Nintendo’s advertising has been woeful for some time now, but as bad as this particular clip is, at least it’s finally doing it’s job.
It spends two minutes telling you over and over THIS IS A BRAND NEW SYSTEM, YOU SHOULD TOTALLY BUY IT. The only way it could be any more blunt is if Reggie Fils-Aime was standing in an alley holding up signs saying BRAND NEW SYSTEM, NOT A WII, TOTALLY BUY IT.
It’s the kind of clarity the Wii U needed at launch; for too long, regular consumers have clearly been confused as to what the console actually was, unaware it was a brand new machine.
It’s also the kind of clarity Nintendo badly needs this holiday season. Sony and Microsoft have made it very clear that the PS4 and Xbox One are their new systems, and have been sitting in the limelight (and the sales charts) as a result.
Will it work, though? Probably not. I can’t see anything helping the Wii U at this point. The Wii’s primary audience was a demographic that saw the system as a fad and has since moved on to the latest hot new thing. No amount of advertising is going to bring them back from their smart TVs and iPads and toy drones and whatever else is cooler than Nintendo is at the moment.
But hey, Nintendo’s gotta try something.
Comments
49 responses to “The Terrible Commercial Nintendo Had To Make”
As terrible a commercial as it is, at least it’s a step in the right direction. People actually being aware your new console exists is indeed a good thing. As for whether or not the Wii U is actually going to take off, well that’s a different story.
The Wii was able to grab boatloads of casual sales on a level that the Wii U is unlikely to ever experience. With all the casuals moving on to new shiny things, Nintendo needs to double down and focus on releasing quality games and trying to appeal to a more sustainable demographic.
They really don’t man, they have the perfect demographic
Depends on what you’re referring to as the perfect demographic.
With the original Wii Nintendo was raking in cash from the entire casual side of the market, due entirely to the novelty factor of the wagglemote. The inherent problem with this market is that it has a very short attention span. It seems Nintendo was expecting that all the people that bought a Wii in the last decade would suddenly go out and pick up a Wii U (god knows why). As I’m sure we’re all aware, that never occurred.
With all the hardcore/adult gamers having long moved on to Xbox/Playstation/PC, the only demographic Nintendo can really chase with a home console at this point is the kids/family market. If that’s what you’re referring to, then I agree, it’s a great niche to have.
We live in a world where parents don’t want to take the time to monitor what their kids are watching and playing, so having a console loaded with G-rated franchises is actually quite solid from a business standpoint. Nintendo just needs to figure out a way of convincing the family market that it’s worth upgrading their Wii to the Wii U.
On the contrary. Call me one of the few, however, I migrated from ps and Xbox back to my nintendo youth to avoid paying $100+ for ‘hardcore’ games that these days last 4 hours at best. Give me a goombah stomping mario game any day. Perhaps in time the major developers (not all but most) will realise I and many others don’t give a shit about polygon count or post processing effects anymore. Counting them or the detail doesn’t keep me entertained like it did when consoles were evolving from sprites to full 3D.
For mine, Nintendo (despite them calling their console a very unfortunate name in terms of identity) are one of the companies that get gaming. For the majority it’s what you do to relax and enjoy your spare time. It’s not a testosterone pissing competition for halo vs Killzone or my res is higher than yours pew pew.
That gif is fantastic! From fake excitement to porno in only a second! Plus the boy looks like a young Ferris Beuller
This demographic doesn’t exist.
First lesson of marketing : if your product doesn’t satisfy a need, manipulate the market until that need exists.
That worked very well for Apple with the iPad, well most of their products since they revitalised the brand.
I think Listerine is the perfect example :
The product was originally designed as a floor cleaner. It didnt work in that area, so the makers of Listerine invented the word ‘halitosis’ they turned bad breath into a medical problem so that their pre-existing product was able to solve it.
I did wonder why it tasted like bleach.
Ill stick to my PS3, and upgrade to a PS4 when MGS5 is out.
Nintendo should just cut their losses and become a software producer for Xbox/PS. They would make a lot more money, and it would be easier for them.
Or a least do that as well, there’s a few ninty games I might have taken a punt on if they were on machines I owned but there’s sure as hell nothing like a system seller amongst them
That would be a terrible idea. If Nintendo started developing for other systems, nobody would buy their consoles. They either develop exclusively for Nintendo systems, or just avoid making hardware entirely.
Oh I’m not implying it’d really be a good move for nintendo, it’s just the only way I’d end up playing their games
Yup, this. I love Zelda but I’m not gonna buy an entire console for it. But I’d pre-order it in a heartbeat on my xbox.
Can you imagine the ridonkulous about of preorders an Xbone/PS4 Zelda would get? Can you imagine you butt-tonnes of sales an iPhone Pokemon would get?
Can you imagine the butt-tonnes of sales a 3DS Pokemon would get… oh wait, you don’t have to imagine because it already happened.
Whenever you mention Nintendo’s inevitable shift to being a software company why do people get so offended, defensive or snarky?
Why do you all take it so personally?
@velocita
A few reasons (apart from the obvious fanboyism), a lot of it is to do with how often we’ve heard it, and how wrong it’s always been in the past:
Sega became a software only company, and while they’re still around, the excitement for their games is not.
People told Nintendo they should get out of the hardware business when the Gamecube happened, but if they had done that then they never would have made the billions of dollars that the Wii pulled in. They also never would have delivered games like Mario Galaxy.
People overwhelmingly predicted the DS would fail, because the PSP was so much more powerful. But the DS dominated.
When the Wii was announced, everybody laughed at the name, and especially the weird controller and nobody had faith that it would rejuvenate the company. They were wrong.
People overwhelmingly claimed the 3DS was a failed handheld, because mobile phones are so much more convenient, and the Vita was so much more powerful, but the device has made a comeback due to a strong library of recent games.
Nintendo are a toy manufacturer. That’s their primary objective. They make toys, not software, and they’re very good at it. Look at the software Nintendo makes – all very refined and a joy to play, but nothing really new for a long time. Now look at the hardware Nintendo makes – constant innovation. (The exception being Wii Sports, which was very new software, but was really just a way to show off the hardware).
They’ve pioneered almost every major hardware shift in gaming. The handheld, the D pad, the modern analogue stick controller, controller vibration, 4 controllers on a console, trigger buttons, the touch screen, motion controls. Without Nintendo these innovations might never have happened, or at least taken longer to be widely adopted. They’ve experimented and failed with wearable gaming device and, virtual reality goggles, and had limited success with glasses free 3d. But the point is, they try NEW things, they innovate, which pushes the entire industry forward. Look at the latest Xbox and Playstation – look at how much they’ve been influenced by the Wii (many would say to their detriment), but the point is that we can’t trust them to push the industry forward with innovation, because they’re reactive companies, they’re too afraid to take risks by trying things that are completely new.
So when people think Nintendo should get out of the industry that they helped create and have guided throughout it’s entire lifespan, it feels to me like they’re not seeing the big picture. It’s very possible that Nintendo will downward trend towards an inevitable demise, but it’s also possible that they’ll come out with something amazing that nobody understands at first but that changes everything. And even if they don’t, even if they stay in third place from now on, I believe that we need a third console manufacturer to keep the industry healthy.
So in summery, don’t count them out, Nintendo are good at making comebacks because they’re not afraid of being innovative.
That’s where I’m at odds with Nintendo. Their software is the only draw for me while their hardware is crap. I’ve played and adored every Zelda game up until the Gamecube, I adore Mario Kart and have spend 100s of hours playing it, Nintendo is like the Disney of software.
But they’re like the Madcatz of hardware.
I just can’t keep buying Nintendo hardware. it feels cheap, plasticy and awkward. The Wiimote is junk, I bought a Wii for my kids and tried hard to enjoy it but never got far with it, I bought 3DSs for the kids but I can’t be bothered buying Zelda for it and hijacking it to play a Link Between Worlds because it feels so cheap and crap and the analogue stick is crappy and the buttons feel cramped. I’ve been loving my xbox 360 for close to a decade, playing online in HD on my big TV but the Wii hasn’t HD, the online was crap, the 3DS digital store with no account system is a joke.
When it comes to everything but the games, Nintendo are just so behind the times, so backwards and ignorant. When I play my 360, PS3 or my Xbone, it feels slick and awesome and premium, when I see the trailer for a Nintendo game I feel like ‘ugh I have to endure the kiddy, budget second rate hardware and interface/online to enjoy that game.
Sure, Nintendo lead the way at one point, rumble, triggers and many other things but they haven’t in a long time. Motion control was a gimmick that earned Nintendo a lightning strike and billions of casual dollars but didn’t move the industry forward (it held it back in my mind). Xbox lead the way with online gaming, the current and next gen consoles went to HD almost a decade ago.
Nintendo just hasn’t lead the way with anything in a long time except the software department. That’s their magic, their forte. If Nintendo could get their games onto the Playstation, iPhone and Xbox brands the audience explodes and then you’ve got premium software on premium hardware.
It have zero doubt it will one day happen. The Wii delayed it, but it’s coming. Nintendo can still make their toys for kids if they want with waggle controllers and my first tablet, kids love that stuff, but Nintendo will go multi-plat one day and they’ll conquer gaming once again.
Nintendo are so far behind with so many modern gaming standard, like online play, a decent online store, HD graphics etc. As a Nintendo fan, it hurts to see, I totally agree with you on that.
But the 3DS is awesome. If feels great, and it plays great. Link between worlds is in my top 5 games of this year.
I don’t doubt that Nintendo would make more money if they went multi-platform, at least initially, but in my opinion it wouldn’t be worth the cost of losing all the innovative things they could create in the future.
The two other console manufacturers are SO alike. Look at how similar the 360 and PS3 were, and look at how similar the Xbox One and PS4 are. Minor differences. The only real difference is going to come from the software they pay to make exclusive to their systems. Apart from arbitrarily exclusive games, there was nothing I couldn’t play on my PC from last-gen. All the games on both last-gen HD consoles would have been better on PC. That wasn’t the case with the Wii, it had interesting and innovative games that could only be enjoyed on that system. The Wii was interesting, the other consoles were just a poor-man’s PC that you could enjoy in the living room.
Don’t get my wrong, the PS3 and 360 had some amazing exclusive games, but they weren’t exclusive because of anything interesting about the hardware, they were only exclusive because Microsoft and Sony paid for them to be exclusive. The Kinect might be different, but initial sentiment isn’t positive for it yet.
Do you really want only three decent options for playing games on in the future, a PC, a PC with a PS4 sticker on it, and a PC with a Xbox-One sticker on it?
The last great thing they did in my eyes was the rumble pack and how long has it been since then? The wii mote was crap, waggling … ugh, I played what few games I did with the GC controllers. The 3D on the 3DS is overlooked by everyone I know (included the podcast hosts I listen to). In terms of hardware, they just haven’t innovated anything thrilling to me in a loooong time. The last great Nintendo system I adored was the Gamebcube and that had nothing to do with hardware, it was all about the software. I’m just not thrilled with the magic of Nintendo hardware anymore and I haven’t been for many years.
A poor man’s PC is exactly what I want. I want to play Assassin’s Creed, Red Dead Redemption, Halo, Grand Theft Auto, Trials, Gears of War, Uncharted. But I can’t afford to spend $1000+ on a PC. So consoles are perfect for me with the thierd part support and exclusives. I don’t want to buy second rate Nintendo Hardware to play the 6 amazing games Nintendo will make. I want the poor man’s PC.
That’s the catch 22. I like that Nintendo is out there doing quirky stuff that’s against the paradigm, it would be scary to see that go to the wind. But I also just don’t want to lay out the money for second rate hardware for a small number of exclusives.
To me it’s like if Disney only released their movies on their own proprietary DVD player that didn’t play blu rays or HD movies and was kinda a second rate player in most respects. People, like myself, would buy it not because they want the hardware, but because they are forced to if they want to enjoy Disney movies. I want to see every gamer get their hands on Zelda and Mario.
Have some respect man! If it wasn’t for Nintendo, we wouldn’t even have games right now! Ever heard of that time when the gaming industry faceplanted into limbo? Well who was the hero then? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Microsoft, friend. If nothing else, you need to respect that. Oh and no recent innovations? They made a pretty decent 3D without glasses which modern day 3D TV’s are currently trying to replicate. The touch screen thing? If it wasn’t for that, you wouldn’t even have your beloved iPhones and tablets. And also, FFS get over the graphics thing. No one gives half a crap about graphics anymore and if you do, I feel nothing but pity for you. Go play the original Super Mario Bros. again and tell me if it isn’t better than any platformer you’ve played in recent years. Mario invented platformers. Mario Kart invented arcade racers. Pokemon was the first time a JRPG went crazy viral. Zelda I need not say, you know well enough, Seriously get over this whole “Nintendo is ancient and for kids” thing because I need say only one thing to you. What changed from the last gen consoles to the current ones? Graphics? Holy crap! PC has had “next gen” graphics for how many years now! Cloud support? Steam. Sharing with friends? Steam. The list goes on. Sure the WiiU sucks, but atleast they tried to innovate. So don’t even try to tell me that Nintendo is “behind”, they created the medium to begin with. Go buy your XBone and the new iPhone while you’re at it, who needs innovation when you can have something that everyone else has, right?
As a glorious PC master race, Nintendo make the only consoles I want under my TV.
Your “premium hardware” is just as much a toy in my eyes as any Nintendo console, but at least the Nintendo offering is unique.
I totally respect Nintendo for what they’ve done for the industry, they have left a bigger footprint on the industry than just about anyone, I wouldn’t argue with you one bit. But that’s not what we’re talking about here.
It’s okay, millions of others will.
“Nintendo should just cut their losses and become a software producer for Xbox/PS”
Nintendo is currently rolling in money and although the Wii U is far from a sucess at the moment, it’s sale numbers are picking up each week / month and if you look at the games coming out next year i see no reason why the console won’t continue to sell.
Sony on the other hand is hemorrhaging money and have had there credit downgraded to junk status, yet i have not heard anyone say Sony should have its first party studios make games for other platforms and they should stop making hardware.
I wonder why that is?
If you don’t like Nintendo’s hardware then don’t buy it (they won’t miss your sale) but don’t pretend Nintendo is in some kind of trouble, when clearly they are not.
“I wonder why that is?”
Because Sony has good platforms that appeal to third party developers. The only publisher really invested in the Wii U as a platform is Nintendo itself, which says a lot the Wii U as a platform.
“The only publisher really invested in the Wii U as a platform is Nintendo itself, which says a lot the Wii U as a platform.”
Of course Nintendo is invested in its own platform, just like Sony and Microsoft are invested in theirs.
As for other publishers, take a look here because you seem to be very misinformed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wii_U_games
See the third row on that link? scroll down and have a good look at the variety of publishers there are.
The only publisher that has come out and said they will not make games for the Wii U is EA, and after hearing about the problems with both Battlefield 4 and NBA Live, quite frankly i am glad.
oh please, Ubisoft is probably the second biggest supporter and even the’re hedging their bets, as shown by delaying rayman legends to make it multiplatform.
If you look at the games those companies are publishing in 2013/2014 to xboxs and playstations, there are wii u versions for barely any of those games. And that’s only going to get worse when the ps3/360 games stop
Yup, when 360/PS3 games dry up then there’s gonna be a bigger drought on the WiiU
“oh please, Ubisoft is probably the second biggest supporter and even the’re hedging their bets, as shown by delaying rayman legends to make it multiplatform.”
Really do you think that the decision to make the game multiplatform had anything to do with the Wii U exclusivity?
Rayman Origins on the PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS and PC, did not sell enough according to UBIsoft, so do you think that putting the sequel on one console no matter which one would make sale numbers go up?
It should never have been a exclusive game for any console and they made a mistake announcing it as such, which they realized and changed.
“If you look at the games those companies are publishing in 2013/2014 to xboxs and playstations, there are wii u versions for barely any of those games. And that’s only going to get worse when the ps3/360 games stop”
That does not mean that some of those games will not be announced for the Wii U at some point.
You can keep looking into your crystal ball and try to predict the future (like the people who predicted the future of the 3ds, remember all that Nintendo is doomed bullshit) or you can come back to reality and accept the facts.
The facts are the Wii U has not been a great selling console for Nintendo, but it has been improving in sales since September, they have a great lineup of games for 2014 with more to be announced and of course the fact that Nintendo for the foreseeable future will not become a software only company, you can accept these facts or you can continue to look into your crystal ball and predict doom and gloom, which will quite frankly make you look like an idiot.
rayman legends was initially built around the gamepad that’s why it was to be an exclusive, then ubisoft realised that wouldn’t be profitable.
If games are ported to the wii U at a later date, the wii U is still an afterthought in that scenario.
Nintendo being unappealing to third parties is not a new problem. Final Fantasy VII was on PS1 because square felt N64 cartridges weren’t good enough.
speaking of looking like an idiot, I did not actually predict any doom and gloom, you asked why people think nintendo should stop making hardware and sony shouldn’t. My answer is that sonys consoles arn’t vanity projects.
I addressed this in my last post.
Just like Mass Effect on PS3 or FFXIII on Xbox 360, what’s your point?
But yet SquareEnix is still making games for both the Wii U (Deus EX HD and Dragon Quest 10) and 3ds (Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, Bravely Default: Flying Fairy and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance to name a few)
Yes you have done a fine job of that.
To quote you a few post’s earlier.
Yeah there was no doom and gloom in that at allllllllll.
I would say the Vita is, but that’s not a fact, just my opinion.
The point with rayman legends is ubisoft thinks taking a risk on the wii u is a worse idea now.
“Just like Mass Effect on PS3 or FFXIII on Xbox 360, what’s your point?”
It shows the Wii u isn’t a priority for those developers. and that’s IF they get wii u versions at all, which is a pretty big if.
I’m talking mainly about home consoles, nintendo is good at handhelds, I’d rather they focused on that to be honest.
Deus ex is a port of a game that didn’t make it on to the current nintendo platform when it was initially released, with a similar multiplatform change to rayman legends, DQ10 isn’t even being released on wii u outside of japan. hardly compelling examples. on the other hand wii u isn’t getting tomb raider, lightning returns, thief, final fantasy XV, so on and so forth.
It’s hardly prediction when it’s already happening. I don’t think it’s really a stretch saying the wii u will never have the thirdparty support the PS4 and Xbone will have, when that’s been the situation for at least a couple of console generations now.
Either way, this,
“The facts are the Wii U has not been a great selling console for Nintendo, but it has been improving in sales since September, they have a great lineup of games for 2014 with more to be announced and of course the fact that Nintendo for the foreseeable future will not become a software only company, you can accept these facts or you can continue to look into your crystal ball and predict doom and gloom, which will quite frankly make you look like an idiot.”
implies that I disputed any of the “facts” you listed, this link is for you http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man
“I would say the Vita is, but that’s not a fact, just my opinion.”
I’ll pay that. that said, I would be surprised if less consultation with third parties went into designing the vita then the wii u.
Nintendo might do a sega and really go under if they went down that road. I dont think its the best solution to the low sales of the wiiu. The 3ds started out slow but ended up being the best selling hardware before the ‘next gen’ consoles launched. I would hate to see a link between worlds on the PS Vita as it wouldnt suit the art style plus without a second screen the gameplay wouldn’t be executed as well as on a 3ds. To a certain degree nintendo hardware sustains their franchises that couldnt be found on Microsoft or playstation hardware.
Im not sure Nintendo are making too many losses, but I agree, they should consider becoming a software company making games for Sony and Microsoft.
I think it will happen eventually, once Iwata and Miyamoto retire. ATM the company is too ‘proud’ to do it just yet.
Haha I laugh every time someone suggests this dumb idea, no they would not make more money and no they should not even consider it.
Thats the type of gif that lives on forever.
Why didn’t they make this ad last year? Too little, too late.
Isn’t this a year too late?
The system has been out for more than a year now, they should have made this clear when they had the chance. Now the “next gen consoles” are out, I doubt they would be seeing a big growth in sales. Lack of third party support and low specs (in comparison to it’s next gen counterparts) doesn’t really bode well for Nintendo.
I’d love to give the Wii U a shot, but I can’t find any good game-play videos or reviews to warrant me to spend money on it. They just don’t have that ‘killer app’ like Wii Sports was, or Halo for the first Xbox, or Crash Bandicoot for PS1. I’m sick of Zelda and Mario remakes, bring a new IP to the table.
People say too little too late. The machine was not going to sell its entire base year one.
Most console sales happen about 3 years in. It is not too little too late. The PS3 was AS dead and boom = first basically.
Everyone is a professor of nothing these days. Wii U can be fine and to be honest, should be bought and enjoyed cause, why the hell not.
It’s a shame, because it is a great console.
LOL! Reading comments on Nintendo articles always makes me laugh at the complete ignorance of some people. Remember when the 3DS was doomed…? Hahaha. Cut loses? Stop making hardware? Produce software for Microsoft and Sony? Are you kidding me? Mark my words here and now, Nintendo will be around long after Sony and Microsoft are gone. Think about this, it’s really quite simple – Nintendo aren’t trying to go head to head like Sony and Microsoft. The majority of gamers either have a PS or an Xbox… Nintendo want to have the console that both Xbox and PS owners have. They will achieve this by having a console that is cheap, but of a high quality, using alternative ways to play and by producing a-grade first party software that you simply can’t get anywhere else. Anyone (including critics) who have played the Wii U will tell you its a fantastic console… It’s simply the lack of software and poor advertising that has resulted in bad sales figures up until now but this WILL change. Just like the 3DS, where everyone said it was a bad gimmick and that casual gamers won’t understand the difference between the DS and the 3DS, it’ll just take time that’s all.
Not to mention, Nintendo still make the most thoroughly designed games. The fact that almost the entire indie market is modeled on Nintendo’s game design innovations over the past 20 years is a testament to this. Miyamoto is still the Socrates of game design.
When was the last time you experienced a bug in a Nintendo game?
Sure they lack in narrative (which is debatable – I personally love Metriod lore), but have you ever taken into consideration just how well designed their levels and enemies are? I mean, what do you value more? Story or actual GAME (and don’t pigeon hole it as story vs. gameplay, there is so much more to the design of the game than there is to the context of which the game is played – sure, a good story can save a bad game, but the game is still bad).
And yes, they don’t have many IPs, but have to ever considered how completely different each IP is? Compare Animal Crossing and Metriod, then compare Uncharted and Last of Us. They may rehash a lot, but with the way people bash genres in triple A development today, you see no more design recycling in Nintendo than you do in any other company – instead of 10 generic third person cover based shooters with “RPG elements,” you get 10 sequels that genuinely add new things to the franchise.
Miyamoto is one true god, folks.
LMAO! Good riddance. I supported them through the Gamecube era, but they abandoned me during the Wii era.
“Please buy our console :(”
The games library is starting to pick up now so that will move some units. I don’t think they will see the success they had with the Wii but now that they are getting their Marios and Zeldas out I think with a price drop they will find their niche because it’s a great little console.
So according to the ad multiplayer only works when you meet a minimum diversity criteria? If I get a Wii U I’ll have to find me an Asian and a black guy to play with.
Explaining what your system is… 2 years after its initial release. Great job, Nintendo. *slow clap*