How the Wii U Could Change Nintendo's Position in the Console Market

We are now closer to the launch of Nintendo's new console, the Wii U, which will be out in nine months at the latest from now. After a shift of focus to the mass populace with the Wii and its motion control, many "hardcore" gamers have left Nintendo, writing them off as a kiddy toy maker. But now Microsoft and Sony both have made similar moves to appeal to the masses, though both the Kinect and especially the PlayStation Move have not seen the Wii's success. It is during this interesting time in the gaming world that the Wii U will be unleashed, and I think Nintendo can use this loss of focus by its competition and retake the core gaming market with the console. And all the while, retain at least a decent amount of its casual audience.

 The Wii U will no doubt change the gaming world forever.

The 3DS is the biggest example to show that Nintendo is trying to gain back the "hardcore" audience it has lost to its competitors the last couple of years. Games like Resident Evil Revelations have shown that a third-party "hardcore" title can be successful on a Nintendo console, whether handheld or home. I use "hardcore" in quotes here because the concept of a hardcore gamer is disputed. Some say its one who dedicates a lot of time to video games, while others think its a person who only never plays a game if its rated under Teen, and plenty more ideas besides those. Personally, I'm not decided, but I lean more to the first option. But since most people would consider Resident Evil Revelations a game for the "hardcore", I feel comfortable using such a descriptor. The interesting thing was last month, two major 3DS titles were rated M (Resident Evil: Revelations and Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D). There has been Mature titles on the Wii and DS for sure, but they haven't been all that successful. Not so for Revelations, which was one of eight 3DS games to make NPD's top 25 best selling games for February 2012. The exact rankings have not been disclosed, but it is still a significant sign that Nintendo can bring in more of a mature (and therefore, "hardcore" in many people's definitions) audience through third parties. 

This is all fine and dandy, but is this idea being put into practice for the Wii U? The answer is yes. In fact, all of the Wii U titles showcased at last year's E3 were third party (and some were M-rated), and a few more major titles have been announced since then. The Wii U will be getting major titles Batman: Arkham City, Darksiders II, Ninja Gaiden III, Aliens: Colonial Marines, and the recently-announced Assassin's Creed III. Those are some big-name titles, and there's even more in the works. Wii U will be the only home console getting Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Online (which will also be on PC), but it'll be the only place you'll find Killer Freaks from Outer Space. We can be certain we'll also see this year's version of the Call of Duty franchise on the console, just like we did for the Wii. Considering how some developers that have worked on 360 and PS3 development have said that transitioning to the Wii U has been easy, we might see some more major titles originally slated just for the two aforementioned consoles popping up on the Wii U. But does this mean the Wii U is doomed to be a "me-too" console to put lazy ports on? Heck no. 

Kiddy game, my ***.

The Wii U's tablet controller will make sure that its versions of multi-platform titles will have unique controls that will set apart from the competition. And motion control? Already taken care of with backwards-compatibility with the full line of Wii controllers. Since everyone and their mother seems to have a Wii, this is an excellent move by Nintendo. Not only that, but the Wii U has been claimed by Nintendo to have 50% better graphics capabilities than the 360 and PS3. The graphics-lovers of the world can now shut up for a bit about "Nintendo's sucky graphix". But that 50% increase will be insignificant when the Xbox 720 and PS4 come out, right? So what's Nintendo to do? Here's what I think.

I say use the Wii U as a stopgap, much like they did for the Game Boy Color. At the time of the Game Boy Color's release, the black-and-white Game Boy had been around for nine years, and gamers were clamoring for a successor. Nintendo really had in mind for what became the Game Boy Advance to be that successor, but they needed a couple more years to perfect it. So they created the Game Boy Color, a stopgap measure to buy them time for the GBA. And it worked. Its reign only lasted three years (ironically, so did the Game Boy Advance), but its riding on Pokémon fame allowed it to uphold Nintendo's handheld dominance. The GBC was gaming's only commercially successful stopgap, and I think Nintendo can repeat that success with the Wii U. Let the Wii U live for a few years, and after the PS4 and 720 come out, bang! Put out a superior console that would compete against Microsoft and Sony. Make it an even three-way console war, much like the days of the GameCube. Except this time, win it. This is how I think Nintendo can get back the "hardcore" gaming audience with the Wii U. We'll just have to wait several years and see what happens, and how ridiculous or spot-on this idea will become.