Topic: When to Buy a Wii U - Considering Price & Games

Hey all, thought I'd start a topic thread here for the first time.
I knew from the first announcement that I was going to buy a Wii U - eventually.
I didn't preorder, knowing I didn't have the funds, and there wasn't any singular title that really made me ache for the system. I haven't bought one yet, and I've been saying for a while that I will get one once some more must-have titles are released.
I would like to sort of poll the opinion of other Nintendo fans here, as to when I should purchase a Wii U.
It has become apparent that I'll have the funds by the end of January to be able to afford at least a Deluxe edition Wii U (the only one I'd buy anyone) and possibly one game, which out of the current line up, would have to be New Super Mario Bros U.
My original plan was to hold off on the system until either the next 3D Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, Super Smash, or Metroid were released.
But after a few weeks of reading reviews on NSMBU, Nintendo Land, and trying out the Rayman demo at a local GameStop, I have to say the Wii U has been on my mind and I'm starting to itch for it.
The other thing to consider was price. I also thought to myself that I may try to wait a couple years until the Wii U price drops.
Looking at Nintendo's history, price drops usually happen significantly later in console life cycles. But considering the high(er) cost of the Wii U and the recent price drops of the 3DS, maybe Nintendo's pattern is changing? The other thing to consider though is that they are already selling Wii U at a loss.

Ok, all in all, my basic questions to everyone here are:
1. When do you think the more AAA Nintendo titles will be released? Super Mario, Mario Kart, Super Smash, Zelda, Metroid, F-Zero, Yoshi, Star Fox, etc.?
2. The games that are out now - Nintendo Land, NSMBU, do they really make the Wii U worth the purchase now rather than later?
3. Will Nintendo drop the price of the Wii U significantly within the next year or two? Two or three? Or More?

I'm trying to decide all in all whether or not to buy a Wii U at the end of January and whether or not there will be enough to keep me entertained and warrant the purchase while waiting for more big Nintendo titles.

I know that was long, thank you

There will certainly be some cool stuff for Fall next year from Nintendo. That's how they roll.

Nintendo's saying there won't be a price drop for a while. I doubt there will be. If Nintendo can't do a good job selling a console with Mario and Call of Duty and a Deluxe version with a free game all about Nintendo IPs...no that's not happening.

Beyond that, it depends pretty exclusively on whether you need to get certain games ASAP or if you're patient enough. Like if you have to wait for a Wii U, who cares? There's 3DS games coming out, there's still 360/PS3 games coming out, there's a billion games you can find for cheap if they're a year or more old.

While I'm getting a Wii U soon, I'm spoiled. You can do whatever, but my personal suggestion is to instead find some underrated gems from whatever systems you have that have been out for a while. You could probably find a bunch of cool games for like 20-30 dollars each used from Gamestop or whatever. Probably cheaper if you look hard enough on the internet or at local gaming stores or whatever.

This. All of what you said is true and you make good points but you hit the nail on the head with this one. I think the only reason i've changed at all from wanting to wait for a Wii U to starting to really want one sooner rather than later is the fact that I want to play NSMBU, Nintendo Land, and Isome of the 3rd party games that I've purposely held off on getting on my 360 because I want to support Wii U when i eventually get it.
You're opinion on the price drop is valid, and you make a strong point. i guess the biggest concern is, are the games out on Wii U now really worth taking the plunge? Or are they something that I could wait to play? I don't know. all things to consider.

I would guess that the first price drop would coincide with the next new console by Sony and/or Microsoft.

I'd say by next christmas there will have been a sale that will bring it down in price a decent bit. How badly do you want the games that are on the console? I didn't really feel compelled enough by any of the games on it (except maybe Injustice: Gods Among Us) so I'm gonna wait 'till it's come down in price and there are some games I actually want are on it.

There will probably be a free Wii remote w/ nunchuck bundle eventually for the Nintendo Land, or pro along side a game that uses that. There's always gonna be sales at stores. I bought 2 3DS games at Best Buy to get one free, so that was a pretty good deal to me...

I'm a afraid you'll be waiting longer than that. But we might be able to smash our way through an angry crowd for a decent sale next Black Friday.

Today at work there were 3 deluxe Wii U's in the case when I came in, and they were still there when I left. Keep in mind it was incredibly busy considering we are a week from Christmas with tons of people shopping in the electronics department. If this were 2006 with the original Wii, they probably would not have even made it to the case before people swiped them up.

I'm thinking a Wii U price cut is definately coming next year.

The other day at Target I saw 4 basic and 3 deluxe models in the display case and than at Walmart I saw 3 basic sets. I dont know if its cause they produced more Wii Us than Wiis or if they just arent selling as well as the Wii, but it seems odd that we are this close to Christmas and you can still find some where as the Wii was all sold out everywhere.

The Wii was Nintendo's best selling home console ever. (They sold twice as many Wiis as they did Super Nintendo Entertainment Systems.) Even if Nintendo doesn't manage to match the early Wii sales numbers, I don't think it will be a sure sign of price cuts next year. But don't give up hope.

I purchased two WiiU's when they first came out. One to play, one to sell. NO ONE was buying them off Craigslist and the Ebay sales were just barely above retail. Every time I walked into a Target, Best Buy, etc. about 2 weeks after release it seemed as if there were at least the Basic's sitting on the shelf. Even on Black Friday, Best Buy had a Basic sitting right on a main aisle endcap. Who knows how many were really in stock. I finally returned my extra for a refund and the guy at GameStop stated they just couldn't get rid of them. They had several Basics and Deluxes on the shelf.

If the Wii was your only console before the WiiU came out, then maybe it's a good time to buy the WiiU. There are a lot of ported games that have been out for a while that you might enjoy. Otherwise, they're much cheaper to purchase on the Xbox or PS3. And while the WiiU games are more expensive than the Wii, they can still be found for deals like Target had a few weeks ago: "Buy 2 get 1 free".

I don't regret my purchase (thanks to ZombiU and SMB), but it wouldn't have hurt my feelings to wait another year or so either.

In your situation, it sounds like you're getting a bit impatient for it. However, it's pretty much certain next year, the Wii U will be more polished in firmware and build, and it's pretty much definetly at least the games for the system will be sold for a bit less.
Besides, the best games will start coming out next year. All the games are solid now- especially for a launch lineup- but nothing so far is amazingly special even though many of the titles are great. Next year we have Rayman Legends and Pikmin 3 before Q3 alone, and it's very likely something else will be announced for Q4 at E3, and some other third-party titles will come out, and maybe even some great eShop software, so quite simply, I see it this way: the Wii U is really going to start picking up steam in terms of releases and announcements around June, despite that it IS a great system even now.
Basically-

In my opinion if there is not many games you want for it at the moment. I would wait a few months there will be a few good bundle deals around.

A price drop in the next year or two is relatively unlikely; the system already is being sold at a loss. If you're in the UK, there may be a SLIGHTLY better chance of a price drop, unless the sales pick up soon. But don't wait on a price drop at this point. I have Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros U, with a couple more titles on the way for Christmas. What I have already makes me satisfied with my purchase, and if there is anything out you really want, get the system! If there isn't anything yet, hold off a bit. As for other first party games, I'm sure Nintendo will churn them out as quickly as they can without compromising quality. Remember, the system is being sold at a loss, so they definitely want to have more games out to make more money. Of course, they also don't want the games to be bad, or no one will buy them. I am pretty sure we don't know all their cards right now, there probably will be more titles than we think that are coming in the first half of 2013.

Also, to those that are finding a lot of Wii U's, Nintendo was a bit more prepared this time. They're still selling out in the sense that all the systems they make are getting bought by the retailers fairly quickly, but the demand is just enough that, for most areas, they only are keeping a few more above demand. Just because Nintendo is meeting demand does not mean there will be an early price drop. Also, Nintendo has a very different marketing strategy right now. They are not heavily advertising to the casual crowd. This is intentional, there are not many casual games out at this point, just a few, and they are avoiding the initial sellouts they had with the Wii. With their current marketing strategy, their supplies can meet the demands, and later they'll focus more on the casual crowd. I expect next Christmas we'll see a very different scene, after they already have the core crowd they'll want to expand their audience. I doubt it'll come with a price drop, though, it'll just have different software pushing the system (though they'll continue core titles) and better advertising. The average consumer is still saying, "What's a Wii U? Is it a new controller for the Wii?" It's not that Nintendo doesn't know how to reach the average consumer, it's just not their target yet.

It's silly that you would think that Nintendo is not targeting the casual crowd (didn't you see their family friendly ad?), considering that crowd is what made the Wii so successful. Any "core" gamer they are targeting probably already got one at launch. Now I'm sure that Nintendo does have better supply this time around, but still, this close to Christmas a system that just launched should not be sitting on the store shelves. I remember seeing a handful of PS3s on the shelf before Christmas, but that is the only time I can recall seeing a newly launched system on the shelf right after launch. And the PS3 had quite a rough start it's first year. I'm not preaching "doom and gloom" about the Wii U just yet, but these signs do concern me.

I think when the PS4 and 720 launch window approaches, Nintendo will bring out the big guns by releasing all the AAA titles (Counting on SSB4) and including a bundle of some sort. So wait until the PS4 and 720 launch window.