10 Features & Video Games That Could Have Saved The Wii U
Nintendo not negotiating to secure GTA V was cataclysmic.
It's never pleasant to watch a console fail. Each time it happens, the system is often fondly looked upon by hardcore fans who knew it best. The Dreamcast, PlayStation Vita, Wii U... all have great games if you look closely, and had a strong indie showing in their dying years. The Dreamcast in particular still has homebrew developers making games, more than a decade after its demise.
That being said, Nintendo had plenty of games and a fairly interesting concept behind the Wii U: A comfortable, tablet-style controller that could play selected titles away from the TV screen. It was also Nintendo's first ever HD console, and the first to offer onboard storage for games (beyond the 512MB on Wii, meant for Virtual Console).
The story behind the crash of the Wii U is a familiar one for Nintendo fans: not enough third-party support, an online suite of features that didn't match their competitors, and first-party software droughts that lasted months on end.
Yet the Wii U could have been saved, provided it had a few tweaks here and better game support there.
10. Get The Branding, Marketing & Messaging Right, First Time
Ever actually seen the UK and US television ads launching the Wii U? The UK one is confusing and badly focused: no explanation of the swap from Wii Remote to gamepad when playing, an overbaked explanation of each game's use of the pad, and a slogan that didn't get the message across with the vague, "A whole new way to play!"
The US advert is way better. At least you can see a range of ways the Wii U pad is used and the shots of the TV are closer so the link between pad and TV are clearer to the average Joe or Jane. The slogan is slightly better: "How U will play next", and the shots of the family with Wii U remotes and a gamepad shows the actual integration of pad and remotes.
But the name itself was confusing. Was this a Wii add-on? Were you supposed to buy the gamepad separately and use it with the Wii and Wii U (if you bought one?).
If Nintendo distinguished it and called it the Wii 2 HD or something totally different, there'd be FAR less confusion among consumers.