Nintendo's quarterly results are out.

[Bill Loguidice]

The fact is while I don't buy into the doom-reports gaming publications love to file against Nintendo, I do know Nintendo should be careful. Sega proved that no matter how large your company is, you are never too large to fail.

 

The difference is it's Nintendo giving the "doom-reports" this time, so there's really no creative license being taken with the facts. Lots of "please understand" and apologies for mis-steps, etc., which is very much not something a healthy Nintendo has ever done. They are in trouble, no way around it, and have been fundamentally struggling since the middle of the Wii's lifespan with getting software released, so it's clear their issues run deep. They probably do need a management shake up at this point with fresh ideas before those healthy financial coffers (a wonderful cushion) are badly drained and the Nintendo name is further maligned. Again, they absolutely have time on their side and a wonderful IP stable to draw from, but business as usual is not helping them at the point.

[akator]

Sega proved that no matter how large your company is, you are never too large to fail

 

Sega only failed in the console hardware market, not in the software and games market. They make tons of money, even selling old IP, on other systems and mobile devices.

 

For example, I bought Sonic CD to play on my smartphone. That's a couple of bucks Sega made last year from a property over 20 years old. Cha-ching.

 

From March 2013 to March 2014 Sega made hundreds of millions in profit.

 

EDIT: for figure accuracy, I misread the financials

Edited August 5, 2014 by akator

[cimerians]

 

Sega only failed in the console hardware market, not in the software and games market. They make tons of money, even selling old IP, on other systems and mobile devices.

 

For example, I bought Sonic CD to play on my smartphone. That's a couple of bucks Sega made last year from a property over 20 years old. Cha-ching.

 

From March 2013 to March 2014 Sega made hundreds of millions in profit.

 

EDIT: for figure accuracy, I misread the financials

 

 

I bought it on my tablet. Thats another sale Sega got.

 

They will be forced to do something. It wont stay like this forever.

[Mendon]

 

Hyrule Warriors WILL have online play, it won't have two-player online play. So only one player at a time on a console during online multiplayer.

 

 

I was going by several articles I read that said there was no online player mode:

 

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/hyrule-warriors-doesnt-have-online-support-hstead/1100-6421443/

 

If Nintendo has announced something different than what the articles state, I stand corrected.

[DaytonaUSA]

To be fair, StarFox is another future release that's on my radar after Smash Brother's release.

 

But plainly put, that's about it for now, other than small releases. The 3DS seems to be getting the games I think should be on the dang Wii U instead.

 

I love my Wii U. Mario Kart 8 is a bloody hoot. But I just hate having to wait 6 months for a new game. I prefer Nintendo games to "mainstream games" (although, I still play them. Destiny for instance is very nice), but I just hate waiting for Nintendo to not only make games but ones I care about.

For instance, Nintendo wants sales, right? I have the perfect solution. Like Mario Kart, Nintendo has a few other franchise which CHURN money like no other. Animal Crossing and Pokemon.

 

Seriously, make a damn Animal Crossing game for the Wii U already (not 2016 or later, that's too late), and for the love of all that's good, make a full fledged Pokemon game for consoles. No "Stadium", no "Snap", no buy-these-cute-figurines-for-this-mind-numbingly-boring-cash-in-title like Rumble. Just, a real Pokemon game, with Mario Kart level graphics, online play.. and that's about it!

 

Heck, they could even make freakin' cards that are scannable on on the NPC reader. People collect Pokemon cards, and now they give you Pokemon in the game! It's like DLC for Nintendo.

 

 

 

Seriously, this goes against what "I" want. I would want an F-Zero game. Or a Kirby game. But those aren't dynamite sellers. Those won't bring in people by the boatload. Those two titles would, and it shocks me that we haven't heard of their existence yet.

[cimerians]

I wish the same thing but another cultural 'problem' is that mobile\portable gaming is the craze in Japan right now. Nobody has time there to sit in front of a console.

Several Japanese devs have said that consoles are not popular anymore and a lot of developers (Japanese) are doing mobile games rather than console games. Which is why we see Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing on the 3DS first. We may never see console versions of those games. When's the last time a Dragon Quest game came out on a console? The PS2? 10 years ago? Times were different then indeed.

[Atariboy]

It looks like the most recent Dragon Quest came out to consoles (Wii & Wii U) and the PC as well as Android & 3DS.

 

I don't know about Fire Emblem, but Animal Crossing is too successful not to see another outing on the big screen. If it hasn't happened yet, it's because they're waiting or just don't have the resources to spare to develop a proper release rather than phoning in a lazy Wii U entry. This was one of the biggest success stories on the GameCube and Wii.

 

I have no interest in the franchise and have just 5 minutes spent on the N64 picture taking train ride game for exposure to it, but I would've thought that Pokemon games would've been headliners for the Wii U's GBA section. Surprised they're giving up easy money by not bringing those out.

Edited August 6, 2014 by Atariboy

[DaytonaUSA]

I wish the same thing but another cultural 'problem' is that mobile\portable gaming is the craze in Japan right now. Nobody has time there to sit in front of a console.

Several Japanese devs have said that consoles are not popular anymore and a lot of developers (Japanese) are doing mobile games rather than console games. Which is why we see Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing on the 3DS first. We may never see console versions of those games. When's the last time a Dragon Quest game came out on a console? The PS2? 10 years ago? Times were different then indeed.

 

 

I get that, but they get more sales in North America and Europe combined, where consoles are king, than they do portables in Japan. So while I get that they want to cater to their people, if they work as a company, ...that wants money..., wouldn't it make sense to cater to the area that generates the most sales, which by car is the console oriented market.

 

Either way, it shouldn't be "either or". Nintendo should hire more people then, so that both portable and console can enjoy a steady stream of titles.

 

Here's to hoping their next gen game is a combination of console and portable, so neither suffer.

[TheGameCollector]

A lot of articles lately say that the Wii U is doing better than the Xbox One. So it must not be all too bad. The problem with the Xbox One is that it currently has 40 less games than its competitor the Playstation 4. They both have long lines of games coming and I wouldn't be surprised if the gap between them keeps getting bigger. Xbox One just doesn't have as many exclusives as the Playstation 4 and when the content is similar you can only expect the one with more games to win.

 

Last generation the 360 started in the lead behind Nintendo because it had more games. After 2008 the Playstation 3 started to catch up as it finally started getting games at a more rapid pace. As quantities of games increased, sales of the system increased with it. If Xbox One wants to stand a chance, it is going to need to fill that 40-game gap before it gets any wider. Otherwise the Wii U might beat it out by means of its special kinds of games.

 

Right now the Wii U even has more games than any of them.

[Atariboy]

Hard to imagine at this point the Xbox One losing to the Wii U. It already is pretty much caught up in a fraction of the time.

 

I imagine most interested folks are just awaiting content like Halo to start appearing. Both the PS4 and XB1 have been easy to dismiss so far since the next generation software wasn't really anymore ready than it was for the Wii U. Few system exclusives are available (And even fewer that are worthwhile) and there are excellent 360/PS3 versions for most of the multiplatform content that makes up the bulk of their libraries. When the next generation exclusives and the system exclusives like Halo start rolling out, I'm sure sales will reawaken.

 

Wii U today is less than 7 million units in sales and only projects reaching about 10 million by next spring. I suspect they will beat that since their projections, based on comparisons of their Q1 performance this year to last year, is going very strong (Thanks to Mario kart( yet the projection for the whole year isn't much more than what they actually sold last year. And Super Smash Brothers remains ahead along with more Zelda U news.

 

But even the GameCube's 22 million is looking very doubtful at this point. A real shame since as you said, Nintendo is winning where the exclusives are concerned and probably will be for quite sometime.

Edited August 6, 2014 by Atariboy

[Ransom]

All this discussion has been a little confusing to me, since I skipped the last generation of consoles and don't play games on my PC or mobile devices. To me, there's plenty of fun games out there for the Wii U. Then I realize it's only that way for me because I didn't play the last umpteen iterations of each franchise and waited to buy the console until it'd been out for a year and a half.

 

But I can definitely see how someone with a PS3, 360, or even a Wii would look at the current stuff (and perhaps the games they have for their PC, tablet, and smartphone) and think, "Nah. I'm not spending hundreds on a new console and $60 each on games to have stuff that's no more fun to play than what I already have."

[cimerians]

It looks like the most recent Dragon Quest came out to consoles (Wii & Wii U) and the PC as well as Android & 3DS.

 

 

Not the offshoots...or re-releases, I meant an official big release like Dragon Quest 9 (which went to a handheld first).

 

It also looks like DQ 10 is being released in Japan only. Yay!

 

Its getting to the point where owning a Nintendo console in North America sucks big time.

[cimerians]

 

But I can definitely see how someone with a PS3, 360, or even a Wii would look at the current stuff (and perhaps the games they have for their PC, tablet, and smartphone) and think, "Nah. I'm not spending hundreds on a new console and $60 each on games to have stuff that's no more fun to play than what I already have."

 

If you have a homebrewed Wii I would think most people would hold off on buying a Wii U unless they cant live without Mario Kart 8 or the next Zelda game which will force them to eventually buy one anyway.

[TheGameCollector]

A lot of those last gen multiplatform games that are on the Wii U from its first year are also good if you didn't have a PS3 or Xbox 360 with those games. Like someone who went with just the Wii last generation. Myself it's just that I never managed to pick up those titles even though I had the systems.

[Atariboy]

Not the offshoots...or re-releases, I meant an official big release like Dragon Quest 9 (which went to a handheld first).

I was talking about Dragon Quest X which appears to be the latest entry in the main series rather than a remake or a spin-off. It's present on Nintendo's two consoles and the PC.

[DaytonaUSA]

The Xbox One is losing in terms of overall sales to the Wii U. To be fair on the Xbox One, it's not been out NEARLY as long as the Wii U, and its sales have been picking up quite a bit as of late. I don't expect the Wii U to be in 2nd place for long.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love my Wii U, and I"m VERY excited about this years offerings, but if you guys think a system can do anything but last place without third party support, then I don't know what else to say.

 

Personally? I'm happy this happened to Nintendo, just so they learn their lesson. I love them, they're my favorite of the three. But this whole "wii" route, catering to the casuals crap, with underpowered hardware that ensures ports of PS4 and XB1 games rarely come over to Nintendo, while their great non-mario IPs sit and rot in never-never land, is unforgivable. It's nice to see them waking up a bit with the announcement of Starfox, but I just don't think they're going to be able to turn around the Wii U in the eyes of developers. Public? Maybe. But we'll never get third party support for the Wii U. That ship has sailed...

Edited August 12, 2014 by DaytonaUSA

[cimerians]

I work for a Japanese company and changing anything within a Japanese company is extremely hard (I confirm what I've been reading by friends I know who live in Japan). They are very set in their ways unless they begin to lose money and even then its a struggle. I can go on and point to links (Sony is in a similar state) but lets just say it takes some extreme losses to really shake them up.

 

And they rarely if ever take any direction or advice from their American\European divisions. What Nintendo of Japan says......is law for the most part.

[Shawn]

I love Nintendo but let's face it boys, this time around with the WiiU they screwed the pooch right in the pooper and now they have to go

around smelling like it.

[Atariboy]

Businesswise, they definitely have. But there's a lot to love here regardless and for the foreseeable future, is the place to be.

 

Right now thanks to owning a Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, there's very little worthwhile next generation content that I can't access in fine form on these two aged but still very capable systems from nearly a decade ago.

 

The XB1/PS4 system exclusives and next generation exclusives don't look set to be appearing in worthwhile numbers at least until Fall 2015. Right now, their software lineups largely consist of slightly prettied up last gen games. PS4 and XB1 have largely been sold on the basis of hype and promises so far.

 

That will change, but Wii U has a pretty attractive lineup available today.

Edited August 12, 2014 by Atariboy

[DaytonaUSA]

I feel the Xbox one has enough unique games to justify the purchase. I'm not sure I could wait till fall of next year to play what it has to offer. That and a next gen platform is a good idea if you're excited for Destiny. With an expected ten year lifespan, do you honestly think you'll be playing on a ps3 or 360 then?

 

But yeah, in the interem, the Wii u offers quite a bit this year. I don't feel its quite where the n64 or even the GameCube was at in terms of content, but I'm very happy to own the system none the less.

 

Regardless if their idiotic moves, having a Nintendo system from the current gen is basically a necessity.

[Atariboy]

Destiny was cancelled for the 360/PS3? Last I knew, they were scheduled to receive it as well.

 

And they might have a 10 year lifespan, but I bet a big chunk of that will be as last gen budget hardware. I've seen a fair number of news pieces quoting folks within the industry about hoping this generation doesn't stretch out quite as long as this last one did.

 

I don't quite see why developers and publishers found the lifespan of the 360 and PS3 as objectionable in some cases, but if accurate, I wouldn't be surprised to see these replaced in a bit over 4 years from now rather than stretch on even longer than the 360/PS3 did.

 

I feel the Xbox one has enough unique games to justify the purchase. I'm not sure I could wait till fall of next year to play what it has to offer.

Out of curiosity, what system exclusives or next gen exclusives for the Xbox One? If I were to buy one right now. I can only think of Forza 5 right now for a big name quality exclusive that's out and can't be found on my 360. And with how stripped down that is, Forza 4 probably is the best deal right now and it's definitely not a system seller.

 

And there's Halo Collection due this Fall, but most of that experience is available on the Xbox 360. About all you're really missing out there that couldn't be found elsewhere is the remastered version of Halo 2 so it's rather a stretch to consider this as unique to the XB1.

 

I really think it won't be until Fall 2015 when the Xbox One and Playstation 4 start to thrive with games tailored to their capabilities which can't be found on the 360 & PS3.

Edited August 12, 2014 by Atariboy

[Austin]

Killer Instinct, Forza, and not much else. Sunset Overdrive will be pretty awesome though from what it is looking like.

[Mendon]

For me, the Wii U beats the PS4 & XB1 in one major area: I don't have to install Wii U disks to a hard drive to play them. And I don't have to fool around with hard drive space for multiple games I might be playing.

 

My son let me borrow Wolfenstein for the XB1 the other day and it took a loooooooooooong, loooooooooong time of disk crunching before I finally got a message that I could start to play the game. Wii U... just pop the disk in, play, and enjoy.

 

IMO, Nintendo hasn't done everything wrong with the Wii U.

[cimerians]

IMO most games on Xbox One will show up on PC at some point (Ryse and Dead Rising are coming to PC for example) so the Xbox One for me is the least priority although I'll probably end up getting one when there's more than a handful of exclusives that I know may not make it to PC. By that time I'm hoping for a redesign of the unit.

 

The PS4 for me is worth it just for PS Plus alone. Not to mention the exclusive games they make that I'm into (Infamous, Uncharted, The Last of Us, God of War, Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank, Little Big Planet etc). Its also a more (J)RPG centric console or at some point it will be. (Like the PS3 is turning into now).

 

Everyone knows I dig the PS4 (again mainly because of PS Plus) so obviously I'm biased but rightly so. I like the games they make.

 

I have to admit though Wolfenstein would have been great on the Wii U. I also think the new Tomb Raider with the gamepad would have been a great title. It hurts not to see these games with clever gamepad support.

 

A Fire Emblem on Wii U is what we need.

[Ransom]

A Fire Emblem on Wii U is what we need.

 

That would be really nice!

 

I am looking forward to a number of these games though: