Topic: If you could change one thing about the Wii U what would it be?

I don't even understand why anyone would be confused. They basically said that it was the next-gen console from Nintendo. Then, they showed games that had better graphics than what Wii could do. From my perspective, there is no way anyone can be or could have been confused, given that gameplay is/was actually shown, which it is/was.

If someone goes to the store and sees a Wii U demo kiosk, and is still confused, then they need help. I can hardly believe that people have bought Wii U games for the Wii. Those people are unaware, but it's because they weren't even paying attention; not because there is anything actually substantial to be confused about.

Bluntly speaking, people are idiots, yes. If Nintendo assumes otherwise, they better do business on another planet other than Earth. But we have a saying over here in my country "The costumer is always right". If Nintendo can't make their consumers aware of it, it's a Nintendo problem, not a consumer problem. The name of the product is supposed to help the marketing efforts, not hinder them like it is doing.

I do love my Wii U for the console that it is. The marketing strategy has fell short too, granted. But when I have to explain very carefully to everyone I know that Wii U is not Wii, then the chosen name fails all it's intended purposes.

I just don't think changing the name is the answer. I think Nintendo just needs to show people what the Wii U is, which their advertising hasn't done. They continue to focus on the Controller which is a big part of the system but they need to show it is a new console also. Wii U is still a better name than Xbox One.

Yes, and both are better names than "New Nintendo 3DS".

Although in this particular case, I think being too descriptive can be an issue.

People thought the SNES was the NES...

The problem is that it wasn't clear to everyone (including gamers and people that actually watched the event) that it was a whole new console. Some people thought it was just a controller. Some thought it was just an attachment to the Wii. And yes, some did think it was a new Console but it wasn't clear, so misinformation flooded the internet. People's first introduction to the Wii U was confusion. If their marketing was better (including their announcement reveal presentation) then people wouldn't have been so confused.

tbh I thought it was a new handheld.... silly me.

You're focusing too much on that particular event. While I agree that they kinda of should been more explicit there, keep in mind that the people who watched E3 and such events are the press, the industry and the knowledgeable gamers who like to keep up and dwell in forums like us. Most people get their first contact with a new system through advertising or in the stores. The marketing strategy was meh at best, but they could have pulled it of it not by the cryptic naming. Oh, I'm not suggesting they change the name now. That's not feasible. That ship has sailed, they made a great mistake and now have to live by it.

E3 is a big enough event that it bleeds onto normal News sites. When those News sites are unsure what the Wii U is, then you have a problem. It also took Nintendo a while to clear up everything in saying yes that is a new stand-alone console with a new controller. I focus on the reveal because that is when Nintendo had people's attention the most and failed. The name isn't the problem, the way it was shown to the public (advertising) was the problem. If they did a normal console reveal like most companies do (and how Nintendo did with the Wii) with the controller being revealed after or at some other time then people wouldn't have been confused. The fact that at first they only showed the new controller and no console in sight and that there were plenty of articles questioning whether Nintendo even had a new console or just a new controller was there problem. The name is just a name, advertising does a lot more for a product than simply a name does. Best example of that is the Wii.

To be honest they showed the console unit on the reveal videos. People just didn't pay too much attention and the fact that it looks so similar to a regular Wii didn't help. I noticed it, so if journalists didn't, they were not making a very god job covering.

The Wii is actually a very thought out name. I consider it to be a stroke of genius in branding. Sure, initially people didn't like the name. But then, it grew on us. Unfortunately, I own a Wii U and two years down the road, the name is not something I'm fond of this time. It's just bad, they ran circles around the Wii branding concept when there where far more obvious naming choices right there from the start. Super Wii made too much sense, I guess.

That is my point. The Wii name made no sense. After the Marketing took it and ran with it the Wii name made a lot of sense. The name is just as bad as the Wii was, the only difference is the way it was advertised. Nintendo announced the reason why it was called the Wii U. Wii (We, targeting a wide audience that the majority could enjoy) U (You, a gaming device and experience that the individual can enjoy) They just did a terrible job with the advertising of it.

I'd remove all country-and-region-based limitations. We all could import what won't be localized, eShop would be handled by Nintendo and not a bunch of stuck-up rating systems, and I could FINALLY play some PuyoPuyoTetris!
Everything else is great, and changing other aspects would either defy the point of a dedicated console, or just not make a difference in actual experience - the region-lock and country limitations are the one thing that prevents the WiiU from having more quality titles from japan by now.

Through advertising, and a better presentation at reveal which is a part of advertising, they could have delivered that message. The point of the Wii U was not to abandon the Wii crowd either, so for the point in time that they released with the information people had it was smart to try to keep that audience. The Wii U poor sales are the evidence of people abandoning Consoles for Smart Devices. If they could effectively deliver a message with their advertising (any message really, Nintendo isn't great with their advertising this generation) they could see a sales boost. No body understands what type of machine the Wii U is trying to be. Sony is advertising as the ultimate game machine. Microsoft is advertising as a all-in-one gaming device. Nintendo is advertising people need to buy the Wii U. It doesn't really inform consumers about the product. I feel they just need to refresh their advertising and they will be fine. I feel changing the name wouldn't help if you aren't delivering a message with your advertising.

That was me. Reason was, I just didn't care for Wii (although I do enjoy playing it with my niece) and the tacked on Waggle bs, so I never payed attention to what was happening with Nintendo. But when I saw a link in a forum that said WiiU, I never cared to click on the link because I just assumed it was a another attachment for the Wii...

Moooooaaaaaaar graaaaffffiiiixxxx!!!!
....Actually I'm fine with the way it is now, lol. Only thing I'd really change is true 1080p on some of Nintendo's games. (also, anti-aliasing)

The name, region lock, social features, NNID that does not bound to hardware and longer gamepad battery life. Ops that's more than one.

I'm sure you are right. It's just hard to believe, because that would mean attention and critical thinking are at a low point of some sort. There HAVE been commercials for Wii U, BTW; they just normally show up on channels with cartoon shows. Certain people just know more about this stuff, because when people see amiibo, stuff like Skylanders, or basically anything they would be interested, and see that the console name is Wii U, the graphics are better, etc. differences between Wii and Wii U, THOSE are the people that understand right off the bat.

So the people interested can usually figure out what things are, right away. It's the people that don't know there is a difference between bluray and DVD, like you say, but that means they don't care about said gadgets in the first place. Which brings me to the next point, that advertising is most effective when you are actually reaching ad viewers who didn't know about said product, to begin with. With the the type of games and content they've been releasing, I think they have a pretty good idea who their target audience is, who won't get much information from an ad or commercial. They know that people who want games like Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros, Zelda, etc, are already planning on buying the games, without much, if any advertising.

This is backed up by the fact that PS4 is outselling Xbox One, even though they have roughly the same amount of commercials and advertising. So, advertising and awareness is part of why the Wii U isn't doing as well, but it also isn't the main factor for people deciding which console they want, either, which is the point I'm trying to make.

For the record, it's not just consumers being confused. It's also about a horrible introduction. I remember my first reaction to the Wii U. It was along the lines of "really, they're going with that?". The gamepad didn't look like a new innovation, it looked like a serious misstep. I even remember their explanation about the TV being a center of entertainment that gets taken, and I thought it was crap. I can probably count the number of times that I had a game/TV conflict on one hand.

Outside of NintendoLand and the Wii Sports Club demos, they never really showed much in the area of new gameplay ideas. So Nintendo ultimately failed to make the Wii U feel new.

Personally, I wouldn't change anything about the Wii U besides the advertisements. I've seen a lot lately (no, seriously, every commercial break (at least on Cartoon Network) seems to be advertising Smash Bros., Captain Toad, or Bayonetta 2), but this was the advertisement we needed two years ago.

If I could make a suggestion to Nintendo, I'd bring back those ads with the four guys from the amazing 3DS adverts. I loved those ads.

Of course, everything else isn't perfect, but it's not bad. The Wii U doesn't have to be the most powerful and it doesn't have to have all the third party titles.

I'm not really sure that's even a valid argument anymore. The big press sites and Nintendo have made it clear by now that this is a new system. If you want to blame dumb consumers, then partially blame the dumb consumers. To put things into retrospect, consumers thought that the Super Nintendo was the NES back in the day. So yeah, consumers' fault