There are a few things that can get Nintendo back into the hearts and minds of both casual and hardcore gamers that have abandoned the original Wii and, by extension, the Wii U.
Nintendo's recent financial downturn has shaken investors, board members and the head of Nintendo. Though many say they saw this happening since the beginning when details of its specifications were beginning to be known, there was still a chance we'd instead be seeing huge numbers towards their original goal of 9.2 million consoles sold. That didn't happen. But what about the gamers? Throughout it all, Nintendo is a gaming company first and their commitment to quality is evident in their output. But the landscape of gaming has changed since the SNES era. With new competitors willing to take risks with new content formats, themes, gameplay styles from their first-party developers and delving into areas hitherto unaffiliated with gaming, they took the crown from the house that Mario built and gave gamers things they didn't know were possible. Since the N64, Nintendo has lost a lot of fans and gamers due to decisions made to appease their own programmers and game designers. From the cartridges of the N64 era to the mini-discs (and that handle) of the GameCube era to the woefully underpowered architecture of the Wii, Nintendo has catered to what they think gaming should be based on their own philosophies. Yes, the Wii was a success but it floundered in catering to the hardcore gamers, who buy those third-party games that keep a console in the core gamers' minds. There are a few things that can get Nintendo back into the hearts and minds of both casual and hardcore gamers that have abandoned the original Wii and, by extension, the Wii U. The current console can still be saved and, even if it's too late to bring sales back up, the future of Nintendo home consoles does not have to be so bleak. Let's take a look at some of the things Nintendo can do to win back gamers and climb back out of the financial loss pile.