[Gaming] A Few Thoughts on Nintendo and the WiiU

Deep fried extra crispy Jesus tap dancing on a stick...the amount of Nintendo negativity out there is amazing lately.  There's so many click bait headlines and insane, half baked ideas being tossed around that you just want to get the "common sense stick" out and start beating people.

Yes, they lowered expectations of sales, down to 2.8mil vs 9mil, and their stock price tanked, that is bad news. However, I don't think anyone was really surprised by that move and deep down they knew it was going to happen.

I've always been a big Nintendo fan, but even diehard fans can see that Nintendo hasn't exactly dealt with the Wii U in any kind of way that can be considered good over the past year. There really is no denying that fact and focus is something they really need this coming year. The lack of advertising, power and too few games,  along with several other things have plagued the system, but that doesn't mean Nintendo can't turn things around here either. A strong showing at E3 and other events is definitely needed to help that effort. The fact that people are confused about the product definitely shows that their own message is getting lost with consumers and those things can help get it back on track. 

Interestingly enough, none of the issues are really with the Wii U hardware itself. Well, outside of people who can't see the physical differences for some reason, which I still don't get. One can make an argument for any of the above, but the system itself is a solid piece of hardware and works very well as intended. Aside from the OS update causing some problems at launch, it's been extremely reliable and not many reports of failure are out there at all when compared to previous systems from Sony and Microsoft. So at least it's holding up the banner that Nintendo equals dependability for the long haul once again.

Sure it isn't as powerful as the PS4/Xbox One and doesn't have some of their features due to that, but are those really necessary for actually playing games? Not really and while it's causing problems, it's really not the biggest issue facing it either.  There's also been a side battle in recent years to try and "control the living room", there is a cost for that too. Still, Nintendo didn't completely ignore that fact and put in some nice features as well, keeping them in the hunt a little, and they don't take away from the actual gaming experience either. The other stuff is just a bonus in the end for the most part.

The problems that everyone seems to latch onto seem to be lack of consumer awareness, raw horsepower and games. Some of that is on Nintendo's head for sure, no arguing that. However, the big one is the games issue and that is equally on the heads of third party developers. Nintendo, along with Criterion, Capcom, Ubisoft and a few others, have proven great games can and will happen regardless of the specs if one actually works with the system. They proved that with the Wii and have kept doing it with the Wii U. Other developers seem to have gotten lazy or are suffering from severe memory lapses.  Their outright refusal to tailor some things to different perspectives and systems has been incredibly ignorant and even catastrophic at times . They blame the system specs, sales or tons of other things and prefer stick to tired formulas and gameplay all throughout. Where's the fun in that?

When you really look at it though, the blame lies with third 3rd parties more than anyone else and it all started with the Wii.

Some big developers, EA comes to mind, have been extremely childish about the Wii U's issues, especially the power and install base ones. Yes, I understand they need more console sales to justify the costs of developing games, especially the big budget ones, but you also need the games to be on the platform to make it intriguing too. Not just older ports, games lacking features, or games you can get everywhere else. Big multi-plats are nice, but eventually that train is going to end and other games can exist along side them easily.

Since the days of the Wii many games from 3rd party developers were ported from the 360 or PS3 and due to the Wii's lack of power many features were cut and most DLC never made it to the system at all. That's a massive problem, but who's really going to buy a game like that? No one.

A change in thinking is and was needed for developing on the Wii U. You'd think they would have learned from their mistakes, but they seem to be intent on making many of the same ones all over again. It's madness on their part.

So, what do we get? Many developers pulling support for the Wii U or announcing such during the first year. Their reasoning is "Poor sales" and "lack of interest". Okay, who's fault is that now, hmmm? Like Nintendo can be for themselves, they're also their own worst enemy. The difference is that the third parties' past releases were shoddy at best in most cases and completely horrific in others. They've created mistrust in the consumer's mind and now they're complaining about it as if they did nothing wrong. News flash, it doesn't work that way. The fact that so many gamers out there buy into it is absurd.

You really can't tell me they're honestly shocked about it all when you look at their past history of consistently putting out bad games for Nintendo consoles in last decade. Add that to whole "No DLC or future support" and it just becomes tragically comical. They've done all the damage to themselves and while you can say they had no choice due to the power difference, they could've at least done a better job to make them not so horrible. Even the games they made with the Wii in mind were horrible messes, as if they didn't care and then complained about low sales. What did they expect? It's the very definition of insanity and I really have to wonder what's in the water at some of these places.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't their full intent to do so, and the publishers maybe got in the way, but I don't think that's really the case. They're just completely insane and drunk on self induced superiority complexes. It's so illogical and counter intuitive that it hurts my brain just thinking about it. You put out a good product and then support your product or don't. If it's the latter, you can't be surprised when people shun your product and/or brand for the system in the future.

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams. Games can be fun!

The biggest issue for me, though, is the lack of creativity and understanding from the big publishers and studios. Shoving things like Assassins Creed, CoD or Battlefield and their ilk down everyone's throats constantly isn't the way to go. Developers and publishers alike have made sure of that with their past actions as well. Is it really that hard for them to come up with something new and original rather than just ports? Granted, their credibility could be cooked at this point with the Wii U entirely too.

So, when you see developers saying "Only Nintendo games sell on Nintendo consoles", maybe they need to stop shooting themselves in the foot constantly. Instead, they should maybe take a couple of risks and make games that are complete, work well and take advantage of the platform their on too. Chances that they're likely to sell pretty well, history has proven that much for most so far.

Quality of games is definitely the one thing Nintendo does and they put tons of time and effort into making sure their games are complete and perfect at release. It may not happen every single time, but it's very rare that they fall short. Even if they aren't your cup of tea, arguing the quality of the end product is hard to do with their first party titles. Maybe the other developers should stop half assing things, put out some compelling games and quit bitching. If gamers get to play some unique and interesting games from a developer that work well and are fun, they might buy the next big FPS or other blockbuster game. Anything has to be better than Wii U owners swearing off games from a company because they know they're likely to be fraught with problems.

That said, lack of games, interesting or not, isn't only on the 3rd party developers, Nintendo isn't completely free and clear on that one either. They could be putting tons of NES/SNES/N64/Gamecube games on the eShop to make it hard for any fans of the classics to pass up as well as their big releases. It would add a ton of value to the system right off the bat and I'm still not sure why it hasn't happened. They have done a little, but not nearly enough and the only reasons I can think of are that it's taking too much time to port them so they work up to their standards or that they don't want to overshadow other games flooding the eShop with their own. Both cases could be made and it's likely a combination of the two. While some classics have been released, and are definitely great, there's also been a lot of head scratchers in the mix too (Solomon's Key, really?). It's really hard to figure out their strategy at all with how they've gone about it, but it's clear that needs to be fixed and quickly. How that happens and keeps the quality we expect is a bit of a mystery.

Mario Kart 8, coming in 2014

Along the same lines, Nintendo has to speed up production of their own games a little too. At the same time some of the great IP's that Nintendo has been overlooking should be brought back or given the Wii U treatment. F-Zero, Metroid, Pokemon (that's just printing money right there), Star Fox, Castlevania and others would breathe some life into the system in a big way. Many of them have been ignored for far too long and it's like Nintendo gets allergic to making money at times too. That or they just can't see their own treasures for what they can be.

Sure games like Donkey Kong Country, Mario Kart 8, Zelda U (maybe), Smash Bros and Hyrule Warriors are coming out this year along side of some newer properties like Bayonetta 2, X and some others, but that may not be enough. New entries in the other, previously mentioned neglected franchises (or entirely new IP's) would likely drive up interest even more on top of their current line up.

Overall it wouldn't take a lot to get things back on track game wise, which could turn the system around entirely and the problem would be solved. However, many wrongly see the issues above (especially the hardware ones) as a sign of Nintendo being out of touch and needing to go 3rd party only, like Sega was forced to do. That's not ideal at all and not even remotely necessary. Sega was pushed into that position by nearly six years of hardware launch failures, something Nintendo does not suffer from at all. Dropping out of home consoles and leaving Microsoft and Sony to duke it out wouldn't be a great future for gaming either. The PS4 and XboxOne are nearly identical in not only hardware and games, in many cases, but also the way that you play. The Wii U is currently the only way to play games with a truly different and unique style all of it's own. Why should they change that and why are people so against them having their own space? Variety is good and Nintendo offers that in spades.

There's also been lots of talk about how to make the Wii U more attractive to people if they must stay in the game. Lowering the price even more is one of them, and that may actually work, if Nintendo decides to. They'd lose money, but it could work. It did for the 3DS after all.

One of the more popular ideas to achieve this seems to be that of dumping the Gamepad entirely. That would be a HUGE mistake. Yes, it could lower the price a little, but that's short term thinking at it's best. Not only is it great when developers actually think about it, but it's also a pretty awesome controller with some really cool features and has amazing potential for many types of games.

If the Gamepad isn't included then developers won't think about it all and are likely to ignore it all together. That's not a good solution either. One only has to look to the Kinect and PS Move as perfect examples of that happening in the past generation, both suffered that same issue in big ways. Again, if it's such a bad idea, why are Sony and MS pushing the same thing for their new systems (Sony especially)? Doesn't make sense. Just like the Move and Kinect in the last gen, the "second screen" features that Sony and Microsoft are now touting suffer from the same problem. Not everyone is going to have them, without that guarantee, developers will mostly avoid it. Not to mention that model requires people to spend even more money to experience it. Pack it in or don't do it, that's the only way for something like that to work.

Some developers have even stated that they don't want to deal with it. Somehow they missed that it's not necessary to use, but if Nintendo, Capcom, Ubisoft, Criterion and others have figured out interesting things for it, so can everyone else. It may cause some developers to actually spend a little extra time on their games and many seem completely allergic to that idea these days, but it can be done. Indie developers are doing it with ease, so there's no excuse outside of laziness for bigger fish out there. Even if they're completely vapid and incapable of any original thought, they can just enable it for off screen play. That isn't too hard now, is it?

So, just what of the future of the Wii U then with all of this? Well, you've heard some of the reasons many say it's doomed above. However, I'm with those saying that Nintendo will ride this out fully until a new system is announced or is out around 2016/2017. There's no way that they drop the system this early and there would be huge backlash if they did. That said, they should be thinking of their next system alongside improving the Wii U experience. If they're smart about their next hardware release, and handle it properly, they could position themselves to be the most powerful system out there once again. If that is the course they take, Nintendo has the chance to make something stupidly powerful. 4K/UltraHD TV's will be pretty common by then and the chance to be the "only 100% 4K gaming console" out there is pretty good and one they shouldn't pass up.

Nintendo's Time Line of Home Console Releases

On the flip side, MS and Sony wouldn't be able to counter that kind of move at all due to their own systems only being 3-4 years old and neither of them could take that kind of hit financially. Neither could counter that fast after a release because they're in a 8-10 year cycle with their systems. That puts the PS5/Next Xbox due out around 2020 or later. On the other hand, Nintendo has never strayed from their 4-6 year model with home consoles and could really cause havoc if they got back into the spec race.

Who knows what the next system from the Big N will be, but as long as they come out of the gate like some drunken maniac with a system on par or hopefully better than the PS4/Xbox One, they'll be just fine in the long run. Until then, they just needs to give the Wii U some more attention and TLC until that day comes.We as gamers should just accept that and enjoy the system and the games that come to it, Nintendo is far from down and out and it's likely that the 138 year old company will find a way to turn things around. They're nowhere near the dire situation Sega found itself in either, so stop wishing that on them. No one wants to see that happen.

For now though, the Wii U is a great system and has a lot of potential to be one of the all time greats with some classic experiences, just like the Dreamcast and Gamecube. It won't be a huge powerhouse in sales, that's pretty much a given, but it should do alright in the long run. I'm thinking that Nintendo will ride the system out since they have the cash reserves to do so. It's never going outsell the Xbox One or PS4, but they don't need it to either. One has to remember that the PS3 did horribly during it's first 18 months as well, but even that managed to turn around. Maybe Nintendo can work a little more magic and pull the Wii U out of limbo as well.

For the sake of full disclosure here, +Carrie H.C. and I have a Wii U. We bought it last March and it gets used nearly every day, the same can't be said for our Xbox360. During that time we've enjoyed the crap out of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, ZombiU, Pikman3, Super Mario 3D World, Scribblenauts, Ducktales, Mighty Switch Force, Funky Barn (what?! It's stupid fun!), Disney Infinity and some NES classics. Netflix on the system is also pretty damn awesome, and arguably the best version of it out there. We even use the gamepad to control our home theater at times too. We do wish their were more games for it at times, but they'll come in time and we both feel that in the long run the Wii U will be heralded as a great system in and of it's own right.