Killzone
Forza
Dead rising
Cod
Battlefield
Assassins creed
If only Nintendo could be as fresh as the rest of the industry.
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What can Nintendo learn from...UK?
- Thread starter Mpl90
- Start date
Forza
Dead rising
Cod
Battlefield
Assassins creed
If only Nintendo could be as fresh as the rest of the industry.
If you want to cherry-pick you'll find plenty of ammo -- it's a long list if you go down the line of popular IP's held by EA, Activision, and Ubisoft. But the list of new IP's that have come from Sony and Microsoft in the past generation trounce what Nintendo offered, and especially so if you factor in the quality of those IP's. Among IP's new to the 7th gen that were critically acclaimed and considered GOTY nominee quality from at least a decent number of outlets:
Gears of War (2006)
Bioshock (2007)
Mass Effect (2007)
Assassin's Creed 2 (2009)
Uncharted 2 (2009)
Mass Effect 2 (2010)
Uncharted 3 (2011)
Mass Effect 3 (2012)*
Journey (2012)
Bioshock Infinite (2013)
The Last of Us (2013)
* = gimped version available for Wii U.
Now, for the Wii:
Wii Sports (2006) -- I'm pretty sure only the NY Times gave it GOTY, but in retrospect it was the most important release of the year, by far.
Admittedly, the last for Microsoft & Sony is unfair because it incorporates first-party games funded by the deep pockets of two major platform-holders. But, the fact remains that if you're excited by the potential for something new and interesting, it's more likely to appear on PS4 or XBO. The current lineup on those consoles is pretty weak, but their potential is why people are buying now.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
When has that historically ever happened in the UK?
Master System destroyed the NES.
Megadrive killed SNES here.
PS1 absolutely slaughtered N64 here.
PS2 and Xbox both completely decimated the GC.
What magical pixie dust changes that in your what if land?
Nintendo consoles have never sold well over here (Wii exception). Nintendo handhelds sale relatively way, that's about it.
There was a thread around May I think that said the UK Wii U sales were less than the Gamecube at the same point in its lifespan. It even had less games available for the platform.
There never has been a market for Nintendo games in the UK. Our history was not with the NES and SNES like in North America, it was with the Master System and MegaDrive. There is generally very little nostalgia for Nintendo console games (exception being Goldeneye).
Also Nintendo first party titles don't ever seem to ever drop in price like all our other games. Makes owning Nintendo consoles expensive.
There was a thread around May I think that said the UK Wii U sales were less than the Gamecube at the same point in its lifespan. It even had less games available for the platform.
There never has been a market for Nintendo games in the UK. Our history was not with the NES and SNES like in North America, it was with the Master System and MegaDrive. There is generally very little nostalgia for Nintendo console games (exception being Goldeneye).
Also Nintendo first party titles don't ever seem to ever drop in price like all our other games. Makes owning Nintendo consoles expensive.
It's not entirely true that there has never been a market for Nintendo here, it's just that they have rarely been the market leader. There are degrees of being in second and third place- the SNES didn't get as annihilated by the Megadrive as the GameCube was by the PS2, for example. You don't need to lead to find a market.
I suspect our healthy games press in the 80s and 90s did a lot for PR for each company, keeping them all in the public eye (at least in the playground), back then it was common for any console to have at least two dedicated mags, along with the multiformat ones. Being a smaller country, magazine distribution was much easier than in the US, plus the UK used to buy shitloads of mags anyway (I work in publishing, the death of print isn't lost on me.).
I remember the a Gameboy being insanely popular when I was 12 (1990), they've always done fairly well with handhelds.
Agreed about the prices though- I paid £65 for Street Fighter 2 Turbo in 1994, and most N64 games were £50. If anything, their home console game prices have come down over time, whereas GameBoy games were £25 in 1989, GBA games were £25 in 2002, DS games £30 in 2006, and 3DS games £32-£40 now.
Apophis2036
Banned
That's exactly how I remember it. Being around sever or eight in the late 80's / early 90's Sega was always for the cool kids, it then changed to PS in the mid to late 90's and then MS for this generation.
It's very strange how Wii and DS were so popular here but I guess they weren't bough by traditional gamers.
I think WiiU is behind Gamecube even in America now, in terms of UK sales I wouldn't be surprised if it's now well, well behind Dreamcast and Saturn. Didn't both new console outsell the WiiU UK lifetime sales in 48 hours lol, I wonder how many WiiU consoles Nintendo have actually sold here 200k ?.
It always seemed that way, everyone I knew had a Megadrive, then a Playstation then a PS2.
Most of my friends had an 8-bit computer in the 80s, and then either an Amiga or a SNES, but then upgraded to a Playstation, then on to a PS2. But yeah, Sega stuff was generally more popular and Sony was super popular in the mid-90s, it was the natural upgrade for both the Nintendo and Sega kids. It felt to me like the Sega/Nintendo split was about 60/40, but then Sony just annihilated them both.
KennyLinder
Member
As others have said, Nintendo TV consoles have never been really that big in the UK. Although this probably wasn't a major reason for it, it certainly didn't help: Nintendo FUCKED gamers in PAL territories with shit conversions, up to 12 month delays and expensive prices right up until (and after in some cases) the Wii came out. Even with the GC, Nintendo still gave - on occasion - shitty 50hz conversions when NTSC versions of the game were starting to support Progressive Scan. No explanation was ever given by Nintendo about this, we were just fucked over. So, we paid more for the game, waited longer and got an inferior version. Why do Nintendo deserve our hard-earned coin in the UK?
There were rare times when PAL territories actually got the game before Japan; Mario Kart Double Dash is one of those games. On the other hand, Animal Crossing took over a year to come out.
I guess ultimately it's main issue these days is that gamers know what they are getting with the very strong brand of PlayStation and Xbox, and I think perhaps Nintendo is thought of as something for a younger audience. You don't tend to get guns with chainsaw attachments or serious racing games on a Nintendo platform. The irony of course is that the Wii U (and previous Nintendo consoles) has had OK/Reasonable 3rd party support in the main areas, but because Nintendo do not really go about advertising this (it has CoD, FIFA etc etc) then people just don't know about it.
I don't have a single adult friend who works outside of the games industry that has any interest in Wii U. They just aren't bothered and I think the reason is that that they feel they don't need one. They see my Nintendo Land, Mario and Pikmin and see that they're well made, fun and multiplayer in Ninendo Land is great, but they wouldn't buy another console for a few games. . That would be like buying a Wndows 8 tablet for a few exclusive games if you already owned an iPad. Who would do that?!
DS/3DS though is another story, where loads of people I know own (and love) theirs. I find that really interesting as all of them play games on a mobile too.
There were rare times when PAL territories actually got the game before Japan; Mario Kart Double Dash is one of those games. On the other hand, Animal Crossing took over a year to come out.
I guess ultimately it's main issue these days is that gamers know what they are getting with the very strong brand of PlayStation and Xbox, and I think perhaps Nintendo is thought of as something for a younger audience. You don't tend to get guns with chainsaw attachments or serious racing games on a Nintendo platform. The irony of course is that the Wii U (and previous Nintendo consoles) has had OK/Reasonable 3rd party support in the main areas, but because Nintendo do not really go about advertising this (it has CoD, FIFA etc etc) then people just don't know about it.
I don't have a single adult friend who works outside of the games industry that has any interest in Wii U. They just aren't bothered and I think the reason is that that they feel they don't need one. They see my Nintendo Land, Mario and Pikmin and see that they're well made, fun and multiplayer in Ninendo Land is great, but they wouldn't buy another console for a few games. . That would be like buying a Wndows 8 tablet for a few exclusive games if you already owned an iPad. Who would do that?!
DS/3DS though is another story, where loads of people I know own (and love) theirs. I find that really interesting as all of them play games on a mobile too.
Linkstrikesback
Member
Xenoblade needs to have a word with you.
Besides that, just because a consoles titles aren't swimming in goty awards is down to the fact that you just weren't going to see the big cinematic goty bait on older hardware. There are plenty of critically acclaimed new i.ps on wii that just were never going to goty awards. (But I'm not going to list war)
Graphics Horse
Member
My local tesco has dropped 3DS too, just selling ps3 and 360 games for now.
IdreamofHIME
Member
Mario 3D world is the 6th Mario platformer in 4 years, Nintendo's running on as few fresh ideas as the rest.
Apophis2036
Banned
Same here, both my local Tesco and Asda superstores have reduced Nintendo products to a few new Wii / WiiU releases only.
Also just as worrying, I got an Argos mini Xmas special catalogue with my newspaper today and despite having PS4 and Xbone in it even though they are both sold out there was no WiiU or 3DS.
There were 250GB PS3 Slim consoles with BF4, GTA V, AC 4 and Fifa 14 for £250 and a 250GB Xbox 360 with Halo 4 and Tomb Raider for £170. At £250 WiiU just can't compete, esp with the lack of advertising and extreme lack of retail presence.
I really like Nintendo but their marketing for WiiU is laughable at best and utter incompetence at worst.
A good thing that Nintendo seems to do for the UK, is that they don't just use the American English translation for a lot of their games. NoE actually seems to have their own translation with British Spelling.
It's a nice touch and I wish that other game companies did the same, despite it financially making very little sense.
It's a nice touch and I wish that other game companies did the same, despite it financially making very little sense.
Boy Wander
Member
This country is full of Stella swigging, Fifa playing "lads" and it makes me sad. Nintendo should create a serious football game and give lager away with club Nintendo points...
I personally feel one of the big problems with Nintendo, both 3DS and Wii U, in the UK specifically is the price of games. They call us rip-off Britain for a very good reason, and I think game prices in general are hurting sales here, but Nintendo takes it to a whole new extreme compared to Microsoft and Sony.
Of course the Wii U has its own problems beyond this that are killing it, but as you stated in the OP, Nintendo in the UK is comparatively worse off than other territories. I don't want to get into a qualityrice discussion between systems, but in the end when people see 3DS games for £39.99, Wii U games for £49.99, and then Vita games for £29.99-£34.99 and PS3/360 games for £39.99, the Nintendo games are going to look grossly overpriced.
Anecdotally, my uncle buys most of his children's games from GAME stores, where there are rarely any good discounts. I went out shopping with him last Saturday to give him buying advice on new consoles and such. He was looking to get my three cousins (ages 5, 8 and 13) a Wii U as their main Christmas present this year, until he saw the price tag on SM3DW. He compared it to the price of the new games for PS3 and 360, which were roughly £10 cheaper, and the game went back on the shelf and Nintendo lost a console sale. And it wasn't specifically the price of that one game that put him off, but all the other £50 games he'd be buying as gifts over the years that put him off.
I can't say for sure this is something that's happening all over the place, but games in the UK were expensive enough already, and Nintendo chose to hike all the prices by £10 on last gen.
I think it's kind of funny everyone goes on about the prices being so high in Britain. Prices from the OP are exactly the same here in The Netherlands. In fact, I import most of my games from Britain, because the prices are much lower on sites like Amazon, Play and Zavvi, compared to Dutch retail and online shops. Games rarely get a decent discount and even second hand (Nintendo) games are oftentimes pretty expensive.
I do think the prices of 3DS games should be lower. Around 35 euro's would be great.
cyberheater
PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 Xbone PS4 PS4
Nintendo software is just too expensive. The eShop prices are a joke.
Katana_Strikes
Member
Not only has the UK given up on Nintendo but Nintendo on the UK. Not a single TV ad from them either WiiU or 3DS during one of the X Factor finals (bar a Just Dance Wii lead ad from Ubi). Hell there was even a Vita ad.
I didn't obtain to put these in the OP, but this is other two points that I believe Nintendo should take seriously
4. Make porting from iOS / Android as easy as possible
We all know the success of phones and tablets devices. As well as the most downloaded apps, etc.etc. And we also know that UK seems to be one of the countries that adopted them stronger in the world. Why not letting Apps developers porting their games on next Nintendo portable device? Nintendo Web Framework + no problems in console/iOS cross-multiplayer is a great start in this sense, but it can (and it should) be expanded, with even better tools, that make porting games the simplest possible.
However, this shouldn't mean just supporting Android. Both AppStore and Google Play are having major problems with their stores, with too much content (especially serious shovelware) and severe problems in discoverability. Having its specific digital store with mobile developers being able to port their efforts without spending many resources is the way to go: it enlarges the digital offering and it limits the shovelware / discoverability problems.
5. Commercials: the logo animation at the beginning can be poisonous
This is something I was thinking for a good amount of time, and that, right in this thread, many users from UK discussed: Nintendo is seen as "uncool" even by childrens, the audience that represents the biggest Nintendo target. So, there's a sort of cultural aversion to Nintendo products, over there. This means that many people could actually just see the 3DS / Wii U logo pop up on their TV screens and be "Nah, Nintendo . Let's change the channel" and, then, refusing to watch the content promoted, even if it could be something that they could like.
So, I believe they should just show the logo of the console, right at the beginning of the commercial, a bit trasparent, without any opening, and showing clearly console + logo at the end. In that way, who watches the commercial doesn't get immediatly it's for a Nintendo console, and then they could actually discover a game they like. Now, surely there would still be people that, just because it's on a Nintendo platform, says "Nah, not cool"...but many others could become interested. Now, the people who could become interested probably refuses to watch through all the commercial, and they skip it just by looking at the Wii U / 3DS logo popping up.
I know it sounds like something that wouldn't have any big relevance in the great scheme of things, but I'm dealing with first perceptions, and they are made of little things. It would be a small change that (possibly) could let more people know about titles for Nintendo consoles.
4. Make porting from iOS / Android as easy as possible
We all know the success of phones and tablets devices. As well as the most downloaded apps, etc.etc. And we also know that UK seems to be one of the countries that adopted them stronger in the world. Why not letting Apps developers porting their games on next Nintendo portable device? Nintendo Web Framework + no problems in console/iOS cross-multiplayer is a great start in this sense, but it can (and it should) be expanded, with even better tools, that make porting games the simplest possible.
However, this shouldn't mean just supporting Android. Both AppStore and Google Play are having major problems with their stores, with too much content (especially serious shovelware) and severe problems in discoverability. Having its specific digital store with mobile developers being able to port their efforts without spending many resources is the way to go: it enlarges the digital offering and it limits the shovelware / discoverability problems.
5. Commercials: the logo animation at the beginning can be poisonous
This is something I was thinking for a good amount of time, and that, right in this thread, many users from UK discussed: Nintendo is seen as "uncool" even by childrens, the audience that represents the biggest Nintendo target. So, there's a sort of cultural aversion to Nintendo products, over there. This means that many people could actually just see the 3DS / Wii U logo pop up on their TV screens and be "Nah, Nintendo . Let's change the channel" and, then, refusing to watch the content promoted, even if it could be something that they could like.
So, I believe they should just show the logo of the console, right at the beginning of the commercial, a bit trasparent, without any opening, and showing clearly console + logo at the end. In that way, who watches the commercial doesn't get immediatly it's for a Nintendo console, and then they could actually discover a game they like. Now, surely there would still be people that, just because it's on a Nintendo platform, says "Nah, not cool"...but many others could become interested. Now, the people who could become interested probably refuses to watch through all the commercial, and they skip it just by looking at the Wii U / 3DS logo popping up.
I know it sounds like something that wouldn't have any big relevance in the great scheme of things, but I'm dealing with first perceptions, and they are made of little things. It would be a small change that (possibly) could let more people know about titles for Nintendo consoles.
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