25 replies to this topic

[Jman1236]

I'm not an alarmist but we need to have a serious talk guys. Nintendo is big trouble. They promised there stockholders that they would move 9 million wii us by march of this year now it looks like they are only going to move 2 million. There share price is crashing, there's word they may considering developing moblie games, there's shady rumors about a wii u replacement console due out soon(I call BS)  and theres going to be a big announcement from the big N on the 30th.

 

Now I'm don't think Nintendo is no where near fubared but the news and prospect for the companty's future isn't good. The Wii U is not selling, third-parties have all but abandoned it.  Yeah there will be some good news when mario kart 8 and super smash bros comes out but if your were planning and picking them up already, you already bought a console and don't need another. I'm not playing the Wii U is the dreamcast 2 card "yet" but I like to think that wii U is more of a saturn 2. The 3DS is still hot, it didn't sell as well as they hoped but much better than the wii u is doing, but it's not enough to cover the losses on the wii u.

 

The Big N has gone from top of the world in generation 7 to dead last in generation 8. How the heck did it come to this?

The game overthinker has some words of wisdom to this crisis:

 

http://www.screwatta...l-fate-nintendo

[RedAuthar]

A large part also is the Christmas Season.  They put off a lot of what they wanted to release so people would buy it around Christmas, not leaving them much time to recover.  

[Uncle Ben]

Wait until SSB4, LoZ and stuff like that.

 

Honestly EVERYONE though the same thing thing with the GC. I'm not worried. They also said that Nintendo can have losses like this for the next 10 years and technically they are still making profits/in the greem

Every company has an up and down period. Nintendo just happens to be in a down period. Everyone needs to chill out

[TheRedStranger]

Honestly I don't see the console market going anywhere as whole. Is overly expensive and the tech is crap compared to what is happening in the PC Market.

 

 Look, tablets and smartphones haven't just swallowed up casual gamers. They have swallowed casual computer-users. Because of this, Desktops and Laptops are becoming cheaper because of lack of demand. What keeps them alive? The hardware space. More heavy duty hardware can be pumped into a Desktop/Laptop, and therefore the Desktop market will gravitate towards pleasing a more niche market to survive - The Hardcore Gamers and Designers. This will make Gaming-Computers and Parts more and more avaiable to the general populace. Right now the Xbox One and PS4 are still one whole generation behind a reasonably priced GTX 570 graphics card! And I'm not even talking about one of these monsters:http://www.geforce.c...force-gtx-titan.  Not to mention buying a game on steam is massivly cheaper than hard-disc options. I have bought Skyrim Legendary Edition (with full modding capacity for nigh infinite replay value and graphical improvement) for just about 19.00$ to Xbox's 60:00$. 

 

 Consoles are dying, unless they themselves find a niche market. Nintendo seems to be doing that with flashy gimmicks like the Wii Remote and Game Pad, but Sony and the Xbox aren't really hitting any strong strides with their more interactive technology.

 

In the end Microsoft (Computer aspect) and Nintendo (Exclusives/Cheap Family-Fun/Gimicks  will probably will out in the very long-term. Personal Computers will all but stamp them out.

[RedAuthar]

Uh no offense but since Sony is doing poorly in the portable market, and doesn't have much of a fall back as Nintendo and Xbox do, it would likely be the first one to go.

Also you forget that these are world wide products, their outta country sales differ than their us sales.

[MikeMurdock]

Mostly it was due to there wasn't much killer apps  during the start of the WII U's lifecycle and they had a year ahead of sony and microsoft  so they could of done much with the year ahead advantage ,but  what's done is done. Hopefully with Loz and SSB coming out it could boost sales this year. Nintendo will support it until the next generation of gaming systems after this current cycle ,but for now they do have enough money in the bank  to ride it off .

 

Funny enough I watched two videos from reviewtech USA about the WII U before this topic was posted. and they were interesting to say the least

[Uncle Ben]

As i said: Nintendo will recover, its just an off-cycle for them.

[ILOVEVHS]

Nintendo won't die easily. They've fucked up before, but they've found a way to come back. It's a real shame, because the Wii U is a great console, at least in my eyes. Point is, even if the Wii U completely fails, they won't just give up.

[furrykef]

The Virtual Boy, N64, and GameCube were basically a one-two-three punch of fail and they still survived. I'll bet they'll get through this just fine.

[Prime]

The Virtual Boy, N64, and GameCube were basically a one-two-three punch of fail and they still survived. I'll bet they'll get through this just fine.

 

I dunno about that, I mean sure the N64 didn't sell a ton compared to the likes of the original Playstation (I mean, 100million sold? fuuuuuuuck), but it outsold the Sega Saturn. Of that generation, the N64 was the second highest selling console.

 

As for the Gamecube? Well again, was never gonna outsell the Playstation 2, but the original Xbox only managed to sell a few million more then it.

 

I'd say the only real failure was the Virtual Boy because that piece of shit couldn't even move ONE million units. The one aspect of it that wasn't a failure was it managed to move more units then the Sega 32X, but just barely.

 

I think the thing is people see Nintendo as a power house because they were the company that brought back the gaming industry from the dead in the 80s. Their first two consoles were huge sellers and they still dominate the handheld market. But the moment Sony walked in the console market and dickslapped the competition, then shit got real. AKA Nintendo need to sell as many as Sony and Microsoft or they are a "failure". The Wii managed to sell more then Playstation3 or Xbox360, but does that mean those consoles were failures? Hell no. Nintendo found major success again with the Wii, but now are having their first real failure since the Virtual Boy with the WiiU.

[LogiTeeka]

In many ways, Nintendo is like the Disney of video-games; creating top-notch media to attract wide audiences and trying to keep their reputation. When you look back at Disney's film history, they too went through hell and back again, constantly hitting sharp peaks and steep valleys like a roller-coaster:

Their first film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was a tremendous success (being the first major blockbuster film of the sound-era), but the fallowing films (Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi) weren't so lucky; due to their overblown budgets, a studio strike, and the effects of WWII simultaneously. It wasn't until the 50's that they managed to craft a successful film (Cinderella), which saved the studio from bankruptcy. They would continue to make successful films afterwords until their next dark age hit during the 80's, in which their expensive film "The Black Cauldron" bombed at the box-office and fierce competition sparked from former Disney-animator Don Bluth's studio. But it was quickly broken once the "Disney Renaissance" entered the picture, which lasted from the late 80's to the early 2000's. But once again, another dark age followed. With fierce competition from other studios like Dreamworks and Pixar (who pioneered in computer-animated films), as well as box-office failures like "Atlantis: the Lost Empire" and "Treasure Planet", Disney ended up shutting-down their traditional animation studio. It wasn't until they acquired Pixar that they started to get better results, and the rest is history.

In many ways, Nintendo has had a similar history; having successes (NES, N64, Wii), mediocre releases (GameCube), and massive failures (Virtual-Boy, Philips CDI, Wii-U). But also like Disney, Nintendo has strived through the hardships, facing bankruptcy and fierce competition from rival developers, and are still continuing to this very day. Sure, times have changed and they're no longer the rulers of the video-game market, but they can adapt to the new environment and still provide good games; if they can swallow their pride, that is.

[TheRedStranger]

Uh no offense but since Sony is doing poorly in the portable market, and doesn't have much of a fall back as Nintendo and Xbox do, it would likely be the first one to go.

Also you forget that these are world wide products, their outta country sales differ than their us sales.

 

Red is right about this. And it only adds to the points I've been trying to make. Consoles are at crossroads...The Market is also expanding and blurring into other technologies (Like the Steam Box).

 

 Nintendo does phenomenally well in Japan because it's a household name. But if the market gears towards Japan more and more then the differences made could off-put the tastes of Americans that loved their exclusive games. 

[Prince ByTor]

To be honest Nintendo is going nowhere; out of the "Big Three" manufacturers they are by far the most solvent. It really doesn't surprise me to see the Wii U slumping in sales with both the PS4 and XBone launching recently and selling a whopping 7 to 8 million units and counting together since they launched just over two months ago.

 

Recently I read a blog that blamed the Nintendo and the Wii U's troubles on their philosophy of going for low-powered graphics and motion controls instead of building up relationships and catering to third-party developers with the Wii in the previous generation. Essentially abandoning the "bread and butter" core gamer for the quick score of casual gaming. Now that the casual crowd has moved on to mobile and other devices they are left without much of a base other than the diehards who like their first-party titles such as the Mario and Zelda games. I believe that there is a lot of truth in that assertion, but also I argue that price point and lack to big "have to play" games has hurt the system just as much.

With the raw graphical power differences between the fore-mentioned PS4 and XBone and it only being $100 less than Sony's system it's no surprise to see where the sales have gone. I fully expect within six to twelve months to see a huge price cut and probably at least an internal redesign of the Wii U to reduce manufacturing costs, which, along with the launch of some more big titles to boost its sales.

The bottom line is that Nintendo is not going anywhere and they are not in as bad of trouble as everybody lets on.

[TheRedStranger]

I can tell you Xbox One, PS4, and the Wii U can never fess up to PC gaming. PC is the way to go in the long run. It's takes a bigger up front investment (which is getting cheaper by the day however due to the shift in the casual markets to tablets and smarthphones). But they end up being way cheaper in the long run when it comes to the games...Not mention modding lends it's to drastic increase in replay and game value. Look at Skyrim's mods for goodness sake...So much wonder and fun to be had. And since it's becoming easier to aquire/update mods (via Nexus and Steam Workshop) and to make them...consoles are found wanting in game price, graphic quality (my GTX 570 Graphics Card is still technically one gen higher than the PS4's). I won't be getting a PS4 simply because MGS5 is coming out for PC (I wanted to kill Sony for raking in MGS4 as an exclusive, it was the only reason to get the system when it came out... and I begrudgingly didn't.).

[Prince ByTor]

Consoles aren't going anywhere for the foreseeable future despite the graphical differences. I see it eventually more as the PC, Consoles, TVs and other devices becoming one easy to use device. Right now consoles have two big advantages over PC gaming: 1. They are very easy to use and replace, and 2. There are games that you can play on consoles that you cannot on PC, but not the other way around. You can literally pull your system out of the box and plug in the power and hdmi and be playing a game in less than 5 to 10 minutes and you don't have to worry if your system can handle the program or not. And if you want to play games like Gran Turismo, Mario, Uncharted, The Last of Us, Zelda, etc you're SOL unless you buy the console.

I agree PC gaming is better graphically and more cost efficient, but it does not have anything to do with Nintendo's problems, especially when we see both the XBone and PS4 breaking sales records and the PS4 in particular is selling so well it's looking to eclipse Sony's success with the PS2 and already by itself has sold 4.2 million units in two months and still selling out when in stock; they are actually expecting it to be over 5 million units sold by March.

So, no, it's not console gaming dying that is to blame for Nintendo's trouble with the Wii U, but rather what I stated in my previous post.

[RedAuthar]

PC does NOT have Better Graphics by Default.  

 

Most people, even gamers have an average computer, which can't run Games at their best graphics without majorly slowing the game down.  And Gaming Computers or Graphic cards are so expensive you might as well go for the console anyways.  

 

Also the facts for PC gamers are a bit corrupted.  Steam has causes a lot of gamers to go to PC yes, but they also cause the corruption as more games are Sold Through Steam, but not everyone plays the games they buy on Steam.  Steam makes it so easy to buy games that gamers neglect the time they have to play them and fail to.  This fudges the scores to make it look like Steam/PC gamers are more popular when in reality it's an illusion caused by more games being bought.

 

And then you also have to remember that PC is PC, not computer.  MAC users and LINUX don't get as many games, as far as I know not even half.  Since not everyone uses a PC,  they're still restricted to the Console market where games are (price aside) a Dime a dozen.  

[Prince ByTor]

PC does NOT have Better Graphics by Default.  

 

Most people, even gamers have an average computer, which can't run Games at their best graphics without majorly slowing the game down.  And Gaming Computers or Graphic cards are so expensive you might as well go for the console anyways.  

 

Also the facts for PC gamers are a bit corrupted.  Steam has causes a lot of gamers to go to PC yes, but they also cause the corruption as more games are Sold Through Steam, but not everyone plays the games they buy on Steam.  Steam makes it so easy to buy games that gamers neglect the time they have to play them and fail to.  This fudges the scores to make it look like Steam/PC gamers are more popular when in reality it's an illusion caused by more games being bought.

 

And then you also have to remember that PC is PC, not computer.  MAC users and LINUX don't get as many games, as far as I know not even half.  Since not everyone uses a PC,  they're still restricted to the Console market where games are (price aside) a Dime a dozen.  

 

I agree, consoles are just easier for the end-user to use, plus the games are not as expensive if you catch games on sale or buy used and have services like PS+ where you can have a thousand dollars worth of games for the $50 annual fee. However, like the Steam users I can tell you there are some that I haven't gotten around to playing either.

In reality I believe that Windows has held back PC gaming; in my opinion back in the day DOS was the way to go and far more stable. I'm looking forward to seeing what Valve does with this new Steam gaming OS; I think it might make things a lot easier for the end user.

[Uncle Ben]

MAC users and LINUX don't get as many games, as far as I know not even half.

 

try about 25%

[furrykef]

And Gaming Computers or Graphic cards are so expensive you might as well go for the console anyways.

My computer cost $860, and that included Win7 (I bought the full instead of the upgrade since my copy of WinXP wasn't 100% legit) and a (cheap) gamepad. I did, however, reuse the power supply, DVD drive, and hard drive from my old computer. If I had been able to reuse an old copy of Windows and an old gamepad, IIRC it'd have taken about $215 off the price tag, so $645. That's only a bit more expensive than the PS3's original MSRP. Yes, I did cannibalize my old computer to pull it off, but it's not like I was going to be reusing the thing.

While that's still rather more expensive than, say, a PS4, let's not forget that in addition to gaming I can, and do, do lots of other stuff on my computer.

[ILOVEVHS]

Really, everything has it's own advantages and disadvantages.

Nintendo has (debatably) the best first party titles as well as good third party support., but has the weakest hardware compared to the others.
Sony has been more prone to bugs, and but is very advanced and has great software support, both first and third party.
Microsoft has games and hardware almost, if not as good as Sony. Unfortunately, they put too far of an emphasis on expensive gimmicks.
PC Gaming is a much better way to introduce people to indie titles and FPS games, as well as compatibility with many mainstream games, but is very expensive to maintenance and keep up to date.