Michael Pachter predicts Wii U to have poor 3rd party support / bashes Wii U

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115097-Pachter-Predicts-Poor-Third-Party-Support-for-Wii-U

Surprise! This dumbass is striking again......

"Nintendo has to simply stop living in the past in 2012," he remarked during an interview with IndustryGamers. "They had a great deal of success since 1985 by making proprietary hardware and supporting it with proprietary software. They attracted third party support based upon the large installed base they generated for their hardware. They appear to me to be confident that 'if they build it, third parties will support it', but I don't think that is the case for Wii U."

Of course, predicting that a Nintendo console will have issues when it comes to quality third-party support is hardly revolutionary. In fact, it's rather akin to pointing out the console will most likely be three dimensional and will travel forwards through time rather than backwards, but Pachter supports his prediction with an interesting argument.

"By trying to be 'different' with the tablet controller, they have complicated game design for developers, who can't figure out if the Wii U will ultimately support only one or multiple controllers," he said. "Nintendo made the device sufficiently different that they are all but assured of limited third party launch support, which ultimately will lead to modest hardware sales."

Though many would argue it was due to limited hardware rather than the unorthodox control scheme, the Wii did suffer when it came to multiplatform titles. Though it's unclear how many third party games will be available at launch, Nintendo has confirmed that titles from THQ, Codemasters, Sega, Ubisoft, EA, Namco Bandai and Tecmo are in the pipeline.

WiiU'a 3rd party games will look like ps3/360 3rd paty games. Which won't keep people interested for the next 5 years.

Didn't he say the Wii was going to fail and be 3rd place like the Gamecube?tagyhag

he's being reasonable since he's only talking about the launch. Nintendo clearly said that they only want to support one controller per console, without being able to buy a second one, but that caused a backlash and now it seems that MAYBE it will support more than one tablet. Third parties are left wondering what exactly they should be planning for. Single player games should be alright though, but a huge part of third party support is local multiplayer, particularly for sports games.

Well, that seals it, Nintendo will be third party king next gen.WreckEm711

People should stop being such dicks about him. He makes a lot predictions, most of them turn out to be true, you just call him out on the ones that might not be.

WiiU'a 3rd party games will look like ps3/360 3rd paty games. Which won't keep people interested for the next 5 years.

rasengan2552

Eh, in the case Sony and MS go for casualboxes too, your answer will be "I'll stick with PC next gen if that's so".

Nintendo can't win either way, there is no scenario in which you will become a Wii U owner, so why do you bother?

[QUOTE="WreckEm711"]Well, that seals it, Nintendo will be third party king next gen.CajunShooter

Didn't he say the Wii was going to fail and be 3rd place like the Gamecube?tagyhag

[QUOTE="WreckEm711"]Well, that seals it, Nintendo will be third party king next gen.CajunShooter

there is no scenario in which you will become a Wii U owner, so why do you bother?SuperFlakeman

I know he right sometimes....But he just wrong so many times HarlockJC

[QUOTE="SuperFlakeman"]there is no scenario in which you will become a Wii U owner, so why do you bother?rasengan2552

I assumed, because in this day exclusives are rarely a selling point. Hey you're like me, I got a PS3 slim solely for MGS4 :P

When you say depends on Zelda I take it you want it to be in a specific way? Did you like SS? Because Zelda HD will use Wiimote+nunchuck, this is already confirmed.

Well, that seals it, Nintendo will be third party king next gen.WreckEm711

Did you like SS? Because Zelda HD will use Wiimote+nunchuck, this is already confirmed.SuperFlakeman

[QUOTE="SuperFlakeman"] Did you like SS? Because Zelda HD will use Wiimote+nunchuck, this is already confirmed.rasengan2552

Not a deal breaker?

Holy crap we have reached a breakthrough!

I'm still waiting for the Wii HD.

While Pacther is mostly reliably wrong, quote like:

"By trying to be 'different' with the tablet controller, they have complicated game design for developers, who can't figure out if the Wii U will ultimately support only one or multiple controllers," he said. "Nintendo made the device sufficiently different that they are all but assured of limited third party launch support, which ultimately will lead to modest hardware sales."

Seem sensible to me.

Fact of the matter is people don't care about third party games when they commit to buying a Nintendo console. You own a Nintendo console to play Nintendo IPs. If you want to use doom and gloom to forecast the Wii U, you have to address the relevancy of their IPs and based on sales charts, they're just as strong as they've ever been. Just because they're not CoD doesn't mean they're poor games.

Going by past trends, it seems to be a pretty safe prediction.CajunShooter

Yup.

While Pacther is mostly reliably wrong, quote like:

"By trying to be 'different' with the tablet controller, they have complicated game design for developers, who can't figure out if the Wii U will ultimately support only one or multiple controllers," he said. "Nintendo made the device sufficiently different that they are all but assured of limited third party launch support, which ultimately will lead to modest hardware sales."

Seem sensible to me.

MlauTheDaft

The vast majority of games are single player with online multiplayer.

Sure there is local in some dudebro games, they can in many cases implement Wiimote+nunchuck functionality or just require Nintendo's CCPro. It's not a big deal at all.

As for Nintendo games locally, Wiimotes (and nunchuck if needed) suffice for their games.

I am sure he is right. Probably why Nintendo is re-doing the Wii U at E3. If they release a system only on par with a 7 year old 360 without something like XBL, they will be left behind again when it comes to 3rd party support. Nintendo has tried to be different since the N64 and probably got lucky with the Wii. They will not get lucky again.

I honestly hope Microsoft releases a freaking beast at E3 and Nintendo just says to hell with it and goes software only after the Wii U bombs and 3rd parties tell Nintendo they are not doing this crap over again 4 gens in a row. Because if Nintendo does not double their profit on a system at launch then they won't build it. Now Sony has tried that method sonce the PS3 and PSP and they have failed miserably. I would not be surprised if the PS4 (If Sony is still around) COST $700.

While Pacther is mostly reliably wrong, quote like:

"By trying to be 'different' with the tablet controller, they have complicated game design for developers, who can't figure out if the Wii U will ultimately support only one or multiple controllers," he said. "Nintendo made the device sufficiently different that they are all but assured of limited third party launch support, which ultimately will lead to modest hardware sales."

Seem sensible to me.

MlauTheDaft

Completely disregarding the fact that he's never right, it is funny that after crying for five years that Nintendo needs to make an HD Wii, he turns around and says it will flop. [QUOTE="MlauTheDaft"]

While Pacther is mostly reliably wrong, quote like:

"By trying to be 'different' with the tablet controller, they have complicated game design for developers, who can't figure out if the Wii U will ultimately support only one or multiple controllers," he said. "Nintendo made the device sufficiently different that they are all but assured of limited third party launch support, which ultimately will lead to modest hardware sales."

Seem sensible to me.

Willy105

An SNES controller is pretty awfull by today's standards though ;)

Not saying WiiU is going to be a waste of money, just that the quote is'nt downright crazy.

The interesting point is that not all developers need to take advantage of the Tablet. Some developers can just have the tablet display stats and call it a day.

Whereas the Wii itself aside from the graphical limitation, used motion controls instead of a standard controller. That is vastly different than the tablet.

The controller is essentially a SNES controller with two analog sticks. They could port any generic HD game and do nothing to the controls, and it would play exactly the same.Willy105

What if he's refering to Multiplayer?

An SNES controller is pretty awfull by today's standards though ;)

Not saying WiiU is going to be a waste of money, just that the quote is'nt downright crazy.

MlauTheDaft

[QUOTE="Willy105"]The controller is essentially a SNES controller with two analog sticks. They could port any generic HD game and do nothing to the controls, and it would play exactly the same.SuperFlakeman

What if he's refering to Multiplayer?

Ive always maintained that you can say what you want about "buyer beware" with Sony and "dah doomsday" and MS and "da casuals" but as a consumer who follows this hobby very close, my most unlikely to buy console next gen is the WiiU based souly on the fact that Nintendo has to prove to me that they can maintain as healthy a 3rd party library as the competition.... they've failed miserably at this for two generations. The fact is that the best games in the industry are multiplat and im not missing out on them no matter how good nintendo's (or sony or Microsofts) first party games are...

[QUOTE="SuperFlakeman"]

[QUOTE="Willy105"]The controller is essentially a SNES controller with two analog sticks. They could port any generic HD game and do nothing to the controls, and it would play exactly the same.Willy105

What if he's refering to Multiplayer?

Yep.

[...] a variation of the SNES controller is the only thing people have been using for the past 20 years. [...]Willy105

Why do so many of your threads get closed reach3 ?

[QUOTE="MlauTheDaft"]An SNES controller is pretty awfull by today's standards though ;)

Not saying WiiU is going to be a waste of money, just that the quote is'nt downright crazy.

Willy105

The design has persisted because it works... Greatly so. DA has remained largely unchanged for the same reason, 360 controller similarly so; of which the only real change has been form factor.

I just think the Pacther is referring to the fact that devs are introduced to a new set of interaction tools, for the second generation in a row; which they're not sure what to do with, in terms of multiplats.

Excuse my flawed punctuation, I'm drunk and desperate.

The thing is Nintendo doesn't have the mindset that "if they build it they will come" with the Wii-U. In fact Nintendo has openly addressed their issues with third party developers and lacking support in that regard going as far as to cater to their needs this time around (or so they are saying). They've made a platform that is easy to port to and easy to develop for, something that has been noted by several developers including the guys working on Darksiders II who got a demo up and running in two weeks for the Wii-U.

The controller may be different but that it is still a standard controller at its core which means developers don't have to make use of every feature it has. The Wii had issues because it wasn't a standard controller and the Wii was lacking in the hardware department which required developers to put more thought into the games developed for the console. With the Wii-U it will be far easier for developers to port games over releasing on other platforms and maybe add in minimal support for the touch screen.

If Nintendo plays their cards right and makes a platform that is very inviting to developers I could easily see them working with it though we may not see many taking advantage of everything the new controller can do which to me isn't that big of an issue to me. Nintendo will definitely be developing games that showcase everything it can do and it won't be long before developers take note and attempt to implement those ideas.

I have a hard time actually listening to Pachter as I find his comments to be short sighted and not very well thought out. Majority of the time he just seems to be taking stabs in the dark or trying to predict the obvious.

He's probably going by what the Wii had.

And the Wii's third party support was very meh.I hope the WiiU has great third party support.

I can also predict WiiU will have zero 3rd party support

Who would make a game for that controller and for Wii gamers that were fine without any 3rd party games ?

What developer wants zero sales ?

[QUOTE="MlauTheDaft"]An SNES controller is pretty awfull by today's standards though ;)

Not saying WiiU is going to be a waste of money, just that the quote is'nt downright crazy.

Willy105

Well, that seals it, Nintendo will be third party king next gen.WreckEm711

QFT. The "Pachter law of inverted truth" is unescapable.

Going by past trends, it seems to be a pretty safe prediction.CajunShooter