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ronworkman:

videogamenostalgia:

Wii U To Launch Globally by End of 2012

Thanks to the stress of investors and Nintendo’s first annual loss in over 25 years, Satoru Iwata has announced the upcoming Wii U will be expected to be on store shelves by the end of 2012. This includes all the major territories: Japan, North America, Europe, and Australia.

Iwata also stated that he plans on restoring Nintendo’s profitability next fiscal year.

(via: IGN)

Note from Ron: I will be amazed if Iwata can restore Nintendo’s numbers in the next fiscal year. While Nintendo is a high profit margin company, I think the Wii inflated the numbers they expect to such a level that it will be impossible to make investors happy. The Wii created a bubble for the company and I feel like Nintendo, while doing a great job with keeping up with the insane demand for the Wii for so many years, might have had too short of an R&D cycle with the WiiU. I think on day one this console might look technologically advanced, but the casual market that bought the Wii won’t adopt at the same rate as before. By the time they do, we will be back in the middle of a console war and this one will have a more savvy average buyer. At that point, the WiiU could look slightly dated. Those same casual gamers that hadn’t purchased a console for 10 years prior to the Wii, will take longer to purchase a WiiU after looking at the dust sitting on their Wii’s. As far as parents buying a WiiU for their kids, imagine this; Kids: Hey mom we want a WiiU. Mom: I’m not getting you a WiiU because you don’t even play with the Wii any more. I also think it looks far too similar to the Wii and parents will think kids want it for the new controller. I mean, if you didn’t know and someone told you the WiiU was simply a new model of the Wii, you would find it completely plausible. I think parents shopping for holiday gifts might easily see it this way as well. 

The attach rate for the Wii and time spent on console were always low. This was because buyers could buy a ton of games for the competing consoles that offered 50 to 100 or more hours of gameplay while on the Wii, that was a very rare experience.

All of that said, it is really up to how Nintendo takes advantage of the new controller and if 3rd party developers (of more adult games) take the WiiU serious unlike with the Wii. 

I’m with you on the parent’s angle. My folks couldn’t even understand why I’d want an SNES…I can’t imagine this looking any different to them.

With this extra time, I’d like to see Nintendo make an upgrade:

Make the Controller a Tablet - The WiiU has a controller that pretty much looks like a tablet, except that it won’t function on its own. I’d like to see some basic processor in the tablet itself, so owners can use it away from the WiiU console. I don’t expect it to be a full fledged game console like the Vita or 3DS (though that would be nice), but something that is wifi capable and can play downloadable games anywhere you want to take it.