Wii U: The Box of Broken Promises

GenGAME writes: "I love my Wii U, but I’ve got to admit that Nintendo’s failed to deliver in a number of critical areas – even areas that the company’s executives like Satoru Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aime promised would be better than previous hardware launches. It’s a bit concerning to see a company that did so well developing and marketing Wii flounder so much in the face of so many issues – so many broken promises to consumers."

[TruthbeTold]

Those 3 promises have definitely been let downs so far.

Nice point though, that pretty much the only thing holding the console back is Games. More specifically that there are few games yet that gamers just HAVE to have. But, once that changes, (and hopefully Nintendo can afford a price cut soon), the Wii U will take off.

[kneon]

While sales will improve I don't expect it to take off in any substantial way because by the time those games come out it will be going head to head with the next xbox and PS4.

I think they missed their window of opportunity.

[TruthbeTold]

Why would it going head to head with the other two newer consoles be a bad thing since it will be cheaper - with possibly even a price cut by then, and one of the reasons the Wii U has sold more slowly so far is the price?

Once you get to that $300 mark, the question of 'Is it worth it?', expands to 'What will it cost my lifestyle/bottom line if I buy something that expensive that I don't really need?'

The Nintendo 'Hardcore' who have a little money are the ones buying the console now while it is this expensive. So will it be with the Sony/MS 'Hardcore' at their respective launches. These are the people who cause Zelda/Uncharted/Gears to sell 5 million+ but less than 10.

The others will be in the same situation as Nintendo. Only perhaps even tougher depending on price. Only around that time, Nintendo will actually have core franchises releasing and imminently releasing.

As beautiful and cool looking as it is, there aren't 5 million+ waiting to play KillZone, and probably only half of those who actually do have the money to buy the console and game at launch.

[kneon]

Going head to head with the others will reduce the number of people who will be able to buy it.

Had buyers been making this decision a year ago it would have been easy, but come q4 they will have multiple options and most people won't buy more than one console in such a short time frame.

[fattyuk]

I want to go and buy a wii u I really do!

But until some games actually come out I won't be getting my wallet out,

[NegativeCreepWA]

I've been debating on selling mine. Only thing really stopping me, is the loss I'd take on it.

[gamer42]

really you aren't going to keep it for 1st party games either. you should keep it for at least a year to have a good where it really is headed,that's what I did with all my consoles.

[exfatal]

If you are selling your Wii u this early after buying it so soon at such a cost. I'm assuming you either didn't buy it for the first party games coming out or you dont have it and just trolling?

[Yodagamer]

Sadly i think the software drought was a side effect of trying to let the third parties go first and let them get some sales. They've tried it before with the 3ds and the wii motion plus as well and quite frankly neither launch panned out as well as it should have. The wii u hasn't been an exception. The software drought is probably due to titles being pushed back. Hopefully they get more games in development soon to fix it.

[mcstorm]

I agree. The biggest issue Nintendo have with the wiiu is that 3rd party have ported some of the big names like batman bo2 or AC3 after they were out on the 360 and ps3 and them sold them at full price. They have also had some games 6 months later like nfsmw and the biggest issue with these two options is most people would of got them games on the ps3 or 360 as they wont see the point of buying a £300 console for a game they can get on the console they already own. The same for nfsmw even though its had updates added to it and is the best looking console version it can now be bought for £20 on the other consoles.

It wont be until 12 months after the next xbox and ps4 are out that a lot of people will look to jump to a new console for 3rd party games as support for the 360 and ps3 will will start to be dropped. This is when Nintendo should of tried to push the 3rd party games. The 1st 12 to 18 months Nintendo should of given us Mario, Zelda, pikmin, Mario kart ect as this will help drive the early sales of the console. Look at the 360 it has gears, pgr, moh and more that were not on other consoles and when the ps4 came out it did not have any stand out games it was only 12 to 18 months in you saw the big hitters.

I think the wiiu will sell well once Nintendo bring out the big names this holiday season but I do think they have pushed 3rd partys the wrong way.

[jcnba28]

I think once the big games start rolling out and Nintendo knocks $50 off the price Wii U's will start flying off the shelves just like what happened with the 3DS.

[DA_SHREDDER]

its already dropped 50 on amazon

[gamer42]

I don't think a price drop would help a lot at this point, what they need is better advertising and release dates for their big games. That's what they need the most right now.

[Dante_007]

i believe nintendo are just expecting third parties to develop for the WII U but when i bought the WII U I bought it thinking their would release more core nintendo titles like zelda and mario but instead all I'm getting is last generation ports with gamepad support sorry nintendo i am not a fan of this. and it has nothing to do with this drought it has to with the fact that their isn't one title on the WII U that has everyone saying hey i want to play that

[YoloSwag]

So you expected all of their best franchises all in the first year? Has that even happened before?

[Ck1x]

Not even on a Sony console, so I'm not exactly sure as to why it was expected here... I'm more upset that we don't have release dates for W101 & Pikmin3 yet! Sure E3 will be a blow out of info, but I wouldn't mind having another ND like the one in January. Something like that could really tie people over until E3 comes around, since its less than 60 days away :-)

[esemce]

As far as 3rd parties go this will be the Wii all over again I think. The casuals will stick with their original Wiis (Wii fit& sports etc), the core will go for PS4/720 leaving the hardcore Nintendo fans and they need a 3d mario/zelda/metroid/smash bros.

Without the install base 3rd parties will not bother devoting time and money on a WiiU version with added features when they can just port their games to 360/ps3 or PC/PS4/720.

[ARESWARLORD]

Just want the update to speed this beast up.

[herbs]

Would not be suprised if the April update comes in May judging by the way Nintendo has been doing things lately.

[josephayal]

I'm worried the WiiU could put Nintendo out of business

[Erimgard]

That's not even a problem. It may lose them money, but they have something like 9 billion dollars in the bank. They'd have to lose a lot of money a lot of years in a row to go bankrupt.

More realistically, it could lead to them dropping out of the home console market and just doing handhelds and software, if their investors push for it.

[exfatal]

then you're worrying for nothing. nintendo is fine even if wii u bombs worse then vita. (or how vita bombed first year anyways)

[stragomccloud]

Promises not yet fulfilled is not the same as promises broken.

So unless they suddenly cancel all of their core franchises and lose a lot of the cool games that are already in development, they are doing just fine by my book.

[Realplaya]

People forget reality plays a factor in Nintendos sales.

1. 3rd party games were already years ahead of time in development cycles- Rayman 3 was getting added to ps3 and the xbox library result Wii U delay.

2. Advertising They have no new 3d Mario, Mario Kart or big 1st party games what are they going to do spend millions on games that are 1 to 3 years old?

3. Quality games. Lets be honest They aren't releasing a half assed game it's why Pikman hasn't dropped yet and the other games we really want. Remember a average game gets resold but a great game sells millions of copies over it's lifetime and becomes the game that gets highly recommended. Case and point Xenoblade chronicles, Metroid, Contra Mario Galaxy.

4. System stability- They are late to the party but there trying. They are learning as there going but if you saw what they did with there big 3 on the Wii imagine the Wii U, We all want them to get there as in gear but remember they typically deliver if you doubt me look at the top reviewed Nintendo games of all time and the average score says it all.

[kagamer79]

Ave I've always played nintendo games and been a loyal customer since 85. Do I think there doomed? No not at all because they have built a billion dollar empire. That being said said did they drop the ball with wii u? Yes they did . I love nintendo but I'm not blind either they have a very hard road ahead this gen. When I heard the specs I was angry because it wouldn't have hurt for them to put some decent hardware in it to be able to get most ports and run the newest engines without being scaled way down. People say nintendo never cared about specs and I say bull shit they did. They were the console to own back in the day and they put decent hardware in their sysyems. It was when they made 64 and gamecube they stopped caring. The tablets a nice edition but not near as innovative and appealing as motion control with wii. Nintendo will have some great games no doubt. Look at mario galaxy wii and how weak wii was in sd not hd. It looked really good but my main question is this, will the great games that grace the wii u console out number the great ones that pass it by? And in 2 to 3 yrs when ps4s specs are maxed will wii u even be able to run a watered down port? Or should I say will devs even bother to port at all.

[Ck1x]

I agree that Nintendo dropped the ball big time and I think what they need to do in this next console cycle is grow their staffing considerably! Coming off of the success of DS/Wii systems, it should have afforded Nintendo the opportunity to expand their primary developers to be able to pump out great titles for both the WiiU and 3ds. Now they are playing catch up and I'm sure they can turn things around, but it's time for them to spend a little of that money that they are sitting on. But I have to completely disagree about the hardware front though. The GC was the most underrated system that generation as far as specs went. The Wii in comparison to the PS3/360 was really behind in raw processing power. But the WiiU on the other hand may not be pushing as many Flops as the other systems or doesn't have as much RAM. That still only puts it 2.5-3.5x behind the 720&PS4 in processing power, which is not a major leap by any stretch of the imagination. Nothing like 15x behind PS3/360 the Wii was last gen! So while these companies may say their games won't run on the WiiU, watch how quick they put them on PS3/360 to try and cash in. Ubisoft can't be the only ones that has a true scalable graphics engine! Watchdogs was the most impressive game at last years E3 and that game is coming to all consoles... The WiiU does have its problems but they aren't going to be fixed over night and when the same kind of articles pop up daily what do people really expect?

[kagamer79]

That's true ck1. I meant the 64 and gamecube were nintendos last good spec systems. The average success of gamecube made them change their strategy. I worry about nintendo because for some reason its the company ppl love to hate. It blows my mind that ppl hate nintendo more than any other company, when nintendo shaped and brought more innovations to gaming than any other console maker.