News - Nintendo suffers its first ever annual loss

[HEXUS]

Will Wii U come to the rescue?

Read more.

[bledd]

Nintendo need to make more games.

Mario Kart Wii, whilst fun seriously lacks anything innovative from Nintendo.

It needs..
A 'hard' mode
Extra maps that can be downloaded
Track builder that you could create tracks with and then play with your friends on it

Like many other Wii owners I know, mine has been sitting there gathering dust for about 2 years

[Biscuit]

Mobile gaming consoles have been Nintendo's consistently strong point for like.... well forever. Personally i don't see it gaining any market share in the future, only losing it to mobile phones as they become more powerful. When you consider that most people will replace their handset every 2 years whereas a mobile console needs to stay relevant for much longer, you can see why its a battle for them. Sony have seen that there is a future in mobile phone gaming and started releasing phones and games into the market, i cant comment on the success of this however it is why i found the release of the Vita so unusual.
I think the Wii U is going to be a difficult one for Nintendo to get anywhere with, it could be another dreamcast to be honest. The big thing about the wii was that it was cheap and a good laugh to play in groups of people. The Wii U looks like its set to be a bit more of a serious console however i dont see it getting any really serious games made for it.

[anselhelm]

As a long-term Nintendo fan, even I feel like Nintendo is not hitting the right note consistently recently.

People accepted the Wii's low power on account of the novelty of motion control and the games, but that time has mostly now passed. Even with the Wii U tablet controller, if the console isn't at least more powerful than the 360 and PS3, a lot of fans are just going to leave the Wii U generation. Considering how old the tech is in the 360 and PS3, if the console is only as powerful or just under those, it is going to irritate a bucket load of potential buyers.

More importantly, Nintendo lives and dies by its games. Where's the latest Starfox, huh? No, I don't want a Virtual Console version or a remake, I mean an actual new game? Where's my F-Zero, huh? Where are all the rest of the Nintendo console staples?

Outside of the games, the online integration can't be sidelined any more if Nintendo wants to get any of the core 360/PS3 audience. An online account (read: NOT friendcodes) with achievements and the ability to chat with friends. Treat your consumers like adults, not children, Nintendo.

Just my view. Your mileage may vary.

[AGTDenton]

Because of the lack of HDMI, mine is gathering dust. Games look awful on my TV. It's a shame because there are some SNES games that came out that I would happily buy and play. I only hope the games you bought on the Wii, will transfer to Wii-U on both CD and downloadable.

[shaithis]

Novelty console is novel.

[cameronlite]

Will Wii U come to the rescue?

Nope.

[Whiternoise]

I think the whole console power disparity thing is really starting to appear now. The Gamecube was at least as powerful as the PS2 or the Xbox for argument's sake and that afforded it a decent amount of longevity. It also meant that you could buy games for one platform if you wanted to.

People have been forced into buying the Wii and something else. But, now nothing is available for the Wii so...

As for casual gaming: I've yet to play anything on my phone that is better than any of my Gameboy games.

Unfortunately a lot of the time the games that are actually good are undersellers. Have a look on GBATemp and their top lists, I'll bet that most people haven't heard of many of those games. There were a few, like Professor Layton, that were sleeper hits for a while and then suddenly became massively popular. Others like Golden Sun: Dark Dawn weren't quite as good as their predecessors, but anyone who's played the original Golden Sun will know how staggeringly good those games were, even if they didn't reach mainstream appeal.

[iranu]

Nintendo need to make more games.

Mario Kart Wii, whilst fun seriously lacks anything innovative from Nintendo.

It needs..
A 'hard' mode
Extra maps that can be downloaded
Track builder that you could create tracks with and then play with your friends on it

Like many other Wii owners I know, mine has been sitting there gathering dust for about 2 years

Track builder - fantastic idea. That would breath life into that game and transform it forever. I'd love to see a classic mode but allowing 4 players too.

[MrBozack]

I'd be gutted if Nintendo did a Sega.

I've still been buying Wii games and 3DS games for my oldest boy. It's nice that he gets Ocarina of Time, Star-Fox 64, Pilot Wings and Street Fighter. Classic titles through the Virtual Console thing - it's all good. Nintendo also have been offering fortnightly cartoon shows through both the Wii and the DS recently. Now imagine Goldeneye 3D online.....

Our optical drive failed on one of our Wii (4 years old) and Nintendo fixed it free of charge.

Though, I can echo AGTDenton's views on HDMI. If Nintendo used standard Ethernet for the the next console it might get taken more seriously.

+1 Nintendo fanboi

[directhex]

I only hope the games you bought on the Wii, will transfer to Wii-U on both CD and downloadable.

Lolnope. You can't even redownload games you paid for if your Wii fails & you get it replaced. All Wii purchases are tied to the serial number on the console - not to anything more personal to you like an account (or even an email address)

[Smudger]

Because of the lack of HDMI, mine is gathering dust. Games look awful on my TV. It's a shame because there are some SNES games that came out that I would happily buy and play. I only hope the games you bought on the Wii, will transfer to Wii-U on both CD and downloadable.

Have you tried the component display adaptor? I've got one and although not as good as PS3, the image isn't too bad. I have got it going into an AV amp though, which does upscaling. Saying that, my Wii has been in a drawer with all the CDs I don't listen to for about 2 years...

[bledd]

They should release 'Wii2' with 1080P/720P HDMI and a blu ray player, even if they only had the games in 720P. They need to make something that will pull people away from Angry Birds type games, or implement these games on the Wii.

The current 'Wii Store' or whatever it's called, is diabolical, so is the Sony one. Haven't tried the XBOX version. A competitor to the Android store is what they need, coupled with the ability to play DVD/BR making it become more than just a novelty games console.

[Funkstar]

Nintendo said in the past they refused to pay the DVD royalty fees for every unit and that everyone had a DVD player anyway so what was the point.

But if they put a BluRay player in a Wii2 and included the ability to stream media over a network, turning it into an all in one media device that can also play games, just like a PS3 or xbox (without the BD support) they could sell a bunch more to replace peoples existing Wii's, providing they maintain backwards compatibility that is.

[bledd]

In that case, they should have an add-on chip that you can buy and insert in the back/bottom of the unit.

I understand they're trying to make a cheap unit, but they're shooting themselves in the foot a bit by not having DVD playback at least.

[Funkstar]

Just have the functionality as an app purchase. Simple.

In fact they could even follow the Archos model from their older PMPs. The MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and AAC decoders were already on the unit, same goes for the Opera browser. But they weren't available to us unless you bought the activation code to activate them.