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

[Deleted_171835]

In an interview with Forbes, Reggie Fils-Aime spoke about the Wii U. When asked how the Wii U will compete against the PS4 and Xbox One thanks to the differences in processing power, he said...

"The processing power of the hardware really doesn't matter. I say that with confidence looking at the most recent generation of home consoles where the Wii, which the broad industry looked at and said "boy, that seems to be underpowered" but sold 100 million units globally. And the consumer saw the innovation of the Wii Remote and the active gameplay we offered.

Even if you look at the generation before that, it was Sony's product that was underpowered compared to the other two home consoles and yet they won that generation. In the end it comes down to the games. The games drive the install base, the games excite the consumer. We feel excited about the games not just from a first party perspective, But from third party as well."

http://www.gamerevolution.com/news/reggie-filsaime-points-to-ps2-in-defense-of-wii-u-power-20195

 

[Qtis]

Your lower image is broken for some reason..

As for the news, get the games rolling! Many of the recent Nintendo events only had "Out in 2014, Out in fall 2014, Out after 2013". While there are a few very good games already, they alone don't warrant a buy for many people. Especially with the relatively huge libraries of the Wii/PS3/360 generation that are available for quite a bit cheaper (yeah, yeah.. previous gen.. *grumble* *grumble*). As for the future, both Sony and Microsoft are at an advantage for 3rd party support, if the WiiU ends up being vastly inferior.

 

[Nathan Drake]

Oh Reggie, the irony in what you're saying is hilarious since the Wii U is both underpowered and has less and less publishers backing it as more time goes by.

I'm sure the Wii U will bounce back, but it won't be like the Wii and I don't think anything will ever be like the PS2.

 

[shakirmoledina]

I think miyamoto has clarified that bad advertising with devs, publishers, companies etc is the reason.
power as reggie is saying is not the deciding factor.

 

[Flame]

Reggie please get rid of this thing where 3rd party devs need to suck your dick for you to allow them to develop on your system. i.e. binding of isaac

 

[Law]

The playstation 2 had a lot of games. A lot of good games, and a lot of trash games. It basically had something for everybody.

Is the Wii U anything more than ports and first party Nintendo titles (excluding Bayonetta 2) yet?

Power didn't really matter to anybody in the PS2 era, did it? High spec PC gaming wasn't a big thing, and the PS2 was a huge step up from the PS1 in terms of 3D quality.

 

[Foxi4]

The PS2 was "underpowered" in comparison to the XBox and the Gamecube, however not to the point of being unable to launch multiplatform games, and that will be the case with the WiiU sooner or later. The Wii was underpowered but it had a charming Motion Controls mechanic at the height of Motion Control's popularity, a fantastic advertising campaign, a clear and defined target audience and a very approachable price point in comparison to the much "stronger" competitors - none of those are present in WiiU's case.

If the WiiU is to shoot into the same niche as the Wii, it has to become dirt-cheap - plain and simple. It has to become this cool and affordable gift for holidays of all-sorts, just like the Wii. No other maneuver will secure its position at this point when by spending $40-100 more (depending on which bundle we're talking about, but let's face it - nobody wants the Basic Wii U model) you can get yourself a PS4.

I've been saying this for a while now but I'll say it again - scrap the useless Basic bundle, release branded Nintendo enclosures/external HDD's (because frankly, customers are idiots and telling them that "they can connect an external drive to the system" isn't always enough - capitalize on this by making your own accessories), slash the price and you'll secure yourself a place on the market, even if at a loss. This will spur developer interest and the games will start flowing naturally. Sometimes it's good to take one for the team early on to reap profits later, and this is the time to take one for the team.

 

[WiiUBricker]

That's why Resident Evil 4 looked better on the GC than on PS2. Sadly most multiplatform third-party titles looked bad on the GC because of the laziness of the devs.

 

[the_randomizer]

More power doesn't guarantee better games. Better games (and more games) must be brought to a console in order for it to succeed. To all those who think the Wii U will lose solely based on its hardware being inferior to the others, wait for the games before fear-mongering, mmm kay?

 

[GameWinner]

Big difference between PS2 and Wii U: PS2 had third party support.

 

[Foxi4]

Big difference between PS2 and Wii U: PS2 had third party support.

That's pretty understandable too - by the time the Gamecube and the XBox were released, everybody and their dog had a PlayStation 2. Developing for the system made sense, underpowered in comparison or not - it was still going to push those sales like a steamroller.

I forgot to mention that Reggie sticks to specs alone, not the capabilities. The PS2 supported DVD playback, the XBox supported DVD playback, the Gamecube did not support DVD playback. The XBox was Online-Ready out of the box, the PS2 was made Online-Ready via an adapter and later Ethernet was included in the Slim revision to support it out of the box, the Gamecube used a Network Adapter and only ever had four games that even supported Online. One of those consoles sold the least units - hmmm, which one?

Raw numbers alone don't make up for the entirety of the console's real-life performance - it's what the console can actually do that interests the End User. Effectively both the PS2 and the XBox could be used as home entertainment centers as well as consoles, and that was a big deal at the time of their release - the Gamecube? Not so much.

 

[FAST6191]

Wow some top class diplomatic/choice phrasing there. Even if the can not throw down the gauntlet in terms of farting out a decent machine it seems they have some world class marketing speak.

 

[emigre]

The difference is with the Wii, Nintendo knew what they where doing. With the Wii U, they haven't got a clue.

 

[narutofan777]

ps2 is better than wii u.

 

[the_randomizer]

The difference is with the Wii, Nintendo knew what they where doing. With the Wii U, they haven't got a clue.

Even I admit that aspect. Nintendo needs do some serious marketing overhaul in order for it to gain momentum.

PS2 is better than Wii u.

Bitch please
PSX was better than either.

 

[Gahars]

To all those who think the Wii U will lose solely based on its hardware being inferior to the others, wait for the games before fear-mongering, mmm kay?

wait for the games

We have been waiting. We are still waiting. That's the problem.

 

[the_randomizer]

We have been waiting. We are still waiting. That's the problem.

They will next month, them month after that, etc. The major issue is that pacing or the rate at which games are released is abysmal and inexcusable. The gaming drought is a plague.

 

[RedCoreZero]

Where's the fucking commercials where's the fucking ads?Nintendo stop with the shit, release the games, and get it out there!

 

[Foxi4]

Where's the fucking commercials where's the fucking ads?Nintendo stop with the shit, release the games, and get it out there!
*semi-accurate but still poor economic insight*

First and foremost, you can't accurately compare a 2012 launch to a 2005 or 2006 launch - those systems are a generation apart and we're seeing an increase in sales of consoles generation after generation - one would expect sales exceeding those of the previous generation systems. While you're at it, you might as well compare it to NES sales in the same time frame and praise it to the heavens as a console that's better than the NES. Results from 2005-2006 have limited relevance in 2013.

Moreover, the PS3 cost $499/$599 at launch depending on the bundle, the XBox 360 cost $299/399. This means that the PS3 cost considerably more than the WiiU and the XBox 360 Core cost just as much the basic WiiU, however the standard model (which everybody wanted anyways because the Core one sucked) was more expensive than the $359 Deluxe WiiU.

What I'm saying here is that the comparison is inaccurate because the systems are simply too far apart and they very in price - if you want to compare it to something, wait a couple more months and check how the PS4/XBox One situation will look like after 4 months from their release. The economic standing fluctuates and comparing sales results that are 6 years apart while the systems do not have matching prices is a little bit of a stretch.

Moreover, you have to take into account the changing value of the major world currencies as well as the Yen and Yuan appreciation rates which fell down immensly after the recent economical crisis. 2 million dollars made in 2005-2006 does not have the same value as 2 million dollars made in 2013, so in a lot of ways, it's entirely possible that with such a time gap, you could end up earning "more with less" so to speak.

//Economy

 

[assassinz]

With the touchscreen controller, the Wii U is more like a NDS in terms of game control options. I'm surprised that all the 3rd party developers that made games for NDS aren't onboard with the Wii U.

Personally, I think we are going to see some great games on Wii U once developers are familiar with the hardware capabilities/possibilities.

 

[totalnoob617]

nintendo : rush the system out 1st before any other next gen consoles so it has weakest HW, then make no games for it so nobody has any incentive to buy it
great marketing stratergy reggie, you should have stayed at pizza hut slangin cheese sticks and p'zones