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Posted

Nice read from EDGE. Wii U finally has an extremely attractive lineup and it couldn't be at a better time. The next few months should be very telling.

Posted

Are the celebrity ads returning?

 

Hope so, much prefer to see Ant & Dec return than the badly dubbed random people they used in the initial batch of adverts

 

 

I assume this one will only be for America but thought it was pretty good... certainly for the mainstream market....plus Wayne Brady always makes me laugh :D Only thing that could have made the ad better was if Neil Patrick Harris appeared haha

 

Posted
Are the celebrity ads returning?

 

Hope so, much prefer to see Ant & Dec return than the badly dubbed random people they used in the initial batch of adverts

 

 

I assume this one will only be for America but thought it was pretty good... certainly for the mainstream market....plus Wayne Brady always makes me laugh :D Only thing that could have made the ad better was if Neil Patrick Harris appeared haha

 

Really is what they need to do

Posted
Iwata Is Naturally Unhappy With Q2 2014 Results, But Claims Major Overhaul Isn’t Necessary

 

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has commented on the dire results that the company posted during its earnings call earlier today. Iwata remained bullish with reporters and said that he still believes the struggling Wii U console has a chance this holiday season with Wii Party U, Wii Fit U, and Super Mario 3D World. Iwata says that if things don’t turn around this Christmas then Nintendo executives would review the situation to decide what to do about the failing console.

 

President Satoru Iwata said that the success of Nintendo’s newest console and the future direction of the firm were riding on the performance of a slate of new games during the upcoming holiday sales season. Once those results were in, Nintendo executives would review them to decide “what the company needs to do, over the long-term, about its platform,” Mr. Iwata said.

 

In the past, Mr. Iwata has said doing so could mean death for the company, which relies on the lure of its games to convince players to buy its hardware. On Wednesday, Mr. Iwata’s stance appeared to have softened, although he still maintained that the company’s fortunes could turn around with upcoming releases of key titles such as “Super Mario 3D World,” “Wii Party U,” and “Wii Fit U.”

 

“One game has the power to change everything,” Mr. Iwata said, smiling often during the meeting with reporters, which lasted almost an hour beyond the initially scheduled 30 minutes. ”Are we satisfied with these sales results? No. Is it impossible to recover from this? No.” Mr. Iwata, who has said he is committed to the operating-profit target, put on a brave face, telling reporters that that target was still achievable.

 

http://mynintendonews.com/2013/10/30/iwata-is-naturally-unhappy-with-q2-2014-results-but-claims-major-overhaul-isnt-necessary/

Posted

I have my doubts over whether any of the titles due out for the Wii U over the next 5 months is going to do anything substantial to save it.

 

The clock is ticking. The platform could stay afloat with just the core audience, but business is about growth, and Nintendo really need to get third parties on board soon.

Posted
I have my doubts over whether any of the titles due out for the Wii U over the next 5 months is going to do anything substantial to save it.

 

The clock is ticking. The platform could stay afloat with just the core audience, but business is about growth, and Nintendo really need to get third parties on board soon.

Agreed.

 

Problem is, I'm not sure what Nintendo could do. If they went with any of the suggestions people post online: larger price cut, go third party, put software on smartphones etc., it would kill the company.

Posted

That advert's kinda good to see, but I feel like the Wii U is just such terrible branding. You see the ad, this new controller, then a big Wii Party...(U) at the end. The focus is on the Wii Party, and a blue square sits underneath that I imagine some won't clock/notice as a U. Even a little soundbite of the name could have been done or something.

Posted
I have my doubts over whether any of the titles due out for the Wii U over the next 5 months is going to do anything substantial to save it.

 

The clock is ticking. The platform could stay afloat with just the core audience, but business is about growth, and Nintendo really need to get third parties on board soon.

 

I honestly dunno if anything can turn the thing around at this point. Yeah, it's only been a year but it was a year without the next set of consoles. They now have to compete against the 360/One and PS3/PS4, not to mention their own handheld.

 

There are a number of missteps that have hurt the console, most of which have been discussed many times over. It just feels the console had a lack of vision from the start .

 

Still, I enjoy playing on mine and will continue to do so through the duration of its lifespan.

Posted
Agreed.

 

Problem is, I'm not sure what Nintendo could do. If they went with any of the suggestions people post online: larger price cut, go third party, put software on smartphones etc., it would kill the company.

 

It would give me a lot of free time back though :heh:

Posted
I honestly dunno if anything can turn the thing around at this point. Yeah, it's only been a year but it was a year without the next set of consoles. They now have to compete against the 360/One and PS3/PS4, not to mention their own handheld.

 

There are a number of missteps that have hurt the console, most of which have been discussed many times over. It just feels the console had a lack of vision from the start .

 

Still, I enjoy playing on mine and will continue to do so through the duration of its lifespan.

 

I am not sure anything can turn it around. I think such a poor start - coupled with retailers dropping the console and third parties refusing to produce games for it will basically put the Wii U in a position of a niche console for Nintendo games and some quirky third party offerings that fit with the Nintendo mentality.

 

The sad thing about the Wii U is at first I was disappointed with it. I didn't fall in love with the console like I did the Wii.

 

However as the year has gone on I've really started to love the console. It has some great games - first party and third party. There's plenty of mouth watering deals about for great games and I really love offscreen play.

 

Sitting playing Wind Waker on the gamepad with the football on in the background all comfy on the sofa is a joy.

 

I have a stack of games and there's plenty that are already out that I also want to pick up - not to mention forth coming releases that look fantastic.

 

What's more I think the Miiverse is the best way to approach a gaming community on a console. It's like a forum mixed with twitter with an added sparkle of creativity.

Posted
Agreed.

 

Problem is, I'm not sure what Nintendo could do. If they went with any of the suggestions people post online: larger price cut, go third party, put software on smartphones etc., it would kill the company.

 

I think that the greatest lessons can be learnt from the DS. That handheld was the successor to a very popular handheld and Sony was clearly winning the "minds and hearts" war very early on with the PSP.

 

However a combination of strong 3rd party support and unique offerings quickly turned it into a console that appealed to a broad range of customers. How did they achieve that how could they use that model for the Wii U?

Posted (edited)
I think that the greatest lessons can be learnt from the DS. That handheld was the successor to a very popular handheld and Sony was clearly winning the "minds and hearts" war very early on with the PSP.

 

However a combination of strong 3rd party support and unique offerings quickly turned it into a console that appealed to a broad range of customers. How did they achieve that how could they use that model for the Wii U?

The thing with the DS is that it tapped a then un-tapped market, one that has now been oversaturated and shifted to smartphone purchases of Angry Birds, Candy Crush Saga and other mindless time killers.

 

Things like Brain Training and Nintendogs are what pushed the DS, and the 3DS versions of those have fallen completely flat

 

It would give me a lot of free time back though :heh:

You know nothing of lack of free time, my friend. :p I haven't left the house at all this month due to XY.

Edited by Serebii
Automerged Doublepost
Posted
I think that the greatest lessons can be learnt from the DS. That handheld was the successor to a very popular handheld and Sony was clearly winning the "minds and hearts" war very early on with the PSP.

 

However a combination of strong 3rd party support and unique offerings quickly turned it into a console that appealed to a broad range of customers. How did they achieve that how could they use that model for the Wii U?

 

They need to forget about that new audience which was picked up with the DS and Wii. They are a fickle audience which moves on quickly to the new 'fad'. One of the main problems is Nintendo still thinking that Wii audience is still their just waiting to buy a wii u and that's even after Nintendo left that same audience high and dry for 2 years when they stopped supporting the Wii. The Wii brand is done and titles like Wii Play U, Wii Fit U are going to suffer the same fate as 3DS Nintendogs and Brain training.

 

The key is to get the core audience as they are the ones which will tell the more casual gamer which console to own and which games to buy. Unfortunately releasing a console which was under-powered and lacking 3rd party support was never going to get that core audience who are happy to with their 360/PS3 until the next gen came along.

 

The fact that even many core nintendo gamers have skipped the Wii U says a lot. People were not convinced in the product early on and as the year has gone on things have looked even bleaker with cancelled projects and more third parties bailing.

 

Honestly as a day 1 buyer of the console I'm still surprised how things have worked out. Nobody would of predicted the console would of sold so badly.

The console has no mindshare at all and in Europe especially it looks like beyond repair. Even places like France and Germany where Nintendo has been strong compared to the UK the Wii U has performed really badly.

Posted
They need to forget about that new audience which was picked up with the DS and Wii. They are a fickle audience which moves on quickly to the new 'fad'. One of the main problems is Nintendo still thinking that Wii audience is still their just waiting to buy a wii u and that's even after Nintendo left that same audience high and dry for 2 years when they stopped supporting the Wii. The Wii brand is done and titles like Wii Play U, Wii Fit U are going to suffer the same fate as 3DS Nintendogs and Brain training.

 

Games like Wii Party U and Wii Fit U bombing this holiday could be a blessing in disguise for the future of the Wii U and the market Nintendo aim it at in future.

Posted

You know nothing of lack of free time, my friend. :p I haven't left the house at all this month due to XY.

 

1) Do you ever leave the house?

2) Dude you don't have to catch 'em all in one sitting

3) We're not friends

 

TRIPLE BURN!

Posted
The thing with the DS is that it tapped a then un-tapped market, one that has now been oversaturated and shifted to smartphone purchases of Angry Birds, Candy Crush Saga and other mindless time killers.

 

They need to forget about that new audience which was picked up with the DS and Wii. They are a fickle audience which moves on quickly to the new 'fad'.

 

Disagree with you both. I don't think that picking the casual audience in itself was the key, it was creating experiences to fill a need that wasn't being addressed be it casual or female or whatever.

 

There are different needs/markets/audiences to attract now and you can only do that by pushing the borders and breaking down boundaries not to mention demonstrating that well through awesome software. So far (for me) the only piece of software that has got even close to that is Nintendoland but most importantly Miiverse.

 

Nintendo does best when it's changing the market. The Wii U simply isn't the engine to do that and I think the software lineup shows that they know that too.

Posted
The Wii brand is done and titles like Wii Play U, Wii Fit U are going to suffer the same fate as 3DS Nintendogs and Brain training.
What, sell over 3 million copies? :wink:
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