Will Wii U Have The Power To Succeed?
As Nintendo prepare to unveil the Wii U at E3, we look at history and question whether now is the right time to launch the next generation console?
In just a few weeks time it will be the E3 show where Nintendo promise to fully unveil their next generation home console; the Wii U. It has been an entire year of the big N keeping tight lipped whilst the public speculate and guess at what may be in store for us gamers. Now despite the fact that Nintendo usually deliver the goods and have been doing so longer than any other current console manufacturer, Nintendo has never really been able to escape very vocal naysayers who forecast doom for most every Nintendo home console. The big talking point with the Wii U is that it is rumoured to only be around as powerful as both the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Differing reports have suggested it may be more powerful in some ways and less in others, and we wont know for sure until we see the machine in action. Regardless of if it is slightly more or less powerful than the aforementioned systems is neither here or there in a lot of gamers minds, the point is both the aforementioned consoles are current generation and the Wii U is supposed to be next generation. The biggest argument in the Wii Us favour as far as lack of power goes is surely from the current generation. The current Wii despite being significantly less powerful then its rivals, has during its lifetime outsold both its rivals including the Xbox 360 which entered the market a year earlier. A lot of reasons can be given for its success- its cheaper price, the gimmick of motion controls, the casual market etc etc. These arent necessarily bad things, but are all things which contributed along with Nintendos exclusive characters such as Mario, Link etc etc. Still, whatever excuses or reasons people say either for or against the Wiis success the fact is the machine will be replaced by its successor having comfortably outsold its more powerful rivals. What some people dont take into consideration is the fact that in terms of power the underdog didnt just win this generation, it usually wins any console generation. 
Now for the purposes of this article well only look at consoles from the NES era onwards. Starting with the Nintendo Entertainment System its important to remember that that was the system that launched not only Nintendo into the home console spotlight, but also created the modern era of console video games, its console cycles and along with it the console wars. For the NES, winning was easy since it led the market and had all the publicity and hype firmly on its side. Segas Master System was the main rival, and despite being the more capable machine power wise the NES had comfortably got its feet under the table for most gamers. Of course being first to the market helped the NES, but it isnt always a winning tactic as will be demonstrated throughout this article, and can be shown with the next example. The MegaDrive was launched by Sega before Nintendo replaced their NES so if anyone had any doubts that the Master System could out graphic the NES, there would be no arguments this time around. The Mega Drive was undoubtedly the powerhouse, and the launch of Sonic gave Sega a mascot to rival Mario, but Nintendo was destined to make it 2-0 in the console wars with the Super Nintendo. In this instance, and arguably the only example of its kind; the more powerful console came onto the market after its weaker rival and won. It wasnt a huge victory, but a victory nonetheless. Whilst the graphics werent all that different between the two leading 16 bit consoles the SNES was the only one able to boast the likes of Doom, Starwing and Super Mario Kart. These games were possible on the SNES and werent on the Mega Drive, and that was a rare example of how power made a difference. In terms of modern consoles you definitely get games that have better graphics on one system over another, but you rarely get games that cant be made due to graphical limitations. Yes Dead Rising on the Wii looks horrible next to its 360 brother, but theyre two versions of the same game. Moving onto the next generation and the battle ground expanded. Not only did the big N deliver the N64 and Sega bring out the Saturn, but Sony unleashed the Playstation. The Playstation was the new dog in the fight and power wise compared to the N64 it was weak. Not to say it didnt have its advantages. Being cartridge based the N64 wasnt capable of cut scenes or as unlimited game space as its CD based rivals. Now its important to point out that there will always be many factors with why one console succeeded whilst others failed just as people will point out that the Wii won based on the gimmick of motion controls. Playstation had cool and some cracking exclusives such as Metal Gear, Final Fantasy and Lara Croft. In terms of power though the N64 could easily outshine both Sega and Sony, but it wasnt enough. This was another victory for the power underdog. 
The next generation was Segas last and the Dreamcast was launched during the reign of the PSone. Despite being many times more powerful then the first Playstation and having a years head start over the PS2, the Dreamcast was dead in the water by the time the PS2 arrived and a distant memory by the arrival of Nintendos Gamecube and Microsofts Xbox. It can be argued that the more powerful PS2 killed the Dreamcast by its mere announcement, but the fact is during its lifetime the Dreamcast was competing for sales against the PSone, and it lost. Having been a monster hit Sony continued its success with the PS2 easily defeating both the Gamecube and Xbox, both of which were more powerful. This generation was certainly the closest in terms of power, and other factors can be considered such as the Playsations cool factor, Nintendos kiddie image and Xbox being the new kid on the block, but again regardless of these points it still stands that the least powerful of the three won the day. Before we go full circle and arrive back at the present day we can also find more examples from the handheld market. The GameBoy launched the handheld business, and like its home console equivalent the NES, it was weaker than its first round rivals. The Game Gear, Atari Lynx and Turbo Express all faltered to Nintendos humble monochrome machine. The GameBoy Color saw off the Neo Geo Pocket, the Game Boy Advance hammered the N-Gage and even though Sonys Playstation Portable can be considered a success it was still smashed by the Nintendo DS. In every instance the weaker handheld has won. Its early days for the powerful Playstation Vita, and its less powerful rival the 3DS has had its own problems, but all signs indicate that the weaker will win again. That isnt even considering that much less graphically demanding handheld experiences like Angry Birds are eating up sales that console execs dream about. And now back to where we started. The Wii has outsold the 360 and PS3 despite its lack of power. The Wiis winning formula came from innovation from control methods, and it wasnt too long before both Sony and Microsoft jumped on the motion bandwagon. Every example of the console wars bar one has shown the more powerful machine lose to its rivals. You could even argue the SNES defeated the more powerful Atari Jaguar which was one of its contemporaries, but the article focused solely on machines which made significant waves. Lots of reasons such as cool factor, popular mascots, gimmick controls and bad manufacturer choices can be given to explain who won or lost each generation, but the one factor that has not proved to be a deciding factor is power.