Reggie Fils-Aime points to the PS2 and Wii in defense of the Wii U's power

[xist]

They already knew that sales were going to be bad before it released.

So why release it and accumulate a metric tonne of bad PR? There wasn't any massive rush to launch the good ship U and the blind optimism that it'll all come good is seemingly poorly placed. By the time the system has any games a similarly priced system, which is a "generation ahead"*, will be out.

As for the PS2/Wii U argument....it's stupid, poorly made (the PS2 wasn't a generation of power/potential behind it's competitors), and based on no observational sense (third party support is totally incomparable between the systems). What's Reggie good for these days apart from making silly soundbites that inflame people?

*Give or take....

 

[Deleted member 194275]

When he is talking with Forbes, he is meaning that the lack of power is not a barrier to have profit, but we know that the lack of power is a barrier to devs create good games.

That's why Nintendo do not stopped on Nintendo DS and released 3DS for example.

 

[DSGamer64]

I am just saying that by rushing the system out 1st you pretty much set yourself back in hardware terms and since they had no games lined up there was no reason to rush the system out

They had no choice. Releasing the Wii U this holiday season would be a sales disaster for them and it's the ideal time of year to release a console.

 

[CompassNorth]

One of the reasons the PS2 sold so well was because it was a game console, and also was a DVD player.
I don't know if you guys remember, but DVD players were pricey back then and the PS2 was a great choice.

 

[Foxi4]

They had no choice. Releasing the Wii U this holiday season would be a sales disaster for them and it's the ideal time of year to release a console.

The ideal time to release the WiiU was be 3 or even 4 years ago when nobody's even heard of the PS4 or the XBox One. With its superior specs it had the chance to snag a good portion of the userbase as well as a great number of multiplatform titles - right now it just seems lackluster in comparison to what's to come.

 

[ForteGospel]

expect slow adoption of all three consoles

 

[DSGamer64]

The ideal time to release the WiiU would be 3 or even 4 years ago when nobody's even heard of the PS4 or the XBox One and with its superior specs it had the chance to snag a good portion of the userbase as well as a good portion of multiplatform titles - right now it just seems lackluster in comparison to what's to come.

I don't think Nintendo was in the position to release a new console then. In terms of the financial implications and third party support, they were in no position to release a console, especially one that developers seem to think isn't as powerful as the 360 or PS3.

 

[Foxi4]

I don't think Nintendo was in the position to release a new console then. In terms of the financial implications and third party support, they were in no position to release a console, especially one that developers seem to think isn't as powerful as the 360 or PS3.

Only a handful of idiots claim that it's weaker, and I fully realize they were not in the position to release it at that time (as in, the design wasn't anywhere near ready). What I'm saying is that it would've been the ideal time to release it. Work on the WiiU should've started much earlier.

3-4 years ago it would actually have the vibe of a next generation system, but now that we've seen what other nextgens will be capable of doing, the WiiU's results pale in comparison.

 

[DSGamer64]

Actually, we have hardly seen anything other then a few glimpses of what next gen will entail. A bunch of Xbox trailers and demos that turned out to be running on a Windows 7 PC, and a few peeks at what Sony is offering don't really display much of what is coming next gen.

 

[Foxi4]

Actually, we have hardly seen anything other then a few glimpses of what next gen will entail. A bunch of Xbox trailers and demos that turned out to be running on a Windows 7 PC, and a few peeks at what Sony is offering don't really display much of what is coming next gen.

Spoiler

*inFamous: Second Son and Forza 5

Denial, you are a cruel mistress.

 

[LightyKD]

That mofo can cite the PS2 all day long but his excuse is a crummy one. The PS2 was also a good example of "how not to kill off your current console while releasing a new one" but hey... Nintendo loves murdering their last console in favor of the new one. Nintendo's issue in regards to me is that they decided to take six years of blue ocean progress and toss it out the fucking window. I like casual gaming. I like MOTION gaming. Instead of pushing forward and having developers find creative ways to use motion gaming, they chickened out and with with a traditional play style with a added touch screen. Are you shitting me???

 

[the_randomizer]

Graphics can only go so far before they overshadow the replay value of a game. Just saying. There needs to be a balance between eye candy and how fun something is. Not saying that PS4 or Xbox One games won't be fun, but if the games suck, you can have the best graphics in the world and it will stick not be enjoyable. Just voicing my feelings on the viewpoints of those who think graphics are the be-all-end-all determining factor.

That mofo can cite the PS2 all day long but his excuse is a crummy one. The PS2 was also a good example of "how not to kill off your current console while releasing a new one" but hey... Nintendo loves murdering their last console in favor of the new one. Nintendo's issue in regards to me is that they decided to take six years of blue ocean progress and toss it out the fucking window. I like casual gaming. I like MOTION gaming. Instead of pushing forward and having developers find creative ways to use motion gaming, they chickened out and with with a traditional play style with a added touch screen. Are you shitting me???

Someone here takes video games a little too seriously. Take a chill pill. What Nintendo does shouldn't affect how you live.

 

[Foxi4]

The PS2 was also a good example of "how not to kill off your current console while releasing a new one" but hey... Nintendo loves murdering their last console in favor of the new one.

The Wii was already dead and slowly decomposing at that point.

I like casual gaming. I like MOTION gaming. Instead of pushing forward and having developers find creative ways to use motion gaming, they chickened out and with with a traditional play style with a added touch screen. Are you shitting me???

Because touchscreen-based gaming is a standard when it comes to home consoles - it's traditional. It also cannot be used in a casual fashion at all, it's not like 3/4th's of casual games is made for smartphones and strongly utilize touchscreens.

As far as motion controls go, The WiiU Gamepad has accelerometers, gyros and whatnot plus the WiiU is compatible with WiiMotes so...

 

[Deleted_171835]

The only reason Wii sold well was because it was cheap, easy to hack and Zelda/SSB/Mario wheeled in the dough. Other than that, Wii would have lost it were it not for those 3 things.

Nope, the reason the Wii sold well was the Wiimote (and the price of course). At the time, motion-controls were new and innovative. They haven't been used in a serious manner in videogames before and it really had a "cool factor" to it. Even before the Wii launched, everyone wanted to try out the system.

Part of the genius of the Wii was that the barrier to the casual market were broken thanks to the simple control-scheme. Instead of having to press all these buttons on some complicated controller to play golf, just swing the Wii Mote like a golf club! Or to play tennis, just swing it like a tennis racket. That shit was simple and easy to understand.

It even garnered a significant amount of interest from the hardcore in the beginning as well. I mean, using the Wii Mote as a gun in Metroid Prime 3 was pretty fucking cool at the time. As well as being able to actually swing a sword in real-life and have it work in-game (even if that wasn't realized properly until Red Steel 2).

With the Wii U, Nintendo forgot all about the casual market. Instead of the simplistic controls of the Wii, they introduced a controller that had a huge screen and all the traditional controls that scared casuals away in the very beginning. Even worse is that it had a very "been there, done that" feeling since the advent of tablets such as the iPad. If they had launched two years back before or around the time the iPad came out, the Wii U would likely be selling much much better right now.

So the casual market is gone, what about the hardcore? Nintendo hasn't done much there either. They still released a console that pales in comparison to the other next-gens in terms of specs. They get a lot of late ports that everyone has already played and they sell like shit because Nintendo hasn't done much to cultivate a hardcore base on their system. They've failed to properly advertise the benefits of the Wii U's controller with their own games, with Ubisoft even doing a better job than they are with ZombiU.

Right now, Nintendo seems completely lost. They say they want the hardcore but their actions show otherwise. They claim to be trying to reclaim the casual market but seem to forgot how. I'll give them until this holiday season before I put the final nail in the Wii U's coffin but things aren't looking bright right now.

 

[LightyKD]

I understand that the gamepad has motion ability but it's just as much of a joke as the sixaxis was. It will only be good for racing games. I'm also aware that the Wii U supports the Wii Remote but most third party devs are using the game pad and pro conttrollers as an excuse to straight-port their 360 games and say F.U. to the remote. I really wanted a motion controlled version of Arkham City in the same vein as godfather blackhand edition and we got nothing but standard controlls on the gamepad. Sorry but Wii U feels like XBox with Mario and not a Nintendo console with Mario.

 

[Rayder]

Nintendo's biggest issue is that most gamers that consider themselves hardcore call Nintendo "kiddie-systems" and won't bother with them. Nintendo needs to shed the "kiddie-system" image.

While that image worked for them in the past, it's obviously not working that well anymore. The kiddies grow up and want more mature gaming. But Ninty just releases another Mario game instead.

That is what Nintendo's problem is these days.

 

[TripleSMoon]

Nintendo's biggest issue is that most gamers that consider themselves hardcore call Nintendo "kiddie-systems" and won't bother with them. Nintendo needs to shed the "kiddie-system" image.

While that image worked for them in the past, it's obviously not working that well anymore. The kiddies grow up and want more mature gaming. But Ninty just releases another Mario game instead.

That is what Nintendo's problem is these days.

Also, it seems to me like parents don't coddle the "kiddie market" as much as they used to. twenty-some years ago, it was the biggest scandal in the world for kids to be playing Mortal Kombat with pixelated blood spurts and fatalities.

Meanwhile today, you have no idea how many times I hear parents talk about (either directly to me, or in the background at GameStop) buying or preordering games like Far Cry 3 or Resident Evil for their 9 year olds. Heck, sometimes they even ask the store employees if a particular M-rated game is "too bad," for their young kid before concluding that it's not that bad based on the information given to them. We live in a totally different era now where being an M-Rated game doesn't mean much now as far as what age category is going to play the game.

 

[the_randomizer]

Nintendo's biggest issue is that most gamers that consider themselves hardcore call Nintendo "kiddie-systems" and won't bother with them. Nintendo needs to shed the "kiddie-system" image.

While that image worked for them in the past, it's obviously not working that well anymore. The kiddies grow up and want more mature gaming. But Ninty just releases another Mario game instead.

That is what Nintendo's problem is these days.

But there are also too many mature games that are over the top with gore, people getting blow up, zombies or other so-called mature games. Where do you draw the line?

 

[emigre]

Meanwhile today, you have no idea how many times I hear parents talk about (either directly to me, or in the background at GameStop) buying or preordering games like Far Cry 3 or Resident Evil for their 9 year olds. Heck, sometimes they even ask the store employees if a particular M-rated game is "too bad," for their young kid before concluding that it's not that bad based on the information given to them. We live in a totally different era now where being an M-Rated game doesn't mean much now as fa as what age category is going to play the game.

Generally speaking, parents don't give a shit about classifications.

 

[the_randomizer]

Generally speaking, parents don't give a shit about classifications.

Sad but true, people really don't care about that anymore.