GAMER LOUNGE 20XX (NO CASUALS!!)

[Kriven]

The Wii U feels more empty than previous Nintendo efforts partially because of less third-party content, partially because their games have been (while more polished) lacking the same amount of unique content, and partially because PC gaming is becoming much more the norm than in previous generations.

Point A: There isn't much for exclusive third-party content. There's some Nindie stuff, but most of them are in the same vein as the shovelware on the Wii. Sure, you've got Wonderful 101, Bayonetta 2, and gems you really need to look for, like Armillo, but comparing that to what the GCN and the Wii had... And that's not even approaching the fact that non-exclusive third-parties are nearly non-existent on the device. It's really up to Nintendo to hold the roof, here. Which, I'll be honest, that's what I paid for. I got a Wii U for Mario and Zelda and Kirby, it would just be nice to have some Pac-Man and Final Fantasy to fill in the empty months.

Point B: Nintendo's games are usually top-notch, and the polish their Wii U offerings have is incredible. But that polish comes with a penance. Super Smash Bros.' single-player game took a serious nosedive, Mario Kart 8 lacks all but the barest incarnations of Battle mode, and the Mario spin-offs are MIA (only one Mario Party and Mario Tennis isn't even out yet. There were three Parties on GCN and at least four sports games...), there is no big-screen Metroid. Of course, the missing games have been somewhat replaced... but their absence is still felt. There's also the fact that Nintendo is consistently proving that they're utterly out of touch with what gamers who play online multiplayer are looking for, though it seems like Splatoon might help turn all of that around.

Point C: Pretty much every third-party has moved some aspect of their development to the PC, and specifically to Steam. The PlayStation and the Xbox are both suffering from this just as much as Nintendo is. The same game with a much greater potential for quality (erm, I mean that a game isn't locked to specific display methods. The user is limited by their PC, not by their console) and usually for less... PC gaming is picking up for these reasons, and the third-parties know it. Sonic is on PC, Street Fighter is on PC, Mortal Kombat is on PC. It's becoming increasingly important for console manufacturers to bolster their unique intellectual properties. Nintendo is actually solid on this point, but because more developers are building exclusively for the PC, it makes the Wii U library appear lacking.

Anyway, that's just why the Wii U has seemed to have such a small number of games when compared to other Nintendo consoles. The whole market is shifting, and there isn't a whole lot Nintendo can do about it. Personally, the Wii U has the potential to be Nintendo's greatest console, but for whatever reason they make every move in the opposite direction. They had a nice browser which could have been great with some Java support, instead they release an update that actually removes helpful features and allows fewer websites to function properly. They have the hardware needed to run GCN games from .iso (just like the Wii games) but instead of calling up every developer who published for the GCN and redistributing the games, they completely ignore this opportunity. That second part goes for Wii games as well. There's no reason why only fourteen Wii games are available (globally) in the eShop. There's no reason WiiWare is not available in the eShop. They could have put a little more into the virtual console, at least sweet-talked Sega into getting the Genesis VC running again. They didn't do it. The Wii U had the potential to be the all-in-one wet dream Nintendo fans have wanted for decades, but Nintendo, for whatever reason, doesn't want to go there.