Wii U Commercial Too Family-Friendly? Ad Doesn't Showcase Nintendo Console's Power
Nintendo Wii U's new holiday commercial took a step in the wrong direction for the already struggling console because they chose to go the family-friendly route instead of trying to wow crowds.
The Nintendo commercial recycled a well-known fact: the company always has and always will be family friendly. This image has proved to be both a pro and con for Nintendo over the years. Parents and young children flocked to the Gameboys, 3DS, Gamecube, Wii, and Wii U because it was something positive and safe for people of all ages to enjoy.
The cons that come with this all age style of gaming is that older gamers, who are into first person shooters, sports games, or just games with adult themes, almost never purchase Nintendo consoles because the games are not geared toward their interests. Even when one of these more adult-themed games would make a crossover port to a Nintendo console, it was always a lesser, not-as-impressive version.
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The commercial drives this same point home and neglects to showcase the aspects of the Wii U that will make it enjoyable for those not interested in bright colors, cute characters, and quality time with children. The commercial even stretches that young teens want to sit down and play video games with their parents. While this may be the case in certain circles, playing video games with mom or dad is not deemed "cool."
Never would there be a commercial showing a kid playing Grand Theft Auto with their grandmother or something of that nature. While it is noble for Nintendo to stand by their charm and standards for video games, in order to keep up with the soon arriving PS4 and Xbox One, they may have prove why they can hang with the big boys.
"It's like a leapfrog with better graphics ... Nintendo had the upper hand ... should've came out with a bang," said Youtube commenter Brite2Nite. Another, Mariosonickirby1, chose to be funny with their observation. "I've never played a video game with my parents mainly because I dont want to be sitting in the same level waiting for them to figure out how to jump."
Recently Wii U sales have gone up, and the percentage of them being sold around the world is growing as new games are being introduced. However, in America the numbers are still quite low. Globally, the console has sold just under four million units in a year. To compare that with the PS4 and Xbox One, they alone have sold over a million pre-orders each, and neither has yet been released.
IHS predicts that by the end of 2013 the two consoles will be close in numbers, stating that the PS4 will sell 2.4 million units and the Xbox One will sell around 2.2 million which is over half of the Wii U sales.
See the commercial below.
