Wii U news thread

We'd better savour Wii U while it lasts, as it may be the last of its type from Nintendo. Iwata has practically admitted that they won't be relying on selling ~30,000 yen hardware and games at a few thousand yen each for their next platform/system, since that has turned out to not be a sustainable business. So what's next is likely to be radically different, just like the Wii (though I have a feeling the new direction this time will be a business model one on top of something else, Wii stuck to the same business model Nintendo had been following for years, with the exception of the Wii Shop Channel).

More specifically, Iwata said: "We cannot continue a business without winning,’ Iwata said. ‘We must take a sceptical approach whether we can still simply make game players, offer them in the same way as in the past for 20,000 yen or 30,000 yen, and sell titles for a couple of thousand yen each."

It does say Nintendo Doomed as the Header though Axis.

Reason I use there not a Nintendo News and a Others New as the example here Rayman Legends delayed on Wii U (Nintendo based News) and will now come out on 360 & PS3 (Other based News). So to save posting in two different places, I can post once and everyone can see. If it's specific like Wii U is having a update to bring TVii to UK that would clearly go in the Wii U section but as the news were talking about covers all of Nintendo it goes in Gaming News.

Not only have I stopped participating in gaming forums (except this one) since about 2012, I now don't even bother the read any news sites.  I am utterly sick of every little moron who thinks they are a games journalist and that the world needs to hear their opinion.  I wouldn't mind if said opinions were mainly positive, or at the very least, constructive around something that needs fixing, but it isn't like that at all.  They drone on and on about Nintendo being doomed, being the next Sega, they should make phone games, they should get rid of the tablet controller, they should ditch the Wii U, they should release a new console that matches PS4/XB1 or they should just make games.

These complete and utter dicks should just have their internet taken away from them.  I am just so sick of the negativity.  I realise that most of the internet is negative, but it doesn't mean I have to like it or get used to it.

Nintendo will be fine.  The Wii U will be fine.  Who cares if it only gets Gamecube numbers, as long as they still have games you went to play.  Who in their right mind thinks that no matter what console Nintendo make, that 3rd party games will massively support it?  Even if the Wii U was identical to the PS4, nothing would change at all.  3rd party developers just don't know how to make and market to users of Nintendo consoles (except for some handheld games).  It isn't Nintendo's fault, it is the developers.  They don't like competing against Nintendo games and usually losing.

And why should Nintendo make a 'me too' product?  Why should all consoles be the same?  Mercedes make great cars, but not every car is the same as a Mercedes.  The market needs difference.  The market thrives on difference.  We benefit from difference.  As long as Nintendo go for a demographic they believe suits their business, who gives a rat's arse what some 'cool' 15 year old playing CoD or GTA thinks?  Let them play their games on their console and be happy about it, and in reverse, let us play what games we like on the console we like and be happy about it.

Don't get me wrong, there are some things Nintendo could do better (region coding and unified accounts for a start), but as long as they continue to make great games, I will continue to support their product.  There, I have exorcised my demons and I feel a lot better   

Absolutely spot on, it really is mind boggling how it has got to this stage.

Great bit,

The cube had decent support and 3rd party games did okay like need for speed underground 1.7m on xbox & 1.2 on cube, so 3rd party can sell on Nintendo systems.

masofdas wrote:

Great bit,

The cube had decent support and 3rd party games did okay like need for speed underground 1.7m on xbox & 1.2 on cube, so 3rd party can sell on Nintendo systems.

The Gamecube and the Wii both have examples of million plus sellers from 3rd party developers.
Gamecube:
Sonic Adventure 2
Resident Evil 4
Sonic Heroes
Sonic Mega Collection
Resident evil
Sonic Adventure DX
Resident Evil Zero
Soul Caibur II
Plus I am sure there were plenty that made close to a million sales. Notice the Resident Evil in there? Not exactly kiddie is it. Plus, Sonic should just be a Nintendo exclusive brand, as it has the closest demographic affinity.

Wii:
Just Dance 2
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Michael Jackson The Experience
Guitar Hero III
Deca Sports
Epic Mickey
Game Party
Monster Hunter Tri
Resident Evil 4
EA Sports Active
Carnival Games
Guitar Hero World Tour
Rayman Raving Rabbids
Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles
We Ski
Big Beach Sports
Active Life Outdoor Challenge
Call of Duty World At War
Red Steel
Rockband
Game Party 2
Plus, again I am sure there were plenty of near million game sellers as well. More Resident Evil and Sonic and even a call of Duty.

Also, a huge point, never to be overlooked is that developers generally strip out modes, levels, dlc or online modes on a Nintendo port and then complain that no one bought them. Screw you crappy developers, don't feed me crap and expect me to like it. Give us the full game. I don't expect every franchise to be ported to a Nintendo console, nor do I even want them. If there isn't a genuine business case against it, then fine, just don't tell lies when you won't port it. All they need to do is work with Nintendo, like Capcom and SE have with Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest, and they can reap the benefits.

Yeah SEGA there self's have said Sonic does well on Nintendo platforms.

Reason I pointed out NFS: Underground as it wasn't an exclusive 3rd party title like Resident Evil Remake or had Nintendo extras Link in SCII, you put about people saying Nintendo should make a system on par with the big black boxes and you think 3rd party still wouldn't really bother releasing games on it.

Hence why I went back to the Cube which on par with PS2 & Xbox, with 3rd party titles doing about the same numbers as on the Xbox. So would a on par Nintendo system which would just be a PC so easy to port games to, have 3rd party sells like the other two systems.

Now having a PS4 I'm buying all my 3rd party games on that over Wii U (unless I see cheap) but back when it was the cube, xbox & ps2 I would buy 3rd party games on the cube like FIFA, NHL, TimeSplitters, BG&E as there was nothing to differentiate the systems apart from exclusives. But now there is.

We're getting BBC iPlayer!

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/01/bbc_is_working_to_bring_iplayer_to_the_wii_u

Regarding Wii U and third parties, both Rayman Legends and Sonic Racing outsold the competition, which is rather telling considering the other consoles have an audience of 80+ m each and the Wii U had less than 3m at the time.

Woo!

I'll still use my laptop though. Now, about TVii...

oldschool's 3:08am post is one of the best I've read on the last five and a half years on NGamer/GNamer, and is absolutely, totally, 100% concurrent with how I've felt about Nintendo commentators a while now. I truly despair.

Also, Construct 2 support.

Quote :

Scirra are proud to officially announce upcoming support for Nintendo’s Wii U™ system. Nintendo-authorised developers will be able to create and self-publish games on the Nintendo eShop using Construct 2, the leading HTML5 game creation tool. This is a tremendously exciting step towards making game development for major consoles faster, easier and available to a wider audience of developers than ever before. It's also a sign of the strength of HTML5 as a console-grade game development platform and the cross-platform breadth of web technologies.

Construct 2 takes advantage of the Nintendo Web Framework (https://wiiu-developers.nintendo.com/) enabling both new and existing games to easily port to Wii U, taking advantage of Construct 2's unrivalled high-performance and feature-rich HTML5 2D game engine. Engineering work is currently being done to make sure everything is running smoothly, and an initial release of Construct 2 with Wii U support will be made available to authorised developers soon.

https://www.scirra.com/blog/135/announcing-construct-2-support-for-wii-u

I've been hoping for iPlayer for a while. Using the gamepad in bed will be legendary! Now for 4oD...

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

oldschool's 3:08am post is one of the best I've read on the last five and a half years on NGamer/GNamer, and is absolutely, totally, 100% concurrent with how I've felt about Nintendo commentators a while now. I truly despair.

I couldn't agree more. In some ways I honestly think "journos" are doing it as bait material just to get views on their sites and thus ad revenue. It doesn't help when you get tossers like Patcher saying that Nintendo is doomed and they should go down the third party route. He's been saying that for years and they've been fine.

Granted, they've lost a shit load of money but on the flip side they had a license to print money for years with the success of the Wii and they've built up a hefty savings account that Martin Lewis would be proud of. Do they need to bring more customers in? Yes of course they do, but the first thing that needs to get fixed is the marketing of the system and not the system itself.

We've had several versions of games that are better on Wii U, with Legends, Most Wanted and Blacklist standing out in particular. The latter looking and playing best when compared to PS3/360. Those dogs though, I still hate those little shits...

Solve My Maze wrote:

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

oldschool's 3:08am post is one of the best I've read on the last five and a half years on NGamer/GNamer, and is absolutely, totally, 100% concurrent with how I've felt about Nintendo commentators a while now. I truly despair.

I couldn't agree more. In some ways I honestly think "journos" are doing it as bait material just to get views on their sites and thus ad revenue. It doesn't help when you get tossers like Patcher saying that Nintendo is doomed and they should go down the third party route. He's been saying that for years and they've been fine.

We should do a video series- "Pachter Weather Report" where it's the same every episode- a prediction of extreme weather- and when, eventually, he's finally right, it's taken as an indication of his elite analyst predicting skills.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

oldschool's 3:08am post is one of the best I've read on the last five and a half years on NGamer/GNamer, and is absolutely, totally, 100% concurrent with how I've felt about Nintendo commentators a while now. I truly despair.

This. I still think Nintendo should be adapting to this culture among news sites and the like, since it's not going to stop happening overnight.

This piece goes a long way as to explain one part of the reason as to why what's happening is happening: http://metro.co.uk/2013/02/04/nintendos-old-mistake-staying-silent-3815443/

The other problem seems to be a lot of journos these days don't tend to be as qualified as they were back in the N64/NGC/NGamer era. I seem to remember Beemoh mentioning that a lot have left for other industries simply because their talent fetches them a higher salary there. Which has certainly happened to most of the N64/NGC/NGamer team. Might be remembering wrong though.

fronkhead wrote:

The other problem seems to be a lot of journos these days don't tend to be as qualified as they were back in the N64/NGC/NGamer era. I seem to remember Beemoh mentioning that a lot have left for other industries simply because their talent fetches them a higher salary there. Which has certainly happened to most of the N64/NGC/NGamer team. Might be remembering wrong though.

I don't remember saying it, but it's basically true: look at Charlie Brooker!

CVG did an "opinion piece" on the Wii U which I'm not going to link to because I depressed myself enough reading it.  It basically says that Nintendo need to choose whether to go core or casual next gen. rather than picking a halfway house, which is fair enough, but then that seems to boil down to becoming EA 2.0 or iOS developers.

Nail on the head, Oldschool.

Thank god I'm not the only one overwhelmed by the negativity. I'm not going to moan about 14 year olds pretending they're worth listening to, because I did that as well not all that long ago, and to some degree still do, but I always tried to be constructive; I learned from the likes of NGamer and it's previous incarnations, to celebrate the subject, rather than condemn it. Simply doing the writing taught me a lot. Maybe a number of these kids and these 'professionals' shall one day come through the other end, but there's no need to take the angle so often flaunted.

I'm well and truly finished with opinion pieces on the Wii U, and completely and utterly done with wasting valuable seconds of my life reading some wee c**t telling anybody listening or reading that 'The Wii U needs to be £80', or 'If Nintendo don't go multiplatform by the end of the year I will never buy any of their products again', or such similar bollocks. SquidgyGoat's made a good point when he says we should "celebrate the subject (of Nintendo), rather than condemn it".

It's just doom, gloom, charts and sales figures these days. Fuck that.

I agree with old school, and that's the same reason I steer clear of most internet discussions on games. It's also the reason I still prefer to read as magazine rather than relying on websites. With a property magazine from s respectable publisher, you can expect a certain amount of intelligence and truth, rather than the most scaremongering headline possible that achieves maximum clicks.

Counterpoint!

Nintendo Isn't The Problem, You Are
Doubtless you’ve read a bunch of opinion pieces about what Nintendo’s problems are and how they should fix them all lately. It’s lead to a bunch of ingrates talking about going third party, developing for iOS or making a console to compete with the Xbox One and PS4.

And they’re all rubbish, rubbish suggestions and the people saying this stuff are idiots.

The article did cause me a few eyerolls, and it veers into hypocrisy at one point, but it's an interesting take on matters.

Somebody posted that on the CVG article. While ridiculous in places, it made me smile, and he does have some good points.

While it was a well enough written, if dull piece, I heartily disagree with some central sections of Crossley's piece on the Wii U. Namely: "The corporation's age-old principles - of quality and universal appeal - are still important but not enough to sway a modern audience." If quality and universal appeal aren't what a modern audience wants I don't want to be in a modern audience, dammit!

His article makes sense if it was nested in a business news place like the FT, but gaming press should be about what they need to do to make great games, not appease shareholders and armchair/highchair CEOs!

Also: "every games company has to do the same thing" - for profit maybe, for people who want to play game, NOOOOOOO!

"EA like Activision is only focused on games that can be big franchises" - because annualised franchises are where all the most beloved gaming is!

 "the design is taken down a path where a Frankenstein console, like the Wii U, is the inevitable outcome" - A games console that plays games. No install, no online enforcement, no media down the gullet. Besides, Frankenstein was a brilliant and misunderstood scientist...wait a second!

The sales failure is sad, but the doommongering is much, much sadder. I with Oldschool sentiments 100%.

Zaphod_B wrote:

His article makes sense if it was nested in a business news place like the FT, but gaming press should be about what they need to do to make great games, not appease shareholders and armchair/highchair CEOs!

Surely you can't be suggesting that the games press, simply by virtue of being such, should stick their head in the sand and ignore the outside world? Just because they're making "great games" doesn't mean that they can get away with failing to put tea on the table that Miyamoto's about to upend.