Nintendo Wants Wii U The "Preferred" Console for Hardcore Gamers

[Karloff]

Nintendo Wants Wii U The "Preferred" Console for Hardcore Gamers

Nintendo thinks your next Call of Duty match should be on the Wii U.

Nintendo's known more for family-friendly titles like Wii Sports than it is for its hardcore demographic, but Scott Moffit, Nintendo marketing man, says that may be about to change. Nintendo is aiming their new console at everyone, and it wants the Wii U to become the console of choice for hardcore gamers.

Moffit claims that they had too much information to share for just one press event when they went into E3. "We know that Wii U is a more complicated story," he said, "and it takes some explaining to do to have consumers fully embrace it...Hopefully we didn't overwhelm!" But he soon staked out Nintendo's territory, and made it clear that they're aiming for the hardcore market. "They're very much part of our audience and the group of consumers we hope will find the way you can reimagine games on the Wii U," he said, adding "the Wii U could become the preferred way to play those games for some of the core gamers. "

Nintendo sees its intuitive gameplay as a bonus, and doesn't think it will take consumers long to pick up on the advantages the Wii U has to offer. In Call of Duty, for example, the Wii U would declutter the TV monitor by dragging useful-but-annoying items like maps down off the main viewer. Moffit went out of his way to mention that "core and casual gamers live in the same household," and Nintendo acknowledges that most households have more than one console. It sees the Wii U as the perfect add-on to that style of living; the ideal second console in a core gaming household.

It also helps that the Wii U is coming out in advance of the next console generation. Nintendo hopes that this lead time will allow it to shape the future of next-gen gaming, giving it an edge in the next console war. Whether it will or not remains to be seen.

Source: Gamespot [http://uk.gamespot.com/news/wii-u-message-confusing-nintendo-6383049]


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[Loop Stricken]

Nintendo may want it, but I very much doubt they're going to get it.

 

[MailOrderClone]

I'll probably be picking one of these up eventually, barring some sort of minor catastrophe like the controller giving everyone a flesh-eating disease, but I don't tend to think of Nintendo for the sorts of games they're talking about here. Nintendo really should focus on being that second console in the core gamer's home. Offer things that you don't, or can't, get on other consoles, and there will surely be a market for you.

 

[OniaPL]

By the virtue of being from Nintendo and having "Wii" in the name, not going to happen.

 

[Eri]

Not happening. You're about to release a console using 6-7 year old technology. The hardcore want top tier when released. They also want a good online experience, and you already admit you can't do that. Sorry, but this console is already a failure for "hardcore" gamers.

 

[RicoADF]

Nintendo may want it, but I very much doubt they're going to get it.

The name alone is a huge barrier. People don't think "hardcore" when they think Nintendo.

Nintendo isn't the issue, as the 64 was a good hardcore console for its time. It's Wii that will turn people off. Wii U being the only way you can make the name any dumber.

So no Nintendo, you wont be anymore core game than the Wii without a rebranding.

 

[Truly-A-Lie]

Good luck with that when you've given up on improving your online service. People still take the piss out of PSN for not being up to standard, how exactly will WiiU's network be treated if they've said they aren't going to be able/going to try to catch up with either PSN or XBL?

 

[Kapol]

So... let me get this straight, their plan for trying to get the hardcore games is basing their system around their old controllers for multiplayer play and a new gimmicky controller for new games?

Sorry Nintendo, not going to happen unless you get out something more then your core titles that work decently with the controller and play great. I can't see how who thought the 'tablet in a controller' idea was a good one. It means having to pay attention to two screens, will likely feel cumbersome unless they shrink the screen on the controller down to nothing anyways, and will likely add very, very little to games not built around it. But I suppose we'll see what happens.

 

[Shannador]

I've got news for Nintendo, hardcore players don't want to break eye contact with the main screen to look down at your VMU... errr, tablet controller thing. When people are playing hardcore games, they need their info quickly and concisely. This can not be accomplished by having to look down at the screen in your hands while you're getting shot on screen. The only way I would want this control scheme in my life is if the tablet controller comes with a wrist strap so I can have my very own pipboy for the next Fallout game.

And another thing. I believe that Nintendo must somehow be linked to profits from pain killers and vision corrective services. The 3DS has a warning not to let it be viewed by the youth, and reports of headaches are not scarce. This thing, looking between a big screen, refocusing down to the small screen in my hands, and going back and forth as Nintendo seems to want their hardcore customers to do seems to me like a way to explore new depths of eye strain headaches and will lead long-session gamers to forget which way each of their eyes are pointing.

 

[Agow95]

Nintendo want's the Wii U to be used for hardcore gaming?

 

[Agow95]

I think this is the appropriate reaction:

Damn you, I was going to make that joke, in fact I did, then I saw your comment.

 

[gigastar]

As much as i hate CoD even i just know that BlOps2 on the WiiU will just be worse. Nintendo is going to force the gimmick controller and possibly the peripheral multiplayer into the game, and for something that im told is a fast paced FPS the last thing you need is unessesary control options.

Plus, the reputation just isnt there, due to Nintendo's absolute denial that 'online multplayer' and 'videogame violence' even existed when it was absolutely all the rage and before it became an undead horse trope.

Even then i had to write all that after unscrewing myself out of the ball i screwed myself up into from laughing so damn hard.

 

[WanderingFool]

I think this is the appropriate reaction:

This.

The thing about the WiiU is that it only the first party games like Mario and Zelda and the thrid party WiiU exclusives will sell the console. But all the multiplatform games like COD, Darksiders 2 and others are also going to be on the 360 and PS3. And damn near everyone who calls themselves "hardcore gamers" will have atleast one of those. So I doubt anybody is gonna go, "OHHHHH... COD is coming out for the WiiU, I need to buy that console, even if its also coming out for the 360, which I already own."

 

[itsthesheppy]

Call of Duty is hardcore now?

They're welcome to them. Hell, of CoD is hardcore, I'm happy to not be, frankly.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

In the future I wonder if the unique features of the Wii U will have its versions of multi-platform titles be the preferred versions. After all, Pitchford at Gearbox has been endorsing the Wii U versions of Aliens as the preferred version and I could see the Wii U offering such unique experiences that the 360 and PS3 versions would seem stripped down by comparison.