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[Star Falcon]

Until they actually start marketing the thing, it's gonna continue like this.

I met up with some friends yesterday, and one of them didn't even know that the Wii-U had been released.

 

[Log4Girlz]

Yes because all those AAA games are selling gangbusters. PS4/720 are not automatic hits you expect them to be.

The cumulative support of every conceivable third party in existence will drive PS4 and Durango sales, even if they falter at the start. One of if not both competitors will be successes or the console market is well and truly dead. Wii U at best can hope for a turn around, but its performance is not necessarily indicative of what the PS4/Durango's will be.

 

[Vagabundo]

The Wii U will be fine for Nintendo. They'll make their profit and the mountains of cash the have will ensure that whatever reorganisation they are currently going through their next machine will be better supported with software.

I do see the Wii U as a shorter term (bridge) for them. Another 4 years I#'d guess unless things turn around for it. From a gamer's perspective it will get some amazing games. So yeah, it will be fine. Not amazing, not a bomba, just fine.

 

[SpinningBirdKick]

The Wii U definitely won't attain mass market levels of appeal that the Wii enjoyed.

It will obviously struggle to get any more third parties on board and will likely have problems keeping those that have already dipped their toes in the water.

The only way I can see this picking up if it becomes an easy port box from the 360/PS3 versions once they lose sales momentum.

However, Nintendo have some of the most solid and enduring IPs in the business. So I think they're the only console platform holder that could still forge out a reasonable return without third parties on board. They've faced this before with the Gamecube and I don't see why they can't weather this storm again.

With Nintendo doubling down on internal development as their larger office space demonstrates I think that they're very well positioned to do this.

It's frustrating for core gamers that want everything on one box (great first party and third support) but that was and is never going to happen. Nintendo fell out of favour with third parties in the SNES era and nothing has ever suggested that this would change.

Nintendo have one Hail Mary pass type play to pull things back from the jaws of defeat and I think this is the strategy they're following at the moment. That is to ramp up 3DS development and flood the 3DS market with their high quality big name IPs to get a new generation of players interested in Nintendo.

Nintendo know they have already lost the hearts and minds of the average PS3/ 360 user. So they understand that there's a better shot at reviving their business fortunes with new players rather than experienced gamers. This has always been Nintendo's business strategy nothing has changed in this regard since the NES.

Once the 3DS user base reaches critical mass they will then heavily cross promote the Wii U to these new users as a way to continue playing the next installment of franchises they recently fell in love with.

It's a long term plan and I think it has a great shot at success. Japanese companies are used to playing the long game on business strategies and this fits perfectly in that box.

It also goes a long way to explaining why Nintendo are virtually ignoring the Wii U while concentrating on the 3DS.

Interesting times ahead...

 

[Yopis]

I don't need a paint brush, the forum has a search function. Your posting history speaks volumes as to how much "benefit of the doubt" you gave the Vita.It's not even wrong to have predicted as such. The Vita was dead as early as last year. It became increasingly apparent as the year went by that there wouldn't be a significant turnaround, (just as it's becoming increasingly apparent with the Wii U as each month goes by). But let's not pretend you and others, so eager to play the waiting game now, hadn't declared the Vita's situation a year ago.

I mean, feel free to point out where you told everyone any predictions were premature with regard to the Vita. Or show how much leeway you gave the system for it's first year on the market as you claim, rather than the quite apparent general disparagement.

Lol shut down...nice post.

 

[coinoperatedboy]

Nintendo and the wiiU Will be fine.
If they make good games that is all that matters.

 

[shinra-bansho]

Oh yay, Quinton "Wait 'til month 4/5/6/infinity" McCleod is here to tell us all about the 50+ games again...

-----

With regard to all these posts about how it doesn't matter how much it sells, it will be "fine" as long as it makes Nintendo some indeterminate amount of money... where does this assertion come from?

Nintendo didn't produce the Wii U to provide a marginal return on initial investment.

Would Vita be viewed as having done fine, when it's discontinued and has sold abysmally, even if the venture ultimately returns some miniscule amount on the initial investment? No. It will have been a colossal waste of time and money, that could have been invested in more profitable ventures.

 

[Chris1964]

Nintendo and the wiiU Will be fine.
If they make good games that is all that matters.

Sure it's not.

 

[coinoperatedboy]

Sure it's not.

What would matter more regarding a console?

 

[NBtoaster]

What would matter more regarding a console?

Profits?

 

[StevieP]

Oh yay, Quinton "Wait 'til month 4/5/6/infinity" McCleod is here to tell us all about the 50+ games again...

-----

With regard to all these posts about how it doesn't matter how much it sells, it will be "fine" as long as it makes Nintendo some indeterminate amount of money... where does this assertion come from?

Nintendo didn't produce the Wii U to provide a marginal return on initial investment.

Would Vita be viewed as having done fine, when it's discontinued and has sold abysmally, even if the venture ultimately returns some miniscule amount on the initial investment? No. It will have been a colossal waste of time and money, that could have been invested in more profitable ventures.

Does Sony consider the PS3 a success? Because with every metric possible it has been a collosal failure. Not just in comparison to their previous consoles, but as a return on investment. However, the PS3 has housed some of the best exclusive experiences of this generation and has sold a respectable amount in the end, despite the enormous financial failure that the console wrought on Sony. In the eyes of a gamer, the console was great. I won't speak for the poster you're replying to, but I'm guessing that's what they meant by that type of success. The Wii U won't have anywhere near the third party support of its competitors, but it has the what the market has considered the best regarded first party content in the eyes of the wider market over the last decade or so to look forward to. It's their job to sell it to the public, however - one they've failed miserably to do.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

Number 8? In ND january Iwata said there is atleast 2 more collaborations with third parties.

Iwata also stated awhile back there are 2 more games yet to be revealed for this year. I wouldnt say anything is fizzled out yet.

When did he say this? Do you have a link to the ND?

 

[Mihael Mello Keehl]

When did he say this? Do you have a link to the ND?

Just watch the january direct. He said there is more collaborations with 3rd parties. I said 2 because he said "collaborations" so there could be more but 2 is atleast the minimum.

 

[shinra-bansho]

Does Sony consider the PS3 a success? Because with every metric possible it has been a collosal failure. Not just in comparison to their previous consoles, but as a return on investment.

I don't know, I can't imagine internally it's considered a success. And indeed, it lost a fuckton of money. With the exception of the metric of a respectable installed base, as you note below, there's little in terms of objective and/or financial measures with which to consider it a successful system. LTD software sales are probably not considered necessarily a complete failure either, but nowhere near expectations or past precedent.

However, the PS3 has housed some of the best exclusive experiences of this generation and has sold a respectable amount in the end, despite the enormous financial failure that the console wrought on Sony. In the eyes of a gamer, the console was great.

I enjoyed it while I had one, sure. I don't think it did "fine" for most of the gen.

I won't speak for the poster you're replying to, but I'm guessing that's what they meant by that type of success. The Wii U won't have anywhere near the third party support of its competitors, but it has the what the market has considered the best regarded first party content in the eyes of the wider market over the last decade or so to look forward to. It's their job to sell it to the public, however - one they've failed miserably to do.

That's nice and all, I'm sure Nintendo will release some good games for it, as the rest of the industry avoids it. It simply seems odd that high scoring games of critical acclaim are suddenly the metric to use, when for much of that last decade if not much longer, stellar sales and large installed bases have been the go-to measure of system performance.

Or alternatively, how the abject failure that is the Vita even if ultimately profitable with some nice games on it, will still be considered an abject failure, due to it's stillborn sales and eventual terrible final installed base.

 

[coinoperatedboy]

Profits?

So making profits without making good games?
I'm new here, is this that sarcasm thing people tell me about?

 

[Lambda Pie]

it's dead already. in 7 or 8 months it's gonna be an afterthought.

 

[Darryl]

You said CoD and BF4 weren't system sellers. A game doesnt have to be exclusive to a platform in order for it to be a system seller. the vast vast majority of those games are sold on Xbox and Playstation. And those people are gonna be frothing at their mouths to get a new CoD or BF games with next gen visuals.

i hope one of the next-gen consoles launches without significant exclusives so we can test this. i just cannot believe that a significant portion of the audience is going to be frothing at the mouth for "next-gen visuals" when they can get the same game for a lower price on a console they already own. the crowd that froths at the mouth for next-gen visuals already exists and they've been on PC for a long time now.

 

[Pie and Beans]

Does Sony consider the PS3 a success? Because with every metric possible it has been a collosal failure. Not just in comparison to their previous consoles, but as a return on investment. However, the PS3 has housed some of the best exclusive experiences of this generation and has sold a respectable amount in the end, despite the enormous financial failure that the console wrought on Sony. In the eyes of a gamer, the console was great. I won't speak for the poster you're replying to, but I'm guessing that's what they meant by that type of success. The Wii U won't have anywhere near the third party support of its competitors, but it has the what the market has considered the best regarded first party content in the eyes of the wider market over the last decade or so to look forward to. It's their job to sell it to the public, however - one they've failed miserably to do.

The difference being of course that Sony recognises the importance of the long game, a game Nintendo totally sacrificed with the Wii and pledging to the fickle casual base. Sony put some effort into attracting said extended userbase, but their main concern was the "always there and growing" hardcore gamer base, something they were prepared to pay (severely) to keep and move forward with.

Nintendo was beginning to definitively lose that base with the Gamecube as Halo took a lot of mindshare and enabled MS their big second run, but by going against HD, against online, and more with the Wii, they kissed it goodbye. Bizarrely the WiiU would seem aimed at that hardcore base again, but just not pulling out any kind of convincing big guns. Its powered around the same level as 7 year old hardware offering no noticeable jump, they didn't ensure it has third party parity with Xbox or PS3, and so the result is it sells to the hardcore Nintendo only base and no-one else.

What makes this even more ridiculous of course is that Nintendo is JUST games, nothing else like the other two. They should be absolutely OBSESSED with the long game and mindshare, but the WiiU is a catastrophic failure in this regard.

Sony meanwhile can already point to some very encouraging figures and interest in PS4 due to their big and successful unveil. More people talking about the PS4 which isn't out til November than WiiU which released last November. Says it all really.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

Just watch the january direct. He said there is more collaborations with 3rd parties. I said 2 because he said "collaborations" so there could be more but 2 is atleast the minimum.

Oh....yeah I thought you had some new info but guess not.

 

[Poimandres]

i hope one of the next-gen consoles launches without significant exclusives so we can test this. i just cannot believe that a significant portion of the audience is going to be frothing at the mouth for "next-gen visuals" when they can get the same game for a lower price on a console they already own. the crowd that froths at the mouth for next-gen visuals already exists and they've been on PC for a long time now.

It depends on if they are the same game in name alone, or the same game in terms of content.

Basically a Gun situation won't convince people to jump, but if there's a new COD or something that has been built from the ground up for next gen before being shoehorned onto current gen people will go for it.

I don't think this will happen much with PS4/Durango launch titles. I think the games will mostly be the same cross-gen, but there's bound to be one or two that clearly belong on the new consoles. Watch Dogs will probably be one of them.

 

[Mihael Mello Keehl]

Oh....yeah I thought you had some new info but guess not.

I wish :/ If I had new info I would've told you who the companies were. Matter of fact there would probably be huge thread on it lol

 

[Log4Girlz]

Does Sony consider the PS3 a success?

Let me ask Ken Kutaragi.

 

[StayDead]

Oh god people talking about collaborations just made me remember Fire Emblem x Megaten. I forgot about that O_O

 

[Elixist]

i think it will do "ok" . my prediction 38 million in 5 years.

 

[Drek]

Does Sony consider the PS3 a success?

It played a huge role in getting both Kutaragi and Stringer fired despite being the Trojan horse upon which Blu-Ray was built on. It also is directly responsible for Sony rejecting their decades long practice of letting hardware engineers run the R&D show, instead giving the reigns to software developers who then dictate terms to the hardware engineers.

So a few major heads rolled and the company did a complete 180 in market direction. I don't know how much clearer it could be that Sony as a whole views it as a failure, or that the reason Kaz Hirai became the new President and CEO was anything but directly tied to him salvaging a sinking ship. He didn't get the bump for doing yeoman's work. He got the bump because he turned a colossal fuck up around, greatly reduced the bleeding, and restored consumer confidence.

Many thought he couldn't do it by the way, and that was with the strength of the Playstation brand behind him, Blu-Ray as a secondary selling point, competitive hardware, and 3rd party commitment to the hardware. So not only is the Wii U likely going to cost Iwata his job, Nintendo needs to find someone who can handle the Wii U's rebound with greater skill than Hirai handled the PS3's. If such a person exists they might just be able to walk across water too.

 

[Persona86]

Oh god people talking about collaborations just made me remember Fire Emblem x Megaten. I forgot about that O_O

Got a good feeling about that game.

 

[Zoon]

I think it will be more than fine.
I can't believe that Nintendo will give up.
When Mario Kart/Zelda/Metroid get released it will start printing money.

 

[plufim]

i think it will do "ok" . my prediction 38 million in 5 years.

Which would be almost double the gamecube, a system Nintendo made a profit from.

 

[deleted]

Yes, I think the console will do just fine. Not Wii levels and maybe not 360/PS3 levels either, but it will pick up sales once the games start flowing and the flaws are worked out and it should easily sell more than N64/Gamecube.

We will see a 3D Mario and Mario Kart this year and imo Nintendo slowed down it's releases considerably to be able to have a constant flow of games for this holiday season. Mindshare will increase and announcements will be made this E3.
Some 3rd parties will still support the system and their eShop should see some great release of games, if their indy policies stick.

I'm sure they would have been able to release Pikmin 3 and some other stuff earlier this year, but it would have been a drop on a hot stone. It would have done nothing for the perception of the Wii U. Come late summer there will be one or two Nintendo games for the system released per month.

Wii Sports U, Wii Fit U, Mario Kart U, Mario 3D U, Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101, New Luigi Bros, maybe WW Remake should all hit between August and December and surely some unannounced game will join the ranks. And then there are the Ubisoft games, Batman, possibly CoD and some EA games.
Right now, it is as if the system was never launched, but late summer will be like a second launch period for Nintendo - and they will have sorted out most of the software issues by then.

 

[Poimandres]

Yes, I think the console will do just fine. Not Wii levels and maybe not 360/PS3 levels either, but it will pick up sales once the games start flowing and the flaws are worked out and it should easily sell more than N64/Gamecube.

We will see a 3D Mario and Mario Kart this year and imo Nintendo slowed down it's releases considerably to be able to have a constant flow of games for this holiday season. Mindshare will increase and announcements will be made this E3.
Some 3rd parties will still support the system and their eShop should see some great release of games, if their indy policies stick.

I'm sure they would have been able to release Pikmin 3 and some other stuff earlier this year, but it would have been a drop on a hot stone. It would have done nothing for the perception of the Wii U. Come late summer there will be one or two Nintendo games for the system released per month.

Do you truly believe that Nintendo are sitting on finished Wii U games that could have been launched months ago?

If that's the case, why did they launch the machine last year in the first place?

I don't buy it. At all.

 

[oVerde]

It will be every core's second console, no problems starting slow.

 

[deleted]

Do you truly believe that Nintendo are sitting on finished Wii U games that could have been launched months ago?

If that's the case, why did they launch the machine last year in the first place?

I don't buy it. At all.

No, I don't think its finished, but I think they could have finished it earlier. But why not use your resources where they matter more?
What good would a Pikmin 3 release do right now, when the next substantial release is month away? It won't move tons of hardware on its own and it won't change the perception of the system.

The situation sucks when you already own a Wii U and are waiting for the next game, but from a business perceptive it makes sense to have the game ready when it kicks of a more steady release of games.

Spoiler

imo of course, maybe it's a good thing I'm not in charge of this stuff

 

[Kazuma Kiryu]

Oh yay, Quinton "Wait 'til month 4/5/6/infinity" McCleod is here to tell us all about the 50+ games again...

don't forget the secret NDA's. those are the wiiU's secret sauce. but yeah, i remember the "over 50 games" nonsense in a past thread...

 

[Rehynn]

I don't know, I can't imagine internally it's considered a success. And indeed, it lost a fuckton of money. With the exception of the metric of a respectable installed base, as you note below, there's little in terms of objective and/or financial measures with which to consider it a successful system.

Can you point me toward an article or other source that backs this up? It would really help with an ongoing debate I've had with a friend.

EDIT: Thanks!

 

[shinra-bansho]

Can you point me toward an article or other source that backs this up? It would really help with an ongoing debate I've had with a friend.

Sony's Game segment posted operating losses of ¥232.3B (FYE Mar-07), ¥124.5B (FYE Mar-08), ¥58.5B (FYE Mar-09), ¥55.5B (FYE Mar-10). Cumulatively, ¥470.8B.

The segment posted an operating profit of ¥48.5B (FYE Mar-11) and ¥29.3B (FYE Mar-12). Cumulatively, ¥77.8B.

So in summation, the Game segment has lost ¥393B, through Mar-12.

In a few weeks time we'll see their results for FYE Mar-13.

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/historical.html

 

[Kyuur]

The gamecube gave us Metroid Prime, Wind Waker, Pikmin and F-Zero GX. I don't give a fuck if the console sells if I get games like that again, it'll be a success to me.

 

[Shiggy]

Do you truly believe that Nintendo are sitting on finished Wii U games that could have been launched months ago?

If that's the case, why did they launch the machine last year in the first place?

I don't buy it. At all.

They do. We know that Wii Fit U is finished (through rating boards). They do the same with Devilish Brain Training. Nintendo does indeed delay games for strategic reasons. Another example is Sing Party, which was fully localised in September but released in January. I could list 10 other titles if you want to.

I'm not so sure about Pikmin 3 though.

 

[bart64]

Its make or break it time with 3ds so lets just kind of not worry about Wii U and not invest in things like 3rd party support?

Wii U should have taken advantage of the fact they have a year before other systems are released and have planned development to be finished in this first year.

Hardware not profitable because they banked on the expensive controller to be a selling point like the Wiimote was. Now they're stuck not being able to drop the price.

I agree, they could have invested more with 3rd parties. But they gave them better terms than before and a handful of great developers jumped on board without becoming long term corporate monkeys. Why not invest in the system first--it has always been up to Nintendo to make a set of great games that sell the hardware to developers, which I consider a better start to a relationship than a long contract and a bunch of empty promises.

The whole point of my previous post was to show how they took advantage of the first year. They gave themselves the luxury of positioning themselves better for the other launches, and postponed the big marketing push to maximize impact. They also got one year of free advertising in the form of word of mouth, and have a big budget left to launch a fine tuned message supporting a fine tuned machine.

Instead of spending millions countering the teen hardcore market nobody outside this board and online gaming services has the displeasure of hearing from, they put their efforts into new features and two pieces of software to sell it: nsmb and nintendoland. Anyone who has had the chance to play these games in a social setting is not posting negatively on this board--problem is that social people that are also early adopters is a small segment.

So they will need that extra push and by the end of the year we will know how mature the industry really is. Will the industry listen to the voices of the hormonally challanged who's parents haven't baught them their own PC, or working adults who want the biggest bang for their hard earned buck and are sometimes parents themselves now. I'm hoping we're out of the shiny bouncy boob phase and can open a bottle of wine and talk to each other, face to face, even with members of the opposite sex (yes, actual breathing girls with real vaginas), without polygon counts entering the conversation.

It would be nice if everyone could acknowledge that Nintendo is a great value to the industry and support their efforts to grow the fuck up. Please. (Not directed at Concept17.)

 

[Coxy]

Dreamcast has more games announced for the rest of 2013 than wii u. If nintendo had secret games ready to go they'd have announced them already. They'll definitely announce stuff at E3 but anything announced there will take a few months at least to come out unless they really do plan on sega saturning it.

 

[Pancakes R Us]

As a long time Nintendo fan, I'd like to see Nintendo humbled by some cold, hard failure. I'm still upset about the 3DS being region locked.

 

[Dysun]

Oh yay, Quinton "Wait 'til month 4/5/6/infinity" McCleod is here to tell us all about the 50+ games again...

The Reggie/Iraq PR-denial shoop would go great for him but I can't find it... Just keep waiting for them to drop 10 first party games during the holidays lmao

 

[airmangataosenai]

Yes because all those AAA games are selling gangbusters. PS4/720 are not automatic hits you expect them to be.

Yeah man, 600k-900k in 2 weeks for all those games, several of which represent franchise highs? What a disaster.

 

[Daingurse]

As a long time Nintendo fan, I'd like to see Nintendo humbled by some cold, hard failure. I'm still upset about the 3DS being region locked.

This. People question why people like myself are rooting for the Wii-U's failure. The console just reeks of Nintendo's haughtiness. Coming off the Wii and original DS's momentum Nintendo could have been a juggernaut this gen. Why the gamepad? Why not refined motion-controls? Does Nintendo even realize why the Wii printed money?

Wii-U will never appeal to the mass market with what it offers at it's price, 100% sure of it. The Gamepad alone frustrates me so much, as it raises the price of the damn console. 20-25 million LTD is my guess.

I know it's going to get games eventually, but that doesn't help prospective owners like me, current Wii-U owners or Nintendo right now.

 

[Gianni Merryman]

As a long time Nintendo fan, I'd like to see Nintendo humbled by some cold, hard failure. I'm still upset about the 3DS being region locked.

To be fair, seeing how they took huge losses this year on account of yen's exchange rate maybe I wouldn't blame them too much, although as a consumer I don't like their decision I see it makes sense business-wise.

 

[metalslimer]

If by fine you mean gamecube sales maximum with much less 3rd party support. The only way i can use the word fine is that it probably wont lose them too much money in the end. The thing is a complete disaster at this point in a worse position of any console ive seen. If Nintendo had sega's financials it would be dreamcast part 2 but luckily they'll weather the storm and get rid of a lot of upper management

 

[ThisWreckage]

If you consider a distant third place "fine", then yes. They completely squandered a great opportunity. They had a year+ to release compelling software and they didn't do it. And gamers are salivating for new hardcore hardware. So naturally people are going to gravitate toward the PS4 or the Durango. That's just how it goes. It's going to be a system that some people will pick up to play Nintendo games on. It's as niche of a console it can possibly be.

 

[bequietdrive]

Look at the 3DS, the games will come and with it a wider userbase. So sick of all the nintendoom, so I wrote this article explaining why the Wii U definitely isn't doomed http://www.dailyjoypad.co.uk/?p=48214

 

[prwxv3]

Listen to you people. Just listen to yourselves. You're all so greedy and blind that you don't see what's going on here. The evidence is already there. I'm not going to link to it, because its far too time consuming just to make a point, but I'll explain a few things.

First, let me make my statement and then back it up with some facts:

Nintendo is trying to compete with the new reveals of the Xbox 720 and the PS4. They realize that they need to save their hard-hitters until all the info on the other next-gen consoles have been revealed.


Now, here is how I draw my conclusions:

1) Reggie, in an interview, said himself that they have so many games that they already were planning holiday 2013. This was before the Wii U was released.

2) Satterfield from Gametrailers said there were a lot of games. After the Wii U was released, he disappeared off the face of the globe. I doubt he believed 50 games were a lot between the release of the Wii U and now.

3) Retro pulled their game from E3. Other games from Nintendo were also pulled.

4) There was a picture of Iwata, Reggie and Miyamoto in LA last E3, but only Reggie made an appearance. Why would Iwata AND Miyamoto make a trip to E3 and not show up?

5) Strange NDAs were being sent for games no one would've guessed. One game that got a lot of people excited, Eternal Darkness, brought up some odd suspicion when folks who were fired from that studio were being sent new NDAs. Of course, that's just a rumor. However, there is fact that Nintendo renewed the trademark on Eternal Darkness.

6) There were a large number of take down requests of footage of older games on Youtube a month or two ago. This could be completely unrelated, but the particular games that were being taken down seemed.... Odd.

7) That Epic and Nintendo rumor came up too about Nintendo showing them a 3D engine. Alas, it is just a rumor, but I figured I'd mention it.

8) Nintendo made multiple statements about partnerships with 3rd parties, yet we heard very few of those partnerships.

I think I lost some brain cells.

 

[big youth]

W101 will score in the 7.5-8.0 range and flop at retail.

I was surprised to see how big of a push Nintendo gave Kid Icarus Uprising, but in fact they should be giving some of their other high quality, lesser known games the same treatment, with TV spots and hardware bundles. Left alone games like Pikmin 3 and KI:U have little potential to be system sellers, but if Nintendo were to treat them as if, they can reach new heights. I'd like to see Nintendo act proud of upcoming releases like X and B2, rather than the silent releases we saw for Xenoblade and numerous other quality titles.

LEGO City Undercover was a huge missed opportunity in my estimation. Here you have a collaboration between Nintendo and LEGO, two strong brands that have most their success in the same key demographic, kids. It's a neat partnership, so why not act like it? Use humorous TV spots that advertise a hardware bundle featuring a LEGO themed Wii U. If games like LCU and Pikmin 3 were given a push it would demonstrate to consumers that Nintendo consoles have better variety than just Mario and casual fair like Wii Fit. An open world LEGO game? a nature themed quasi RTS? Wii U advertising shouldn't start and end with Mario Kart this year.