MurDocINC]

Stupid iphone, wii motes*

[miyamoto]

"Alot of sales come from parents, what they are going to look at is price."

Finally an intelligent comment on N4G. A very good observation, MurDocINC.

Parents are the unsung force and majority behind the success of the Wii and DS.

Parents,
kids
low prices
family friendly casual
non violent games

BUT...

all these changed with the Wii U

the Wii U is expensive compared to PS3 and 360 and come PS4 PS3 will definitely drop to $200.00 price point.

Iwata in his desire to capitalize on the PS3 market brought hardcore and violent gaming into the mix
but parents who patronized the Wii and DS for casual, family friendly non-violent games did not like this move and are not buying

Nintendo should have stayed true to the image and stuff that people liked about the Wii and the DS.

I knew Nintendo's image will be tainted when they tried to get the best of both worlds.

Well you can't win 'em all,bub.

Now I understand why Sony can not be arsed to make casual and Nintendo like kind of games on their system.

[khowat]

oh i get it sales and sails

you sir are very clever

[potedude]

Some may think I did it on purpose, but its the inner comedian trying to get out...

[GamingAngelGabriel]

You make some good points. As I mention in the piece, Nintendo has to lead with a LOT of exclusives to counteract this.

[guitarded77]

That's the obvious, but what Nintendo needs to go with the exclusives are social tools... trophies/achievements, Facebook/twitter integration with Miiverse, etc. People want to share their experiences with their friends in the real world. It's cool to post a screenshot on Miiverse, but if you post it to Facebook, it's FREE ADVERTISING when friends of the poster see it and think "That looks fun", or something of that nature. Such simple things to implement, but Nintendo is sitting on their hands.

[CYCLEGAMER]

Its amazing to me that such a well known company can screw this up so bad. Why wouldn't you release this system with a Mario, Zelda, or some sort of classic Nintendo game. Even when I go to best buy or gamestop, I am barely able to play any of the demo's, its like they are still trying to keep the system a secret

[yugovega]

they did release a Mario and people still complained more of the same. why? because people want to hate without actually playing the system

[CYCLEGAMER]

No I mean a full blown Mario 64 type Mario. Not a 2d/3d side scrolling one. Mario U is cool and all but I want to see a next gen Mario game. Mario u could have been a downloadable game. Where is Metroid, Zelda, Starfox, Donkey Kong,Super Smash Bros etc?

@gammajooki, So I guess Nintendo can do no wrong in your eyes huh? It's obvious that they screwed the release of their new system up by 1 confusing the consumer and 2.) Not having many cool games that people actually want to play (except Mario and Zombi U). The planning on the release has been poor. Nintendo could have came out with 100 games a launch, but if they are not games that people want to play, then its pointless.

[yugovega]

there are tastes of some of those on nintnendoland. if they did release those now people would just say ah nothing new from Nintendo. nin is a lose lose and its sad.

[yugovega]

oh Nintendo does wrong. but people expect too much from them too soon. ps3 launched with 13 games. of those maybe 5 were worth playing and some were ports of 360 games. xb360 launched with maybe 20. and the best title it had was kameo. yet wiiu launchs with a Mario, zombie, cod, ac3, scribblenauts and nintendoland. not a single one is a late port and they are the ones not failing at a launch. xb was out for a year before they got a system seller. ps3 even longer. Nintendo needs it day one?

[dark-hollow]

why didn't the xbox360 launch with halo, gears forza and alan wake or why the ps3 didn't launch with mgs4, god of war 3 or killzone 2?

they are not ready for release and quality takes time and effort.

[LOL_WUT]

And to think that the Wii U is supposedly easy to develop for... Go figure? ;)

[yugovega]

50 games in 6 months and people have nothing to play? seems some people need a life instead of more games if 8 games a month isn't enough.

[Zechs34]

I think the thing is that it needs GOOD games. Mine has been collecting dust unless I play MH once in a while. But before that, not much attention. Maybe a NSMBU challenge here and there and I beat Zombie U, and while it was enjoyable, not exactly a console seller.

Outside those, there are not many games in those 50 that warrant defending. Most of them are ports at that. I haven't tried Lego City yet because I have other games to play before it.

IMO, that's what's wrong with the Wii U right now.

[yugovega]

lego undercover is amazing. of those 50 most are good games. look at the list. there is a lot less shovelware then there s good games. all the "late ports" are basically goty editions. every one of them has dlc included. no just a port of what was released 4 months before. its like complaining because red dead redemption got a goty edition with the dlc included. its a great buy.

[MNGamer-N]

You mention you have "other games to play before it"... Then the lack of games right now should not be a concern to you at all, as you don't have time to play them anyway.

[Ck1x]

MNGamer-N caught you there, that absolutely makes no sense! Your WiiU is collecting dust right now. But you haven't tried Lego City yet because you have other games to play before it... Doesn't sound right for some reason, maybe you meant to phrase that a different way or something

[MilkMan]

I'm a WiiU owner and I think the issue with Mario was that it plays exactly the same as if it was for the Wii.

I believe the complaint is that Nintendo failed to capitalize on their own hardware which in all honesty doesn't make sense and its confusing as all hell.

Personally I think that Mario was rushed and Nintendo was banking on Mario's fame to sell it through the roof.

As much as I like Mario games. This was no seller like say Super Mario Galaxy. Thats a fantastic, imaginative game.

Also, between 3DS and Wii and now WiiU. They had a shit-ton of Mario Bro games. Fatigue can also be accredited to this.

The games that shine on the WiiU are the ones that fully embrace the gamepad. This is the new thing for Nintendo and it should be embraced and utilized.

I've been slowly making a transition, buying new games for my WiiU ONLY if they utilize the gamepad in a a creative, fun way.

I plan to buy Deus Ex and Splinter Cell, Wonderful 101, Bayonetta 2, and Rayman Legends.

I'm going to wait until E3 to be surprised by Nintendo. Plus the April update will spark new life into my WiiU. Cause those load times are insane.

[salva21]

You're wrong for NSMBU, I was thinking the same thing. I was like "Do I really want this? It's just like the Wii one." And I didn't get it, but then my cousins got a Wii U with Mario U, and I had the time of my live. That's a game you need to play before judging.
But everything else you said, I agree.

[deafdani]

Mario Bros U is, in my opinion, the best of the "New" Mario series, by a long shot. And that's coming from someone that's played all four, and I found NSMB2 (the 3DS one) extremely boring.

But the Wii U version is amazing. It has superb level design, it's equally as fun solo or multiplayer (the Wii version was fun only in multiplayer), it's quite challenging and offers a ton of content. I honestly consider it among the best 2D Mario games ever made, up there with Mario Bros 3 and Mario World (which seems to be the favorites among old players, though my personal classic Mario favorite is SMB2).

[josephayal]

The Wii U is struggling right now, Nintendo just does not care about their loyal fans

[MNGamer-N]

I play games for fun and don't take them as seriously as others, so I can wait patiently for good games to arrive to WiiU. When they come, I know they will be good, and I will enjoy them. No big deal for me.

I will be saving for PS4 as well, the system does look very good. That said, I don't expect Sony to release the console with a 100+ game library either. I'm sure I will have to, again, wait for games to come to PS4. Just the way the world works. Games don't come out of a magic hat.

[NobodyImportant]

Nintendo will be fine.
They've made a name for themselves in "family fun"
And their console is full of cheap components so they make decent profit on every console sold.
PS4 and 720 will be full of decent hardware and won't make a lot of money on their first SKUs

All Nintendo need to do is to get a few dancing and exercise games released. Run a few ads and they pick up all the casual users they had last gen.

Parents have a warm fuzzy feeling about Nintendo. They know their kids will be safe playing on it. And the console will be cheaper than the two more powerful consoles. Perfect!

Most parents are uninformed. I watched a mom walk into a gamestop at the weekend. She stared at the poster of Tomb Raider, then walked over to the shelves, picked up Tomb raider legends, went to the counter and left. I feel bad I never said anything to her, but they don't know about 1Gb RAM for games and 7Gb of fast GDDR RAM for games. One's cheap the other isn't. One's a wipe clean chunky white thing the other ... well, we don't actually know yet.

If I was buying a console for my two young kids. I'd buy them a Wii U, before I bought myself a PS4. Because my kids always come first.
I took them to Disney World this year instead of going somewhere I wanted to go.
With parents the rule is: Kids come first. And Nintendo know this.

I still think they'd have done better with a new console name though. That's the one thing that's confusing most parents.

Having said all this, my kids are still satisfied playing games on their iPads so I get to buy my PS4 and Shadowfall!

[gedden7]

Come back to this article after E3 when Nintendo announces Mario U, Zelda U, new Retro Studio Engine, Smash Bros U, Mario Kart U, Metroid U, other 1st and 2nd party Wii U exclusives, Price Cut "Maybe", NEW OS updates and apps, More 3rd party Support, and whatever else Nintendo has up its sleeves... Yeah Wii U will be okay, so can we stop with the Wii U is dead or doomed articles or reactions and/or views??

[NHDrumline17]

They were supposed to do that Last E3. They were supposed to win us over. Instead, we got Arkham City Armored and Nintendo Land. I'm not calling for their doom, but I have little to no faith in them this time around. Everyone always says 3rd party support will come, that everything will be okay. Then, it never comes.

[gedden7]

Good points and I agree.. BUT I'm sure those games are were not ready yet. thats what good devs do, they show us when the game ready and plus Nintendo knew that they would have show all their big guns to wow people with their games when compared to when xbox 720 and ps4 are being revealed at THIS YEARS' E3 because those system will be graphically superior. I think Nintendo feels if they have would showed Smash Bros and Mario Kart or just some of those game at last years E3 and then Metroid and the rest this @ this years' E3 it wouldn't be enough, basically they held back. i'm pretty sure that's the strategy. But if they don't Nintendo we got some problems. I'm already expecting Nintendo to announce more than half of those games to be holiday 2013 releases.. Expect Smash bro U, Mario U and mario Cart U to be holiday releases FOR SURE.

[AJBACK2FRAG]

So true. No to mention that shortly people that don't own Wii U's will be able to utilize Miiverse on their phones, pc's and laptops. Wii U owners already know how great the 'verse is. Soon everyone will know. That may piuqe some people's interest in Nintendo's fantastic new console. Just think when Mario Kart U is released. There's going to be millions of new inhabitants on Miiverse and the Wii U. After e3 no one's ever going to mention this lull again. Except the haters. I've said a long time ago that the Wii U is going to be hUge! I also said that the Wii U is going to make the Wii look like the PS3. I also said the Wii U is going to sneak away with the eighth generation. I think soon Wii U owners will be able to get a glimpse of this as we draw closer to June. By the way Zen Pinball 2 is alot of fun.

[OwlEyes]

I don't understand the "Wii U has no games" argument now. Sure, there was a bit of a drought from December until March, and it was annoying, but in the last month - Lego City, Need For Speed, Monster Hunter, Toki Tori 2 and Runner 2 were all released. That's 5 games - all of them rated "Good" by Metacritic.

[GamingAngelGabriel]

It's not from the perspective of a gamer who wants some good stuff for the Wii U they own, but for those who are wondering about buying one. Lego City and possibly Monster Hunter are the only ones really moving systems from that list.

[D_RoyJenkins]

Idk why people keep thinking Mario, Zelda, smash bros, etc. will save the Wii U. Those franchises are irrelevant, it's all about COD, Assassin's Creed, GTA, Madden, FIFA, NBA2K, Battlefield and more. All those games won't appear on the Wii U or will be better on other platforms. These days you have to have balance between 1st party and 3rd party and Nintendo is all 1st party. If you aren't a die hard Nintendo fan there's no reason to buy the Wii U.

[_QQ_]

Mario kart wii sold over 25million. get out of here with that "it's all about COD, AC4,Madden" shit.

[D_RoyJenkins]

Mario kart Wii sold to a large casual demographic which the Wii U does not have.

[AJBACK2FRAG]

Over sixty million! Six times mor than Gran Torismo five! Some people are just addicted to hatred. I'm sure Mr. Jenkins doesn't even own a Wii U. I feel bad for him.

Last Xeno. Here's a hint. The good guys win again!

[_QQ_]

Nintendo first part titles have always dominated in sales.

[Ck1x]

I love how irrelevant people like to claim Nintendo's franchises are!lol
We just know how these franchises sold like crap on the DS,Wii and 3DS right? So you guys keep on thinking that these games won't have any impact at all. Many tend to state that the GC had these games as well and that didn't help its situation. But the GC as a console wasn't really doing much different in the way of gaming that the other systems offered as well! People can't say that though between WiiU, PS4&720 they are clearly different products. I'm guessing right about now after all of these years, the Nintendo company as a whole must seem like some zombie apocalypse to both Sony and Microsoft. They want to declare it dead like yesterday, but for some reason this thing just keeps coming back and neither company knows how to pull off a head shot in order to kill this company:-) "We've tried everything and they just won't die for some reason!"

[LastXeno]

I see a lot of cocky Sony drones, we'll see how this end.

[D_RoyJenkins]

Yeah I don't think Sony and Microsoft are concerned with Nintendo. If they were they would've launched their next gen consoles closer to the Wii U. Hell, Microsoft haven even officially announced their's yet. They know they have the core gamer demographic in their pocket and Nintendo doesn't offer anything to take it away from them.