Topic: The depressing state of the WiiU release schedule

@skywake

Probably the for online play. I have a buddy who loves raving games and he wanted the Gamepad to have a rear view mostly for online play.

I think a rear view mirror would give GamePad players the upper hand.

You dastard! How dare you block me! When we play online, I'll save plenty of blue shells just for you!

They already have a way of doing that. It's much less distracting and much more useful

This may sound petty, but a lack of five-player multiplayer is really a deal breaker for me. I personally find it astounding that one of my favourite features of the gamepad - that it provides a fifth player slot - has been largely ignored by every first-party game other than Nintendo Land. I had foolishly assumed that it would be included, but at least this means one less game I'll feel the need to purchase...

Does everyone who is whining about no 5 player MK8 really find themselves in situations where they have an opportunity to play a Wii-U with four other people that often?

Unless you are a kid/live in a dorm/have parents who bred like rabbits, I can't imagine it would be a feature many people would even experience.

It still looks great to me.

I don't get the outcry for 5 player multiplayer. In NintendoLand, it makes sense to me, but Mario Kart just seems like it'd be a bit weird like that. I dunno...

Also, the GamePad doesn't need to be 100% utilized in every single game. Games like Metroid, Zelda, or a new and innovative Mario game will more than likely take the ZombiU approach to the GamePad. A rearview mirror in Mario Kart would essentially be pointless since there's already the map on the touchscreen. Aside from that, why do you need it to throw bananas back? Hold onto that banana. It'll save you from EVERYTHING.

Most of the people who complain about the lack of game pad use are people who don't like the game pad and never even used it in the dozens of games that use it a lot. I was playing Lego City Undercover, some Zombi U, Mass Effect 3, then Rayman Legends all in one day so I guess I didn't think the game pad was under utilized in any way when I played yesterday or any day.

It's pretty cool in Sonic and All Stars Transformed- one plays on the gamepad, the other on the TV, so you don't have to split the screen.....

I am not going to say it isn't a nice feature but I agree with @JohnRedcorn are people really not going to buy something because it is missing 1 feature they never said was going to be in the game? I would like to have the option of 5 players on 1 system but it isn't that bad, plus they might still allow for 1 player to be on the GamePad and 1 on the TV, just not 5 players total.

LAN Mode

...in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! it is possible to play via Local Area Network (LAN), using up to eight Nintendo GameCube systems [...] This means that up to eight users can play independently with their friends using two or more GameCube systems with the Mario Kart: Double Dash!! game discs on.

While this in no way contradicts @JohnRedcorn 's thesis, I feel it's within bounds to expect the Mario Kart series to evolve beyond the 4-player tradition. Expanded support for local play would be desirable in tournaments at least, if not in other venues as well.

I am aware that I would be in a tiny minority of people that feel this way. Similarly, I am aware this would only affect a small number of people who are interested in buying this game. I was just expressing my personal feelings and disappointment. I would have bought this game for the 5-player. It isn't going to have it, so I won't. I'm sure that it will be a great game, but it doesn't match up with what I was hoping for. This is no way reflects anybody else's opinion.

In how many instances will that one extra person matter, to the extent they can't just switch out with someone else?

I'm a huge advocate of complaining, huge, but even I'll cut Nintendo a break on this one.

I saw this coming a year before the launch of the Wii U, which is why I still haven't bought the console. I'll snatch it and the good games on the cheap around the release of the next console. There's more on the market that I want to play right now that I don't have the time for that I don't even have a shred of regret in not buying a Wii U at this point in time.

Some people have nice careers lol

you spelled parents wrong

Not all of us live at home with mommy and daddy : )

And some of us have much nicer careers than our parents ever did. lol

I don't believe too many women would be unsatisfying, but I can sympathize with the time problem. I'm just extremely wasteful and purchase games without ever finishing them.

And then at the end of a generation I get rid of everything because I only like new stuff. Definitely not the most efficient way of managing money, but I get to play everything I want at release and to me that's the most exciting part of gaming, playing the newest greatest games when the excitement surrounding them is at its peak.

I think gaming media are partially to blame for some of the negative impressions that the medium-casual gamer may display toward the Wii U and Nintendo in general.

• What do I mean by medium-casual?

Well...those would be primarily typical "casuals" but those within the prime demographic that game companies tend to target. They have enough time and disposable income to spend on new mass market entertainment. If you look at the blockbuster movies and "AAA" games, that would be the 9-18 year old male demographic, but it can fluctuate older and younger depending on circumstance.

They aren't the true gaming geeks who know gaming history and have at one time played a rare imported game or fan translated ROM...They don't play games outside a small comfort zone of genre and visual style, but they do spend good money on a small number of big budget, heavily advertised games marketed toward a sort of juvenile fantasy fulfillment. They are not the pure casual who plays .99 apps on their smartphones, or bought a Wii and only played Wii Sports before using it only as a Netflix player.

Now....having gotten that lengthy explanation out of the way, back to my original point...

The Gaming media tend to create a double standard and push "memes" and ideas through their articles and websites that target Nintendo. Let's take the very topic of the original post on this massive thread: -Game Droughts-. Third party support or not, the gaming media has been very quick to point out any period of a month or more when Nintendo doesn't have big retail releases.

This is not so for other console manufacturers. Sure the "fanboys" and defenders are quick to point out to "ponys and xbots" when their competitor isn't releasing a big name title, but game "journalists" just don't do it...It may have something to do with the amount of advertising Microsoft and Sony do on the big websites that create these memes and ideas, or it could be that gaming websites look to cater to the more juvenile tastes of the "fanboy" types by offering an easy target in family friendly Nintendo, while not trying to upset their delicate natures by attracting too much attention to the shortcomings of the brand they have pledged loyalty to.

Let me just pause here with the per-requisite disclaimers lest I be judged a "fanboy" or "Nintendrone"...I'm not judging people who prefer other console brands, or the Sony and Microsoft consoles themselves. I'm speaking specifically about the medium-casual demographic who engage in "console war" forum battles and spend an inordinate amount of time posting reasons why they hate other consoles that they never intend to buy. I'm also required to point out that some Nintendo fans can be obnoxious and negative out of misplaced brand loyalty as well, it's just that you don't see it as much for whatever reason.

It's not just the "game droughts"...Nintendo gets trashed for game delays when the products they release end up being well polished and with far fewer glitches then what we recognize as the industry standard. When other major publishers delay games, the gaming media reminds us it's to make the game better and add finishing touches...but for Nintendo it's a conspiracy to space out their releases or because they don't have their act together.

Let's not even start on the whole sequels/remake/rehash debate. That debate is so ludicrously skewed against Nintendo that it elicits eye rolls and frustrated sighs. The entire industry is stuck in safe sequel/remake/rehash/copycat mode. No one should get a pass in 2014.

It's important to note that this very mentality that I've described generates "controversy" and controversy converts into clicks and page traffic. So it's not like these game "journalists" and websites are doing this because they are big mean jerks who just hate Nintendo. In all likelihood these game "journalists" like Nintendo games...look at the scores their first party games receive as evidence...but the nature of the business and the nature of the most vocal fans who their advertisers are targeting lead them down the easy path of spreading the all too familiar "Nintendoom".

@Action51
"Mainstream" would have worked just as well as. "Medium-casual" sounds like a steak.XD

Seriously though, I think theres a lot of credibility to that. Like Dice's April Fools joke, I'm sure plenty of people over at Dice/EA love Nintendo, but cracking jokes and insults about 'em makes them seem "cool" to their fans. It makes it seem like they think the way their target demographic does. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all. That doesn't excuse it of course, but understanding the situation certainly helps.