@GreenvaleXYZ @MrMan2000 Totally wrong. If a killer game came out that made revolutionary use of the WiiU gamepad.....THAT is the kind of thing that could turn sales around....by getting people like me interested.
To date, however, that doesn't exist. Same with motion controls....same with all the gimmicky voice / motion control stuff on the XBONE.
Until those features are converted into COMPELLINGLY SATISFYING activities they are gimmicks. And gimmicks won't sell in today's gaming market as they did in 2007.
I'd love for someone to figure out how to make this stuff FUN and INTERESTING but it simply hasn't happened yet.
@de-astroturfer No, no and no. Those are not the problems. You can call it whatever you want, won't change a thing. Confusion about the system or lack of marketing have very little to do with the system's problems.
The WiiU was practically doomed from the start, a victim of the success of the Wii. What I mean is the Wii was hugely successful by appealing to non-traditional gamers.....casual gamers if you will. That made it sell very, very well back in 2007. But it also meant hardcore gamers turned to more serious systems from MS and Sony who satisfied their needs with greater graphical and computational power, bigger libraries of games and much more advanced online capabilities.
In 2013 the casual gamers don't need a console...they have their phones, tablets and free-to-play PC offerings. The WiiU means nothing to them. Additionally, the WiiU has fallen even further behind MS and Sony in appealing to hardcore gamers. The underpowered system is barely competitive with PS3 and Xbox360....still lags far behind in terms of online capabilities (to the old consoles, not the new ones).....and is now losing 3rd party support.
It was doomed from the beginning...and everything that has happened since launch was easily predicted. Confusion about the system, name changes, more marketing....not the problem.
@Nev3rtime @A8ADD0N But the world has changed since the Gamecube. Back then there were a wide variety of games, from big-budget, to mid-class to cheap.
Today, games are so expensive, publishers aren't going to invest in production for a console with a tiny install base. Which means the already shaky 3rd-party support will continue to decline...rapidly.
Which will leave the console with only first party games. Which will mean even fewer consumers purchasing the console.
Essentially WiiU has already fallen into a crippling chicken-and-egg conundrum: without solid 3rd-part support, consumers don't purchase consoles....and without a large install base, 3rd-party publishers won't support the system.
@GreenvaleXYZ As soon as someone can tell how using the gamepad adds any compelling value I'm sure people will begin to mention it. Till then, it's just a gimmick.
@hotdiddykong I find it amusing how many times you claim that "fanboys" just don't get it. Any time someone claims others are just too stupid to understand the greatness that is (insert band / movie / video game console) is the surest sign of pure fanboyism.
It's really pretty simple. Nintendo hit gold with the Wii by crossing over to casual gamers in 2006. In doing so, they lost the hardcore gamer market. No shame in that; they made buckets of money and introduced all kinds of non-traditional gamers to the video game genre.
But in 2013 casual gamers can play games for practically nothing on ther phone, tablet, PC, through their cable or satellite box......endless ways ways that don't require an investment in a stand-alone, expensive console.
Add the fact the Wii is woefully underpowered compared to the next gen of consoles....and is barely even with the last gen of consoles......and the fact that the online support is a distant third compared to MS and Sony.....and they have a backwards method of tying purchases to a device (as opposed to a user, like everyone else does)......
....and there's only one simple conclusion: it's a loser. Both casual consumers and hardcore gamers see no reason to make the investment.
Your argument that it's a better game system now compared to PS4 or XBONE lacks any vision whatsoever. The question for the purchaser isn't what is best NOW but what will be best throughout the lifetime of the console. And only a TRUE fanboy would argue the WiiU offers a brighter, more satisfactory future than either XBONE, PS4, perhaps even the Steam consoles....maybe even the Ouya.
@The_evil_Nemesi @4_Horsemen Why do they charge $100 more for xbox and playstation where you shop than they do everywhere else? You might wanna find new places to get game gear.
I remember when I could go to the Gamespot site and actually READ the articles. Now I'm bombarded with endless videos. I can only surmise they believe their audience prefers watching / listening to reading....but not me. Since the "update" and the migration to virtually all video / zero articles I find this site almost useless.
Please explain why this is in video form and not written? I honestly can't stand how these "journalists" think listening to them talk while looking at their ugly mug is a better or more enlightening experience than reading their written words?
If you're going to insist on making video at least leverage the capabilities of the medium. Just talking into a camera is taking the square peg of written journalism and plugging it into the round hole of broadcast journalism.
MrMan2000's comments