The 'Shroom:Issue 129/Palette Swap: Difference between revisions

The 'Shroom:Issue 129/Palette Swap (view source)

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 The last song may have focused on the Wii U exclusively, but no console can be understood without understanding the competition it faces. Nintendo tends to go its own route while letting Sony and Microsoft battle for dominance in graphics and power, and the Wii U was an odd compromise between this standard strategy and upgrading the highly successful Wii. Though far more powerful than the Wii, the Wii U couldn’t compete in terms of power and its innovations just weren’t revolutionary enough to mirror the Wii’s success. All of that noted, it’s time to examine how Random Encounters portrays the battle the Wii U waged in their musical [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MveC_thKZSY “Console Wars”]. Rather than just being catchy and having a humorous video which turns the Console Wars into a mechanized military conflict, the song communicates the strategies of Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft as well as the features and faults of their consoles. Among the mentions when the consoles are unveiled are PlayStation 4’s “Tons of indie support,” Microsoft’s Xbox Live Internet service, and Nintendo’s strategy of arming the Wii U with “tech to the teeth” in the form of its “NFC, touchscreen, and more.” Reflecting Nintendo’s strategy, the Wii U’s representative notes that “No other games claim the same fame or fun. / So who would pay more for PS4 or Xbox One?” Nintendo relied on its well-known IPs and the great reputation of its games to sell Wii U systems and hoped that the console’s low price point would attract a wider audience. These two points, as the song demonstrates, formed the core of Nintendo’s plans to carve itself a niche and outsell its competitors. The song goes on to note some of the advantages each of the consoles enjoyed, such as Microsoft’s robust achievement system and the Wii U’s early launch. The video isn’t afraid though, to highlight some of the missteps which ultimately plagued the consoles. Microsoft’s multiple reversals on their policy of used game support certainly caused frustration for consumers, as did Nintendo’s attempt to duplicate the Wii’s success with casuals and non-gamers by focusing on highly accessible party games and simplicity. Ultimately, the song notes that the three console manufacturers focus on a similar strategy of “change the name / stay the course,” a strategy which was clearly the attempt with all three consoles. Even the Wii U followed this path, with its name, marketing, and overall strategy designed to pull off a repeat of the Wii’s success. On all three consoles one will find that they do “make great games,” but, as the next song will show, the Wii U proved that great games alone aren’t enough to make a console successful.
-The Wii U was plagued with numerous problems from its announcement on, and it’s difficult to rank any one of the mistakes which Nintendo made above the others. There are plenty of articles out there which try to piece together the story of the Wii U’s failure, such as [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/03/rip-wii-u-nintendos-glorious-quirky-failure this one]. If you’re the curious type, read up on some of them. At the risk of oversimplification, this retrospective is going to focus on a single broad failure of the console. At the heart of the Wii U’s failure was its inability to attract either the casual and non-gamer market which the Wii was so effectively able to capture or the hardcore gaming crowd which came to disdain Nintendo’s insistent focus on party games. The first market was lost to mobile gaming and other entertainment or simply tired of videogames, while the dissatisfied latter market turned to Xbox One and PlayStation 4. This month’s third song, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvGEC2CQj8Q “It’s Not Wii U, It’s Me”], captures this fundamental failure of the Wii U in song. The narrator of the song introduces himself as a “hardcore gamer” and, after recounting his history with Nintendo through its early years in the videogame industry to the Wii’s release, laments that the company has “Turned [its] wandering eye to casual gamers.” The whole song is essentially a break-up between the narrator and Nintendo, and the song expresses the frustrations that many gamers felt towards the company throughout the Wii and Wii U years. The narrator complains about the abundance of party games on the systems and about “gimmicky” games meant to appeal to a wider audience such as <i>Wii Fit<i/> and <i>Wii Fit U.</i> The song continues to alternate between a longing for the days of the Nintendo 64 and criticism of the Wii and Wii U. “Shovelware”, or cheap and poor-quality games made to appeal to a massive audience through simple controls and gameplay, is a target of the narrator’s criticism. Shovelware was a massive problem for the Wii due to its large install base and simple motion controls, but, in large part due to its poor sales, did not appear as much on the Wii U. Noting even the Wii and Wii U’s declining popularity amongst casuals, the narrator notes that “Old folks at the home are sick of Wii Sports.” While the “blue ocean” strategy of making the Wii appeal to an untapped audience worked for some time, it eventually, like most fads, passed. The Wii U might have been expected to ride on the Wii’s success, but, as the song points out, enthusiasm for the Wii had already dried up by the time of the console’s release and its associations with its predecessor may have even harmed its reputation. Undoubtedly, the Wii U’s failure was complex and warrants detailed analysis, but, as this song shows, people ultimately abandoned the console because it failed to appeal to any audience, neither those who purchased the Wii with great enthusiasm nor those who had been long committed to video games. “It’s Not Wii U, It’s Me” is not only enjoyable, but relatable for the numerous fans whom Nintendo alienated during the Wii and Wii U years.
+The Wii U was plagued with numerous problems from its announcement on, and it’s difficult to rank any one of the mistakes which Nintendo made above the others. There are plenty of articles out there which try to piece together the story of the Wii U’s failure, such as [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/03/rip-wii-u-nintendos-glorious-quirky-failure this one]. If you’re the curious type, read up on some of them. At the risk of oversimplification, this retrospective is going to focus on a single broad failure of the console. At the heart of the Wii U’s failure was its inability to attract either the casual and non-gamer market which the Wii was so effectively able to capture or the hardcore gaming crowd which came to disdain Nintendo’s insistent focus on party games. The first market was lost to mobile gaming and other entertainment or simply tired of videogames, while the dissatisfied latter market turned to Xbox One and PlayStation 4. This month’s third song, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvGEC2CQj8Q “It’s Not Wii U, It’s Me”], captures this fundamental failure of the Wii U in song. The narrator of the song introduces himself as a “hardcore gamer” and, after recounting his history with Nintendo through its early years in the videogame industry to the Wii’s release, laments that the company has “Turned [its] wandering eye to casual gamers.” The whole song is essentially a break-up between the narrator and Nintendo, and the song expresses the frustrations that many gamers felt towards the company throughout the Wii and Wii U years. The narrator complains about the abundance of party games on the systems and about “gimmicky” games meant to appeal to a wider audience such as <i>Wii Fit</i> and <i>Wii Fit U.</i> The song continues to alternate between a longing for the days of the Nintendo 64 and criticism of the Wii and Wii U. “Shovelware”, or cheap and poor-quality games made to appeal to a massive audience through simple controls and gameplay, is a target of the narrator’s criticism. Shovelware was a massive problem for the Wii due to its large install base and simple motion controls, but, in large part due to its poor sales, did not appear as much on the Wii U. Noting even the Wii and Wii U’s declining popularity amongst casuals, the narrator notes that “Old folks at the home are sick of Wii Sports.” While the “blue ocean” strategy of making the Wii appeal to an untapped audience worked for some time, it eventually, like most fads, passed. The Wii U might have been expected to ride on the Wii’s success, but, as the song points out, enthusiasm for the Wii had already dried up by the time of the console’s release and its associations with its predecessor may have even harmed its reputation. Undoubtedly, the Wii U’s failure was complex and warrants detailed analysis, but, as this song shows, people ultimately abandoned the console because it failed to appeal to any audience, neither those who purchased the Wii with great enthusiasm nor those who had been long committed to video games. “It’s Not Wii U, It’s Me” is not only enjoyable, but relatable for the numerous fans whom Nintendo alienated during the Wii and Wii U years.
 Of course, while the Wii U was a resounding failure and mistakes were made in abundance, not everything about the Wii U was bad. The Gamepad almost undoubtedly inspired the Switch’s innovative hybrid design, and, while they weren’t enough to save the system, Nintendo and its partners put out an amazing selection of high quality games for the system which should not be discounted. Quality is subjective, of course, but games like <i>Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze,</i>  <i>Super Smash Bros. For Wii U,</i> <i>Mario Kart 8,</i> and <i>Bayonetta 2</i> made an impression on many gamers and received quite a positive response. Games like <i>Super Mario Maker,</i> <i>Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker,</i> <i>Pok&eacute;nn Tournament,</i> and <i>Splatoon,</i> on the other hand, showed that Nintendo was quite willing to innovate and give Wii U owners a new experience. The Wii U’s wonderful lineup is celebrated in this month’s final song, which celebrates the Wii U’s legacy and points to the console’s impressive software lineup. The song is a bit heavy-handed with the praise and is clearly biased, but [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9e1sOyjLcU “Goodbye Wii U: A Wii U Tribute Song”] does offer one final positive note of reflection on the Wii U. The Wii U may have been a flop, but it did have some great software. There is not any reason to look at this song in detail, as it essentially just praises the Wii U’s software successes, but the song and its accompanying montage are worth listening to and viewing.
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 == Take Cover! ==
 Written by: {{User|Henry Tucayo Clay}}<br>