Topic: The depressing state of the WiiU release schedule

I think you nailed it. For all the hype Reggie and Co. spewed about the game pad revolutionizing the way we play games, I'm still yet to see it. I've said it many times... Nintendo Land showed signs of awesome possibilities, and then... nothing. Standard remakes of games we've already all seen and played over the last ten years. Plus, it's kind of sad that the two games this system's life is basically swiveling on at this point, SSB and MK8 are going to be standard iterations of Nintendo franchises we've seen for almost twenty years. I'm sure they will be great fun, but how much can either of those titles really utilize the game pad?

By this logic, 85% of the games released these days are uninteresting

Also, 3D World is rehashy? By whose definition? Anyone who hasn't played the game?

There are so many games that use the Game Pad in interesting ways and so many interesting games on the Wii U that I still don't understand why people keep making this comment. Nintendo itself showed massive game pad usage many times already, from Nintendo Land - Wario - Wii Party U - Wonderful 101 - Lego City Undercover - Wii Fit U, to its uses in NSMB and SM3DWorld, and third parties used it extensively in Zombi U - Arkham City - Mass Effect 3 - Deux Ex - Splinter Cell etc etc. Really tired of that argument. If people haven't played the games, and I haven't played all the games I just listed, then learn first what games they are there and understand that the game pad got plenty of usage outside the awesome not-mentioned off tv play.

Wonderful 101 and Lego could easily be done without the gamepad. I mean can't you use the pro controller for W101.

Nothing but Nintendoland and Game and Wario need the gamepad.

So what's you're saying is that it's a bad thing to give people control options.

It might actually be in terms of selling the Wii U Gamepad as something important. This actually unintentionally maybe proves my point on online. I mean it's a stretch admittedly but online for 3D World could be like having multiple control options in games originally focused on the Gamepad. It is nice and could maybe be an improvement depending on your preference, but adding in those options just distracts from the focus Nintendo is trying to have and is maybe a bad idea. Too many options can distract sometimes, and that can really hurt games. More of an idea I just thought of and not some definitive answer for anything though...

Of course, in terms of controls, that argument gets thrown out the window with Pikmin 3. That game would've been the worst out of the series EASILY with just the Gamepad controls. Wiimote+nunchuck is brilliant in that game and I will hear nothing that says otherwise.

I think To fix any future droughts they should

1.Buy/Create more Teams and First party developers

Thats it.......

Also I feel like people who say the Gamepad is a gimmick and then turn around and praise Sony & Microsoft for the Kinect/PlayStation Eye/'Project Morpheus' are very dumb

Sadly, that's true, the rest of the industry makes a lot of samey, uninteresting games. But usually Nintendo is a beacon for creative ideas, and they're more or less failing right now, which is why it's particularly upsetting.

Nintendo Land, Wii Party, and Wii Fit are casual appeal. NSMB and 3D World don't really do anything too interesting with it. Third party games aren't really popular with Nintendo fans. Not sure about the rest.

Define "interesting". If Galaxy is "interesting" and 3D World is not then there isn't that much room for much at all. If Galaxy is your benchmark, a game I'd easily put in my top 5 games ever made, then you're going to be forever disappointed.

To avoid being too subjective there ain't much in that gap on metacritic. We're talking GTA, Portal, Bioshock, The Last of Us and Galaxy. That's it for the whole of the last generation of gaming.

I think by interesting he is putting creativity and new over quality (if necessary at least).

For example, New Super Mario Bros U is probably a game I'd consider to be better than...let's say, Zombi U. ZombiU is 100 times more interesting to me and that helps ZombiU to me as much as it hurts NSMBU. Likewise Mario Sunshine is nowhere near my favorite Mario (probably my least favorite 3D Mario honestly) but after recent titles I've gained a new respect for how creative and "keeps my attention" it is compared to most recent titles.

Creativity can do a lot to help a title and a lack of it can hurt (this is half of my justification for thinking Super Paper Mario is awesome, which I do for the record)

Did you even play said games before you came to this conclusion? Super Mario 3D World had many brilliant ideas in it. Donkey Kong TF had many brilliant ideas that Returns didn't. Or are you simply assuming that these are dull games just because they are sequels?

Nintendo Land, Wii Party, and Wii Fit are casual appeal. NSMB and 3D World don't really do anything too interesting with it. Third party games aren't really popular with Nintendo fans. Not sure about the rest.

And now you're just nitpicking details to support your biased point. Are you assuming the ENTIRE system is bad because one aspect of it can't be fully utilized? I realized the Gamepad was the main selling point of the Wii U, but the 3D of the 3DS was the main selling point of the 3DS and it did just fine without the 3D being fully utilized. Is the Xbox 360 bad for the Kinect not being properly utilized? What about the PS3 and Move? Many consumers seem to think they were good systems because they had good games, not because of some gimmick they used. The Wii U may not be selling based on the Gamepad alone, but some of its software is still brilliant.

How do you play Lego City without a gamepad? That's the point of the whole game, it's a map, a scanning device, a phone, and so on. The gamepad is even shown in the game.

There are a number of games that don't need the gamepad; however, almost all of the ones I've played are better experiences with it rather than without. I don't quite understand why people feel the gamepad needs to revolutionize how every game is played. It's just an interface between you and the games.

Back on topic, I really want to see more games like ZombiU. Not because it makes great use of the gamepad, but because it's an interesting, solid, 3rd party game, and the Wii U desperately needs more of those.

What always astounds me, is that the new consoles from Microsoft and Sony had much weaker launch libraries, and have much weaker first year release schedules then the Wii U, and that includes long term healthy third party support...but only Nintendo gets trashed for not enough AAA releases close enough together.

Also, just like with movies, the post Christmas through early spring season is usually pretty weak for releases.

Just to make a point though, I think the original TC said that they stretched out Donkey Kong to place it between Christmas and Mario Kart 8...then goes on to say there is no releases for five months between Christmas and Mario Kart 8?

• Well you can't have both! If you complain about delaying Donkey Kong and claim it was purely for marketing reasons, then you can't still call it a fiv month gap can you?...since there was a major release in the way of Donkey Kong that you just got done complaining about being delayed!

Please...there are a lot of legitimate reasons to criticize Nintendo, but I can't take people seriously unless:

1) You apply your criticism fairly to the whole industry
2) Your criticism is legitimate and doesn't contradict itself in order to heap on negatives unfairly.

@Action51
I think that might be because people expect Sony and Microsoft's consoles will get those games, just like people expect Nintendo's console to get quality 1st party games.

As for the topic at hand I think the problem with the gamepad is people look at it and wonder what it does that the DS line can't. Things like a map on the bottom screen aren't really a huge selling point, and aren't really necessary either. Not even off-screen play has all that much appeal. If your the type who doesn't play handhelds at home or doesn't need such a thing there isn't much of a point to using it. Gimmicks like using it as a phone have been done before too and has mostly been relegated to casual games.

It either needs games that do things that at least feel like they're only possible on the Wii U, or just make plenty of great games that use its features sparingly and sells on the merits of the games alone. People didn't really buy Twilight Princess because of the Wii's motion controls, they bought it because its Zelda and it was an exciting, fun looking game.

The difference being that the peripherals you're listing, PS Move and 360 Kinect, aren't required. They are optional purchases, so therefore the systems themselves aren't measured by how well these peripherals are utilized. I own a PS3 and do not own a PS Move, so if PS Move games stopped being released it's no sweat off my back. The gamepad is required to use a Wii U, therefore it's going to be much more focused on and criticized alongside the console itself.

But to dismiss an entire gaming console for not utilizing its features? You missed my point in that the Wii U has more to offer than just the GamePad

I've played the game and loved it, but you cannot deny that it isn't familiar? It's like a mash-up of all the mainline Mario games we've had so far (minus maybe Sunshine.) Character selection from Mario 2, Gameworld maps from Mario 3, dumbed down controls from Mario 64 & Galaxy, with tons of nostalgic touches from the first Mario. Don't get me wrong, I love this game - it's like a wonderful "Mario's Greatest Hits" album or something. But I wouldn't call it ground-breaking. It doesn't push Mario into new directions as most 3D Mario titles have in the past. I would say the same about DKTF. No one is saying these games aren't fun. We're saying they aren't particularly "original." This is not Nintendo pushing boundaries or proving to everyone that the gamepad was a much needed addition to gaming.

@gage-wolf: Even so, does a game have to be groundbreaking to be good? I've played plenty of games that did nothing new because their premise was already good.

I think you're mistaking criticism as dismissal. I own and enjoy more than a few games on the Wii U, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't expect more from Nintendo. Expectations - that's what happens when a company, like Nintendo, has a history of doing great things. I expect Nintendo to continue to do great things. I'm seeing good, mediocre, and bad stuff happening on the Wii U, but I'm not seeing great things happening yet.

Ah, some other user I was responding dismissed it. My mistake