With the Playstation 4 system rolling out in Japan this weekend, many analysts have speculated that they could have over 7 million units sold by the end of March and upwards of 10 million by May. While this is great news for Sony, Microsoft is no doubt concerned about what they need to do to get back in the battle for the Next Generation as it is looking like an early runaway for Sony at this point.
Now before you go and dismiss this as another story about Sony kicking the silicon butt of Microsoft early in the battle of the new home consoles, you may be surprised to know that this article is going to focus on the Wii U by Nintendo.
There has been much made recently of Nintendo falling further and further behind their competition and that a new direction is needed for the company which has caused several of their top executives to fall under scrutiny.
I have written in the past that our unit is mainly sitting untouched due to a lack of quality exclusives that we would actually want to play. The titles have been sporadic at best with only the Mario Bros games really holding much appeal for us which has caused me to regret purchasing the system, especially when it can now be obtained for more than half of what we paid for it a year ago at many retailers.
This could all be changing soon with the pending release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. I had a chance to play the game last July at the San Diego Comic Con and had fun with the game. While it is not a gigantic leap in gaming, it was a solid example of the gaming style that Nintendo is famous for and the upgraded power of the Wii U allowed them to do things like have depth to the maps and zoom in and out of the environments to take the series beyond 2D side scrolling.
We had been told the game was coming for the Holiday season but this soon became delayed and added to the frustration of a lack of quality games for the system.
The game is arriving to solid reviews and with titles such as Super Smash Bros and Mario Kart 8 due later this year, Nintendo is facing a crucial time in the life of the console.
While many believe the new games are too late to make a difference, Nintendo can still rebound enough to show that they can be a force once again and that this is just the start of good things to come for the system.
To say that Nintendo is facing an uphill battle is an understatement, but it will be interesting to see if gamers will give the system another chance thanks to a reduced price and pending releases that should appeal to their core market.
Only time will tell, but if the public continues to ignore the system, this could be the end for Nintendo in the gaming market much the way that the Dreamcast ended Sega’s early run.
