Nintendo Wii U Adds DVR, Social and Content Aggregation
By Karla Robinson
November 5, 2012
November 5, 2012
- Two decades ago, Nintendo accounted for 80 percent of the gaming hardware market. It has since fallen to 25 percent, but the company hopes that its new Wii U device will help it stay relevant in the new world of streaming content, mobile devices and social gaming.
- “As the Kyoto, Japan-based company prepares for the Nov. 18 launch of its Wii U — a flashier, more powerful and social-oriented update of its Wii system that debuted in 2006 — its executives are taking a page from showbiz and positioning the console as a broad entertainment-delivery platform,” the Hollywood Reporter writes. “Think television, web and video game enabler rather than just a home for Mario, Donkey Kong and Pokemon.”
- The Wii U will feature a handheld controller equipped with TVii, which enables recording of shows, snapshots the viewing habits of family members and friends, access to Facebook and Twitter and an easy-to-use programming guide. “If TV is going to become more about engagement and the ‘second screen’ experience, then Nintendo hopes its controller serves as the platform of choice.”
- Moreover, Nintendo has content deals with cable companies, satellite distributors, and streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon.
- When the Wii first debuted, Nintendo sold 5 million consoles in the first year, and enjoyed a few years in the lead before the Xbox and the PlayStation3 caught up. “But the motion-sensor novelty soon ebbed,” the article states. “Casual gamers moved on to low-cost diversions downloadable through more open platforms like Apple’s iOS and the Android universe or social platforms like Facebook. Games on smartphones also have gobbled up Nintendo’s share of the portable gaming market.”
- Some analysts remain skeptical that the Wii U can turn Nintendo’s decline around, saying the reinvention is too little, too late. But Nintendo disagrees. “It’s the games that will drive the system into the household,” says Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. “But what consumers also will find is that they are getting a robust social space … then find out they have a super remote and an aggregator.”
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