I agree with you almost entirely, even in regards to why the Wii U could be considered a failure. Personally that's how I view it went down, at least in the eyes of gamers like yourself and I. However, in terms of overall hardware sales for the Wii vs the Wii U I still stand by my previous remarks.
In the case of the Wii you don't sell that many consoles without tapping into the mainstream/non gamer market. For the love of Miyamoto, people were hosting "Wii parties" and it was used as a joke in T.V and movies. Suddenly people who had no idea what a videogame was were shouting "look, me too!"
This is the reason why it sold so well. It was suddenly deemed "fashionable" to own a Wii, no different than owning a "Tickle me Elmo" or a "Furby" back in the day. And guess what, just like everything that is fashionable it soon went out of style.
Enter the Wii U. It never had a chance to regain that kind of hold on the market its predecessor had. Few consoles ever could duplicate something like that.
Seems like NINTENDO are holding out for lightning to strike twice.
That price... that right there is going to be the SWITCH's biggest hurdle when you factor in that the PS4 and Xboxone are similarly priced with more "impressive" specs. I understand that the SWITCH is also a portable device, and that's the gimmick NINTENDO is going with, but hoping that gamers will "SWITCH" to your console predominantly based on this feature is definitely a leap of faith.
This is going to be a tough sell for Nintendo. While I applaud them for trying new and innovative things in an industry and medium that some could consider stagnant they have rested/relied too much on gimmicks, specifically over the last 10 years.
That worked well with the original Wii because it was seen as being something new and different at the time, so much so that it broke the barrier and found it's way into the hands of little children all the way up to senior citizens and people who never played a videogame in their life. How many of us have heard that iconic phrase "we're having a Wii party" from such people and laughed in the back of our heads?
My point is that it was revolutionary and groundbreaking, so much so that these kinds of people just had to get one even though they probably played it once and left it to collect dust on their shelves. Didn't matter for Nintendo however. A sale is a sale, right? That is the sole reason the Wii was the console juggernaut of that era, strictly from a hardware perspective.
NINTENDO thought they could duplicate that "magic" with the Wii U and that it would translate into similar sales. BIG MISTAKE. All those casual/non gamers who bought the Wii saw the Wii U and said "Don't I already own one?" or "I don't really play my Wii so..."
Fool me once, right?
That's not to say the Wii or the Wii U didn't have some great games, it did. What it does show however was where NINTENDO's focus was.
The SWITCH is yet another attempt by NINTENDO to "re-invent the wheel." I hope I'm wrong on this one but I foresee a very similar future for NINTENDO's latest rendition of hardware.
As a long time street fighter fan this is insanely cool news. I really loved the new coat of paint CAPCOM/UDON gave it... WHEN IT CAME OUT IN 2008!!!
Don't get me wrong, more street fighter is always a good thing and I personally would love to spend some time using these new characters in the "game that started it all" but the fact that they are putting out a title that is going to be 9 years old (Even longer if you count when the original Street fighter 2 dropped.) with 2 new characters in it isn't exactly a huge selling point for the Switch.
Since this is CAPCOM we are talking about as well I see no reason why they won't just port it over to PSN and Xboxlive as well/later in the future.
Either way I'm excited, but I still foresee a future much like the Wii U for the Switch.
And we all know what will most likely happen, don’t we?
Uncharted 4 will win most of the awards yet somehow will lose out to Overwatch for Game of the Year. Not saying Uncharted deserves it, just saying that’s probably how things will unfold. Would be nice to see some other games get some love but, well... y'know.
-it is intentionally holding back specifics about the game's characters and world because it wants players to go in with fresh eyes and a strong drive to explore the world and find answers for themselves.-
I think this is a smart move. Resident evil 7 seems to be doing the same thing although their motivation for doing so might be a little different.
videogameninja's comments