Anyone else purchased a XBOX One or PS4? (Or both)

[Hauldren Collider]

The Wii U controller is really nice and I quite like it. The feature where you can play your games without the television being on is surprisingly handy. So far the online features work really well, too.

[Asher]

The Wii U controller is really nice and I quite like it. The feature where you can play your games without the television being on is surprisingly handy. So far the online features work really well, too.

You're frickin' delusional.

PS4 does that stupid game-without-the-TV thing too, it's called Remote Play.

[Hauldren Collider]

The touchscreen is really handy. I was playing the Wind Waker HD remake (I got the Wind Waker special edition Wii U ) and it's really nifty being able to switch items without going into the pause menu. Just swipe your finger to equip the bow, or the grappling hook, or the boomerang. And you can have your map up while you run around instead of menuing. Just have to look down on the gamepad screen for a second.

The built-in remote is so convenient my mom has started using the wii u gamepad to turn on the tv and change channel instead of the normal remote. She says it's easier to use because the buttons are bigger.

[Nikolai]

1) Non-****ing retarded controller
2) System architecture that's not torture to develop for = happier developers = better games
3) Non-ancient hardware
4) A real online system

I'm not talking slightly better graphics. We're talking about an order of magnitude difference in computational power, not to mention technical featureset.

The Wii U is an embarrassment technologically. The Wii was as well, but they had the wiimote gimmick that was surprisingly profitable and popular. But people think the Wii U controller is a joke, which is why it has suffered two very disappointing Holiday seasons.

The Wii U is for simpletons, manchildren, and preschoolers. Make no mistake about it.

Your illogical hate of this machine is either funny or sad. Not sure which. The Wii U is far from perfect and Nintendo has made some really silly choices. But what matters in the end is the end user likes the games and experiences the machine gives. Wii U has lots of exclusives that are fun and entertaining. Will it win the win the console generation? Not a fat chance. Is it giving you bang for your bucks if you are after good games not offered by the competition? Yep. As I said, PC and Wii U is all I need. You can have your CoD clones for yourself.

[Nikolai]

Tell me Asher, how exactly is it you will get hurt and violated by other people not being exactly like you in their gaming taste? To me it seems like you're on a crusade just because someone is different than you. Perhaps it shouldn't surprise me, liberals really love to be illiberal and prejudiced to others who don't share their views.

[Ban Kenobi]

The Wii U is for simpletons, manchildren, and preschoolers. Make no mistake about it.

Videogames are for simpletons, manchildren, and preschoolers, so it looks like Nintendo knows its customers.

[Asher]

The touchscreen is really handy. I was playing the Wind Waker HD remake (I got the Wind Waker special edition Wii U ) and it's really nifty being able to switch items without going into the pause menu. Just swipe your finger to equip the bow, or the grappling hook, or the boomerang. And you can have your map up while you run around instead of menuing. Just have to look down on the gamepad screen for a second.

The built-in remote is so convenient my mom has started using the wii u gamepad to turn on the tv and change channel instead of the normal remote. She says it's easier to use because the buttons are bigger.

Xbox One and PS4 both let you use tablets or smartphones for supplementary display. All of which have much higher resolution and touch support than the stupid bulky Wii controller.

[Asher]

Videogames are for simpletons, manchildren, and preschoolers, so it looks like Nintendo knows its customers.

Yep, sounds like they've got a firm grip on the market realities.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304655104579166691934077798

Nintendo's Losses Mount
Sluggish Sales of Wii U Puts Pressure on Console-Focused Strategy

OSAKA, Japan— Nintendo Co. 7974.TO -3.61% recorded its third straight quarterly operating loss, with tepid sales of its flagship Wii U game console prompting the company's president to say the time is nearing for a hard look.

Making a rare appearance at a news conference here, President Satoru Iwata said the success of Nintendo's newest console and the company's direction would ride on the performance of new games to be released in the coming holiday season.

Once those results are in, Nintendo executives will decide "what the company needs to do, over the long-term, about its platform," Mr. Iwata said Wednesday. He didn't elaborate, although he said a strategic overhaul wasn't needed.

Mr. Iwata's statement underscored the pressure the world's biggest videogame company is under to change its console-focused business strategy. The videogame industry is moving to a model in which games are downloaded, and can move seamlessly between platforms, including social networks and applications on mobile phones, tablets, computers and consoles.

Sales of Nintendo's Wii U console, released last November, have been dismal. Nintendo sold 460,000 units in the six months through September, just 5% of the company's 12-month target.

In spurning smartphones and tablets, Nintendo has argued that its success is based on building its own hardware and providing a game experience not available elsewhere. It has said that sharing that experience on smartphones could erase the company's edge, discourage people from buying Nintendo devices and kill its game franchises.

Investors and analysts have called for the company to make its prized game franchises—such as "Super Mario," "Pokémon" and "Zelda"—more widely available and release them on mobile platforms. Some investors have said that releasing Nintendo's formidable content on mobile apps could double or even triple the company's share price. Nintendo's shares fell 1.5% in Tokyo on Wednesday but were up 24% for the year.

Mr. Iwata has said that expanding the games' availability could threaten the existence of the company, which relies on the lure of its games to persuade players to buy its hardware. Mr. Iwata's stance appeared to have softened on Wednesday, although he maintained that the company's fortunes could turn around with the coming releases of titles such as "Super Mario 3-D World," "Wii Party U," and "Wii Fit U."

"One game has the power to change everything," Mr. Iwata said. He smiled often at the meeting with reporters, which lasted almost an hour beyond its scheduled 30 minutes. "Are we satisfied with these sales results? No," he said. "Is it impossible to recover from this? No."

Nintendo is struggling to adapt to a fast-changing world in which games on smartphones and tablets are capturing more of the casual players that had made the company's blockbuster Wii console and popular Nintendo DS hand-held game device fixtures in living rooms and children's backpacks around the globe. The company also faces additional pressure from powerful, next-generation consoles to be rolled out next month by Sony Corp. 6758.TO -2.29% and Microsoft Corp. MSFT +2.00%

A scarcity of compelling titles over the summer translated into a net loss of ¥8 billion ($81.5 million) and an operating loss of ¥18.4 billion for Nintendo's fiscal second quarter, which ended Sept. 30. That was only a shade better than the net loss of ¥10.8 billion and operating loss of ¥18.8 billion posted a year earlier.

The latest operating loss put further from reach Nintendo's target of ¥100 billion in operating profit for the year through March.

Mr. Iwata, who has said he is committed to that target, told reporters it still is achievable. Before the latest results were released, analysts had forecast full-year operating profit at ¥67 billion.

Nintendo kept its full-year sales forecast for Wii U consoles at nine million units.

That was October. Then there was November...

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/12/november-sales-data-shows-a-worrying-lack-of-momentum-for-the-wii-u/

November sales data shows a worrying lack of momentum for the Wii U

System could be one of few to see sales decline in its second US holiday season.

Last night's release of November US console sales data by tracking firm NPD gave both Sony and Microsoft something to crow about in the largest single market for video games. Microsoft was able to claim the mantle of fastest-selling new system, with 909,000 US sales between its November 22 launch and the end of the month. Sony was able to brag that the PS4 was the top-selling system for the month overall, but the company hasn't released raw sales figures, suggesting it might not have beaten Microsoft's US sales numbers by an overwhelming amount in November.

The most interesting hardware number to come out of the report, though, came from Nintendo. The company said Wii U sales increased by more than 340 percent over the month before. That sounds impressive, until you look back at the leaked data from October and realize the Wii U only sold between 50,000 and 60,000 units that month (lining up with reported September sales of 55,500 units). That means Nintendo sold roughly between 220,000 and 260,000 Wii U systems in November.

That would be a decent raw sales number in the summer doldrums or in the post-holiday lull at the beginning of the year. For performance during the start of the explosive holiday season, though, 250,000 sales isn't too inspiring, especially when the Wii U has had a year to theoretically entrench itself against upstart competition (an early launch strategy that worked for the PS2 and Xbox 360, to some extent). The Wii U's November sales look even worse when you realize that the system is poised to be one of the few systems that actually performs worse in its second holiday season than its first, which has historically been a very bad sign for a system's long-term success.

It may seem counterintuitive during these days of irrational, launch-window exuberance, but game consoles usually see better sales one year after hitting the market than they do in the months surrounding the launch itself. This makes sense when you think about it. By the second holiday season, system makers and retailers have had time to build up their supply stockpiles, game makers have had time to release what's usually the first wave of actual quality games on the system, and consumers have had time to evaluate new consoles by visiting their early adopter friends.

The launch window may get a lot of attention, but in the US, the second holiday season is where a console usually starts building the sales momentum that can give game makers a huge potential sales base. As you can see in the above graph, eight out of the last ten US console releases saw more sales in their second holiday season than their first (for systems before the PS2, we extended the "holiday season" to include September and October, to capture their actual US launch dates).

The Wii U looks set to be one of the rare counterexamples to this trend. The system sold roughly 200,000 fewer units this November than it did after its launch last November, even though it was only available on US store shelves for 13 days of November 2012. Nintendo will need to see yet another heavy month-to-month sales increase to even match the 890,000 total systems it sold in November and December of last year. If it can't, it will be in the company of negative holiday momentum counterexamples like the Nintendo Gamecube and the Sega Dreamcast, which both went on to become mere footnotes in the business history of their console generations (the original Xbox, which was barely able to eke out a sales increasing in its second holiday season, could be included in this analysis).

Of course, it's possible that Nintendo will see a December turnaround that saves its season and proves this early November sales slump wrong. History suggests it's unlikely, though: as you can see in the above graph, the relative direction of November sales usually predicts the general direction a console's momentum will take for the entire holiday season.

In other words, it's rare for a console to have a good holiday season without a good November, and it's rare for a system to be successful without a second holiday season that is stronger than the first. If December follows Nintendo's lead for the Wii U in terms of sales, it'll just be the latest sign that the death spiral that's already scaring away many multi-platform publishers is continuing unabated.

[Asher]

Tell me Asher, how exactly is it you will get hurt and violated by other people not being exactly like you in their gaming taste? To me it seems like you're on a crusade just because someone is different than you. Perhaps it shouldn't surprise me, liberals really love to be illiberal and prejudiced to others who don't share their views.

I'm not hurt or violated, I'm telling you how it is. Some people make bad decision and like stupid things.

Some people like shoving large items down their urethras. I'll still call it stupid, regardless of how much they enjoy it.

[Ban Kenobi]

What games have you played on the Xbox 1 (what a confusing name) so far?

[Hauldren Collider]

Unfortunately I didn't get to play the new Pikmin game before going back to school. It looks really good. Nikolai, have you played it, and if so, what did you think?

I wish I had brought it with me back to school, but my brother hasn't gone back yet and he wanted to play some games on it himself. So he's basically borrowing it.

[Nikolai]

I only got my Wii U this year, and didn't have the money for all the games I wanted. I settled on the new Mario game, but Pikmin has got good reviews. It definitely is on my list of games to get eventually.

[Asher]

What games have you played on the Xbox 1 (what a confusing name) so far?

Just Forza 5.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Ooops...

http://news.yahoo.com/wii-u-officially-disaster-nintendo-slashes-sales-forecast-123512934.html

There’s no longer any debating it: Nintendo’s Wii U is an absolute disaster. People were shocked when we talked about what a tremendous failure the Wii U would be following its launch back in 2012, but it’s now a matter of public record. While anyone who has tried the console will tell you that games on the system are just as fun and exciting as they have ever been, the Wii U lacks the flair and innovation that made the Wii such a success. And now, this simple truth is coming back to bite Nintendo yet again — the company said on Friday that terrible Wii U sales will result in its third consecutive annual loss. Nintendo also slashed its 2014 Wii U sales forecast 70 % from 9 million units to just 2.8 million, fewer than the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 sold in just over a month following their respective launches last year.

[Hauldren Collider]

They'll keep dropping the price until it sells. I won't deny it was a bad business decision. Doesn't change the fact that the console is fun.