Sending out a message

The Wii U has its fair share of plaudits but its fair to say it also has an equal share of doubters as well. Since the new console has launched many developers have taken a swipe at it claiming its lack of power will make it outdated and irrelevant once Sony and Microsoft throw their new consoles into the mix.

In an interview with CNET, President of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime has defended the Wii U's specs and says this new generation will be about more than powerful processors and excessive graphical output. He believes that Sony and Microsoft must look at what Nintendo is doing and react to it:

In the end, our competitors need to react to what we're doing in the marketplace and need to figure out what their innovation will be.

It's likely that faster processors and pretty pictures won't be enough to motivate consumers. They need to react to what we've done and we need to continue innovating with the Wii U and we will.

Many people see the Wii U as a console that merely matches the specs of the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 rather than vastly improving on them, and that Nintendo has jumped the gun by releasing the console into the marketplace now. Reggie was quick to dismiss this however:

For us, launching new systems is about bringing new consumer experiences to the marketplace and we're doing that with Nintendo Land and third-party publishers are doing it with games like ZombiU. For us, now is the right time to launch new hardware.

Nintendo seems to be sticking to its guns then when it comes to their vision for this new generation of gaming. Nintendo has always stated that graphics and power aren't everything and that innovations - such as the ones seen with Wii - are key factors to the success of a new console. Reggie believes consumers have reacted very positively to Wii U and the numbers coming through show that they are on target to match the success of the Wii - in the launch window at least. Nintendo has shifted 400,000 Wii U consoles in North America during the first week of launch, effectively selling out at retail. More stock is incoming and Nintendo will hope it all gets snapped up just as fast.

What are your thoughts on all this? Has Nintendo taken the right path with Wii U or do you think the power inside Sony and Microsoft's new babies will make it irrelevant? Let us know in the comments below.

[source news.cnet.com]