Okay, so admittedly there are a couple of games coming in 2014 that will help.
Smash Bros, DKC, X (I think?) and MK8 are all slated for Spring-Fall in 2014. Well that's great for those four titles.
But what else is there? And what comes after 2014? I think we were told to expect Zelda around 2015, so.. that's one game for 2015... This console is really supposed to survive until 2017 or later with next to no third party support?
So between now and the end of the generation, we know of 6 major first party games, including Mario 3D World.
We also know that Nintendo typically only has one-game-per-generation kind of deal, so, we aren't likely to see another DK, or MK before 2018 on a console. I feel like Nintendo is blowing its wad very early in the console's term to try to provide life support.
I mean, I know these games are due, but Smash feels rushed to me. I'm totally unimpressed by what I've seen so far. It seriously just looks like an HD Brawl. Aside from the new characters, it even looks like everyone has the same moves. Brawl was in development for YEARS, and we know that Smash 4 only just started serious development not that long ago, and will already be out in like 6-8 months? Either the team they have working on it is colossal or they are doing some serious pruning to release it faster. (we already know a single player space emissary-like experience has been cut for BS reasons.)
I dunno. I just remember being out of my mind with excitement leading up to the reveal, reading the WUSTs every day, ravenous for tidbits of information... And now I just feel so... apathetic to the whole thing.
Pikmin was built up to be "one of Miyamoto's best games," he so claimed himself. After a totally forgettable "been there, done that" 10 hour campaign, I couldn't help but feel like this was not the game that I waited years for. It was a game I was eagerly anticipating at launch, and then after a grueling delay, all I felt at the end was an echo of my feelings on the Wii U situation as a whole:
Disappointment.
****
This is going to be the Wii all over again. A handful of brilliant, if not sparse first party titles sprinkled delicately over a too-long lifespan that a fraction of Nintendo's target audience will bother with drudging the console out of the closet to play. After the initial honeymoon stage (*checks the rear view mirror*), third parties will move on to consoles they know they will actually make money on.
And that's just how it's going to go. They bet on an idea that didn't pan out-- even Nintendo themselves is struggling to find useful/compelling ways to use the gamepad aside from inventory or a map -- and it blew up in their faces. Consumers saw the writing on the wall. Third parties have seen the writing on the wall, and Nintendo is far too proud/too entrenched to admit defeat and move on.
The best they can do at this point is to focus on 3DS as hard as they can; release the requisite "one per console generation" games on the Wii U, and treat the damn thing like a hobby while they focus their efforts on where the real money is, their handheld market.
Anyone that seriously believes the Wii U is going to make some kind of miraculous recovery and threaten anyone's position as king of the living room is lying to themselves.
