Perhaps he means the "Hardcore" audience? As much smack as they tend to talk, they will eventually buy all the consoles anyhow.
This is especially true of the kind of people who hang around NeoGaf. Most of them are console enthusiasts and can be easily swayed into buy a new one with the promise of a new Zelda, Mario, etc.
This is NOT true of the "Casual" audience that was the backbone of the original Wii's sales. They have to come up with more clever things in order to court them again. Newer franchises and whatnot.
I don't understand why so many people are upset by this.
One of his main points was that Nintendo has become too predictable with their main releases. I think most Nintendo fans agree that Nintendo didn't always rely on the same 4 or so franchises so heavily.
All of these franchises exist because Nintendo used to take more chances with their releases.
There's really nothing too controversial about those statements.
Looks like UK gamers play it particularly safe with their game purchases, even for a Western country. Break out of your box every once in a while, mates..
I'm not certain how I feel about them going third party. On one hand, they wouldn't have to worry about consoles and therefore could spend more energy on games.
On the other hand, the strange charm their consoles carry is sometimes integral to that of their games, so who knows?
I don't think that the article was meant to be negative. It probably just comes across that way to Nintendo enthusiasts.
I think everybody was wondering if the console would surpass the original as a way to measure its success. It's a different console and a different economy.
Whether the Wii U will ultimately succeed or whether it will fail to live up to its predecessor's lofty legacy is still up in the air at this point in time.
BradBurns' comments