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[DeuceGamer]

I think so.

At some point, used Wii Us will sell for <$100, games for <$30 a pop, and all of the droughts we complain about will be long forgotten. Instead, Wii U will be seen as this weird, underrated console with an awesome library of games.

Yep. When gamers look back they will see games that were great, and games that will likely age well. The droughts and lack of third party support won't matter much since they will have access to the entire library and thus won't be waiting for games to release.

 

[big_z]

the funny thing about it is that there were people using this exact line of thought in 2013. Dying in 2015? ok. Wanna bet? I'm all in for easy money.

Saying the console is dead in 2013 was foolish but why would they support the console beyond what they've announced this e3
if sales don't pick up. Mario kart is the biggest seller and it didn't help much. Amiibo has so much potential but without the software to create a sky landers like craze it's doa.

They need the sales. I can't see Nintendo riding it out like people want to believe. Theyre hurting the 3ds trying to jump start the wiiu and eventually resources will have to be moved to the new console unless they want to repeat the wiiu drought.


The wiiu doesn't need to be a massive success but it needs to be good enough, right now I don't think it's achieving that. Shareholder pressure made nintendo rush the wiiu out when wii sales became normal. I would imagine that pressure is immense now.

 

[Guamu]

It's why I'm on the fence of selling mine for profit or keeping it. Unless Nintendo shows amazing amazing amiibo software for this holiday and that manages to become to hottest thing to push massive sales I really don't see the console getting anything beyond the games we saw at e3.

I heard the same about the WIIU lineup around 2013 E3 last year here on gaf.

I'm sure that nintendo will bring games to the wii u at least until end of 2016 so i'm not worried about that.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

They need the sales. I can't see Nintendo riding it out like people want to believe. Theyre hurting the 3ds trying to jump start the wiiu and eventually resources will have to be moved to the new console unless they want to repeat the wiiu drought.

Their next 'console' is aimed squarely at the fitness market.
People buying fitness devices are not the same people who whine about software droughts if there aren't at least two new titles released each month.

EDIT:
Its also interesting you phrase it as "nintendo hurting the 3Ds by focussing on the wiiU" when it is just as obvious that Nintendo hurt the WiiUs launch by focussing heavily on the 3DS; the 3DS is closer to end of life than the WiiU is.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Regarding third party stuff, aside from the occasional DC exclusive, a lot of what the Dreamcast had (and what made it awesome) was a plethora of 'B-tier' output, something that no longer exists. However, the Wii U has pretty great indie support so it's not exactly apples to apples.

I put the Wii U up with the Dreamcast as a couple of my favorite consoles of all time and they feel very similar in terms of content.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Nah, DS is awesome. Dreamcast is incredibly overrated, though.

Dreamcast was a nice little system with the best launch I've ever experienced.

Over the top DC fans make it out to be more than it was. They're usually the ones that bought the system for $25 after it was dead.

Comparing Wii U to DC is an insult to Wii U, whose quality of software is far above and beyond the bulk of DC's offerings.
It did have Skies of Arcadia though.

 

[Nintentoast]

Saying the console is dead in 2013 was foolish but why would they support the console beyond what they've announced this e3
if sales don't pick up. Mario kart is the biggest seller and it didn't help much. Amiibo has so much potential but without the software to create a sky landers like craze it's doa.

They need the sales. I can't see Nintendo riding it out like people want to believe. Theyre hurting the 3ds trying to jump start the wiiu and eventually resources will have to be moved to the new console unless they want to repeat the wiiu drought.


The wiiu doesn't need to be a massive success but it needs to be good enough, right now I don't think it's achieving that. Shareholder pressure made nintendo rush the wiiu out when wii sales became normal. I would imagine that pressure is immense now.

Wait until the holidays when Mario Kart's legs as a system seller will be evident again. I'm sorry you expected millions of people to buy a console in June.

 

[Jamix012]

I think Wii U will be remember in the same vein as the DC. Personally, love the DC, but I think the Wii U will be in the same league by the time Smash launches and begin surpassing it then.

 

[MisterGrey3000]

Every console that's made by the big 3 (and the former big 4th and maybe even the former big 5th if we include the joint effort between Hudson Soft and NEC) is remembered fondly in some way, shape, or form. I wouldn't be surprised if some games enthusiast and Nintendo fans gain some sort of reverence for the console once it's gone for good (like the Dreamcast)

As long as there is quality software, and a console isn't equivalent to something like the Atari Jaguar, N-Gage, Apple Pippin, or the 3DO people will remember it fondly.

 

[Sakura]

It really bugs me out that Wii U sales are actually sub-Dreamcast numbers, and that Sega went third party right after.

Sega didn't go 3rd party because of Dreamcast sales numbers.
The only reason Sega went third party was because they had no money. They couldn't afford to compete with the upcoming PS2 and friends.
Dreamcast is not the bar for low sales, and I'm not sure why people love to compare sales numbers with it.

 

[MickeyPhree]

This doesn't include third party efforts like Power Stone 1 + 2, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, Quake 3 Arena.

The Dreamcast was so good.



MLB 2k was GOAT for a while there.

Just skimming this thread and noticed that last line. World Series baseball 2k2 was ok.

2k1 the year before was an absolutely terrible game. You couldn't even control the fielders.

 

[sixteen-bit]

All dat incredible software in such a short period of time... That Naomi arcade architecture really helped.

 

[tmarques]

that's true, but even with the high rate of piracy, it still sold more than the Wii U has in roughly the same time period. ouch

I don't see how piracy would be detrimental to hardware sales. If anything, you could make the case that piracy drives hardware sales.

 

[Aquamarine]

Sega didn't go 3rd party because of Dreamcast sales numbers.
The only reason Sega went third party was because they had no money. They couldn't afford to compete with the upcoming PS2 and friends.
Dreamcast is not the bar for low sales, and I'm not sure why people love to compare sales numbers with it.

And their sudden death of their President + Chairman in March 2001 left the company $757 million through a posthumous donation. That revived Sega...who used the massive infusion of capital to dramatically reform the company.

 

[Not Spaceghost]

Didn't nintendo recently announce that they were no longer taking losses on hardware? That should be a decent indicator on how things are going for the wii u, may not be selling like crazy but it is not breaking the bank.

 

[Maximus.]

The Wii U reminds me of the N64 in the sense that it had fewer games, but those games are great. It is a shame Nintendo isn't doing as good as they should be, but they made some questionable decisions with this generation.

 

[jay]

This thread made me miss Sega.

 

[Daingurse]

Wii-U might have some level of reverence when all is said and done, like the Dreamcast. but I don't think the Wii-U deserves Dreamcast levels of fondness currently. Nintendo made far too many mistakes and decisions I don't respect. Dreamcast was doomed before it even left the gate, because of Sega's fucked up financials, but that console was still fantastic. Online gaming, impressive visuals at launch with superior ports of PSX & N64 games, and great first party content covering a wide range of genres. Still my favorite console of all time. It is beloved for a reason.

 

[sörine]

Regarding sales this is what I can find by FY. Note that Dreamcast's western launches were in it's second FY and Wii U's last FY only comprises it's first quarter. Also Wii U's SW totals don't include digital only titles.

Dreamcast

FY1999 HW: 900,000
FY1999 SW: 3,010,000

FY2000 HW: 4,650,000 / 5,550,000 ltd
FY2000 SW: 26,040,000 / 29,050,000 ltd

FY2001 HW: 3,390,000 / 8,200,000 ltd
FY2001 SW: 23,870,000 / 51,630,000 ltd

FY2002 HW: 1,860,000 / 10,060,000 ltd
FY2002 SW: 7,580,000 / 59,210,000 ltd

Wii U

FY2013 HW: 3,450,000
FY2013 SW: 13,420,000

FY2014 HW: 2,720,000 / 6,170,000 ltd
FY2014 SW: 18,860,000 / 32,280,000 ltd

FY2015 HW: 510,000 / 6,680,000 ltd
FY2015 SW: 4,390,000 / 36,670,000 ltd

 

[MisterGrey3000]

This thread made me miss Sega.

Every thread about SEGA makes me miss their presence in the console business.
They had their own unique 1st party style and software/hardware philosophies that I really admire. They were almost like a mix between SCE and Nintendo/EAD in a lot of ways (imo); though I'd argue that their 1st party development philosophies leaned more towards Nintendo's gameplay-centric values.
It's depressing that their console business was ran into the ground once they started releasing dumb stop-gap peripherals like the 32X.
:/

 

[joedan]

The Dreamcast was the last feel-good console ;_;

The Dreamcast was the last mainstream console with something to say.

 

[Don't Laugh]

The Dreamcast was the last feel-good console ;_;

it was certainly the last console that felt truly special to me, the last console that wowed me

 

[Sami+]

You can argue that Dreamcast deserved better, and Wii U is getting the attention it deserves.

This is spot on. As an owner of both, the Wii U is nothing special. From the moment it launched to today there hasn't been a single thing that truly wowed me.

 

[BlockheadBrown]

This is spot on. As an owner of both, the Wii U is nothing special. From the moment it launched to today there hasn't been a single thing that truly wowed me.

You're entitled to *your* opinion. I think it's a fantastic system.

 

[Bgamer90]

Exactly, Dreamcast actually had several advantages over the competition in its first year. Excellent first and third party exclusives, superior graphics and sound, online play and at a reasonable $199. The Dreamcast really was leaps and bounds above PS1 and N64.

Wii U has one advantage over its competitors. It has a handful of great first-party exclusives. No one can even really say if it's more powerful than the Xbox 360 or PS3, and it certainly lacks the online and media features of those last-gen consoles, not even considering the current gen.

You can argue that Dreamcast deserved better, and Wii U is getting the attention it deserves.

Couldn't agree with this post more.

Dreamcast was ahead of its time while the Wii U is behind the times. Still like my Wii U though for the Nitnendo exclusives; Love Mario Kart 8.

 

[DedValve]

The WiiU has already (or will after the end of this year) reach Dreamcast status.

Niche titles up the ass (platinum!), platformers at every corner, weird ass games (FexSMT will no doubt be a trip), a revival of a series of sorts (fatal frame), great digital content.

I have a wiiU and the software is incredibly tight, 0 third party support outside the odd indie here and there but man oh man what is there is great.

That said wiiU is very behind the times, the whole OS is cumbersome and just a chore to go through, at least it boots fast and quick start removes that nonsense of an OS from the equation (if you actually use the gamepad which I don't).

 

[Wickerbasket]

You're entitled to *your* opinion. I think it's a fantastic system.

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but I think it would be stretching reality a bit to suggest the system is fantastic; I mean, you only need to look at the sales and the games library to know that's not true.

It has a few great games, but I could count those games on one hand. With the rate at which Nintendo releases games, you could probably finish Wii U's worthwhile games in a month or two and be waiting months for new releases.

A lot of what I've played on my Wii U so far feels like it's been done better on previous system too.

The best thing about the Wii U is the Pro controller in my opinion.

 

[RAIDEN1]

Sometimes I wonder didn't Sega ever think about the fact that knowing they had a limited cash supply to throw onto the dreamcast, and with talk already coming in that they were going to switch to development on rival consoles, what was the point in investing in the "Dreamcast Project" when surely they must have known soon as the PS2 launches they wouldn't have a hope in hell's chance in competing...

 

[SerTapTap]

Huge difference in third-party support.

Yeah if the DC only had Sega supporting it like the Wii U almost does it'd have been a joke. Still some great Sega games, but daaaaamn them dreamcast games. Crazy how it all went down.

 

[JordanN]

Sometimes I wonder didn't Sega ever think about the fact that knowing they had a limited cash supply to throw onto the dreamcast, and with talk already coming in that they were going to switch to development on rival consoles, what was the point in investing in the "Dreamcast Project" when surely they must have known soon as the PS2 launches they wouldn't have a hope in hell's chance in competing...

I don't think the "going third party talks" happened till 1999.

Dreamcast, like all other consoles, began development right after Saturn launched, so they probably thought they still had a chance or the situation didn't look as bad yet.

 

[Porcile]

The difference is Wii U will be around long enough to eventually make some money (but not enough to offset the losses at the beginning of it's life).

 

[ozfunghi]

that's true, but even with the high rate of piracy, it still sold more than the Wii U has in roughly the same time period. ouch

Errrr. So... you think a console with "free" games, would sell worse?

 

[gelf]

The main difference I think is that Nintendo can absorb a bad generation, they have enough in reserve to live on. Sadly Sega were running on empty after the Mega CD, 32X and the Saturn and just couldn't stay in hardware much longer.

Still I miss that Sega, for all their faults in the way the company was run they had some of the best dev teams in the world.