@theadrock13 Ah! But it is pretty clear that Nintendo greatly leveraged on the third parties offering large support for the Wii U in its early life cycle. But, it is also not like Nintendo hasn't supported the console too - New Super Mario Bros. U is indeed a new core entry in the "Mario" franchise, but it isn't shifting consoles.
One thing I'm hearing a lot of, is "when the "core" games come to the Wii U it will start selling." While this is certainly true, to an extent, remember that the top selling Zelda title, Ocarina of Time, shifted 7.6 million copies worldwide. It was the casual gamers who bought the Wii consoles like hotcakes at IHOP - Twilight Princess shifted 5.8 million units, compared to Wii Fit's 22.6 million and Wii Fit Plus's 20 million. The only core titles that topped the 20 million mark - which is outrageously high numbers! - is Mario Kart Wii, which sold because of the wheel attachment and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which was a packed in game late in the console's lifespan.
Nintendo walked away from the casual gamers with the Wii U - that was its mistake with the Wii U, in my opinion.
Nintendo's biggest hurdle, in my opinion, is the other side of its own sword: 3DS. The 3DS is absolutely phenomenal and doing incredibly well in the market right now. The upcoming release line-up for the handheld is so good, in fact, that I have no reason to invest in a Wii U. It's only been a few hours since I walked out of Gamestop to reserve my copies of Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D and Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The 3DS is more than enough to satisfy my "Nintendo" needs.
This can also be said for the Vita as well. The Vita offers much of the same thing that the PS3 already has - just as the Wii U does for the 3DS - so why should consumers spend more money to play either the same or similar titles on the systems they already own? They likely won't and the sales are the proof for both the Vita and the Wii U.
@ramstrong The link to Digitally Downloaded is "my" link - I'm the editor for the website.
FUSE is releasing on the Xbox 360 and PS3 on May 28th. That is the only two systems that the game is currently releasing on. Yes, Insomniac Games did release Outernauts on Facebook, but that is only one part of the company. Outernauts looks to be coming to mobile platforms in the future, as well too, so that is most likely what that sector of the company is currently working on, as it has said that the Outernauts IP is not going anywhere any time soon and that the team is heavily invested into it.
To the best of my knowledge, FUSE does not look to be in development for the PS4 or Xbox 720.
@ramstrong I think you are quite far off base, to be perfectly honest. Insomniac Games is a third party developer that has been exclusively developing first party quality titles for Sony for nearly two decades. Now that the company has recently decided to release its titles on multiple platforms, it chose the platforms (PS3 and Xbox 360) with the highest install base, in the hopes of a maximum profit return. The Wii U only has 3 million consoles on the market, the chances for Insomniac Games to make a profit on the console with a title like FUSE is questionable, seeing how Call of Duty: Black Ops II didn't fare too well on the console.
@Tony_342 Yes, Ted Price is indeed a great guy. Personally, I'm a big fan of the team's Ratchet and Clank titles and it is certainly clear that Super Mario Bros. is a large inspiration for the series.
Yes, it does seem that the team is spread too thin at the moment. The transition from an exclusive third party developer to a multiplatform third party developer isn't as simple as some might think it to be. Tackling the new Wii U and all of its features would be a time consuming ordeal for the team.
Seeing what all Insomniac Games has done in the past on Sony's consoles, it is extremely exciting to imagine the possibilities of what the team could do on Nintendo's hardware in the future.
@K1LLEGAL Just a quick heads-up on one quick thing - Insomniac Games has always been a third party developer. It started developing games for the PlayStation One with Disruptor and then found massive success with Spyro the Dragon. Its success and great working relationship with Sony - it shared an office space with Naughty Dog (Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, Uncharted and The Last of US) - and had a great working relationship with Sony, which kept them singly developing for Sony.
Sometimes developers get tired of sticking with the same series for too long. Insomniac Games needed a change and it moved into multiplatform development. It's already published Outernaughts for the PC (Facebook) and FUSE is coming to both the PS3 and the 360. Oh, and its CEO Ted Price is a really cool guy too!
I've got the Champions Pack and love it, but I'll wait until the rest are discounted at some point to invest in the others - the prices are a bit too high for the content available.
I have an absolute ton of respect for the Unity team and what they are doing for indie developers.
With that said, you don't build The Legend of Zelda and other triple-A titles on the Unity Engine. It's the triple-A titles that sell dedicated gaming consoles, so banking on the Unity Engine is not the answer to selling the Wii U for Nintendo. I've always said that Unity + Wii U's numerous control options will blossom fantastic indie titles though.
For Nintendo fans, sure, this is a good thing. For all those Microsoft and Sony fans who might end up on the fence if those consoles end up being quite expensive - do you think they will even think about the Wii U that they won't be seeing at E3 this year?
@SCAR392 Okay, you're on the right track here, but let me get you locked on. Think of it this way, Nintendo is bringing a new Smash Bros. to the Wii U, and it is and has been funding the entire project since day one, and will continue to do so all the way up until it launches. It's paying salaries, insurance and retirement for employees, rent (and accommodations) for the buildings they work in, not to mention the high-end computers and equipment to build the game on. When the game releases and starts selling, it doesn't make one cent until the millions of dollars that it cost to produce the games is covered.
But, let's say Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 did just release on the Wii U, Nintendo would have charged EA both licensing and royalty fees to put its game on the Wii U. This is a lot of money - and it would have came at no risk or financial output to Nintendo. In short, Nintendo just lost millions of dollars, because Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 didn't release on the Wii U.
What is happening right now, is that EA seems to not think that it will make money once it pays these fees - plus recovering the cost to develop/port these titles to the Wii U on top of them. EA will pay these expensive fees - it doesn't have a console of its own - but it has to recover a lot more than a first party developer, making a console with a low install base an extremely high risk of taking a significant loss on.
Nintendo does indeed need these licensing and royalty fees, because this is how it recovers the huge amounts of capital it sinks into developing its hardware. Hardware sales only bring in pennies to the overall cost to develop and produce these consoles. When Nintendo developed the Wii U, it actually invested into itself, by spending tens/hundreds of millions of dollars to produce the system - it's return (or profit) if found in these licensing fees and royalties that come from the third parties.
Where the card falls into Nintendo's hand, is that it has to give these big publishers a reason that they should put their games on its system that it has spent so much money to produce. Nintendo isn't going to pay anyone to get third party games on the Wii U - that would defeat the purpose - but it could partner in advertising campaigns or special media related events to make these games get a lot of additional exposure prior to released. There are things that can be done, that are profitable to both parties and I'm sure these things are happening behind the scenes.
Where 'gamers' make a difference, is in how they spend their money. Time and again, we see that gamers who own Nintendo's home console simply don't want to buy third party games, even when the install base for the consoles is extremely high. When you have around 70 million Wii units sold worldwide and Madden 11 only sell .7 million copies on the system - it isn't hard to see that these console owners aren't interested in these games on Nintendo's systems.
The majority of these gamers own multiple systems and they are buying EA's games on their other systems. So what you have now is the Nintendo loyal that only own the Wii U simply isn't enough to support these games.
And that's pretty much the sum of it, really. I hope that helps clarify things a bit more for you.
@SCAR392 It's simple, if you don't like what EA is doing, then don't buy its games. I'm not defending anyone, I'm just putting it out there just like it is.
Yes. There are things that I don't like in EA's games. I'm a big fan of the Dead Space franchise, but even I had had enough of Dead Space 3 after about 8 hours of it. I also don't like how the Origin implementation slows down Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 either, but the exceptional Country Club offerings keep me playing it over and again, not to mention the excellent new control scheme that was further refined off of last year's game.
EA is trying new things. It is trying to find new ways to pull in the needed revenue to make larger risk in a shaky business going forward. No. I do not like everything that EA does, but I cannot deny that it makes fantastic games that are desired my by millions of gamers each and every year.
If EA thinks the Wii U isn't a viable platform to make a profit with any of its games, that's not EA's problem - it is Nintendo's.
@DePapier You obviously have no idea how the gaming industry actually functions and your rants show it. Eidos Montreal is nothing on it own, it can't fully fund triple-A games, which is why its games are published by Square Enix. Criterion is the exact same, a game developer, who is funded by EA to develop its triple-A games. You take away Square Enix and EA and you lose both of these studios, unless another publisher buys them.
And no, Nintendo cannot compete in today's gaming industry without the likes of EA, Activision and Ubisoft, regardless if you like them or not. The licensing fees and royalties from these companies' games bring in tremendous amounts of revenue for Nintendo, at absolutely zero cost to it.
Nintendo doesn't have enough developers to keep its consoles as viable products in the industry without third party support. If Nintendo was to lose complete third party support, its only option would be to become a third party developer or to be acquired by a larger parent company (e.g. Apple, Samsung).
@Lionsgate You're exactly right mate. It's nice to see someone else here who understands how these publishers' function.
@Five-seveN Ha! Yeah, there was one point in that game that I just had to set my controller down and walk away for a few hours. It was one of those rare moments in gaming where I actually questioned my morality, because the unintentional end result of my choices was so terrible that it made me sick to my stomach. Very rare moment indeed.
@aaronsullivan The price develop triple-A titles for next generation isn't actually much higher than the current generation consoles. The PS4's architecture is so developer friendly that not only are many developers showing commitments to it - many are showing real excitement to develop for it.
Yet, there are still those who are still taking risk out there. 2K Games took a massive risk last year with the absolutely stomach-churning storyline it chose to use in its title, Spec Ops: The Line, which literally gave the finger to the vast majority of modern shooters stereotypical cast and narratives. Instead, it opted to bring the realities of war to a videogame format - it worked, in an way that will give you nightmares for a few weeks.
BioShock Infinite takes an even higher risk by challenging many of the societal issues that plagued modern society for centuries: racism, oppression and glamorization to name a few.
I do agree that the vast majority of big budget titles are going the route of least resistance, but it is just as you stated: the home console market is losing its share to other/newer forms of virtual entertainment. Those who take risk and fail are severely punished. This isn't because of the developers and it most certainly isn't because developers want it to be this way - it is this way because this is how consumers are choosing to spend their money.
Nintendo played a major hand in these changes. It got non-gamers and casual gamers hooked on cheaper titles that are pick up and play friendly hooked, and then the mobile market rushed in to take absolute advantage of this new trend. Nintendo, on the other hand, failed to captivate these new gamers with the Wii U and lost many of its core gamers in the process of acquiring the casuals with the Wii.
New Super Mario Bros. U played it safe, but it isn't selling consoles either - showing that this method doesn't always work too.
@skjia No, it's the "kids" on websites that are acting like "kids." Epic Games is a business. What is a business' top priority? To make money. Epic Games doesn't see a viable profit in spending its time a resources to optimise the Unreal Engine 4 for the Wii U, so it isn't doing so. It's just that cut and dry. It isn't some sort of bias or fanboy logic, these are highly intelligent and highly educated businessmen - not that they always speak in this manner - that are out to make a profit. That's why it's leaving it up to external developers time and money to optimise its engine for the Wii U.
As others have stated before me, the Unreal Engine 4 is a complete game engine and it would indeed be more than just a graphical downscaling to optimise it for the Wii U - graphics are just but one part of the whole picture when it comes to game engines.
I do think that Miiverse would be a great addition for Nintendo in the world of mobile devices. The mobile install base is astronomically high and making the Miiverse social network availability that widespread has the potential of being a great thing for Nintendo.
Then again, it also poses a real threat to the service as well. While Miiverse is regularly moderated at current, when a few million users turn into tens (or even hundreds of) millions of users - can Nintendo keep the social service moderated properly? Is it going to allocate a team large enough to take on a task this large?
I'd like the think that it would take thousands of employees working around the clock to keep the service properly moderated. This will cost Nintendo a substantial amount of capital, on a daily basis. It will need to find a way to profit off of Miiverse moving into the mobile front. Selling apps on the mobile marketplaces would be just the thing to bring in this kind of revenue - eh?
@DRL "Personally, I couldn't care less about third-party offerings (as far as ports go) as long as Nintendo pays the proper attention to existing franchises and delivers some exciting new IP."
This is where you (and many other Nintendo "fans") are making a mistake - Nintendo cannot support its consoles alone. The largest sums of capital that flow within the gaming industry stem from licensing and royalty fees that are charged to third parties from the platform holder. Regardless is you care for the third party titles or not, you should still care about them, because without them, there is no future for Nintendo.
@KenB As usual, you're exactly right, and I agree with you statements. While this letter to Nintendo showed clear signs of today's typical "entitled gamer," one thing still stood out to me quite impressively, which was his points on Nintendo not caring to take the risk to bring Xenoblade Chronicles (and other "risky" titles) to the West on the Wii. That indeed show the lack of faith that Nintendo itself holds for its consumers outside of its home territory and that's not a good thing for the company. I've said for awhile that I've felt that the Wii U itself is a misguided console that offers too many different things - lacking an overall identity. I've also thought along the same lines about Nintendo's business strategy as well, and when I read that part written in that manner - maybe it's time that Nintendo finds new leadership? I personally don't like the majority what Nintendo has been offering as of late and have held off on a Wii U purchase, because while there's a few titles I'd like to play on it, there simply isn't enough to warrant the cost a new console for me.
@pheonixology Actually, Fish makes a living developing video games, so I'd like to think he knows a little something about the industry - eh?
The short of it is this: nearly every ranting fan here that's dishing out obscenities at Fish are doing nothing but putting themselves down to the same level as him, and loose tongue. Had his game - that's all but perfectly fitting on a Nintendo console - landed on the Wii U/3DS exclusively, I have no doubt that it would be widely praised here.
Great balanced piece @Daz! Good to see you writing on the site again.
I buy a few 3DS titles on the eShop, but not that many at all. I've been burned of about $400 USD on a Wii that had I had packed with games and I've not really purchased much from Nintendo's online offerings ever since.
Yes. I do think he was treated harshly. It's known the guy is sporatic - he threatened suicide if he couldn't finish Fez - but the simple fact that his opinions, which were little more than criticism of Nintendo's hardware (the same criticisms that have been shared here at NL) were used in such a way that fuels fanboys to attract quick hits is disturbing.
Nintendo alone cannot support its consoles. These fanboy rants are starting to get out of control (not just here at NL) and the Nintendo loyal need to realise that things like this are going to keep great 3rd party and indie games off of Nintendo's consoles.
@ThomasBW84 Yep. It really hurts the console when it comes to Nintendo's online strategy. I think come its next console, we definitely won't see this happen again.
@SCAR392 Yes, I was being sarcastic, but what I said about what my I've gotten in rewards from my PlayStation Credit Card is indeed true. On the PS+ front, it's to each his own. I don't have the time to play half the things I get from PS+, but what I do get from it is more than enough to warrant the $50 a year's price for me.
Nintendo is still far behind the competition and that all boils down to one very critical aspect: the games are locked to the console.
"PSN is trying to get you to use their credit card(kinda iffy to me)"
Yes, the PlayStation Credit Card is terrible. So terrible in fact that in the last year I've redeemed $90 USD in PlayStation Network Points and just ordered physical retail copies of both Sorcery and Sports Champions 2 last night, while still having enough points currently to redeemed another $20 USD network card - all by using my credit card regularly, as I would have had it been the card I cancelled to obtain the PlayStation Credit Card.
In fact, before I placed my order for Sorcery and Sports Champions 2, I could have gotten the just released God of War: Ascension Ultimate Edition bundle, but I passed it by, as I'm become quite tired of the series.
This is all not to mention that PS+ is literally shovelling great games out to its subscribers right now too: Vanquish, Mega Man Maverick Hunter X, Joe Danger: The Movie, Spec Ops: The Line, etc. - Nintendo's online offerings aren't even comparable to what Sony is doing right now, it's not even close.
First of all, I'm sick of hearing that "Nintendo is doomed," especially here. Even though NL is trying to spin the message around, it's still doing nothing but feeding the fire.
Secondly, Jon, you hit the nail right smack dab on the head man. It doesn't matter how you piece it together, Nintendo is affected by the current shift within the gaming industry.
Nintendo has to work harder to get the Wii U into a position where it's a viable component within the industry and right now, it isn't cutting it - sales numbers reflect this. Also, one thing that I've noticed that NL hasn't talked much about and is one of the hardest blows to the console, which is that it isn't getting full third party support on current generation titles. This creates a fear with those who are on-the-fence about purchasing the console, because there's likely a high probability of it having even less once the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft take the stage later this year. It's a major factor that I feel is contributing to the consoles poor sales, regardless of what Nintendo is/isn't bringing to the table.
Microconsoles are indeed going to chip away a portion of the money that's currently flowing into the home console sector. Jon made a mistake in the piece in thinking that there's only one other Adroid console outside of Ouya coming, which isn't so - there a quite a few players in the game now. Samsung even has a new phone/tablet coming that will double over as a full-on gaming handheld. When parents see a brand new console that's only $79-$99 USD compared to $299+ this Christmas - which one do you think is more attractive?
I'm sorry, but I don't see a game's lineup for Wii U that is having gamers running to buy the console. LEGO City Undercover most definitely looks cool, but there's no way I'd pay for a new system just to play it; Monster Hunter 4 could persuade me, but not an expansion of a game I've already put over 100hrs into: Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.
Also, what exactly is it that's going to wipe retailer's Wii U stock compeltely out that Nintendo is going to not be able to keep up with manufacotoring needs? Wasn't there like 40k untis supposedly returned to retailers recently? Also, Nintendo's stock after months of trickling sales should be overly sufficient for any uptick in sales until there's several first party titles - a price cut - and a holiday sales demand. The fact that Wii FIt U is a hot release for the console only shows how weak its current lineup actually is.
@KenB Or you can just realise that the review is indeed "your" opinion and write it as such, because that is, in fact, exactly what it is. I quit writing my reviews for the "masses" awhile back and I've never enjoyed writing reviews as much as I now do.
I think one of the largest problems with game reviews, is that they are sometimes written by extremely passionate gamers. While this might sound crazy at first - I'll admit that I used to be exactly this - that "passion" sometimes blinds us to the flaws that actually need to be addressed within the review.
I'm guessing the Nintendo Life team hasn't realised this, but in the NA Club Nintendo section for redeeming Super Punch Out!!, and excerpt from the Nintendo Life review is featured:
"Nintendo Life says: Super Punch-Out!! is a great sequel (to Punch-Out!!). It really only improves on what was already there, being careful not to screw anything up. If you liked the NES game you can do absolutely no wrong in downloading this.”
@MegaWatts The majority of gaming sites scoring policies are very much the same nowadays because of Metacritic.
To be completely truthful, I buy very few games that are reviewed with a 9/10 or higher here at Nintendo Life; it's always been that way for me here. That's not a bad thing, as I acknowledge that my taste are much different than the majority of the reviewers here.
I've grown quite fond of the lower scoring methods though. When so many games get 7/10 or higher, it makes the above average games seem, well, average.
@TheRealThanos Thanks for your thoughtful response to what I earlier wrote. Just to clarify, what I wrote was primarily from where Pachter's assessments are coming from, which I've gotten from interviews with him that I'm affiliated with (and therefore cannot post links to), as well as several of the things that he's stated over at Game Trailers. What I put wasn't particularly based on my personal opinions.
Nintendo just merged both it's home and portable console divisions together to best manage its resources together, yet the Wii U is essentially a combination of the Wii and the DS already. If you follow where I'm going with this - I think that the next generation for Nintendo will only find one console - a powerful portable console that can offer a home console gaming experience.
I also never said that the Wii has (or will) fail, and I most certainly do not hope that it will. I do, however, think that the console will continue to struggle until the price comes down and Nintendo finds a way to make the the mainstream audience have a better understanding of what the Wii U actually is - give them a reason to 'want' the Wii U. Software is a key element here, but he hardware is indeed expensive and Nintendo has to get consumers to understand it better.
As you're a sales and marketing specialist, you should know that regardless of how much money Nintendo has in the bank (which I did in fact know the numbers on) if the Wii U was to fail, it wouldn't be wise to repeat the same mistake over and again until the company folds. I've heard this argument several times here at Nintendo Life and I shake my head at it every single time.
Comments 1,712
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo's Mixed Week With Wii U Third-Party Support
@theadrock13 Ah! But it is pretty clear that Nintendo greatly leveraged on the third parties offering large support for the Wii U in its early life cycle. But, it is also not like Nintendo hasn't supported the console too - New Super Mario Bros. U is indeed a new core entry in the "Mario" franchise, but it isn't shifting consoles.
One thing I'm hearing a lot of, is "when the "core" games come to the Wii U it will start selling." While this is certainly true, to an extent, remember that the top selling Zelda title, Ocarina of Time, shifted 7.6 million copies worldwide. It was the casual gamers who bought the Wii consoles like hotcakes at IHOP - Twilight Princess shifted 5.8 million units, compared to Wii Fit's 22.6 million and Wii Fit Plus's 20 million. The only core titles that topped the 20 million mark - which is outrageously high numbers! - is Mario Kart Wii, which sold because of the wheel attachment and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which was a packed in game late in the console's lifespan.
Nintendo walked away from the casual gamers with the Wii U - that was its mistake with the Wii U, in my opinion.
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo's Mixed Week With Wii U Third-Party Support
Nintendo's biggest hurdle, in my opinion, is the other side of its own sword: 3DS. The 3DS is absolutely phenomenal and doing incredibly well in the market right now. The upcoming release line-up for the handheld is so good, in fact, that I have no reason to invest in a Wii U. It's only been a few hours since I walked out of Gamestop to reserve my copies of Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D and Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The 3DS is more than enough to satisfy my "Nintendo" needs.
This can also be said for the Vita as well. The Vita offers much of the same thing that the PS3 already has - just as the Wii U does for the 3DS - so why should consumers spend more money to play either the same or similar titles on the systems they already own? They likely won't and the sales are the proof for both the Vita and the Wii U.
Re: Insomniac's CEO Is Open To Working On Wii U, Wants To See More Zelda, Mario And Metroid
@ramstrong The link to Digitally Downloaded is "my" link - I'm the editor for the website.
FUSE is releasing on the Xbox 360 and PS3 on May 28th. That is the only two systems that the game is currently releasing on. Yes, Insomniac Games did release Outernauts on Facebook, but that is only one part of the company. Outernauts looks to be coming to mobile platforms in the future, as well too, so that is most likely what that sector of the company is currently working on, as it has said that the Outernauts IP is not going anywhere any time soon and that the team is heavily invested into it.
To the best of my knowledge, FUSE does not look to be in development for the PS4 or Xbox 720.
Re: Insomniac's CEO Is Open To Working On Wii U, Wants To See More Zelda, Mario And Metroid
@ramstrong I think you should read our interview with Price.
@odd69 Sony owns the Resistance IP, so it will never see the light of day on any console that isn't owned by Sony.
Re: Insomniac's CEO Is Open To Working On Wii U, Wants To See More Zelda, Mario And Metroid
@ramstrong I think you are quite far off base, to be perfectly honest. Insomniac Games is a third party developer that has been exclusively developing first party quality titles for Sony for nearly two decades. Now that the company has recently decided to release its titles on multiple platforms, it chose the platforms (PS3 and Xbox 360) with the highest install base, in the hopes of a maximum profit return. The Wii U only has 3 million consoles on the market, the chances for Insomniac Games to make a profit on the console with a title like FUSE is questionable, seeing how Call of Duty: Black Ops II didn't fare too well on the console.
Re: Insomniac's CEO Is Open To Working On Wii U, Wants To See More Zelda, Mario And Metroid
@Tony_342 Yes, Ted Price is indeed a great guy. Personally, I'm a big fan of the team's Ratchet and Clank titles and it is certainly clear that Super Mario Bros. is a large inspiration for the series.
Yes, it does seem that the team is spread too thin at the moment. The transition from an exclusive third party developer to a multiplatform third party developer isn't as simple as some might think it to be. Tackling the new Wii U and all of its features would be a time consuming ordeal for the team.
Seeing what all Insomniac Games has done in the past on Sony's consoles, it is extremely exciting to imagine the possibilities of what the team could do on Nintendo's hardware in the future.
Re: Insomniac Not Working On Wii U, Considers It More "Current Gen" Than "Next Gen"
@K1LLEGAL Just a quick heads-up on one quick thing - Insomniac Games has always been a third party developer. It started developing games for the PlayStation One with Disruptor and then found massive success with Spyro the Dragon. Its success and great working relationship with Sony - it shared an office space with Naughty Dog (Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, Uncharted and The Last of US) - and had a great working relationship with Sony, which kept them singly developing for Sony.
Sometimes developers get tired of sticking with the same series for too long. Insomniac Games needed a change and it moved into multiplatform development. It's already published Outernaughts for the PC (Facebook) and FUSE is coming to both the PS3 and the 360. Oh, and its CEO Ted Price is a really cool guy too!
Re: Feature: Ten Smartphone and Tablet Games We'd Like to See on Wii U
@Philip_J_Reed Ticket to Ride is flipping awesome!
Glad to see Riptide GP on the list.
Re: Talking Point: Why Nintendo Life is a Part of the Animal Crossing: New Leaf Mayor Program
Cannot wait to get my hands on this!
Re: Feature: Robust DLC Ensures That Fire Emblem: Awakening Just Keeps On Giving
I've got the Champions Pack and love it, but I'll wait until the rest are discounted at some point to invest in the others - the prices are a bit too high for the content available.
Re: Review: Gummy Bears Magical Medallion (3DS eShop)
Just for you Phil.
Re: Talking Point: Censoring Boingy Bits, Bums and Gore
@Zaphod_Beeblebrox I was being facetious.
Re: Talking Point: Censoring Boingy Bits, Bums and Gore
I'm offended by the complete lack of feet in Fire Emblem: Awakening. What the heck does Nintendo have against people having feet anyway?
Re: Nintendo Outlines Developer Support, and a Goal to Address the "Misconception" of Wii U's Capabilities
I have an absolute ton of respect for the Unity team and what they are doing for indie developers.
With that said, you don't build The Legend of Zelda and other triple-A titles on the Unity Engine. It's the triple-A titles that sell dedicated gaming consoles, so banking on the Unity Engine is not the answer to selling the Wii U for Nintendo. I've always said that Unity + Wii U's numerous control options will blossom fantastic indie titles though.
Re: Weirdness: Nintendo of Europe Didn't Want "Boingy Bits" in Fire Emblem: Awakening
If only Nintendo could patch in some actual feet! Haha
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo's Changing the Media Game at E3
And @rjejr hits the nail that it seems nearly every journalist is missing right on the flipping head.
Re: Nintendo Won't Be Holding A Large-Scale Press Conference At E3 This Year
For Nintendo fans, sure, this is a good thing. For all those Microsoft and Sony fans who might end up on the fence if those consoles end up being quite expensive - do you think they will even think about the Wii U that they won't be seeing at E3 this year?
Re: Talking Point: The Wii U's Identity Crisis
The fact that Nintendo is making the Wii U look like a family/casual system isn't helping it either.
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo Should Make EA Co-operation a Priority
@SCAR392 Okay, you're on the right track here, but let me get you locked on. Think of it this way, Nintendo is bringing a new Smash Bros. to the Wii U, and it is and has been funding the entire project since day one, and will continue to do so all the way up until it launches. It's paying salaries, insurance and retirement for employees, rent (and accommodations) for the buildings they work in, not to mention the high-end computers and equipment to build the game on. When the game releases and starts selling, it doesn't make one cent until the millions of dollars that it cost to produce the games is covered.
But, let's say Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 did just release on the Wii U, Nintendo would have charged EA both licensing and royalty fees to put its game on the Wii U. This is a lot of money - and it would have came at no risk or financial output to Nintendo. In short, Nintendo just lost millions of dollars, because Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 didn't release on the Wii U.
What is happening right now, is that EA seems to not think that it will make money once it pays these fees - plus recovering the cost to develop/port these titles to the Wii U on top of them. EA will pay these expensive fees - it doesn't have a console of its own - but it has to recover a lot more than a first party developer, making a console with a low install base an extremely high risk of taking a significant loss on.
Nintendo does indeed need these licensing and royalty fees, because this is how it recovers the huge amounts of capital it sinks into developing its hardware. Hardware sales only bring in pennies to the overall cost to develop and produce these consoles. When Nintendo developed the Wii U, it actually invested into itself, by spending tens/hundreds of millions of dollars to produce the system - it's return (or profit) if found in these licensing fees and royalties that come from the third parties.
Where the card falls into Nintendo's hand, is that it has to give these big publishers a reason that they should put their games on its system that it has spent so much money to produce. Nintendo isn't going to pay anyone to get third party games on the Wii U - that would defeat the purpose - but it could partner in advertising campaigns or special media related events to make these games get a lot of additional exposure prior to released. There are things that can be done, that are profitable to both parties and I'm sure these things are happening behind the scenes.
Where 'gamers' make a difference, is in how they spend their money. Time and again, we see that gamers who own Nintendo's home console simply don't want to buy third party games, even when the install base for the consoles is extremely high. When you have around 70 million Wii units sold worldwide and Madden 11 only sell .7 million copies on the system - it isn't hard to see that these console owners aren't interested in these games on Nintendo's systems.
The majority of these gamers own multiple systems and they are buying EA's games on their other systems. So what you have now is the Nintendo loyal that only own the Wii U simply isn't enough to support these games.
And that's pretty much the sum of it, really. I hope that helps clarify things a bit more for you.
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo Should Make EA Co-operation a Priority
@SCAR392 It's simple, if you don't like what EA is doing, then don't buy its games. I'm not defending anyone, I'm just putting it out there just like it is.
Yes. There are things that I don't like in EA's games. I'm a big fan of the Dead Space franchise, but even I had had enough of Dead Space 3 after about 8 hours of it. I also don't like how the Origin implementation slows down Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 either, but the exceptional Country Club offerings keep me playing it over and again, not to mention the excellent new control scheme that was further refined off of last year's game.
EA is trying new things. It is trying to find new ways to pull in the needed revenue to make larger risk in a shaky business going forward. No. I do not like everything that EA does, but I cannot deny that it makes fantastic games that are desired my by millions of gamers each and every year.
If EA thinks the Wii U isn't a viable platform to make a profit with any of its games, that's not EA's problem - it is Nintendo's.
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo Should Make EA Co-operation a Priority
@DePapier You obviously have no idea how the gaming industry actually functions and your rants show it. Eidos Montreal is nothing on it own, it can't fully fund triple-A games, which is why its games are published by Square Enix. Criterion is the exact same, a game developer, who is funded by EA to develop its triple-A games. You take away Square Enix and EA and you lose both of these studios, unless another publisher buys them.
And no, Nintendo cannot compete in today's gaming industry without the likes of EA, Activision and Ubisoft, regardless if you like them or not. The licensing fees and royalties from these companies' games bring in tremendous amounts of revenue for Nintendo, at absolutely zero cost to it.
Nintendo doesn't have enough developers to keep its consoles as viable products in the industry without third party support. If Nintendo was to lose complete third party support, its only option would be to become a third party developer or to be acquired by a larger parent company (e.g. Apple, Samsung).
@Lionsgate You're exactly right mate. It's nice to see someone else here who understands how these publishers' function.
Re: Talking Point: Playing it Safe in Big-Budget Console Games is Stifling Creativity
@Five-seveN Ha! Yeah, there was one point in that game that I just had to set my controller down and walk away for a few hours. It was one of those rare moments in gaming where I actually questioned my morality, because the unintentional end result of my choices was so terrible that it made me sick to my stomach. Very rare moment indeed.
Re: Talking Point: Playing it Safe in Big-Budget Console Games is Stifling Creativity
@aaronsullivan The price develop triple-A titles for next generation isn't actually much higher than the current generation consoles. The PS4's architecture is so developer friendly that not only are many developers showing commitments to it - many are showing real excitement to develop for it.
Re: Talking Point: Playing it Safe in Big-Budget Console Games is Stifling Creativity
Yet, there are still those who are still taking risk out there. 2K Games took a massive risk last year with the absolutely stomach-churning storyline it chose to use in its title, Spec Ops: The Line, which literally gave the finger to the vast majority of modern shooters stereotypical cast and narratives. Instead, it opted to bring the realities of war to a videogame format - it worked, in an way that will give you nightmares for a few weeks.
BioShock Infinite takes an even higher risk by challenging many of the societal issues that plagued modern society for centuries: racism, oppression and glamorization to name a few.
I do agree that the vast majority of big budget titles are going the route of least resistance, but it is just as you stated: the home console market is losing its share to other/newer forms of virtual entertainment. Those who take risk and fail are severely punished. This isn't because of the developers and it most certainly isn't because developers want it to be this way - it is this way because this is how consumers are choosing to spend their money.
Nintendo played a major hand in these changes. It got non-gamers and casual gamers hooked on cheaper titles that are pick up and play friendly hooked, and then the mobile market rushed in to take absolute advantage of this new trend. Nintendo, on the other hand, failed to captivate these new gamers with the Wii U and lost many of its core gamers in the process of acquiring the casuals with the Wii.
New Super Mario Bros. U played it safe, but it isn't selling consoles either - showing that this method doesn't always work too.
Re: Site News: Happy "Nintendo Life" Anniversary!
Happy Anniversary Nintendo Life!
Re: Epic Games: Developers Can Use Unreal Engine 4 For Wii U Titles
@skjia No, it's the "kids" on websites that are acting like "kids." Epic Games is a business. What is a business' top priority? To make money. Epic Games doesn't see a viable profit in spending its time a resources to optimise the Unreal Engine 4 for the Wii U, so it isn't doing so. It's just that cut and dry. It isn't some sort of bias or fanboy logic, these are highly intelligent and highly educated businessmen - not that they always speak in this manner - that are out to make a profit. That's why it's leaving it up to external developers time and money to optimise its engine for the Wii U.
As others have stated before me, the Unreal Engine 4 is a complete game engine and it would indeed be more than just a graphical downscaling to optimise it for the Wii U - graphics are just but one part of the whole picture when it comes to game engines.
Re: Talking Point: Going Mobile Will Give Miiverse a New Lease of Life
I do think that Miiverse would be a great addition for Nintendo in the world of mobile devices. The mobile install base is astronomically high and making the Miiverse social network availability that widespread has the potential of being a great thing for Nintendo.
Then again, it also poses a real threat to the service as well. While Miiverse is regularly moderated at current, when a few million users turn into tens (or even hundreds of) millions of users - can Nintendo keep the social service moderated properly? Is it going to allocate a team large enough to take on a task this large?
I'd like the think that it would take thousands of employees working around the clock to keep the service properly moderated. This will cost Nintendo a substantial amount of capital, on a daily basis. It will need to find a way to profit off of Miiverse moving into the mobile front. Selling apps on the mobile marketplaces would be just the thing to bring in this kind of revenue - eh?
Great thought line Thomas. I enjoyed the read.
Re: Talking Point: An Open Letter To Nintendo
@DRL "Personally, I couldn't care less about third-party offerings (as far as ports go) as long as Nintendo pays the proper attention to existing franchises and delivers some exciting new IP."
This is where you (and many other Nintendo "fans") are making a mistake - Nintendo cannot support its consoles alone. The largest sums of capital that flow within the gaming industry stem from licensing and royalty fees that are charged to third parties from the platform holder. Regardless is you care for the third party titles or not, you should still care about them, because without them, there is no future for Nintendo.
@KenB As usual, you're exactly right, and I agree with you statements. While this letter to Nintendo showed clear signs of today's typical "entitled gamer," one thing still stood out to me quite impressively, which was his points on Nintendo not caring to take the risk to bring Xenoblade Chronicles (and other "risky" titles) to the West on the Wii. That indeed show the lack of faith that Nintendo itself holds for its consumers outside of its home territory and that's not a good thing for the company. I've said for awhile that I've felt that the Wii U itself is a misguided console that offers too many different things - lacking an overall identity. I've also thought along the same lines about Nintendo's business strategy as well, and when I read that part written in that manner - maybe it's time that Nintendo finds new leadership? I personally don't like the majority what Nintendo has been offering as of late and have held off on a Wii U purchase, because while there's a few titles I'd like to play on it, there simply isn't enough to warrant the cost a new console for me.
Re: Gunman Clive eShop Sales Surpass Combined Totals on iOS and Android
Really enjoyed this game and I agree with @Peach64's assessments.
Re: Nicalis Would Like To Bring Monaco or Spelunky To A Nintendo Console
Yes. I want to see all of these games come to Nintendo's consoles - including Fez.
Re: Review: HarmoKnight (3DS eShop)
Really glad to see Game Freak try something new once again; Drill Dozer is still one of my favourite Nintendo games... ever.
Re: Fez For Wii U Is Highly Unlikely Unless Nintendo Pays For It
@pheonixology Actually, Fish makes a living developing video games, so I'd like to think he knows a little something about the industry - eh?
The short of it is this: nearly every ranting fan here that's dishing out obscenities at Fish are doing nothing but putting themselves down to the same level as him, and loose tongue. Had his game - that's all but perfectly fitting on a Nintendo console - landed on the Wii U/3DS exclusively, I have no doubt that it would be widely praised here.
Re: Fez For Wii U Is Highly Unlikely Unless Nintendo Pays For It
I'd never guess why?!
Re: Talking Point: The Download or Disc Dilemma
Great balanced piece @Daz! Good to see you writing on the site again.
I buy a few 3DS titles on the eShop, but not that many at all. I've been burned of about $400 USD on a Wii that had I had packed with games and I've not really purchased much from Nintendo's online offerings ever since.
Re: Phil Fish: I Love Nintendo In Ways It Probably Doesn't Deserve
@DePapier Fish stated his opinion; journalist turned around and baited Nintendo fans with his opinions - not Fish.
Re: Phil Fish: I Love Nintendo In Ways It Probably Doesn't Deserve
Yes. I do think he was treated harshly. It's known the guy is sporatic - he threatened suicide if he couldn't finish Fez - but the simple fact that his opinions, which were little more than criticism of Nintendo's hardware (the same criticisms that have been shared here at NL) were used in such a way that fuels fanboys to attract quick hits is disturbing.
Nintendo alone cannot support its consoles. These fanboy rants are starting to get out of control (not just here at NL) and the Nintendo loyal need to realise that things like this are going to keep great 3rd party and indie games off of Nintendo's consoles.
Re: Review: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
If only I could get Etrian Odyssey 4 out of my 3DS' cartridge slot. I try so hard, but it's flipping stuck in there for some reason.
Re: Talking Point: Wii U eShop Discounts Show It's a Vibrant Marketplace, Not a Monopoly
@ThomasBW84 Yep. It really hurts the console when it comes to Nintendo's online strategy. I think come its next console, we definitely won't see this happen again.
Re: Talking Point: Wii U eShop Discounts Show It's a Vibrant Marketplace, Not a Monopoly
@SCAR392 Yes, I was being sarcastic, but what I said about what my I've gotten in rewards from my PlayStation Credit Card is indeed true. On the PS+ front, it's to each his own. I don't have the time to play half the things I get from PS+, but what I do get from it is more than enough to warrant the $50 a year's price for me.
Re: Talking Point: Wii U eShop Discounts Show It's a Vibrant Marketplace, Not a Monopoly
Nintendo is still far behind the competition and that all boils down to one very critical aspect: the games are locked to the console.
"PSN is trying to get you to use their credit card(kinda iffy to me)"
Yes, the PlayStation Credit Card is terrible. So terrible in fact that in the last year I've redeemed $90 USD in PlayStation Network Points and just ordered physical retail copies of both Sorcery and Sports Champions 2 last night, while still having enough points currently to redeemed another $20 USD network card - all by using my credit card regularly, as I would have had it been the card I cancelled to obtain the PlayStation Credit Card.
In fact, before I placed my order for Sorcery and Sports Champions 2, I could have gotten the just released God of War: Ascension Ultimate Edition bundle, but I passed it by, as I'm become quite tired of the series.
This is all not to mention that PS+ is literally shovelling great games out to its subscribers right now too: Vanquish, Mega Man Maverick Hunter X, Joe Danger: The Movie, Spec Ops: The Line, etc. - Nintendo's online offerings aren't even comparable to what Sony is doing right now, it's not even close.
Re: Review: Legend of the River King (3DS eShop / Game Boy Color)
Great review Marcel!
I've never gotten the chance to give this a go, but that will change very soon.
Re: Review: Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Wii U)
I dropped over a 100 hours into Tri, so I've had my fill of MH3, but I'm truly looking forward to MH4.
Re: Reaction: Doom and Gloom Merchants on Wii U Being Nintendo's Last Home Console
@Pixelroy And you have not one single shred of evidence to back up your claims.
Re: Reaction: Doom and Gloom Merchants on Wii U Being Nintendo's Last Home Console
@sonic-doom The issue is the image that Nintendo is portraying for the console.
Re: Reaction: Doom and Gloom Merchants on Wii U Being Nintendo's Last Home Console
First of all, I'm sick of hearing that "Nintendo is doomed," especially here. Even though NL is trying to spin the message around, it's still doing nothing but feeding the fire.
Secondly, Jon, you hit the nail right smack dab on the head man. It doesn't matter how you piece it together, Nintendo is affected by the current shift within the gaming industry.
Nintendo has to work harder to get the Wii U into a position where it's a viable component within the industry and right now, it isn't cutting it - sales numbers reflect this. Also, one thing that I've noticed that NL hasn't talked much about and is one of the hardest blows to the console, which is that it isn't getting full third party support on current generation titles. This creates a fear with those who are on-the-fence about purchasing the console, because there's likely a high probability of it having even less once the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft take the stage later this year. It's a major factor that I feel is contributing to the consoles poor sales, regardless of what Nintendo is/isn't bringing to the table.
Microconsoles are indeed going to chip away a portion of the money that's currently flowing into the home console sector. Jon made a mistake in the piece in thinking that there's only one other Adroid console outside of Ouya coming, which isn't so - there a quite a few players in the game now. Samsung even has a new phone/tablet coming that will double over as a full-on gaming handheld. When parents see a brand new console that's only $79-$99 USD compared to $299+ this Christmas - which one do you think is more attractive?
Re: Talking Point: The Pros and Cons of a Wii U Price War
I'm sorry, but I don't see a game's lineup for Wii U that is having gamers running to buy the console. LEGO City Undercover most definitely looks cool, but there's no way I'd pay for a new system just to play it; Monster Hunter 4 could persuade me, but not an expansion of a game I've already put over 100hrs into: Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.
Also, what exactly is it that's going to wipe retailer's Wii U stock compeltely out that Nintendo is going to not be able to keep up with manufacotoring needs? Wasn't there like 40k untis supposedly returned to retailers recently? Also, Nintendo's stock after months of trickling sales should be overly sufficient for any uptick in sales until there's several first party titles - a price cut - and a holiday sales demand. The fact that Wii FIt U is a hot release for the console only shows how weak its current lineup actually is.
Re: Talking Point: Review Scores and Unwinnable Arguments
@KenB Or you can just realise that the review is indeed "your" opinion and write it as such, because that is, in fact, exactly what it is. I quit writing my reviews for the "masses" awhile back and I've never enjoyed writing reviews as much as I now do.
I think one of the largest problems with game reviews, is that they are sometimes written by extremely passionate gamers. While this might sound crazy at first - I'll admit that I used to be exactly this - that "passion" sometimes blinds us to the flaws that actually need to be addressed within the review.
Re: Four Classics Available Now in the Latest Club Nintendo Rewards
I'm guessing the Nintendo Life team hasn't realised this, but in the NA Club Nintendo section for redeeming Super Punch Out!!, and excerpt from the Nintendo Life review is featured:
"Nintendo Life says: Super Punch-Out!! is a great sequel (to Punch-Out!!). It really only improves on what was already there, being careful not to screw anything up. If you liked the NES game you can do absolutely no wrong in downloading this.”
Re: Talking Point: Review Scores and Unwinnable Arguments
@MegaWatts The majority of gaming sites scoring policies are very much the same nowadays because of Metacritic.
To be completely truthful, I buy very few games that are reviewed with a 9/10 or higher here at Nintendo Life; it's always been that way for me here. That's not a bad thing, as I acknowledge that my taste are much different than the majority of the reviewers here.
I've grown quite fond of the lower scoring methods though. When so many games get 7/10 or higher, it makes the above average games seem, well, average.
Re: Pachter: Wii U Will Sell Between 30 to 50 Million Units During Its Lifetime
@TheRealThanos Thanks for your thoughtful response to what I earlier wrote. Just to clarify, what I wrote was primarily from where Pachter's assessments are coming from, which I've gotten from interviews with him that I'm affiliated with (and therefore cannot post links to), as well as several of the things that he's stated over at Game Trailers. What I put wasn't particularly based on my personal opinions.
Nintendo just merged both it's home and portable console divisions together to best manage its resources together, yet the Wii U is essentially a combination of the Wii and the DS already. If you follow where I'm going with this - I think that the next generation for Nintendo will only find one console - a powerful portable console that can offer a home console gaming experience.
I also never said that the Wii has (or will) fail, and I most certainly do not hope that it will. I do, however, think that the console will continue to struggle until the price comes down and Nintendo finds a way to make the the mainstream audience have a better understanding of what the Wii U actually is - give them a reason to 'want' the Wii U. Software is a key element here, but he hardware is indeed expensive and Nintendo has to get consumers to understand it better.
As you're a sales and marketing specialist, you should know that regardless of how much money Nintendo has in the bank (which I did in fact know the numbers on) if the Wii U was to fail, it wouldn't be wise to repeat the same mistake over and again until the company folds. I've heard this argument several times here at Nintendo Life and I shake my head at it every single time.