Amazon has followed Asda's lead by cutting the price of the basic Wii U model to £149.
Earlier this week, shortly after Nintendo missed its annual profit target by 50 per cent, president Satoru Iwata explained to investors why he believes Wii U sales have failed to meet expectations since the console launched in November.
"We have not been able to solidly communicate the product value of Wii U to our consumers yet, which has been a grand challenge for us," he said.
"Some have the misunderstanding that Wii U is just Wii with a pad for games, and others even consider Wii U GamePad as a peripheral device connectable to Wii. We feel deeply responsible for not having tried hard enough to have consumers understand the product."
And this week it came to light that Nintendo is sending messages to Wii owners via the WiiConnect24 service stressing that Wii U is a brand new console and "not just an upgrade".
Comments
46 comments so far...
Balladeer on 3 May '13 said:
Obligatory "and here we go" comment. But yes, basic version is rubbish.
TheLastDodo on 3 May '13 said:
R.I.P........things
CrispyLog on 3 May '13 said:
Goodnight sweet prince.
Its like the Dreamcast all over again
DiamondDogs on 3 May '13 said:
And here...w...Oh, Balladeer already said it...well...Hmmm, Purple Monkey Dishwasher.
GlynCR on 3 May '13 said:
In fairness its no where near the Dreamcasts standards, admittedly ive only played a handful of games on my mates (zombiU, nintendoland, arkham city armoured and mario bros U) but there crap, I found arkham city much worse than the ps3 version, except nintendoland and thats another mini game disc they need a proper system seller and they need to announce mario or meteroid or something big at e3 or it will get washed away under ps4 and neXtBox
mangle on 3 May '13 said:
Basic version is rubbish? You just get a larger HDD, a charging cradle and Nintendo Land with the Premium don't you?
I have an external HDD and Nintendo Land doesn't interest me so I was going to maybe get the Basic today.
Balladeer on 3 May '13 said:
Each to their own, I suppose. I recommend NL and the extra storage space is a big plus (plus I prefer black consoles to white), but if neither of those matter to you then go for it! Definitely worth it (as an investment) at this price.
mangle on 3 May '13 said:
Yeah I wish it was black. It's true - you never want to go back!
I don't have any games playing friends really so Ninty Land would be wasted on me, lol.
WHERESMYMONKEY on 3 May '13 said:
I honestly don't understand the attitude of some people. Surely this is a good thing. You can get a new games console thats more than likely going to be supported for a good few years to come and have some great exclusives on it for £150 in fact
If you're not interested in Nintendoland. or a HDD you could get a basic and zombiU for £175.
________________ on 3 May '13 said:
But why get a £150 console with potential of future support, when you can get a £140 PS3 with the guarantee of hundreds of already existing games in the catalogue. And the games much cheaper.
Balladeer on 3 May '13 said:
Personal taste? Already owning a PS3? Fanboyism? Exactly two of these are good reasons.
Gambini on 3 May '13 said:
Ninty done f*cked up proper this time.
shellster2 on 3 May '13 said:
i haven't checked but i bet the likes of Game don't match this price.
it's definitely a great price though.
Kinslowdian on 3 May '13 said:
It's sad the gaming community just wants one machine, I've not been impressed with Sega games since they went into being a publisher. They don't have the same kind of polish as when they were making hardware too, I hope Nintendo don't do the same.
StonecoldMC on 3 May '13 said:
Will the price rise this year?
Metagen on 3 May '13 said:
That's still up for debate at the moment currently. If this keeps on failing the way it is why would Nintendo support it? Why would 3rd party developers support it? It's still possible that they will just draw the line, cut their losses and try again even though it may seem unlikely. As for the top quality exclusives there is no eveidence of this aside from hope from the Nintendo faithful.
I was burnt by the Wii despite some good games and I'm not going to be so quick to jump in this time. When the premium hits £150 I'll consider buying it if the games are there. I know this could take years but as I said I'm in no rush and I'll be content with other next-gen consoles until then.
MisterBedo on 3 May '13 said:
BlueScorpion91 on 3 May '13 said:
Why pay £175 for one game(That's had mixed reviews to say the least)? Get a 360 and play Left for Dead, have change in your pocket and a mass of great games to choose from. Same goes for PS3.
AnimaOnline on 3 May '13 said:
That's not really an accurate comparison considering that Sega was already having big money problems before the release of the Dreamcast due to Sega Saturn's failure. This lead to Sega requiring unrealistic sales performance from the Dreamcast. It actually sold fairly well in certain regions but not well enough to pull Sega back.
Nintendo on the other hand is coming from huge commercial success with the Wii and the recent success of the 3DS. You could perhaps compare the Wii U to the Sega Saturn or Gamecube but certainly not the Dreamcast.
Hans Carmichel on 3 May '13 said:
Sometimes you just can't flog a dead horse.
Balladeer on 3 May '13 said:
Oh look, Hans is back. And I'm sure that if I could see his post, it would be a balanced and fair appraisal of the situation that would in no way make me reach straight for the report button.
Barry316 on 3 May '13 said:
Well now you can decide!
Balladeer on 3 May '13 said:
No, no, no no no! (covers eyes)
DiamondDogs on 3 May '13 said:
'Trolling not very affective'
Hans, return to your Pokéball now.
Balladeer on 3 May '13 said:
Argh, damn it, I saw it that time. A plague on both of your houses!
Padua on 3 May '13 said:
I am very interested at that price but only really want it for Wii "U" Fit.
Has Nintendo mentioned a rough date for that yet?
(Will my existing Wii Fit disk work in the Wii "U"?)
Does any USB storage/HDD will work with Wii U? Is the charging cradle unnecessary?
I am wondering if the price will go up too... it is fantastic value. Keep me busy until later this year anyway
Zabba 2 on 3 May '13 said:
Have you seen the white Wii Us in GAME? The dirt...oh lord the dirt. Practically yellow Wii U gamepads. That's half the reason I want a premium, the black colour won't go all awful.
StonecoldMC on 3 May '13 said:
The super market's are doing a roaring trade of doing that very thing.
And less of the snide please. It's not that hard.
shellster2 on 3 May '13 said:
not everyone's got 2 houses though Balla! Will you be heading to the country retreat this fine bank holiday weekend Sir?
Balladeer on 3 May '13 said:
Nope, I'm off to rainy Dalkeith, in Scotland! Girlfriend's parents and all that.
The rest of the House Balladeer will be partaking of some Midlands respite, though. Got to give the valets something to do.
shellster2 on 3 May '13 said:
you're all heart old boy!
StonecoldMC on 3 May '13 said:
The weather in Glasgow is bloody honking today Balla. Remember to bring a cagoule, in fact, bring two
.
ricflair on 3 May '13 said:
If everybody took that view, new consoles would never get off the ground, as the existing library for the old ones is always going to full of more, higher quality games. Although buying a console for one game is silly, it's why I've never really believed in a single title being a system seller, although one can tip over the edge (GTAIV for me on the 360!).
Paul Skinback on 3 May '13 said:
You can if you're a hotdog seller.
Balladeer on 3 May '13 said:
I saw this. It's blooming marvellous down south as well.
The things I do for love!
rip_it_up on 3 May '13 said:
Such a great price.
I have a black 32gb one and still have 18gb left, but i've just bought a used buffalo external 250 gb external hdd for £14 off ebay which works perfectly with the wii u.
I think the wii-u selection of games is pretty slim at the min, But the games which are out for it currently are of pretty high standard compared to other newly launched consoles.
Plus the e-shop titles are great, the internet browser works well, (well enough to suppress my desire for a tablet saving me £170 right their.)
And the biggest draw for me is you no that the nintendo titles are still to come. which is enough for £150 easy.
The gamecube rrp was £129 in 2002
BlueScorpion91 on 3 May '13 said:
I totally agree, but with the Wii U it's a bit diferent as its basically the same generation as 360 and PS3. But as I said before, if they are games on it that you know will be worth your time then you should get it, just don't get it hoping there will be.
FatChickThriller on 3 May '13 said:
Overpriced rubbish. This so called next gen console is as much use as a used teabag do me a favor !
StonecoldMC on 3 May '13 said:
I did try. Let the bruising commence.
Balladeer on 3 May '13 said:
What about games you know are coming out on it, though? Like a 3D Mario, or Mario Kart, or Zelda? It's hardly a gamble that they'll come out, and be good, if not overflowing with innovation (although SMG was pretty good at that). The gamble is whether the console prices will go back up when they do, I suppose.
Mmmmgrolsch on 3 May '13 said:
BlueScorpion91 on 3 May '13 said:
What, honest? Woooooo
Mmmmgrolsch on 3 May '13 said:
Welsh Jester on 4 May '13 said:
Here we go with another history lesson, i need to copy and paste the same thing over and over i think.
Dreamcast only died because of PS2 hype, look back and 90%+ of DC games had the same graphic capability as PS2. When PS2 released there were 2-3 games better than PS2 had then, Soul Calibur, Shenmue, Metropolis street racer.
So the DC was as good as most PS2 games and released WAY before the PS2 or Gamecube, now the Wii U released AFTER last gen (360 and PS3) and nearer NEXT gen (PS4 and next Xbox) but the Wii U is closer to 360/ps3 than ps4/next xbox in capabilities except for disc capacity where the DC had lower amounts of.
So, Dreamcast was ahead of it's time technically and it showed in the games, Wii U is only a bit above last gen.
But the one thing Wii U and Dreamcast does have in common is easy piracy, the system has already been fully hacked and there is a game at 23.3gb already available online.
HelloLadies on 4 May '13 said:
Something tells me you'll be copping a tea bagging after that outburst.
Lsnake on 5 May '13 said:
I'm still struggling with the fact that despite the low price, I still see no reason to actually get the Wii U, especially with the PS4 and Nextbox lurking around the corner. But if the right games comes along, now that would be something else.