Iga_Bobovic said:

Yes, saying idiotic things comes naturally for you!

W101 is $24 at Best Buy you guys better buy it.

Dvader said:

W101 is $24 at Best Buy you guys better buy it.

Now I'm interested in buying.

Did Nintendo make more money on the GCN alone than Sony did on the PS2, or was it the combined sales of the GCN and GBA that exceeded them? Just curious.

gamingeek said:

It's hard reading all this stuff without a keyboard to reply. You guys have some great points and insights, but there's also some truly baffling leaps of logic on show. I'm not sure where this two year wheel of Nintendoom is going, but this sales obsession is getting a little ridiculous. As someone who updates the news I post stories about all sorts of gaming companies having losses, or going bust. Most of them go without comment. I find it hard to get excited about failure, concerning a company with billions in cash reserves.

I feel like I should refrain from replying to a lot of the bruhah, as I wouldn't want to cause any offence to any of my friends around the debate. It never ends well. So I'll just mention a few positives.

All I would say is just because sales aren't taking off now, doesn't preclude them from improving in the future. Nintendos' projections were ridiculous but most of us who read the news knew this weeks ago. Nintendo are taking a loss right now partly because of the price cut. Wii U is not some budget device, it was sold at cost and with a price cut every sales equals a loss till they can reduce the manufacturering cost. This is exactly what happened with the 3ds.

Lastly, remember this is Nintendo and they can squeeze blood from a stone. They made more money in the GC era then Sony did selling 100 million PS2s. And neither Playstation or Xbox has ever come close to the money Nintendo made during the Wii era. As long as they can make money on their own games it's still a viable platform. Remember, 3DS hardly has any 3rd party support but Nintendo have made it wholly worth owning by themselves.

Nintendo have a $300 million loss for the year, they should go 3rd Party.

Microsoft lose $4 billion with the Xbox and everything's rosy. There's a certain amount of accepted hypocrisy on show whenever the Nintendoom wheel gets spinning again.

Don't forget there are encouraging signs, Wii U saw it's highest ever sales month in December NPD, with something near 500'000 units which is a lot better than the 44k it was doing. And in Japan end of year  U sales were 26x higher than September sales. 3DS is also the biggest selling gaming hardware for 2013 and Nintendo totally dominates the charts in Japan.

I think this persistent wheel of Nintendoom is getting tired, it feels like every site and gamer is trying to top themselves in the drama stakes predicting ever worse scenarios. I'd call it an obsession at this point. Call me lazy or unflappable if you want but I'm fairly relaxed about the whole thing and don't think anyone should be running around with their hair on fire. Nintendo should do what they always do, stick it out, make the games as great as possible and try to boost 3rd party support. Then try again next cycle.

Damn, I wrote this on a touchscreen. Not easy.

I've done typing like that before, it takes amazing skill.

Anyway the reason why this gets so much attention is cause Nintendo has never been in this position in their history. Yes the doom and gloom has been around forever, you are mistaking that for what is happening now, for the first time ever IT IS REAL (to an extent, the company is in zero danger of going under but management is in major danger). This is not guys trying to make a fuss, this is not fanboys starting arguments, this is actual holy shit panic time at Nintendo as they have never had a console perform this bad.

The reason why MS doesnt get talked about is cause they are MS and losing 4 billion to them is like accidentally losing change in your couch. And right now their systems are fine. Same with Sony, that company is a disaster but in the market we care about they are doing amazing right now, PS4 will be a massive success.  Nintendo has a few billion so they will be fine as a company but this current buisness model wont cut it.

I agree going overboard with crap like they should go third party or go all cell phone is just stupid. They will be fine making portables and consoles, they just have to seriously rethink their whole approach to this. And I do think they need to be out of the Wii U era by 2016. Anyway yeah you are mostly right about the company as a whole, they will bounce back but I think some big change will be needed to bounce back effectively.

gamingeek said:

It's hard reading all this stuff without a keyboard to reply. You guys have some great points and insights, but there's also some truly baffling leaps of logic on show. I'm not sure where this two year wheel of Nintendoom is going, but this sales obsession is getting a little ridiculous. As someone who updates the news I post stories about all sorts of gaming companies having losses, or going bust. Most of them go without comment. I find it hard to get excited about failure, concerning a company with billions in cash reserves.

I feel like I should refrain from replying to a lot of the bruhah, as I wouldn't want to cause any offence to any of my friends around the debate. It never ends well. So I'll just mention a few positives.

All I would say is just because sales aren't taking off now, doesn't preclude them from improving in the future. Nintendos' projections were ridiculous but most of us who read the news knew this weeks ago. Nintendo are taking a loss right now partly because of the price cut. Wii U is not some budget device, it was sold at cost and with a price cut every sales equals a loss till they can reduce the manufacturering cost. This is exactly what happened with the 3ds.

Lastly, remember this is Nintendo and they can squeeze blood from a stone. They made more money in the GC era then Sony did selling 100 million PS2s. And neither Playstation or Xbox has ever come close to the money Nintendo made during the Wii era. As long as they can make money on their own games it's still a viable platform. Remember, 3DS hardly has any 3rd party support but Nintendo have made it wholly worth owning by themselves.

Nintendo have a $300 million loss for the year, they should go 3rd Party.

Microsoft lose $4 billion with the Xbox and everything's rosy. There's a certain amount of accepted hypocrisy on show whenever the Nintendoom wheel gets spinning again.

Don't forget there are encouraging signs, Wii U saw it's highest ever sales month in December NPD, with something near 500'000 units which is a lot better than the 44k it was doing. And in Japan end of year  U sales were 26x higher than September sales. 3DS is also the biggest selling gaming hardware for 2013 and Nintendo totally dominates the charts in Japan.

I think this persistent wheel of Nintendoom is getting tired, it feels like every site and gamer is trying to top themselves in the drama stakes predicting ever worse scenarios. I'd call it an obsession at this point. Call me lazy or unflappable if you want but I'm fairly relaxed about the whole thing and don't think anyone should be running around with their hair on fire. Nintendo should do what they always do, stick it out, make the games as great as possible and try to boost 3rd party support. Then try again next cycle.

Damn, I wrote this on a touchscreen. Not easy.

I agree with this.  It's like a group of the gaming press and a group of so called gamers for some reason have a bone against Nintendo (I guess they hate primary colours and happy characters) and would be happy to see them die.

People turn a blind eye to the fact that Vita is selling like shit and nobody, not even Sony, is making games for it.  You don't hear anyone say how Sony should euthanize it and make a new handheld ... or exit the handheld race altogether.

Yodariquo said:

This reaction is silly and Iga is right.

It's still fun, though.

robio said:

I downloaded the demo to Spelunk this morning. I think I'm missing something. It's fun and all, but is there like an online component or something that makes it great? Just seems to be going from one room to another and picking up treasure. Is there more?

Its extremely hard, try to beat it. There is the point. You will be playing for hours and hours just to progress one world.

Did you know Platinum gave all MG Rising DLC awat for free? I just remembered that now, will play it.

bugsonglass said:

gamingeek said:

It's hard reading all this stuff without a keyboard to reply. You guys have some great points and insights, but there's also some truly baffling leaps of logic on show. I'm not sure where this two year wheel of Nintendoom is going, but this sales obsession is getting a little ridiculous. As someone who updates the news I post stories about all sorts of gaming companies having losses, or going bust. Most of them go without comment. I find it hard to get excited about failure, concerning a company with billions in cash reserves.

I feel like I should refrain from replying to a lot of the bruhah, as I wouldn't want to cause any offence to any of my friends around the debate. It never ends well. So I'll just mention a few positives.

All I would say is just because sales aren't taking off now, doesn't preclude them from improving in the future. Nintendos' projections were ridiculous but most of us who read the news knew this weeks ago. Nintendo are taking a loss right now partly because of the price cut. Wii U is not some budget device, it was sold at cost and with a price cut every sales equals a loss till they can reduce the manufacturering cost. This is exactly what happened with the 3ds.

Lastly, remember this is Nintendo and they can squeeze blood from a stone. They made more money in the GC era then Sony did selling 100 million PS2s. And neither Playstation or Xbox has ever come close to the money Nintendo made during the Wii era. As long as they can make money on their own games it's still a viable platform. Remember, 3DS hardly has any 3rd party support but Nintendo have made it wholly worth owning by themselves.

Nintendo have a $300 million loss for the year, they should go 3rd Party.

Microsoft lose $4 billion with the Xbox and everything's rosy. There's a certain amount of accepted hypocrisy on show whenever the Nintendoom wheel gets spinning again.

Don't forget there are encouraging signs, Wii U saw it's highest ever sales month in December NPD, with something near 500'000 units which is a lot better than the 44k it was doing. And in Japan end of year  U sales were 26x higher than September sales. 3DS is also the biggest selling gaming hardware for 2013 and Nintendo totally dominates the charts in Japan.

I think this persistent wheel of Nintendoom is getting tired, it feels like every site and gamer is trying to top themselves in the drama stakes predicting ever worse scenarios. I'd call it an obsession at this point. Call me lazy or unflappable if you want but I'm fairly relaxed about the whole thing and don't think anyone should be running around with their hair on fire. Nintendo should do what they always do, stick it out, make the games as great as possible and try to boost 3rd party support. Then try again next cycle.

Damn, I wrote this on a touchscreen. Not easy.

I agree with this.  It's like a group of the gaming press and a group of so called gamers for some reason have a bone against Nintendo (I guess they hate primary colours and happy characters) and would be happy to see them die.

People turn a blind eye to the fact that Vita is selling like shit and nobody, not even Sony, is making games for it.  You don't hear anyone say how Sony should euthanize it and make a new handheld ... or exit the handheld race altogether.

I said it before, and I'll say it here again.  The WiiU isn't going to topple Nintendo, financially they're too comfy.  However, this will raise the stakes for their next home console.  I doubt they'll kill the WiiU early, it would cost them too much in terms of trust.  But not killing it won't do them any favours either, unless they manage to turn things around like they did with the 3DS.  Either way, Nintendo will lose loyal fans over the next 5 years, and that's all they have really.   Nintendo will most likely not be in comfortable position when next gen arrives.  If their next console doesn't blow people away, then I'll worry.

Also, every now and then you read someone say how Nintendo should just make a kick-ass handheld that can double as a home console.  Personally, that is the dumbest thing they could do.  Eggs and baskets.  If they make something like that, and it doesn't catch on, they risk losing it all.