Topic: Is the Wii U a failure?

Except in video games, the experience is different. The only part of the game that really needs to be experienced the way it's meant to is the controls, and controls aren't exactly the most defining aspect of a game. You can objectively judge things like level design and gameplay by watching them because you can see those aspects play out in videos.

Also, in entertainment "interesting" and "good" practically go hand in hand. Whether or not a game is interesting is a major component in the game's quality since that's the purpose of the game in the first place.

The majority of those games can be played on another platform. That isn't the same at all.

Since when? Nobody complained that Tetris didn't have a story, and it certainly doesn't make it a bad game by any means. I think I need to repeat myself, there's no use in complaining about the storyline in Mario or Donkey Kong, because nobody gives a damn. You play to games because they're challenging platformers, not because they're interactive movies. The story that is presented in the game is enough to tell the player what to do, fix what went wrong. That's all you need to know. I don't need a cutscene at the beginning of every world to tell me all over again what my job is in the game.

The WiiU is not a failure. It has great games that I play more often then the PS4. In terms of sales it not doing well, but at least Nintendo is making a profit. In every generation I have own all the consoles except this one. It feels like you have to be loyal or fanboys will hate on you. I always thought it was about the games. For me, I get the Final Fantasies and the Tales on Playstation. Nintendo gets me on Zelda and Mario Kart. Xbox had me on Halo and movies. 3DS and Vita has so many RPGs that how they get me. What the hell happened to just gaming. "Your console doesn't have any power." "You have no exclusives, you have no 3rd parties. Blah blah blah". I still have my console loyalty, but I don't think PS4 is bad. It does a lot right. I haven't bought an Xbone yet but I haven't felt the need to yet. I say this again, what the Hell has happened to just playing great games.

We really should be comparing Wii U to the N-Gage now that would be a comparison.

I was assuming they had played them but on another platform.

The difference is none of the games being discussed being the exclusives vs all of them being exclusive.

If the exclusives were that good those would be the games being discussed not the 3rd party multiplatform stuff.

@River3636 got me thinking...what the hell are we doing? Why can't we just enjoy what we want to enjoy and not poke fun at what others like? Does it really matter what console you have, as long as you enjoy playing on it? I am a fan of Nintendo, but not Microsoft, yet you don't see me bashing on Xbox! There are some cases where I have to look at something that's popular adn ask "why?", but I don't go around insulting people for liking it! I can disagree with people, but I won't be a jerk and call what system they enjoy a failure (if it makes a profit and is enjoyable, it's not a failure.). We all go around bashing people for not agreeing with our opinons, and you know what? That's just plain stupid. I wish that we could all just get along, but that can never happen, because some people just feel like they are superior to others in terms of the games they play. And quite frankly, it makes me sick.

I like the WiiU - The Yoshi game coming out will be a great addition. If a new Metroid was announced at E3 for WiiU then I don't see how I could ever call it a failure. The wiiU is good at satisfying its long standing fan base.

Interesting and good do not go hand in hand. There are plenty of onteresting games that aren't good and plenty of good games that aren't interesting. Watching a video of a game doesn't give you the experience. You experiencing the mechanics while progressing through the level design is going to be a different experience than watching someone else do that. This is why Designers are encouraged to watch as many people as possible play their games. Different people will experience the game in ways. You do not get the same experience when you just watch.

Failure at what?...not being a Playstation?

It has great games, more 90+%ers on Metacritic and Gamerankings than other home consoles from this gen combined; and despite sales not meeting shareholder ambitions (following the Wii era) still commands Nintendo a profit.

It's not Wii U's fault that a certain type of video game consumer is socially conscious of buying Nintendo products and the fly-by-night casual gadget audience is too wrapped up in all things Apple!

Guys, you should consult the timeline.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_products_published_by_Ni...

I like the overall perspective it brings.

Hey wait a minute I love Apple.

While the console is no longer taking losses on each one sold, given that Nintendo has suffered losses for three consecutive years until now, i wonder if it will net a profit over the course of its life. I am going to guess that it likely won't. So from that sense, it was a failure.

But I probably have well over a thousand hours logged on mine, more when you count use from others in family , so for me, it has easily paid for itself.

But this is not a Vita, Xbox and PlayStation fan site. Thanks for the welcome

I think the obvious answer to this is to look at how Nintendo is treating the machine and responding to sales and compare that with accepted failures.

Normally "failed" consoles are accompanied by low unit production numbers for peripherals (no one is buying the stuff, so make less to stem the hemmorhaging of money) and low levels of software support in quality and quantity. I can't say that I see much evidence of either of these things.

There's no shortage of kit anecdotally aside from a niche peripheral, the GameCube adapter (which has multiple third-party alternatives - if the machine was a dud, who would bother making that niche a product for it?) and there continue to be promotions by the manufacturer in the form of hardware bundles with game-specific skins and overlays and special packaging, i.e., not the same old box with a different game taped to the outside.

There's still significant resource being put into software development - if this console had tanked we'd have heard of projects being cancelled by now - unless you want to convince me that everything in the release schedule through the end of this year and beyond was developed in advance of the console release and we're getting it drip-fed in the vain hope of recouping funds?

As a Playstation owner I thought the N64 looked like a failure with a software library a fraction the size; lacking most of the big titles on the Playstation. The fact that I thought little of Nintendo's software at the time made that an easy statement for me, but Nintendo stuck with the N64 and later, the GameCube. Not being a big success != failure - at least not in Nintendo's eyes or the eyes of its fans.

So we can't say anything about Sony or Microsoft in this site? Wow

@Haru17 I'm not seeing your point. If anything, that page just reaffirms my beliefs that the size of the Wii U library is on par with the Wii's library thus far in terms of products published by Nintendo and the quality of the Wii U's library is consistently better.

@TwilightAngel Totally missed his point there. He said nothing about what you can and can't say. He was pointing out that it's silly to come to a Nintendo site and bash a Nintendo system then not expect to have people point out everything you said that was wrong. Just like it would be silly to come to a Nintendo site and not expect people making similarly painful arguments against Nintendo's competition. Short version: Fanboys are dumb.

I didn't say that, people can say what they like, this chain is missing the beginning of the conversation. My point was, for example, I don't own a PS4, but if I were to go onto a Playstation fan site and say that all the games are s###, and are nothing but PS3 games with a bit of glitter, would you consider that to be trolling?

Of course you can say bad stuff about any console. They all have their pros and cons, but I look at the games that come out. We all have preferences and loyalties. It was never about being a sales analysist or a troll. It was about playing the games.

And how do you feel on reflection today? Would it be fair to call it a case of quantity over quality?