New details on this year's announced Wii U and 3DS games.

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@Mop it up

I agree with your thinking that Nintendo regrets so drastically cutting the 3DS price. I also think it would have sold just fine and dandy at launch price had its library contained the new Animal Crossing New Leaf, Mario 3D Land, and Mario Kart 7. Have you seen the numbers to those games? Like 5 million already for AC, and over 8 million a pop for the other two. Games games games. (Or I should say "Great games" because obviously you need quality.)

Holidays = instant sales boost. New Mario games (and I guess now New DK game) = instant sales boost. Yes, price drop = instant sales boost, but you've already got TWO instant boosts coming. See where that lands you and hold on to that last mushroom for now. See if you can use it to launch you into 1st place a little further down the track.



(You don't want to get into 1st place TOO soon. We all know how that ends.)

Mop it up said:

@PogueSquadron I get the feeling Nintendo regret the 3DS price drop. After all, they didn't even wait to see how it'd do when Mario games came out. That's probably one of many reasons they are hesitant to drop price now.

It's a tough decision, and not one I'd want to have to figure out.

Eh, considering how well it sold AFTER the price drop, I don't think Nintendo has any regrets.

@GameDadGrant
Probably not deep regrets, but I'd be shocked if they didn't wonder at all what might have happened had they waited until they had some big games out before making such a drastic panic move.

Well hang on. I think there's a chicken-or-egg situation here--you could easily argue that SM3DL and MK7 (etc) wouldn't have sold nearly as well without the price drop bringing in new 3DS owners from the get-go. The argument could be made that without the price drop/ambassador program, there'd still be a fair amount of ill will with the 3DS that would make it difficult to recover its market-share. There are a lot of factors at work.

JKR is trying to tell us the price drop to $250 should happen when Mario Kart 8 comes out.

@TriforceBun

True enough. In the end, we'll never REALLY know. Not in this lifetime, anyway.

I would bring up that sales data shows the price drop itself did not boost sales nearly as much as the holiday shopping period and Mario 3D Land (selling 8 million copies +). I was going to compile it all here, but then I realized I should get back to drawing so I stop sucking at it instead, so if you're interested a quick Google search will show the dates and sales pre-price-drop and post-Mario. It's an astronomical difference. Would those sales have happened, like you said, if not for the price change? Again, no way to know. However we can look at the data and say for certain that it was not the price drop that singularly caused the increase in sales. If that had been the case, they would have been higher after the price drop itself, not months later when Mario arrived on the shelves. The price drop BOOSTED sales, but they did not truly excel until the big red plumber came strolling on by. Couple that with the fact that even at full price the 3DS was the most pre-ordered system in Amazon history and I think it paints a reasonably clear picture that it wasn't so much price stopping consumers in this case, it was lack of compelling game experiences. As it should be, honestly. Good job, wise consumers!

@Renjaku

After. Maybe a month after. Because MK sales will skyrocket Wii U sales alone, and then you add another boost right after. It's like, again, the mushroom analogy. In Mario Kart you don't triple-tap A and fire all three mushrooms at once. You use one, then just as it starts losing it's oomph you use the next. And so on. Only time you mash A is when you've got a Super Mushroom, and I don't know what the analogy would be for that in the game industry, lol.

It's like what they're doing (smartly) over the next few months: Pikmin comes out. Boosts sales. Sales drop a bit, then W101 comes. Then DK. Then Mario. And so on and so forth. Their failure was not doing this from launch. And frankly if they haven't learned that lesson by now, I don't believe they ever, ever will.

I'm actually a little surprised that the 3DS has sold so well at the $170/200 price point, I thought that was a little too high for the family/kid crowd that bought up the DS. Still, I can't imagine the 3DS reaching the heights of the DS until it lowers to $130 or below.

Who knows, maybe the Wii U will surprise me and start selling at its expensive price.

There's the risk that people will just *not* buy expensive video game systems any more. All of Wii U's system sellers would be squandered. The Wii established a threshold in people's minds. High console prices are in bad taste and turns people away.

@Renjaku
Perhaps, but if that's true, the PS4 and Xbone should flop even harder. Also, barring disastrous sales, those are going to be at $400 and $500 a lot longer than the Wii U will be at $350.

@DeputyVanHalen

Curious to see how this Install Base shoots up for those other guys. That is a leading reason that a lot of games (like Madden) aren't coming to the WIi U. A Flop would be SO DELICIOUS.

@Mr_Mustache

I have a feeling that even if the Xbone and PS4 flopped, EA would still make new Madden NFL games for both.

@TriforceBun

Hey, I understand where you are coming from, with 3DW looking like SM3DL. Hey, when I saw the reveal of 3DW, I felt the same way. I was wanting something NEW, BIGGER, ect. Though, at the same time, if instead of 3DW, Nintendo gave us a Mario Galaxy 3, I would have been 100% happy and couldn't wait. But now that I think of my feelings, a Mario Galaxy 3 is not new, we already had two of em on the Wii. Again, for the longest time I shared your viewpoint.

Now, I feel, that myself and many others have not been giving 3DW a fair chance. We are basing things off of only a few levels that we've seen. Plus, just cause this game's approach looks like SM3DL, that really doesn't matter cause that game is on Nintendo's handheld. Sure, the viewpoint might be the same and even though many have reported the levels that were playable at e3 were not very long or big, that doesn't mean the game will not offer levels like that later on.

I guess in the end, some of us are being too quick to judge 3DW without even playing the full game. Who knows, maybe once we've fully played and 100'd the game, maybe we'll feel that its even more epic than any of the Galaxy games. Though, if I had to place money on it now, I'd have to go with 3DW
Lets say that 3DW is more epic and bigger than either of the SMG games, even so, is it what Nintendo needs to start selling tons more of Wii Us. I really don't know, but if I had to guess, I would have to say, No.
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Now, as far as the price point, I know many are saying, screaming even that Nintendo needs to lower the price. I even felt that way. Again, I have changed my viewpoint on this as well. I honestly don't think the Wii Us will fly off the shelves if Nintendo cuts the price. For what the Wii U is, it is priced fairly, whereas the 3DS was overpriced. Nintendo even admitted to raising the price due to people's reaction to the 3DS at E3 when the system was introduced.

I believe the lack of games, and esp. the lack of games that offer a new experience is hindering the Wii U. I believe Nintendo will hold firmly to the current pricing through this holiday season.

Now, as far as the PS4 and Xbox1 is concerned, of course these systems will sell well throughout the holidays, just like the Wii U sold well last holiday. But, if both Sony and MS has tons of systems available and if people clear the shelves of both those systems and the Wii U just sits there, then I would say the Wii U is definitely in trouble.

Overall, I think the times have changed and while the PS4/Xbox1 will sell well this holiday season, I don't think they will sell any better than the Wii U. Many people I know who own the PS3 and 360 say right now they are happy with their current systems and they plan on waiting at least a few years before upgrading. Most of these guys are pretty hardcore fans of their respective system.

The most troubling thing that I've read was Nintendo only selling 160,000 Wii Us worldwide in a 3 month period, which I believe was the last quarter. That's really bad, though it doesn't mean the Wii U is doomed. We'll just have to wait to see how all this plays out. I think around March to June of 2014, we will have a pretty clear picture and whether or not Nintendo will need to take drastic measures to save the Wii U. The next 7-9 months should be pretty interesting and revealing as what will be going on with all three consoles.

Myself, Im still waiting on that damn PS3 to drop in price. I know some think its stupid at this point to put money into it, but I've never owned one and now there is many games I would like to play on the PS3. Im not paying over $200 for the console though. Heck, I really shouldn't even buy one, considering I have a stack of Wii and Wii U games that are brand new and still need to be played. So, even if the PS3 drops below $200, I'm not buying one until I at least complete 75% of all these games I have yet to play. Hell, I still have not play Skyward Sword, Xenoblade, Last Story, Galaxy 2, Kirby's Epic Yarn, DKCR and thats just a small amount of the Wii games.

I have not played any retail games on the Wii U at all, only the first 2 world on NSMBU. Though I have played and beaten several games I bought from the Wii U's eshop. I have about 6 Wii U retail games sitting here and I have not bought Pikmin 3 yet and I'm not going to, at least until I beat these games. Same goes for New Super Luigi U. I want that game and I will buy it, but now until I play the Mario U game.

Then there is the 3DS. I've played more games on it that both my Nintendo Wii and U consoles, though its been awhile since I've played anything on the 3DS.At least more of the games I have for my 3DS are downloaded digital games, which I don't feel too bad about not playing. But I still need to play Luigi's Mansion 2 and Im still only halfway thru, NSMB3DL.

In a nutshell, too much going on in my personal life. The last year or so has seen much turmoil and stress. Esp this year, life has really sucked. I know there are many way worse off than myself, and I am grateful for what I have, but there is ALOT of room for improvement and its all up to me, no one else to blame. When I do have full complete days off, I just sit or lay around and watch movies or TV shows on Netflix, ect.

Anyways, enough rambling on, getting off topic. I hope the Wii U's fortunes turnaround. I know the Wii U will never be as successful as the Wii, but I hope to hell it sells alot more than what the GC did. I mean I was really happy with my GC and I really never knew how poorly it sold until near the end of it's life, but at the same time, the Xbox only sold a couple more million units. Hell, the PS2 dominated that gen.

Only saving grace for the Wii U if it's sales never do turn around, is if the PS4 and Xbox1 also sell poorly their first year. Who knows, maybe this gen will need a couple of years before any of the new consoles really start selling well.

I have nothing against Sony, but after all the 360s problems and Esp now all the shit MS tried to pull with the Xbox1, I truly hope only the most very hardcore Xbox fans buy MS's new console. Basically, thats just a nice way of saying I hope the Xbox1 truly fails, or at the very least doesn't do any better than the Wii U. If Sony sells a ton of PS4's, well, good for them. I'd rather see Sony sell a shitload of systems and win this gens console race, than MS.

I'm so bummed that Animal Crossing plaza doesn't truly replace Wara Wara plaza. I wanted to access my games while in it.

@Renjaku That'd be great. I really don't care personally about seeing what games strangers are playing. I'd rather have Purrl and T-Bone running around saying random stuff, haha.

@gamewizard65

Sorry to hear there's upheaval in your life, gw. Hope things level out for you soon.

Besides, all those backlogged Nintendo games aren't gonna play themselves!

I think kinda how COD:MW and COD:BO have become their own entities, I think SMG should be its own side Mario series. Imagine if SMG3 was the next huge mind blowing game ala SMB3 for its time. I think Nintendo have it in them easily, if they want to try. It'd be awesome cuz it could mirror SMB3 and how it raised the bar to a ridiculous level even after the games before it were so damn big.

That's my current Nintendo fantasy that'll prob never happen.

@Renjaku

Totally agree. I wish it was an optional replacement.

@gamewizard65
I'm also still waiting on a good PS3 deal. And not that shitty 12 gig model!