Keys to the Success of the Wii U

The Wii U is still struggling to hit its stride in the market, but there are still some things it can do to make itself attractive to consumers.

[TripC50]

Make a couple of games that are must play experiences.

[zero_gamer]

More like make a lot.

[NewZealander]

considering some retailers are already dropping ALL nintendo products i kind of get the feeling its all too late.

[TongkatAli]

That new Mario game looks amazing, Bayonetta 2 looks good and Super Smash Bros is going to be a hit.

[3-4-5]

releasing a ton of good games in 2014. Problems should mostly be fixed then. People will still complain though.

My only true complaint is their terrible eshop.

3DS gets black & white gameboy games and PSP...not even the new vita....the older,,from 2004 PSP, get's PSP RPG's, PS one classics & other awesome games.

Wii U's eshop is at least somewhat respectable.

[Sly-Lupin]

What?

WiiU eshop is terrible compared to every other eShop, the Virtual Console particularly.

[deafdani]

Wonderful 101 is already a must play experience. So is New Super Mario Bros. U, in my opinion, and that was a launch title.

They're both a stupid amount of fun, especially Wonderful 101, which is probably my favorite game of all time now.

[R00bot]

They are making more than a couple. It just sucks how far away they are, most of them are in 2014.

[MASTER_RAIDEN]

with the ps4 at the price point that it is, i think a $299 tag for the wii u is a bit steep. i mean even the system memory is a dinky 32gb isnt it?

250 is reasonable. $199 is the absolute sweet spot for nintendo. would easily pick one up just for a few key titles.

[AKR]

I don't know how much farther you expect N to reduce the price. Remember ~ they're still selling it at a loss, now more than ever. Do you think these things are just magically created? They take money to manufacture.

That "dinky" 32GB memory was created to keep the price down as far as possible (better than 4GB in my opinion). It's just enough for those who don't want to go full digital; those who only plan to download a few demos, apps and maybe that occasional Virtual Console title. If you do plan to go full digital, or download a lot of eShop titles ~ then picking up an external hard-drive is no hard task.

You can pick up a 1TB (1,000GB) E-HDD for just a little more than your average game. If that's not deal, I don't know what is.

Currently, the Wii U is $50 more than a PS3 - which mind you; is about 7 years old. It's a suitable price for what you're getting; especially with the fact you're getting a game in the process.

[MASTER_RAIDEN]

doesnt matter how much money nintendos plummeted into the system. of course 299 isnt a bad price on its own, but in relativity to what its competition offers, its price of the wii u is too high.

[porkChop]

Nintendo is hardly losing anything. They said that if a person buys a single game, any game, they then start making profit on the console. Nintendo only makes $10 on 3rd party games, which means Nintendo is losing less than $10 on each console. Sony and Microsoft usually lose hundreds and make the money back on games. Nintendo is just being greedy. They can easily lower the price another $50.

[Sly-Lupin]

porkChop: That is a tremendously flawed argument.

Not only does it rely on people buying new games at full retail price... even worse, it assumes Nintendo doesn't need to make a profit on its games.

[R00bot]

@porkChop

They said that before they had the $50 price drop.

Now they're losing a lot more than before.

[Chrischi1988]

@porkChop:

The other thing, that most people didnt understand right is, that Nintendo was talking about a 1st party title, not 3rd party, so they make a win again and now it is 50$ cheaper and you get one of their, at least for now, best first party titles with it, so not much win for the first few month.

[porkChop]

$250 would be alright for most people I think, with a bigger hard drive though. But Nintendo needs to stop being so lazy and create some brand new IPs that have nothing to do with Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc. New games, with new art styles, with new worlds, new characters, new gameplay, new ideas, etc. They're continued reliance on the same games and the same characters hold non-Nintendo gamers back from purchasing the console.

[Chrischi1988]

PS4 $400 and no game.

Wii U $300 and 1 game.

That game costs around $50, if you substract that from the $300, it actually is $250.

If you want to have Gamepad features on PS4, you will need a Vita, too. But I believe since not every PS4 owner will have a Vita, that it stays a gimmick there.

Next Gen games cost around $70 now, that makes the PS4 + 1 game = $470

compared to

$300 for a Wii U + 1 Game.

And I mean, at least now, Wind Waker HD is more or less a must have, for a Nintendo fan, at least if you didnt play it on Gamecube, but even for me the reexperience is amazing. And a so called must have game for PS4 at the start will cost $70.

[The_Villager]

$299 is a steal for a next gen system with a gamepad. You're not taking into account that the system comes with a free game, free online and TRUE backwards compatibility with all Wii games and controllers etc.

[GrandpaSnake]

if they lower the price to 199 i will go out and buy one that day, i think they can totally slow down one of the other two(sony/ms)

[daveddy1972]

I agree a $199 price would move systems with Christmas coming

[Nocando]

I brought up the Wii U to a coworker, who owns a Wii, and they had no clue as to what I was talking about.

[Ninte]

I bought my Wii U when a retail store here in NZ got rid of them on clearance for $199.

I won't buy one if it was more then that. It's not long until Sony and MS releases their console so lets see how the competition holds up and by that time the Wii U should have a few more games for it's rivals.

[Locknuts]

Yeah I got mine here in AU for $299 with ZombiU. Any more and I wouldn't have bought it.

[OmegaShen]

They have the first party titles, but that isn't something that can keep them going or beat the other company's.

They need 3rd party support badly, GTA5 on the Wii U could have been good.

[Sly-Lupin]

That's precisely why the WiiU is struggling right now: it DOESN'T have the first-party titles. Not yet.

I'd hoped they'd be on top of things by New Years, but with DKCR:TF delayed till February, looks like it'll take a bit longer.

[Chupa-Chupa]

Looking at the 2014 Wii U lineup, don't be surprised if the Wii U finally takes off next year.

[R00bot]

All the critical titles come out then, just as the PS4 and Xbox One will be going through their drought periods.

[Chrischi1988]

Yeah, could easily have been the plan of nintendo the whole time. Releasing the console early to get a half way solid install base before PS4 and Xbox1 get released, bring a few good titles to the console for the christmas market, so the console will be able to compete during that time, even if not as good as the others, the low pricepoint should make up for it and when the others have their dry time, they release the big bombs to blow the installbase to a whole new level. Just my thought, doesnt mean it will be that way.

[R00bot]

Why the disagrees? Do people think that the PS4 and Xbox One won't have dry periods?
Every console ever released has had a dry period shortly after release, some worse than others.
Or do they think that games like Mario Kart and Smash Bros. aren't critical titles?

[D_RoyJenkins]

Lmao you Nintendo fans crack me up

[level 360]

Every console that Nintendo builds is like reminiscing memories from the past.

Which is why they and their hord of fans are stuck in their own old world, of past glories and remembrance days.

Both Nintendo and their fanbase are holding each other from progress because of these traits.

[Concertoine]

Lol as if all nintendo fans ONLY buy their systems. Usually a nintendo system combined with a sony system is the way to go, and wii u will be the perfect secondary system like the wii was