GamesEyeView: Can the Wii U Win Back the Hardcore Nintendo Gamer?

GEV says: So let’s say you’re a fan of Nintendo who happens to be a bit disappointed in the lack of hardcore titles this console generation. You might be excited to find out that a new Pikmin game was coming to the Wii on June 10th. You’d be excited perhaps, until you heard that it was a remake of Pikmin 2, which was originally launched on the GameCube.

Yep, another remake. And while we’re sure some hardcore Nintendo fanboys will gladly pay for an updated version of a game that they already own, in this writer’s opinion this speaks to a larger problem over at Nintendo. They appear to have a lack of new ideas when it comes to many of their core franchises, which is why hardcore gamers keep their Wii’s in a closet somewhere until that rare time that a new Zelda or Mario game comes out, and casual gamers use their Wii’s for Wii Fit, shovelware and little else.

[Y_5150]

That's an obvious answer; Yes. But the real question is can Nintendo bring fans of the Xbox360 or Plastation 3 to enjoy a wide variety of games catering them? My answer is "perhaps".

[dark-hollow]

"Win Back the Hardcore Nintendo Gamer"
the never left to win them back, the first party games were absolutely great, but the third party support and online that sucked so hard.

[PopRocks359]

Not sure what the disagrees are for. The Galaxy and Zelda games on Wii are great games to say the least. They're easier, yes but I mostly think that's to compliment the motion controls.

[NastyLeftHook0]

bring some fresh new resident evil games like the ones you brought on gamecube...like resident evil 0 and the remakes ect..

[mamotte]

Nintendo never lost their core gamers, the games they did for the Wii are funny, challenging and are among the best this gen. The real question is, can the WiiU win back the 3rd party developing? (and support it, btw)

[MrMister]

I just don't see how a tablet controller and current gen graphics (which 3rd parties will stop developing on once 720 and PS4 come out) is fresh and innovative enough. Sorry.

Companies wont waste manpower, money, and resources to make a down-scaled Wii-U version of the next gen console games. That's the same reason why u didn't see PS3 and 360 games on the first wii. Nintendo just isn't making any business sense.

[StraightedgeSES]

Do you have the specs for the Wii U? if so please tell me . And the Wii U s rumor specs is more powerful then current gen.

[AWBrawler]

Hope you have a napkin, knife, and fork for that Crow you gone be served at E3.

Nintendo is going to wow us. look at what they did with Wii. just look at Mario galaxy, Skywards sword, The Last Story, and Zack and Wiki. Those games look good

[frequentcontributor]

Yeah, these articles were interesting six months ago, but so close to E3, the speculation is getting a tad tiring. No one knows what the power of the WiiU will end up being, or what the power of the even farther away Ps4 and 720 will end up being, or what new WiiU games we'll see at E3. In terms of consoles, companies are only as good as the systems they are currently supporting. You can see Sega riding high with the Genesis, then stumbling hard with the Saturn and Dreamcast, almost with no warning. The original Xbox barely caught on, and primarily with only the hardest of core gamers, and now they're the most popular system. And Sony was riding high for its first two outings, but made a lot of weird decisions with the PS3, like a very high price point and too-complex processors... Add in Apple and a theoretical Steam console, and literally ANYTHING could happen this next gen. Twenty years ago, Nintendo was untouchable, and the Wii made a crapload of money (so while it wasn't in any regard a "flop," it didn't exactly light a fire for the hardcore crowd...), so you can see how drastically the directions of companies and consumers can change... Sony could choose to equal WiiU's power to stick it to MS, for all anyone knows. The next Xbox might be a tablet that plays games through the tv without a console. Assuming that the top companies for hardcore gamers will always remain at the top ignores history and reality.
Anyway, Nintendo can lure back a bit of the hardcore base with a small handful of decisions. A Starfox game with a large online componant, a realistic HD Zelda, an Unreal Engine 3-run Metroid, a new FZero game, and Eternal Darkness 2 would go a long way towards luring back the fleeing base, as will the upcoming Smash Bros titles. Stronger 3rd party support will help too, but Nintendo always has problems there, so I wouldn't count on it too much. The fact remains that people buy Nintendo consoles to play 1st party games, and a lot of comments I've been reading online are more interested in getting the multi-platform games on systems they already have (like AC3 on 360...). They haven't seen the WiiU version, yet, but the stigma remains. I think Nintendo will skate a fine line between casual and hardcore support over the next few years...

[AWBrawler]

NEWFLASH!! Nintendo never lost the "Hardcore Nintendo gamer" Those were the ones buying metroid, zelda, smash bros., no more heroes, mad world, fire emblem, and what not on the Wii. They just didn't attract the PS or Xbox crowd