Wii U: From confused mess to hardcore must-have in one day

Ah, Hyperbole Houghton strikes again. First, I must clarify that Nintendo direct was massive AND impressive, and certainly does a very good job in presenting a nice cache of first party games on their way. But see, to me, that's exactly it, first party games, as always, is Nintendo's main strong point... but it also sheds light that once again, The Wii U is headed into the same exact direction that the N64 went, and the Gamecube, and the Wii... A distinct lack of third party support in general. And that is why I must politely disagree with this editorial, certainly, the Wii U appears to be more focused now on what it offers, but what it offers is the same strengths and shortcomings Nintendo Platforms have had for the past 17 years, and i can guarantee the steady support of quality third party games won't be there, and a such, it won't offer enough quantity of quality games, which, for some it obviously might not be a problem, but for others, such as myself, certainly is.

To be fair, the whole Nintendo direct was specific for Nintendo's first party and kept saying how there will be Nintendo directs for those 3rd Party games. Also, certain companies (just capcom really) are apparently holding things that they have for the Wii U and "Cant wait" (Again, Capcom really)

Still, you're gonna forgive me to remain very skeptic until I actually SEE a constant, steady third party support the likes nintendo hasn't seen in almost two decades. Because, remember, with every console they show, they always promise and "claim" they have third party support with them, and they show a list of developers.... Aaaaand then within a year or two 80% of those developers and publishers largely ignore the console.

You make a massive point, no doubt about that, and you wanna stay skeptic, go ahead,skeptism and getting rid of them is the key to success. Frankly, i cant lie, Nintendo does this shit all the time, people need to see what they claim despite when Nintendo wants to save it for a big reveal, it sometimes gets messed up, especially that finger thing with the nunchuk that got destroyed after 2009. If there's one thing that seems bright in terms of 3rd Party is how Nintendo is willing to go with other devs. As Iwata said, one of the major news in the same time of Fire Emblem X Shin , is the fact that Nintendo wants to keep working with other 3rd Parties on these cross-over projects, these things tend to end in good relationships which is otherwise a good strategy to build more support. The Wii U's concept is one of large head, even if the PS4 and 720 end up being better hardware, which is imminent, if the Wii U's can keep itself and concept strong, it can manage to still be powerhouse, as innovation beats hardware if there isnt any tricks or comparison. The skeptism is yours to keep and to everyone else, i frankly dont even know what the heck Capcom wants to do considering their word of "Only want to push forward" when their porting Monster Hunter 3 for the 1000th time. Otherwise im trying to be optimistic of my favorite company, even with myself not owning a Wii U yet.

"As Iwata said, one of the major news in the same time of Fire Emblem X Shin , is the fact that Nintendo wants to keep working with other 3rd Parties on these cross-over projects, these things tend to end in good relationships which is otherwise a good strategy to build more support." *Raises eyebrow* two crossover projects is enough to convince you? I mean, congratulations if things like that make you feel sure that they will turn a new leaf around. But to me, pretty much all the stuff they showed and did in this Nintendo Direct are things Nintendo has pulled in the past, and yet they are still standing in the same position they have been for the last 17 years. And it isn't the first time Nintendo has "worked" on crossovers with other companies. Remember Link on Soul Calibur? Quite a massive cameo, right? it totally signified that namco's gonna be supporting the gamecube afterwards, right??? Soul Calibur 3 didn't even show up for the GC, nor did the next tekken games or the dead to right games. So yeah, we've been here too many times before, and while I'm happy and hoping Nintendo will be blowing people away with Nintendo directs such as this. I am not quite ready to believe they are even close to keeping up with the competition when it comes to third party strength.

Namco made Baten Kaitos for the GC as an exclusive. Then there was Resident Evil 4 and Viewtiful Joe, MGS twin snakes, Skies of Arcadia Legends etc on the GC as well. These 3rd party games were amazing. I had only a GC back when PS2 and Xbox were alternatives and never really felt I was missing out. The trouble is there are more established consoles out there for people to get their multiplatform games on and so Ninty's own console will always struggle to take any meaningful share when it comes to these types of games because developers are taking a risk in porting for it. Unless the WiiU offers something extra on multiplatform games the 360 and PS3 will dominate sales and it's not going to change because the market is saturated by these two already.

Except both RE:4 and Viewtiful Joe weren't exclusives, they STARTED as exclusives, but a bit after, both were brought to the PS2, and in RE:4's case, with additional content. And both Twin Snakes and Skies of Arcadia are remakes or ports of game that had came out in the past generation, so they could hardly be called exclusives either. The only one you mentioned that is a bona fide third party exclusive is Baten Kaitos, and while perfectly okay, it wasn't particularly amazing or a master piece, and the proof lies in that barely anyone mentions Baten Kaitos ever. So, you have a single third party exclusive, against the hundreds of third party exclusives the PS2 had... And... I'm sorry, but the rest of your post shows that you aren't very well informed when it comes to the state of the industry and the consoles back then. If you never felt like you were missing out for not having a PS2 or an Xbox, it's either because you didn't know or wanted to know about the games that constantly came out for the other two, (specially the PS2.) or you didn't care, either way, the massive superior catalog in quality third party games is definitely archived over the nets if you even bother to look. Also, the real reason third developers shunned Nintendo's consoles, at least during the N64 and the GC era, when their consoles were more or less on par with the competition in terms of spec. Wasn't because developers were taking a risk, porting an already made game to another console of similar specs is relatively cheap, and offers a ton of extra potential sales. No, the reason was that third companies in general were pretty sick of Nintendo because of their hubris, and their dickish way to threat third party developers back in the NES and SNES era. The way Nintendo abused their power is ALSO archived and easy to find. And this is where we stand now: The wii U wouldn't really need to offer anything extra in order for third parties to port already made, ir upcoming games on their system. Again, the specs of the Wii U are fairly similar to those of the PS3 and 360, so it shouldn't be too complicated. They DON'T do it however, because I'm pretty sure Nintendo is right now demanding that if they port it, they HAVE to come up with some sort of use for their gamepad, and this IS extra effort that I'm sure most developers go "screw that". And if you want proof, you only need to look at the few third party games that are on the console: Arkham City: Armored Edition, Black Ops 2, ACIII, all of these games had to add functionality with the gamepad, and it was either a nice but gimmicky extra, or even detrimental as in Armored Edition's case.

Thanks for the condescending tone... but the point I was making was simply that those games (including those which started out as exclusives) were decent and that, coupled with the quality ports also, show that nintendo has had support from 3rd party devs at different times. My never needing to buy a PS2 or xbox was not due to naivety or lack of knowledge, but simply that there was enough on the GC to keep me entertained whilst my brothers had a PS2 and xbox of which I never played on either. There have been so many 360's and PS3's sold that it would be fair to assume only a tiny proportion of gamers own a Wii U alone hence my comment that the market is saturated already with no need for a Wii U version. Given the larger audience of 360 and PS3 owners it would be fair to assume production costs are lower and as such the game would be cheaper on these formats than the Wii U, which is why I believe it would need extra features to tempt consumers from a cheaper alternative on PS3 or 360.

If you felt that the support the GC had was more than enough, that's fair, and i can respect that opinion. Personally though, for me it was not enough, the GC was actually the first console I bought and owned, and even though I wanted it to succeed more than others, It often ended up gathering dust and I played with my bro's PS2 instead. So my point is that while for you it might not be an issue, others like me definitely would prefer a larger support of games. Also... I disagree with your assertion that the Wii U isn't getting enough support because it has a smaller install base or because it's a new console. If this was the case, the PS3 ought to have had terrible third party support ofr it's entire lifespan as well. It also started a much more expensive, and harder to program for than the 360, and had a much smaller install base at first. And yet eventually they stood in equal ground in terms of third party support. Why? because Sony made an effort in bring that party support to their console, you think they got picky and demanded or forced people to put sixaxis functionality? no, they just wanted to also be supported. If Nintendo was truly serious in wanting better third party support, I am certain they could get it... If they wanted to.

No doubt that your argument stands and if Nintendo are a pain to work with it will make a huge difference, but I think it would take more than the games just being there to convert a meaningful number of console owners to buying a multiplatform game on Wii U. PS3 had the advantage of free internet (and when blu-ray took off - that also) back when 360 was the only option but Nintendo can't offer anything over the other two of any substance (that isn't a pain to develop like controls schemes). Perhaps there are hundreds of thousands of gamers who will want the WiiU as their only console and I am mistaken, but I just think the other two are so commonplace and embedded they can't be competed with without proper change (like next gen graphics).

I completely agree! Nintendo turned on the faucet and games just poured out. The WiiU is shaping up to be exactly what I hoped it would be. Never count the Big N out as they are far more crafty than many want to give them credit for.

I'm really excited to get one now. I am also excited to see how E3 shapes up now that Nintendo has revealed what will be there and Microsoft and Sony are hiding in the shadows. I hope Bayonetta gets ported to Wii U so I can play it. I just hope this is nto going to be the same way the Wii went out.

Great editorial. The Miiverse isnt just a community that was very interesting but also a great move from Nintendo to address the gamer community as you said. If Nintendo does keeps this focus up then we are looking at a bright future, an even split between first party, third party, and the audience as a whole is in the right direction.

You haven't enjoyed the Miiverse until you have visited Raving Rabbids.

Dude, i know people who bought Funky Barn, JUST for the Miiverse community, they didnt even play the game