Wii-U thoughts so far

[dsheinem]

isn't the fact that it isn't sold out everywhere and hard to find - RIGHT BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS - indicative of an enthusiasm problem?

By comparison:

360 had shortages: http://www.planetxbox360.com/article_63 ... 0_Shortage
PS3 had shortages: http://www.gamespot.com/news/tretton-la ... ep-6183626
Wii had shortages: http://money.cnn.com/2006/12/17/comment ... /index.htm

That's despite those systems moving 300,000-600,000 or so units each during the first few weeks of launch. None of these companies could make consoles fast enough. The fact that most of us can find a Wii U at many stores in our area means that there's probably not a lot of enthusiasm for the console. Also worth keeping in mind: both Nintendo itself and most analysts before launch predicted there'd likely be a Wii U shortage come December, and that hasn't really happened.

I think it is fair to say that this is a launch that, for the general public, has been entirely underwhelming. Most people I've talked with (anecdotal evidence, sure) have no idea that the Wii U is even a new system, let alone have any interest in dropping $300+ on it. As console launches go, this is weak. Whether that has any bearing on long-term success remains to be seen.

[Blu]

Dave, do you think the market is too saturated? I think that's two pronged, too. Is it saturated from a business perspective, and are consumers feeling there are too many consoles to choose from? This might explain the supply not going into shortage, despite projections.

[BoringSupreez]

Dave, do you think the market is too saturated? I think that's two pronged, too. Is it saturated from a business perspective, and are consumers feeling there are too many consoles to choose from? This might explain the supply not going into shortage, despite projections.

Wii Minus
Wii Mini
Wii U Basic
Wii U Deluxe
DSi
DSi XL
3DS
3DS XL

All of these are currently in production by Nintendo. That's quite a lot of choice.

[Thierry Henry]

Dave, do you think the market is too saturated? I think that's two pronged, too. Is it saturated from a business perspective, and are consumers feeling there are too many consoles to choose from? This might explain the supply not going into shortage, despite projections.

Wii Minus
Wii Mini
Wii U Basic
Wii U Deluxe
DSi
DSi XL
3DS
3DS XL

All of these are currently in production by Nintendo. That's quite a lot of choice.

Kinda like Sega at one point during their console days:

Genesis Model 1
Genesis Model 2
Sega CD Model 1
Sega CD Model 2
Nomad
CDX
Game Gear
32X
Saturn
They were even still supporting the Master System in Europe at that time.

[emwearz]

I think the bigger issue is that a lot of people seem to think the WiiU is a tablet controller for the Wii. My girlfriends sister and her boyfriend, who is a fairly light gamer but still play racing and sports games on a regular basis, didn't realize the Wii U was a new console all together.

No aided by the face that the Wii U at a quick glance looks very similar to the Wii.

That being said. I have my console and I am really enjoying it, I am 2 worlds into NSBMWU with my girlfriend, who is the least gaming person ever (other than Angry Birds), she loves using the gamepad to 'help' out.

I had a whole lot off issues with freezing and stuttering, it ended up being my SD card being in my console, it then started taking way too long (minutes) in between menu screens and it was due to Youtube downloading in the background, I cancelled it and downloaded it again and now everything is much smoother, other than the OS taking some time to get between screens, similar to the PS3 early on.

[Hobie-wan]

I think the bigger issue is that a lot of people seem to think the WiiU is a tablet controller for the Wii. My girlfriends sister and her boyfriend, who is a fairly light gamer but still play racing and sports games on a regular basis, didn't realize the Wii U was a new console all together.

Which is why it was dumb for them to name it WiiU. Wii2, Super Wii, Ultra Wii, or Wii Ultra would have been better.

[Niode]

I think the bigger issue is that a lot of people seem to think the WiiU is a tablet controller for the Wii. My girlfriends sister and her boyfriend, who is a fairly light gamer but still play racing and sports games on a regular basis, didn't realize the Wii U was a new console all together.

Which is why it was dumb for them to name it WiiU. Wii2, Super Wii, Ultra Wii, or Wii Ultra would have been better.

Personally think Nintendo Cafe would have been fine...

[emwearz]

I think the bigger issue is that a lot of people seem to think the WiiU is a tablet controller for the Wii. My girlfriends sister and her boyfriend, who is a fairly light gamer but still play racing and sports games on a regular basis, didn't realize the Wii U was a new console all together.

Which is why it was dumb for them to name it WiiU. Wii2, Super Wii, Ultra Wii, or Wii Ultra would have been better.

I completely agree, same issue with Nintendo 3DS, after you release the DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSiXL how would people know it was a different system. Nintendo never use numerical order in consoles (NES2, etc). PlayStation 4 stands out as something completely new, while if Sony called it the Playstation 3U people would be like 'Dah fuk!?'.

[Niode]

I think the bigger issue is that a lot of people seem to think the WiiU is a tablet controller for the Wii. My girlfriends sister and her boyfriend, who is a fairly light gamer but still play racing and sports games on a regular basis, didn't realize the Wii U was a new console all together.

Which is why it was dumb for them to name it WiiU. Wii2, Super Wii, Ultra Wii, or Wii Ultra would have been better.

I completely agree, same issue with Nintendo 3DS, after you release the DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSiXL how would people know it was a different system. Nintendo never use numerical order in consoles (NES2, etc). PlayStation 4 stands out as something completely new, while if Sony called it the Playstation 3U people would be like 'Dah fuk!?'.

Was in CEX earlier and a guy tried to return Nintendogs 3DS because he thought it would work on a DS... I also had a friend of mine on Facebook ask "can 3DS games work on a DS if I don't want the 3D parts". Your average person just doesn't get that they are two completely separate systems. When I told people at work that I was getting a WiiU and these are 'gamers' as well as being technical people (I work in IT now) and they all thought it was an add-on for the Wii... It's bizarre. It's like Nintendo just haven't explained or marketed this thing AT ALL. The buzz around the Wii was incredible, everybody knew about it before its launch in November over here. It's like everybody is just "wtf is WiiU?".

[Reprise]

Yeah, they should have called it a Wii 2. The Wii U doesn't mean anything to the general uninformed public.