The WiiU finally got its price, its release date, and a little preview as to what games you’ll be seeing in the first couple months of its lifecycle. They had a special conference a couple days ago in New York full of guest stars and Reggie Fever. My prediction was the $300 and I was half-right—because the basic pointless bundle runs you at that price. The full WiiU package, included with Nintendo Land (essentially the WiiU version of Wii Sports) a subscription and a few other goodies costs $350. The release date is the 18th of November as opposed to my predicted 19th. Now, I have a gripe with the pricing of the system.
The rumors are jerking around that the WiiU is marginally as powerful as the PS3---which echoes the hardware of the Wii which had harbored graphics that barely beat those of the Nintendo Gamecube. If you are going to toy around with a system that isn’t as powerful as you had promised, and instead looks like a Wii on steroids—why gamble with the $350 price tag? The Wii’s success was perfect because the $250 price tag was perfect for the casual crowd as well as the hardcore—and it justified the hardware limitations. Jumping up $100 and repeating the same launch issue may entice the hardcore crowd to wait a little and see if Microsoft and Sony will react—and entice them to wait.
The second issue is, if it barely beats the PS3 and 360, what’s the motivation to getting the WiiU right now? The only exclusive that can really shift sales is Super Mario Bros. U, and in recent times its become more a casual franchise as opposed to one for the pure gamers. Almost all the third-party games are those that have already/will come out for the other systems with the exception of the controversial Bayonetta 2. Becomes very difficult to entice the pure gaming crowd with this bunch of games.
And that’s where the conference also failed miserably. If you are going to drop that hefty price when the competitors with already established game lineups and good outlook of upcoming (slightly similar) games are lingering, you better deliver some good news. Nintendo Land was not good news, and the Nintendo TV feature was more gimmicky than anything—although I personally liked it and know it will appeal to those that spends good amount of time watching television. They should have started the conference with the trailer showing all the games that will be available in the launch window and then focused on…GAMES!!! Save the television stuff for another time---Nintendo owners have been starving for consistent barrage of games for about three years now. Nintendo Land was not the solution.
(this should have been displayed first)
The only thing Nintendo got right on the fabled September 13th conference was the release date. But the price is too high; they focused on all the wrong things, delivered the trailer long after we were almost sleeping during this presentation, and lastly no surprises. Nothing to get us excited for in 2013. No Zelda. No Metroid. No F-Zero. No 3-D Mario. And lastly, no 3-D Pokemon. Bummer. The WiiU will see some success in November, but not as much as it could have been with a better price and a better focus on the audience it had lost in recent years.
P.S. That being said, Lego City: Undercover looks like its going to be a heck of a guilty pleasure.
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