Wii U / Nintendo general news and discussion

macker33

Yeah, the actual name of the console has been its biggest problem

Was considering grabbing one in the coming weeks but there seems to be further talk of a price drop so may hold off for a bit. In Argos yesterday and they seemed to be reductions on all WiiU titles so it wouldn't be surprising to see them sell off what they have and drop the console.

Shiminay

Corholio wrote: »

While the issue of it's name is a valid one, and one Nintendo could have done differently, I'd question a manager of a retailing company not wanting to know enough about the actual products he's selling.

TBH, he's got what, ten thousand different products to sell? I'd hardly blame him if he's got no interest in games - we see it here that people who are gamers had no idea what the thing was. Argos managers are primed on the things that make Argos the most money - the WiiU is not one of them

Adding a "U" instead of a "2" was a massive mistake for "western" audiences. But Japanese businesses come from a very different background to our own and so their decision making processes appear, to the casual observer like me, to sometimes be completely at loggerheads with our ideas of how a product might work or how it should be marketed.

OwaynOTT

Shiminay wrote: »

TBH, he's got what, ten thousand different products to sell? I'd hardly blame him if he's got no interest in games - we see it here that people who are gamers had no idea what the thing was. Argos managers are primed on the things that make Argos the most money - the WiiU is not one of them

Adding a "U" instead of a "2" was a massive mistake for "western" audiences. But Japanese businesses come from a very different background to our own and so their decision making processes appear, to the casual observer like me, to sometimes be completely at loggerheads with our ideas of how a product might work or how it should be marketed.

And if no one is really coming in looking for it, it wouldn't make sense to devote time to educate yourself or staff. Vicious circle.

richymcdermott

It is sad coming from a company like nintendo to have a poor name for a console like wii and wii u

This is the company that branded its consoles and handhelds like

The gameboy
Super nintendo
Nintendo entertainment system
Nintendo 64

Hell even the gamecube had a nice ring to it

The wii sounds silly

Hopefully their next console be called the Nintendo ultra :L

Kylo Ren

Why are they not taking advantage of Pokemon? Pokemon sold and continues to sell Nintendo handheld consoles.

Make an open world Pokemon game or hell, Pokemon Snap 2. Profit.

Mr.Saturn

Keno wrote: »

Why are they not taking advantage of Pokemon? Pokemon sold and continues to sell Nintendo handheld consoles.

Make an open world Pokemon game or hell, Pokemon Snap 2. Profit.

You might be overestimating Pokemon's appeal. Yes, the handhelds sell by the bucketload, but the 3D RPGs, XD and Colosseum, the former of which was even truer to the handheld experience, did f**k all for the Gamecube. Hell, they were far better promoted than the Wii-U as a whole too.

On the naming front, I've two experiences where either:

A) the person in question figured it a Wii-peripheral, or
thought it some sort of portable version of the same.

The Gamepad continues to be an unexpected revelation. Without dipping too far into 'wow, what a lazy bastard' territory, it's handy in how it doesn't dominate the living room. Not just in the 'ah, the other half's got the telly' sense; It's a proper console experience that you can buzz around the gaf on, without the faff of messing with said TV.

Corholio

Shiminay wrote: »

TBH, he's got what, ten thousand different products to sell? I'd hardly blame him if he's got no interest in games - we see it here that people who are gamers had no idea what the thing was. Argos managers are primed on the things that make Argos the most money - the WiiU is not one of them

Adding a "U" instead of a "2" was a massive mistake for "western" audiences. But Japanese businesses come from a very different background to our own and so their decision making processes appear, to the casual observer like me, to sometimes be completely at loggerheads with our ideas of how a product might work or how it should be marketed.

Gamers didn't know what it was? In fairness I could understand casual or non gamers getting confused, but there's no reason for gamers to be confused with it.

The branding was a mistake of course and should have taken a different direction, but the naming was just part of why it hasn't sold.

Grayditch

A huge part of my initial lack of understanding of the Wii U was hugely down to how little interest I had in it.

Also, they seem to release letters after their handheld devices, with it really the successor model. DS- DSi- DSiXL, then 3DS - 3DS XL.

I'm not a bit surprised people, including myself were confused about the Wii U, at first.

OwaynOTT

Just been talking to another person I know, who works in another retail store and they haven't sold a WiiU item personally in over a year.
They have one and would always recommend it and be knowledgeable about the system.
I knew it wsn't selling well but it sad to see in the real world how poorly it's doing.

Like Grayditch, I wasn't too pushed on the WiiU when it came out because I hated the motion control of the Wii. Now I was lazy with finding stuff out about it but outside of Nintendo fans must people would be. It's up to Nintedno to push the benefits of the system not for potential customers to find out about its benefits.

Varik

Shiminay wrote: »

Adding a "U" instead of a "2" was a massive mistake for "western" audiences. But Japanese businesses come from a very different background to our own and so their decision making processes appear, to the casual observer like me, to sometimes be completely at loggerheads with our ideas of how a product might work or how it should be marketed.

Sony are a Japanese company as well and 4 is an unlucky number to the point where a lot of people thought that they'd not continue the numbering on the PlayStation, but they did and Nintendo should have either followed.

I kinda like the idea of the Super Wii someone mentioned, a bit of nostalgia for older fans and while not differentiating the newer console as much as a numbered sequel it still give the idea of a new improved product.

Naming aside, Nintendo didn't even show people the console at first all anyone saw was the tablet and the odd picture of the console from demo stations. Whatever about store managers or parents not knowing it was a new console you had press who cover these things being unsure at the very start.

ionapaul

Corholio wrote: »

Gamers didn't know what it was? In fairness I could understand casual or non gamers getting confused, but there's no reason for gamers to be confused with it.

The branding was a mistake of course and should have taken a different direction, but the naming was just part of why it hasn't sold.

I consider myself a gamer (admittedly, primarily on PC), but similar to others didn't really like the Wii motion controls and had no interest in that console, despite owning a GameCube at one point. Until about six months ago, I also thought the WiiU was some kind of modified Wii and not something new. I bought a WiiU the week before last, it's great, but when I tell anyone what I bought I just get bewildered looks... Even those who know what it is (a minority) question why I didn't go for a PlayStation or Xbox.

I don't recall seeing ANY ads or marketing for the WiiU; nothing on TV or mainstream print. If it wasn't for this forum, I'm quite sure I still wouldn't know what a WiiU was!

richymcdermott

I have seen Mario 3d world ad quite a god few times when it was first released and seen donkey kong ad once

that being said I have not seen a ps4 ad or xbox one for the matter since it first launched.

Allyall

richymcdermott wrote: »

I have seen Mario 3d world ad quite a god few times when it was first released and seen donkey kong ad once

that being said I have not seen a ps4 ad or xbox one for the matter since it first launched.

I've seen a thousand Titanfall adverts. Also, both consoles are mentioned in nearly every publication.
Weirdly, some online stores don't have a Wii U section, while they do have a Wii, but also have a PS4 section and an Xbox One section, even when they both had a tiny selection of games.
I think the Xbox One still has less than ten games, although I could be wrong.

Some Online stores have recently just added a Wii U selection.

CiDeRmAn

I'm honestly finding it incredible that people would believe the WiiU was a peripheral for the Wii.
In the last year or so of the Wii the noise from the gaming media was they wanted a HD Wii, and why oh why wouldn't Nintendo release one to replace the aging Wii.
Which is what Nintendo did.
They released a HD Wii, with an innovative controller.
And the commentators forgot what they had looked for and decided they really wanted a PS4 in a Wii casing and nothing else would or will do.

I think the name has nothing to do with it.
I recall the Gamecube and Wii names being slated for being silly, but I believe the latter sold quite a few.
The WiiU name is just fine, perhaps WiiHD would have been more descriptive.

Regarding no marketing, I must be watching different channels to you lot because I've seen more ads for New Super Mario Bros U, Super Mario 3D World and the console itself.
I don't recall many ads for Knack or Forza 5.

I think word of mouth and media assassination has been the consoles biggest problem. Once that crap catches hold its hard to recover, see the treatment of the XB1, although Titanfall may reverse the consoles fortunes alone.
In terms of price it is very competitive and it's first party software is the best in the business.

McLoughlin

I think Nintendo's problem is retailers and the like just don't like Nintendo for gawd knows whatever reason maybe because it's not playstation or Xbox.

Retr0gamer

I'm not surprised people don't know what the wiiu is. Gamers do know but what makes up the majority of sales are casual clueless joes and Nintendo have failed spectacularly to do that.

murphyebass

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'm not surprised people don't know what the wiiu is. Gamers do know but what makes up the majority of sales are casual clueless joes and Nintendo have failed spectacularly to do that.

Yup casual joes don't get it and lads like me in their thirties who could be a prime candidates for a Wii U considering we are/were into gaming since the 80's also don't get it.

Your average joe hasn't had it forced down their throat with proper marketing and the thirty odd year old with kids and partner etc could be back to gaming if only there was a way cough off screen play Nintendo !

I told a mate of mine recently who would have always been into gaming to a point of AAA titles and footie games etc that I bought a Wii U. He had never heard of it. I'm not saying he was say a hardcore gamer but I would have thought he'd have been somewhat in the know but eh no.

Nintendo failed epically with the marketing on this machine. There should be a lot of firing in the marketing dept goin down.

tok9

Nintendo just didn't prepare correctly for the Wii U at all.

It's all been said before but the wii got in the non gamer. For some reason Nintendo seemed to think they could get this market again but really there was absolutely no chance and they should have known this with the attach rate information.

Now here is where a lot in the thread are getting it wrong. A lot are mentioning how the casual gamer should have a Wii U or care but the thing is they don't care at all. They play about 2 games a year and generally they are fifa or COD. No one is going to buy a Wii U for those games whether they are on the system or not.

Retr0gamer

The Wii lost its audience to smartphones but Nintendo never realised this.

petes

No offence to anyone here but a gamer is going to know what a 'Wii U' is and not get confused and think it's either a handheld or a peripheral for the Wii.

I only dipped my hand back in to gaming at Christmas when I bought one but I knew what it was from reading about it.

Casual gamers won't because most of the time they will buy the next Call of Duty etc. Or the ad for the next big game on TV. I have no problem with this because I too get enticed by these but because of the cost I need to make sure I get my money's worth. I have been stupid in the past :-)

I will buy a PS4, in fact I might buy one sooner than later. I was a complete Nintendo fanboy years ago but in fairness only I really knew that, I didn't get in to debates/arguments!

Mario Kart 8 is out shortly and not one advertisement have I seen about it anywhere but online, just goes to show!

Banjo

There are plenty of ads for the WiiU on kids TV- mainly the disney channels. They dont make it clear that the WiiU is new, HD or next gen. On the bright side they also dont show JLS miming horse-fluffing. But the target audiences of 2 to 8 year olds are not going to fill in the knowledge gaps for themselves.

I wonder what Barry Scott is charging these days? He knows how to highlight the main selling points of a new product and ram them home in a short, snappy and cost effective way, without floundering in brand proliferation identity issues . He does it all the time on the same channels showing the inneffective WiiU ads. Bang! and your dependence on the TV is gone!

Pushtrak

petes wrote: »

Mario Kart 8 is out shortly and not one advertisement have I seen about it anywhere but online, just goes to show!

It's out in 2 and a half months. Games don't generally get big advertising pushes that ahead of time, do they?

RoyalCelt

I seen a destiny add for PS4 on TV and that's out in September. In fairness it will likely be the next Halo so can see why.

Nintendo has made a few mistakes but some things have been out of their hands.

The Wii was a fad so to speak. yes plenty of gamers but so many jumped along for the ride and when they got sick of playing Wii Sports/Play/Fit the Wii gathered dust and those same people have no interest in the Wii U.

The gamer who does not want to buy multiple consoles will likely not consider a Wii U because of a serious lack in 3rd party support. Nintendos games don't appeal to me since I was about 10 and many others are the same.

The Wii may have sold more than the PS3 and 360 but both the 360 and PS3 sold way more 3rd party games. So now that the Wii U has flopped after over a year and the PS4 has over taken it in about 4 months, and the Xbox One likely to follow this year they don't want to waste resources developing for a dead console just to re ignite it somewhat.

Nintendo has no bad debts and sits on a 20 billion cash pile. They will need to spend a lot of that and get 3rd party's back onto the Wii U's successor, that's if they ever release one. The PS4 and XBO will dominate for the next 7 years so it's going to be very frustrating to them. Mobile could completely take over by then.

Doge

kunst nugget

waveform wrote: »

That definitely makes up for the lack of games on the WiiU.

death1234567

McLoughlin wrote: »

I think Nintendo's problem is retailers and the like just don't like Nintendo for gawd knows whatever reason maybe because it's not playstation or Xbox.

It's nothing to do with retailers. Retailers stock what sells, if it's not selling why would they bother stocking it?

Nintendo have a huge problem getting 3rd parties to develop games for their consoles. The reason the Wii/Wii U sits there gathering dust is that it the only games the average owner gets are the same tired old franchises trotted out by Nintendo. There's no AAA 3rd party games to keep you interested in the console. Just bad ports and shovelware. Sure if you go looking you can find some hidden gems but why should you have to look? If you look at the release schedule for PS4/xBONE you always have a few games every quarter that you are looking forward to. If you look at the release schedule for Nintendo, there *might* be a new Zelda game in 12 months...great...

It's the games that make a console, it's not the hardware, the gfx or some gimmicky controller.

Allyall

I met a friend of mine with her 7 year old Son the other day. He was going on and on about getting a PS4, or an Xbox One. I asked him would he not look at the Wii U.

The look of disgust.

I then said to her that the Wii U is a great console, loads of games, and they won't break your bank etc.

He then pleaded with her not to listen to the mad man, and proceeded to tell me that the Wii is only for girls, and Playstation has the most amount of 18's games. (referring to the age restrictions).

Needless to say, my Wii U plugging was dead in the water..

mayordenis

Well Amazon before it was released had basically refused to sell it worldwide, after a little while they relented but that was the stance they took, there were a few others who never really gave it the time of day.

I wouldn't put the blame at the door of retailers but to a degree some have been cutting off their nose to spite their face.

Anyway it's all down to ****ty gamers, with ****ty opinions. I was playing a little bit of Donkey Kong Tropical Paradise yesterday and it was badass.

To the above comment, did your friend not think it was a bit weird that her 7 year old son was picking consoles based on the number of 18s games?

Allyall

mayordenis wrote: »

To the above comment, did your friend not think it was a bit weird that her 7 year old son was picking consoles based on the number of 18s games?

My point exactly.. I said enquiringly "18's games?" and she just said "Yeah, I know.."

It's like Dr. Dre beats a year or two ago. Every kid knew that they were the best, and well worth €6,000.
So they informed their Parents, and Parents went out and bought them, instead of explaining to their children "They're not. They're very bad, and not worth €0.60".