Nintendo Wii U

[b00dles]

Just as the WiiU has the biggest sales spike ever if the forum is anything to go by.

[DC Lemon]

I'm okay with Donkey Kong, Rayman and the new Sonic that was allegedly too hard for the pansy Edge reviewer, but for some reason 2D Mario makes me feel inadequate nowadays.

Where others see design perfection, I see deaths that make me rage. Mario doesn't always do what I thought my thumbs were asking of him. The Wii version was particularly soul destroying and I had very little fun with NSMBU.

[Shimmyhill]

I find NSMBU really really hard - I'm yet to complete it (not far now), and doubt I'll ever find all the super coins... same goes for NSMB2 for me.

What?

Would you like me to send the 8 or 13 year old daughter round to help you out?

[NEG]

Whilst granted Wii U is excellent value this christmas with finally a decent library building under it's belt, it's arguable if it'll have any other year like this one. When developers make the transition to next gen pretty much everything will be on the other consoles, not Wii U.

That's my feeling, anyway.

Enjoy the slightly better PS3/360 ports you can buy while you can?

[Mr. Gerbik]

I don't know about the other forumites, but I'm not buying a Wii U for multiplatform games. So I kinda don't care about that, as long as Nintendo keeps delivering good games that aren't Pikmin, I'm okay with it.

(nothing wrong with Pikmin btw, it just isn't for me)

[scottcr]

and of course, comparing sales of a game released significantly later on a platform with a low installed base

only mental folks like me bought the WiiU version. Anyone sane would have bought it for a fraction of the price on the other consoles.already.

[b00dles]

tbh, I was never going to buy NFS Rivals on anything, let alone the WiiU but if they don't have good sales this Xmas and then maybe a few more with Mario Kart in March (or whenever it is) then it's definitely 'doing a GameCube' whereby no-one else will release anything on it and it will be a Nintendo box.

Not that that is a bad thing but I do find the logic behind some devcos a bit weird in regards to not releasing on a console that may not have a big installed user base right now but then there are also going to be people that only have a WiiU, so those multi-platform games would be bought on it.

For example, this Xmas, even if the WiiU doesn't get another price drop further than the deals that are happening at the moment, I can imagine more families are going to opt for the £200 WiiU that you can use existing peripherals for (because everyone ever bought a Wii) or a £350 or £425 console that doesn't even have much family friendly stuff for it, aside from Knack maybe. So, if those people do buy a WiiU as their only family console, they won't buy those other devs games that are only out on the PS4 / Bone.

Or are we expecting devs to keep supporting 360/PS3 up to about next Xmas?

[SMD]

They'll support the PS360 until people stop buying games for it. Really there's no reason to stop making games for it because you can still have great titles as well as a huge knowledge base. If anything this is when the gems come out.

[gone fishin]

Yeah the Gamepad being a sensor bar surprised me too! A good thing though as it does make playing Wii games on the Gamepad less awkward than it could be.

I think this is part of the insane genius of Nintendo. Genius in that they put it in. Insane in that there's bugger all mention of it actually working as a sensor bar.

Insane in the fact that if you go to the Wii menu from the Wii U menu, you absolutely need a separate sensor bar to select to start Wii mode and the gamepad sensor will not work. Yet, if you go straight to the Wii menu by pressing B at boot, you can use the gamepad sensor bar no problem, with no need for an additional sensor bar. Perfect when you use the cradle to charge the unit - stick it in front of the TV in the cradle and you've got a genius sensor bar. But no mention of this anywhere in the documentation.

Insane in the fact that to use the Wii motes in the various multiplayer Nintendoland games, you absolutely have to have a sensor bar connected to the Wii U. Yet there is no other requirement for the sensor bar, I can find, in the game. The Wii motes are purely used as standard controllers (up,down, left, right, fire) And it doesn't use the inbuilt sensor bar in the gamepad. At all.

So insane in the fact that if you've got the basic bundle - you have to buy a fucking sensor bar when there's one built into the gamepad already.

Why is this annoying? My sensor bar stopped working on the Wii, which I still use as a retro machine for homebrew. So I took the sensor bar from the Wii U, because it's already got one in the gamepad.. right? And now I notice just how inconsistent Nintendo are with using the sensor bar function on the gamepad... it's really fucking dumb design.

(Unless the designers thought that the sensor bar would be included with all versions of the Wii U and it was removed in the basic as a cost cutting exercise at the last minute).

Nuts.... it's those inconsistencies that seem to be a bit of a problem with the Wii U. The majority of it is amazing. Then there's the odd dumb thing that makes you wonder if it was rushed.

Anyway.. here's a thought. What will be the replacement for the 3DS? 3D is obvious no longer a big deal. Is it a Wii power level handheld?

How about if they made the Wii U gamepad slightly smaller. Made it more durable (it is a bit flimsy). Added more processing power to it, as well as onboard storage or an SD card to make it a bit more powerful than the current 3DS. Charged £150 for it and made it a portable Wii U (if slightly less processing power, it could potentially do the games in a lower resolution).

Maybe a bit like what Sony is trying to do with the Vita and PS4... but better.

Play your games on the big tv with the Wii U, take it on the road with the Wii U SD (or whatever it was called). Bring it home and update your progress... The Wii U becomes your Nintendo Hub... with Miiverse and all that shit.

It would at least boost the sales of the Wii U and get around the massive issue in that Nintendo don't have the resources to cover two platforms anymore. I don't see any other way of Nintendo launching a successor to the 3DS at this rate, there's too much convergence between home and mobile.

[Girth Certificate]

does the wii u not come with a separate sensor bar then?

[Not Thread Owner]

The basic pack doesn't, no.

[DarhkFox]

Yeah i would expect Nintendo's next handheld to be transfer games between console & handheld. Problem with this is that you are not going to get the same graphical/hardware performance that you can on a console.

I think being able to play the latest 3DS game on the wii u would have made a lot of people happy due to the long wait for wii u games.

On the other hand the super gameboy and gameboy gameplay didn't exactly set the world alight either.

[b00dles]

You don't need to buy a sensor bar, you can use candles

Also moora, you can use (although you don't need to, ever) the wiimotes pointing functions in Nintendo land on the menus and that.

I totally agree that the next console probably should be more like the crossplay that is touted with the Vita and PS4. Although how that will work with their current strategy, I'm not entirely sure. Make a new Gameboy that could stream WiiU games and also replace the gamepad? I'd buy that for a dollar.

[mushashi]

Not that that is a bad thing but I do find the logic behind some devcos a bit weird in regards to not releasing on a console that may not have a big installed user base right now but then there are also going to be people that only have a WiiU, so those multi-platform games would be bought on it.

If people read the actual quote, its not hard to see the logic, they had low expectations in terms of actual units, but expectations in terms of relative sales to install base, the Wii U failed to clear that low bar, don't bother trying again. Compare that to early EA game sales on PS3, even at $599, decent attach rate for their software, even if actual unit sales weren't amazing at the start. The only multiplats Nintendo Wii U owners buy in large enough numbers are the E-rated ones, cue more E-rated games getting a Wii U version.

It didn’t really sell that many, in terms of the Wii U market. I would love for it to have, because we put so much effort into that, trust me. I’d love for it to be way bigger than it was, and the same for the Vita.

[scottcr]

I'm sure the fact that anyone who really wanted the game could buy it for a tenner for the 360 or PS3 by the time it was out on WiiU.

[DarhkFox]

had no interest in NFS as i had it on the 360. I'm sure whoever is making batman will say the same thing when the wii u version doesn't perform great when the others consoles versions come out a month earlier. Most gamers have at least a couple of consoles.

[rgraves]

If people read the actual quote, its not hard to see the logic, they had low expectations in terms of actual units, but expectations in terms of relative sales to install base, the Wii U failed to clear that low bar, don't bother trying again.

I'd say whatever sales they were hoping to get to, were pretty much scuppered by the apparent insane rareness of the physical copy and the mental RRP (set by them) on the eShop.

I wish they'd give us figures when they talk like this actually, would be interested to know exactly how it did/is doing in relation to the userbase.

[ras el hanout]

If people read the actual quote, its not hard to see the logic, they had low expectations in terms of actual units, but expectations in terms of relative sales to install base, the Wii U failed to clear that low bar, don't bother trying again. Compare that to early EA game sales on PS3, even at $599,

There's no logic there at all. An old game doesn't sell on a new console, is that the logic? These early EA games you're talking about, the ones that sold well on the PS3. Were they old EA games? Or, like, brand new EA games? Because there's a massive difference there.

[cavalcade]

I think it's pretty short-sighted to just say "oh well, this won't sell on Wii-U, lets not bother to port it."

It might not be likely, but who's to say PS4/One sales will radically outstrip Wii-U sales any time soon? Most hardcore gamers think the world is braying for a new console - I tend to think most people don't give a shit. Future growth could be split evenly across the three. Who knows? As a multiplatform dev studio you might not get an immediate reward for porting your games to Wii-U, but it gives your developers experience, keeps you in contact with the platform (and the platform holder) and might lead to opportunities in the future (perhaps Nintendo paying you up front to develop something for it).

It also positions you on the console so if the PS4/One are a total sales disaster you might be able to leverage an IP on the Wii-U to make money. Or at least make money by developing across last-gen systems and the Wii-U. There's also the chance you develop a game that connects with the Wii-U owner base. Sure - perhaps that isn't bro dude shooters or racing games, but Rayman did pretty well on Wii-U, Lego City Undercover has sold well too, so there is hope. When you factor in dev costs on the next-gen systems and the Wii-U, perhaps there's an opportunity for a decent ROI there. Perhaps you're the company that makes the system seller - the Wii-U's Halo. Etc etc. Similar arguments for the Vita. Rather than sheepishly trying to chase the rainbow's end of creating the Vita's next Monster Hunter by slapping out a cheap Monster Hunter copy - why not try to generate the new fresh, exciting IP for the Vita (or Wii-U) that sells Monster Hunter numbers?

At this stage, basically dumping the platform serves nobody particularly well medium term, even if there's short term pain.

[mushashi]

I'd say whatever sales they were hoping to get to, were pretty much scuppered by the apparent insane rareness of the physical copy and the mental RRP (set by them) on the eShop.

I wish they'd give us figures when they talk like this actually, would be interested to know exactly how it did/is doing in relation to the userbase.

Most Wanted for Wii U did ~10K in the US at launch (The game had shipped 5 Million on the other platforms), judging by the comments from the developer, it didn't have a long tail of consistent sales either. Publishers cannot force retailers to buy games they do not think will sell (unless they do some coercive forced bundling by threatening to limit their allocation of a game that would sell I suppose if they don't load up on another game), people really should complain to their retailer of choice for not having the confidence to lose money on whatever niche title they choose not to stock. The few titles that are known to have broken the 100K LTD in the US for the Wii U are predominately E-rated.

A simple, if expensive fix for such problems would be for the platform holder to do a bank of England and backstop the entire physical supply chain, and guarantee a minimum order size for the publisher to at least breakeven on any ports and sale or return for shops to have the confidence to stock the game in the first place. The entire financial risk would then rest on the platform holder and might incentivise them to do more to shift such product.

[SMD]

I can't see there being a huge adoption. I mean, let's face it, you'd have to be pretty generous to suggest that early adopters are more than 10 million worldwide in the first year, with about 3 million (?) opting for a Wii U so far. There's bound to be overlap with those and potential Xbox One/PS4 adopters but then you'd be hard pushed to find people buying both Sony and MS machines within 12 months of them coming out.

So really, you're looking at (at best) 4-5 million sold in a year. Given how many copies of current gen titles have to be sold to meet the requirements of developers and publishers, how exactly are they supposed to do better in the first year?

[shirubagan]

What I did last night as the wife watched telly.

Monkey Galactus tires of eating worlds and impatiently awaits his last Pot Noodle

[ridgeracer]

what do you draw that with on a Wii U?

[shirubagan]

Art Academy Sketchpad. It's £3.50 or something daft and pretty fun.

[ridgeracer]

Might try that, looks good, especially if that cheap.

[bobontheway]

It is worth pointing out though that unlike previous versions of Art Academy this one doesn't feature any of the lessons. It is purely a fun art application. There are some amazing pictures on the Miiverse community as well.

[shirubagan]

I thought the lessons were coming later as DLC, if the menus in-app were anything to go by, but a quick snoop shows some text on the official site: Another Art Academy title for Wii U, including in-depth art lessons and more, is now in development. (Release Date/TBD)

[Eighthours]

My Wii U just arrived from Play.com.

Here's hoping the Zelda download doesn't take too long later!

[ridgeracer]

Snap, I got this yesterday...

And this the week befreo so sold my DL code.

been tough waiting and extra 2 weeks to play a game after you buy it!

[mushashi]

I can't see there being a huge adoption. I mean, let's face it, you'd have to be pretty generous to suggest that early adopters are more than 10 million worldwide in the first year, with about 3 million (?) opting for a Wii U so far. There's bound to be overlap with those and potential Xbox One/PS4 adopters but then you'd be hard pushed to find people buying both Sony and MS machines within 12 months of them coming out.

So really, you're looking at (at best) 4-5 million sold in a year. Given how many copies of current gen titles have to be sold to meet the requirements of developers and publishers, how exactly are they supposed to do better in the first year?

I think you are being somewhat conservative if you think that Microsoft and Sony, between them can't shift more than 4-5 Million within one year at best, the overlap with the Nintendo audience is fairly minor, as EA and other trad game sales shows. I know some people might be pinning their hopes on such an outcome to say "See, shoulda hedged your bets", but they already did, much like on the Wii, and decided throwing good money after bad is not a useful risk hedge, better off chasing after the mobile market with those extra millions.

Nintendo originally forecast that many hardware sales by March of this year for comparison, for their console alone, which in itself was a lower forecast than they had for the original Wii before launch.