The Nintendo Discussion Thread

[Netkeeper]

That wasn't the Wii U's big problem. I'm going to catch flack for this, but I think its biggest problem was its release -- outside of the gaming community, nobody really KNEW about the Wii U or when it hit, when it did. I'm going to use myself as evidence here; I wasn't keeping up with gaming news AT ALL when it released, and I did not hear a peep about it. I didn't even know the Wii U was a thing until people started talking about the Xbone. Not good.

I can't say I'm in the majority, but I still know plenty of people that were in the same boat. Nobody was talking about it. Even now, it's still not a big conversation piece. Nothing like the release of the original Wii, the 3DS, or any of Nintendo's competition.

I've seen many, many people that don't do console gaming on a regular basis say they don't really know what a Wii U even is. Call them casuals all you like, they're still a big potential market, as the original Wii has taught us. Visibility is important, and the Wii U's had very little of that. Not to say it's entirely hopeless because in the past half-year/year it's gotten insanely better, but any head-start Nintendo might have had with launching first this gen meant little.

[CyberCubed]

The next Nintendo console probably won't do much better than Wii-U in terms of sales. Third party support for Wii-U pretty much dried up in less than 2 years other than indies and Lego games.

Ubisoft, EA, WB, etc. won't be fooled again. Nintendo will probably fund/collaborate more exclusives from third party companies, (like Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2, Wonderful 101, etc.), but I really don't see it doing any better in third party games in general. And as said, their console will come out when the PS4/One will have their highest userbases so there's no incentive to support a new console in the midst of it.

I'm not really sure what Nintendo can do at this point. Consoles are also being phased out in Japan with a push toward mobile, so I don't see much Japanese support either. We're probably going to be looking at a completely different gaming landscape 3-4 years from now anyway.

[sdp]

The Wii U didn't fail because of one reason but plenty of reasons combined. They relied heavily on the Wii name which wasn't worth much anymore. They left the Wii to die pretty much the last 3 years of its life. Most of the Wii audience was of course a "casual" audience that had moved on to smart phone or tablet games. "Hardcore" gamers as always have crapped on Nintendo. As the Gamecube showed the Nintendo enthusiasts aren't enough to drive sales. Confusion over the name and it being an accessory. Price. The Tablet gimmick didn't really work like motion controls did to set excitement. No big hyped Nintendo game at launch (as good as NSMBU is another 2D mario is not the best way to launch a console), shoddy or old third party ports. No more powerful than consoles that have huge game libraries and can be had for much cheaper. Not one but two lackluster showings at E3. Jeeze talk about a botched launch, and this was right after their botched 3DS launch and yet they made many of the same mistakes and added more to them. It's a miracle how Nintendo has been able to somewhat turn things around, at least gamers should be happy even if sales are still a disappointment. I'm really happy with my Wii U but no one can say that it wasn't a huge mess and terrible decisions all together.


The next system will likely have similar specs than the PS4/XB1 which is fine since I think this current gen is going to last as long as the past one, so they'll be "half way" through their cycle and Nintendo would still be relevant. Now third parties are a different story and a more complicated issue. With VR becoming popular and how fast things change in the technology industry we really don't know what is going to be happening gaming wise in 2018 to make any "safe" predictions, it's all rampant speculation. Right now it's no different than when we first heard "Dolphin" or "Project Revolution".

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

We're probably going to be looking at a completely different gaming landscape 3-4 years from now anyway.

You're right and it's a future I pretty much want no part of. Even the things that go over well in the "hardcore" crowd disgust me at this point.

Quality, originality and innovation no longer matter in this market. Shove half-baked garbage out the door and watch the YouTube/Smartphone generation eat it off the floor. In the more traditional space you have developers downsizing, switching to mobile development, or being shut down entirely. Overblown budgets spent on "me too" game design that revolve heavily around spectacle and comic book quality storytelling and absolutely nothing of value. Steam sales have destroyed the value of retail priced games, meaning only the safest sh*t with guaranteed day one sales to the lowest common denominator get the green light. The indie scene, which a few years ago was seen as a savior for the industry, is now a small microcosm of the industry at large - pandering trash sells to YouTube babies, while the middle ground scrounges for scraps until the inevitable PS+/Steam Sale reaper comes for their ravaged corpse; and those are the games lucky enough to not tank and destroy the developers entire life in the process, of which there are MANY.

This industry is a f*cking mess. Nintendo is starving to death while creating some of their best games in decades, while their competition breaks sales records by filling out their release calender with "remasters" of games less than a decade old, bug ridden trash, and sequels closing in on double digits for third party games with zero ambition. Konami is best described as a smoking crater of beloved IP as Kojima officially punches out. Capcom can't even afford to make a new Street Fighter without first-party support. Tri-Ace got bought by a f*cking mobile company. Sega can't afford half of their game localizations. FTP mobile scams rake in billions from brain dead suckers while incredible games created with passion and respect for the player bomb miserably.

Something has to give here and one way or another I know I'll probably never care about the industry as much as I did for the past 25 years, but who knows, maybe this all works out in a way I can appreciate. I've still got Atlus and Bethesda.

[Netkeeper]

All that plus a push towards digital gaming over physical media, which of course all goes poof if the servers disappear. Games that can become worthless without an internet connection or if something happens to your machine's hardware or your online account. That's what gets me more than anything, because I know the type of games I like won't be going anywhere for a long time.

[Ninjinister]

Originally Posted by Peanut

Strewth

Not to mention that you've got established developers with multiple, award-winning titles under their belt that have to go to Kickstarter because they can't afford to make a f**king game.

[Storm Eagle]

Most of us figured this would happen, but the Zelda game for the Wii U has been delayed past 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1VKSVeGD0
https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/...79256704081920

[Powder]

I can definitely understand a 2016 release date, however disappointing it is, but the fact they're not going to show anything at E3 seems pretty ridiculous. Makes me wonder if they're not reinventing things or something. I'm curious if they opted to change the art style or do something drastically different since last year's teaser. They'd be leaving us with tons of unanswered questions, making keeping it private a likely more favorable move on their part. Hmm...

[TigerClaw]

LOL
https://twitter.com/VinnyCaravella/s...87357788467200

[Skylanders fan]

suprised they ddint say please understand

[Powder]

Just what we needed- memes!

[Ninjinister]

Originally Posted by Storm Eagle

Most of us figured this would happen, but the Zelda game for the Wii U has been delayed past 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1VKSVeGD0
https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/...79256704081920

Hasn't like every major Zelda game been delayed at some point?

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by Ninjinister

Hasn't like every major Zelda game been delayed at some point?

Eh, I guess.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Peanut

and those are the games lucky enough to not tank and destroy the developers entire life in the process, of which there are MANY.

It's lamentable, but it's so true.

"Gamer" culture is something that is increasingly elusive to my comprehension.

Originally Posted by Peanut

Quality, originality and innovation no longer matter in this market. Shove half-baked garbage out the do. . . . Konami is best described as a smoking crater of beloved IP as Kojima officially punches out.

Excellent retrospective/eulogy on the company's long history:
http://www.technobuffalo.com/2015/03...retrospective/

[oldmanwinters]

Super Mario Galaxy Wii U edition is a pretty big rumor (especially for a late 2015 release), but I can't really take anything idigitaltimes.com posts seriously. The only sources they like to cite are their own past posts.

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/super-m...rtainty-427553

Clickbait headlines may turn out to be the death of everything good about the internet.

[sdp]

I kind of expected a delay since they always happen and the lack of Mario Maker, Yarn Yoshi and Star Fox announcements for the first half of 2015 cemented that they were getting delayed to be closer to winter. Doesn't bother me at all what Miyamoto said once about a good game eventually coming out but a bad game was bad forever is definitely true and this should give Star Fox a bigger spotlight which I'm happy for, I'll hope for a big surprise for holiday 2015 like maybe an animal crossing or whatever but I'm only expecting cool but smaller announcements for 2015 at E3.

Originally Posted by Netkeeper

All that plus a push towards digital gaming over physical media, which of course all goes poof if the servers disappear. Games that can become worthless without an internet connection or if something happens to your machine's hardware or your online account. That's what gets me more than anything, because I know the type of games I like won't be going anywhere for a long time.

Digital was inevitable, I still remember a few years ago when the iphone had its appstore it was clear to me but everyone laughed at my comments at how it would never take off. 5 years or so have passed and people don't mind digital only thanks to smartphones and tablets, people are used to it now, we not only get "X-box Live Arcade" or "Wiiware" games but full releases the day they come out. Most PC games come out exclusively as digital titles. Whether you like it or not the trend is going to continue as we see that sales from physical games in consoles are slowly but surely losing ground to digital even if it still takes a few years. There will always be a need for physical media in one way or another but I do see the trend of the majority of people going for digital. I mostly think what will make the change for most people is a Netflix like service like Onlive or whatever, the technology and datacaps haven't allowed it to quite work but you can already see that's a likely choice if it ever gets worked out.

Like I've stated before I'm all for digital, I loved physical media and yeah you have some emotional attachment to the physical product but the lack of having to worry about space, booting up your console and having all your library there is just something that is too convenient to prefer physical unless you're a diehard collector. Of course digital has plenty of downsides, first they shouldn't be the same g-ddamn price as a physical item and I rarely buy a game at full price (and if I do it's because for me its cheaper to buy a full price digital game over a physical one in the store). The whole having to be online to play the game is of course utter bullsh-t and shouldn't be accepted but I think fan outcry has taken care of that problem mostly. You can't resell your games? Well that's true but for someone like me I never sell my games anyway, if you're the person that does that then yeah digital isn't for you or you should just rent games. All companies including Nintendo pretty much allow you to re-download your games without much hassle, yes even Nintendo it only takes an email or a phone call, I know of someone with this problem. What about in the far future? Well yeah that might be a problem but the way I see it is physical media also has a lifespan, I had a PS2 disc that had discrot or whatever its called, and in worst scenario all these consoles will be cracked so by the time your 3DS bit the dust and Nintendoomed no longer exists there'll be ways to play all those games in a new 3DS. Piracy allows games to be preserved for the future. And again finally if this isn't for you I'm sure physical will exist in one way or another in the foreseeable future so you're good, it won't be a genuine concern for many years to come.

[raph27]

Just hit Platinum! Woohoo! Hopefully prizes are good. (Hoping Kid Icarus or FE: Awakening are some of them.)

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by RaphaeltheAwesome

Just hit Platinum! Woohoo! Hopefully prizes are good. (Hoping Kid Icarus or FE: Awakening are some of them.)

I've got a feeling Club Nintendo is about to break under the weight of web traffic once again come later this week...

[TheCanadiandrome]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

Super Mario Galaxy Wii U edition is a pretty big rumor (especially for a late 2015 release), but I can't really take anything idigitaltimes.com posts seriously. The only sources they like to cite are their own past posts.

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/super-m...rtainty-427553

Clickbait headlines may turn out to be the death of everything good about the internet.

Wonder if it's gonna include both Galaxy games

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by TheCanadiandrome

Wonder if it's gonna include both Galaxy games

The way the iDigital site is talking, it's supposed to be a brand new third entry in the series coming out this year to console gamers on having a delayed Zelda. I think it's bull.