General Gaming Thread

[Skummy]

I think it's been horrendously marketed, and Nintendo know it. They've tried to win people back for the Christmas season with a whole bunch of awesome releases, but they've failed to win over the "hardcore" gamers - which, sadly, was never going to happen; it doesn't matter how many of the "mainstream" games they adopted, they would have been better off focusing on ploughing their own furrow. If nothing else, being something apart from X-Box and Playstation makes it more viable; as a console fanboy, you can own your favourite console and a Wii, because the Wii "doesn't count" - but the great new games aren't going to tap into the casual market that the DS and the Wii captured because, perversely, it's too much a "games console".

I just don't think any of the casual market they need really understand what a Wii U is. Is it a new thing? Is it a really expensive add-on to the Wii? Can I play that tennis game on it? Why do I need a new one? They've done too little to explain any of this. They should be selling it as something of a marriage of the Wii and tablet gaming; you liked Wii Sports and you liked Angry Birds? Well, look what we've got for you! Instead, they've just preached to the converted and occasionally thrown some scraps out about "and we've got these other big games that you like!" to the Playstation and X-Box crowd that, for the most part, simply aren't listening.

It's a damn shame, and really you can only blame Nintendo for it. I'm as big a Nintendo apologist as anyone, but that's how it is. I think there's still time to recover, but really that recovery should be happening now, unless they simply know they can't compete with PS4 and X-Box One releases and are planning a big push in the New Year, which seems unlikely.

[Crybaby Bunting]

It's not surprising that people are thinking that the Wii U is just an add on when the box looks like this.

• The tablet is completely overshadowing the console itself
• The console looks exactly like a Wii turned on its side with the edges rounded off
• The Wii U font is identical to the font used on the regular Wii, with the U looking like an icon, not a letter.

In fact, if you place both console boxes side by side it looks exactly like a revision of the same console with a different controller.

It's a horrific marketing blunder and I hope Nintendo tries to repackage the whole thing, but it looks like the damage has already been done as it'd be physically impossible to rename the console now an entire years worth of games have been released under the Wii U brand.

[Bobfoc]

I think that one of the other problems Nintendo faces is that it will be difficult to draw in many of the 'new' gamers who picked up Wiis without offering something significantly different. For those who bought the original console to play Wii Sports with their family and friends or Wii Fit as a means of exercising, the offer of the same thing, only with better graphics, won't be as enticing as it might be to those to whom gaming is a central hobby. I've come across plenty of people who neither know nor care about graphical fidelity in games consoles, but who occasionally plug in their Wii for the reasons outlined above. I just can't see Wii Fit U being a compelling reason for existing Wii owners to buy an entirely new console.

What Nintendo needs, other than a better marketing campaign, is a wildcard. The DS, for example, had a strong core audience as a result of its dedication to the traditional Nintendo franchises, but it was the likes of Brain Training and Nintendogs - the experiences that drew in a completely new audience - that allowed it to really take off as a mainstream gaming platform. Ditto for the Game Boy with its Tetris port and the Pokemon games, and even the first two Playstation consoles, as much as they're associated with the dubiously labelled "hardcore" crowd, benefited greatly from such broader appealing titles as DanceDance Revolution and Singstar. Something fresh and attractive to an alternative consumer base could work wonders here, but, again, it'll need plenty of media buzz, which starts with Nintendo themselves.

[Benji]

When it was first announced I thought it was an add on, and I'm an avid game player, so I'm not surprised that the non-game playing public don't realise or don't care about it.

[Herr Matzat]

These Songs are engraved in my mind so deeply i still know every piece of sound.

[TKz]

Wolf Among Us was fantastic. Enjoyed it a ton, it's got a super interesting world. Definitely suggest it, even if you weren't too hot on The Walking Dead.

[BuddyAwesome]

Yeah It's great! Now just waiting on episode two...

[apsham]

So because I'm awesome at winning things - guess who is dual wielding consoles!?

[Ruki]

You son of a bitch!

[apsham]

I got an Azurite or whatever blue PS3 with NHL 14 and Battlefield 4, Kingdom Hearts 1.5HD and WWE2K14!

[King Ellis]

*Insert 'apsham trades in cosole' comment here*

[apsham]

It was fun because when I turned the thing on it was all like:

"Hey, you have like - 4 other activated PS3s. What the hell?"

[Your Mom]

VGX has had some great videos but Joel Mchale is making it so awkward. His jokes are kinda funny but there is no one there to laugh so it's all awkward silences and Geoff Keighley trying to do game stuff as Joel keeps telling jokes

[King Ellis]

I remember saying last year that it seems like it'd be a neat thing to watch because of all the reveals, it'd be kinda like E3 where everyone gets to experience it together, but it was so routinely mocked.

This year I've got very brief snippets of what seems to be someones loft apartment with a car in it.

[Your Mom]

Dont forget an awful concert! Seriously I should probably have just watched all the game stuff tomorrow or something

[Colly]

Completely anecdotal on the Wii U stuff, but my brother who is a fairly avid gamer (certainly compared to myself in my working away/entertaining a toddler' old age) went round a mates the other day and played new Mario. Said it was ace and I should get it, at which point I had to explain that the Wii U is a different console.

I imagine its a difficult decision to move away from a really great selling name, but by being another white box with the same name its a massive shot in the foot. They should've made it yellow.

Or if I was 5, they should've made it brown and called it the Puu.

[TCO]

They could have just called it Wii 2 and made it black or actually just market it better.

[Crybaby Bunting]

The worst thing about the Wii U is that even though I've criticised it over and over again, I still want to play one just not at that price point.

And I need the version with the Zelda gamepad, but by the time the price of the Wii U plummets that is going to be selling at double the RRP

[Colly]

I'd like one, but as per my 'not buying a PS4 for at least two years' I've got Super Mario Galaxy still to finish and I still plan to get SMG2 and the other Mario Bros game at some stage. I'm an accidental retro gamer...

[apsham]

299 is a perfectly reasonable price for the Wii U.