Wii-U thoughts so far

[jmbarnes101]

The only games that I wish were brought to the GameCube from that above list are OddWorld: Stranger's Wrath, Psychonauts, and the two Capcom Classic Collection games; and MvC 1 and 2 (not on list). The Sega exclusives would have been great as well but that wasn't happening. I think MS had exclusive rights to OddWorld as well.

From the PS2, some of the RPG's as well as Okami would have been nice but the Wii got a remastered version of Okami at least.

Looking at that list though you can start to see where Nintendo 3rd party really took a nosedive with what American gamers would have wanted. Most or all of that loss has never been recovered, at least on the console side.

[Tanooki]

It was an intentional lie by the press, they've always been uneven fanboys towards one company or another and usually most the key multi-system sites would not give Nintendo a good shake.

I mainly remember G4 peddling that shit. They seemed to have something against Nintendo.

Most gaming sites have a bias towards one or more console companies, for what it's worth. Not that it's an excuse.

I don't think it's accurate at all to say the 3rd party drought on Gamecube was a manufactured lie. Especially starting in 2004, a lot of 3rd party games only released on Xbox and PS2. Burnout Revenge, Psychonauts, Mercenaries, Brothers in Arms, all the GTAs, and many others never made it to the Gamecube.

It's not and it's fair, because even sequels that sold well on Nintendo didn't get their follow ups which was pretty shady. The lie of sorts is that people looking back were told that the system never had stuff and since manufactured history can easily be quoted for truth since sites like IGN, Gamespot, Kotaku(very anti-Nintendo) and others have been online over a decade it's easy to get a false impression. They had it going for 3 years, but after that, it fell off pretty bad, yet still nowhere near as awful as the support for Wii and especially WiiU have been. There was a true downward slide since 2004-05. I remember having a heap of really solid games, even EA stuff like the Connery Bond game, the MOH trilogy, the Activision stuff including those COD titles, Ubisoft with Beyond Good and Evil, Capcom with PN06, Viewtiful JOe, the Mega Man things, and RE4. GC was treated fairly well, definitely better than the N64 was. Sega even tossed some great gems too along with Skies of Arcadia.

[Sarge]

I really do think it's a case of market demographics. Nintendo had already branded the "kiddy" system even before the GC, and the sales of a lot of the third party titles probably bore that out. Companies made a decision to not put their wares on the system because of that, and the aforementioned weird controller and limited space on the disc.

Does it irk me? Yeah. Just like the Wii was treated as a "fad", most of the big hitters didn't support it, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Although who knows, it'd probably just be like the GC, where folks ignore all but the first-party software. That's my ultimate annoyance with folks and the Nintendo systems now. Even the Wii U, as iffy as the third-party support is, has some great titles that are ignored. The Wii, with all its units sold, had tons of overlooked gems.

[Exhuminator]

Nintendo had already branded the "kiddy" system / the Wii was treated as a "fad"

To be fair though, Nintendo was as responsible for those misconceptions as anyone else. The Wii U's unfortunate fate is the long term result of chasing fickle demographics, betting on gimmicks, and utilizing underpowered technology. That's not personal disdain speaking either, I'm all for Nintendo doing well.

[BogusMeatFactory]

Nintendo had already branded the "kiddy" system / the Wii was treated as a "fad"

To be fair though, Nintendo was as responsible for those misconceptions as anyone else. The Wii U's unfortunate fate is the long term result of chasing fickle demographics, betting on gimmicks, and utilizing underpowered technology. That's not personal disdain speaking either, I'm all for Nintendo doing well.

I get frustrated with the gimmick argument. I honestly disagree when people say that Motion controls or the gamepad is a gimmick. It works exceptionally well and is only a gimmick, because people refuse to work with it. Just because it isn't the standard does not make it a gimmick.

Yes there were misconceptions. The name is far too similar to the previous system and the design is too similar, making people think that the gamepad was an add-on to the original Wii. I feel like Nintendo's deviation from the norm is the killing blow with 3rd party developers, but I can not fault Nintendo for that fact.

How dare Nintendo make 3rd party developers think outside the box! Shame on them! (I want to make it clear that this little end rant is not in direct response to your comment, but more a commentary about my frustration with game development as a whole).

[Tanooki]

Nintendo had already branded the "kiddy" system / the Wii was treated as a "fad"

To be fair though, Nintendo was as responsible for those misconceptions as anyone else. The Wii U's unfortunate fate is the long term result of chasing fickle demographics, betting on gimmicks, and utilizing underpowered technology. That's not personal disdain speaking either, I'm all for Nintendo doing well.

While I agree with you due to the purpleness of the GC and how the Wii got handled, it wasn't their fault in the beginning. It was Sony who played them and used the gaming media and fanboys as their pawns to get the ball to start rolling. All the fickle Nintendo buyers, Nintendo's behaviors in this century in particular, and the media along with mouthpiece blowhard developers all had a hand. Sony originally used their media wing to slam Nintendo as a childs toy because of the carts, the goofy controllers, and because they had prominent games from them and Rare meant for pre-teens(really all ages.) They yet had more T/M games in those starting years than the PS1 had initially, but the slam worked and you can see how all that dried up for like 3 years up until the end with stuff like Conker and RE2. Sony played the old classic Nazi propaganda game well, tell a lie enough times it becomes the truth. They did, it became reality, and instead of defeating that fact, Nintendo instead and their mindless fans molded it even more ever since which also ended up including just wanting to buy their own stuff and snubbing the rest as sales data for their consoles have played out. It's really quite sad.

[Sarge]

Well, a lot of third parties started abandoning the GC, despite the fact that it was a very, very powerful system. In some ways, it might have been better than the XBOX. I simply see the Wii as continuing the trend. Similar architecture, and Nintendo aiming at a demographic that was more likely to align with their current market. I remember all the "blue ocean" talk, and really, if they hadn't done that, I'm convinced they'd be Sega right now.

Also, the "kiddy" perception has nagged them ever since the Genesis days. Sega managed to paint them incredibly well, and targeted the kids that grew up with Nintendo as they grew up. How ironic, then, that they got the same treatment from Sony, who went that one step further. I've also noticed that this created an entire generation that whines about how Nintendo needs to "grow up", because their tastes as they grew up were catered to at every moment of their lives, and how dare Nintendo not follow suit!

Now, Nintendo is clearly good at hitting that particular demographic. And I, personally, would rather see it stay that way. The last thing we need is them trying to hit the grimdark aesthetic. Maybe Nintendo can get some folks on board with the NX to cover that gap. Probably not. But I certainly hold out hope.

[Exhuminator]

I get frustrated with the gimmick argument. I honestly disagree when people say that Motion controls or the gamepad is a gimmick.

Let's rephrase it as "novel control inputs" then. Nintendo used novel control inputs for their DS, Wii, 3DS, and Wii U. When used correctly these inputs are indeed novel. When the inputs are used badly, they come across a bit gimmicky however. Don't make me remind you of all the waggle shovelware the Wii was inundated with. Or the scratch the stylus as fast as you can DS games. That sort of thing was indeed gimmicky, even if the control input itself was not a gimmick.

@Tanooki/@Sarge

Nintendo themselves made their brand come off as child oriented in many ways in the past. Their unceasing censorship of games on the NES and SNES for example. Their unwillingness to have blood in their games (remember Mortal Kombat on SNES?) Nintendo's mascots being entirely made up of cartoony and colorful characters during the NES and SNES era. It was stuff like this that Nintendo chose to do themselves which SEGA and Sony were able to use as springboards for their Nintendo-is-for-kids defamation campaigns.

Nintendo has come a long way since the NES/SNES days insofar as allowing (and producing) more mature content on their platforms. We more discerning gamers know that. But at the same time the Amiibo toys and the upcoming Nintendo LAND themepark at Universal continue to make their brand look kid oriented to the less informed.

[BogusMeatFactory]

While I agree with you due to the purpleness of the GC and how the Wii got handled, it wasn't their fault in the beginning. It was Sony who played them and used the gaming media and fanboys as their pawns to get the ball to start rolling. All the fickle Nintendo buyers, Nintendo's behaviors in this century in particular, and the media along with mouthpiece blowhard developers all had a hand. Sony originally used their media wing to slam Nintendo as a childs toy because of the carts, the goofy controllers, and because they had prominent games from them and Rare meant for pre-teens(really all ages.) They yet had more T/M games in those starting years than the PS1 had initially, but the slam worked and you can see how all that dried up for like 3 years up until the end with stuff like Conker and RE2. Sony played the old classic Nazi propaganda game well, tell a lie enough times it becomes the truth. They did, it became reality, and instead of defeating that fact, Nintendo instead and their mindless fans molded it even more ever since which also ended up including just wanting to buy their own stuff and snubbing the rest as sales data for their consoles have played out. It's really quite sad.

[Tanooki]

Sorry you don't agree with the truth, but hey, can't win them all.