[Official] Wii U thread

[avelanch]

News from the Nintendo Direct this morning:

-New Super Mario Bros U is getting DLC this summer. New Super Luigi U changes the 82 levels of New Super Mario Bros. U into a new adventure. Luigi’s jumping ability gives you advantages – but you’ll still need to clear each course in under 100 seconds.

-The Wii U OS update arrives next week, along with the Wii U virtual console, that allows for all the VC games to be played off screen (on the controller)

-Pikmin 3 has another new pikmin (a flying type), and the release date has been scheduled for August 4th

-The original Earthbound is coming to the wii U virtual console.

-Game & Wario coming on June 23.

[Monty]

Read a report a day or two ago saying that Nintendo sold 66,000 units last month, and are forcasting roughly 55,000 for the month of April. Scarey.

[ChenWei91]

Read a report a day or two ago saying that Nintendo sold 66,000 units last month, and are forcasting roughly 55,000 for the month of April. Scarey.

Not a surprise. Nobody knows what the Wii U is or does. Not to mention the severe lack of software support.

Pretty much the only people that has a Wii U are the Nintendo supporters.

[avelanch]

Relive the Dream Land experience in Kirby’s Adventure on #WiiU #VirtualConsole! pic.twitter.com/PqM0hDVAoc

[Monty]

http://www.bbc.co.uk

EA stops making games for Nintendo Wii U

Games giant EA has revealed that it currently has no games in development for Nintendo's Wii U console.

Despite being a launch partner for the gaming device, EA said it had no developers working on future titles.

The news comes as a blow to Nintendo on the day that it is due to unveil a fresh marketing strategy to boost interest in the Wii U.

Nintendo's financial results revealed that sales of the successor to the Wii had fallen short of expected targets.

EA revealed in an interview with tech news site Kotaku that it had halted work on Wii U games. Since the console's launch it has created versions of Mass Effect 3, Fifa 13 and Need for Speed Most Wanted.

Despite this early commitment, EA will not be producing Wii U versions of its big gaming franchises, which include Battlefield 4, Madden and Fifa.

This stands in contrast to the releases EA prepared for the Wii console, many of which were produced long after launch. However, EA said it would not rule out working on a Wii U game in the future.

Nintendo's latest financial results reveal it has not sold as many Wii U consoles as it expected. Since launch, Nintendo expected to sell about 4 million consoles. Instead it sold only about 3.45 million.

On Friday, Nintendo is expected to unveil the summer line-up of Wii U games and reveal how it plans to get more gamers interested in buying and using the console.

Plan to get more gamers interested in buying and using the console: "Hey, remember those Mario, Zelda, and Metroid games you loved 20 years ago? Well, that's all we are ever going to be release!"

[Guest]

I wonder how long the Wii U will even last.

Nintendo will always be a step behind unless they have a system with a short life span so they can catch up with M$ and Sony

[Monty]

I wonder how long the Wii U will even last.

Nintendo will always be a step behind unless they have a system with a short life span so they can catch up with M$ and Sony

Honestly, I knew the Wii U would be a fail, but not as bad as it has been. The Wii was a success because of the gimmick. But people, like me, were jaded once it became apparent that there were few games worth your time on the Wii and too many awful party games that were worse then the free game that came with the console.

[Guest]

For sure. I hate motion controls. The only Wii games I have are ones that can be played with a controller or minimum motion controls.

And the tablet gimmick of the Wii U seems really lame to me. I've had all the Nintendo systems since the SNES, and that ends this generation

[avelanch]

I honestly love it. you guys don't know what you are missing.

[Monty]

For sure. I hate motion controls. The only Wii games I have are ones that can be played with a controller or minimum motion controls.

And the tablet gimmick of the Wii U seems really lame to me. I've had all the Nintendo systems since the SNES, and that ends this generation

Couldn't agree more. Nintendo (rightly or wrongly) fooled everyone with the Wii. Great idea, but absolutely no follow through. "Here's what we can do! Now here are games that are worse then anything on ColecoVision." And now with the Wii U, all the jaded owners of the Wii want no part of whatever they are offering, as the average gamer is smart enough to know that Nintendo is so far away from the times of making terrific games that were worth buying the console for. Fool me once...

[Monty]

I honestly love it.  you guys don't know what you are missing.

I'm missing a Mario game that I've honestly played 5 times before, a lackluster zombie game, Monster Hunter, and re-released versions of AC3, ME3, Batman Arkham City, Call of Duty, Fifa 13, and Need for Speed. Is that about it?

[avelanch]

you honestly think any games out there on any other consoles are not rehashes of other games? sequels, etc? and as for the launch games, i'm enjoying what's there, but I'm looking forward to the new stuff coming out even more (pikmin 3, wonderful 101, the new Zelda, the new 3d mario, Rayman legends, watchdogs, another castle, ducktales remastered, sonic lost worlds, the new Monlithsoft project "X", the new Retro project, Resident evil revelations, batman: arkham origins, and AC 4, never mind the unannounced stuff that will be revealed at E3. hate if you want, but I'm loving it. hell, off screen play is worth the price of the system alone, unless your a single loaner who never has to share the TV or doesn't mind playing multiplayer on the same screen.

[avelanch]

and as for EA dropping support, i haven't bought an EA game in almost a decade, and I don't see anything that would make me want to buy something from them coming in the future.

[Hat Trick Maker]

you honestly think any games out there on any other consoles are not rehashes of other games? sequels, etc? and as for the launch games, i'm enjoying what's there, but I'm looking forward to the new stuff coming out even more (pikmin 3, wonderful 101, the new Zelda, the new 3d mario, Rayman legends, watchdogs, another castle, ducktales remastered, sonic lost worlds, the new Monlithsoft project "X", the new Retro project, Resident evil revelations, batman: arkham origins, and AC 4, never mind the unannounced stuff that will be revealed at E3. hate if you want, but I'm loving it. hell, off screen play is worth the price of the system alone, unless your a single loaner who never has to share the TV or doesn't mind playing multiplayer on the same screen.

Nobody is disputing that gamers who enjoy Nintendo games, such as yourself, will keep buying them. But relying on the support of hardcore fans is not going to keep the company afloat for long. What ultimately keeps the console makers in business is strong third-party support. Nintendo got away with the original Wii thanks to its novel factor and attractive price tag, although the sales of third-party Wii titles were simply abysmal. Now they try the same strategy with the Wii U and are struggling to meet sales expectations, let alone repeating the same comercial success. Publishers and developers are abandoning ship left and right and a vicious cycle of software scarcity and hardware marginalization begins to snowball.

If you are making a comparison with the PS3 launch you should know that Sony had a deeper pocket, a competitive hardware and more importantly a host of talented first-party and second-party studios who are capable of catering to all types of gamers. In fact, they are head and shoulders above Nintendo’s studios, in my opinion. But despite all that, Sony was playing catch-up nearly the entire generation. This is not a good analogy to make, period.

To complement what I’ve said earlier in this thread:

Game budgets are getting ever more expensive for the high-end consoles that Nintendo is not going to keep up with development cost to churn out first-party AAA titles one after another. Eventually they'll have to rely on third-party developers to shoulder the burden, but I just can't see any incentive for the budget-tight publishers to take such a risk. There is a reason why Rockstar is cautious about making games for the Wii U. They have a reputation to uphold and their games are very, very expensive to make. For example, it cost them 80-100 million to make Red Dead Redemption which makes it one of the most expensive games ever made, and they just refuse to port it to PC because they claim it's not financially viable.

Now, I’m just as much concerned with the quality of Nintendo’s first-party titles as with the quantity of them. As far as I know, this is probably the first time that Nintendo is actually developing “high-end”, current gen video games, which in terms of production values, are leagues ahead of what Nintendo had been making for the past 12 years or so. The lack of any information with regards to their AAA titles is evident of how far behind they are in terms of game development. You can only make so many platformers or casual games on a high-end machine. That’s why third-party support is so important to Nintendo. You see, you’ve listed all the third-party games that are coming to the Wii U, yet you haven’t realized that, given the state of the Wii U’s retail performance, the developers who are currently committed to the Wii U could pull the plug any time just like all others before them.

If you are a true gamer then you should embrace variety no matter what taste you’ve got, just as a consumer should welcome competition in all kinds of business.

/rant

[Hat Trick Maker]

Here comes the suicidal messenger.

EA Sports Developer Calls Wii U 'Crap' and Nintendo 'Walking Dead'

At the end of a week in which Electronic Arts confirmed it wasn't developing a thing for the Wii U, one of the software engineers in EA Sports' Canada studio, in a series of since-deleted tweets, disparaged the console as "crap" and suggested Nintendo should give up on hardware altogether.

"The Wii U is crap. Less powerful than an Xbox 360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet," tweeted Bob Summerwill, listed as a senior software engineer at EA Canada, in a reply to a tweet posting a link about EA's no-Wii U news. "Nintendo are walking dead at this point."

Though the tweets, made early yesterday morning, have since been deleted, screenshots of them mushroomed across multiple sites, most prominently on NeoGAF.

Summerwill didn't let up after that first tweet. "Nintendo are still operating like it's 1990," he goes on, saying it should have gotten out of the hardware business and made its Mario and Legend of Zelda franchises exclusives on either the PlayStation 4 or next Xbox.

"Instead, they make this awful console," he added. Then, of EA's withdrawal from developing for Wii U, he said, "It is an utterly intentional decision to focus our resources on markets which actually matter."

Kotaku has attempted to contact Summerwill. An EA Sports spokesman at the publisher's headquarters gave this statement:

EA has a strong partnership and an active agreement with Nintendo to develop games for the WiiU. Last year we released

Mass Effect 3

and several of our EA Sports titles on that platform. So far, we have not announced any new titles for Wii U this year, but that does not preclude more games in the future.

However, earlier this week, EA spokesman Jeff Brown confirmed to Kotaku that the company has zero games under development for Wii U. Later reports verified that means FIFA, one of the world's biggest selling games among all genres, will not release a version for the console this year. That goes for Madden NFL 25 as well, another enormous seller in North America.

Summerwill's comments recall another Twitter flap not long ago; in early April, Adam Orth, then a creative director for Microsoft, said that those with reservations about a console with an always-on requirement should just "deal with it." Microsoft later apologized for the remarks, and Orth is said to be no longer with the company.

http://kotaku.com/ea...do-wa-508481261

[Hat Trick Maker]

Apparently, the OP's own company is jumping ship as well.

Rumor: Several Wii U dev kits returned to Nintendo untouched

One developer speaks about why they sent their dev kit back and another paints a picture of trouble with DLC and Nintendo.

By Ashley King

ON May 10th, 2013 In News, Rumor

Rumors are coming in that up to 10 developers have returned their untouched Wii U developer kits to Nintendo. Currently 9 of the rumored 10 are unknown, but earlier this week one stepped forward to admit they had no idea how to use the hardware. Avalanche Studios, the developers of the popular Just Cause series, stated that they had initial plans to develop new games for the Wii U but felt lost as to what to develop. The studio mentions that they believe the Wii U is a “cool” idea, but that it’s not the right direction for their studio.

According to Avalanche, there was no contact from Nintendo and themselves, so there was no incentive to develop. Apparently this is common among third party developers and could be the reason that Wii U owners are not seeing DLC for popular titles. It was announced that Injustice: Gods Among Us will receive DLC support this summer after several weeks of radio silence, but according to developer NetherRealm Studios, that’s because Nintendo wasn’t talking to them about how to distribute the DLC.

Of course, Nintendo was giving away Wii U dev kits to third-party developers a few months back, so it could be that one of these developers simply decided not to go through with the deal. We won’t know until more step forward, but it’s interesting to see the behind the scenes with Nintendo and third-party developers. If these rumors are true, Nintendo is going to have to step up the ball and treat third-party developers better than this.

http://wiiudaily.com...wii-u-dev-kits/

[ChenWei91]

On the bright side... Microsoft is garnering a lot of hate from gamers, so this could play in favour for Nintendo.

Sony doesn't even have to do anything right now in terms of advertising. Microsoft is doing a wonderful job making gamers switch over to the PS4. The same could happen for Nintendo.

[Hat Trick Maker]

Here's a great article for those interested in marketing.

Wii U: Two Years of Negative Brand Momentum

by Emily Rogers on May 18, 2013

When a consumer thinks about a product or service, they tend to associate words with it.

It reminds me of a funny scene from the comedy film “Coming to America” when the character Akeem (played by Eddie Murphy) is having a conversation with the boss’s daughter, Lisa McDowell.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Akeem: I have recently been placed in charge of garbage. Do you have any that requires disposal?

Lisa McDowell: No. It’s totally empty.

Akeem: When it fills up, call me. I will take it out most urgently.

Lisa McDowell: That’s good to know.

Akeem: When you think of garbage, think of Akeem.

Akeem reminds Lisa three times that he is the person responsible for garbage. When he reminds her the third time, he simplifies it down to “Akeem = garbage” so she will remember.

Word association is powerful. When certain words with negative connotations are associated with your product or brand, they can significantly damage your product’s image and reputation. These words become associated with your product after they are repeated over a long extent of time. For example: “Nintendo = kiddy” or “Wii brand = Weak graphics”.

There is an old saying: If people hear something repeated enough times, they may start believing it.

Article Headlines

Here’s an example with the Wii brand. This is a small sample of article headlines from 2008 through 2013.

“Dust off your Wii, it’s time to watch a DVD” – June 13, 2008 (Joystiq)

“High Voltage made The Conduit as a reason to dust off your Wii” - March 22, 2009 (GoNintendo)

“2010: The year the Wii stops gathering dust” – April 3rd, 2010 (Destructoid)

“Why my Wii has been collecting dust” - Nov 20th 2010 (SlashGear)

“How would you make a broom and dust pan attachment work for the Wii?” – Jan 18, 2011 (Destructoid)

“Gathering dust is all Wii is doing” – March 11, 2012 (Fudzilla)

“How much dust covers your Wii?” -July 6, 2011 (CNET)

“The Nintendo Wii turns five today, dust yours off and say happy birthday” – Nov 19, 2011 (Gizmodo)

“Wiijected: Readers’ Sad Pictures of Dusty Nintendo Controllers” - July 6, 2011 (Wired)

“Wii consoles gathering dust survey says” – March 10, 2011 (ComputerandVideogames)

“Time to dust off the Wii, here comes Zelda” – November 18, 2011 (Geekosystem)

“Dust off your Motion Plus for Wii Play Motion in June” – April 12, 2011 (Nintendo Life)

“The Last Story trailer blows the dust off your Wii” – Feb 14, 2012 (ComputerandVideogames)

“5 reasons to dust off the Wii” – June 23, 2012 (Brashgames.co.uk)

“Nintendo doesn’t think your Wii U will collect dust” - Sept 17, 2012 (Kotaku)

“Just Cause 2 developer’s Wii U dev kits are collecting dust” – May 9, 2013 (GameSpot)

Do you see a pattern? Each of the article headlines associates the Wii brand with dust.

If consumers hear the words “Dust” and “Wii” repeated together for multiple years, consumers begin associating those two things as the same thing (Wii = dust). It doesn’t matter if it’s Wii or Wii U. Most people will only see the “Wii” brand and lump Wii U into that brand. In the mind of a consumer, the words “Wii” and “Dust” start becoming synonymous.

The consumer assumes: “When you think of Wii, think of dust. So Wii U must collect dust since it’s another Wii.”

It is Nintendo’s responsibility to CHANGE this negative consumer perception. This perception can potentially kill the Wii brand for the Wii U.

It doesn’t matter if there is any truth behind Wii branded consoles collecting dust. For example, you could be a person who plays your Wii/Wii U every day. Consumer perception is not (always) about the facts or the truth. Consumer perception is about…well…perception. If enough people around you are saying something, then your perception becomes the new reality. For example, the reality is you could list a ton of M rated GameCube games, but the perception is GameCube was a “kiddy/toy” console that lacked M rated games for adults. Perception defeats reality.

The Console of ”NO!”

Back on April 15th, I read a Time.com article about how the Republican party was trying to get rid of their image of being the “the party of no” and re-brand themselves as “the party of solutions” instead. Some Republicans believe Obama won because the liberal media labeled Republicans as the “Party that says no to everything”. This reminded me a little bit about Nintendo’s current third party situation with Wii U.

According to the article:

“After several days of debating how to restore their party’s brand, Republican leaders left a party confab in Los Angeles last week in agreement that they can no longer be “the party of no.” But they were less clear on what to say “yes” to.”

How does the Republican party being branded as the “Party of No” relate to Wii U?

In the minds of consumers, the perception of the Wii U brand is that it is “The console of NO”.

Does Nintendo want the image above to be the reputation of the Wii U for the next five to six years?

If a consumer is told over and over again that “(insert game here) is not coming to Wii U”, a negative perception is created in the mind of consumers.

Once your console gains a negative stigma that it lacks in major areas (or genres), it becomes very difficult to change consumer perception about your product.

You have to create the perception that your console is not lacking in any area. Why do you think Reggie Fils-Aime in a CNN interview said Call of Duty looked visually superior on Wii U than PS3/360? Or when Satoru Iwata says Wii U is not far behind PS4/Durango in graphical capabilities? Because even if its not the truth, you have to create the perception (or the illusion) in the minds of consumers that Wii U doesn’t lack in any area.

During the 90′s, why was Howard Lincoln so determined to bring sports titles to the Nintendo 64? Because if people believe you lack in major areas (M rated cinematic games or the sports genre), it will chase consumers away from your product for the rest of its lifespan. It’s about avoiding that negative stigma attached to your product: “Oh, you’re that console that doesn’t do sports” or “You are that console that lacks software diversity”. Howard Lincoln understood that the appeal of sports was universal.

Here is a quote from former chairman Nintendo of America Howard Lincoln during the Nintendo 64 era:

“One of the reasons, as I read it, for Sony’s success is that they’ve gotten a lot of great EA sports titles, as well as great Sony sports titles. That is what is driving their business and we have got to do a better job in the sports franchise area. So I’m more concerned about that. Maybe I’m not looking at it as a gamer, but a business man,” said Howard Lincoln.

Anyone who tells you that Nintendo platforms can be successful without third party support is delusional.

• Nintendo has limited resources/studios/staff spread between handhelds and consoles. Expecting them to consistently release software without delays every month is not going to happen.
  
• Nintendo can’t make every genre or type of game every single year. Nintendo even admits that not every genre is their specialty.
  
• Nintendo doesn’t hold licenses to every single popular sports league, movie, TV show, cartoon or comic book character.
  

When third parties don’t support your system, the press will write negative things about your console.

Negative press leads to negative word of mouth.

Negative word of mouth leads to negative consumer perception.

Negative consumer perception leads to lower than normal hardware sales.

Low hardware sales lead to low retailer confidence.

Wii U: Two Years of Negative Brand Momentum

People ask me why there is so much negativity about Wii U.

Nintendo’s biggest mistake was allowing the Wii U’s problems to grow into a popular internet meme/internet joke where everyone laughs at the product. People post animated gifs to joke about it. A room of game developers at GDC laughed with Mark Rein as soon as Wii U was mentioned. Wii U is now a meme. Wii U is now a joke inside of the gaming community. And it’s Nintendo’s fault for allowing the negativity to reach that high of a point.

In fact, Wii U’s problems have become such an internet meme, that people are posting videos of “mock funerals”for the Wii U.

I don’t know if Wii U’s brand image can recover from social media treating Wii U as a running joke. I don’t know how Nintendo’s PR team will fix this. Nintendo has done a crummy job of defending their product, and it’s sad that they expect Nintendo fans to defend this product every day. They basically expect Nintendo fans to do the job of their PR team (and their marketing team).

Back in December 18, 2012, I read an article from yougov.com talking about how the McAfee brand’s consumer perception was at it’s lowest in five years

According to the article:

“McAfee and Symantec were measured with YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz score which asks respondents: “If you’ve heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?” The article continues, “Anti-virus software company McAfee, Inc. is currently at its lowest consumer perception in five years, with more consumers reporting they have heard recent negative news vs. those hearing positive news about the brand.”

I started thinking about how negative news can hurt brand momentum. I found a quote from an article at gallup.com that said it best:

“Why do consumers care about brand momentum? Why does momentum matter? Why should the “bandwagon” play a role in attracting — or repelling — customers? Because we all want to affirm the wisdom of our choices, if not with the world at large, at least with those whom we deem as relevant peers. We care about the apparent momentum of the brands that compete for our attention, and it obviously makes a difference whether this momentum is positive or negative,” says the gallup article.

The point is, consumers don’t want to feel like idiots when they purchase something. Customers like to be told that they made the right choice in what they purchased. They want to feel confident in their purchases. Consumers want their friends or the media to affirm the wisdom of their choices. If you’re someone who doesn’t care about what others think of your purchases, you’re in the minority.

Negative Wii U news being repeated over and over from the media (from E3 2011 through May 2013) will make a consumer less confident in purchasing that product. Game consoles are not a simple purchase. They are a four-to-six year investment.

Can things turn around for the better for Wii U? Of course they can. PlayStation 3 screwed up its launch. 3DS botched its launch. They both turned their problems around and became successful.

But how much negativity can a product go through until the brand’s reputation has been permanently damaged? Negativity over this console is happening every day. Even after Nintendo Directs when announcements are suppose to make people happy.

Nintendo being silent during all of this negative press for Wii U is like allowing a forest fire to grow out of control. In this case, the Wii U’s product image is like a forest, and Nintendo are the firefighters. When the press keeps talking about a fire, the first instinct is to get out of there. By the time Nintendo decides to finally save the product’s image with a solid holiday 2013 lineup of games, some consumers will have likely already taken up camp with competing products in order to avoid getting burned.

Negative momentum is bad because it only leads to more negative momentum. Bad news snowballs into more bad news. If you push a snowball down a hill, it grows larger and larger. It is the same deal with negative momentum. Negative momentum is a snowball effect.

An example of how negative momentum can build up over time until it eventually crashes. Nintendo needs to prevent this from happening with Wii U.

For the record: Negative 3DS press lasted nowhere near as long as Wii U. 3DS was praised at E3 ’10 and it was riding on *mostly* positive press until its disastrous launch.

Recently I collected a list of articles from June 2011 (when Wii U was first revealed) through May 2013. I listed them in chronological order. The point is to show how the momentum in negative Wii U press built up over two years. It’s a snowball effect. Imagine a consumer hearing all of this negativity for two straight years. Basically drilling it into people’s heads that Wii U is a poor product.

June 2011 (E3 2011)

“We Might Have Just Witnessed the Beginning of the End of Nintendo” – Jun 7, 2011 (Geekosystem)

“Why Nintendo’s Presentation Tanked Today And The Wii U Will Be A Bust” - Jun. 7, 2011 (Business Insider)

“Wii U gets mixed reaction from gamers and stock markets” – June 8, 2011 (TheGuardian)

“Nintendo Wii U underwhelms investors” – June 8, 2011 (Reuters)

“Nintendo Shares Fall To Lowest In Five Years After Wii U Reveal” – June 8, 2011 (Gamasutra)

“Did Nintendo Just Screw Up the Launch of Wii U?” – June 8, 2011 (Forbes.com)

“Nintendo admits it faked Wii U game footage” – June 8, 2011 (TGDaily)

“The Wii U Begins not With a Bang but a ‘What?’” – June 8, 2011 (Tech News World)

“Farewell GameCube, the Wii U doesn’t play you” – June 8, 2011 (Kotaku)

“Is Wii U the new Sega Dreamcast?” – June 9, 2011 (ZDNet)

“The Wii U might be too little, too late” – June 9, 2011 (Kotaku)

“Wii U ports to be “minimally successful” – June 9, 2011 (Eurogamer)

“Nintendo stock slide continues” – June 9, 2011 (Edge)

“Nintendo president puzzled by investor reaction to Wii U” – June 9, 2011 (Reuters)

“The Wii U has been beaten to the punch by an…iPad game” – June 9, 2011 (Kotaku)

“How the Wii U could fail” – June 11, 2011 (Examiner)

“Iwata: Wii U E3 Reveal Confusing; Won’t Be Cheap” – June 10, 2011 (Tomsguide)

“Why Nintendo’s Next-Generation Wii is a Dud” – June 10, 2011 (Wall Street Daily)

“id Software skeptical about Wii U hardcore games” – June 11, 2011 (bit-tech.net)

“Wii U fails to impress CNET UK readers according to our poll” – June 13, 2011 (CNET.com)

“Wedbush declares Wii U “two years late” – June 13, 2011 (gamesindustry.biz)

“OnLive does everything Wii U does” – June 13, 2011 (Eurogamer)

“Wii U is not next-gen says Michel Ancel” – June 13, 2011 (Videogamer.com)

“Pachter: Wii U is ‘two years, too late,’ has dumbest name ever” - June 13, 2011 (Game Informer)

“Nintendo May Be Leaving Casual Gamers Behind With Wii U” – June 13, 2011 (The Motely Fool)

“Nintendo’s Wii U trick leaves gamers pissed. Is the Wii U even real?” – June 13, 2011 (tqcast.com)

“Wii U: Are you confused?” – June 14, 2011 (IGN)

“Nintend’oh! Wii U wont feature DVD or Blu-ray playback” – June 15, 2011 (Time.com)

“Well, this sucks: Wii U to only support one Wii U controller” – June 16, 2011 (dvice.com)

“Feature: Nintendo Really Screwed Up With the Nintendo Wii U” – June 16, 2011 (Gameplaytoday.com)

“Nintendo May Fail to Replicate Wii Success as IPhone Games Bloom” – June 19, 2011 (Bloomberg)

“Sony: Wii U is no threat, says welcome to 2006 Nintendo.” – June 20, 2011 (NintendoLife) (Via Forbes.com)

“Nintendo: Wii U not significantly more powerful than Xbox 360, PlayStation 3″ – June 21, 2011 (Venture Beat)

“The Wii U won’t blow away rivals” – June 22, 2011 (Gizmodo)

“Nintendo’s Miyamoto: ‘Not Our Goal’ To Become The Number One Online Gaming Company” – June 22, 2011 (MTV.com)

“PlayStation Vita beats out Wii U in game critics best of E3 awards” – June 28, 2011 (Kotaku)

July 2011

“Wii U: Nintendo kept their own devs in the dark” – July 1st, 2011 (Eurogamer)

“Nintendo belongs in the toy aisle” – July 3rd, 2011 (Examiner)

“Wii U is a really cool stop gap – Gearbox” - July 7, 2011 (Eurogamer)

“Wii U improves on current gen, says Gearbox, but system isn’t next generation” – July 7, 2011 (GamesRadar)

“T3 readers want the PS4 and Xbox 720 more than Wii U” – July 9, 2011 (WiiUGo)

“Naughty Dog: PS3 and PS Vita does everything Wii U can do” - July 14, 2011 (Destructoid)

“The problem with potential: Why I fear for the Wii U” – July 15, 2011 (ZDNet)

“Wii U: Are Haters Right?” – July 26, 2011 (Game Theory Online)

“Japan is More Pumped for the Vita Than the Wii U, But Why?” - July 29, 2011 (Attack of the Fanboy)

“Today in Tech: Nintendo losing in clash with Apple” – July 29, 2011 (CNN)

August 2011

“Sony’s Vita can do some of what Nintendo’s Wii U does” – August 2nd, 2011 (Kotaku)

“Is Nintendo stealing from Apple?” – August 4th, 2011 (IGN)

“Wii U ‘Looks Like a Fisher Price iPad’, Nintendo ‘Not in a Good Way’” – August 22nd, 2011 (GameRevolution.com)

“Wii don’t need it: Refuting the cult of next gen consoles” – August 29, 2011 (Complex)

September 2011

“Wii U is in ‘development hell’ claims tipster” – September 8th, 2011 (CVG)

”Why Nintendo will never be great again” – September 8th, 2011 (Daily Finance)

“The Wii U doesn’t work yet” – September 9th, 2011 (Toplessrobot.com)

“Is the Wii U all its cracked up to be or has Nintendo lost the plot” – September 21st, 2011 (makeuseof.com)

October 2011

“Survey: 58 percent of indie devs say Nintendo is difficult to deal with” – October 4, 2011 (NintendoLife)

“Can Hulu save Nintendo from Apple?” – October 21, 2011 (ReadWrite)

“The Nintendo Wii U apparently has nothing going for it” – October 24, 2011 (MyNintendoNews)

“Nintendo Wii U to be company’s last console analysts suggest” – October 27, 2011 (International Business Times)

November 2011

“Nintendo Wii U: How a casual audience will be its downfall – November 2, 2011 (Electricpig.co.uk)

“Survey finds Japan uninterested in Wii U and Vita” – November 8, 2011 (Eurogamer)

“This is why Street Fighter X Tekken isn’t on Wii U or 3DS” – November 13, 2011 (Destructoid)

December 2011

“Isn’t it about time Shigeru Miyamoto left Nintendo altogether?” – December 8, 2011 (Sabotage Times)

January 2012

“As Apple soars, Nintendo expects first annual loss” (Giant Bomb)

March 2012

“Pachter suggests the Wii U may be Nintendo’s Dreamcast” – March 13, 2012 (Destructoid)

“4 reasons the Wii U will fail” – March 15, 2012 (MakeUseOf.com)

“Publishers twice as keen on PS4 and Durango than Wii U” - March 21, 2013 (VG24/7)

April 2012

“Developers claim Wii U weaker than PS3, 360.” - Apr 3, 2012 (Yahoo)

“Wii U ‘not up to the same level’ as PS3, Xbox 360 – Developers” - Apr 3, 2013 (GameSpot)

“Pachter is concerned at lack of third party support for Wii U” – April 17, 2012 (VG247)

“Death by a thousand cuts: The iPhone is killing Nintendo” – April 26th, 2013 (Cult of Mac)

“Growing doubts over Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U console” - Apr 30, 2012 (Yahoo)

May 2012

“Who wants a Wii U? Not three out of four gamers.” – May 9, 2012 (Venture Beat)

“Global Survey Of Gamers Finds Nintendo Wii U Lags Far Behind Sony PlayStation 4 And Microsoft Durango” – May 17, 2012 (Forbes)

“PlayStation Vita, Nintendo Wii U losing appeal in Japan” – May 17, 2012 (Japan Daily Press)

JUNE 2012 (E3 2012)

“Wii U “doesn’t look like it’s innovative” says John Romero” – June 4, 2012 (gamesindustry.biz)

“Nintendo Wii U: New console faces tough launch in world of Angry Birds” – June 4, 2012 (The Guardian)

“Wii U fails to make a splash, but some features impress” – June 5, 2012 (Entertainment Weekly)

“Nintendo’s E3 Press Briefing Game Lineup Failed to Sell the Wii U” – June 5, 2012 (1Up)

“E3 2012: Did sony and Microsoft steal Nintendo’s Wii U thunder?” – June 5, 2012 (Blast Magazine)

“5 reasons Wii U is doomed, and 5 more reasons it may not be” – June 5, 2012 (Uproxx)

“I’m still not impressed by the Wii U” – June 5, 2012 (Crave Online)

“Nintendo’s ‘quirky’ new Wii U: Underwhelming?”- Jun 6, 2012 (Yahoo)

“Lackluster E3 for Nintendo raises more Wii U questions” - Jun 7, 2012 (Yahoo)t

“It’s official: The Wii U is in deep, deep trouble” – Jun 7, 2012 (SlashGear)

“E3 attendees: Somewhat unimpressed with the Wii U” – June 7, 2012 (Business Insider)

“What’s up with the Wii U name?” – June 8, 2012 – (CNN)

“Nintendo’s Wii U a flop?” – June 8, 2012 (The Motley Crew)

“Wii U processing speed low compared to 360/PS3 says Tekken producer” – June 10, 2012 (Digital Spy)

“Nintendo had a lot to prove at E3, unfortunately it failed to impress” – June 12, 2012 (TechVibes.com)

“Nintendo Wii U: I’ve got a bad feeling about this…” - June 12, 2012 (CNET UK)

“How Nintendo lost E3 2012″ – June 13, 2012 (IGN)

“Iwata: Xbox Live and PSN are too far developed for Nintendo to catch up” – June 13, 2012 (ComputerAndVideogames.com)

“Nintendo’s E3 2012: Reactions show hardcore gamers lost faith in Wii U (graph)” – June 13, 2012 (Venture Beat)

“David Jaffe Predicts Console Extinction; Unimpressed by Wii U” - June 14, 2012 (GameRant)

“No Dead Space 3 on Wii U” – June 15, 2012 (GameSpot)

“Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick not ready to back Nintendo Wii U” – June 18, 2012 (Digital Trends)

“Take-Two’s Zelnick ‘skeptical’ of Wii U, not of next generation” - June 18, 2012 (Joystiq)

“Nintendo has two choices: Fix the Wii U marketing, or get screwed” – June 18, 2012 (The Penny Arcade Report)

“Miyamoto says Wii U might not be as powerful as the next Xbox and PlayStation” – June 20, 2012 (MyNintendoNews)

“Is the Wii U already irrelevant?” - June 23, 2012 (The Game Effect)

“The Wii U’s Power Problem” – June 25, 2012 (Kotaku)

“Nintendo’s Wii U has major issue with ‘capability’ ” June 28, 2012 (GamesIndustry.biz)

July 2012

“Wii U is “effectively a 360″ says Microsoft” – July 4th, 2012 (Games Industry International)

“In Apple, Nintendo’s new console faces a powerful foe” – July 5th, 2012 (Business Week)

“Is the Wii U set up to fail?” - July 7th, 2012 (Gamelitest)

“Tekken Boss brands Wii U GamePad distracting for fighting games” – July 9th, 2012 (Eurogamer)

“Editorial: Is the Wii U doomed?” – July 16, 2012 (Game Informer)

“Nintendo says Wii U isn’t competing with Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 as industry figure claims Nintendo will go software-only” - July 23, 2012 (Digital Trends)

“Pachter: Wii U is not going to work” – July 16, 2012 (Destructoid)

“Former EA Executive thinks Nintendo heading towards software only” – July 24, 2012 (Explosion)

August 2012

“4 reasons why Wii U will fail” - August 1, 2012 (GameXplain)

“No Wii U version for WWE 13 says THQ exec” – August 1, 2012 (ComputerAndVideoGames)

“Nintendo’s ecosystem will ultimately fall apart’ – Ngmoco” – August 2nd, 2012 (VG247)

“Madden NFL 13 on Wii U missing major PS3/360 features” – August 3rd, 2012 (Polygon)

“Is Wii U really the next generation” – August 3rd, 2012 (Venture Beat)

“Game dev students give Wii U mixed marks at early demo” – August 9, 2012 (arstechnica)

“Former Vigil dev bashes Wii U, says its games suck and it’s a gimmick” – August 15, 2012 (GoNintendo)

“F1 2012 skipping Vita and Wii U to ensure 360 and PS3 versions maintain quality” – August 31, 2012 (Videogamer.com)

September 2012

“Bethesda not yet convinced by Wii U” – September 7, 2012 (IGN)

“Nintendo Wii U: Launching in Apple’s Shadow” - September 10, 2012 (Games Industry International)

“Nintendo has failed to create anticipation or confidence in Wii U” – September 10, 2012 (MyNintendoNews)

“Is the Wii U destined to fail?” – September 13, 2012 (Examiner)

“Can the Wii U save Nintendo?” – September 14, 2012 (Yahoo)

“Nintendo gambles with Wii U” – September 14, 2012 (Marketwatch)

“Wii U: Irrelevant Before It’s Even Released?” – September 14, 2012 (Volt)

“If Wii U is the next advance in gaming, where is online?” – September 14, 2012 (Polygon)

“Opinion piece: Wii U fails to impress” – September 14, 2012 (Thoseguys.tv)

“Yes the controller is awesome, but what exactly makes this console next gen?” – September 14, 2012 (Thumbactive.co.uk)

“Why you shouldn’t preorder the Wii U yet” – September 16, 2012 (Slash Gear)

“Nintendo’s Wii U not enough to impress today” – September 17, 2012 (Tampa Bay Times)

“Wii U is still missing the Wii’s trump card — universal appeal” – September 17, 2012 (TheVerge)

“Five reasons not to buy the Wii U from a reputable British newspaper” – September 17, 2012 (Kotaku via The Sun)

“Nintendo doesn’t think your Wii U will collect dust” – September 17, 2012 (Kotaku)

Nintendo’s new Wii U fails to impress – September 18, 2012 (TheStylus.net)

“Wii U reviewed: How Nintendo are turning innovation into stagnation” – September 18, 2012 (Sabotage Times)

“Wait to buy a Wii U” – September 19, 2012 (Tech News Daily)

“What is Nintendo thinking? The Wii U looks like a dud.” – September 19, 2012 (Technology Guide)

“Tekken producer on Wii U’s online: ’I don’t understand it’ ” – September 19th, 2012 (Destructoid)

“I hate the Wii U pro controller” – September 20th, 2012 (Kotaku)

“Can the Wii U compete with the Xbox 720 and PS4?” – September 20th, 2012 (TGDaily)

“Wii U’s slow CPU a challenge for one launch developer” – September 21st, 2012 (Slash Gear)

“No Far Cry 3 on Wii U” - September 21st, 2012 (GameSpot)

“There’s a Wii problem at Nintendo?” – September 21st, 2012 (Whatculture)

“Wii U will be region locked” – September 24th, 2012 (IGN)

“Why does everyone want Wii U fail?” – September 26, 2012 (Crave Online)

October 2012

“Report: Chinese Kids Were Used to Manufacture the Wii U [update]” – October 17, 2012 (Kotaku)

“MCV: Wii U is a stop gap system, real successor is still to come” – October 19, 2012 (NintendoLife via MCV)

“Nintendo’s Wii U voice chat mess: Console might not support wireless headsets” - Oct 20, 2012 (Yahoo)

“Four potential problems with Wii U” - October 23rd, 2012 (Crave Online)

“Financially strapped Nintendo confirms Wii U will be sold at a loss” – October 25, 2012 (Yahoo)

November 2012 (Wii U launches)

“The Nintendo Wii U has a big problem: Sibling rivalry” – Nov 4, 2012 (Forbes)

“First Wii U problem? Not knowing which screen to look at” - Nov 10, 2012 (Kotaku)

“Wii U won’t have a universal achievements system” – Nov 12, 2012 (VG247)

What If Nintendo Released A System And Not Even They Cared? – Nov 14, 2012 (Geekosystem)

“Why America’s most popular gaming genre likely won’t work on Nintendo’s new console” – Nov 15, 2012 (Engadget)

“The Wii U will boost Nintendo, but can it save the company?” - Nov 15, 2013 (CNBC)

“Why the Wii U might be set up for failure” – Nov 16, 2012 (Venture Beat)

“How moderated is Miiverse? It’s a police state! (Update)” – Nov 17, 2013 (Destructoid)

“Wii U Owners Bummed Out By Huge Firmware Update” – Nov 18, 2012 (Kotaku)

“New Nintendo Wii U launches – But do consumers want it?” - Nov 19, 2012 (Fox News)

“Mass Effect 3 ‘Omega’ DLC skips Wii U” – Nov 19, 2012 (Game Informer)

“10 things I hate about Wii U” – Nov 19, 2012 (Wired)

“Bricked Wii U Count Increases Due To Impatient Software Updaters” - Nov 19, 2012 (Wii U Daily)

“Wii U has a horrible, slow CPU says Metro Last Light dev” Nov 20, 2012 (NowGamer)

“Wii U systems crash. Nintendo blames online update.” – Nov 20, 2012 (Christian Science Monitor)

“New Nintendo Wii U console off to a rough start.” – Nov 20, 2012 (CBC.ca)

“DICE developer: Slow CPU will Shorten Wii U’s Life” – Nov 21, 2013 (NOW Gamer)

“The Shortcomings of the Wii U hardware” – Nov 21, 2012 (GameSpot)

“Wii U debuts with some issues, but its biggest obstacles are yet to come” - Nov 22, 2012 (Yahoo)

“Nintendo Network Accounts Tied to Only One Wii U” - Nov 25, 2012 (Tom’s Hardware)

“Atari founder baffled by Wii U” – Nov 26, 2012 (GameSpot)

“Nintendo’s Wii U Makes a Crummy First Impression” – Nov 26, 2012 (Daily Finance)

“Inventor of ‘Pong’ says Nintendo’s Wii U will fail” – Nov 26, 2012 (Yahoo)

“Why Borderlands skipped Wii U” – Nov 26, 2012 (GameSpot)

“Wii U CPU is a ‘bottleneck,’ Digital Foundry concludes” - Nov 26, 2012 (Shack News)

“Digital Foundry Says Batman Wii U Is A “Disappointing Current-Gen Port” – Nov 27, 2012 (MyNintendoNews)

“Xbox 360 Black Friday Sales nearly double Wii U” – November 28, 2012 (Yahoo)

“Sony’s PlayStation 3 beats Nintendo’s Wii U over Black Friday” – November 29, 2012 (NBC News)

“Nintendo president apologizes for gigantic Wii U update” – Nov, 29, 2012 (Yahoo)

“Molyneux: ‘The Wii U is good, not great” – Nov 29, 2012 (CVG via GamesIndustry International)

“Wii U Issues: Top 5 Problems Plaguing Nintendo During Launch Of New System” – Nov 29, 2012 (International Digital Times)

“Turns out a lot of people have no idea what the hell a Wii U is” – Nov 30, 2012 (Kotaku)

“Wii U ‘slightly confusing’, says Molyneux” – Nov 30, 2012 (GameSpot)

December 2012

“Wii U Sales Top 40K in UK But Fail to Reach Top 10″ – Dec 3, 2012 (International Business Times)

“The Wii U’s lack of DLC support has me worried” – Dec 6, 2012 (Gamer Revolution)

“Nintendo Wii U will not become hardcore gamer’s darling – Analyst” - Dec 6, 2012 (XBit Labs)

“Wii U’s restrictive DRM is a baffling throwback” – Dec 6, 2012 (arstechnica)

“Is Nintendo’s Wii U already irrelevant?” – Dec 7, 2012 (TGDaily.com)

“Bioshock Infinite skipping Wii U” – Dec 10, 2012 (GameSpot)

“Analyst: Wii U software attach rate is 1.2 in U.S.” – Dec 10, 2012 (Destructoid)

“Wii U, Allow me to Introduce You to Error Code 108-0075″ - Dec 11, 2012 (TechnoBuffalo)

“Most of Early 2013′s biggest games seem to be skipping Wii U” – Dec 12, 2012 (Kotaku)

“Sales of Wii U in Japan trail original Wii launch numbers” – Dec 12, 2012 (PC World)

“Wii U’s Buyers Remorse Thread” – Dec 13, 2012 (NeoGaf)

“When only 42 people are playing Madden on Wii U, It’s not a sports console” – Dec 16, 2012 (Kotaku)

”The long, frustrating road to recovering my Wii downloads” – Dec 17, 2012 (Arstechnica)

“Metal Gear Rising: Koji-Pro not thinking about Wii U port” – Dec 18, 2012 (VG247) (via Eurogamer)

“Test Drive: Is the new Wii U a flop?” – Dec 20, 2012 (Bloomberg)

“Nintendo moves into the living room where Apple will eat its lunch again” – Dec 20, 2012 (ReadWrite)

“The Wii U is Nintendo’s last console” – Dec 28, 2012 (Yahoo)

“Nintendo’s Wii U wobbles as sales sink” – Dec 28, 2012 (Yahoo)

January 2013

“Wii U’s Failure to Launch: What Nintendo Needs to Fix in 2013″ – Jan 3rd, 2012 (Entertainment Fuse)

“‘Crysis 3′ not coming to Wii U due to lack of “business drive” – Jan 7, 2013 (Digital Spy)

“Game industry poor sales party due to Wii U says Pachter” – Jan 7, 2013 (Cinema Blend)

“When it comes to the Wii U’s online store, Nintendo is dropping the ball” – Jan 8, 2013 (Kotaku)

“Next Xbox, PS4 already have a leg up on Wii U” – Jan 9, 2013 (GameSpot)

“A sense of dread shrouds Nintendo’s Wii U” – Jan 11, 2013 (Yahoo)

“How the Wii U didn’t steal Christmas” – Jan 16, 2013 (GenGame)

“Big games slip out of Wii U’s launch window” – Jan 17, 2013 (Yahoo)

“Wii U launch line up dries up as several big games slip” – Jan 17, 2013 (Kotaku)

“Is Nintendo’s Wii U doomed already? Or just fashionably late?”- Jan 17, 2013 (Kill Screen Daily)

“Nintendo’s Wii U problems turn into a crisis” - Jan 18, 2013 (Yahoo)

“Nintendo ‘behind the next gen curve’ – Screen Digest” – Jan 25, 2013 (ComputerAndVideogames)

“Wii U misses out on Tomb Raider due to unconventional controller” – Jan 28, 2013 (TheVerge.com)

“Waning support from third party publishers spells big trouble for Wii U” – Jan 28, 2013 (Financial Post)

“Why Stranger’s Wrath and Other Oddworld titles are unlikely to come to Nintendo” – Jan 29, 2013 (Gameranx)

“Nintendo’s Wii U sales struggle” – Jan 29, 2012 (Eurogamer)

“Is Wii U the next Dreamcast?” - Jan 29, 2013 (Nintendojo)

“Nintendo lowers Wii U sales outlook” – Jan 30, 2013 (Yahoo)

“Nintendo Lowers Forecast for Wii U” – Jan 30, 2013 (New York Times)

“Nintendo posts unexpected loss as Wii successor falters” – Jan 30, 2013 (Yahoo)

“Will Wii U join the gaming graveyard?” - Jan 30, 2012 (Fastcompany.com)

Calls for Wii U price cut begin after Nintendo financials – Jan 30, 2013 (Edge)

“Nintendo chief rules out price cuts for Wii U” – Jan 31, 2013 (Yahoo)

“We Didn’t Know Nintendo Wii U Sales Were This Bad” - Jan 31, 2013 (Inquisitr)

“Is it game over for Nintendo?” – Jan 31, 2013 (Yahoo)

February 2013

“3 things Nintendo must do to survive” – Feb 1, 2013 (CNN.com)

“Nintendo says it won’t cut Wii U price despite slumping sales” - Feb 1, 2013 (Yahoo)

“EA CEO Doesn’t Think Wii U is a ‘Next Gen’ Console” – Feb 4, 2013 (Forbes)

“Ubisoft says gamers just don’t understand the Wii U” – Feb 6, 2013 (Escapist Magazine)

“Wii U’s struggle to remain relevant” – February 07, 2013 (IGN)

“3rd Party Developers are already bolting on the Wii U” – Feb 7, 2013 (Uproxx.com)

“Wii U is looking like a flop, and Nintendo could be in trouble” – Feb 8, 2013 (MSN.com)

“Nintendo’s digital content problem and how the Wii U is making things worse” – Feb 8, 2013 (Engadget)

“Activision’s Kotick ‘disappointed’ by Wii U launch – Feb 8, 2013 (Destructoid)

“Nintendo fan is unhappy with Nintendo’s $200 answer to his $400 Wii U problem – Feb 8, 2013 (Kotaku)

“Is the Wii U game onslaught too little, too late?” – Feb 9, 2013 (Benzinga)

“Game Over: Why video game console sales are plummeting” - Feb 11, 2013 (Time.com)

“Has the Wii U’s launch been a disaster?” – Feb 12, 2013 (Crave Online)

“Uh-oh: Nintendo sold 57,000 Wii U units in the U.S. in January” – Feb 15, 2013 (CNET.com)

“Wii U Sales Tanked in January, Should Investors Worry?” – Feb 15, 2013 (CNBC)

“Shockingly low Wii U sales point to a console in crisis” - Feb 15, 2013 (Yahoo)

“Wii U: 8 Reasons its a Failure” – Feb 15, 2013 (Whatculture.com)

“Nintendo’s future called into question as Wii U sales plummet” – Feb 15, 2013 (Yahoo via BGR)

“Retail calls for Wii U price cut and new strategy” – Feb 15, 2013 (MCVUK)

Nintendo Wii U sales bomb in US; good or bad news for Microsoft? – Feb 15, 2013 (Neowin)

“Nintendo should become a pure software developer” – Feb 16, 2013 (Explosion)

“Developers pulling back on Wii U” – Feb 18, 2013 (Fudzilla)

“Pachter deems Wii U a “mistake” Nintendo can’t recover from” – Feb 18, 2013 (VG24/7)

“Is the Wii U Nintendo’s Dreamcast?” – Feb 19, 2013 (TheKoalition.com)

“Ubisoft CEO not satisfied with Wii U sales” – Feb 21, 2013 (NintendoLife)

“Cliff Bleszinski says Nintendo will out of hardware race: Wii U = Dreamcasted” – Feb 25, 2013 (HipHopGamerInc)

“Japanese weekly Wii U sales fall below Vitas for the first time” – Feb 27, 2013 (Eurogamer)

“Study: 4.6 percent of developers making Wii U games” Feb 28, 2013 (GameSpot)

March 2013

“The Nintendo Wii U’s troubles start with a dearth of developers” – Mar 1, 2013 (Venture Beat)

“Wii U could be Nintendo’s first flop” - Mar 15, 2013 (Yahoo)

“Game industry sales slide as Wii U continues to disappoint” - Mar 15, 2013 (Yahoo)

“What’s going on with Nintendo’s Wii U?” – March 15, 2013 (Time.com)

“2013 Wii U Sales Look Dismal” – March 15, 2013 (IGN)

“Wii U Sales Drop Off A Cliff As The Future Of Gaming Continues To Shift Away From The Console” – March 15, 2013 (Tech Crunch)

“What Games Are: Where did Wii U go wrong?” – March 17, 2013 (Tech Crunch)

“Stop the Nonsense, Nintendo: The Wii U Needs Help – And Now” - March 17, 2013 (Slash Gear)

“Two more core games skip Wii U release” – March 18, 2013 (MCVUK)

“Wii U Woes: No ‘Saints Row 4,’ No ‘Dead Island,’ Possibly No ‘Battlefield 4′ ” – March 18, 2013 (GameRant)

“Wii U could be GameCube all over again – Retail” – March 21, 2013 (Now Gamer)

“5 things Sony and Microsoft can learn from Wii U” - Mar 28, 2013 (Yahoo)

“Don’t expect the next Dragon Age or Mass Effect on Wii U” – Mar 28, 2013 (Kotaku)

“Mark Rein laughs at the idea of Wii U running Unreal Engine 4″ – Mar 29, 2013 (GoNintendo)

“Is Nintendo giving up on Wii U?” – March 31, 2013 (Nasdaq)

”Wii U Price Cut fails, but Nintendo promises answers” – March 21, 2013 (Metro)

“Wii U sales so poor retailers considering scaling back support” – March 22, 2013 (Geek.com)

“Nintendo Amazingly Gets Worse At Marketing Just In Time For Plummeting Wii U Sales” – March 25, 2013 (Tech Crunch)

“The Wii U is dying – 8 ways Nintendo can fix its console” – March 27, 2013 (GamesRadar)

“Battlefield 4 not coming to Wii U” – March 28, 2013 (Game Informer)

“GameStop: Wii U sales “disappointing” but PS4 purchase intent “strong” – March 28, 2013 (Gamesindustry.biz)

“Talking Point: An Open Letter to Nintendo”- March 28, 2013 (NintendoLife)

“Is the Wii U a failure?” – March 30, 2013 (Geek Insider)

“DICE calls Wii U low spec and digital game sales are up” – March 31, 2013 (QJ.net)

April 2013

“Peter Moore says EA isn’t working on any more Wii U games” – Apr 2, 2013 (Wii U Daily)

“GoNintendo ‘End of Day’ thought – Are you worried about Nintendo? – Apr 4, 2013 (GoNintendo)

“Is Wii U the next Dreamcast?” – April 4, 2013 (iAfrica)

“Sony’s PS Vita comeback continues as Wii U flails” – Apr 5, 2013 (Yahoo)

“5 Reasons Why Wii U Owners Shouldn’t Panic” – Apr 5, 2013 (Crave Online)

“Poor Wii U sales serve as an ominous omen for Sony and Microsoft” – Apr 8, 2013 (Explosion.com)

“Pachter says Wii U is a crappy product” - April 9, 2013 (GoNintendo)

“The Wii U is not a failure” – April 10, 2013 (Geek Insider)

“South African retailer slices Wii U price in half” – Apr 12, 2013 (Nintendo Life)

“Wii U: The Box of Broken Promises” – April 14, 2013 (GenGame.net)

“Pachter: Price drop won’t help Wii U” – April 15, 2013 (Gamesindustry.biz)

”Wii U sales reportedly tanked again in March, no rebound in sight” – April 17, 2013 (Yahoo)

“Will Mario Wii U be enough?” – April 18, 2013 (IGN)

“The Curious Case of the Missing Wii U games” – April 18, 2013 (Wii U Daily)

“Nintendo’s Wii U advertising reaches for the panic button” – April 22, 2013 (Kotaku)

“Nintendo expected to announce second straight loss Tuesday as Wii U flops” – April 22, 2013 (The Star)

“Nintendo To Announce Devastating Financial Losses; Will Wii U Survive? Will Iwata Resign?” – April 23rd (International Digital Times)

“Talking Point: The Wii U’s Identity Crisis” – April 23rd, 2013 (NintendoLife)

“Where did you go? – Nintendo Wii U’s success” – April 23rd, 2013 (Pixel Enemy)

“Nintendo Wii U sales in dire straits, being outsold by original Wii” – April 24, 2013 (Yahoo via BRG)

“Wii U a Global Sales Flop as Old Wii Outsells Nintendo’s New Casual Dream” – April 24, 2013 (Gizmodo UK)

“Satoru Iwata stepping in as NOA CEO following weak Wii U sales, diminished forecast” – April 24, 2013 (NBC News)

“Opinion: Nintendo needs to wave goodbye to Wii U to become the handheld king” – April 24, 2013 (Pocket Gamer)

“Is poor old Mario super enough to save Nintendo’s Wii U?” – April 24, 2013 (Tech Radar)

“Weak Wii U Sales Hurt Nintendo’s Profits” – April 24, 2013 (Mashable)

“Can Nintendo Overcome Wii U’s Q1 Flop?” – April 25, 2013 (Nasdaq)

“Nintendo forgot Marketing 101 for Wii U” – April 25, 2013 (GamesIndustry.biz)

“Nintendo: Wii U Lacks Big, Captivating Game” – April 25, 2013 (Gameranx) (Tech Investor News)

“Iwata admits Nintendo’s failure with the 3DS and Wii U” – April 25, 2013 (Ripten)

“Why the Wii U is destined to become the next Sega Dreamcast” – April 29, 2013 (Explosion)

May 2013

“Nintendo to Wii owners: the Wii U is an entirely new system, not just an upgrade” - May 1st, 2013 (Engadget)

“A Nintendo Wii U is your “Cheap-Because-It’s-Failing-Deal-of-the-Day” – May 2nd, 2013 (Gizmodo)

“1991′s Super Mario World Is the Best Wii U Game Yet” – May 2nd, 2013 (Wired)

“Nintendo’s getting a little desperate in attempts to sell Wii U” (Yahoo)

“Electronic Arts Frosbite engine not too promising on Wii U” – May 7, 2012 (NBC News)

“Nintendo’s Big Problem” – May 7th, 2013 (CNN Money)

”Six months in, is the Wii U dead in the water?” – May 8th, 2013 (ExtremeTech)

“Next-gen EA games will skip Wii U due to performance issues with Frostbite engine” – May 8th, 2013 (Engadget)

“EA developer: Wii U not powerful enough for next-gen titles” – May 8th, 2013 (TechRadar)

“Wii U to miss out on 15 EA games using Frostbite Engine 3″ – May 8th, 2013 (Eurogamer)

“Wii U Dev Kits Just “Collected Dust” at Avalanche Studios” - May 8th, 2013 (IGN)

“Avalanche Studios steering clear of Wii U development due to low user base and poor communication” – May 9th, 2013 (Polygon)

“Wii U to miss out on EA’s Star Wars games” – May 9th, 2013 (MCVUK)

“How to fix Nintendo” – May 9th, 2013 (CNET)

“Five reasons the Wii U will suffer the same fate as Sega Dreamcast” – May 9, 2013 (GameNGuide)

“End of Day thought – Is your Wii U feeling lonely?” – May 10th, 2013 (GoNintendo)

“Rumor: Several Wii U dev kits returned to Nintendo untouched” – May 10th, 2013 (Wii U Daily)

”Wii U vs. PS4, Xbox 720: Top 3 Ways Nintendo Can Save Its Console” – May 10, 2013 (iTechPost)

“Rumour: Rockstar Won’t Be Bringing WWE Or Grand Theft Auto To The Wii U” – May 10, 2013 (NintendoLife)

“Insomniac not working on Wii U, says system is more current-gen than next” – May 10, 2013 (GoNintendo) (IGN)

“No reason to buy Wii U if you have a tablet, it’s a $300 Miyamoto box says game exec” – May 10, 2013 (GoNintendo)

“Skullgirls for Wii U ‘isn’t looking likely’ without increased console sales, dev says” - May 13, 2012 (Polygon)

“Gamers throw mock funeral for Wii U” – May 14th, 2013 (Wii U Daily)

“Ubisoft’s Q4 2012/13 Wii U sales are in the negative” – May 15th, 2012 (GoNintendo)

“Digital Foundry: Wii U GamePad Isn’t As Complex As The Most Basic Android Tablet” – May 15, 2012 (MyNintendoNews)

“WWE games confirms 2K14 for Xbox 360 and PS3, no mention of wii U or next generation” – May 15, 2012 (Game Informer)

“EA isn’t making Wii U games : Do you care?” - May 17, 2013 (Time)

“FIFA 14 not coming to Wii U due to poor FIFA 13 sales” - May 17, 2013 (Joystiq)

“Nintendo Wii U – Death by Apathy” – May 17, 2013 (Gamesindustry.biz)

“EA Seninor Engineer: The Wii U is crap” – May 17, 2013 (IGN)

“Nintendo’s software problem for Wii U just went from bad to worse” – May 17, 2013 (NBCNews.com)

“Problems mounting for troubled Wii U” – May 17, 2013 (Yahoo)

“The new Wii U seems to be a dead end trip to nowhere” – May 18, 2013 (The Lawton Constitution)

——————————————————————————————————————————-

From the article headlines above, what words were repeated over and over to describe Wii U for two straight years?

• Weak
  
• Dreamcast/Dreamcasted
  
• Fails/Failure
  
• Flails
  
• Flop
  
• Fails to impress/Failed to impress/Not enough to impress
  
• Collect Dust
  
• Problems
  
• Underwhelming
  
• Confused
  
• Don’t understand
  
• Puzzled
  
• Mixed Reaction or Mixed marks
  
• Poor
  
• Dread
  
• Dead
  
• Survive
  
• Panic
  
• Worried
  
• Disaster
  
• Crisis (3 articles below use “Crisis” in headline)
  
• Trouble or Troubles
  
• Struggle
  
• Dismal
  
• Tanked
  
• Sinks
  
• Plummet
  
• Slip/Slips
  
• Low
  
• Slow
  
• Skips/Skipped Wii U
  
• Not coming to Wii U
  
• Lack of (games, power, marketing, third party support, innovation, DLC support)
  
• “Save Nintendo”
  
• “End of Nintendo”
  
• Crummy
  
• Crappy
  
• Irrelevant
  
• Price Cut
  
• Desparate
  
• Unhappy
  
• Hate
  
• Horrible
  
• Rough
  
• Bad
  
• Worse
  
• Game Over
  
• Nintendo president apologizes
  

Would a consumer want to touch a Wii U when they keep hearing words like, “Dead”, “Panic”, “Disaster”, and “Crisis” for two straight years? No, those words will scare consumers away. Those words sound like a plot from a Michael Bay film.

These words can inflict permanent damage to the Wii U brand even after price cuts and strong first party games are released.

http://www.notenoughshaders.com/2013/05/18/wii-u-two-years-of-negative-brand-momentum/

[Hat Trick Maker]

Don't get too excited, it's all pure speculations...

Nintendo Begins Development of Wii U Successor

The next, next generation is coming...

Tynan Muddle May 20th, 2013 at 9:36 am

If history has taught us anything, it’s that Nintendo will this year begin the development of the console that will replace Wii U.

This logical conclusion comes from studying the excellent “Iwata Asks” interview series, published on the Nintendo website by CEO Satoru Iwata. Iwata started writing these near-monthly entries back in 2006 to co-incide with the Wii console launch.

The articles give us valuable insight into how the Japanese-based company operates. In 2006, the first article, The Wii Hardware brought together the designers of the Wii console to reveal what it was like developing the then state-of-the-art technology.

Genyo Takeda, General Manager of Nintendo’s Integrated Research and Development Division disclosed the company began working on the Wii console as soon as GameCube was launched, way back in 2001.

“We started developing Wii right after Nintendo launched the GameCube. You know, as soon as we complete one system, we start thinking about the next one.” he revealed.

It would be a statement that is echoed a number of times in the Iwata Asks series from hardware developers.

The immediacy in which Nintendo moves on developing the next hardware iteration was best summed up in the article title Two Cameras and an SD Card where Masato Kuwahara of the Development Engineering Department reveals he was assinged to come up with a proposal for the next version of Nintendo DS.

As you’re probably aware, Nintendo DS launched in 2004 and in 2006 a redesign was released; Nintendo DS Lite. Kuwahara explained how the Nintendo DSi project was green-lit.

“It all began when toward the end of 2006 my boss assigned me to work on a new DS and told me to put together a proposal for presentation at the end of December outlining what kind of system we wanted to make.” he said.

“And by February of the next year, we would had to hammer out most of the specifications for the internal chip. We had to move at an incredible pace. From planning to determining the specs, we moved from one thing to the next without pause. It was pretty intense.”

Nintendo DSi was released in 2008, merely one year after the company signed off on a new hardware model.

In 2008, as soon as the Nintendo DSi was wrapped up and ready to roll out, the company started development of the Nintendo 3DS.

Nintendo 3DS had a longer backstory; Nintendo President and Chairman Hiroshi Yamauchi always loved the idea of images popping out of the screen. When he and Shigeru Miyamoto set up a theme park exhibition in 2006 that used Nintendo DS as an interactive map, Yamauchi ordered Miyamoto to come up with a way to have images pop out of the screen.

Nintendo worked on the idea however did not make the deadline and shelved the technology until 2008 when development of the Nintendo 3DS was officially started. Iwata himself reveals as much in

<a data-cke-saved-href="http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/how-nintendo-3ds-made/0/4%27%20target=" href="http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/how-nintendo-3ds-made/0/4%27%20target=" _blank"="">And That’s How the Nintendo 3DS Was Made.

So that leaves just one console left that we need to confirm went into development as soon as its predecessor was finalised: Wii U.

Unfortunatly, the example isn’t as black and white as the other consoles described in the interview series. It is there, though.

Yasuhisa Kitano from the Product Development Department of the Integrated Research and Development Division was put in charge of mechanical design on Wii U. This involved development of the Wii U case, the thermal design and other little bits and pieces such as connectors and cables.

One of the engineering obstacles the development team had to overcome with Wii U was designing the system so that it could work when displayed vertically or horizontally. Iwata asked for more information about the debate.

“We on the mechanical engineering team started design of the Wii U back around April of 2009,” Kitano revealed.

“At first, we considered various configurations aside from the Wii-type like horizontal types and square types like the GameCube. But pretty early on we settled on the Wii type.”

While it remains unclear exactly how far into the consoles’ development the team had gotten before the mechanical engineering group was brought in to design the outer shell, the fact remains that between 2006, the launch of Wii, and 2011 when Wii U was first introduced, Wii U hardware development was firmly underway in some shape.

It is for these reasons we are confident in speculating Nintendo’s next console, the one that will replace Wii U, is already being developed somewhere in the depths of Nintendo’s head quarters.

This has several implications for Nintendo.

For example, in the event that Wii U does eventually fail to capture the imaginations of the buying public, Nintendo already have a ‘Plan B’ in the development phase.

Also, Nintendo are in a unique position where they have started developing a new console at the verge of a next-generation product cycle from its rivals, Sony and Microsoft. This gives Nintendo the upper hand in that they can leverage the hardware specifications of those devices right now while they’re still in the “drawing board” phase, and use that intel to come up with ideas that may out-pace the competition.

All they would need to do is make a console that is “better” in the eyes of their engineers than the competition, and design it in a way that games can easily be moved onto their new machine.

Regardless of how Wii U performs over the next few years, Nintendo fans should feel comforted in the knowledge that as long as the company retains investors, they will continue business as usual: making consoles, and making games.

What do you want to see in the next Nintendo console? Let’s give them some ideas in the comments below!

http://aussie-gamer....ii-u-successor/

[Hat Trick Maker]

There's always a nut job or two in every crowd.

Ubisoft confident Wii U will turn around

May 20, 2013 5:11AM PDT

By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Assassin's Creed publisher says "it takes some time" to gather a fan base, but new titles should help struggling platform.

Ubisoft is confident that the struggling Wii U will turn around. A representative for the Assassin's Creed and Far Cry publisher told Games Industry International that a stream of high-profile Ubisoft titles coupled with Nintendo executing on its three-pronged strategy will give the platform new life.

"As with any new console, it takes some time to grow an established base," the Ubisoft representative said. "Ubisoft has a varied and high-quality line-up for Wii U, with more big titles on the way including Rayman Legends, Watch Dogs, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, and Splinter Cell: Blacklist. We're confident that this will help in continuing to attract gamers to the Wii U system and that Nintendo will take steps to ensure that the Wii U is successful in the market."

Ubisoft's statement of faith in the Wii U comes after Battlefield and FIFA publisher Electronic Arts announced last week that after shipping four titles for the platform, it has no new games in development for the system. By comparison, EA supported the original Wii with 78 titles.

In addition, in a series of since-deleted tweets, an EA Sports engineer blasted the Wii U, calling the platform "crap" and saying Nintendo is "walking dead."

The Wii U has struggled since launch, selling 3.45 million units worldwide and reportedly only 55,000 systems in the United States during April. Nintendo has apologized for a lack of software, saying this will be corrected beginning in August with the release of Pikmin 3.

The all-new 3D Mario game for the Wii U announced in January is rumored to launch by October. Nintendo also has a new Mario Kart game in development for the system, as well as a Smash Bros. title and two Legend of Zelda games, among others.

http://www.gamespot....-around-6408573