WTH is the deal with the WiiU?

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Rookie1
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WTH is the deal with the WiiU?

Postby Rookie1 » December 2nd, 2016, 6:11 am

Like most of America, I am not a WiiU owner. I have been contemplating buying it since its release, but just cant pull the plug. CharlieR was nice enough to point out to me that Gamestop was running a cyber monday deal for $189.99 (with free shipping) for a used WiiU with 2 games, but I still couldnt take the plunge.

Then I was in Best Buy yesterday. There was a giant stack of PS4's and Xbone's in the middle of the aisle with a giant sign $249.99. Then towards the back of the store there was another pile of Xbone S's and PS4 Slims for $299.99. Then we have the WiiU aisle, and a whole shelf of this stinker of a system standing strong at $299.99.

I mean really? We are 5 years in to this system, there are no games coming out for it, they are stopping production of it, they have already announced the follow up system, yet not a single budge on the price still? What is the deal with this thing? Its like Nintendo really doesnt want anyone to own it. The pushed the heck out of the 3DS this year. There were price cuts all across the board to get one of these in the hands of consumers, but the WiiU just collected dust.

I am starting to think that Nintendo really isnt this brilliant company, with ideas of cutting edge innovation. I think its more along the lines of they lucked out 30 years ago in a market that was dead, created the most memorable video game IPs, then just started throwing things at the wall to see if it sticks. Then if it does stick they market the SH!T out of it until noone cares about it anymore, then start throwing things at the wall again.

Take away Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong and what are you left with? Heck, just take away Mario.

Only time will tell, but the more I let it sett in, the more I feel the Switch is going to be another WiiU. As specs are being leaked out more and more, its very apparent this is going to be another under powered machine. They might be able to pump out some incredible first party games, but that is a big MIGHT. They barely did anything with the WiiU, despite its potential.

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Atariboy
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Re: WTH is the deal with the WiiU?

Postby Atariboy » December 2nd, 2016, 8:41 am

Not an incentive to drop the price further. Nintendo wants you to buy a Nintendo Switch in March 2017, not a Nintendo Wii U in November 2016. At least there's the Nintendo Selects program for those that have taken the plunge, otherwise most of the good games would still be $50.

The system failed, it struggled to sell 10 million units and thus Nintendo doesn't enjoy the economies of scale that the competition does or had the financial incentive to reduce expenses with redesigns, and it remains expensive to produce thanks to the gamepad screen and the components necessary to stream video back and forth.

Nintendo has been keeping up appearances more or less for quite a while with this system, biding their time before they can launch the Switch. It wasn't to their advantage to drop the price by $50-$100, possibly start to take a loss on the direct manufacturing cost for each system produced, and possibly sell another million or two Wii U's to often unsuspecting consumers that will be disappointed to find it replaced in short order by something better.

The Wii U picture would only be slightly less bleak, the financials could possibly even be worse, and there's a lot of customers that might not be lining up in the opening months to buy a Switch and will think twice about ever upgrading to it. Nintendo has been out to placate existing Wii U owners, not lure more customers in.

It's standard operating procedure for failed platforms in their latter days, unless you pull a Sega and make millions more than you have any hope of selling at a decent price. Then they blow them out at rock bottom prices like all those $50 Dreamcast systems.

Nintendo on the other hand has carefully managed supply. Expect new Wii U's to be in short supply in mainstream retail channels come January 1st.

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Atariboy
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Re: WTH is the deal with the WiiU?

Postby Atariboy » December 2nd, 2016, 8:51 am

Rookie1 wrote:Take away Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong and what are you left with? Heck, just take away Mario.


I haven't had a shortage of good games. In fact my backlog is pretty sizable despite having owned the system for 3 years.

It offers scores of classics on the Virtual Console, sequels in established franchises like Pikmin, new IP like Splatoon, spinoffs like Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, eShop releases like Fast Racing Neo, a small but well done selection of 3rd party titles like Need for Speed Most Wanted U and Shovel Knight, perfect backwards compatibility with the Wii and its large library of classics like Metroid Prime Trilogy, etc.

Has been a good system with a lot of good games. Even those two big franchises that you apparently think under-delivered this generation have some great games. Wind Waker HD is amazing looking, Twilight Princess HD looks great and was in desperate need of an overhaul if it was to be enjoyed on large HDTV's, and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze is many a gamer's pick for the best 2D style platformer of this generation. And it's still getting the new Zelda next year, so Zelda and Donkey Kong fans have nothing to complain about.

Sounds like it's not for you, but there's no shortage of well done software even if they're games that don't interest you.

CharlieR
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Re: WTH is the deal with the WiiU?

Postby CharlieR » December 2nd, 2016, 9:38 am

Rookie1 wrote:CharlieR was nice enough to point out to me that Gamestop was running a cyber monday deal for $189.99 (with free shipping) for a used WiiU with 2 games, but I still couldnt take the plunge.


Thanks for mentioning me, I knew you were looking for a deal on one for a while. I know some people would say that it was an amazing deal and you should have taken advantage, but I say that's fine if you didn't.

If I could go back in time, I probably would not be so eager to get the system, and I bought it the year it came out. There's literally one game that made me glad to have a Wii U, and that is Mario 3d world. I use it more to play wii games, to be honest. I have Super Mario Maker, but I'm not as into that as I thought I'd be, and I really only play for about 10-15 minutes just to see if there are any cool new levels to play, but nothing really grabs my attention outside of a few levels.

The other games I have aren't big time games. I look at exclusive titles, and the only one I really liked was 3d world, and nintendoland was pretty good. I played a ton of sonic racing transformed, but that's also on ps3.

All in all, I don't play it that much.

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Rookie1
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Re: WTH is the deal with the WiiU?

Postby Rookie1 » December 2nd, 2016, 10:20 am

Atariboy wrote:
Rookie1 wrote:Take away Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong and what are you left with? Heck, just take away Mario.


I haven't had a shortage of good games. In fact my backlog is pretty sizable despite having owned the system for 3 years.

It offers scores of classics on the Virtual Console, sequels in established franchises like Pikmin, new IP like Splatoon, spinoffs like Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, eShop releases like Fast Racing Neo, a small but well done selection of 3rd party titles like Need for Speed Most Wanted U and Shovel Knight, perfect backwards compatibility with the Wii and its large library of classics like Metroid Prime Trilogy, etc.

Has been a good system with a lot of good games. Even those two big franchises that you apparently think under-delivered this generation have some great games. Wind Waker HD is amazing looking, Twilight Princess HD looks great and was in desperate need of an overhaul if it was to be enjoyed on large HDTV's, and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze is many a gamer's pick for the best 2D style platformer of this generation. And it's still getting the new Zelda next year, so Zelda and Donkey Kong fans have nothing to complain about.

Sounds like it's not for you, but there's no shortage of well done software even if they're games that don't interest you.


I never said anything about games. My comment was directed at their IPs. Take away those 3 IPs, and you lose Nintendo's identity. They really arent identified by much more than those, and the NES itself.

Like you mention, the VC offers classic titles. I dont need a $300 system to play those. Windwaker and Twilight PRincess are just HD remakes. Big deal.

Im glad you enjoy the console as a whole though. You are one of few that does so.

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velcrozombie
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Re: WTH is the deal with the WiiU?

Postby velcrozombie » December 2nd, 2016, 12:21 pm

I too was wondering why the WiiU hadn't been discounted heavily, but Atariboy's explanation made a lot of sense to me.

If gaming comes up in casual conversation at work or with friends, I tend to say that the WiiU isn't for some gamers (it's not of the power level of the PS4 or XBox One and it doesn't get the level of support from the bigger third-party developers) but that I've always been satisfied with it. In addition to all the other games that everyone else has mentioned, you have Hyrule Warriros, Pokken Tournament, ZombieU, both Bayonetta 2 and The Wonderful 101 by Platinum Games and indies like Mighty Switch Force. I also prefer it for streaming (I love that the tablet screen will display more information about a film or show on Hulu, for example) and (because of the HDMI output) the Wii catalog is going to look better on it than the original system. I've heard that the system is, like the Wii, able to be modded (although I haven't tried yet). Finally, it's the only system that put out a decent number of all-ages titles.

Maybe if I was a teenager and all I had was the WiiU I would be envious of all the cool games my friends were getting, but as an adult with limited time who doesn't play a lot of FPS titles I like it a lot. It's a little hard to imagine someone needing both a PS4 and the new XBox, but I could easily see someone owning a WiiU to complement one of the other new systems - and I do plan on getting a PS4 in a year or two.

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Atariboy
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Re: WTH is the deal with the WiiU?

Postby Atariboy » December 2nd, 2016, 10:01 pm

Rookie1 wrote:I never said anything about games. My comment was directed at their IPs. Take away those 3 IPs, and you lose Nintendo's identity. They really arent identified by much more than those, and the NES itself.


What exactly is the difference, or the importance in this distinction you think you were making? I don't know what you're aiming at from either perspective except to criticize the lineup at hand outside of the Mario family of titles.

First you come off as a Nintendo fan that's disappointed in the Wii U, realizing that it's perhaps not for you despite considerable consideration on your part since release and a past affinity with Nintendo products. And now you sound like you're anything but a Nintendo fan, seeing little value there in the company outside of the Mario franchise.

Sorry, I was posting my response to a Nintendo fan that perhaps had underestimated the strength of this system's library. If that's not you, just ignore it and forget about Nintendo since there indeed is fairly little here outside of Nintendo's own offerings.

Rookie1 wrote:Like you mention, the VC offers classic titles. I dont need a $300 system to play those. Windwaker and Twilight PRincess are just HD remakes. Big deal.


Obviously, I was posting about the variety of excellent games to be found here. If you're not interested in HD remasters or Virtual Console downloads, that's fine and not worth even bother pointing out, but other people are. They were hardly the only examples that I posted.

I'm surprised you didn't ridicule me mentioning backwards compatibility...

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Atarifever
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Re: WTH is the deal with the WiiU?

Postby Atarifever » December 3rd, 2016, 5:48 am

Rookie1 wrote:I never said anything about games. My comment was directed at their IPs. Take away those 3 IPs, and you lose Nintendo's identity. They really arent identified by much more than those, and the NES itself.



Actually, you need to throw in Animal Crossing and Pokemon if you're going to do that. Animal Crossing (despite most people here not playing it) is a massive franchise. Also, Gamestop said their best selling title all year this year was Pokemon (and of course Pokemon Go was another huge phenomenon). And then there's Splatoon now, which is one of the most successful multi-player shooters ever in Japan. I think a lot of gamers don't understand that Zelda and DK took a backseat to Animal Crossing and Pokemon quite a long time ago as far as important Nintendo IPs go.

For perspective, Animal Crossing City Folk on Wii sold about the same number of units as Skyward Sword on there (around 3.5 million copies), while Pokemon Black and White sold something like 15 million copies at the same time. A Link Between Worlds on 3DS got great reviews and sold about 2 - 3 million. Wikipedia puts Animal Crossing New Leaf's sales at over 10 million, and that just got a new update last month. For "core" gamers like us Zelda and DK seem like big deals, but they're not really. For most people playing Nintendo systems today, Nintendo is Pokemon and Animal Crossing. And Mario Kart more than Mario. Take away Mario platformers, Zelda, and DK and Nintendo loses it's identity to you. To most people playing Nintendo, they see it as a system to catch Pokemon, Kart race, and move furniture you bought from a Raccoon. Their Nintendo trinity is much different than yours, or the one you think is important.

Topic at hand:

It does annoy me that Nintendo always does things to make their old systems seem bad in order to sell their new one. With Gamecube it took the form of moving all late games (Super Paper Mario, Bongo Blast) to the Wii. With Wii it took the form of cancelling online services on Wii games to "drive" Wii U sales. I do not think the Wii would have failed if Bongo Blast and Super Paper Mario had been on Gamecube instead, but it would have made the last year with a GC a lot better. With Wii online games it's even worse. I bought COD: MW3 on Wii used last week just to try it out. I am shocked that at any time, I can still find multiplayer matches on there in seconds. How many people are still playing this? How many would clearly still be playing the much more popular (on Wii) Mario Kart Wii and Animal Crossing? Did having those people no longer be able to play online sell more Wii Us? I know there was a switch from Gamespy servers, but other companies managed to migrate servers, and Nintendo chose not to. They hoped this would move the needle on Wii U sales, and I think cutting the legs out from under your current users, and driving them away from your franchise, does a lot more harm than good. Similarly, yes, it is late to price drop the Wii U. It was not too late to do something on the price last Christmas to try to build some support. They also need to expand their "selects" line, and learn what an online sale actually is. Comparing their Black Friday deals to the Xbone and PS4 ones, especially online, reveals a company no longer trying to reward their current customers AT ALL.

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BlasteroidAli
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Re: WTH is the deal with the WiiU?

Postby BlasteroidAli » December 8th, 2016, 9:24 pm

I played it and I genuinely liked it. The trouble for me was the lack of games I was interested in. I bought every nintendo system released right up till the wii which I hated. It is a shame I am the one customer who they should get to come back. I have to admit to thinking the switch looks interesting. Will depend on the price point.

I am getting a rasberry pi for christmas so will be making my own games... like attack of the VGC and his camel.. well maybe..


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