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[Ninja Scooter]

A Best Buy employee asked me why I was buying a 3DS instead of a tablet. Then she asked if it was for my kid. I said that it was for me and she said, "oh, a big kid."

Lol ether.

 

[Herb Alpert]

Nintendo should just go third party, for home console at least. They would sell so much more compared to the terrible Wii U numbers. Imagine playing Mario with 8 GB DDR5 RAM.

Now that is a incredible idea! I wonder why nobody had it before?

Spoiler

It was irony, wasn't it?

 

[-Horizon-]

The demo stations at the stores I've been to just suck. All you can do is watch videos.

 

[Petrae]

I don't believe that retail employees can really take the blame here, especially in big-box stores (Target, Walmart, Sears, Kmart). As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, big-box stores don't always have personnel with video game knowledge working in their electronics departments. Best Buy killed its video game-specific employee program, which leads to less-focused employees, too. It's the nature of retail-- tons of products being sold in stores and employees simply can't know about all of them, all of the time.

If we're talking about specialty gaming retail, like GameStop, it could be more expected of employees to know about WiiU and how to present it... but with Q4 now here and crowds about to pick up, one-to-one interactions and time to present WiiU properly becomes more scarce. Retailers don't have the payroll allocation or money to put an Answer Point (if sorts) on the sales floor.

Wii was easier to "get". It was much different from the Gamecube and had its own identity. There were mall kiosks set up and staffed by Nintendo-trained workers to supervise and run Wii demo units and answer most questions. Plus... Wii Sports was a perfect demo because games were relatively simple and easy to understand, plus sports have a wider appeal outside of video games. Bowling was a hit. Golf was played in a new way. Boxing was more physical then it had been.

WiiU doesn't seem to have its own identity. The confusion about it still being an add-on, almost a year after release, speaks to this. The Gamepad isn't as prominent a game-changer as the Wiimote was (and the Balance Board, arguably). NintendoLand is more geared to video game fans and loses the less-focused gaming consumer.

Nintendo is at the heart of a lot of the WiiU's problems. We can try and point fingers elsewhere, but Nintendo has failed to educate and excite the masses; indifference has been the result. Where's the marketing? Where's the buzz? Neither exists. Now, 11 months later and staring two bigger and stronger competitor launches in the face, Nintendo had to find a way to keep its latest console even mildly relevant. We'll see if the House of Mario can step up to the task.

 

[LoftyTheMetroid]

And you blame the public and minimum wage sales clerks for not understanding the difference.

Looks like they've blamed everyone right now.

Seriously. The fucking audacity some people have to UNIRONICALLY blame min wage/dead end job workers for not educating the masses on one out of thousands of products being sold where they work is just mindblowing

This isn't Nintendo "blaming" people, this is coming from an analyst. And I don't think it's retailers being blamed; Nintendo is at fault for not properly communicating the product to retailers and consumers.

Poor name and poor marketing are a huge issue here. A lot of people simply don't know what the Wii U is, hence the "peripheral" talk.

It's not the product, it's the messaging -- the advertising isn't right, the economy is in the tank, the product isn't positioned correctly, or in this case, the retailers don't know how to sell it properly. Any explanation other than "the Wii U just isn't a very compelling product to people."

I think this is a little shortsighted. A console isn't inherently compelling; software is what sells consoles. For as great as the PS4 is, why would you buy one if it didn't have any games? Similarly, why should people buy a Wii U if it doesn't have any compelling software? (In particular, software that takes clear and exciting advantage of the GamePad in a way that justifies the device and direction of the console.)

Perhaps you're arguing that "software" is implicit in "product", in which case I'd agree that the Wii U simply isn't a compelling product for most consumers (...yet?). (Although I don't think you should be so quick to sweep criticisms of poor communication under the rug just to get at the console itself.)

And I think Nintendo realizes this, we'll just have to see if their fall software and supposed marketing blitz will be enough.

 

[zma1013]

Indifference is what is killing the Wii U. Nobody cares about it. Market confusion is an issue, but even when people are informed that its not an addon, it doesn't drive interest. Completely anecdotal but when I happen by a Walmart or target or Best Buy or even a GameStop, the Wii U demo station is almost always empty. People just don't care. At this point if people hated the Wii U, it might be a step up. At least it will have meant they played it.

I mean, honestly, when was the last time you heard someone in your non-gaming circle of friends, I'm talking coworkers, family, ect...even mention the Wii U? Even awknowledge it exists? System has zero buzz. It might as well be the new Blackberry smartphone.

I feel that indifference is directly related to the confusion that comes from the poor marketing. After being desensitized to the Wii U through bland commericals and ads that make it seem like a Wii add-on, I don't think people are going to be interested if someone just says to them, "Oh hey, that Wii U thing, you know it's a new Nintendo system right?" and they go, "Oh, yeah, hmm, I didn't know that." They've already been trained and conditioned that it's an add-on and just some word of mouth isn't going to wow them out of that state. The system has zero buzz because the most important part of creating that buzz has been botched. Nintendo needs a relaunch campaign and even re-branding along side a big game release if they want to dig up new interest in the console and clearly define it in an exciting way that it's something new.

 

[sixteen-bit]

A Best Buy employee asked me why I was buying a 3DS instead of a tablet. Then she asked if it was for my kid. I said that it was for me and she said, "oh, a big kid."

Oh damn.

Amazon doesn't sell Nintendo hardware do they? I guess that wasn't an option.

 

[The Lamp]

If your product requires you to sit down with 3 other people and buy 3 extra controllers to see why it's worthwhile, no wonder its failing. The appeal of the Wii could be seen by watching a single person play it on the Today Show.

I completely agree with you.

I'm just saying, I had no idea how awesome the Wii U was until I was able to give it a chance with friends in the privacy of a home. Lots of negativity on the internet from people who seemingly haven't even been able to give the console a real shot in person.

 

[zma1013]

This strikes me as another example of "blame everything but the product itself."

When you're heavily invested in a company or brand or product, your brain will aggressively fight the conclusion that this company/brand/product has made a huge mistake and that the product itself is not appealing to most people.

It's not the product, it's the messaging -- the advertising isn't right, the economy is in the tank, the product isn't positioned correctly, or in this case, the retailers don't know how to sell it properly. Any explanation other than "the Wii U just isn't a very compelling product to people."

That isn't to say that advertising doesn't matter at all (it does) or that no one can like the Wii U (they certainly can). But advertising alone almost certainly doesn't explain a disaster like the Wii U, and it's important we not try to lump all the blame there because it's an excuse specifically crafted to avoid self reflection. Lastly, this isn't a Nintendo-fan specific thing; last generation there were quite a few Sony fans who fell in to this same trap (And who are still falling in to it vis-à-vis the Vita), and fans of Google and Apple and many other brands with ardent fanbases have done the same when their chosen standard bearer slips up.

There was once a man who became a millionaire out of selling rocks simply by marketing them as pet rocks. Advertising is a rather big deal, even with well known names. It's why Rockstar dumped so much money into advertising GTAV. Sure, it doesn't explain everything wrong with Wii U and it may not be a compelling piece of hardware to most, but advertising is no joke. It's lack of a quantity of compelling software being probably the biggest problem.

 

[Coconut]

LOL. It's an interesting topic to discuss, regardless if it comes from a homer site or not.

I guess but your OG thread title also painted a picture that it was some how retailers fault that they weren't selling customers on the system. When clearly the consumer is pretty lost on what WiiU it is clearly a branding issue.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

I feel that indifference is directly related to the confusion that comes from the poor marketing. After being desensitized to the Wii U through bland commericals and ads that make it seem like a Wii add-on, I don't think people are going to be interested if someone just says to them, "Oh hey, that Wii U thing, you know it's a new Nintendo system right?" and they go, "Oh, yeah, hmm, I didn't know that." They've already been trained and conditioned that it's an add-on and just some word of mouth isn't going to wow them out of that state. The system has zero buzz because the most important part of creating that buzz has been botched. Nintendo needs a relaunch campaign and even re-branding along side a big game release if they want to dig up new interest in the console and clearly define it in an exciting way that it's something new.

But the thing is, once people do find out what it is, how often does that create interest? People treat marketing like it is this magical elixer that can sell anything to anyone. MS threw an obscene amount of money at marketing the shit out of the Surface, same with Blackberry, hell even the infallible Apple is seeing less than expected sales of the iPhone 5C despite that thing being covered and advertised to hell and back. At some point do we need to come to accept that what the Wii U is simply isn't attractive or appealing to the mass market? Almost a year in is that not the most likely possibility?

 

[timetokill]

Yeah, the main problem with this console is that it's a lot harder to "imagine" why it's fun. The Wii had a really simple message and it was easy to understand how fun it was.

The Wii U is a hell of a lot of fun, but even something like Nintendoland requires a group to really get that across. I think Nintendo hoped more people would break them out at the holidays last year and give those types of demos. I know it worked with my group at Thanksgiving and Christmas for example -- Nintendoland in particular had everyone laughing hysterically and having a good time. But it's not the same as Wii bowling, where absolutely everyone had to have a try.

While it's something you want to blame on the (poor) advertising, ultimately it comes down to the product. Like the Vita, Wii U is just not a great product. It's a great game system and I think anybody that gets one will appreciate it but its niche is a lot smaller than before.

On that note, I think the PS3 was also a poor product but it was ultimately saved by the sheer force of software finally making it a "decent" product. It remains to be seen if that can happen for the Wii U or if it won't, but based on the fact that it's probably only going to get Nintendo games, Sonic games, and the "everyone" titles from other pubs with token support otherwise at best, it seems at best case it will just avoid being a Vita-sized disaster and not much more than that.

 

[zma1013]

This strikes me as another example of "blame everything but the product itself."

When you're heavily invested in a company or brand or product, your brain will aggressively fight the conclusion that this company/brand/product has made a huge mistake and that the product itself is not appealing to most people.

It's not the product, it's the messaging -- the advertising isn't right, the economy is in the tank, the product isn't positioned correctly, or in this case, the retailers don't know how to sell it properly. Any explanation other than "the Wii U just isn't a very compelling product to people."

That isn't to say that advertising doesn't matter at all (it does) or that no one can like the Wii U (they certainly can). But advertising alone almost certainly doesn't explain a disaster like the Wii U, and it's important we not try to lump all the blame there because it's an excuse specifically crafted to avoid self reflection. Lastly, this isn't a Nintendo-fan specific thing; last generation there were quite a few Sony fans who fell in to this same trap (And who are still falling in to it vis-à-vis the Vita), and fans of Google and Apple and many other brands with ardent fanbases have done the same when their chosen standard bearer slips up.

There was once a man who became a millionaire out of selling rocks simply by marketing them as pet rocks. Advertising is a rather big deal, even with well known names. It's why Rockstar dumped so much money into advertising GTAV. Sure, it doesn't explain everything wrong with Wii U and it may not be a compelling piece of hardware to most, but advertising is no joke. It's lack of a quantity of compelling software being probably the biggest problem.

 

[jay]

There was once a man who became a millionaire out of selling rocks simply by marketing them as pet rocks. Advertising is a rather big deal, even with well known names. It's why Rockstar dumped so much money into advertising GTAV. Sure, it doesn't explain everything wrong with Wii U and it may not be a compelling piece of hardware to most, but advertising is no joke. It's lack of a quantity of compelling software being probably the biggest problem.

That simply proves a rock was the right product for the market.

 

[zma1013]

But the thing is, once people do find out what it is, how often does that create interest? People treat marketing like it is this magical elixer that can sell anything to anyone. MS threw an obscene amount of money at marketing the shit out of the Surface, same with Blackberry, hell even the infallible Apple is seeing less than expected sales of the iPhone 5C despite that thing being covered and advertised to hell and back. At some point do we need to come to accept that what the Wii U is simply isn't attractive or appealing to the mass market? Almost a year in is that not the most likely possibility?

Well, you also have to have good marketing. Wii U has marketing, it's just bad and built around bad branding. Having said that, I'll agree it's mass market appeal isn't there like it was with the Wii. The motion controls were something that wasn't really used in a lot of electronics before hand, it was new, but touchpads have now been in regular use throughout the entire electronics industry for a while. A sort of "tablet burnout" if you will. Still, I think I've already explain in that quoted post how I think people react to "finding out what it is" and it's just not as effective after the first impression is already made.

 

[Dali]

"WiiU" doesn't sound iterative, sounds like a special version.

These do:
Gameboy --> Gameboy Advance
PlayStation 3 --> PlayStation 4
Nintendo --> Super Nintendo

Pretty much what everyone that wasn't giving Nintendo the benefit of the doubt and anticipated lightning to strike twice were saying when the name was first announced.

 

[peaceiscloser]

As the games come out, the console's sales will improve. We saw it with the 3DS this year, we'll see it soon for the Wii U. Things can only go up from here.

 

[TheBigTank]

I bought a Wii U last weekend for a friend -- the Wind Waker HD bundle -- and the checkout clerk asked, "Why is this Wii so expensive?" I explained that it's a new console. Nintendo really needs to educate people. Yes, having more games will help. But just having games isn't enough if people don't know what to buy.

 

[Keru_Shiri]

I think one day the tablet controller will take off, but the Wii U only being able to support 2 (if even that), much less 4 suggests to me that the idea was a bit ahead of its time. I really think they could've left this one in the oven a bit more, at least until they had a stronger suite of software lined up and ready to go.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Pet rocks also cost like $3. People will be willing to be a part of a fad, or buy something as a gag, for $3. It's like the singing fish things or any number of items you find at those "As Seen On TV" stores. It's a lot harder to build a fad or novelty out of a $300 electronic device. A device that is competing with various other products for that same $300.

 

[zma1013]

Pet rocks also cost like $3. People will be willing to be a part of a fad, or buy something as a gag, for $3. It's like the singing fish things or any number of items you find at those "As Seen On TV" stores. It's a lot harder to build a fad or novelty out of a $300 electronic device. A device that is competing with various other products for that same $300.

Yeah it was a bad comparative example that I put out there because it was easy and I didn't want to think or search or do anything remotely close to making an effort.

 

[Cornbread78]

I guess but your OG thread title also painted a picture that it was some how retailers fault that they weren't selling customers on the system. When clearly the consumer is pretty lost on what WiiU it is clearly a branding issue.

It was responding to the claims made directly by the analyst who was referring to the retail workers and how they knew nothing about the system.

 

[udivision]

Looks like they've blamed everyone right now.

Fans are being blamed.
Developers are being blamed.
Retailers are being blamed.
Store Staff are being blamed.
Websites are being blamed.
Recession is being blamed.
US Govt Shutdown is being blamed.
Next-gen is being blamed.

Have we ever thought that maybe *gasp* Nintendo is to be blamed?

Um....

Bad Name
Price
No Games
Bad Hardware (Console)
Non-Intuitive Hardware (Controller)
Bad Account System

..are all extremely frequent criticisms of Nintendo that show up in pretty much every Wii U thread regardless or relevancy. "We" have been blaming Nintendo pretty often, thank you very much.

 

[Coconut]

I think one day the tablet controller will take off, but the Wii U only being able to support 2 (if even that), much less 4 suggests to me that the idea was a bit ahead of its time. I really think they could've left this one in the oven a bit more, at least until they had a stronger suite of software lined up and ready to go.

I'm just going to point out that the cost of making a Wiimote is WAY lower. Probably 5 bucks to make and they retail for 30$. It's not a tech thing it's a money thing. Also with the online gaming only getting bigger the need for a second controller diminishes.

 

[dcx4610]

The Wii U demo is pathetic. Most places still have the same demo disc that the system launched with it. It's full of screenshots and videos. Nothing that shows off the Wii U graphical capabilities or why the Gamepad is a selling point.

Put Google Street View on there, Nintendo Land and some Virtual Console stuff. Nintendo dropped the ball ridiculously bad the moment it launched. A full year head start on the competition and they did nothing with it.

 

[axisofweevils]

I think Mario 3D World will be that game for many people.
That has been Nintendo's main failing with the Wii U - not getting their big games out on time - and releasing niche titles like Game and Wario and TW101 first.

Similarly, many people finally realised the 3DS was different to the DS when Animal Crossing hit.

 

[PhantomR]

Looks like they've blamed everyone right now.

Fans are being blamed.
Developers are being blamed.
Retailers are being blamed.
Store Staff are being blamed.
Websites are being blamed.
Recession is being blamed.
US Govt Shutdown is being blamed.
Next-gen is being blamed.

Have we ever thought that maybe *gasp* Nintendo is to be blamed?

Define "they".

That's a massively huge brush you're painting with there.

 

[Tobor]

All right, Nintendo fans, it's time for U to make the difference!

Make some homemade signage, put on your best Zelda t-shirt, and head down to your nearest big box. Find a buddy, work in shifts. Someone needs to be there, fighting the good fight, informing the people about the amazing Wii U.

Only U can save Nintendo! Do U accept the challenge?

 

[Conezays]

The Wii U demo is pathetic. Most places still have the same demo disc that the system launched with it. It's full of screenshots and videos. Nothing that shows off the Wii U graphical capabilities or why the Gamepad is a selling point.

Put Google Street View on there, Nintendo Land and some Virtual Console stuff. Nintendo dropped the ball ridiculously bad the moment it launched. A full year head start on the competition and they did nothing with it.

I think the year head start is one of their most egregious screwups. If Nintendo had a solid jam-packed lineup of strong releases with their heavy-hitters I think it would've helped matters a lot (And no, Pikmin and W101 are not "heavy-hitters" to average consumer). Still, the name, brand confusion, advertising remains an issue.

 

[PhoenixDawn]

They definitely need to get some form of new playable demos out for this holiday season. All of the local locations around me still have a Rayman Legends demo if they even have their Wii U demo stand set up yet. It wasn't the worst demo in the world, but it doesn't appeal to many people at all (evident by Rayman bombing in sales everywhere). They need to get a Mario Kart, Nintendoland, something demo out to retailers that actually shows that there are new NINTENDO games on this NEW console. Hell, even a demo kiosk with Game and Wario would be better than what they've done now because that entire 'game' is pretty much a set of tech demos showing off uses of the gamepad.

 

[plagiarize]

But the thing is, once people do find out what it is, how often does that create interest? People treat marketing like it is this magical elixer that can sell anything to anyone. MS threw an obscene amount of money at marketing the shit out of the Surface, same with Blackberry, hell even the infallible Apple is seeing less than expected sales of the iPhone 5C despite that thing being covered and advertised to hell and back. At some point do we need to come to accept that what the Wii U is simply isn't attractive or appealing to the mass market? Almost a year in is that not the most likely possibility?

people need to let their individual feelings go too. 'not appealing to the mass market' doesn't mean the system isn't good. it doesn't mean that if you took time and sat the mass market down and let them play something like Nintendoland that they wouldn't go 'oh, actually I like this!'

once people get that 'appealing' isn't a judgment of the thing itself, but how the thing appears to be to someone *that doesn't own one*, I think people can leave their emotion behind.

it isn't appealing to the mass market, and no rebrand is going to fix that, because there's no easy way of conveying the appeal of it. if people don't already *want* something that does what the Wii U does, you have to convey what's special about it.

and with the Wii U, you really can't. with the Wii it took ten seconds of footage of someone playing Wii Sports Tennis for people to see the appeal.

when Nintendo had to spend something like three minutes explaining the Luigi's Mansion minigame at E3 that year, that was when the alarm bells should have gone off... because, yes, that game is fun, and yes, it's very easy to understand and pick up and play if you're playing it, but to explain it to someone watching...

it takes ages.

the Wii U is a great system imho. I've had a blast with it. At least once a month I play Wii U with a group, and we have a fantastic time that no other console on the market right now can compete with for that kind of 'all on the same couch' experience.

but it's never going to take off in a big way. because you really need five friends and a couch and four Wii + remotes to begin to understand what's great about it.

Nintendo obviously have had loads of hands on time with it... so they get it. but they don't seem to get that you can't market that special 'Wii U' feeling.

 

[Mononoke]

Still don't get why they called it Wii + U. Really? How did anyone think that was a good idea.

 

[Makai]

Only playable games at my store are Game and Wario and Rayman. They used to have Mario U, but got rid of it. :|

They need to at least have Nintendoland up.

 

[hatchx]

Still don't get why they called it Wii + U. Really? How did anyone think that was a good idea.

No, it was a terrible idea.

Nintendo either needs to advertise the hell out of the console or change the name. I doubt they will do either.

Luckily when nex-gen arrives most of the casual audience will never have really know what wiiU was.

 

[Opiate]

I don't think people understood my point: I agree, marketing matters, and I tried to take time to make sure it was clear I know it's not insignificant.

But so does the product itself (and yes, I'm also including the games in this). When a product is selling as poorly as the Wii U, it's typically a combination of problems: advertising may be wrong, the hardware might be unappealing, the software might not be compelling. What fans of a particular product or company will often do is shift all the blame to messaging/advertising because they don't want to say that the product itself is at all at fault.

By contrast, I would argue it's better to err on the assumption that the product is wrong, because that's something Nintendo can directly control much more readily. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo work with advertising firms to handle their messaging, but 100% of the final hardware is in their hands and much easier to correct for future products if something is wrong this generation.

If your advertising is bad, really the most you can do is fire your current ad agency and hope your next one is better. If the goal is to make Nintendo a better company, focus on bettering the things Nintendo actually has control over: software and particularly hardware.

 

[Keru_Shiri]

I'm just going to point out that the cost of making a Wiimote is WAY lower. Probably 5 bucks to make and they retail for 30$. It's not a tech thing it's a money thing.

That was sort of what I was driving at also, given that advances in tech eventually lead into lower manufacturing costs, and that the Wii U (as a tablet driven console) should have waited until it was economically feasible to release standalone tablet controllers at a decent price. I still maintain that if Nintendo wanted to make the tablet work for multiplayer games, then there needed to be 2-4 tablet multiplayer games.

Also with the online gaming only getting bigger the need for a second controller diminishes.

Fair point, but I know a lot of Nintendo fans (myself included) champion Nintendo for their same-room multiplayer which they're a lot better at then doing anything online.

 

[JinjoUnchained]

That's because the concept isnt very good. All most Wii U owners seem hang their hat on is Off TV play. This seems to be the number 1 feature so far. It's basically saying the Wii U is a non-portable handheld. That's not a selling point. Your average person (especially the audience that bought the original Wii) is not going to find themselves in a situation where their wife is watching Dancing With The Stars and they just HAVE to play some video games. That is not an attractive device for $300z

I have to ask Ninja, have you played the Wii U for any length of time? Many of your observations about the system's current commercial struggles are spot on, but you would have to spend some time with the console to see that it has massive unrealized potential. The potential lies in asymmetric game play. Having two views of the same action is a revolutionary new feature for both solo campaigns and local co-op. You can see the first hints of it in Zombi U and Metroid Blast from Nintendo Land. The problem is that these two titles are from 2012 and we haven't seen any announced titles really use this functionality in any meaningful way since then. I would hope that problem will be fixed by the next E3. The other features you hinted at (Off-TV Play, Miiverse, portability) are nice perks, but I don't think any reasonable person would suggest they are actual selling points.

 

[apana]

Nah I think Wii U is just not appealing to people, especially at that price. If a product is interesting enough people will take the time to figure out what it is. We heard this a lot with 3DS as well but when 3DS started selling this argument slipped away. I guess people suddenly figured out it was the successor to the DS at the same time as the price dropped.

 

[Commanche Raisin Toast]

I guess they haven't seen apples naming schemes...

iPhone 4>iPhone 4s

It seems very incremental and not a while new product.

 

[zma1013]

If your advertising is bad, really the most you can do is fire your current ad agency and hope your next one is better. If the goal is to make Nintendo a better company, focus on bettering the things Nintendo actually has control over: software and particularly hardware.

When I blame marketing and branding, I am blaming Nintendo. Nintendo has to have a certain amount of control over the overall message and content they're sending people right? I don't think it's the ad agency's problem that Nintendo named it in a way to easily confuse it as an add-on to the Wii and help to reinforce this idea by making the console look similar to the Wii, is it? They can focus on software and hardware, which no doubt needs improving, (there's so many "ifs," "ands," and "buts" involved when talking about Wii U hardware features it drives me crazy,) but I think they also have a large degree of control over communicating to the customers about the product.

 

[Cornbread78]

All right, Nintendo fans, it's time for U to make the difference!

Make some homemade signage, put on your best Zelda t-shirt, and head down to your nearest big box. Find a buddy, work in shifts. Someone needs to be there, fighting the good fight, informing the people about the amazing Wii U.

Only U can save Nintendo! Do U accept the challenge?

If I can run around with a plastic sword, a 'rang, and an Elves hat, I'm in. I'm not a big Ninty fan, but the world is a better place with them in the game...

 

[dankir]

Wii HD, Super Wii, Wii 2, etc.

Anything would have been a better idea instead of Wii U. I love my system but I hate the name.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

I still don't know what the fuck the "U" is supposed to mean.

 

[Into]

If you are blaming the name of a product for its failure, then you are looking at a very complex problem and trying to reduce it to a very simplistic and silly conclusion.


The name is not even in the top 10 reasons the console is bombing. Apple Iphones have S and C attached at the end and they sell. Vita is not a "PSP2" and its bombing despite a distinct name.

I certainly hope that people at Nintendo HQ are not sitting around telling themselves what a great product they made and how many great decisions they have made "but gosh damnit the name screwed us over! WE DID EVERYTHING RIGHT!!! OMG!".

Maybe this is what NintendoLife wants to push, basically to say that the company did everything right and the consumers are just too stupid to understand aka Nintendo needs to explain to people why the Wii U is awesome etc.

There are valuable lessons to be learned with the Wii U and the name is one of the smaller ones.

 

[SeventhSon]

I think this is a little shortsighted. A console isn't inherently compelling; software is what sells consoles. For as great as the PS4 is, why would you buy one if it didn't have any games?

This is exactly why I'm teetering on the edge of cancelling my PS4 pre-order following the news about Watch_Dogs. It was the next-gen game I was interested in.

 

[kiguel182]

3DS had the same problem, it overcame it but is baffling how Nintendo didn't learn anything from it.

 

[Sendou]

I still don't know what the fuck the "U" is supposed to mean.

Right there at the beginning of this video. Basically it's a console that's not only for all of us but also for you? Of course Reggie also drops adjectives like unifying and utopian.

DISCLAIMER: No, it doesn't make sense even after you have finished watching the video above.

On a side note what a horrible reveal. You have to have games to go together with your hardware reveals these days. Nintendo unveiling this new system (although I bet nobody back then even knew it was going to be a new system) and it is only met with cautious handclaps? I better not see that shit ever again.

 

[Porcile]

The thing is the general public is particularly stupid and ignorant when it comes to consoles to begin with - you've really got to mollycoddle or rely on other non-idiots who know what they're talking about to explain it succinctly and correctly. So many times I've been with gaming friends and they've spouted completely wrong information, especially on consoles they don't own. Throw in a name like Wii U and a general disinterest in the world actually figuring out stuff for themselves and you've got a recipe for mass confusion.

 

[Porcile]

I still don't know what the fuck the "U" is supposed to mean.

Well, if Wii meant 'We can all play together - regardless of age etc' the U with Off-TV play adds the option to play alone but continue to share the same space with people doing other things. The classic example used by Nintendo being 'Papa wants to watch the sports matchup but Sonny Jim can stay in the room while still playing his Nintendo. Maybe if it was written as 'We and You' it makes more sense?

 

[Anth0ny]

good wii u demo game does not exist and will never exist