Topic: Wii U - e3 is over... now what?

[Ian Sane]

X is the only game here that I could see myself buying a Wii U for but that is far enough in the future that I'm not sure the Wii U will survive long enough for it to make it to release.  Oddly enough Mario Kart, which is a series I've long grown bored of, looks to be the most original of the sequels shown.

I don't have a Wii U because there is no new gameplay experiences that it is providing.  It is the Wii HD that Pachter kept predicting.  It's just Wii games with PS3 visuals, just in time for those visuals to be a generation behind.  It's mostly all safe conventional sequels, the type that ten years ago Nintendo seemingly didn't make.  Nintendo detractors used to point to all the Mario games on the shelf and accuse Nintendo of being cookie-cutter rehashers and I would defend them because I knew they made each sequel count and tried new things.  But now I feel like a fool because they became the rehashers.

This console has no third party support.  Nintendo is slow to create new games for it and they fail to demonstrate the merits of the Gamepad with their new games and fail to provide anything that has not been done to death already on older Nintendo systems.  There is little market for cookie-cutter Nintendo sequels with 2006 visuals.  NSMB was a massive system seller on the 3DS and has not done dick all for the Wii U so I don't see why other safe conventional sequels will do any different.  The Wii U is done.  Nintendo ducked E3 because they had nothing.  The Wii U will have an abysmal Christmas and will be discontinued in 2014.

Nintendo has transformed into a sequel factory.  This is the type of company Nintendo has decided to be, no different than EA or Activision.

[Soren]

Reggie is on GameTrailers TV right now.

http://www.gametrailers.com/netstorage/e3/live.html

[MagicCow64]

X is the only game here that I could see myself buying a Wii U for but that is far enough in the future that I'm not sure the Wii U will survive long enough for it to make it to release.  Oddly enough Mario Kart, which is a series I've long grown bored of, looks to be the most original of the sequels shown.

I don't have a Wii U because there is no new gameplay experiences that it is providing.  It is the Wii HD that Pachter kept predicting.  It's just Wii games with PS3 visuals, just in time for those visuals to be a generation behind.  It's mostly all safe conventional sequels, the type that ten years ago Nintendo seemingly didn't make.  Nintendo detractors used to point to all the Mario games on the shelf and accuse Nintendo of being cookie-cutter rehashers and I would defend them because I knew they made each sequel count and tried new things.  But now I feel like a fool because they became the rehashers.

This console has no third party support.  Nintendo is slow to create new games for it and they fail to demonstrate the merits of the Gamepad with their new games and fail to provide anything that has not been done to death already on older Nintendo systems.  There is little market for cookie-cutter Nintendo sequels with 2006 visuals.  NSMB was a massive system seller on the 3DS and has not done dick all for the Wii U so I don't see why other safe conventional sequels will do any different.  The Wii U is done.  Nintendo ducked E3 because they had nothing.  The Wii U will have an abysmal Christmas and will be discontinued in 2014.

Nintendo has transformed into a sequel factory.  This is the type of company Nintendo has decided to be, no different than EA or Activision.

I agree it's not looking so hot! I find mild comfort in the fact that I still have no desire to get a PS4 or XBone. Might change someday with the PS4, but I'll never get an XBone. Regardless, though, I can't see this new gen pulling in the numbers of last gen. Even aside from Nintendo I still think we're looking at an industry-wide crack-up in the next five years.

Oh well! Looks like I'll be milking out the WiiU for what it's worth and getting a decent PC. Now that some of the initial burn from that Direct is fading off, it actually doesn't look so bad for the next year given my usual game rotation speed. I've still got to finish ACIII (though this will definitely be the last game I touch from this series), Runner 2, and NSMBU challenges, and I plan on playing through ZombiU, Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101, Toki Tori 2, Mutant Mudds, and Mighty Switch Force.

I will probably also play the Batman Origins game, even though I suspect it will suck, and I'm sure I'll get to 3D World and DKR2 at some point.

Nothing pants-wettingly exciting, but I think that's just the way its going to go for video games in general.

[Do_What]

I don't see any actual new gameplay experiences on ps4 or xbox one as well. I haven't seen one game from anyone that just has me jazzed outside of "the crew." and that isn't new.

[bustin98]

I came away feeling that Nintendo is tired of making games. Just rehashes. Play it safe, serve the norm. Uninspired. Now, I do like the upside down tracks in Mario Kart, though I did not play MK on Wii so I may have missed something there.

I love Nintendo's hardware designs, but man, the software limitations that are imposed due to the developers catering to the other manufacturers is killing me.

The Crew reminds me of the latest Need For Speed. The takedowns of the bosses are the weakest part of that game. And now here is a game of nothing but takedowns.

[alegoicoe]

I find it weird how quiet third parties are on Wii U at E3 and the fact that Nintendo have not addressed the issue is quite disturbing.

[EasyCure]

Why has no one mentioned that mk8 looks like fzero..

[shingi_70]

I came away feeling that Nintendo is tired of making games. Just rehashes. Play it safe, serve the norm. Uninspired. Now, I do like the upside down tracks in Mario Kart, though I did not play MK on Wii so I may have missed something there.

I love Nintendo's hardware designs, but man, the software limitations that are imposed due to the developers catering to the other manufacturers is killing me.

The Crew reminds me of the latest Need For Speed. The takedowns of the bosses are the weakest part of that game. And now here is a game of nothing but takedowns.

Isn't it less of developers catering toward Sony/MS and more Nintendo not developing their console in line with the others power wise.

[Oblivion]

I came away feeling that Nintendo is tired of making games. Just rehashes. Play it safe, serve the norm. Uninspired. Now, I do like the upside down tracks in Mario Kart, though I did not play MK on Wii so I may have missed something there.

I love Nintendo's hardware designs, but man, the software limitations that are imposed due to the developers catering to the other manufacturers is killing me.

The Crew reminds me of the latest Need For Speed. The takedowns of the bosses are the weakest part of that game. And now here is a game of nothing but takedowns.

Isn't it less of developers catering toward Sony/MS and more Nintendo not developing their console in line with the others power wise.

Wrong. Nintendo has always been the "least powerful" or the "odd one out". Developers simply cater more towards the other consoles these days and that stigma will probably never end.

[shingi_70]

I find it weird how quiet third parties are on Wii U at E3 and the fact that Nintendo have not addressed the issue is quite disturbing.

During the Gametrailers interview Reggie completely avoided the question using ubisoft as an example despite them only having three Wii U games coming up.


I really want to here more about Mario Kart as that was the best looking title out of the traditional nintendo stuff shown.

[NWR_insanolord]

It's more than that, because it's not that hard to port from PS3/360 to Wii U. Those are going to be getting support for at least another year, but the publishers seem to have no interest in supporting it.

[Enner]

I woke up very early and was slightly ill because of it. And then the NA stream outright failed on me, the UK stream ditto, and thus I stuck with the JPN stream that performed the least terribly.

I'm conflicted. This is must what ambivalence feels like. Super Mario 3D World looks nice with the four players and the playable Peach. However, there will probably no online multiplayer and I have yet to finish the 2nd half of Super Mario 3D Land. Mario Kart 8 looks great and wild but nothing revolutionary to the series was shown and the 2014 date is quite far away.

Monolith Soft's X is my system-seller, The Wonderful 101 looks cool, and Bayonetta 2 looks wonderful. However, two of those games are far away in to 2014. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is just too soon and a waste of Retro Studio's potential. I know Tropical Freeze will be a fine platformer, but the Wii U needs something surprising for me to buy one immediately. Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U look great and as expected. Again, that 2014 date is far away.

This Nintendo Direct showed a lot of games that I'm confident will be great. However, there was nothing that surprised me or excited me to want to run out and buy a Wii U immediately. It just reinforced the approach I had for the Wii and wait 3-4 years, a price cut, and a bundle before I make my purchase. This was the time to make a splash and where it was okay to make far-away but alluring promises. Nintendo chose to make it business as usual.

I'm disappointed, but I know I'll be happy (much) later.

[Shorty McNostril]

Sorry for my brief post earlier, but it was 1am and I needed to get to bed lol.

Needless to say I was extremely disappointed in the whole show.  There was nothing new at all.  I new I shouldn't have stayed up for it, especially when I had to get up at 6am the next day.   I keep wanting to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt.  Something inside me is always saying, "they will have something good this time".  As usual that was wrong. 

96% of that show was just the same old same old.   There was pretty much nothing new or interesting.  I would say the only things of interest to me was the new Mario Kart, and X.  Kart has the vertical racing which looks awesome.  It appears Nintendo actually put in some effort and has made an interesting product. 

X was a no brainer.  I have always loved Monolith Soft titles  This one seems just as solid. 

I'm afraid I have lost all confidence in Nintendo.  I grew up with them.  I owned every console since the SNES.  I really want them to convince me to buy a Wii U.  I want to want a Wii U.  Nintendo have dismally failed in that regard.  Most of you feel the same way.  Many other forums I am reading also have many people disappointed with their performance. 

As Ian mentioned, this direct showed why they bailed on E3.  Not because E3 is dying, but because they had nothing noteworthy to show.  NOTHING. 

If Nintendo pull their head in and realize that noone cares about their system and takes action to rectify this, I will be the first person jumping for joy. 

At this stage I will pick up the one or two titles over the Wii U lifespan (which is shortening rapidly) that interest me and pick up a Wii U from the bargain bin. 

[Ian Sane]

I wonder if Nintendo realizes that this routine exists where someone thinks of themselves as a Nintendo fan but is waiting to make a Wii U purchase at a later date when the lineup is better.  Maybe it's just anecdotal evidence but I see this a lot and the Wii U isn't selling so well.  We're all saying "okay, Nintendo, show us why we should buy a Wii U today" and they don't seem to realize that we're asking this.  There is likely a potential Wii U userbase that is interested but just not enough YET.

[Adrock]

We're all saying "okay, Nintendo, show us why we should buy a Wii U today" and they don't seem to realize that we're asking this.

They do. They just don't have anything. If the games won't be ready until next year, what do you really want them to do about it now? I'm not defending the "Look at all these games (for 2014)" mantra these seem to be pushing today. There should be more games ready, but they aren't. It just seems pretty obvious what's happening here.

[Shorty McNostril]

There is likely a potential Wii U userbase that is interested but just not enough YET.

The problem is Nintendo is not giving us anything new.  They are carbon copies of the previous games.  DK is the same DK that came out 20 years ago.  Hell, they even wasted their best 2nd party making the same damn game from 20 years ago SSB is the same game that came out for the N64.  Mario is still pretty much Mario 64.  It is the same as the 3DS version.  Nintendo is not giving any reasons to buy a Wii U. 

[NWR_insanolord]

You are vastly overstating the similarities of those franchises over time. To call Super Mario 3D World "pretty much Mario 64" is beyond ludicrous, as they have pretty much nothing in common beyond both being 3D Mario games. And Rare's DKC games wish they were the same thing as DKCR.

[Stogi]

Why has no one mentioned that mk8 looks like fzero..

That's the first thing I thought of as well. It's like they figured F-Zero alone wouldn't sell well.

[Soren]

FYI, Mega Man 2, 3 and 4 are now live on the Wii U Virtual Console.

[Khushrenada]

Why has no one mentioned that mk8 looks like fzero..

I did in the first post of the Mario Kart thread. This has me excited for the future because with the way Nintendo is approaching game development of late, it probably means that the programmers will get assigned to do an F-Zero game next and having gotten some practice via this game and maybe thinking of more ideas after the release of what they could have done or would have liked to have done, they'll apply them to the F-Zero game I'm now assuming they would be asked to make.

[Sarail]

I came away feeling that Nintendo is tired of making games. Just rehashes. Play it safe, serve the norm. Uninspired. Now, I do like the upside down tracks in Mario Kart, though I did not play MK on Wii so I may have missed something there.

I love Nintendo's hardware designs, but man, the software limitations that are imposed due to the developers catering to the other manufacturers is killing me.

The Crew reminds me of the latest Need For Speed. The takedowns of the bosses are the weakest part of that game. And now here is a game of nothing but takedowns.

Isn't it less of developers catering toward Sony/MS and more Nintendo not developing their console in line with the others power wise.

Wrong. Nintendo has always been the "least powerful" or the "odd one out". Developers simply cater more towards the other consoles these days and that stigma will probably never end.

Wrong. The NES, SuperNES, N64, and GameCube were not the weakest of their respective generations. It wasn't until the Wii that Nintendo decided a new console strategy.

[ShyGuy]

I have a theory that we will see another Nintendo Direct with Call of Duty and Yoshi Yarn.

[BranDonk Kong]

I came away feeling that Nintendo is tired of making games. Just rehashes. Play it safe, serve the norm. Uninspired. Now, I do like the upside down tracks in Mario Kart, though I did not play MK on Wii so I may have missed something there.

I love Nintendo's hardware designs, but man, the software limitations that are imposed due to the developers catering to the other manufacturers is killing me.

The Crew reminds me of the latest Need For Speed. The takedowns of the bosses are the weakest part of that game. And now here is a game of nothing but takedowns.

Isn't it less of developers catering toward Sony/MS and more Nintendo not developing their console in line with the others power wise.

Wrong. Nintendo has always been the "least powerful" or the "odd one out". Developers simply cater more towards the other consoles these days and that stigma will probably never end.

Wrong. The NES, SuperNES, N64, and GameCube were not the weakest of their respective generations. It wasn't until the Wii that Nintendo decided a new console strategy.

Depends how you define "weak." SNES beat Genesis in most departments, but the Genesis had a much faster CPU. The Master System was much more powerful than the NES.

[Mannypon]

Ignore this post, I've gone and created a thread specifically for this discussion. 

[smallsharkbigbite]

I don't have a Wii U because there is no new gameplay experiences that it is providing.  It is the Wii HD that Pachter kept predicting.  It's just Wii games with PS3 visuals, just in time for those visuals to be a generation behind.  It's mostly all safe conventional sequels, the type that ten years ago Nintendo seemingly didn't make.  Nintendo detractors used to point to all the Mario games on the shelf and accuse Nintendo of being cookie-cutter rehashers and I would defend them because I knew they made each sequel count and tried new things.  But now I feel like a fool because they became the rehashers.

This console has no third party support.  Nintendo is slow to create new games for it and they fail to demonstrate the merits of the Gamepad with their new games and fail to provide anything that has not been done to death already on older Nintendo systems.  There is little market for cookie-cutter Nintendo sequels with 2006 visuals.  NSMB was a massive system seller on the 3DS and has not done dick all for the Wii U so I don't see why other safe conventional sequels will do any different.  The Wii U is done.  Nintendo ducked E3 because they had nothing.  The Wii U will have an abysmal Christmas and will be discontinued in 2014.

Nintendo has transformed into a sequel factory.  This is the type of company Nintendo has decided to be, no different than EA or Activision.

I get being negative on the Wii U, but it's not true that Wii U is Wii HD.  If anything it's Gamecube HD.  You would like it so much more because the Wii U actually moves away from motion controls which was my biggest complaint with the Wii.  It felt like they tried to smash all games with motion controls.  NSMB U is 10x better because the Gamepad is a standard controller with a screen on it.  The pro controller can be used in most traditional games.  Yeah, Nintendoland uses Wii controllers.  You can avoid motion control completely with the Wii U if you want.  That's why it's not = Wii HD, and the games that are on it are very good.  They don't have a lot, so I understand not wanting to purchase it, but not because it's Wii HD. 


Use the Gamepad as a standard controller.  Yeah, paying for a screen that you don't want sucks, but the Wii came out at $250, $300 isn't bad for a Nintendo HD system.  And surprisingly, I use the offscreen play alot.  Sure, not the greatest use, but the controller is $100 in Japan where they sell it.  Controllers are $50 here, so it's not like $300 is in the Gamepad.


Do you like games?  Yes, Nintendo is having sequelitis, but the most of the industry is doing the same thing.  I think you'll start to see more innovation, but it takes time.  They really tried in the Gamecube era and I see them doing the same thing here.  Also, you're likely to see a greatest hits and cheap prices on Nintendo games.  Gamecube had a players choice after a year, Wii had one after 5 years because they were selling well.  There is value here.  Sure, it doesn't get all the games, but this isn't a bad system.  And there is no way Nintendo discontinues it next year.