metalslimer
Member
I guess I as going off the wiiu one in january which I guess could have been an emergency direct.
Possibly. They haven't even nailed down a G&W release date yet in NA which makes me wonder what they are even doing with the game.
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Media Create Sales: Week 12, 2013 (Mar 18 - Mar 24)
- Thread starter Chris1964
- Start date
I guess I as going off the wiiu one in january which I guess could have been an emergency direct.
Possibly. They haven't even nailed down a G&W release date yet in NA which makes me wonder what they are even doing with the game.
If we don't get a direct this week then they are probably waiting for the investor's conference. If they really wanted to they could've just thrown a Direct together with upcoming 3DS games or something if they had nothing else to show off.
They're probably going to talk about what direction the company will be taking this year like they did with DD. I'm expecting something like heavily pushing NFC, mention of Miyamoto's game, and we may get small details about the 3D Mario game.
AZ Greg
Member
I guess it depends on what everyone would consider a turnaround. If getting back on pace with the Gamecube and maybe reaching its WW sales LTD is a turnaround then sure, I can see those things helping push it in that direction. But the 3DS had the pedigree of being a Nintendo handheld which have always been successful and the PS3 always had the support of third-parties.
metalslimer
Member
Shikamaru Ninja is going to kill you...
Gianni Merryman
Member
Or they are just waiting until the time is right, especially seeing how their competitors have yet to show all their cards.
I already think its going to be a big NFC game(o r maybe even the first of a series ala the Wii series) with a huge worldwide push due to the fact that Miyamoto is always present when they start talking about how great NFC will be for them in the future etc so he can try it if he wants lol.
That's definitely possible. It's also quite possible that the WiiU ends up in the GC-N64 range. 3rd-party support doesn't seem like it's going to be a factor - this will be a system carried by Nintendo, and it depends if Nintendo can hit a home-run or two with some software that elevates the system beyond GC-N64 levels, or if it follows along those prior paths. If anyone is capable of delivering that breakout software, it's definitely Nintendo - they've done it numerous times spanning the history of dedicated gaming systems. But it's not a certainty by any stretch.
I'm kind of 50/50 with duckroll's suggestions. Just letting the system die after the first year or two seems premature. A big part of the problem right now is Nintendo coming to grips with HD development. It's a learning curve that they weren't prepared for, and it has pushed back their release schedule significantly. Following duckroll's suggestion, the teams would all get one HD game to work on, and then they'd be thrown right into working on an even more demanding development process. Giving them a good 4 year cycle to get their feet grounded on WiiU would seem to have some advantages before throwing them into the next gen dev cycle.
But I do agree with duckroll that there's no point going and buying 3rd-party ports and stuff. To what end? The 360/PS3 ports that they could be getting for the next year or two are going to sell infinitely better on the 360/PS3 anyway. Those franchises being released at this point already have their fan bases on those other platforms. And new games being designed for 720/PS4 will be a significant downgrade on the WiiU, to the point that the games still won't sell very well. If the WiiU had taken advantage of this first year on the market, and built up a big userbase advantage, then that strategy might have had a chance of paying off, but at this point - there's just very little to be gained from buying ports. All it would do is leave the WiiU in a situation where it's just constantly losing money.
At this point, Nintendo's best bet is to basically treat the WiiU as they did the Gamecube. Sell it at cost, so they aren't losing anything on the hardware, and make some meager profits off of the 1st-party software throughout the generation. Let the 3DS carry you through the gen, much like the GBA carried Nintendo through the GC years. They could still end up with a profitable few years that way, and then start anew with their next plan somewhere around 2016-17ish.
As an aside - the Japanese 3rd-party situation is going to be interesting to watch this coming gen. Many of them seem to be throwing in with PS4/720 as they chase the west, but the PS3/360 western market just wasn't there for them this past gen. I don't see why it would be any different moving forward into this new gen. Square Enix tried hard with all of their Eidos stuff, and even though the shipping numbers were fine, they couldn't make any money off any of the stuff. That situation is only going to get worse as the dev costs jump again next gen. Capcom had an absolutely miserable last half of the gen with their stuff in the west. The stalwarts (FF, RE, MGS) should be fine, but beyond that, this coming gen could be a real mess for Japanese pubs if they make a real push for western success.
Father_Brain
Banned
All of those franchises have seen their most recent installments underperform significantly in the West, so I wouldn't be so sure about that.
michaelius
Banned
They will be showing fiscal year results in April - after those are released they will need very good direct
I can get judging FF and RE, but I feel it's a bit ridiculous to judge MGS V's sales potential by MGR and/or Peace Walker.
metalslimer
Member
I have to wonder at what point do MG fans give up on the series. A story based game like MG going to 5 installments with PW pretty much being a main game seems like a bad idea. At some point it has to be rebooted.
This is actually another reason that Sengoku Basara 4 throws me off.
It's coming out in (likely early) 2014, so presumably it would be after the price cut/Mario 3D/Mario Kart combo, and releasing at the right time to capitalize on that.
Right, but if that's the case for more than Capcom, that implies Nintendo will have to provide most and/or all their own software after the holidays as well until some unspecified date when third party publishers are convinced by the sales increase and have enough time to actually make something.
It would make it harder to keep momentum going.
Yeah. I can't say that Rising or Peace Walker are really hard evidence that 5 will underperform, but I strongly suspect we're going to see serious franchise fatigue set in.
Guess we'll have to wait and see if any other pub is going to take the chance of riding the momentum of first-party software.
Just kill the Wii U and go handheld/JP only
And support PS4
I will kill everyone if the bolded happened.
I was going to mention something like this. I want to note that I don't think creating a new gimmick is a good idea. It won't attract the core gamer who wants a traditional control scheme. And there's no guarantee that they'll attract casuals either, many who have gone to smartphones/tablets.
The solution may to just be to drop out of the console market if third parties don't care and your first party efforts aren't enough. They still have games to launch for the Wii, exclusive games you won't find anywhere, but the Wii U will still be second fiddle compared to PS4/720. I've seen people express the fact that they'll get a PS4/720 + Wii U, but the people stating that may not be high enough in number for the Wii U to at least have a decent foothold.
On another note, if they kill off the Wii U too early, while it may be a dead-end, that will kill consumer and maybe shareholder confidence (no idea what shareholders think of the Wii U. They may want it dead. Or they want Nintendo to resurrect it somehow.)
On the 3DS, it has a very good foothold in Japan but lacking elsewhere. Still, Nintendo has a strong library this year and we'll see how that goes. They have a much better chance in competing in the portable market than Sony, who if they don't change the Vita's fortunes much, should consider dropping out of the portable market. Niche games and multiplat games that people will prefer to play on other platforms can only get you so far.
And going back to something duckroll mentioned...I have no idea why the 3DS and Vita don't support TV Out. So stupid. There are actually TV Out cables available to the press for the 3DS; not sure about Vita.
Iwata recently said that they don't have a schedule for these and are not trying to plan them every other month.
I'm not so sure Nintendo is capable to have both Mario Kart 8 and Galaxy 3 ready for holidays. If they can make it good for them.
Now that I think of it if both are out what's next for 2014? Another big drought until the next big seller?
We just don't know enough about what's coming out for the Wii U right now. It's hard to make a prediction.
They will probably announce more games at E3 and we already know about a few games that we could be seeing next year. Next year's big releases will probably be Zelda/Smash Bros.
Given the launch of 2 new systems this Fall (I assume Xbox 3 will be there), as well as a most likely possible price drop of Xbox 360/PS3, I would imagine it would be better for to have all their big big guns ready for the fall/winter then to have them delayed at all.(plus a [aggressive] price drop).
For the early 2014, wouldn't be a bad idea to make few smaller games, even eShop ones (heck besides that one Pokemon eShop game, we don't know any other eShop game that is coming) for the early 2014.
Basically no pressure at all. (sarcasm) lol
frankie_baby
Member
its a pretty safe bet galaxy 3 will be done for the holidays, i wouldn't have been so sure mario kart 8 would have been finished in time but it's the game that will sell systems they need it done, they'll throw in every dev they conceivably need just to get it done
The Mana Legend
Banned
Just kill the Wii U and go handheld/JP only
And support PS4
Nah, I'd rather they go down with the console ship than potentially turn into another Sega.
metalslimer
Member
We know how Nintendo operates. They put out a string of big games and then have a long break, see: 3ds most of 2012. The Wiiu will still have X, Smash Bros, and Yoshi for 2014 but they will have to spread those out. Unless Nintendo finds some 3rd party support the Wiiu will never be able to find consistent footing as Wiiu will face constant droughts
Zelda being ready for 2014 would be a miracle
By that time it will have been 3 years since Skyward Sword so it being a holiday title wouldn't exactly be impossible but it could go either way IMO.
As long as the gaps aren't as big as the gamecube ones lol. They have a decent amount of titles from next year but we need a few more.
electroplankton
Banned
So what's your idea about the issue? What should Nintendo do?
Gianni Merryman
Member
Retro's game?
Monolith's game?
Bayonetta 2?
Anyway, for sure they should ideally support Wii U with a constant flow of games, they have to fix this issue asap.
Not many things with the way they handled the console. Without third party support there will always be software droughts. Nintendo can't release new games every week.
What Dalthien said. Treat like a GameCube (after all its sales won't be so different from it). Minimaze loses, earn money from 3DS and prepare for next generation.
Father_Brain
Banned
MGS is admittedly a bit more speculative, but I'd be surprised if it doesn't fall short of MGS4's Western sales.
electroplankton
Banned
Nice. And do you think things will change if one or two of the other companies will fail in a similar way?
What company actually gives up after releasing a grand total of two games for their system? It was around 2004 or so when Nintendo started preparing for the Wii.
Even if one of Microsoft or Sony fail I don't see how that benefits Wii U more than one of the remaining other 2 systems.
Even worse for Wii U, PS3 and 360 had to face a powerful Wii. This doesn't exist this time for PS4/720.
electroplankton
Banned
PS4/720 will have to face a powerful 360 in the US and a powerful PS3 in Europe, though. And a powerful 3DS in Japan. I don't know, I don't think it's so simplistic. But we don't know anything about the other platforms, after all.
There was also a powerful PS2
I'm not siding with either side but I'm curious to see how the growth of online play will affect how soon people upgrade.
Not only that but a recession in Europe, high adoption and strength of smart devices and above all a vastly reduced output of titles on consoles. Things are looking really bad for the Wii U at the moment but I think the other two manufacturers (MS & Sony) may also face difficulties.
Then again it's their first HD Zelda and Zelda games take a long time to make. I don't see it coming out before holiday 2015.
Also, they had some serious (core game) gaps with the Wii. Luckily the Wii had casuals buying into the casual games released, but it's unlikely that the Wii U has that luxury.
True, and the PS3 hasn't even hit $200 yet. But all third parties will move on to the PS4/720, and gamers will move on as a result. Might not be right away, especially with cross gen games, but it'll happen if people want new games.
I think the transition will take a really long time just due to the fact pubs don't want to let go of that large PS360 userbase. I feel like we'll see cross-gen games for a little more than a year.
The only Zelda game that really took a long time was Skyward Sword and the game shouldn't have taken as long as it did. Twilight Princess took four years but that was only because it got delayed a year(probably so it could be a Wii launch title) so as long as there isn't a delay I believe its possible for the game to come in 2014 but I wouldn't exactly bet on it lol.
IIRC, the Wii U Zelda will have Nintendo's largest team ever working on it and might have the biggest budget Nintendo has financed.
electroplankton
Banned
We will also see how companies adapt themselves with higher development costs, bigger marketing campaigns, and without having shitloads of money coming from the casual crowd that was present on Wii and DS.
darkside31337
Tomodachi wa Mahou
You'll see cross-gen games for a while, much longer than a year. PS2 -still- gets releases, EA still churns out FIFA every year for the PS2. In general it was getting plenty of games years after the PS3 launched.
But I think the overall transition between generations will be accelerated this time as opposed to the last transition because of online play. When one person in a group of friends upgrades then it makes it more likely that the rest of the group decides to upgrade as well.
Being LTTP on top of all the other issues really hurt Sony with the PS3. And the Wii U squandering its 1 year headstart on everybody else hurts even more. Nobody jumped from the PS3/360 to the Wii U and I don't know why they flock to it after the PS4/720 are out when the logical thing is to stay with wherever your friends are.
I think bailing on the Wii U is a mistake. Nintendo just needs to keep plodding along and position itself as the 2nd system you want to own a few years down the road because hey its still the only place to play Nintendo published games.
Sammy Samusu
Member
I love it.
Who buys Nintendo consoles expecting third-party support anyway? *cackles*
That is why I think it won't be as fast as last gen. Why get the next-gen consoles when your friends are playing the "same" games on current gen consoles?