April 2011, Project Cafe is rumored and leaked onto the internet as the Wii HD. Nintendo finally confirms it in May that they are working on the Wii's successor and it will be debuted at E3 2011.
Fast forward to E3 2011 and we get a Wii U protoype that seemed rushed (perhaps due to the leak of Project Cafe forcing Nintendo's hand) full of tech demo's and a weird tablet controller with circle pads. Some people (stupid ones mostly) thought it was just a new controller for the Wii while others thought it was a new gimmick. While some games were announced, nothing was shown (Super Smash Bros, Zelda, Mario).
After E3 2011 was over, all Nintendo revealed about the Wii U was that it would release sometime after April 2012, it was HD, it had a 6.2 touchscreen on a standard controller, it would play 25GB discs, and it would feature online and third party support (EA seemed to be excited).
After much hype over the summer until the holiday season, Iwata reveals that Nintendo will rereveal the Wii U in it's final form and focus on it's new features and games at E3 2012. Many assumed Nintendo would be better prepared this year and have some actual gameplay trailers ready.
Two days before E3 2012 we learn of Miiverse, we see the new redesigned GamePad, the Wii U controller pro is revealed, and Iwata says the E3 presentation will be all about games.
Fast forward to E3 2012 (today) and we got a regurgitation of the Nintendo Direct info, some casual garbage, some features we already know about, and two first party games that we already knew about (Pikmin 3, which looks like an upscaled Wii game, and NSMBU). Nintendo shows no gameplay trailers for any first party games, or hell, even Wii U tablet usage footage of the Aliens game or Darksiders II. So after a year of preparation, no unintentional leaks, Nintendo in complete control, and Nintendo still has nothing to show for the Wii U that interests hardcore gamers (the audience they vowed to win back with the Wii U).
Microsoft and Sony handed E3 on a silver platter for Nintendo thinking that they can't compete with a next-gen console reveal, and Nintendo blew it! Now, next E3, we will have a struggling Wii U showing trailers of games with current gen graphics trying to out due the big releases of the current gen that are not making it to the Wii U such as GTA V, Last of Us, God of War, PS All-Stars, and Halo 4 AND the inevitable reveal of the Playstation 4 and Xbox 720 that will come with launch trailers, future game releases (even if they are far off), a huge graphical leap, better online, and maybe even a better implementation of touch screen controls (Sony will go with multitouch for sure) while offering blu-ray playback and more.
Nintendo has set itself up for failure and just lost all momentum and buzz for the Wii U. So how do you fix this? Well since no compelling games are coming out with the Wii U launch anyways, just delay it another year. Maybe a summer 2013 launch. It gives you an extra year to develop better games that take advantage of the power of the Wii U, it allows you to build a better network and OS, and components become even cheaper, meaning a more powerful Wii U that will compete with the 720/PS4. It is also possible that in order to avoid the negative press the Wii U received this year and for being delayed, a renaming would do the console good. Nintendo has the 3DS to keep it afloat right now, and every Wii sold is profitable and the casual games still sell. What's another year anyway?
If you're not gonna go big in 2012-Q2 2013 for the Wii U with killer exclusives to build up an audience and sales, then why bother selling the console at a loss and facing a Dreamcast/Saturn like scenario? Just delay the thing and do it right!
EDIT: I also forgot to add this paragraph. The same third parties that seemed so excited about the Wii U were a no show at E3 2012 (EA not announcing any of their sports titles or coming on stage?). Nothing from Capcom, Square Enix (Dragon Quest X footage at least?), THQ (Darksiders II), Aliens (Gearbox), all no shows and all have playable game footage to show for the Wii U right now. Further proving my point that Nintendo is not ready to release the Wii U, and it doesn;t have any games right now. It will end up like the Vita, launch with 2 or 3 killer games and then collect dust until new games are unveiled at the next E3. Those new games will fail miserably at retail because of the abandonment of third parties and the launches of the PS4 and 720.
Edited by 10k, 05 June 2012 - 06:32 PM.
