Nintendo is in a bit of trouble, and it's time for a completely new model to save the company from becoming Sega 2.
The new console is heading down the same road all of the other Nintendo machines since the N64 -- a loss of third-party support and relying on the company mascots to bail them out in sales.
According to Games Radar, the company is just about ready to pull the basic version of Wii U from stores.
GameStop stores have reportedly been sent the following message from head office: “Nintendo Wii U Basic Recall - Two Week Preparation On Tuesday, 6/18, all stories will need to return all new/unopened Wii U Basic (020359). .. Stores that have 10 or more in stock will receive shipping cartons from the [distribution center]. .. All other stores will need to save shipping cartons for this recall." GameStop hasn’t returned a request for further information, while Nintendo said it wouldn’t comment on its business practices with retailers.
It's time for Nintendo to use a new strategy. First, they need to dissssociate themselves from the "Wii" brand. The name has only lost them money since the initial run and these days people just get bummed out remembering all the potential they thought the console had with its new motion controls.
Apparently Nintendo is trying to market to gullible families that own a Wii and want them to upgrade. That's setting sail to fail. No one is falling for the marketing gimmick of, "Oh hey that family is having so much fun with the Wii U, LET'S UPGRADE CHILDREN!"
What needs to happen is a complete relaunch of the system two years from now. Since people are digging relaunches, Nintendo needs to do a relaunch themselves and call the new system: NES.
The plan is so obvious, it's brilliant. I'm not saying re-release the 25+ year old catalog, but the design should be the old NES system with the same name.
Think about it. Insert the disc into mock NES cartridge. Before putting it in the system, that person has to blow on the cartridge before putting it in. Click the cartidge into place and press the power button. Auto-load the game, and you'll have a selling point compared to newer consoles that have to install the games first.
Make the console as powerful as the Nextbox and PS4. Copy the dual shock controller (they basically did with the Classic Controller Pro anyway) and let games install while people play them to eliminate as many loading times as possible to emulate playing a game on cartridge.
The design of the controller needs to resemble the old NES rectangle while adding on the additional buttons to play next-gen games while retaining the comfort to play old games.
Tack on a one-terabyte hard drive, include greatest hits from the entire Nintendo archive, and give access to the entire Nintendo backlog for downloading to make up for screwing the pooch with overpriced, way too spread out Virtual Console releases.
Stamp a $450 price tag on it and throw it into stores. Afraid no one will buy it? Give a payment plan and offer a free year of Internet service.
Alas, this pipe dream will never come to fruition. It's really not possible, but it's a direction that Nintendo needs to look at. Even if Nintendo had a flop on their hands, nothing was worse than the Virtual Boy and they're still alive and kicking.
But the times of rehashing the same bullshit over and over on different consoles is tedious. If they want to give the players nostalgia, they should go all-in with the console as well.
[Source: Games Radar]
[Photo credit: Flickr/Geoff Parsons]
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