Wii U - General Discussion Thread

Deader2818 said:
Every console is different. Not sure why anyone would want them all to be the same. If they were then why even have different systems?
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Game enthusiasts like myself who have enough disposable income benefit the most in this scenario. I'm not emotionally invested enough in any one console to limit my selection. I eventually get all the consoles, and find different things to enjoy with all of them. It isn't a cheap proposition, but it is lots of fun!

At the moment, I would have to say that the Wii U is a better value proposition than either the XBox One or PS4. Both those systems are going to be fresh out the gate with very few titles available for them. Throw in the lack of backwards compatibility, and what you can actually do with them is pretty lean. The Wii U is $100 less than either, comes with at least one game, and has a year's worth of titles available. It also has full Wii backwards compatibility, further broadening the number of titles that it can run. It is also benefiting somewhat from it's own difficulties. The hardships the Wii U has faced in its first year are translating into a lot of low-priced and clearance software. Many of the higher quality launch games and ports from other systems can now be had for very little. An extra $100 for software can stretch quite a bit further than it would for the XBox One and PS4. (which will have virtually no discount titles at launch)

These factors aren't necessarily going to translate into stronger sales for the Wii U. Consumer behavior does not always follow logical or predictable rules. Mindshare is also important, and this is one area where the Wii U is still struggling.

 
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Richard Kain said:
Game enthusiasts like myself who have enough disposable income benefit the most in this scenario. I'm not emotionally invested enough in any one console to limit my selection. I eventually get all the consoles, and find different things to enjoy with all of them. It isn't a cheap proposition, but it is lots of fun!

At the moment, I would have to say that the Wii U is a better value proposition than either the XBox One or PS4. Both those systems are going to be fresh out the gate with very few titles available for them. Throw in the lack of backwards compatibility, and what you can actually do with them is pretty lean. The Wii U is $100 less than either, comes with at least one game, and has a year's worth of titles available. It also has full Wii backwards compatibility, further broadening the number of titles that it can run. It is also benefiting somewhat from it's own difficulties. The hardships the Wii U has faced in its first year are translating into a lot of low-priced and clearance software. Many of the higher quality launch games and ports from other systems can now be had for very little. An extra $100 for software can stretch quite a bit further than it would for the XBox One and PS4. (which will have virtually no discount titles at launch)

These factors aren't necessarily going to translate into stronger sales for the Wii U. Consumer behavior does not always follow logical or predictable rules. Mindshare is also important, and this is one area where the Wii U is still struggling.
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Since I'm a fan of the Wii U, let me clear this up before those others come along.

Enjoy nearly all of your existing Wii games on your new Wii U console.

http://www.nintendo.com/wiiu/built-in-software/wii-menu/

And, the games going to clearance so fast could have 3rd party developers leary.

 
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So what games are confirmed to not work besides the DDR games that need the GC controller port?  AFAIK it's just those and the Connect24 functions of some games that won't work right.

 
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MetalSlugger said:
So what games are confirmed to not work besides the DDR games that need the GC controller port? AFAIK it's just those and the Connect24 functions of some games that won't work right.
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The first LostWinds...I think (maybe it was the second). The developers said early on they were going to fix it, but nothing ever came of it, so I imagine that nothing will.

 
MetalSlugger said:
Isn't that just for a transfer though? I haven't bought it yet.
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I don't...think...so? Lost Winds was alright. It's on iOS I believe. It's an alright game, but a bit short.

There's also a few games that have some features removed because of the lack of GC ports (like the late model Wiis had) including Smash Bros. with no GC controllers, Tales of Symphonia DotNW not being able to read ToS original saves, etc.

 
ChunLiBarbie said:
Since I'm a fan of the Wii U, let me clear this up before those others come along.

And, the games going to clearance so fast could have 3rd party developers leary.
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I appreciate that not all of the Wii games run on the Wii U. And a few of them with special features don't work perfectly on the Wii U, either. (especially those that were able to tie into the GameCube and its accessories) But the number of titles that suffer from those problems is quite small compared to the overall Wii catalog. For your average consumer it's not going to be a problem. For a collector like me the ability to play my Wii games with the Wii U's up-scaling outweighs most of the drawbacks. (on top of which I still have my original Wii)

As to the clearance games, I would say that they are getting drastic price drops BECAUSE of 3rd parties getting leery. There is definitely less faith in the Wii U at the moment, both from the general public as well as from 3rd party developers. (and publishers) That plays into the mindshare issues that Nintendo has been having with their latest system.

 
So $300 for the 32GB console with New Super Mario Bros. U and New Super Luigi U?  I'm finally going to cave.  I'll pick up Zelda WW as well.  My son is going to freak out.

 
The Questyen said:
I highly recommend Nintendoland. I played it almost solely single player and I got a good 8-10 hours of fun out of it.
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It's a great game, its only drawback is that as a pack in game it doesnt have that pick up and play ease that Wii Sports had with the Wii. The arcade/amusement park concept works well.

 
I bought NintendoLand right after I bought my Wii U last month and I had a blast with most of it. There's a stinker or two in there, but very fun for the most part!
 
I believe all Deluxes still have the DDP promotion offer. The promotion doesn't end until next year for those that got it early on, though I don't know if that's extended for newer consoles or not.

 
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Yeah.  Keep in mind that the DDP ends next year though.

Nintendo Land is a great pickup, IMO.  It's really energetic and fun.

 
I searched and found someone from Gamefaqs saying the Zelda bundle had it too, so the Mario bundle should have it also.

I was planning to get a Wii U closer to the time Bayonetta 2 and X come out, but if there are some good black friday promos that include the Mario bundle, I may get one then. I wouldn't plan to get many digital games, but knowing the promotion is still there is a nice bonus.

Edit: Just saw a picture of the box and it has the Digital Deluxe Promotion circle near the top left.

 
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Wow, the cheese stands alone I guess.  I couldn't get into Nintendoland at all.  It felt like Kinect Adventures on a gamepad.  

 
Anybody picking up Wii Party U today? The reviews are all over the place. NWR and Nintendo Life gave it 8/10. Joystiq gave it 2/5. Game Informer gave it 6/10. Destructoid gave it 7/10. I'm getting it anyway, but I think I'll wait until Black Friday to see if there are any deals on it.

 
pitfallharry219 said:
Anybody picking up Wii Party U today? The reviews are all over the place. NWR and Nintendo Life gave it 8/10. Joystiq gave it 2/5. Game Informer gave it 6/10. Destructoid gave it 7/10. I'm getting it anyway, but I think I'll wait until Black Friday to see if there are any deals on it.
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Mine's in the mail from Newegg...surprising since this is the one and only preorder I've placed with them that has actually shipped at all.

Minigame compilations always have crazy review score ranges, so whatevs. All of the gameplay I've seen looks perfect for my family.

 
One thing I've noticed about the Wii U is that Nintendo is preparing to go nuts with the bundles this holiday season. They've all but eliminated the different hardware. The 8 Gig white Wii U no longer exists. It's just going to be the 32 Gig model going forward. But when it comes to game pack-in bundles, Nintendo is going to blow the roof off this holiday season. They already have a Zelda bundle, there's going to be a New Super Mario bundle, and now I'm hearing about a Swapforce bundle.

 
pitfallharry219 said:
Yeah, my family enjoyed Wii Party, and I think this one looks even better. Coming with a Wii Remote Plus is a nice bonus.
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I wouldn't be worried about the review scores as much, more so what the reviews said the game includes (which sounds like plenty). Like MetalSlugger said, some people / reviewers are predisposed against mini-game comps, and they can't tell the difference between a legitimately solid effort and shovelware attempts.

I still play Wii Party to this day with my wife / kids / friends, and I would definitely be all over the sequel if I had a Wii U.

 
I waited to post this info but it's time!  The Wii U sold 300k consoles between July and September.  That means for the first 2 quarters of Nintendo's fiscal year (April - September) they sold 460k Wii U's.  At that rate they'll sell another 5 million consoles in 5 years time.

 
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ChunLiBarbie said:
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/sales/hard_soft/index.html

I think the upcoming games will fix that.
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The games aren't listed there but IIRC most are just games for casual gamers like Wii Sports and Wii Fit right? I don't think Mario 3D is "going to take care of that". It's Christmas so it will sell more than the Zelda bundle but I don't think it's going to be a smash hit.

Also, I noticed that page didn't include the Virtual Boy. :rofl:

One last thing, Nintendo first predicted that they would sell 5.5 million Wii U's by end of March 2013. Then they lowered that to 4.5 million. They're at 3.91 million now...

edit:

Previous posts were based on news articles. I've started reviewing their financials and WTF? Over the last 6 months they sold 230k Wii U's in Japan, 230k in the US, and -10k in Europe "other". That's right, the rest of the world (presumably mostly Europe) had more Wii U's returned to the store than actually purchased...Last page of the report linked.

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2013/131030e.pdf

 
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I will say that I have not seen many, if any, WiiUs on shelves. Just lots and lots of empty space. This goes for TRU, Target, and Walmart (haven't been in a BestBuy in a while).
 
Blaster man said:
The games aren't listed there but IIRC most are just games for casual gamers like Wii Sports and Wii Fit right? I don't think Mario 3D is "going to take care of that". It's Christmas so it will sell more than the Zelda bundle but I don't think it's going to be a smash hit.
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Not saying it will turn sales around completely, but don't underestimate Super Mario 3D World in moving units. The game looks incredible, mixing things in for both casuals and die-hards. Every trailer that comes out makes me want it that much more, Nintendo just needs to focus on this with the holiday ads.

 
DNukem170 said:
I will say that I have not seen many, if any, WiiUs on shelves. Just lots and lots of empty space. This goes for TRU, Target, and Walmart (haven't been in a BestBuy in a while).
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I see them in stores but usually there's only a couple of them. Obviously stores aren't keeping a lot of inventory because that's costly.

Billytwoshoes said:
Not saying it will turn sales around completely, but don't underestimate Super Mario 3D World in moving units. The game looks incredible, mixing things in for both casuals and die-hards. Every trailer that comes out makes me want it that much more, Nintendo just needs to focus on this with the holiday ads.
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The other guys are going to flood the market with ads for their new consoles, Nintendo will have a hard time getting traction unless they're willing to open the war chest and pay for lots of TV advertising which so far is something they've been unwilling to do.

 
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Blaster man said:
The games aren't listed there but IIRC most are just games for casual gamers like Wii Sports and Wii Fit right? I don't think Mario 3D is "going to take care of that". It's Christmas so it will sell more than the Zelda bundle but I don't think it's going to be a smash hit.

Also, I noticed that page didn't include the Virtual Boy. :rofl:

One last thing, Nintendo first predicted that they would sell 5.5 million Wii U's by end of March 2013. Then they lowered that to 4.5 million. They're at 3.91 million now...

edit:

Previous posts were based on news articles. I've started reviewing their financials and WTF? Over the last 6 months they sold 230k Wii U's in Japan, 230k in the US, and -10k in Europe "other". That's right, the rest of the world (presumably mostly Europe) had more Wii U's returned to the store than actually purchased...Last page of the report linked.

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2013/131030e.pdf
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I'm starting to see a pattern here. Do you not like Nintendo? You seem, as if, you want them to fail. Do understand, that, Nintendo is the reason gaming has advanced so far. They are the leaders who PUSH those others to do better.

"Predicted"? They're not psychic. The same can be said for many other companies.

Nintendo is, and always will be, perfectly fine.

 
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The only place I EVER see Blaster man post is in this thread whenever a new sales number comes out.  It's pretty sad yet weirdly fascinating that he thinks anyone but him gives one flaming shit about how many systems were sold last quarter.

 
MetalSlugger said:
The only place I EVER see Blaster man post is in this thread whenever a new sales number comes out. It's pretty sad yet weirdly fascinating that he thinks anyone but him gives one flaming shit about how many systems were sold last quarter.
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And yet we all know he's running out to buy one as soon as he can save up the money.

 
ChunLiBarbie said:
I'm starting to see a pattern here. Do you not like Nintendo? You seem, as if, you want them to fail. Do understand, that, Nintendo is the reason gaming has advanced so far. They are the leaders who PUSH those others to do better.

"Predicted"? They're not psychic. The same can be said for many other companies.

Nintendo is, and always will be, perfectly fine.
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Huh? I don't want Nintendo to fail. That said, Nintendo won't "always" be fine.

 
Blaster may be crass, but he isnt wrong.

This is not a good time for Nintendo and it has the potential to be the turning point the same way it was for RIM and Nokia.

The Wii U is seemingly too expensive to make for its potential market, and it has had questionable, at best, marketing in the US. This is further compounded by Nintendo making weird decisions regarding its digital infrastructure. Put simply, it should be as easy to use as iTunes and it isnt, heck it isnt even as easy as XBL.

Nintendo's saving grace is and has always been its games, but those as of yet dont have the same draw on the Wii U.

All that said, I am curious to see how the latest Pokemon sold since it is the first for the 3ds.

 
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foltzie said:
Blaster may be crass, but he isnt wrong.

This is not a good time for Nintendo and it has the potential to be the turning point the same way it was for RIM and Nokia.

The Wii U is seemingly too expensive to make for its potential market, and it has had questionable, at best, marketing in the US. This is further compounded by Nintendo making weird decisions regarding its digital infrastructure. Put simply, it should be as easy to use as iTunes and it isnt, heck it isnt even as easy as XBL.

Nintendo's saving grace is and has always been its games, but those as of yet dont have the same draw on the Wii U.

All that said, I am curious to see how the latest Pokemon sold since it is the first for the 3ds.
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By all reports, Pokemon has sold extremely well.

 
foltzie said:
Blaster may be crass, but he isnt wrong.

This is not a good time for Nintendo and it has the potential to be the turning point the same way it was for RIM and Nokia.

The Wii U is seemingly too expensive to make for its potential market, and it has had questionable, at best, marketing in the US. This is further compounded by Nintendo making weird decisions regarding its digital infrastructure. Put simply, it should be as easy to use as iTunes and it isnt, heck it isnt even as easy as XBL.

Nintendo's saving grace is and has always been its games, but those as of yet dont have the same draw on the Wii U.

All that said, I am curious to see how the latest Pokemon sold since it is the first for the 3ds.
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Over 4 million in the first couple of days, Animal Crossing has sold over 5. They are fine.

 
Blaster man said:
Huh? I don't want Nintendo to fail. That said, Nintendo won't "always" be fine.
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I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Nintendo brand hasn't been around since the 1800's for nothing. One way or another, Nintendo will ALWAYS be fine.

 
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ChunLiBarbie said:
I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Nintendo brand hasn't been around since the 1800's for nothing. One way or another, Nintendo will ALWAYS be fine.
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Given enough time all companies eventually go out of business or are purchased by a healthier company. As the year approaches infinity all matter is destroy...except Nintendo corporate HQ.....

Seriously though, the age of the company means nothing. If anything it's showing Nintendo's corporate inertia with Wii U is a bad thing. FYI: Nokia was "never going away" back in 2002 when everyone under the sun was buying their products. 10 years later and they're about bankrupt and MS is coming in to buy them for a lowball price so they can mimic apple with a hardware division. That company is even older than Nintendo by 20 some years.
 
foltzie said:
Blaster may be crass, but he isnt wrong.

This is not a good time for Nintendo and it has the potential to be the turning point the same way it was for RIM and Nokia.

The Wii U is seemingly too expensive to make for its potential market, and it has had questionable, at best, marketing in the US. This is further compounded by Nintendo making weird decisions regarding its digital infrastructure. Put simply, it should be as easy to use as iTunes and it isnt, heck it isnt even as easy as XBL.

Nintendo's saving grace is and has always been its games, but those as of yet dont have the same draw on the Wii U.

All that said, I am curious to see how the latest Pokemon sold since it is the first for the 3ds.
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Wait, what? Have you actually used a Wii U online? If it wasn't for Wii U's Hulu+ glitching out I wouldn't use any other console for streaming/browsing and (aside from having downloads tied to your hardware) the marketplace is exactly the same as XBL/PSN.

 
Blaster man said:
Given enough time all companies eventually go out of business or are purchased by a healthier company. As the year approaches infinity all matter is destroy...except Nintendo corporate HQ.....

Seriously though, the age of the company means nothing. If anything it's showing Nintendo's corporate inertia with Wii U is a bad thing. FYI: Nokia was "never going away" back in 2002 when everyone under the sun was buying their products. 10 years later and they're about bankrupt and MS is coming in to buy them for a lowball price so they can mimic apple with a hardware division. That company is even older than Nintendo by 20 some years.
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AAAAAAAaaaaaandddddddd scene.

You will be ok. Just keep your head up. :grouphug:

 
IMO Apple should just buy Nintendo. Apple is a lot better at system software and hardware. They could produce tablets of build quality that could actually be used away from the base console for less money because they make so many of them and their supply chains are so good. They could use them to make games for the iPhone/iPad and Apple TV. The following article is actually suggesting that Apple could ruin Nintendo but IMO they could actually work together quite well as they are similar in many ways. A lot of people (not just this article) are predicting that Apple may disrupt the video game market.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/09/06/apple-could-put-the-final-nail-in-nintendos-coffin.aspx

Assuming that you read that already, imagine if you buy a TV and it comes with iTunes preinstalled and a bunch of casual games and maybe some platformers or longer games and a controller. Now think about millions of people doing this...now how many of them are going to buy a video game console and how many will think the TV is "good enough"? Keep in mind, once Apple does this, Samsung won't be far behind with the Android Play store preinstalled and I'm sure I don't have to tell you that Samsung sells a shitload of TV's.

To be transparent, I own Apple stock.

edit:

Also, this:

http://mynintendonews.com/2013/10/30/iwata-is-naturally-unhappy-with-q2-2014-results-but-claims-major-overhaul-isnt-necessary/

President Satoru Iwata said that the success of Nintendo’s newest console and the future direction of the firm were riding on the performance of a slate of new games during the upcoming holiday sales season. Once those results were in, Nintendo executives would review them to decide “what the company needs to do, over the long-term, about its platform,” Mr. Iwata said.
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“One game has the power to change everything,” Mr. Iwata said, smiling often during the meeting with reporters, which lasted almost an hour beyond the initially scheduled 30 minutes. ”Are we satisfied with these sales results? No. Is it impossible to recover from this? No.” Mr. Iwata, who has said he is committed to the operating-profit target, put on a brave face, telling reporters that that target was still achievable
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I read that as, if the current holiday doesn't bring success, they may abandon the Wii U.

 
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MetalSlugger said:
Wait, what? Have you actually used a Wii U online? If it wasn't for Wii U's Hulu+ glitching out I wouldn't use any other console for streaming/browsing and (aside from having downloads tied to your hardware) the marketplace is exactly the same as XBL/PSN.
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I have, and while Miiverse is compelling it offers absolutely nothing for sports fans or fans of FPS* who play online a lot and buy games yearly.

DLC purchasing is clunky at best. Also, the lack of an account system makes recovery difficult at best.

As I said earlier, it needs to be as good as iTunes, not just comparable (better in some ways, worse than others) than XBL and PSN**.

Video apps do in fact work great, but they are a bonus not an reason to buy the system.

I say the above as a day one purchaser of a Wii U and a frequent user of Amazon video.

*I readily concede that some of the CoD games look great on Wii U, but online use is minimal compared to PS360.

** I also concede that the background DLing and installing works well.

 
So, yeah, I finally had to call Nintendo about my non-working Pikmin 3 disc. After a brief chat where he had me do useless stuff like delete the update data, he finally put in an order to have it "fixed" (ie, probably replaced). The update data trick didn't work because the game doesn't even start up to get to the point where it would update. But I guess they have their scripts to go through ;).

So while it was a pain I had to call (my initial email weeks ago explained everything in detail and their response was that I had to call), at least it looks like it will get taken care of.

It is just the strangest thing though - the game worked fine for a couple of weeks and then all of a sudden it keeps telling me the disc is dirty and to clean it. The thing is immaculate since we never took it out of the system. All other games work fine so it isn't the drive. Oh well - we'll see what happens when I get a replacement.
 
Deader2818 said:
Even if Nintendo ever does get out of the console market, they will still make a shit ton in handhelds
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I mean, when I read that quote I think he's talking about the Wii U. I'm not sure that he's talking about home consoles in general. Hell, maybe they could make a 3DS TV. I'd buy it.

The Wii U really is a mistake because of the unusual (for Nintendo) hardware losses it generates. In order to recoup those a losses they need to sell 3rd party games and get licensing fees. Prior to launch they were saying that they finally have a console that can play the games that the others can run and most people were scratching their heads because of the upcoming launches of more powerful hardware a year away.
 
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