Nintendo Wants Wii U The "Preferred" Console for Hardcore Gamers
- Thread starter Karloff
- Start date
Fat chance. I just don't see Nintendo pulling this off. The name WiiU alone just doesn't scream "hardcore." And I just can't see the controller working well for anything like what a hardcore gamer prefers.
Sorry, Nintendo, I just don't see this happening. Not even the game companies seem to have much faith. All the hardcore titles announced for the WiiU have already come out for the PS3 or 360.
Sorry, Nintendo, I just don't see this happening. Not even the game companies seem to have much faith. All the hardcore titles announced for the WiiU have already come out for the PS3 or 360.
If you think about it, all consoles names are pretty weak as far as HARDCORE goes. PlayStation, xBox, NES, they all are pretty non threatening names. At the moment, my biggest issue with the Wii U is it sounds like a half generation console almost. But, I guess we'll see what happens when it's released and the specs roll out.
Lets just jump into this statement, shall we?
They want to be the 'hardcore' platform. To attract the hardcore audience, you need to be a PC. The gaming portion of PC's grow exponentially faster than the console market, and the hardcore audience wants hardcore games with the most polish and least ammount of load times. The mouse and keyboard combo is also considered the most accurate thing on the market because its lacks assisting software to compensate for joysticks and less-than-stellar network cards/NAT settings. I've made the argument that these are not the most accurate, but this is neither the time nor place to revive that argument - and as far as hardcore gamers go, good luck convincing them otherwise.
Now, aside from that, what do hardcore audiences want? They don't want gimmicks in their gameplay, they want streamlined, professional quality games. For multiplayer games, this is key. From single player experiences, the demand is on polish, streamlined, deep gameplay. Lets look at Nintendo's track record. Yes, they offer highly polished single player games. But they dont have any depth to them - you never have to decide a faction in Mario, or choose to sacrifice one person to save a city (or vice versa). Its simplified so adults can have fun, and kids will understand it. Lets also look at Multiplayer. Nintendo has offered us the worst multiplayer this generation. Friend-codes instead of a unified, meaningful experience makes interacting on the Wii a hastle, and generally not worth it. They have done nothing that the other consoles can do WAY better. So I doubt you'll convert the hardcore audience on that.
You shouldnt make a console with the hardcore audience in mind. If you want to go to the extreme, which the hardcore gamers are at, you will not be able to pull them away from their PC with similar tech specs to a mid-range PC and a tablet. Thats not what hardcore gamers are looking for. If you want the "casual hardcore" audiences - aka the people who play Call of Duty and every other generic FPS, then you have a battle in front of you - how can you convince these generally macho people into thinking the WiiU is badass enough for them? Can you offer a convincing multiplayer platform? The definition of hardcore is all over the place, but I can tell you that the legitimate hardcore audience tends to stick to PC's, so good luck picking up the fairly small console hardcore market.
As for the N64 having the market, that was an entirely different time. Even back then, the hardcore audiences stuck to PC gaming. Nintendo never had a hardcore audience, it had a core audience. The core of Nintendo's appeal was making games that could transcend age ranges. Most of Sonys games were designed to hit ONE demographic, and hard. Nintendo designed their games to hit all demographics with 'complexion-through-simplicity'. Ever play Pokemon? Go take a look at some of the mechanics in those games, or watch a competitive battle. If you compare its design between audiences, they play like two different games. The same goes for most games they stamp out. Zelda, Mario, Metroid (especially the 2d ones). The N64 also capitalized on the violence debate by bringing hyper violent games, like Golden Eye, Perfect Dark, and Resident Evil to their console at the time. Not only were these in high demand from teenagers, but it helped market their device - people who wanted violence also tended to like the supurb franchises available. Sony during the PS1 Era had some really nice games, but not as many standouts as Nintendo - thats why it won the console war. And getting back to my point, Nintendo didn't have the hardcore audience back then either - local multiplayer was not something people liked to hear. It was all about online shooters.
Remember, core and hardcore audiences are different. Games have become so fragmented and broad that Nintendo can't compete. The two 'hardcore' markets are already tapped, and have a very narrow focus for their demographics. Nintendo doesnt have a persona of being hardcore,and getting one would require it to get rid of its family appeal.
If you want a core audience instead of a casual audience, put the focus back into games that you used to have. The hardware SUCKED on the N64 and GameCube. However, that allowed you to focus on aspects other than the graphics - you had superb gameplay - ones that didnt rely on gimmicks. Thats what people liked. You fell on your face when you decided that you wanted to face off against Sony or Microsoft. And while the Wii worked for a while, your lack of good IP's and the mixture of the unfinished motion control is what killed your system.
They want to be the 'hardcore' platform. To attract the hardcore audience, you need to be a PC. The gaming portion of PC's grow exponentially faster than the console market, and the hardcore audience wants hardcore games with the most polish and least ammount of load times. The mouse and keyboard combo is also considered the most accurate thing on the market because its lacks assisting software to compensate for joysticks and less-than-stellar network cards/NAT settings. I've made the argument that these are not the most accurate, but this is neither the time nor place to revive that argument - and as far as hardcore gamers go, good luck convincing them otherwise.
Now, aside from that, what do hardcore audiences want? They don't want gimmicks in their gameplay, they want streamlined, professional quality games. For multiplayer games, this is key. From single player experiences, the demand is on polish, streamlined, deep gameplay. Lets look at Nintendo's track record. Yes, they offer highly polished single player games. But they dont have any depth to them - you never have to decide a faction in Mario, or choose to sacrifice one person to save a city (or vice versa). Its simplified so adults can have fun, and kids will understand it. Lets also look at Multiplayer. Nintendo has offered us the worst multiplayer this generation. Friend-codes instead of a unified, meaningful experience makes interacting on the Wii a hastle, and generally not worth it. They have done nothing that the other consoles can do WAY better. So I doubt you'll convert the hardcore audience on that.
You shouldnt make a console with the hardcore audience in mind. If you want to go to the extreme, which the hardcore gamers are at, you will not be able to pull them away from their PC with similar tech specs to a mid-range PC and a tablet. Thats not what hardcore gamers are looking for. If you want the "casual hardcore" audiences - aka the people who play Call of Duty and every other generic FPS, then you have a battle in front of you - how can you convince these generally macho people into thinking the WiiU is badass enough for them? Can you offer a convincing multiplayer platform? The definition of hardcore is all over the place, but I can tell you that the legitimate hardcore audience tends to stick to PC's, so good luck picking up the fairly small console hardcore market.
As for the N64 having the market, that was an entirely different time. Even back then, the hardcore audiences stuck to PC gaming. Nintendo never had a hardcore audience, it had a core audience. The core of Nintendo's appeal was making games that could transcend age ranges. Most of Sonys games were designed to hit ONE demographic, and hard. Nintendo designed their games to hit all demographics with 'complexion-through-simplicity'. Ever play Pokemon? Go take a look at some of the mechanics in those games, or watch a competitive battle. If you compare its design between audiences, they play like two different games. The same goes for most games they stamp out. Zelda, Mario, Metroid (especially the 2d ones). The N64 also capitalized on the violence debate by bringing hyper violent games, like Golden Eye, Perfect Dark, and Resident Evil to their console at the time. Not only were these in high demand from teenagers, but it helped market their device - people who wanted violence also tended to like the supurb franchises available. Sony during the PS1 Era had some really nice games, but not as many standouts as Nintendo - thats why it won the console war. And getting back to my point, Nintendo didn't have the hardcore audience back then either - local multiplayer was not something people liked to hear. It was all about online shooters.
Remember, core and hardcore audiences are different. Games have become so fragmented and broad that Nintendo can't compete. The two 'hardcore' markets are already tapped, and have a very narrow focus for their demographics. Nintendo doesnt have a persona of being hardcore,and getting one would require it to get rid of its family appeal.
If you want a core audience instead of a casual audience, put the focus back into games that you used to have. The hardware SUCKED on the N64 and GameCube. However, that allowed you to focus on aspects other than the graphics - you had superb gameplay - ones that didnt rely on gimmicks. Thats what people liked. You fell on your face when you decided that you wanted to face off against Sony or Microsoft. And while the Wii worked for a while, your lack of good IP's and the mixture of the unfinished motion control is what killed your system.
That is an interesting story since Nintendo's E3 showing was terrible. So terrible their stock went down from it. They didn't overwhelm, they didn't even whelm, they underwhelmed from what I understand.
I really would like Nintendo to make moves to attract this crowd, but I have my doubts. I'm interested in the WiiU personally, but I hate the name. They need to call it something attractive that doesn't include "Wii" in the title and drop the white color scheme. Grey would better, or gun metal maybe. But not white.
unless they rack up all their first party titles onto the WiiU that made people love nintendo
(i'm talking everything star fox/pokemon/banjo kazooie/mario/zelda/donkey kong/etc..)
plus some more DEEP games (not broad pieces of shit that try to capture everyone under the sun)
then this shit won't sell to any remote "hardcore" person.
put pokemon in 3D on the wii U with a pokemon snap 2 with a star fox for the wii U with more depth to it, and that system would sell like hotcakes.
(i'm talking everything star fox/pokemon/banjo kazooie/mario/zelda/donkey kong/etc..)
plus some more DEEP games (not broad pieces of shit that try to capture everyone under the sun)
then this shit won't sell to any remote "hardcore" person.
put pokemon in 3D on the wii U with a pokemon snap 2 with a star fox for the wii U with more depth to it, and that system would sell like hotcakes.
Well that's a coincidence, as I really want Nintendo to fail, extremely badly.=y said:
Think of it as karma for the Wii, for all those good 3rd party games that were stuck on the most inferior console,for all that time and money spent buying the thing only to not have touched it in more than a year, for the sheer luck of them catching lightning in a bottle.
I want them to fail so hard they'll stop producing consoles, and focus back on the handhelds.
But more than that, I want them to fail...because it will be fucking glorious
Xbox are one of the most profitable sectors of Microsoft, they stopped making losses on their consoles a significant while ago.Sleekit said:
It would be for the best, as we could then have developers develop for the better consoles, not constrained by Nintendo's misplaced sense of tech generations.
Not everybody who doesn't like Nintendo is instantly a fanboy for a different console, and last time I checked there was a whole world outside the US, that includes Europe for fuck's sake.
And by the way, repeatedly pressing the enter key doesn't exclude you from using grammar.
Which is strange when you consider their legacy. This is the company that inspired the phrase 'Nintendo Hard' after all.Matthew94 said:
While I may not be playing Call of Duty on my Nintendo Consoles (although admittedly I spent more time with the DS version of MW...something than any other version) I will likely be siding completely with Nintendo this generation. The exclusives it has are a far greater draw for me then Halo 5 & 6 on the one side and, Uncharted & Little-Big Planet on the other. Also still waiting to see which rumors turn out to be true (no used games, no physical games, Kinect V2, etc)
So after ignoring the "games dedicated" customer also known as Hardcore Gamers (Nintendo fanboys do not count) They want me and YOU who have invested so much in the other consoles this generation who have a wider variety (overlook the shooters) of games PLUS titles that are family oriented AND have had years and YEARS of good collaboration with the 3rd party developers while you barely promote the ones who decide to make games for your system and had your consumer base in a mindset that if its not made by Nintendo it not worth buying NOW to want us to BUY a new console to make more sales since the Wii has gone dry? Pathetic
I always say Nintendo's strategy after the GameCube is to make "cheaper" profit per sale consoles with a unique "feature" that can be toted as "innovative" which will quell the negative views on it being slightly modified last gen technology, they make profits in Consoles, Games AND accessories, those games hardly need THAT much development to be released.
Look at the DS with the extra screen which I say was the smartest thing Nintendo has done in a while but they know that they couldn't compete or should I say "refuse to invest" in making a better console like Microsoft or Sony so they touted the Wii-mote which in sense brought a ton of customers who were originally NON-gamers (moms, grandparents etc.) who before the Wii saw gaming EVEN on the GameCube as a childish hobby, now it's a console for the weight conscious.
These are the kind of people don't invest hours completing a game or do they go on gaming news forum looking for info on their favorite developers and the game releases, they lose interest easily, lack dedication and all the shovel-ware released diluted what little faith they had buy other developer games other than Nintendo. All the actual gamers have (A) moved to other consoles like PS3, XBOX360 or PC, (B) bought one or two of option "A" and also a Wii and will not want to invest in another console with "next gen" coming in the next two years
Now this WiiU controller for all intents and purposes FAIL to immerse me if I have to consciously acknowledge the screen in my lap (or hold it up all the time under my view of the TV) and pull me out of the gaming experience
I know that they are releasing a "dedicated controller" for actual gaming which defeats the purpose, like the 3DS only selling point being that is more powerful than the old DS since the 3D gimmick (the ACTUAL selling point) didn't get used or didn't work well but they will try their hardest to implement their WiiU controller (like Sony originally did with Sixaxis) into ALL hardcore games released on their system. I can play a game fine on my PS3 and hardly NOTICE that I HAVE a controller in my hand, when you REALLY get immersed in a game, the controller becomes an "extension" of you once you memorize the buttons, PC gamers have been doing it for years (with three times the buttons at that!)
Nintendo should try to keep their current customer base for the Wii INTERESTED than to jump into this hardcore "online gaming" experience that they are years behind the competition and prepare for the Next Gen so that they can implement it properly.
I always say Nintendo's strategy after the GameCube is to make "cheaper" profit per sale consoles with a unique "feature" that can be toted as "innovative" which will quell the negative views on it being slightly modified last gen technology, they make profits in Consoles, Games AND accessories, those games hardly need THAT much development to be released.
Look at the DS with the extra screen which I say was the smartest thing Nintendo has done in a while but they know that they couldn't compete or should I say "refuse to invest" in making a better console like Microsoft or Sony so they touted the Wii-mote which in sense brought a ton of customers who were originally NON-gamers (moms, grandparents etc.) who before the Wii saw gaming EVEN on the GameCube as a childish hobby, now it's a console for the weight conscious.
These are the kind of people don't invest hours completing a game or do they go on gaming news forum looking for info on their favorite developers and the game releases, they lose interest easily, lack dedication and all the shovel-ware released diluted what little faith they had buy other developer games other than Nintendo. All the actual gamers have (A) moved to other consoles like PS3, XBOX360 or PC, (B) bought one or two of option "A" and also a Wii and will not want to invest in another console with "next gen" coming in the next two years
Now this WiiU controller for all intents and purposes FAIL to immerse me if I have to consciously acknowledge the screen in my lap (or hold it up all the time under my view of the TV) and pull me out of the gaming experience
I know that they are releasing a "dedicated controller" for actual gaming which defeats the purpose, like the 3DS only selling point being that is more powerful than the old DS since the 3D gimmick (the ACTUAL selling point) didn't get used or didn't work well but they will try their hardest to implement their WiiU controller (like Sony originally did with Sixaxis) into ALL hardcore games released on their system. I can play a game fine on my PS3 and hardly NOTICE that I HAVE a controller in my hand, when you REALLY get immersed in a game, the controller becomes an "extension" of you once you memorize the buttons, PC gamers have been doing it for years (with three times the buttons at that!)
Nintendo should try to keep their current customer base for the Wii INTERESTED than to jump into this hardcore "online gaming" experience that they are years behind the competition and prepare for the Next Gen so that they can implement it properly.
