The Wii U arrives in less than two months, and the general consensus seems to be that the console has some promise, but is likely doomed to be an also-ran. I’ve done my share of naysaying, speculating that the Wii U is probably doomed to a Dreamcast-esque fate.
But wait just a minute — is it possible the Wii U could not only compete against the Xbox 720 and PS4, but actually beat them? I think it is, for the following reasons…
People Are Eager For Something New and the Wii U is Going To Have a Huge Launch
It’s been a long time since a new gaming console hit — the Wii and PS3 are both almost six-years-old. The Xbox 360 is almost seven. Meanwhile companies like Apple are training consumers to expect new hardware upgrades on an almost yearly basis. When the last new video game console launched the iPhone didn’t even exist yet — now there’s six of the things.
This is what an iPod looked like last time a new gaming console came out.
People are eager for something, anything new. The Wii U is already almost entirely sold out just based on pre-orders. It’s going continue to sell out for months after launch. By the time the 720 and PS4 arrive in late 2013 or 2014, the Wii U may already have a substantial 10 – 20 million unit head start.
Nintendo Isn’t Sega
As mentioned, the Wii U is being labelled the next Dreamcast a lot, but the comparison isn’t really that apt. The Dreamcast was a final, desperate Hail Mary from a cash-strapped company coming off a major flop (the disastrous Sega Saturn).
By comparison the Wii U is the follow up to one of the most successful consoles of all time, from a company with over 10-billion in cold hard cash in the bank. Nintendo is not going to cut-and-run halfway through the Wii U’s lifespan — at the very least this machine is going to get a solid five or six years of 1st party Nintendo support.
The Xbox 720 and PS4 Aren’t Going To Be Cheap When They Arrive
There’s a lot of speculation about what Microsoft and Sony’s new consoles are going to deliver when they arrive — mind blowing Avatar-level graphics! A projection system that can turn any room into a holodeck-like 3D gaming environment! Sounds fancy. Sounds expensive.
Holodecks don’t come cheap.
If Microsoft and Sony are as interested in pushing the bar with their next consoles as rumored, they’re not going to be able to offer them at the $250 – $300 sweet spot most consumers wait for. Not at first at least. The scenario many are laying out where the next Xbox and Playstation arrive and obliterate the Wii U with their superior tech probably isn’t going to happen. Microsoft and Sony’s new machines could cost as much as $400 or $500 at launch — meanwhile Nintendo will be able to knock $50 from the cost of the Wii U and rake in another year or two of sales at a nice mainstream-friendly $250 price tag.
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I just can’t see them winning. Sure they will have a head start, but Sony and Microsoft will most likely have more powerful consoles.
Now I know that didn’t have much of an effect on console sales last generation, but the Wii U is not the Wii. I don’t know the number off the top of my head, but a VERY large number of people who bought the Wii never bought another Wii game outside of Wii Sports. I don’t see those people going out to buy a Wii U because they either won’t care or even know what the more advanced hardware means, and the touch is not as big of a selling point as motion controls imo.
Another thing is the games. Does anyone really think that people who own an Xbox or PS3 are going to be rushing to buy a Wii U because games that came out months ago, Bayonetta, Battlefield, Mass Effect?
On the other hand though, the Wii U should have excellent exclusives. Not that the PS4 won’t though, and we will have to wait and see on the new Xbox.
Also, I can’t see the PS4 coasting $500+ after the fiasco that was the PS3 launch.
It will be an awesome system though. I’ll most likely wait till I here some details on a new Smash Bros before buying though. lol
power doesnt matter
the wii had beter exclusives.
Eh, I have enjoyed the PS3′s exclusives more. Though the Wii’s exclusives were great for the most part.
And regarding power, I think it depends on who is buying it. If all of the casual gamers, who ate up motion controls, don’t go for it because they don’t care anymore, I think the new Xbox and PS4 would have the advantage. Obviously, that may not be the case though. It will sell like hotcakes at launch, as evidenced by the preorders.
wii u preorders are sold out
yeah its going to be successful
Judging by the presence of Fanboyism, and your lack of capitalization and punctuation, I’m guessing you’re probably a 12 year old boy. Thus your argument is invalid.
I have seen some the reports saying that preorders are sold out, but no one has alluded to what that sellout number is (at least I haven’t seen one). Nintendo could just be giving 5,000 units per major retailer (Walmart, Best Buy, Game Stop), knowing the preorders will sell out, thus bolstering demand artificially. I’m not faulting Nintendo for this strategy (if they are doing this), its a good way to get some free marketing from news outlets and drum up demand that might otherwise not be there.
i think it will be over rated just like the Wii was. i had a Wii console for sometime and the game titles that is had sucked. Nintendo is nothing but a joke that is stuck on repeat. last time that company had a good console was when they had the super nintendo.
Ok, so Nintendo made the DS, the DSi, the DSXL, the 3DS, and the 3DXL. Now they supersized the original DS it to work on a TV..right….
Well, considering the DS is the most successful gaming machine of all time, that might not be a bad idea.
I was going to say. I’m down on the Wii U for various reasons, but it being a DS is not one of them.
They’ll sell a lot just on the fact that it’s Nintendo, much like Apple does on its products. However, they’ll be far behind when the next Xbox and PS consoles come out. Expensive? Probably. I can imagine them being at least $100 more than the Wii-U…but they’ll be way more advanced and the fact that they’ll also be all-encompassing entertainment units, it’ll push the Wii-U back that much more. I think game sales are an important factor as well to show how well the console is doing.
“I can imagine them being at least $100 more than the Wii-U…but they’ll be way more advanced and the fact that they’ll also be all-encompassing entertainment units.”
You could almost say that about this generation, and the Wii just crushed it.
Yea, but if the Wii is going more for the “hardcore gamer” (I hate that term), as can be seen with them having more AAA third party games and online connectivity, why would those people buy a Wii U when they could buy a PS4? Or even a PS3 actually.
The mainstream consumer really doesn’t care much about features, and certainly not about hardware power, once the price of a console goes past the 300 dollar mark. The PS3 just sort of limped along until they got their price down under that mark. Most people just don’t see a gaming system as being worth any more than that.
WCPhils makes a good point — the biggest challenge to the Wii U early on probably won’t be from the Xbox 720 and PS4, but from 360 and PS3 — Nintendo’s real challenge is convincing people to pay 50 dollars extra for their new console with fewer games over the entrenched current consoles.
You need to remember why the Wii was so successful when all facts were pointing to a flop. Parents (non conventional gamers) saw an item that was intuitive for anyone to pick up and start playing, young children, middle aged couples, even the elderly. It became the replacement for family board game night!
Couple that with a marketing strategy that promoted playing video games as healthy, while many 1st World Countries are facing a child obesity problem, and you got lighting in a bottle.
The Wii U is going back to a complex controller that you don’t need to flail around like an idiot in your living room to operate. Goodbye intuitive family controls, goodbye healthy appearance. Its going to be hard for Nintendo to capture that lighting in a bottle a second time.
Man, I’ll tell you why its going to be successful and why the critics commenting here are actually going to buy it. So you have Bubba here who thinks the Wii u isnt a masculine name enough…damn if it was only called death box or something but Wiiu?? Yeah, its called a Wii u bro and your current box with 512 mb of mem just aint cutting it anymore. Forget what you heard about specs….the fact is what Nindendo did release about internal specs blows current gen out of the water. So is a fanboy going to wait 2 years playing on that 512mb powerhouse system ? The visuals are going to be with Nintendo in the next 2 years as their out the box first. About the only reason you aint going to buy this, bubba, is if you dont know how to use ebay to sell it in two years when the next best thing comes out.
Some interesting points here. I kinda don’t think there’s gonna be much logic to how the Wii U plays out. There are so many reasons for it to succeed and so many reasons for it to fail, and neither set of reasons seems much more valid than the other, so I’m no longer putting any effort into prognosticating it. All I know is I’m rooting for it.
Yeah, logic and Nintendo don’t always go hand in hand. I wouldn’t put my life’s savings on the Wii U winning the next console generation or anything — I’m just saying it *could* happen.
I root for it as far as market choice, and pushing the other consoles to be competitive and spur innovation. But innovation for its own sake is easily mistaken for being a gimmick, which is what I dismissed the Wii as.
If Nintendo had released Mario and Zelda for other platforms the Wii would never have put up the numbers it did.
Making it open to being an Indy Game platform could potentially shame Microsoft and Sony into injecting some lube into the ass-rape that is their respective online markets (Xbox more so than Sony).
To be honest, the big seller is going to be the magical pad controller. Bitches love toys. From there all the system needs is one killer app and Nintendo will make its money back in the first 6 months.
The Wii was probably only behind the iPhone and iPad as far as “it” gadgets.” Don’t underestimate common clowns simply assuming they “need” it because Malibu Stacy has a new hat.
I honestly can’t believe people called this the new Dreamcast with a straight face. It doesn’t matter who “wins” the console war because Nintendo is gonna sell so many of these. They are going to have amazing games, better graphics (finally), and the controller is so cool. Honestly, I’m just excited to play games with my bf and not having to split screen the damn tv. I worked at Best Buy when the Wii came out and it was literally TWO years of people calling everyday for it because it was sold out. I foresee the same thing happening with the U.
Whether the Wii U wins or not, I hope it shows well for one reason: Nintendo continues to change the paradigm of gaming. I recall when the Wii came out and every “hardcore” gamer thought “pff! It’s a ridiculous toy! No one wants to wave their arms around like a clown when they’re gaming!” And it turns out, people very much did want to wave their arms around. It’s fun. And that was the new paradigm that’s being copied.
Now the Wii U has the alternate screen (not really new, but I’m glad they’ve committed to it) and I hope they use it to the fullest extent so that it becomes part of the new paradigm.
And I’ll feel the same way if Microsoft of Sony come up w/ interesting new concepts for gaming, too. It’s not really about who ‘wins’ for me.
I poop on a stick, and shake it at Nintendo.
Take that outside.
Nintendo thrives due to nostalgia. Their biggest games are never, ever third party. The third party games they have for the Wii U are already out, at least some are. But what will actually sell are the same damn games as always, because that’s what keeps them in business. I mean they have a New Super Mario game, and let’s be honest, that’s the same game we’ve seen on the Wii, DS and 3DS. Donkey Kong, Zelda, Metroid, etc, will be their biggest sellers because people buy this shit still even though the formula has sort of run dry for all of them due to people not getting over their sense of nostalgia.
Actually that’s why the “hardcore gamers” bought the Wii. They were a bunch of 20 or 30 somethings with money, who wanted to enjoy a taste of their childhood. But what you fail to mention is that the Wii reached out to new demographics that I already noted to in a post above and won’t repeat.
The question is can the Wii U recapture those demographics again, or reach out to a new one to sell units.