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

[noname2200]

You want to know a secret......?

Naaaah!

[tendoboy1984]

Where was all the info on Nintendo Network? They didn't say anything about friend lists, matchmaking, friend requests, game invites, etc.

Reggie had the whole conference to himself and he barely touched on any of the important online functions. Iwata's "Nintendo Direct" videos were much more informative.

Oh Nintendo, I was so hoping you'd demolish the competitors this year, but you did nothing to show that you value "core" / mainstream gamers like us. More Mario is fun, but there was no onstage demo. 3rd-party support was full of ports (but Ubisoft's Zombi U looks amazing). Games like Wii Fit U and Nintendo Land won't convince Xbox / PlayStation fanboys to buy a Wii U.

Ports, casual games, and Mario, that's all this conference was. Way to go Reggie. You blew it again.

Where's the hype? Where's the pizzazz? You guys had the bomb, but you never dropped it.

EDIT: Why do my comments get double-spaced when I make a new line in the comment box?

[tendoboy1984]

From Nintendo's Facebook page:

[Adrock]

No hard drive bay = boo-urns

[Chozo Ghost]

Should we all hope that the Wii U is a commercial flop so that Nintendo will be forced to do things right with their next console?

[Adrock]

Should we all hope that the Wii U is a commercial flop so that Nintendo will be forced to do things right with their next console?

That's counterproductive. Wii U is like 90% the console fans have wanted. GameCube was the closest to flopping as Nintendo's gotten (since the Virtual Boy) and that begat the radcal direction of the Wii. I don't think that's what you want again.

Hardware-wise, the hard drive bay is the only thing I would have wanted. Maybe USB 3. I wish the Pro Controller was Wii Remote/Nunchuck style but it's a good controller. Nintendo got 2 GamePads working which is a major win.

Software-wise, the launch lineup is a bit disappointing. Nintendo is experiencing some growing pains as they transition to HD development so they get some leeway. 3rd party support should be better. I would even take straight ports with minimal GamePad integration (just maps and other info) at first just to beef up the lineup. I wonder if Nintendo seemingly dragging their feet with Nintendo Network is the reason why 3rd parties don't have more at launch. How many of the prospective launch/launch window games have online multiplayer? If Nintendo Network isn't ready at launch, that would be a pretty good reason why games like Resident Evil 6, Black Ops 2 etc. aren't launch titles.

[Chozo Ghost]

Am I the only one who actually liked the Gamecube? Yeah, it was a commercial failure, sure.... but I would take the Gamecube over the Wii any day.

[Ceric]

Am I the only one who actually liked the Gamecube? Yeah, it was a commercial failure, sure.... but I would take the Gamecube over the Wii any day.

A lot of people who you would consider core loved the Gamecube.  It was the lack of 3rd party support that killed that.  Which is to say that the WiiU is looking more and more to be another Gamecube.

I like how it says the "New Console Features a New Compact Design"  when its the Wii design with rounded corners.  Looks to be the exact same size as well.

I'm still hoping someone designs a cool enclosure for it that takes a harddrive and adds additional cooling.

[Adrock]

I absolutely loved the GameCube. It's my favorite Nintendo home console after SNES.

The Wii U has more depth than the Wii. I would post a picture but I'm on my phone and imgur doesn't play nice with them.

[Ceric]

I absolutely loved the GameCube. It's my favorite Nintendo home console after SNES.

The Wii U has more depth than the Wii. I would post a picture but I'm on my phone and imgur doesn't play nice with them.

I thought it did.  Which goes back to "New Compact Design" when its larger then the Wii.

I mean I loved my Gamecube, but it felt pretty barren when you reached outside of Nintendo.  I know people are saying that the 2 GamePads indicate Nintendo is listening, but this E3 they are not hitting any of the points that people have wanted to hear about since before last E3.  Online, Digital Shopping, less Fluffy Games.

[Stogi]

You want to know a secret......?

Yes.

<------------PM

[Evan_B]

You want to know a secret......?

Yes.

<------------PM

This.

Any despite what you're all saying, Ubisoft has a pretty damn good lineup of games prepared for Wii U (ya know, three of the eight games...). If they just continued supporting the console I'm sure they'd find it very profitable, because Zombi U and Rayman Legends are really going to push that console's sales.

Can't say much about everyone else. No Square Enix support (sans DQX but we knew about that) and none of Nintendo's 2nd party devs are offering anything up... disappointing.

[tendoboy1984]

I find it funny that you guys think E3 is the only place where Nintendo will show upcoming Wii U and 3DS games. They always hold their own conferences in the fall, plus there is Tokyo Game Show.


There will be more exciting games, just wait and see.

[tendoboy1984]

Why is Nintendo being so cryptive and vague regarding the console's features? They say it has internal flash memory, but won't say how much. They say it has extensive new online functions, but won't talk about Nintendo Network. They won't confirm if Friend Codes are still being used or not.


Nintendo, this isn't the way you win over the mainstream gamers (Xbox / PlayStation fanboys). If you want them to respect you again, you need to go all out. The Wii U is a small step forward, but all this withheld info is making many of us worried.


Give us details on Nintendo Network, achievements, matchmaking, leaderboards, cross-game chat, friend requests, game invites, etc. And tell us if we can transfer all our Wii games and save data over, including locked saves.

[oohhboy]

This is wrong on so many levels. No **** there are games outside of E3. It's E3 right now, so it gets the attention.

Also, why the hell aren't you waiting to complete your posts before posting, where you invariably double post anyway. It has been 6 minutes before your last and previous post.

[Adrock]

I find it funny that you guys think E3 is the only place where Nintendo will show upcoming Wii U and 3DS games. They always hold their own conferences in the fall, plus there is Tokyo Game Show.

Why is Nintendo being so cryptive and vague regarding the console's features?

I find it funny that you think E3 is the only place where Nintendo can talk about the console's features. They always hold their own conferences in the fall, plus there is Tokyo Game Show.

See, it works both ways. Also, Nintendo typically doesn't attend or have a booth at TGS.

[Ian Sane]

Should we all hope that the Wii U is a commercial flop so that Nintendo will be forced to do things right with their next console?

I thought the Wii was going to be total bargain bin fare within a year of its release.  I was frustrated when it succeeded because I felt like it overachieved and gave Nintendo the feeling that they could get away with a lot of bullshit and still make tons of money.  The last thing you want is companies to get rewarded for bad habits.  Nintendo needs a big shake up.  They have make a fundamental change to their whole approach.  The only part of their identity they need to keep is the quality of their games and hardware.  They're low on bugs and the hardware is well built and reliable.  Everything else needs to be re-evaluated.  They can't even be counted on to have responsive controls anymore.

But they were in an ideal situation to learn from their mistakes after the N64 and they didn't learn anything.  Then they were in an even worse situation after their Cube and instead of improving their plan was to target a new market who wouldn't notice their faults.  They kind of "cheated" with the blue ocean market.  They found a way to remain successful without improving anything or admitting any mistakes.  I'm concerned that if the Wii U flopped they would just "learn" the wrong lesson again.

Though I think something that would be good is if the Wii U absolutely flopped with casuals.  I want them to lose the casual market to Apple so bad that they never bother with that group again.  I suspect that audience has no loyalty anyway and that the Wii was just a fad to them.  Then Nintendo is forced to stick to the core.  If they have no alternate audience to target instead, they'll have to adapt or die.  I just need something to spook them a bit.  Maybe a few years of losses that gets Iwata canned but not going-third-party bad.  The Wii U itself can probably survive, I just want a better Nintendo supporting it (provided they didn't cheap out on the hardware so bad that they can't compete.)  I don't want Nintendo to go handheld-only.  I want them to make console games.

Am I the only one who actually liked the Gamecube? Yeah, it was a commercial failure, sure.... but I would take the Gamecube over the Wii any day.

Owning the Gamecube was frustrating at times but I overall liked it.  The last year was really rough though.  Nintendo did the same bullshit they did with the Wii where they essentially abandoned the thing a year before the successor came out.  That's a pretty lame trademark of Iwata era Nintendo.  The Gamecube is the fucking NES compared to the Wii.  I consider the Wii the worst system Nintendo has ever made.  The VB at least only lasted like a year.  Nintendo was still Nintendo throughout most of the Cube's life.  They turned into pod-person Nintendo when the DS launched with nothing but a port of an N64 game.

[Adrock]

I still don't understand your line of thinking. "You're healthy, good looking and rich, but ugh, you should re-evaluate your entire way of life." Why should Nintendo change? If they followed your advice, they would have gotten buried this generation.

And how exactly did Nintendo cheat? By finding a way to be successful through unconventional thinking? That's like saying Apple cheated their way into becoming the world's most valuable company because instead of going after Windows and Microsoft, they made iPod, and iPhones and iPads.

[Ian Sane]

I still don't understand your line of thinking. "You're healthy, good looking and rich, but ugh, you should re-evaluate your entire way of life." Why should Nintendo change? If they followed your advice, they would have gotten buried this generation.

And how exactly did Nintendo cheat? By finding a way to be successful through unconventional thinking? That's like saying Apple cheated their way into becoming the world's most valuable company because instead of going after Windows and Microsoft, they made iPod, and iPhones and iPads.

I'm not coming from the approach of Nintendo making money, I'm coming from the approach of their ability to provide a good videogame console that appeals to more than kids and casuals.  The Wii approach might not work in the longrun anyway but that's not my main incentive.  I don't care that Nintendo is rich, I care that they're not making that great of a product.  Plus there are a LOT of things Nintendo does wrong that they have succeeded despite of, not because of.  For example, it isn't like being a huge dick that alienates third parties has HELPED them.  They're lucky it didn't sink them and certainly would have if they didn't catch on with the casuals.

They didn't "cheat" in terms of maintaining financial success but they cheated in personal improvement and growth.  They failed and instead of figuring out why they failed or addressing their shortcomings they found another route that prevented them from doing any of that and, if anything, encouraged them to develop worse habits.  In business that can work but I'm not talking about business.  I don't give a ****.  All I care about is Nintendo providing the best videogames and the best videogame system they can.  Since my only connection to Nintendo is as a customer, I want a better product and I have ideas of how to do it.

And I disagree that following my advice would have buried Nintendo.  They probably would not have made the money they did with the Wii (and that was a once in a lifetime success; they will NEVER recreate that) but they would be doing better than they did with the Gamecube.  This last gen was all about multiplatform development.  The only defining factor between the Xbox 360 and PS3 is first party games.  So put Nintendo in that group.  Who has the best first party stuff?  Nintendo!  The industry changed so that the top selling point for a console is their biggest strength!

[Chozo Ghost]

"You're healthy, good looking and rich, but ugh, you should re-evaluate your entire way of life."

Kim Kardashian and Lindsey Lohan are "healthy, good looking, and rich" but yet it would be fair to say they need to re-evaluate their way of life, no?

Being rich and/or good looking isn't everything. If money is the only thing that matters to you, then by that logic Nintendo is doing fine (for now). But to a lot of people being liked and respected also matters, and just having a lot of money isn't going to do that. If you have to cheap yourself down and whore yourself out like Kim Kardashian to make your money then people won't respect you.

The casuals do not like or respect Nintendo. They've already moved on to their Kinects and Ipads. Will they come back to Nintendo for the Wii U? Who knows. My feeling is that the Wii U will do well, but probably not quite as well as the original Wii did. It won't be a commercial flop like the Gamecube, but its not going to be sold out continually for 3 straight years like the Wii was either. Maybe this decline will be enough for Nintendo to re-evaluate their decisions. Casuals aren't loyal the way core gamers are. Selling out on your loyal fans just to make a quick buck off non-gamers who buy like 2 total games (Wii Sports and Wii Fit, probably) may work out well in the short term, but it will fail in the long run.

[Kairon]

I personally feel like Nintendo is still making good products, and that it's exciting to watch them grow and evolve and change and come up with new ideas. I also believe that for them to not innovate and find ways to zig where other people zag would be the start of a long slow death, GameCube style. *shrug* Just my opinion as a consumer and a fan.

[Adrock]

All I care about is Nintendo providing the best videogames and the best videogame system they can.  Since my only connection to Nintendo is as a customer, I want a better product and I have ideas of how to do it.

You seem to want Nintendo to make an Xbox 360 and do things the way that Microsoft does things despite the fact that Nintendo would never ever be able to do the things that Microsoft did to get where they are. You say things like "Nintendo changed" but so did you. Your tastes changed. You grew up and Nintendo didn't grow up alongside you. You still like Nintendo but they can't, won't or don't want to be who you want them to be.

You want Nintendo to leave billions of dollars on the table so you can have your Nintendo 360. I understand that we all want things. Think about that for a second. What business would ever think that was the right direction to take? You say you don't care about business. Well, Nintendo does. If they don't care, there is no Nintendo. And there are, in fact, people who like Nintendo games. Here's one such person:

I personally feel like Nintendo is still making good products, and that it's exciting to watch them grow and evolve and change and come up with new ideas.

Yeah, everyone has an opinion, subjectivity blah blah blah. However, it's almost as if you can't grasp the idea that some people actually like where Nintendo's going and that maybe Nintendo just doesn't reach you anymore. I mean, you're entitled to want them to; I just don't think they're going to. Nintendo is Nintendo because they do things a certain way. Like Kairon said, they zig while everyone else zags. That's what's kept them alive all this time. You say they didn't learn. Maybe they did but they were smart enough to know that if you just follow someone else's lead, you're always behind them.

Kim Kardashian and Lindsey Lohan are "healthy, good looking, and rich" but yet it would be fair to say they need to re-evaluate their way of life, no?

How is that fair? According to whose standards? Maybe they like the way they are even if you don't. Sure, they make mistakes (who doesn't?) but they improve at their own pace and in their own way. Now, apply that to Nintendo.

Nintendo did what they needed to do to right the ship. Maybe it wasn't what every fan wanted, but it worked. It's so easy to say that they should do X, Y, or Z. However, it's not really a problem until enough people agree with you. For example, take 3DS. The masses responded and forced Nintendo to change. Truth is, most Nintendo fans aren't too upset with the company's direction and they respond with their wallets. I'm not saying you and Ian are wrong to think what you think. I'm just saying that Nintendo isn't going to (and really can't) make an exception for you. As much as they want to please everyone, they simply can't. They're going to try to please as many people as they can and so far, they are.

[tendoboy1984]

I personally feel like Nintendo is still making good products, and that it's exciting to watch them grow and evolve and change and come up with new ideas. I also believe that for them to not innovate and find ways to zig where other people zag would be the start of a long slow death, GameCube style. *shrug* Just my opinion as a consumer and a fan.

I wish I could "Like" this comment.    (Joystiq and Youtube reference)

[tendoboy1984]

I found this on GoNintendo:

Apparently there's going to be another conference later this summer to confirm more games. I'm guessing this was a 'thank you for getting behind from the get go' sorta week.Still...incredibly stupid.

Aha, got this from Gaf (dude is a dev for those who dont know)

Nintendo will have another big Wii U confernece before launch to detail a ton of stuff. I call it Summer Conference because I'm guessing late August / early September for it

Why do people on NeoGAF have to spoil everything? Don't they know what NDA's mean?

[BlackNMild2k1]

I figured as much as there were a bunch out games missing. Some of which we know about.