More woe for nintendo

[outdated_gamer]

I would like the next Zelda to be set in a realistic world, on a hi-res council estate. All the old games with artistic interpretations and colour are junk, just give me super mega hi-res textures and a Link in a Stussy hoodie. That would be perfect.

A Zelda game in the dark and gritty Dark Souls style would be interesting.

Perhaps they could even start a spin-off series of sorts with one of the bad guys (or anti-heroes, if you will) from the Zelda universe and a look and feel unusual for the Zelda games. That could have been something.

[greenberet79]

Putting the games library/hardware capabilities to one side, if they want to sell more, then they need to advertise more. I actually don't think I've seen one WiiU advert since release.

[Matt_B]

Putting the games library/hardware capabilities to one side, if they want to sell more, then they need to advertise more. I actually don't think I've seen one WiiU advert since release.

It might just be a function of the commercial television you watch, as I've seen a fair few Wii U adverts. Still, it's been fairly low-key and I get the impression that Nintendo just don't have that much confidence in it and would see it as throwing good money after bad.

Still, I bet there'll be a big push on the back of MK8, as that's really the last throw of the dice.

[Negative Creep]

Putting the games library/hardware capabilities to one side, if they want to sell more, then they need to advertise more. I actually don't think I've seen one WiiU advert since release.

It might just be a function of the commercial television you watch, as I've seen a fair few Wii U adverts. Still, it's been fairly low-key and I get the impression that Nintendo just don't have that much confidence in it and would see it as throwing good money after bad.

Still, I bet there'll be a big push on the back of MK8, as that's really the last throw of the dice.

The amount of floor space it receives in the big retailers is tiny, you almost wouldn't notice it if you weren't specifically after one

[Megamixer]

Putting the games library/hardware capabilities to one side, if they want to sell more, then they need to advertise more. I actually don't think I've seen one WiiU advert since release.

Have to agree. With the Wii, adverts were being fired at us left, right and centre but with the successor, there's just...nothing.

I know there was a margin of luck and the novelty factor of the Wii remote which helped make the console a huge deal amongst all age groups but Nintendo nevertheless demonstrated great marketing with the Wii, the peripherals and software targeted at previously non-gamer types. It just seems bizarre that they have reverted to the Gamecube days and are doing nothing at all. In fact, I'd say that even the GC was marketed better than the Wii-U.

[nokgod]

Thing is with adverts on tv....who actually watches them any more? With the advent of pause, record and catch up there's no need to ever watch one unless you specifically want to. I fast forward through them all.

[Matt_B]

Thing is with adverts on tv....who actually watches them any more? With the advent of pause, record and catch up there's no need to ever watch one unless you specifically want to. I fast forward through them all.

That depends on what you're watching. If it's live sport you probably wouldn't; you might go to the loo or get something to drink, but you're probably not going to hit the pause button.

Anyway, I'd think that Nintendo are better targeting their advertising on the 3DS, as retailers are stocking it and people still want to buy it. It's much the same reasoning as Sony do a heck of a lot of adverts for the PS4, but not so much for the Vita.

[pantal00ns]

No idea if this is a good price, stolen from Hotukdeals. Probably ok I Mario Kart is on your Radar.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/nintend ... er-1908177

Apologies for long link tinyurl is new fangled technology for me.

[greenberet79]

Thing is with adverts on tv....who actually watches them any more? With the advent of pause, record and catch up there's no need to ever watch one unless you specifically want to. I fast forward through them all.

Then newspapers, magazines, radio promotions, outdoor ads, in-store promotions, city centre promotions, competitions, social media. There are other avenues outside of tv, I just haven't seen Nintendo use many (or any).

They're doing it for the 3DS - surely it's not deliberate? Or will both machines have different marketing departments?

[Matt_B]

Thing is with adverts on tv....who actually watches them any more? With the advent of pause, record and catch up there's no need to ever watch one unless you specifically want to. I fast forward through them all.

Then newspapers, magazines, radio promotions, outdoor ads, in-store promotions, city centre promotions, competitions, social media. There are other avenues outside of tv, I just haven't seen Nintendo use many (or any).

They're doing it for the 3DS - surely it's not deliberate? Or will both machines have different marketing departments?

It'll be entirely deliberate, and that's just the way that marketing works. You spend the bulk of your advertising budget on your best selling products, and everything else has to fight for the scraps.

I don't doubt that the Wii U will get the biggest promotional push it's had since launch for MK8 though, but once that's run its course it'll be back to the doldrums.

[RetroBob]

Nintendo are doing a lot online, I have had numerous communications via email and seen stuff all over Facebook, YouTube etc. How far this will reach outside of those who are paying attention I don't know (I had to choose to 'Like' Nintendo and give them my email address etc.).

[outdated_gamer]

I don't think it was the lack of advertising that resulted in poor Wii U sales, neither it's name. The reason was, imo, a lack of hype for the system, the negativity comming from the mainstream publications (did anyone seriously anticipate this system?), the lack of a "killer-app" game at launch time (the Wii launched with Zelda and Wii Sports - Wii U with New SMB.U and Nintendo Land), the relatively high price (although it was priced comparable to Wii at launch, it still seemed too much), the in-ability of the screened gamepad to captivate a larger audience (there was no instant "wow" factor as with the Wii and it's controller), the declining 3rd party support early on, the issues with huge patches and loading, ect.

Also, it was the first time a Nintendo system was seen as "too weak" by the general audience, which was backed by various tear-downs revealing last-gen level hardware, empty promises (the POWER7 CPU fiasco - it turned out it used a slightly improved Wii CPU core), complaints from several 3rd party devs about the CPU, ect. Nintendo probably thought the gamepad alone would motivate developers to make games for it, but in actuality there was both, a lack of muscle as well as audience that 3rd parties had to face on the Wii U.

It could also be added that Nintendo had this rethoric how people will follow what they do, and not vice-versa. But this simply didn't happen and it wouldn't be far-fetched to say that they (Nintendo) are too self-minded. In this day and age, when we have "crowd-funded" projects going on and people expressing their wishes over the internet, this is not a good business practice.

Just think about how many people wish(ed) for a "full-blown" Pokemon game on a home Nintendo system - why is Nintendo refusing to acknowledge what their fan base actually wants? It seems all they care about it pumping out more Mario and Zelda. Nothing bad about those franchises, but how about giving some other, "forgotten" franchises a shot? Maybe that's what people actually want now, as opposed to simply more Mario (and a handful of unique, niche games the system has going for it).

[slacey1070]

Just think about how many people wish(ed) for a "full-blown" Pokemon game on a home Nintendo system - why is Nintendo refusing to acknowledge what their fan base actually wants? It seems all they care about it pumping out more Mario and Zelda. Nothing bad about those franchises, but how about giving some other, "forgotten" franchises a shot? Maybe that's what people actually want now, as opposed to simply more Mario (and a handful of unique, niche games the system has going for it).

I don't think Pokémon can be called a forgotten franchise

Geist... give me a reworked Geist... a clever game, with great ideas....

[Matt_B]

Also, it was the first time a Nintendo system was seen as "too weak" by the general audience, which was backed by various tear-downs revealing last-gen level hardware, empty promises (the POWER7 CPU fiasco - it turned out it used a slightly improved Wii CPU core), complaints from several 3rd party devs about the CPU, ect. Nintendo probably thought the gamepad alone would motivate developers to make games for it, but in actuality there was both, a lack of muscle as well as audience that 3rd parties had to face on the Wii U.

I don't think it's the first time that's happened. The SNES and the Wii also copped a lot of criticism for having relatively weak CPUs compared to the competition, and it's not as if the NES and the N64 were seen as computational powerhouses either. The Cube is the only Nintendo console that anyone would say had a particularly good CPU for its time, and we all know what happened to that in the marketplace.

[Shinobi]

Thing is with adverts on tv....who actually watches them any more? With the advent of pause, record and catch up there's no need to ever watch one unless you specifically want to. I fast forward through them all.

Then newspapers, magazines, radio promotions, outdoor ads, in-store promotions, city centre promotions, competitions, social media. There are other avenues outside of tv, I just haven't seen Nintendo use many (or any).

They're doing it for the 3DS - surely it's not deliberate? Or will both machines have different marketing departments?

Mostly older people read Newspapers, Printed Magazines are dying, Radio l listen to when going to work, most people probally listen to cd's or mp3's. Game does Promotions, and the only promotions in my town are fly tipping posters for chav friendly pubs all owned by the same shyster.. Facebook is a boil on the but of society and according to the BBC a lot of people are closing there accounts.

I get emails almost daily of Nintendo and the Daily Mirror does advertise the Wii U I know as I read it..

Internet is the main advertising