AsterDW

Pikmin 3, wonderful 101, rayman, splinter cell, wind waker.

I'm 28 but have been gaming since I was about 5.

 

Games aside, I just don't understand the Wii U in general. The selling point is a huge, bulky controller with a standard definition screen built in?

 

So I can check my inventory by looking down? Big deal. So I can play games by looking at a SD screen instead of a 50in HDTV? Why would I?

 

The other part I don't get is... what market is the Wii U trying to attract?

 

Obviously the original Wii was marketed to kids, fat people, and old ladys to get them off the couch and active. It was a great idea and it sold amazingly well.

 

The Wii U?

 

Well, first of all... 97% of the population still thinks the Wii U is an add-on to the Wii that's currently collecting dust in their living rooms. And since the Wii U's selling point is a tablet controller, it loses the "get up and move" appeal that the Wii had... so there goes that demographic.

 

Then there is the "hardcore" crowd that favors more 'FPS" and third party games. Well, do I really need to go into this point on how the Wii U has failed with that demographic so far?

 

So the Wii U has basically shunned both the casual and hardcore crowds. An amazing feat really when you think about it.

Man, wrong on all counts.

The Wii was marketed as the games console the every man could play.  It was intuitive, fun, and didn't require a huge time commitment to enjoy.  It was great for gatherings, for local multiplayer, but there were some excellent single player experiences on it as well.

The WiiU hasn't managed to "alienate" any group of gamers, the people who think that its still a peripheral aren't in the "core" demographic.  They released it with little advertising because they knew they would have a decent chuck of early adopters that advertising dollars would have been wasted on.  Not only that, but they have been to every trade show in the last year and have marketed the console and the exclusive content fairly well there.  The gamepad has a resolution of 854x480, fairly close to widescreen SD, but when you scale that resolution down to 6.2 inches, the image is still very crisp.  Higher resolution would have undoubtedly been better, but much more expensive to include and to replace, with very little visual impact and with a much higher power requirement.

The Wii U is still compatible with Wii Remotes, and most games offer them as a control option, so the "get up and move" is still there, for people who prefer to play that way (and there are a large number of those people playing BLOPS2)

You obviously don't own a WiiU so I have no idea why you waste your time on a forum dedicated to it.  having the inventory available at a quick glance can be useful, but not necessary.  Forcing a user to look away from the screen to check inventory can make certain genres, like survival horror, much more immersive and nerve wracking by not allowing you to pause the game to manage your inventory.  For games like LEGO City, and coming soon Deus Ex and Spliter Cell, the gamepad integrates nicely as an integral part of your toolchest for completing in game challenges.

I understand that some people have a hard time understanding what it could actually bring to gaming without having any experience with it first hand, but for many games it does integrate well, and when off screen play is available, the image is still very good and they've managed to make it translate well to the small screen, though I personally don't use it at all (my console is hooked up in my office, away from the living room TV)

As far as "97%" thinking its an addon, did you know that 92.7% of statistics are completely made up on the spot? I understand that there are those people that believe to this day that it is just an addon, but keep in mind Nintendo haven't done a whole lot of mainstream marketing yet, and whether that is intentional and poignant remains to be seen, though I think they were banking on a larger number of early adopters, that would have been there were there any bigger first party launch titles. 

So, bottom line, they haven't really shunned anyone, but they haven't done the mainstream marketing that needs to be done to attract them either.

As for me, I'm 28, and I have played the Wii U more than any other console, so far as consistency is concerned.  After 7 years I obviously put most of my time into my 360, considerably less in my PS3, but I use the Wii U more consistently than either.  Even if I'm taking a break from actually playing games, or watching Netflix or Amazon Video, Wii U is where I go for it, and I'm consistently just roaming around Miiverse to see some of the artwork and commenting to help people out or share my experiences.