Pachter: Wii U Not Quite Next-Gen - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 11 October 2011 / 5,749 Views
It's safe to say that the Wii has seen better days -what with good games being buried under the plethora of motion controlled party games and whatnot. While the Wii embraced its casual audience early on, Nintendo is hoping to rope back in the core gamers when it launches its next-gen console the Wii U next year...just don't tell Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter that, as he doesn't think the Wii U is a proper next-gen console.
Speaking at the latest Pachter's Podium, Pachter was asked if he thinks Nintendo has "dropped the ball" in regards to the Wii U.
The Wii U is a pretty ambitious undertaking. It's a new console, with new controls and architecture, but it's not quite "next" generation. Developers have to contend with differences between the Wii U and current generation consoles, then have to figure out what to do with the controls.
Pachter also says that as far as he knows, there are no significant third party Wii U exclusives. He also thinks we will see games that are already out on the market ported to the Wii U which won't help that much in driving hardware sales.
Last but not least, Pachter thinks that the Wii U will need three things to be successful at launch: a competitive price, compelling first party games and compelling third party games. He doesn't know if Nintendo can nail any of these so it's difficult to predict if the Wii U's launch will be a success.
While it's arguable if the Wii U really will be "next-gen," it's still something new. Of course Sony and Microsoft can easily usurp Nintendo's console by announcing their own next-gen hardware and in turn, replicating the same dance we're in right now. Though Nintendo has admitted that it wants to take a slice of that "core" market pie that Sony and MS are fighting tooth-and-nail over.
Do you think the Wii U has what it takes to bring the next generation or will it and its new controller interface flounder once Sony and MS announces the "real" next-gen?
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Oh FFS, WTF does "next gen" mean really?
Wii is the same generation as PS3 and 360, just not HD, anything that comes after is next gen...
It's like saying someone isn't really 19 cause he doesn't have his high school diploma when others do...
You taking it too literally. He meant Next-gen as in "Future". With your example...
The 19-year old kid is not the future because he didn't get his high school diploma.
so your saying the Wii and Wii U are like high school dropouts while the 360 has a bachelors degree and the PS3 a doctorate. That is a good analogy. I agree.
Nope, the wiiU is more like the college named like Bill Gates and the 720 is a graduate who even though is moderally succesuful, Bill Gates is 10x more successful without the "degrees"
Every time Pachter writes something, an angel loses its wings.
Pachter says out loud what we HD guys think in secret.
... and you would be proud to be assosiated with patcher?.. .. alrighty then.. lol
Pachter, I love ya, but how can you not think that Nintendo will nail their first party games? They're able to do that better than any other company out there. They always have. It's the reason that people like me still hold on to their Wii's. We know that their first party games are some of the best ever, and I highly doubt that will suddenly change with the Wii U.
For someone who thinks 25% of US Retail sales is irrelevant to NPD sales numbers his assumptions here are more obviously wrong than ever.
Pachter doesn't know shit.
Confirmed by the absurdity straight from his own: Pachter is insane.
Interesting. So what he's really saying is that when Sony and MS launch their nexgen consoles (probably only 1 year after Wii U, so Wii U won't steal too much of a march on Sony and MS) they will have more grunt under the hood than Wii U. This will mean, like this gen, that 3rd party devs are going to have to button off on the performance of a game in order to release on all 3 systems if they want reaonable parity between consoles, or they will release a PS4/720 version of a game and a Wii U version of a game. This will definitely not convince "hardcore" PS3 / 360 gamers to convert to Nintendo. So that leaves 3rd party exclusives, and Nintendo 1st party games. Well I don't see Nintendo snagging any 3rd party super franchises, and their 1st party is what it is, have they launched a mega franchise thie gen that isn't in what the media call the "casual" category? If you're not a fan of Nintendo franchises now you won't become one just because it's gone HD.
So, while Pachter is a dick for saying Wii U is not "next gen". If you cut through that sort of dumbness then he has idenfified some legitimate challenges ahead of Nintendo in terms of attracting the HD (non-Wii owning) gamer over to Wii U. But does Nintendo really care? I think current Wii owners (hard core and causal) will move over to the Wii U. Though I think casuals will do it more slowly, esp if Nintendo keep supporting the Wii with new software, but they will stay with the Wii brand (except perhaps those who have already picked themselves up a 360 w Kinect)
in all fairness The Kinect is really not that much of a gaming tool
yes its great for dancing games and stuff but when it comes to versitility the Wii and the psMove have it completely top trumped
The Wii U is bound to sell well though
Nintendo have a massive following and i'd say nearly everyone who bought a Wii is going to want a Wii U
Franchises like Zelda, Mario and Pokemon have such a massive fanbase of support that put massive games like Call of duty to shame
My predictions on consoles are very acurate and i've been predicting since the ps1 days
I can guarentie that the Wii U will be a successful console
at the very least it will do what the Wii did to the ps3 and 360
I even know that the 3Ds is going to get even better by the end of next year specially with a new smashbros on the way for it
besides with the price drop and the Next big Pokemon generation still to come you can bet your ass the 3DS will take off upon the announcement of the next gen pokemon game
That's enough Patcher.
''Pachter thinks that the Wii U will need three things to be successful at launch: a competitive price, compelling first party games and compelling third party games''
I can see why they pay him the big bucks. Amazing stuff. /s
Regarding Pachter - If I wanted the opinion of an asshole I'd fart.
hahaha good one!
For someone who thinks 25% of US Retail sales is irrelevant to NPD sales numbers his assumptions here are more obviously wrong than ever.
Pachter doesn't know shit.
I HOPE SOME OF THOSE WII GAMES THAT PEOPLE DID NOT BUT COMES TO TGE PS2 NOT 3 PS2 CAUSE I STILL PLAY MY PS2 I ALWAYS ON LIKE WHO GOT TIMESLITTER AND CHAO RIOT
I HOPE SOME OF TOSE WII GAMES THAT PEOPLE DID NOT BUT COMES TO TGE PS2 NOT 3 PS2 CAUSE I STILL PLAY MY PS2 I ALWAYS ON LIKE WHO GOT TIMESLITTER AND CHAO RIOT
THE WII U AIN'T NEXT GEN CAUSE IT STILL GOING TO LACK ALOT OF STUFF AND IT NOT WORTH IT I'M WAITING FOR PS4 .CAUSE IM GET THE PSVITA AND IT GOING TO BE SOMETHING LIKE THE WII U CONTROLLER BUT BETTER SO SONY MIGHT MAKE GAMES FOR THAT I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG NINTENDO COULD HOLD ON
Next gen has nothing to do with graphics. It's about what consoles are coming out in the next gen.
Gaming controls are what make games fun... HD or not, the Wii offered new controls and it sure paid off with sales. The Wii U offers new controls as well adding to the game experience. It is a NEW system making it "next-gen!" It has nothing to do with graphics!!
I have more respect for Pachter than many here on this site (I enjoy watching Pach Attack on Gametrailers every Saturday). I think his statement that the Wii U is not next gen is a little ludicrous. Next-Gen means its the next generation of consoles, not simply new technology. And the Wii U is much more powerful than the Wii which is the most relevant statement.
I am sure that just as Pachter and other people have speculated that Sony and Microsoft's new console will come in 2014. In addition I am unsure how much more powerful these systems really will be. If they are as technically impressive as games on powerful PCs then then the Wii U will be behind, but not as much as the Wii compared to the PS3/360.
All in all, I think that very few of the hardcore gamers who left Nintendo for the 360/PS3 are going to come back. There is too much skepticism with the Wii U's controller for them and the lack of clarity over online and HD space really hurts too. I do think that Nintendo will be a great success for multi-console owners and Wii only households however. I anticipate the Wii U being in last place for for the next gen, especially with Sony and Microsoft likely having motion controls from the start to help attract casual gamers, but it won't be as bad as the Gamecube when NIntendo was far behind both the PS2 and Xbox.
Good for Nintendo-usually the opposit of Pachters prediction happens.
But this time it "ll be pretty hard.
If the Wii U has not far more power than the PS360 the core gamers won"t buy the console.
If the Wii U is too expensive(think about the screen controller) the Casuals won"t buy the system.
Some of the left Core gamers are bored and tired playing Mario(cart)and Zelda again and again.
Sony may have the better Wii U with the PS3 /Vita combination.(eg-you can reach the Vita screen easier and better than the Wii U controller screen.)
Pachter thinks that the Wii U will need three things to be successful at launch: a competitive price, compelling first party games and compelling third party games. He doesn't know if Nintendo can nail any of these
Are you serious
The Wii U will again be the cheapest of the next Gen systems
and Compelling first party games?
Nintendo are the Masters of first party games
With Titles like Zelda and Mario behind them The Wii U is bound to sell well specially now that fans are finally going to be getting Mario and Zelda games in HD which is something we have wanted for a long time
Exsclusive 3rd party games though who knows
they seem to be almost non exsistant these days in this abomination of multiplatform titles
although im hoping to see more of them come round on the next gen systems
after all, people buy consoles for games and if they all have the same games then it really doesnt give anybody reason to own all the systems
People still think it is next gen with the current gen, so ignore Pachter. Next gen just means the next system's not the tech inside.
@Hephaestos
Perfectly said
You'd be surprised how many people don't know what "NEXT GEN" means. Looks like Patcher is one of them. It doesn't have to do with HD in the least. As for the Wii U, it's success will happen because of the games and the control. What bother me is it's only going to have one of those portable controls. What are the other 3 people going to use? The regular Wii controllers? Curious as to how that will work. I guess it will since all the Wii games is suppose to be compatible with the Wii U. Price will definitely be important though. If this system is over $250 it may be a hard sell. I actually have no plans on getting it the first year. I will definitely get the new Xbox and Playstation, but probably not at launch. There is just too many great games that need to be play on their older systems.
To Patcher: Next-Gen means after this Gen...this man it's so silly. Why he sais only cool things in other networks, outside that he seems so dumb.
He is only saying what 360 and PS3 owners already know or felt about the Wii. It is the reason why the console war never involved the the Wii. It may of won the war but nobody actually cared, what they cared about was how the HD twins were doing.
I personally think the Wii U has an uphill battle and I cannot see it pulling it off again. That said I thought the Wii was a stupid name based on schoolboy giggles and nobody would admit to a Wii and that HD DVD was a better purchase as it said what it was on the tin.
We all know how that turned out...
facepalm How does this guy still have a job? He puts the anal in analyst!
Wii U will be a next gen console not just in power but in technology and innovation too. It will also be affordable at around $300 launch price. And Nintendo doesn't need a whole slew of 3rd party exclusives like Sony and especially M$ do, they just need to get the same multiplatform hits that the other consoles get every year with the same features to compliment their stable of 1st party games and IPs.
Wouldn't it be nice if Pachter said something good about Nintendo? Probably not, considering he is usually wrong about most of his "predictions". Keep up with the Nintendo negativity Pachter!
To try and redefine what a generation means shows how out of touch Pachter is to the game industry.
"While the Wii embraced its casual audience early on, Nintendo is hoping to rope back in the core gamers when it launches its next-gen console the Wii U next year." - I hope so!
The Wii wasn't exactely "Next Gen", and neither have the DS any iOS devices been.
Besides, I'm not convinced Pachter knows everything about what the Wii U will be able to do.
i dont know. it can be a game cube failure path or it can be a ground breaking wii success but im thinking more of the game cube path for the WII U because its very hard to be ground breaking twice plus graphically it looks very behind or should i say current plus how well their online be and well it be able to play dvds or blu-ray and keep in mind not having all of those things keeps the price cheap or low
Wii and Wii U are like high school dropouts while the 360 has a bachelors degree and the PS3 a doctorate. That is a good analogy. I agree.
