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

[Junko]

I'll just detract from the perpetual and never-ending argument in this thread and say that...

Sorry to interrupt everyone's ongoing discussion, but just for those who don't know... the first three GBA Virtual Console games are now available on Wii U! Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Advance Wars, and Metroid Fusion - all priced at £6.29 each in the UK. *snip* Anyone planning to download any of these classics? Or are you waiting for the arrival of the other GBA titles in the coming weeks?

...I dunno, I feel like £6.29's a bit much for whatever reason, I was expecting £4.99. Don't ask me to explain why, because, I'm not entirely sure. Just doesn't sit right for whatever reason. But then again, profit, from expenditure costs of "remastering" the GBA titles. Hey. I just had an idea of bringing over the Gyakuten Saiban trilogy. Sort of like Ace Attorney Trilogy for iOS did. But WiiU. And the one DS-exclusive case in AA1.

[PSI Wind]

I don't like the idea of going knees-deep into mobile, but honestly putting the Virtual Console on iOS and Android is easy money just waiting to be made. SEGA did it just fine with Sonic 1 and 2.

Is SEGA making consoles and handhelds anymore? No? Well of course they'd do it.

[dabbido]

Sorry to keep talking about sales and all, since I'm tired of it too But do you guys think Smash Bros might help?  I think next to MK 8 it's the biggest title of the year. I already have my Wii U (and I love it) but if I didn't have it, Smash bros would be THE game to convince me to buy it.

 

Any thoughts? opinions?

[Salamander]

Nintendo seems to have more difficulty than they should in putting out VC games, though.  I have a hard time imagining that their often snail-like approach to the process is one of choice rather than some sort of technical barrier, though of course one never knows.  But tThey don't even seem to be able to get GBA games onto the 3DS.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Sorry to keep talking about sales and all, since I'm tired of it too But do you guys think Smash Bros might help?  I think next to MK 8 it's the biggest title of the year. I already have my Wii U (and I love it) but if I didn't have it, Smash bros would be THE game to convince me to buy it.

 

Any thoughts? opinions?

We've got a 6 fold of power coming this year that should help, and has a good mix of hard-core and casual to bring plenty in:

General: Mario Kart 8, SSB4

Casual: Yoshis Yarn

hardcore: Bayonetta 2, Hyrule Warriors, X(possibly)

 

Add to that any number of unnannounced games for this fall, and Nintendo putting things into overdrive, the Big N's in for a good year, especialy if the PS4 and Xbone continue to struggle to get first party games out

[Candescence]

I don't like the idea of going knees-deep into mobile, but honestly putting the Virtual Console on iOS and Android is easy money just waiting to be made. SEGA did it just fine with Sonic 1 and 2.

Except anything other than NES and Game Boy games would mostly be much, much less playable. Sonic 1 and 2 were practically single-button games, so they worked reasonably well on smartphones. Square has put the first six Final Fantasy games (with terrible 'higher-res' character sprites, dear God) and Chrono Trigger on iOS, those are turn based, so they work fine... And then there's the Mega Man X iOS port. Nobody talks about that one, and with good reason.

 

Smartphone gaming isn't ideal for non-turn-based titles that don't have simple controls.

[Mauro Fonseca]

"All that matters to a company is short-term numbers, never brand identity"

 

VC on mobile phones would be a disaster in the long run. Nintendo has strenght in that you know to get their content, you need their platforms. See the high fidelity... loyalty? What you were talking a few posts ago how there's less people with Wii Us but they buy more games, as opposed to more PS4s and less games.

 

What they need to do is convince people to want their content again.

[Sami]

Is SEGA making consoles and handhelds anymore? No? Well of course they'd do it.

Yes, because Nintendo's doing such great things with the Virtual Console on Wii U and 3DS. :V

Except anything other than NES and Game Boy games would be literally unplayable. Sonic 1 and 2 were practically single-button games, so they worked reasonably well on smartphones.

And SNES, and GBA? All the Mario games on those systems would work just as well as Sonic, Zelda would be fine, Metroid would be fine, and so on and so forth. A smartphone touch screen may not be optimal, but it's not like here isn't a market for it. Literally all they need to do is program an emulator for it, which should be be hard at all considering hackers have already done it years ago.

"All that matters to a company is short-term numbers, never brand identity"

VC on mobile phones would be a disaster in the long run. Nintendo has strenght in that you know to get their content, you need their platforms. See the high fidelity... loyalty? What you were talking a few posts ago how there's less people with Wii Us but they buy more games, as opposed to more PS4s and less games.

What they need to do is convince people to want their content again.

Who cares if the attach rate for the Wii U is relatively high if the number of actual owners is abysmal regardless? Locking their content away on hardware nobody wants isn't exactly good business, regardless of the "loyalty" it supposedly provides.

[Candescence]

And SNES, and GBA? All the Mario games on those systems would work just as well as Sonic, Zelda would be fine, Metroid would be fine, and so on and so forth. A smartphone touch screen may not be optimal, but it's not like here isn't a market for it. Literally all they need to do is program an emulator for it, which should be be hard at all considering hackers have already done it years ago.

I honestly cannot fathom how the hell anyone using a smartphone can play SNES and GBA games that make use of the shoulder buttons that aren't turn-based games. Especially more action-oriented games. Unless you use your index fingers and thumbs simultaneously, but how the hell is that remotely comfortable?

 

Good grief, they might as well put the damn things on Steam instead. At least there's a dedicated core market for them on a platform with proper controls.

[Mauro Fonseca]

Who cares if the attach rate for the Wii U is relatively high if the number of actual owners is abysmal regardless?

 

Hence me saying "what they need to do is make people want the content".

 

Putting it on other platforms is easy short-term money that on the long term just multiplies tenfold this conversation of "WHY IS NINTENDO NINTENDO-EXCLUSIVE ARGH I WANT MARIO ON XBOX".

 

What they'll want, ideally, is people to buy their stuff on their terms and their platforms, not on someone else's.

[PSI Wind]

Who cares if the attach rate for the Wii U is relatively high if the number of actual owners is abysmal regardless?

Because that's where the money is for Nintendo for the Wii U. The Wii U is selling at a loss that is easily compensated with a software sale, much like the PS4 is. The PS4 might be selling a lot, but if software sales are meh compared to owners of the console, Sony is losing more money than they are gaining.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

I'm not commenting on the quality of the games, I'm sure they're all super fantastic and wonderful. Just saying that it makes sense considering the current audience. The people who would rush out to buy Nintendo's newest console at a premium price or after hearing all the negative news about it are the same people who would buy Mario at launch. People like what they like.

 

The problem with you came about that is that it can come off as scoff at Nintendo's software, rationalizing the most likely reason for the software sales compared to the competition is Nintendo fanatatics who don't give a crap about quality.

 

Not to mention, it also appears on par with that mantra that the only Nintendo fanatics would even own a Wii U.

 

Seriously, it comes off as something an instigator would say to demerit and excuse a company's success or its comparison to its competition.

[Sami]

Because that's where the money is for Nintendo for the Wii U. The Wii U is selling at a loss that is easily compensated with a software sale, much like the PS4 is. The PS4 might be selling a lot, but if software sales are meh compared to owners of the console, Sony is losing more money than they are gaining.

 

Where are your sources for those claims about the PS4? The most recent data (January) indicates an attach rate of 2.3, which is actually higher than the PS3 and PS2 before it. Not bad at all, especially considering there's a very high attach rate for the camera peripheral (1 million sales now) and PS Plus. 

 

Rest assured, the PS4 is a hell of a lot more profitable than the Wii U. Let's not be silly.

 

 

The problem with you came about that is that it can come off as scoff at Nintendo's software, rationalizing the most likely reason for the software sales compared to the competition is Nintendo fanatatics who don't give a crap about quality.

 

Not to mention, it also appears on par with that mantra that the only Nintendo fanatics would even own a Wii U.

 

Seriously, it comes off as something an instigator would say to demerit and excuse a company's success or its comparison to its competition.

 

 

... What? When did I scoff at the quality of the software? I merely said that the people who would buy a Nintendo console at launch are the same people who would buy a Mario game at launch, which is true. Just like how many of the people who'd buy a Microsoft console at launch would rush to the store to buy Halo. I never suggested that this was a bad thing, I'm merely pointing it out. Chill.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

So why consider that more of a possibility than actual quality being a factor?

[VO.SUPER]

Both you and PSI Wind were missing details. 

 

The PS4's bad attach rate has been mostly limited to Japan.

 

http://www.vg247.com/2014/02/26/ps4-japan-attach-rate-as-low-as-30-report/

http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/02/24/ps4-japanese-stores-report-strong-sales-but-weak-attach-rate-for-games/

 

When it comes to the rest of the world; not much else has been said but a few really small articles.

 

http://www.playstationing.com/ps4/ps4-attach-rate-higher-than-ps3-and-ps2-launches/130

 

However, these are the most I could find on that topic, so I think it may be a little too early to be talking about attach rate. There are predictions going on that it will reach a 3.25 attach

[Willsy]

If the PS4 does have a lower attach rate, that would be due to lack of software, an issue that will be fixed later on this year. The Wii U has quite a big library now, so its no wonder that the attach rate is high.

[Sami]

So why consider that more of a possibility than actual quality being a factor?

 

Are you legitimately trying to tell me that Mario 3D World is just oh so amazing that it's driving people who have never liked or played Mario before to buy a Wii U for it? Come on, man. I never even mentioned about the quality of the game. Don't be ridiculous. It's the same thing for the other two platforms. Why do you think Metal Gear always sells best on Playstation? That's where the audience is. Most of the people who would buy a Wii U are the same people who love Mario. It's just a fact.

 

What is your point here? That a majority of Wii U owners don't care about Mario, but the Wii U Mario games were good enough to attract interest?

 

 

Both you and PSI Wind were missing details. 

 

The PS4's bad attach rate has been mostly limited to Japan.

 

http://www.vg247.com/2014/02/26/ps4-japan-attach-rate-as-low-as-30-report/

http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/02/24/ps4-japanese-stores-report-strong-sales-but-weak-attach-rate-for-games/

 

When it comes to the rest of the world; not much else has been said but a few really small articles.

 

http://www.playstationing.com/ps4/ps4-attach-rate-higher-than-ps3-and-ps2-launches/130

 

However, these are the most I could find on that topic, so I think it may be a little too early to be talking about attach rate. There are predictions going on that it will reach a 3.25 attach

 

It's actually a record breaking launch attach rate for Playstation, for what it's worth. Even the PS2 had a lower worldwide rate at launch.

 

 

If the PS4 does have a poor attach rate, that would be due to lack of software, an issue that will be fixed later on this year. The Wii U has quite a big library now, so its no wonder that the attach rate is high.

 

It's not poor. Genuinely unsure where that notion came from.

[Wraith]

I'm surprised this argument is even happening, considering any sort of Nintendo games on mobile automatically devalue their own machines. Something they desperately need to avoid. If you're one of those people that want the Wii U to die faster instead not being a total embarrassment, then I guess it makes sense?

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Advance wars VC wii-u review up

http://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/wiiu-eshop/advance_wars_gba

 

Review

PAL Version

Posted

 

Thu 3rd Apr 2014 04:30 by Marcel van Duyn

War has never been so much fun

Mention Advance Wars to a seasoned gamer and they're almost guaranteed to have heard of it. One of the earliest major Game Boy Advance titles, it's now also one of the earliest titles from the handheld on the Wii U Virtual Console, giving veterans another chance to pick it up and newcomers an ideal opportunity to see what all the fuss is about.

What you might not know is that Advance Wars is actually part of a much older series, which can usually be identified by having "Wars" in its titles. It all started with Famicom Wars on the Famicom/NES, and then went on to appear on almost all of Nintendo's subsequent systems. Although it might not seem like it, the real-time strategy title Battalion Wars and its sequel are actually also part of the franchise. Advance Wars, however, has the distinction of being the first game to be released outside Japan, and we couldn't have asked for a better starting point, at that time and now on the Wii U.

When you first boot up the game, you'll be welcomed to the Orange Star army as its newly appointed advisor, given the task of helping it reclaim the land that it has recently lost to rival armies. You'll then be offered some Field Training, essentially a tutorial, consisting of 13 missions, teaching you everything you need to know about the game mechanics, although it is possible to skip almost all of it by only doing the final mission.

Advance Wars is a strategy game of the turn-based variety — this means you move all your units and do whatever else it is you want and can do before ending your turn. After this, the opponent gets to make their moves; if there's more than one opponent, they go in order, before circling back to you. The whole game takes place on a grid, which means that there's no free movement — units must always move along the existing tiles and can't move diagonally.

There are plenty of different types of these tiles, each with their own defence rating and a movement cost that depends on the type of unit traversing it — for example, tanks will have a much harder time moving through a forest than infantry. Likewise, some terrain can only be accessed by certain units, for example, infantry can wade through rivers, but vehicles won't be able to get across unless they're air units.

You'll quickly find out that one of the most important aspects of each map are buildings — moving infantry over these will allow them to capture them. Capturing any building will increase your income each turn by 1000, while capturing bases, ports and airports will also allow you to build additional ground, sea and air units, respectively, using said funds. It is of course also possible to capture enemy buildings, which can also be very useful; it'll cut down their income while increasing yours. Special mention must go to the HQ — each army only has one, and should protect it as much as possible — while it is possible to win each map by simply wiping out every enemy unit, capturing the HQ will result in an instant victory, which can at times be a much smarter strategy than going for the victory by rout.

However, arguably the most important part of the game are the different commanding officers (COs) which you can play as or play against. Each of them has their own major strength and weakness; for example Max, from Orange Star, deals more damage than normal with direct attacks, but deals less damage and has a decreased range with indirect units like artillery and rockets. Grit from Blue Moon, on the other hand, is the polar opposite, dealing less direct damage but more indirect, with an increased range for his indirect units to boot. Some COs are only useful in very specific situations, for example, there's one that has a clear advantage on maps with fog of war, which you will rarely see outside Vs. Mode.

The most important aspect of each CO, however, is their CO Power — as a CO's units take and dish out damage, a meter will fill which, when full, will allow them to unleash a single special attack any time they want, after which the meter will be emptied. These powers can easily swing the tide of a match in your favour, as not only do all of them grant a small, temporary attack and defence boost, they'll do a variety of other things as well depending on the CO, such as healing all your units for 2 HP, changing the weather, or even allowing all non-infantry units to move a second time in one turn with reduced stats. Generally, it's the CO that's losing that will be able to use his (or her) power more often, as taking damage will fill the meter faster than dealing it; this makes it quite fair and well balanced.

This title also deserves credit for including quite a number of animations — units moving around, units attacking, or infantry capturing buildings. While they are cool to watch (it never gets old having a bomber wipe out an enemy unit in one attack), they can take up quite some time. Fear not though, because once you've completed the Field Training it becomes possible to turn most of them off — speeding up the flow of each map tremendously.

After you've made it through the Field Training, the rest of the game will be opened up to you. In the Campaign, which is most likely what most will try out first, you get to play as three of the Orange Star COs, Andy, Max and Sami, as they try to beat some sense into the opposing armies and save the day. As you progress through the missions you'll frequently be offered a choice of CO — in some cases, the mission will actually differ depending on the CO you've picked, which means that several playthroughs might be in order so you can see all of them. Between and during missions there's plenty of banter between COs, and as you might expect from the game's cartoony look, it's generally of a comedic nature — you'll absolutely get some chuckles out of it.

In War Room, you can tackle smaller maps with a CO of your choosing as you try to get the best score, while Vs. Mode is similar, except without the scoring aspect and with the ability to play against other people. Unfortunately, in this version, local multiplayer must be played by passing the controller around; there's no retroactive online option to replace the link cable — which was surely the fantasy of some — though you can share a GamePad in off-TV mode and hide moves from each other. We also have Battle Maps, where you can buy and unlock additional maps and COs with coins you've earned, and Design Maps where you can, as the title implies, design maps for use in Vs. Mode.

While it might seem peculiar to have a cartoony-looking war game, Advance Wars just oozes charm. The COs all have very unique, fun designs and personalities, and the soundtrack — each CO has their own theme song — is immensely catchy. Both of these combined make the game an absolute blast to play, whether you're doing the ass-kicking or being on the receiving end.

As this is one of the very first Game Boy Advance games to hit the Wii U Virtual Console, it is also worth mentioning some of the special features that we can expect to be in every future GBA game. Naturally, the usual restore points are available here as well, but if you go into settings you can also toggle smoothing on and off — this gives all of the pixels a more rounded edge. While this is generally looked down upon by retro enthusiasts, it's at least nice to have the feature. There's also an option to toggle between full-screen and "original resolution", which makes it quite similar to the Game Boy Player, except with black borders instead of decorated ones. Advance Wars, in particular, looks great even when blown up on a TV, so we recommend just keeping it on the full-screen.

Lastly, the digital manual for this (and most likely all) GBA games is a little different than normal — it's not a simple-looking guide explaining the controls and little more, but rather the actual manual from the original GBA release, fully scanned and readable. While this is something that has already been done before on competing systems, it is quite a cool thing to see; we hope Nintendo potentially goes back and adds this to other Virtual Console games.

Conclusion

The first Advance Wars might not have the huge amount of COs and new units from its sequels, but it is more balanced because of this; as a result, it tends to always feel fair, even if you lose. Even in those rare instances that it feels unfair, the immensely charming graphics and music are top notch, and will no doubt manage to keep a smile on your face. The unlockable Advance Campaign — which is much harder — as well as the other modes, will also ensure that you'll still be playing it long after you've seen the end of the story.

9/10

 

[MegasonicZX]

Are you legitimately trying to tell me that Mario 3D World is just oh so amazing that it's driving people who have never liked or played Mario before to buy a Wii U for it? Come on, man. I never even mentioned about the quality of the game. Don't be ridiculous. It's the same thing for the other two platforms. Why do you think Metal Gear always sells best on Playstation? That's where the audience is. Most of the people who would buy a Wii U are the same people who love Mario. It's just a fact.

 

What is your point here? That a majority of Wii U owners don't care about Mario, but the Wii U Mario games were good enough to attract interest?

 

 

Yeah, while I personally could give two shakes of a rats tail about mario I know that most of the time, its not until a mario game comes out when this stuff starts to sale, I mean honestly the whole "mario kart 8 and SSB4" will save the wii-u thing has kind of been implying that this type of scenario is the only way for the thing to get back on its feet for awhile .

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Oh you guys, here is something interesting: M2 are behind the GBA emulation!

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/04/emulation_experts_m2_worked_with_nintendo_on_wii_u_virtual_console_gba_games

 

Emulation Experts M2 Worked With Nintendo On Wii U Virtual Console GBA Games

Posted

 

Thu 3rd Apr 2014 00:00 by Damien McFerran

Retro magic

M2 is the company responsible for the amazing Sega 3D Classics range on the 3DS, but that's not the only thing that has been keeping the firm busy of late. Nintendo has clearly been impressed by M2's handheld offerings as it has transpired that the studio was commissioned to assist with bringing Game Boy Advance games to the Wii U Virtual Console.

A posting on the official M2 site revealed the news, stating that the company was in charge of "development in general".

Eight Game Boy Advance games are due to launch this month, with Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Metroid Fusion and Advance Wars all arriving this week.

 

perhaps we will be seeing a lot more titles at a faster rate than anticipated!

[PSI Wind]

M2 should do all re-releases of old games for every console.

Oh, and just to clarify, I wasn't saying the PS4 had a low software base. I was giving an example.

[Gabz Girl]

I really want to get Superstar Saga but my bf thinks I should just buy the cartridge on Ebay. ^^;

And HELL NO to VC games on iOS and tablets! That would be the worst idea ever, because most of those games would be a nightmare to play with a touch screen. And you know, it worked so well for Square Enix and Capcom.

[Sami]

M2 should do all re-releases of old games for every console.

Oh, and just to clarify, I wasn't saying the PS4 had a low software base. I was giving an example.

 

Ah, I see. Unfortunately, we don't actually know exactly how much of a loss the PS4 and Xbox are being sold at, but judging from the actual tech inside the box it's not much. PS4 only costs $381 to manufacture - adding in licensing and other fees probably boosts the price to about the $450 range or so (don't quote me on this though, lol, just a guess). 

 

In any case, it's a bigger loss than the Wii U's but not by much. It also helps that they've shipped out and sold nearly every single unit they can manufacture, which coupled with the attach rate means they're making plenty right now. I don't remember what the exact number was, but I recall GAF member Aquamarine (very reliable for sales, has close ties with Nintendo and I think works for NPD Group) calculating the number of unsold Wii U's in storage being over well a million (remember, Nintendo expected to sell nine million units by April 2014 last year; there's no way they weren't manufacturing towards that goal). All of those units cost money to manufacture, and that cost hasn't been made up because nobody's bought them yet.

[Zaysho]

I really want to get Superstar Saga but my bf thinks I should just buy the cartridge on Ebay. ^^;

 

Look at it this way, buying the VC version (which may or may not be cheaper than what you can find on eBay) actually supports Nintendo and the people who worked to get it out there (well, the VC version anyway; the ship probably sailed for the cats who did all the work back in the day unless Nintendo actually pays royalties, which I doubt) and it can hopefully lead to more releases down the line. Granted, I have little faith in how Nintendo handles the Virtual Console, but I plan on supporting some of their GBA offerings if they keep up the pace and offer more than first-party games (I want the Sonic games!) in the future.

 

But you know, your choice. I'm kinda torn on Superstar Saga as I literally have the cartridge plugged into my DS Lite at the moment, and I've been wanting to replay and actually finish the blasted game...