Nintendo Wii U conference of Wii U conference (tl;dr READ OP FOR BREAKDOWN)

[Sho Nuff]

Reggie u mad

Wara wara

[Takao]

if sb turns out crappy I bet it will have less to do with Namco but rather Nintendo rushing the game.  They really need it and fast and they know it.  Has any other nintendo game been announced before work has began? or talked about this much while they have nothing to show?

Pikmin 3? I honestly thought that game never existed.

[Joe Molotov]

Reggie u mad

Wara wara

he mad.

Nongamers have discovered cellphones and tablets and facebooks and hardcore gamers don't want another gen of 2004-era tech. "But we have GameCube-looking Pikmin and New Super Mario Bros for you!" he wails. And I will look down and whisper "No."

[TakingBackSunday]

ain't the team comprised of people from tekken and SC teams?  Could be pretty rad.

[DCharlieJP]

The Reggie statement sums up where Nintendo are - they've no idea what is going on at the moment and the next "finger on the pulse" moment they are trying to replicate that they pulled off with Wii and DS has drifted so far off target that Reggie now has his fingers up gamers arses.

[Phoenix Dark]

Pikmin 1 & 2 were modest "hits" for Nintendo that never translated to any hype in the US. I remember when Pikmin 2 came out and no one cared outside of Gamecube owners. It's a niche game, in short - not a killer app launch title.

Nintendo Land...I'm not even going to address that.

He's right about Mario, but then again no one is complaining about NSMB. They're complaining that the launch looks extremely weak and doesn't truly have a game to show off the system. I'm sorry, but a 2D side scroller is not going to convince me that I need a WiiU, especially one I played on the DS already.

[Human Snorenado]

The fact that they think that Nintendoland is even a GAME and has appeal to anyone other than basement dwelling autistic ninthings speaks volumes.

[Phoenix Dark]

Imagine if it launched with NSMB, Pikmin 3, Wii Fit 2, A Wii Sports spin off instead of Nintendo Land, and a "hardcore" Retro FPS. I'm pretty sure the complaints would be a lot quieter. Yes, most of us wouldn't be buying the pos. But I would at least admit I could see that type of line up appealing far more to various demographics than the current first party line up

[Joe Molotov]

Fans: "Hey we want all our favorite franchises back!"
Nintendo: "K here's all of them as a minigame collection with Miis"

Remember F-Zero GX? Well it's back in minigame form!

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

http://kotaku.com/5920572/the-trouble-with-the-never+satisfied-gamer

Fils-Aime: One of the things that, on one hand, I love and, on the other hand, that troubles me tremendously about not only our fanbase but about the gaming community at large is that, whenever you share information, the perspective is, 'Thank you, but I want more.' 'Thank you, but give me more.' I mean, it is insatiable.

"And so for years this community has been asking, 'Where's Pikmin?' 'Where's Pikmin?' 'Where's Pikmin?' We give them Pikmin. And then they say, 'What else?'

"For years, this community have said, 'Damnit Reggie, when you launch, you better launch with a Mario game.' So we launch with a Mario game, and they say, 'So what's more?'

"I have heard people say, 'You know, you've got these fantastic franchises, beyond what you're doing in Smash Bros., isn't there a way to leverage all these franchises?' So we create Nintendo Land and they say, 'Ho-hum, give me more.' So it's an interesting challenge."

In other words, Reggie is pissed that people are no longer wowed by Nintendo's half assed efforts.  Looks like Mr. Pizza Hut needs to realize that the days of Wii Play and Wii Fit being enough are over and Nintendo needs to step their shit up.

[Oblivion]

It actually is amazing how muted the media's reaction to the Wii-U was  compared to the Wii 6 years ago.

I remember going to E3 2006, and Nintendo actually had to close their booth within TWO hours of opening because it was packed to the brim. This year? No long lines, no hype, no nothing.

[Mr. Gundam]

Can we start calling Reggie Pizza the Hut?

[Human Snorenado]

Reggie's a fucking toolshed, remember the E3 he tried to pawn off Animal Crossing as the "game for core gamers" they had coming out? 

I mean for fucks sakes, Nintendo is so goddamn dumb they are genuinely surprised that people aren't kissing their ass for Nintendoland and instead want, you know, actual GAMES in those franchises for the love of fuck.  "Here, enjoy this virtual tour of our franchises!  Isn't it cool?"

[D3RANG3D]

Those amazing exclusive third party games take time, please understand.

[Mr. Gundam]

Reggie's a fucking toolshed, remember the E3 he tried to pawn off Animal Crossing as the "game for core gamers" they had coming out? 

I mean for fucks sakes, Nintendo is so goddamn dumb they are genuinely surprised that people aren't kissing their ass for Nintendoland and instead want, you know, actual GAMES in those franchises for the love of fuck.  "Here, enjoy this virtual tour of our franchises!  Isn't it cool?"

Reggie spoke at one of my wife's MBA classes at Seattle U a few years ago. She doesn't care about games, but she got the impression that he didn't give a shit about gaming. He is a CEO, though, his job is just make money. Doesn't really matter how you do it.

[Phoenix Dark]

Everyone sucks at spinning, especially in the eyes of a cynical market. Reggie is good at his main job, which is CEO and caretaker of NoA. The problem is not Reggie, the problem is Kyoto. Nintendo seems completely oblivious to what happened outside of the Wii over the last 5-6 years. Part of that is understandable: they were kicking everyone's asses in sales afterall, why should they focus on the competition. But on the other hand, WiiU has been in development for years, and considering it's aimed at the mainstream market you'd think Nintendo would have payed attention to some basic things.

Does anyone honestly think Reggie looks at the 360 and says "meh, not enough blue oceans for me!" Any competent business person would see a lucrative online infrastructure, and realize Nintendo is the best positioned to take advantage of XBLA type offerings given their huge back catalog and ability to pump out small purchase games (ie, imagine how easy it would be to milk Ntards with new, updated 16 bit-esque Zelda dungeons or 2D Metroid mini games/episodes). The Wii may have won the numbers race, but the 360 dominated the hearts and minds by a mile. We've seen the "culture" of gaming grow emmensely due to the 360 and PS3 to a lesser extent. Trust me, the US and EU folks at Nintendo know what direction to go in - they don't have control to move there.

Do you honestly think NoA looks at Call Of Duty and says "meh, sure we really want it...but there's no need for an online gaming system like XBL or PSN. Our fans want to play with each other in their mom's basement." That's Kyoto. So certainly give Nintendo, Reggie, etc shit...but lay the ultimate blame where it deserves to be lain

[Phoenix Dark]

I'd imagine NoA feels Reggie is a valuable PR asset, and more effective than anyone else. He's certainly the face of the company in the US, and is still revered by Ntards. I remember my days as an Ntard, and being rather proud that he made me proud to own a Gamecube.

What leverage do you think he should assert? I'm sure he knows Nintendo needs a "mature" title and it's probably in development. But the problems I highlighted a ones he most likely has no sway over. Nintendo's ultimate focus is the Japanese market, which doesn't seem to give a shit about online gaming. Same with Facebook/Twitter options, or bought exclusives, etc. Those are mainly western focuses, and I see no indication that Reggie holds sway to steer the company in that direction. I refuse to believe any competent US or EU gaming CEO looks at social media or online gaming and puts up the middle finger. That's a handful of dumbasses in Japan willing to go down on a sinking ship.

[Human Snorenado]

What are you guys talking about?  The Wii U has what will be a killer proprietary social media app in the NINTENDO WII U WALL OF DICKS

[Phoenix Dark]

I'd imagine NoA feels Reggie is a valuable PR asset, and more effective than anyone else. He's certainly the face of the company in the US, and is still revered by Ntards. I remember my days as an Ntard, and being rather proud that he made me proud to own a Gamecube.

What leverage do you think he should assert? I'm sure he knows Nintendo needs a "mature" title and it's probably in development. But the problems I highlighted a ones he most likely has no sway over. Nintendo's ultimate focus is the Japanese market, which doesn't seem to give a shit about online gaming. Same with Facebook/Twitter options, or bought exclusives, etc. Those are mainly western focuses, and I see no indication that Reggie holds sway to steer the company in that direction. I refuse to believe any competent US or EU gaming CEO looks at social media or online gaming and puts up the middle finger. That's a handful of dumbasses in Japan willing to go down on a sinking ship.

Given all the money made in Japan off social media and online gaming, I doubt most of the competent ones here put up the middle finger either.  Japan is one of Facebook's fastest growing markets, it's definitely one of Twitter's top markets, and in addition, it has its own social networks.  Online gaming is huge here, but the market is on mobiles for that.  One of Japan's pro baseball teams is owned by a mobile/social/online gaming company.  Does EA own the Dodgers yet?

Also, I'm not sure why you seem to think a Japanese president can be incompetent enough to not see the money in it yet somehow an American or European one can't be.  Oh wait, I know why.  Because you're a countryist.  Shame on you, PD.

It's not about being a countryist; I don't see Sony blowing off social media, and as you said it's not like social media is some wasteland in Japan. And we know just about every business in the US has jumped into social media to varying levels of success.

So where is the disconnect coming from. There's no fucking way it's coming from NoA bro: it's coming from the guys who thought HD gaming was a fad, think online gaming is still a fad, and  think third party exclusives aren't important.

[Trent Dole]

It's coming from dumb shit pizza man who knows fuck all about gaming

[maxy]

I don't think Reggie(Nintendo) gives a shit,NA Nintendo fans will buy Nintendo games in droves anyway.

Third party?

bleh,just a nuisance...acceptable if they bring tons of $$$

[Phoenix Dark]

It's not about being a countryist; I don't see Sony blowing off social media, and as you said it's not like social media is some wasteland in Japan. And we know just about every business in the US has jumped into social media to varying levels of success.

So where is the disconnect coming from. There's no fucking way it's coming from NoA bro: it's coming from the guys who thought HD gaming was a fad, think online gaming is still a fad, and  think third party exclusives aren't important.

I just don't see why you don't think Reggie can't possibly be in agreement with those things.  NoA has consistently shown less support for third parties and has done less to court third parties than the Japan side.  NoJ in no way seems to think HD gaming/online gaming are fads, they just want to do it the way they want to do it to try maximize revenue within the constraint of minimizing risk.  This has been the gameplan at Nintendo the entire time Reggie has been there, too.  Why would you think he's not on-board with that plan, given how much money that exact plan has raked in during his short time at Nintendo?

I'm not saying Reggie is some CEO god unable to make bad decisions. But I see Nintendo not doing basic shit like online gaming or social media or acquiring exclusives, and I've seen nothing from Reggie's spiels to make me believe he's dropping the ball on basic shit like that. This is an ideology issue - and Nintendo has long maintained that they see themselves as separate from the rest of the industry and are only willing to hop on board trends after they've been proven wrong for 4-6 years; these are the dudes who launched a 32 bit system with cartridges after all. In short, NoJ steers the boat and the goal is making cheap products to reap big profits for them. Everyone else can get fucked.

Look where the NA market is right now. Gaming is more mainstream and accepted than it's been in years, and social gaming is a giant factor in that. Where is online social gaming less popular? Japan. So my question boils down to why is NoA acting like their market's current direction is irrelevant, and how could they possibly think that mentality is a solid idea. The only logical answer I can come up with is that they aren't calling these shots.

Hell, consider the message conflict going on. Initially the Wii was supposed to be "more" than a gaming system - in fact it wasn't referred to as a Nintendo product to avoid the stigma of being a game console. It was advertised to casual players who had no interest in gaming, and catered to appeal like some party and lifestyle product. Now the WiiU is launching with its premier title aimed at casuals - Nintendo Land. And that name is going to appeal to them...why exactly.

Likewise "hardcore" gamers (let's just call them mainstream gamers) were once dismissed outright. Now they're being tempted by...Pikmin and ports from 360 and PS3 ranging from a year to a few months old by the time the WiiU launches, with no real gaming infrastructure for these players to tempt their friends with. So in pursuit of the mainstream, Nintendo created a system that will rely on inferior ports. Why?

[Oblivion]

Whenever the topic of "Nintendo should court more third parties" pops up, I always end up asking the same question: how do they go about doing that?

Sure, they can theoretically sweeten a deal with a publisher by offering to co-publish, or simply pay for exclusive, but moneyhats will only go so far. Throughout the years I've always gotten the impression that many people think that the higher ups at Nintendo are just dicks and that if only they would invite more CEOs from Konami, Rockstar, or Activision to their Christmas parties, things would be far more peachy. But in order for a system to be successful with third party games, the entire development/publishing apparatus needs to be there from the start.

-N64 - The competition was offering third parties lower royalties with far superior storage mediums.
-GC - Smaller storage space + weird controller + tiny userbase*
-Wii - Order of magnitude weaker in power + even weirder controller.
-Wii-U - Order of magnitude weaker in power, will go through the same problem developers had with Wii, sans the controller issue.

These are far more important factors than simply inviting people for lunch more often .

*Admittedly, the GC situation is the only one I feel is not as cut and dry compared to the others. I honestly don't know to what extent the GC's discs and controller had in effecting additional games coming to the platform. The xbox had an almost equivalent userbase, but it got significantly more multiplat games than the GC.

[DCharlieJP]

The top and bottom of the problem is (stating the obvious here) this :

Iwata absolutely NAILED it for Wii and DS - they identified a huge untapped area of gaming. One that wasn't interested in graphic fidelity, a forgotten much older area of gamers, female gamers etc. They did a pre-Wii/DS launch presentation at TGS and , with a bunch of boring graphs etc, pointed out exactly who they could scoop up, a rough outlay of how they'd do it, and then they -executed- to perfection. No mistakes - the Wii is a -masterclass- in marketting, effectively taking a dogproduct, rebranding it, adding a controller and making it into one of the hottest products in YEARS.

The problem is that that self same group of people Nintendo pulled in are now knee deep in a newer, more immediate "gaming" distraction : phone/mobile/facebook/web gaming. Low cost, low commit, secondary function to a required and commonly used item. The Wii was fun for what it was, but the software buy in was limited - that's going to hang heavy when people think about the Wii U (name/market issues aside) especially if the completely insane rumoured price turns out to be true.

Another problem that Nintendo have is that they need new gimmicks to pull in the crowds. 3DS is doing okay but on the back of being the budget/established choice in Japan and that's about it. The Wii U has very little that anyone outside of hardcore nintendo fans would give a twopenny fuck about. Infact, the whole approach seems to be for both 3DS and Wii U : Well, this worked last time - lets just try it again but this time with a new gimmick. The problem is that neither the touch pad nor 3D offer anything that a wider group gives a shit about.

That's not to say that both machines can't be successful on the back of big new ideas but repeating the trick seems to be one turn beyond Iwata and co. and their ill advised responses (Iwata saying that the slump in Nintendo's stock price is because stockholders fail to understand why the Wii U is so great is hugely laughable - especially as this is the second time he's pulled this) are not inspiring any confidence in the new platform and give away that they might be unprepared for what they are walking into.

All bravado aside, i'm not particularly Nintendo adverse - at the moment i just fail to see what the Wii U brings to -anyone- and the 3DS is the weirdest market leader i've ever seen : i like the machines ideas, but the hardware is largely awful and the software line up seems to be largely middling.

[maxy]

[Phoenix Dark]

Ehn, it's pretty clear I'm not able to communicate my side of things properly to you.  I concede, PD.  Were it not for the evil stupid moran Satoru Iwata, Reggie would have put the stamp on an Xbox 900-level console integrated with everything ever made on the internet, with riches of third party games so large, even dcharlie couldn't buy them all.  If only it weren't for that incompetent Japanese bastard!

You clearly don't understand my general point.

Anyway, Charlie generally sums up the problem with the WiiU: why does it exist

[etiolate]

Nintendo should have advanced their new play concepts from the previous gen into more sophisticated titles, growing their new audience along with them and tying that audience into a product more fitting to consoles. Instead, they went with the concept that was weakest (two screens) and then tried to resell it at the same low level of sophistication. If you keep that new-found audience novice, then they'll hop to various other novice things. This means, you don't win fighting for them at the cellphone game level. You grow those gamers into more sophisticated gamers through an advancement of the same concepts via your software. They really never did this. They never advanced their motion control concept beyond what they had in Wii Sports.

They should be offering something that is more enjoyable and more powerful when played via a console instead of trying to resell what exists with Apple products via a console.

[Takao]

Reggie's a fucking toolshed, remember the E3 he tried to pawn off Animal Crossing as the "game for core gamers" they had coming out? 

I mean for fucks sakes, Nintendo is so goddamn dumb they are genuinely surprised that people aren't kissing their ass for Nintendoland and instead want, you know, actual GAMES in those franchises for the love of fuck.  "Here, enjoy this virtual tour of our franchises!  Isn't it cool?"

To be fair, I think basement dwelling core Nintendo gamers are a huge part of Animal Crossing's demographic.

I honestly don't understand the appeal of that game.

[benjipwns]

The real question is where the next Order Up! game lands.

If Nintendo can't lock that down then quite frankly the company is headed towards bankruptcy.

[EmCeeGrammar]

The real question is where the next Order Up! game lands.

If Nintendo can't lock that down then quite frankly the company is headed towards bankruptcy.

Are you really stumpkapow by any chance?  I swear he's the only other person say he likes that game besides me.  Uhhh, order up did get ported to the 3ds eshop, but it runs like crap and the controls are all weird now.

[DCharlieJP]

To be fair, I think basement dwelling core Nintendo gamers are a huge part of Animal Crossing's demographic.

yes, for everyone else - collecting shells and shit to pay some fucking bushy tailed wank merchant so he can sell you a shitty shack = real life.

BUT HEY YOU CAN PLAY NINTENDO ROMS AND SEND MAILS TO PEOPLE

If i ever get to this point - please promise me - you'll slit my throat and hang me for at least 20 hours in a vat of acid.

SHITTIEST THINGS ABOUT LIFE: The Game.

The only thing that could make Animal Crossing any more corrosive is if you get bummed in the gob on start up and have to pay CSI:Nookcity detectives to find out which horny critter cleaned your dirty with their soapy fish :/

[Phoenix Dark]

Eh, I've heard Animal Crossing DS is fun from people I trust  :'(

[pilonv1]

Didn't they take the Roms out of the DS version? Can't speak on the Wii version since I never played it.

[Purple Filth]

the only thing i heard about Animal crossing which sounded interesting was how Tom Nook is a huge douchebag 

[Mr. Gundam]

I thought my wife might like Animal Crossing DS so I got it during some Toys R Us buy 2 get 2 free sale... I thought wrong. She hated that game more than I hate it.

[cool breeze]

My fondest memory of the series is listening to a dog play midi music at a cafe on Saturday nights.  He'd play a few songs a week.  That's indescribably sad when you think about it.

[frod]

Animal Crossing is very much like World of Warcraft 

[pilonv1]

And to answer pilon's question: the roms were in the N64 and GCN versions.  The DS and Wii versions don't have them. 

I thought so. I still remember buying a freeloader for Animal Crossing. The first rom I found was Donkey Kong Jr Math

No Animal Crossing ever will again.  That shit can sell way better than free for Nintendo.

Yeah I figured that ship had sailed with the e-reader stuff.

[pilonv1]

My fondest memory of the series is listening to a dog play midi music at a cafe on Saturday nights.  He'd play a few songs a week.  That's indescribably sad when you think about it.

Now I want to go back and read UK: Resistances Animal Crossing playthrough. Probably the best thing they ever did outside their retro edition

[Tasty]

The thing with Animal Crossing is it's easy to get burnt out on the series, even with only one coming out per system. It's cause the games can last for years. I was still playing WW, trying to finish up collecting stuff, a year before CF came out. And you know what? I haven't touched that game for more than an hour or two.

I'm sort of hoping the 3DS one isn't good so I can skip it too. If it's good it'll be hard to resist since I basically skipped a gen of it.

TBH though I don't think anything will capture your first playthrough of it. And I think a lot of the quirky charm of the original was lost by WW, then completely sterilized in CF. Even though the original was basically a N64 up port it feels like it had a ton more care and thought put into it than any of its successors, which just seemed to go "ADD MOAR STUFF!! And change the world to some pseudo nauseating cylindrical thing."

* This post brought to you by the same guy that made this pointless Chrome extension.

[Tasty]

Yeah, that too. I've always felt there's a lot that could be done though, but I just can't... enunciate what it is. I think that the city wasn't a bad concept... well, opening up the world a bit wasn't a bad concept. But the implementation was kinda terrible, being forced to sit in a cab every time, back and forth.

Though hell, I think I prefer the expansiveness of the original - the island was fricking awesome and it pains me it hasn't been in an AC game since. In the original it always felt like the game still had more to give you than it was letting on. Then again, that could just be because I played it first... but there was something there, some kind of off-kilter feeling of the original I can't put my finger on, that was lost in the sequels.

[Tasty]

None of Nintendo's game's really fit that mold though, outside maybe Smash and Kart. Smash and Kart's added content though was actually great, whereas not much can be said of AC's.

[Oblivion]

So Wii-U's CPU is now rumored to be weaker than the 360's.

Nintendo

[maxy]

Nothing to worry about,compute shaders will solve everything.

Who needs CPU anyway

[EmCeeGrammar]

Animal Crossing is almost exactly like pokemon in that you have to thoroughly understand the series in order to understand the numerous amount of small changes that make the successive products better.  For the record, I thought Animal Crossing was boring and never motivated me to do anything, the ds one was better in its activities but felt janky, and I felt City Folk was the first time the whole concept clicked for me in a meaningful way.  In the case of pokemon I hated diamond/pearl but thought black and white was awesome for stuff like infinite reusable tms and whatnot.

[Tasty]

Pokemon's different because it actually has core gameplay that can be refined. Like in DP the battle speed was ridiculously slow, which was pretty much what everyone took away from it, but they still had some great parts outside that. Like, the encounter rate in DPPt was the best of the series so far, BW went back to the previous level of encountering one like every four steps.

[EmCeeGrammar]

The encounter rate in pokemon is such a trivial complaint seeing how the series is designed around ways to avoid random encounters.  Thats the whole reason they have roads and tall grass.  I will admit it was annoying while surfing and in caves, so I bought a lot of max repel.

[Joe Molotov]

I guess the dream of a $400 WiiU is dead.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=480026

[D3RANG3D]

I guess the dream of a $400 WiiU is dead.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=480026

$400.00 is reasonably priced to Nintendo

spoiler (click to show/hide)

and Nintards

[close]

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Considering how Nintendo supposedly sets launch prices based off of general enthusiasm, I assumed the Wii U was going to launch for $100.

[Human Snorenado]

Considering how Nintendo supposedly sets launch prices based off of general enthusiasm, I assumed the Wii U was going to launch for $100.

...I'll be given $100 to take a Weeeeeooooooooo?

NO SALE

[pilonv1]

So maybe they'll price the console sensibly. But I bet the extra weeeeeoooooo game pad will be very expensive.

[Joe Molotov]

But you can't even use more than one at launch. (And watch it end up being one of those features like the GBA Connector that technically exists, but only works on 2 games.)

[Tasty]

I guess the dream of a $400 WiiU is dead.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=480026

$400.00 is reasonably priced to Nintendo

spoiler (click to show/hide)

and Nintards

[close]

No it isn't.

[DCharlieJP]

[Momo]

I think I can can

[DCharlieJP]

A dance being done at many places around Wii U dev kits, it would appear.

[D3RANG3D]

I guess the dream of a $400 WiiU is dead.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=480026

$400.00 is reasonably priced to Nintendo

spoiler (click to show/hide)

and Nintards

[close]

No it isn't.

But your fellow Ntards have said the tech costs $300.00 so add the $100.00 whimsy tax.

[Tasty]

The whimsey costs will be subsidized by Nintendo, WiiUBathhouseNews.com reported.

[DCharlieJP]

But your fellow Ntards have said the tech costs $300.00 so add the $100.00 whimsy tax.

i am curious because i have a growing interest in experimental physics

How long is the lag on a round trip message to people who live in 2006?