Email: Thoughts on Wii U

Hi Sean,

          The idea that familys gather around the living room TV and video game companies misson to control that tv is outdated.  The falling costs in TVs, computers, and smartphones has made these devices ubiquitous. As a result there is more competition for the consumers time and money spent on entertainment. I think games console companies should keep it simple and make a box that play games and goes online. They should cut out the rest of the bloat. Yes I’m talking about TVii ugh.

         The cost of the Wii U in today’s economy might come close to the cost of the ps3 in 2006/2007 economy.  The problem with the Wii U price is that controller likely makes up $100 or more of the price.  What real job or need does the controller provide? Most of the jobs it provides will only be wanted by a fraction of the user base.  If the Wii U is truly a controller agnostic console, why doesn’t Nintendo offer a bundle with out the tablet controller? Of course this wont happen given the main reason for the U gamepad to exist is to further advance Nintendo’s 3d obsession.

        The problem with the launch lineup is the Nintendo is trying to attract many different types of gamers and in doing so each type might only find 2 or 3 games (not counting virtual console) they are interested in. Particularly so since there are many ports that have already been released on other platforms.  For example the old school gamer is very interested SMB6 and then to a lesser degree might find Tank Tank Tank and P100 appealing. But then what else is there to convince them to make a immediate purchase? I think one area with significant potential is taking the multiplayer virtual console games online.  For example the nes classic Balloon Fight with online multiplayer or Mario Bros. Take a look a Smash TV on XBLA it  has online coop.

Thanks

They haven’t told us anything about the Virtual Console.

What I hate about this ‘Nintendo Direct’ approach is that they have unlimited time to tell us stuff. Is it really that hard to not tell us more information about a feature like the Virtual Console? This ‘metered’ information approaches to a product doesn’t make sense in today’s age. I can understand Nintendo not being able to release a price and release date (because much of that is due to manufacturing and all). When we’re just sixty days away from launch, I shouldn’t have questions about the E-shop or VC stuff. At this point, I’m not interested in ‘sticking around’ to ‘hear more info’. At this point, it is more like, “You guys are incompetent at providing information about your console, good-bye.”