The biggest news at E-3 was undoubtedly the announcement of the Wii-U. At the time it generated a lot of buzz but now we’re further removed from the event the more I think about the Wii-U the more I think that it’s almost certain to fail.
The Wii-U will be released in 2012, this is probably only a couple of years away from the next generation of the PlayStation and Xbox. If Sony and Microsoft really want to turn the screw on Nintendo they will keep “leaking” news of the next impending generations of their consoles. This alone will be enough to keep many people from buying the Wii-U. Why buy a new console when you can wait a year or two for one that will probably blow it out of the water?
That brings me onto the next two points, the power and the price of the Wii-U. Lets say that the next-gen PlayStation and Xbox aren’t released until 2014 as some reports are indicating. Unless the Wii-U is significantly more powerful than the PS3 and Xbox 360 why would anyone but the hardcore Nintendo fan buy it? Especially if it is priced higher than the current consoles on the market which you’d have to think it will be at launch.
The Wii succeeded for two main reasons, the price and the gimmick. The Wii was priced far below and PS3 and Xbox 360 and the motion controller gimmick was unique (at that time). This along with a slew of party games won over the casual gamer. We already know the Wii-U won’t have the low price going for it and the Xbox now seems to be the choice for the casual gamer who enjoys motion control. That’s okay though because the Wii-U has a new gimmick – the Wii-U pad.
Here comes another problem though. The Wii-U pad looks extremely large and clunky to use as a controller. It will also, no doubt be expensive. Going back to the Wii, that console was extremely popular with young children, will parents be as happy to hand their kids a controller that costs (an estimated) three times as much as the Wiimote? Probably not. Not only that but if the Wii-U pad does take off that causes another problem as the Wii-U will only support one Wii-U pad. So if you’ve got friends or family around to play on your Wii-U then there is bound to be an argument break out over who gets to use the Wii-U pad and who is going to have to use the inferior controllers. Multiplaying games in person will be a nightmare.
This gimmick might also be bettered before the Wii-U even comes out. The Wii had years of dominating the motion control market but the PS Vita is due for an early 2012 release – before the Wii-U. Gamers will be able to use the PS Vita as a controller for the PS3. As long as it works well, how many PlayStation owners do you think will want to buy a Wii-U when they can buy a PS Vita for less and use it with their current game collection.
Speaking of games, will the Wii-U learn from the mistakes of the 3DS and actually have a decent range of launch titles? Apparently Nintendo have reached out to third party developers which means the Wii-U will have their own versions of popular franchises like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto. However no-one will buy the Wii-U for these games if they already have a PS3 or Xbox 360. Where the Wii-U has to separate itself is its exclusive titles. While Mario and Zelda are always popular, Zelda in particular is in danger of becoming extremely stale. The Wii never even received a “true” Pokemon title – these were saved for the DS. Will Nintendo continue to emphasise their handheld console (this time the 3DS) over the Wii-U?
They might not have any choice but to heavily favour the Wii-U with the way the 3DS is selling so far. Again though lets just say the 3DS does take off better after the August price cut. Will people happily buy two Nintendo consoles in a year? Maybe, maybe not. Nintendo’s two consoles will be in competition with each other though which could effect one or both negatively.
To cap it all off lot of Wii owners in America have been left with a bad taste in their mouths when they found out that the last string of great looking games – Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower – won’t be released stateside. It’s not a localization issue either as each game will receive a European release. Fans have been so outraged that they’ve set up Operation Rainfall to try and force Nintendo’s arm into making American releases. While there has been rumours that two of the game will receive an American release the fact that fans have had to put up such a fight won’t win Nintendo any customer loyalty.
For the Wii-U to succeed it will need the stars to align just right and right now it looks more like the sky is falling for Nintendo.
Wäre arg enttäuschend, wenn man nun einen Schritt zurück machen würde.
