General Nintendo sales/business discussion topic (previously: The Wii U Thread)

[Blue Blood]

Why a limit of 12? Why a limit at all?

[JezMM]

Hopefully the limit of 12 will just be for online accounts? I dunno. I guess in-game you'll still be able to choose Miis so Guest Play won't be an issue.

[Tornado]

Why a limit of 12? Why a limit at all?

There may very well be practical reasons for that. It depends on how their online is set up.

[Blue Blood]

There may very well be practical reasons for that. It depends on how their online is set up.

Fair enough. I don't see many cases where you'd want more than 12 accounts per console, but it still seems odd.

[Sami]

The other important factor is that Nintendo has a far larger library of first party series than Microsoft and even Sony, as well as a very different audience. Timed exclusives may help, but as it stands Nintendo are plenty strong enough to stand on their own feet in this regard.

This, so much.

I won't speak for anyone else, but I personally find much better at making quality first party titles than anything else. Had I bought a Gamecube, it wouldn't have been for whatever third-party game they happened to be advertising, it'd have been for Zelda and Smash Bros. I didn't buy the Wii for Red Steel or whatever else, I bought it for Smash Bros, Zelda, Mario, and Kirby. The same goes for the DS and 3DS. Hell, the only 3DS games I've actually bothered playing were 3D Land, which I rented (and enjoyed a lot more than I expected, but I digress), Ocarina of Time 3D, and Kid Icarus: Uprising, both of which I purchased on launch day.

While I buy Playstation for a solid mix of first and third party games, Nintendo has only ever really impressed me with their first party games, and the day they lose sight of that is the day I'll stop paying attention to them. While Pikmin and Mario show that Nintendo do intend to deliver in that regard, I'm probably going to stay off the Wii U boat until I see some of their franchises that I personally find more enjoyable, like Zelda, Kirby, F-Zero, Star Fox, or Pokemon.

[Tails spin]

So Jimmy Fallon tried the Wii U last night on his talk show. He said that it was a add - on to the Wii. The games that were demoed were Nintendo Land and Zombie U. Oops never mind all Zombie U got was that turn your face into a zombie. We got more of Nintendo Land shoved down our throats.

[Solid SOAP]

What exactly is wrong with Nintendo Land? It looks like a fun add-on that also pays homage to various Nintendo franchises, it's basically a more fleshed-out Wii Sports with a theme park motif, what's everyone's issue with it?

[Jetronic]

What exactly is wrong with Nintendo Land? It looks like a fun add-on that also pays homage to various Nintendo franchises, it's basically a more fleshed-out Wii Sports with a theme park motif, what's everyone's issue with it?

Edited June 17, 2012 by Jetronic

[Thigolf]

What exactly is wrong with Nintendo Land? It looks like a fun add-on that also pays homage to various Nintendo franchises, it's basically a more fleshed-out Wii Sports with a theme park motif, what's everyone's issue with it?

The issue is that everyone expected a highlight at the end of the press conference after Nintendo said they would be so hardcore now and they just presented another casual game which pissed everyone off.

There's nothing wrong with the game itself.

[JezMM]

Personally I'm very glad about Nintendo Land because if in the long-run it does nothing more than serve to introduce a ton of casual gamers to more "obscure" Nintendo franchises and perhaps motivate them to buy something other than BIG FUN FAMILY GAME NIGHT and WEE SPORTZ games and subsequently get bored of their Wii U's due to their ignorance that good, addictive games that keep you coming back, do in fact exist - then Nintendo Land will have done a most noble and necessary job.

[MykonosFan]

It's been a week and a half since E3. I'm not going to say Nintendo Land is some amazing video game, and I'm not going to say that having that at the end of their conference wasn't disappointing. But I wish people would just get over that. I was bummed too. I was wanting that big first-party game to be announced that would just get me excited as ever. Life goes on, and frankly Nintendo Land is the best title they could show off on a show like Fallon's, particularly before the console has launched. It's the Wii Sports for this console, something to help people of all gaming experiences wrap their head around the concept of the controller.

Edited June 17, 2012 by Mykonos

[Candescence]

Personally I'm very glad about Nintendo Land because if in the long-run it does nothing more than serve to introduce a ton of casual gamers to more "obscure" Nintendo franchises and perhaps motivate them to buy something other than BIG FUN FAMILY GAME NIGHT and WEE SPORTZ games and subsequently get bored of their Wii U's due to their ignorance that good, addictive games that keep you coming back, do in fact exist - then Nintendo Land will have done a most noble and necessary job.

[Match]

Personally I'm very glad about Nintendo Land because if in the long-run it does nothing more than serve to introduce a ton of casual gamers to more "obscure" Nintendo franchises and perhaps motivate them to buy something other than BIG FUN FAMILY GAME NIGHT and WEE SPORTZ games and subsequently get bored of their Wii U's due to their ignorance that good, addictive games that keep you coming back, do in fact exist - then Nintendo Land will have done a most noble and necessary job.

[Dobkeratops]

the HD space, where development costs are rising and making games is becoming an increasingly risky venture for anything that isn't virtually guaranteed to sell millions, and dozens studios working on PS360 games are dying off as a result

Absolute bullshit. Plenty of small studios with little budgets have taken their first forays on HD systems and some of them even hit big. In fact, if you're going to do a game that doesn't require too much graphical processing power (ie: most indie games) you'll have an easier time because the tech overhead is much more lenient than on low spec machines. Plus, middleware solutions.

Case in point: NIS with Disgaea.

See also: all those new independent games that keep appearing on Steam (at resolutions higher than 720p, oh my).

Any problem with development costs can be traced directly to the current industry model of AAAAAAA++ budgets, putting over 200 people on teams and having a marketing budget no less than twice as big as the actual money spent on making the game.

If you hear different it's because the studio talking is completely inept in adapting to technology they should've already researched (see: most japanese devs at the start of the generation).

[Candescence]

Any problem with development costs can be traced directly to the current industry model of AAAAAAA++ budgets, putting over 200 people on teams and having a marketing budget no less than twice as big as the actual money spent on making the game.

This is actually completely what I meant - the increased budgets of games, especially "AAA" games. It's a huge issue in the industry right now for higher-profile devs, and it's causing game prices to rise with each generation, and developers and publishers to go after used game sales as well as piracy, claiming them to be huge issues when in fact they could easily be solved in ways other than stuff like online passes and DRM. It's also causing publishers to simply not take risks with bigger budgets when they can help it.

Valve seem to have figured things out themselves, realizing that you can beat piracy by providing a better service than the pirates, and Steam sales help considerably, too. As you said, indies are also flourishing, with innovative games that are providing a breath of fresh air compared to the AAA world, where things are seeming to get increasingly stale, with FPSes and cover-based shooters being huge hits with publishers at the moment.

It'll be interesting to see how Nintendo handles HD game development with their new console, in the coming years.

Edited June 17, 2012 by Masaru Daimon

[Nintendoga]

http://mynintendonews.com/2012/06/17/nintendo-unlike-wii-multi-platform-games-will-be-on-wii-u/

Unlike Wii, Multi-platform games will be on Wii-U

Would you admit that, with Wii, Nintendo lost some of the hardcore gaming audience?

Reggie: “You know, I really chafe at that comment. Define the hardcore. I know people who are playing Smash Bros. Brawl competitively today. They’re playing hours on that game. People are playing hours on New Super Mario Bros.”

“What I’ll tell you is that with the Wii we did not have the benefit of multiplatform games from key publishers. I didn’t have The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I didn’t have the best of the Call of Duty games. That’s what I missed.”

“With the Wii U’s graphics capability, processing power, and HD-output, we’ll get those games. That’s a huge competitive advantage versus where we were with the Wii.”

Reggie you're missing the whole point. And didn't you guys just say you won't battle for third party exclusives? Smh.

http://mynintendonews.com/2012/06/17/nintendo-says-3ds-lacked-content-but-wii-u-will-have-tons/

Nintendo once again assuring that they'll try to make the launch for Wii-Ubetter then 3DS.

http://mynintendonews.com/2012/06/17/wii-u-gamepad-renders-faster-than-the-tv/

Eurogamer recently went hands-on with Wii U. During their trial, the Wii U GamePad’s image did not lag behind the television screen and, as a matter of fact, Wii U’s controller rendered faster than the TV. Eurogamer claims that the Wii U GamePad’s connectivity with the TV is significantly better than the PlayStation Portable’s “heavily buffered Remote Play feature.”

http://mynintendonews.com/2012/06/17/wii-u-superior-to-other-touchscreen-to-tv-devices/

And Pocket Gamer says the Wii-U is superior to other Touchscreen to TV devices.

....Yet it has no multi-touch

EDIT: Strange, all my hotlinks disappeared.... Whatever, I'll just re-post them

Edited June 18, 2012 by Nintendoga

[TrueBlue]

Well, it'll be nice to have Nintendo consoles privy to a few more third-party titles, as least for a little while, Plus, I don't really see the benefit of paying for third-party exclusives for Nintendo. I doubt it would be financially sound.

[Nintendoga]

Nintendo: Wii-U is confused with Wii alot

http://wiiublog.com/nintendo-wii-u-is-confusing-relative-to-the-wii/

With motion control gaming, when you saw Mr. Iwata and Reggie stand up and swing a motion controller, it brought it to life immediately. With a second screen controller, you need to see what’s on the second screen, so by nature it’s a more complex system. It’s less visually easy to understand. As for how we’re planning to make it clear that it’s a new system: well, we want to get it in people’s hands. That’s what E3 is all about and from now until launch. We want consumers to experience it for themselves, whether it’s in a store, at a gaming event, or at a press event. Once they do that, I think people will really start to understand how the GamePad changes the way you can connect with games and other players.

This isn't rocket science! The solution is so simple! Change the name!

Wii 2, The U, Nintendo U, Super Wii

There are so many things they can do to easily stop the confusion, but they just won't get it for some reason!

Because of this, it's going to take months, maybe even almost a year before people realize "Wait, it's not a Wii add-on?"

P.S. Jimmy Fallon and Reggie showcased the Wii-U the other night. Guess what Jimmy told the audience and millions watching at home what the Wii-U was? A Wii peripheral!

Edited June 19, 2012 by Nintendoga

[VO.SUPER]

Sigh... I hate being negative about Nintendo. They're one of my favorite game companies, but they keep doing everything that seems counter intuitive. I don't even know what to think of these dopes anymore!

[PaddyFancy]

Amazon Germany put the Wii U up for pre-order. Price is €399 (or £322), and its to be released on December 21st 2012 according to them.

http://www.amazon.de/Nintendo-Wii-U/dp/B004ZKI7EM/ref=sr_tr_sr_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340183200&sr=8-1

[Nintendoga]

http://mynintendonews.com/2012/06/20/miyamoto-says-wii-u-might-not-be-as-powerful-as-the-next-xbox-and-playstation/

“If the conversation is only really about whether the power is going to match up to another generation of hardware from, say, Sony or Microsoft, I can’t answer that question yet. [Wii U] might not be as powerful as those systems when they eventually do come around. But I think that the more important question is… It’s not just about power alone, but how to balance what you’re offering in terms of power with cost.”

Can I request a topic change? The topic is called Wii-U but all I see is the Wii.

This is the exact same thinking that made developers leave the Wii behind in favor of the Sony and Microsoft consoles.

Edited June 21, 2012 by Nintendoga

[Solkia]

What's the source for that?

[TrueBlue]

Crytek dismiss Wii U power concerns

http://whatculture.com/gaming/crytek-dismissed-wii-u-power-concerns.php

"From my perspective I do not understand the public’s concerns that the Wii U is weaker than PS3 and 360. That I cannot see. From my perspective the Wii U is minimum as powerful as Xbox 360.

My opinion of the Wii U is very high. It’s just that we didn’t have a business case unfortunately that justifies us making a game for it."

In speaking about their own aspirations with the new console Yerli revealed that a respected developer is currently working on a CryEngine 3 title. What that title is remains a mystery.

"It doesn’t mean that CryEngine 3 doesn’t run on Wii U – it actually runs beautifully. In fact, there actually is a game in development from a respected developer that we will be announcing. I’ve seen the game running and it looks really great."

[Dobkeratops]

This is the exact same thinking that made developers leave the Wii behind in favor of the Sony and Microsoft consoles.

The gap should be closer enough now to get some multiplats in, even if they have to run at subHD resolution with low fidelity. Besides, there's other factors to consider such as the lack of waggle hindrance in the way of porting.

It'll be a much better situation than the Wii's, though probably not on the level of PS4/720 support.

[Patticus]

Nintendo now co-owns the Fatal Frame IP

The platform holder now has the publishing rights to any game in the franchise, which makes it unlikely we’ll see a new Fatal Frame game outside of Nintendo consoles – or that we’ll see independent effort to bring across the patchily localised series.

http://www.vg247.com...fatal-frame-ip/

Seems to me like this series is the perfect fit for the Wii U. It would bring in some more serious gamers, and its very premise suits the Wii U GamePad perfectly!