Nintendo pretty much killed the Wii U (?)

[Rasha]

while I'm excited about the upcoming system, I'm very concerned about how the company will make the whole console/handheld hybrid work. my biggest fear is that the'll have to sacrifice the hardware power and specs so the games would look similar on both tv and handheld, that would be a huge mistake in my opinion because it would turn people off to play games with 3ds-ish graphics on the big screen. I'm also afraid the whole concept would be too complicated for third parties to work on it and would turn them away which would isolate the company even more. I really hope nintendo would put these things in mind or else they'd have to deal with bigger losses than what they had with the wii u

 

[Cardbored]

Think the console gimmicks need to go away and Nintendo should focus on making games again. Splatoon is great because it's something new, but it was released a tad bit late.

 

[Tao]

Think the console gimmicks need to go away and Nintendo should focus on making games again.

They should get rid of gimmicks and make games again?

Spoiler: Mentioning only features either available from launch or intended for the 'launch window'

Famicon - Microphone in the controller. The eject button (The button was there for no other reason than to make cartridges pop up for fun. It's literally unnecessary otherwise).

NES - R.O.B, NES Zapper, a bunch of other peripherals. This thing was entirely designed as a gimmicky toy.

N64 - The slot on the controller for the rumble pack (now a standard feature), the analog stick (now a standard feature), c-buttons (aka: Camera-buttons, now a standard feature in the form of a second analog stick). All things that people labeled as silly gimmicks that wouldn't catch on, especially since marketing was mostly "look at our weird controller!"

Gamecube - Designed with the intent on being the first portable home console to be used with the Gamecube TV screen and Gamecube portable battery pack. Ever wondered why it's so small, light and has a carry handle built in? That's mostly why.
It was also originally supposed to have motion controllers (see 'Wii') and had a few games in development for them, though they were obviously scrapped.
They also intended the GBA to connect to the Gamecube for 'reasons' (see 'Wii U') as a launch feature. I think it was delayed as games that used this feature were still in development on release, though console/handheld connectivity was planned during the console development.

Wii - Self explanatory.

Wii U - Self explanatory.


The only home console that really didn't really have any gimmicks was the SNES (do correct me if I'm wrong), though it did have the totally useless eject button like the Famicon. The handhelds were less gimmicky (up until the DS obviously) but still, they had their moments.

So, yea, by "console gimmicks need to go away", you mean like that brief 5/6 year period in the 90's where the SNES was their main console? Nintendo are gimmicky, it's just what they do.



Plus, everybody keeps hyping themselves up for the NX to be a hybrid home/portable console...That's a gimmick.

 

[Rasha]

Think the console gimmicks need to go away and Nintendo should focus on making games again. Splatoon is great because it's something new, but it was released a tad bit late.

the whole idea of NX (or at least what we heard about it) sounds like a huge gimmick in itself, and I heard an older interview with miyamoto that nintendo plans on continuing the innovation path so they can "stand out" from the rest....

while I would really love a regular gaming console and controller that would appeal to everyone (consumers and game third parties) I don't see it happening with the upcoming NX but we have to wait and see because we still only know little about it.

 

[Cardbored]

Wow thanks Tao for that, gave me a lot of stuff I didn't know about. I guess those console gimmicks did mean something. Still though, they were probably a huge deal at the time, since gaming consoles were still a new thing. What's the use of having a neat game console if there aren't many games to start with? It's just kind of hard for me to see how a Wii U could attract new fans when there's very little new, even after being released for almost 3 years. Ultimately games measure the success of a console. Or Nintendo's at least, since PS4 and Xbone have pretty much the same games.

 

[Prof Gallows]

It would just be really odd for it to happen give how Nintendo have been in the past, especially with that Marvel game. Surely they know people can easily get hold of the figures on PS4? I'm surprised that with just the fact it's been proven they work on PS4, Nintendo hasn't already taken their ball and gone home xD

I think that has more to do with the people in charge of Skylanders than it does Nintendo. Of course Nintendo isn't going to want their figures played on the other consoles, that's why they made them exclusive to the Wii U box set. You won't be able to buy Bowser and DK Skylanders anywhere else other than in that box set(unless you come across them at like Gamestop but that's pretty unlikely considering they're still amiibos and people will murder for them).

At the end of the day, if you have the Bowser and DK figures you or someone else has already paid for them plus the game for the Wii U so even if you do decide to buy another console copy Nintendo is raking in that money regardless.

 

[-Apples-]

Do you want to know the sad truth?

Mario Kart 64 (N64 game) sold more units than WiiU (console) has, and Mario Kart 64 isn't N64's highest selling game.