Back in 2005 Nintendo showed off the Wii for the first time, and there was this general perception that it was a bit of a joke. The name was silly (to be fair it still is a little silly), and the motion controls drew ire from many quarters.
Many just didn’t seem all that excited by Nintendo’s newest console, possibly because it had eschewed the typical route of pumping all the development funding into improving its computing power. I mean obviously the only way to succeed was to push past what Microsoft had achieved with the 360 right? The console arms race seemed to have been going so long that people had forgotten that it wasn’t the only option.
Of course then the Wii actually arrived on shelves and, pretty much, exploded. The new input methods appealed to a broader audience, with you shockingly being able to play tennis by simply mimicking a tennis swing.
[drop2]It had seemed silly before it came out; I mean people just want to sit on their sofa and play games right? It turned out that whilst that perception may have been right for a reasonable chunk of people who were playing games pre-Wii launch, it certainly didn’t fit those who picked up a Wii and were more than happy to swing their virtual rackets.What the Wii did, as many have pointed out, was to make gaming simple and accessible. It’s true that certain elements of the Wii are horribly complicated, the online system being a frequently bemoaned failing of the console, but if you just want to stick in your copy of Wii Sports and bowl then it’s pretty much perfect.
Despite the new market that the Wii opened up, it was still seen as comical or outdated graphically by many. Whenever it was pointed out that the Wii was well and truly trouncing the PS3 or Xbox 360 in terms of sales there’d often be the claim that it wasn’t competing with the HD consoles, that it had somehow gotten pushed into its own category.
To this day I expect you can find some who would claim the Wii wasn’t a success, despite its clear influence on Sony and Microsoft in terms of Move and Kinect.
With the Wii U we seem to have lurched back around to the starting point of the Wii. Some aspects of Nintendo’s approach may seem utterly comical, such as the potential marketplace confusion from launching the new “mini Wii” so close to the Wii U launch, but it does appear that Nintendo’s successes have been forgotten by many.
This does raise the rather obvious question of whether or not the Wii U will ever be considered a success. Within the industry it’s clear that elements like sales figures and attach rates will largely decide that question, but from those not concerned with the business side of things I do wonder if they’ll be the same kind of denial that the Wii’s undoubted supremacy brought.
With Reggie Fils-Aime announcing that the Wii U shifted 400,000 units in its first week it does look like Nintendo may have another success on their hands, particularly as the console doesn’t arrive in the EU untill Friday and won’t find its way to Japan until the 8th of December. That may not be quite as much as the Wii managed, and it’s way behind the GameCube’s launch, but it still puts it ahead of both the PS3 and Xbox 360, and gives it a pretty significant base to carry on pushing forwards from.
Of course it would be foolish to declare it a success now, although it’s also far too early to bemoan it as a failure. No, the important thing with the Wii U is to try and be open to it, to look at what Nintendo are doing and considering it aside from their marketing and posturing.
Once again they’ve taken a risk and built something that actually feels different to the same old tactic of boosting hardware might, yet they’ve also tried to make strides to readdress the balance of their games by bringing titles like Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty to the console. What more can you really ask of them?
All I want is the Wii U to be given a chance to stand on its own merits, to exist away from the jokes and snide remarks. Lets see what Nintendo have brought to the party before we mock it too harshly.
bunimomike
The Wii did a superb job. I’ve never been interested in Nintendo (from a gaming perspective) and maintain my ambivalence until something changes. However, that doesn’t stop me being objective and having nothing but respect for what they did with the Wii. Stunning sales figures. With hindsight they did something wonderful. They changed how people played games or at least showed us we had different (and commercially viable) options. However, the Wii U looks like a massive misfire but time will tell once again. Although, they have an entire Wii fan-base to rely on as they will want HD gaming with something meatier as time goes by. The Wii U will be the obvious upgrade but if they look around, the likes of whatever Microsoft and Sony pinch off will be far more tempting this time ’round.
As a slight aside, second screen gaming looks like the biggest waste of time since someone told me to wear special glasses to watch something “3D”.
xdarkmagician
I’m looking at this in a different way, cause you can only measure success in amounts of money in the corporate world. Nintendo is shipping a console that is basically profitable from day 1. So even if the Wii U is dead in 3 years time , Nintendo will have made a profit and didn’t lose anything, so it’s pretty much impossible for the Wii U to be considered a failure. It might not become the greatest console ever but it’s going to pay the bills as far as Nintendo is concerned, and in this economy being able to do that is a success.
Nintendo has played it smart by positioning themselves with all the right scenarios, launching first with an affordable entry price, with just enough change to make people curious but still retaining what is recognisable as Nintendo.
The only variable is Nintendo finally going a little more hardcore. I have no doubt the Wii U will fill the space of the Wii in both sales and profit, but if Nintendo doesn’t add more hardcore options, the Wii U will get dismissed by the hardcore group just like the Wii no matter how many they sell. But you no longer need to carry the hardcore market to be successful in todays gaming industry, mostly because Nintendo made it that way.
LTG Davey
Hadn’t thought about it that way. I suppose thats why I have no business sense and am regularly skint… ;D
LTG Davey
Whilst on the subject of the WiiU, are you guys planning on reviewing any of the launch games?
Obviously you are mostly a “yay PlayStation” website so I guess not, but I find your reviews the most in-line with my tastes so thought I’d ask :-)
Dom El
Though perhaps we’ll have to review them ourselves as no one else has mentioned getting one!
LTG Davey
Lol, I’m game :-)
RitualNET
The main thing for me is, the ability to take a game I’m playing on the TV, and then with a button press, take the game out of the room with the wii-controller-tablet-thing. It means my partner can watch TV if she gets bored of watching me play a game, and there will be no arguments, no discussions, it’s just done.
The problem is, that feature is only up to the game devs. Thanks to Nintendo doing whatever they can to get the devs involved (“ten dorrah!”), the devs do not have to make use of any of the technology if they don’t want to. Which means, if they are lazy, or just which to make a quick port, the features like that game switching between TV and Pad, will be left out.
The rest of the features can be left out, as far as I am concerned. I did not enjoy the core Wii experience (I play games on the couch, after coming home from work. I do not need to bounce around the living room like a five year old on coffee coated speed tabs!), so waggling, wobbling and tilting can fade away, but the idea of this tablet like controller, this is something I’d love to see fully featured in all games, be it inventory, game swapping or more.
Dom El
I think the fact that everyone has heralded the ‘second screen’ feature as being an immense part of the Wii U experience the majority of games will allow you to play them in their entirety on the gamepad.
I would imagine it’s only going to be the games that use the second screen as an integral part of the experience (such as ZombiU) which won’t support it.
It’s one of the key features for me as it means my wife can enjoy I’m Strictly A Celebrity X Factor etc. while I can carry on playing the same game.
OneShotWook
Who would have thought that after all these years nintendo would be the closest thing to punk that videogames have to offer.You could joke and make snide remarks all day but if overhearing the Mario soundtrack on any device in the world doesn’t make you smile then you’re a cold hard bstard.
D-Nichol
I never bought a Wii so Im tempted to get a WiiU and try out some of the better older games while getting any exclusive’s going forward. As Im slowly losing faith in Sony I have now decided to make Xbox my console of choice. A lack of time has me considering trading in a load of PS3 games and my redundant PS3 which is a glorified Blu-Ray player these days to fund the WiiU. This would leave me with PS3 exclusives and a slim to play with