These Are Nintendo's Black Friday Hardware And Software Offers

I wonder how many of these will be in Canada

Majora's Mask 3D will also be $25 at Walmart on Black Friday.

How can I get that amiibo when they are sold out?

Any news for Black Friday in the UK? Asda is not taking part, citing "shopper fatigue". Sounds like shorthand for "people aren't that interested and can spot the con of getting rid of end of line or unpopular stock". Amazon seems to be promoting deals, though, and I'd rather do online anyway. But, as with all these promotions, it's only a good deal if you were going to get things anyway. And always check the specs.

FIRE SALE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_qZej4_crk

I'm having a hard time recommending the Wii U to a friend of my wife. If she gets a dying system will I be the one to blame. Its for her 8 year old. Sure there are games to play but nothing in the foreseeable future.

He want Mario Maker really bad so there is a need.

$25 for splatoon? SOLD!

Ah man Splatoon for 25. That's a steal!

@rjejr
$250 on Black Friday with SSB and Splatoon. Guess Nintendo is putting off a permanent price cut until 2016. All I can say about it is: "look, effort!"

Side by side with PS4 and XB1 deals I think it is going to be just enough to not look completely embarrassing.

So, the ? is entering my mind: Will NX be released by end of 2016? I still think it will happen, but seeing Nintendo sort of keep a schedule of releases going for Wii U is just enough to make me wonder and probably enough to keep the general gamer feeling okay about committing to Wii U. To me, that says Nintendo is doing a decent job here. Until E3, that is.

Smash Splat set is a great name for the bundle Wii U, too.

Also, not mentioned here is select high-rated eShop games going for up to 50% off.

Kinda hoping I can get Ultra Smash for less than the full price. Not that have anything against the game (okay, maybe one or two things), but I'd also like to buy other stuff for the holiday season.

@Spoony_Tech I just bought a WiiU about a month ago and I still think was my best choice, see I have 3 kids the little one has 8 too, for buying their first console I made a List of games that they could play (parental control) between consoles and guess what the list is about 29 games of WiiU, 15 Wii, and 26 eshop, and I´m still adding games, I compared this with the play4 and xbone list and it was a no brainier, besides a lot of this games can be found in real low prices, I just think about them first in what is the best option for their safe fun, I´m not gonna give them hyper muscular machos with guns...

@Sakura from working in tv News I can say with some certainty that ASDA toning it down this year is due to the horrendous scenes last year of fights between shoppers and just complete anarchy. I made a news report about ASDA stores alone last year. Amazon seems the place to be.

@Sakura I can't believe they tried to push Black Friday in the uk.

Sales in the uk have and always will be retailers getting rid of end of line products. More common is the endless sales that furniture stores and Currys (electrical retailer) do, claiming you are saving 100's off their usual price, then the small print shows the 'usual' price was only used for a 3 week period about 8 months ago.

Sales don't exist in the UK, just general inverse law of price compared to age of product.

@Spoony_Tech Tell her to come back with that argument once the kid has played and finished MK8, Smash, WWHD, Splatoon, Lego City, Pikmin 3, SM3DW, NSMBU, SMM, Starfox Zero, Donkey Kong, Rayman, W101, Hyrule Warriors, Pokken Tournament, TPHD, etc etc

@gcunit but what if he want a game on the NX when it's released? I doubt she will be happy about that.

This makes me want to buy another wii u - so my gf and I can splat some ink online together!!

@rodolfo8p I get what you're saying. I'm a gamer so I know what's best for my kids but she is not and kids always want the latest greatest thing. If NX release this time next year it will all be in our faces! Thanks for the replies!

Walmart's going to have the original 3DS XL for $120. Also, Meijer is offering the Wii U SSB Splatoon bundle for $250, plus $30 off your next purchase.

@Antray1984 I wondered about that, but then I thought that they probably wouldn't care if it were still profitable for them. But I think they are right that shoppers don't want that kind of experience. I want no part of a crowd behaving like a savage mob. But they do have a website.

@DESS-M-8 There's always a catch. If you look at some of the offers in store, sometimes they are not even the cheapest way to buy. Buy 2 get 1 free @ £5 each or buy a three pack for £8, so the promotion costs you £2 more than the normal price. Or they have a promotion and stack the shelves in a way that doesn't make it clear that not all items are included. Always buyer beware. Marketing is almost as dishonest a profession as politician.

I'll check out Amazon - they had some good DVD box set deals last year. Otherwise I'll stick to my Clubcard and Nectar deals where shopping is much less fraught.

I don't know if I want to risk a stabbing just to get a villager amiibo from TRU. That place is a madhouse on Black Friday.

@aaronsullivan I don't believe Nintendo will release a new console 5 months after they officially reveal it. If I recall, Wii U was revealed over a year before it released, wasn't it? Also, if it does release next November, I question the quality of the ports & original software line-up. It just seems that those games would all feel rushed.

@Spoony_Tech nothing wrong with adopting a system a little late, stores start marking down prices on games n stuff too,but you know your friend better then I do so.

@Undead_terror
Off topic, your avatar is cool.

@DESS-M-8

Me either. I won't go out on Black Friday, while its not as bad as it used to be, there are still some crazy people. Best to do it online.

That's one hell of a Wii U bundle. It would be a good deal even if Nintendo cut the base price by $50. Maybe Nintendo is up to something... Could they be hoping people buy Smash-related Amiibos and DLC? And/or be trying to strengthen the communities for these games?

@aaronsullivan Super Splat Bros

@Spoony_Tech every Lego game including exclusive Lego City Undercover, all the Mario games including 3D world, Yoshis Wooly World, Mario Kart, Disney Infinity, Skylanders as well as Splatoon and Smash and many more, plus anything new as well as VC and Wii backwards compatibility.
What other console will provide this much for pre-teens? Xbox One and PS4 won't beat the Wii U for families in their entire life time, unless you think an 8 year old needs GTA, CoD, Halo etc.

@aaronsullivan November 2017 for NX. Nothing we've seen has pointed to anything earlier than that.

@Spoony_Tech it's two years away. And still, Xbox One and PS4 combined du4ing th3 entire generation wont beat what the Wii U has now for families. Plus the kid won't notice that all the awesome games are upto 3 years old and cost $15 instead of being newly released for $60+. The savings alone from a Wii U compared to Xbox or PS4 will make up for the fact that the NX will be out in 2 years and 99% likely fully backwards compatible with the Wii U.

Those $15 3ds games are tempting.... if they weren't all the mario games people played/owned already...
And many that will u bundle is seriously tempting

"Nintendo has slapped a recommended retail price of $279.99"

Well then why didn't #$^%$#@& Reggie just say that in the ND yesterday? Why say - "If you want to buy a Wii U, go deal w/ the Black Friday crowds."

And doesn't that make it an official price cut if Nintendo said $279? I don't get it.The console was $299, now Nitnod says it' $ 279, it's an official price cut, isn't it? But Reggie says - "Go shopping on Black Friday."

Admittedly Nintendo always drives me insane, but now I think they're doing it on purpose.

@Spoony_Tech "I'm having a hard time recommending the Wii U to a friend of my wife."

I've been discussing that on here a lot the past few days. (Well mostly I've been saying it and people have been disagreeing w/ me, but that's ok, it is a Ntinedo fan site). So much so in fact that when I read that sentence I expected a "right rjejr" on the end of it, as you mocked me due to yesterday's ND being pretty good. Well I liked it anyway, which I assume means it was good as I usually hate everything.

I'm not going to repost them all here, but it's most of the top 20 posts on my profile if you want to go read them.

https://www.nintendolife.com/users/rjejr

In context it's mostly been here:

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/11/yoshis_woolly_world_secures_top_10_spot_in_us_npd_charts#comment3259120

and here:

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/11/parent_trap_oft-forgotten_wii_u_features_that_matter_to_families#comment3259436

To summarize my position AGAINST a recommendation:

1. NX in Nov 2016 maybe, could be wrong, but we'll know by E3. Probably March if they follow the PS4 release year.
2. $300 is too much for a 1 party console. Even indies are usually ported.
3. If NX is $300 and releases in Nov 2016 AND it's b/c w/ Wii U games, then Wii U isn't worth owning at any price.

$279 doesn't really change my mind, b/c Splatoon is great, but if the kids don't like Splatoon - my kids won't play it - it's not added value.

$249 w/ a $50 GC, making it $199, and I might. Though probably the best reply I got was from@JaxonH, depends on the friend. He said it depends on what games they like, but I think it' show much money do they have to spend? If they buy Wii U this year, can they buy a PS4 or NX next year?

Great system w/ some great games. Price, impending obsolescence and an almost complete lack of 3rd party games - nearly complete lack of FPS, a lack of sports games - are my biggest concerns about giving a recommendation. If they just want Lego Dimensions or sports games, gotta go w/ PS4 or X1. $300 for Nintendo games, and that's it.

Time for me to FINALLY get Splatoon!
$25 is a steal.

@Spoony_Tech It's for an 8 year old. It's not that huge of a choice. There are 8 year olds still getting PS3s and 360s

Anyone get lucky yesterday on Amazon UK? They had Marth amiibo for £1.99, Ike for £2.99 and Mii Sword Fighter / Brawler for £4.99 each! I got one of each & Batman Arkham Origins, £23.18 for the lot, delivered! They've been despatched and all, has to have been a mistake prices went back up very quickly. I was delighted though!

Wow, if only Target was still alive in Canada. I want Animal Cross: New Leaf for $15 dammit!

Me on BF: Throws wallet at Toys R Us How many amiibo can this buy?

The fact that I work at Toys R Us, I am not looking forward to Black Friday, like, at all.

Well, if I was brave enough to deal with Black Friday, I would probably be tempted by that Splatoon deal, but then I still have Batman: Arkham City that has gotten ahold of me again along with Xenoblade Chronicles X at the end of the month.

I'm in the UK and working that day, but I will keep a very close eye on Amazon, GAME and Argos's websites.

let the black friday riots BEGIN!!

Splatoon guys... go for it if you haven't already. I was not convinced it was for me but my son wanted it & I got for £19 or something stupid like that. That was back before the big update & we are still playing it every single day, it's incredible. I'm only just branching out & trying different weapons, only just started trying ranked battles. We'll be playing for a long time. Game Of The Year, no question, for me

Absolutely nothing for me. I would rather spend full retail price on Xenoblade Chronicles X, which comes out one week after Black Friday, than get any of these games on sale. Also, none of these games are worth fighting the mad black friday rush at the stores.

@Spoony_Tech Well it has all of the 3rd party family games, including Minecraft soon, so her sun will be fine, as long as he isn't a CoD fan.

@bezerker99 You can get a lot of the sale items online or the day after in store. It's absolutely not worth going out and risking harm to get one on Black Friday.

I hope they don't bring this dumb day to the UK again

@kevin74 @MacAdam81
The Wii tanked in spectacular fashion after Wii U was showcased the first time. It was already on a downward trend but then everything just died. Even from Nintendo. I don't think Nintendo wants that severe drought again... as it's already in a drought as far as console activity goes. No, I expect Nintendo to stretch out its Wii U releases even if it means delays and HD ports by other companies to keep interest going a bit closer to the new console announcement and release.

You could look at what has happened this year and the dates we are seeing for next and argue this is exactly what's happening.

3DS looks like a dumping ground for pent up RPG titles. No care is being made to spread those out. That indicates to me that 3DS is on its last legs next year as well.

Bah I have more arguments but no time at the moment...

@kevin74
Actually Nintendo DS was announced in late 2003, formally unveiled at E3 2004, then launch model was redesigned and reunveiled in August with official price announcement and then launched in November 2004.
GBA was formally unveiled at at Space world 2000 with a late June launch in 2001.
3DS was unveiled at E3 2010, launched at the end of the year in Japan with spring launch in the West.
GBC saw a unveiling in mid 1997 and was in market in time for holiday 1997.

NES was given a launch unveiling at CES 1985 with a product release starting in August 1985.
SNES launch version was announced in Japan in 1990 with a November 1990 launch. The Western unveiling was in 1991 with an August Launch.
N64 saw a delay due to chip manufacturing issues.

Gamecube launch version was unveiled at E32001 with a holiday 2001 launch.
Wii saw a E3 2006 complete unveiling with a launch in late 2006.

N64 and Wii U are the exception not the rule.
The longer you wait to launch after the unveiling the worst the system performs as it has been seen time and again.

Also every system's launch except for Gamecube and to an extent Wii U has been literally filled with rush ports and only 1 or 2 1st party games.

PS4 had the worst launch out of the 3 current consoles and yet it went flying of the shelves.

I really hope the eshop gets a sale. I'd like to pick up Pikmin 3 and some GBA classics.

@Xenocity So, short version - NX is possible for holiday 2016 if revealed by E3 based on past launches? There was a lot there to digest.

My thoughts on PS4 success - launch PS3 at $500/$600, PS4 at $400 looks like a steal
My thoughts on Wii success - launch at $250 against 2 other $500 systems
My thoughts on Wii U failure - follow up $250 Wii w/ $350 Wii U with specs that look like $200 PS3 and Xbox360
My thoughts on NX - launch at $300 in 2016 w/ PS4/X1 specs do ok, launch at a higher price w/ less specs fail, launch at $200 w/ 4DS specs and tv out, do better

3rd party support is also very important for a price and spec match, less so for a handheld

@Spoony_Tech dude it has a ton of good games. No eight year old could finish them all

@rjejr
Yes, most systems get an unveil by E3 and launch in Holiday.
PS4 and Xbox One were the most recent.

There will be 3rd party support, but It probably won't have any major Western 3rd parties unless Nintendo outbids Sony for their games.

@Xenocity "Nintendo outbids Sony for their games."

Do you really think Sony is "bidding" on Madden and COD and FIFA? I think it's less about bidding and more about EA not like Nintendo.

@rjejr
With in terms of EA, they made Sony and Microsoft bid for full support in 2013.
Microsoft outbid Sony at offered EA $500M USD for the whole gen support of Xbox One and let them do EA Access.
Xbox One versions have more content and Xbox One name and logo exclusively appears at all events (including NFL and FIFA) and in marketing for EA Sports and other select EA games.

Microsoft also has the exclusive marketing and content deal with the NFL for Xbox one which cost them $400M
They also inked and exclusive content and marketing deal with FIFA too for a high price.

Microsoft also outbid Sony for other games including the new Tomb Raider which Xbox One gets a year's exclusive and best content.

COD is made by Activision, which Sony outbid Microsoft for by large margin.
http://www.polygon.com/2015/6/15/8787135/call-of-duty-playstation-exclusive-deal-black-ops-3
I know it's Polygon, but it is real deal on this article.

Sony deal with Activision over COD includes:
*Sony will pay for the marketing campaign, in turn PS4 is the only system mentioned until after launch day.
*Sony will pay part of the development costs, which in turn ensures the PS4 version gets the best effort.
*PS4 is only mentioned at events and product placements
*PS4 logo is large and centered on all retail placements, with Xbox One and PC being made very small and unnoticeable
*PS4 gets all DLC first by significant margin and is mentioned as so in all materials
*PS4 will get the best version of the game
*PS4 will get exclusive content

Sony also outbid Microsoft for Destiny too.
The deal for Destiny includes:
*Sony spending a few hundred million dollars on advertising the game for PS4
*PS4 gets a special LE system and color
*PS4 gets a timed exclusive on all new content
*PS4 gets exclusive content
*PS4 version of the game is the best build of the game
*PS4 gets primary mention in all the marketing material
*PS4 gets exclusive mention at all events
*Sony gets first dibs at the sequel

Sony outbid Microsoft for Ubisoft's support.
This includes:
*Sony is funding most of the marketing for Ubisoft's AAA games including Assassins Creed, Watch Dogs and others
*Sony is paying for part of development
*PS4 has the best versions of Ubisoft's AAA games
*PS4 has timed exclusive content
*PS4 has exclusive content
*PS4 gets primary mention in marketing
*PS4 gets exclusive mention at events

Sony also outbid Microsoft for Square-Enix support (Tomb Raider and DQ are the exempt from the deal)

The deal includes:
*PS4 gets a timed exclusive for FFXIV, FFXV, FFVII remake and PS1 rerelease and any other games Sony wants
*PS4 gets the best versions
*PS4 gets exclusive content
*PS4 gets primary mention in marketing
*PS4 gets exclusive mention at events.
*Sony will help and fund development
*Sony will pay for most of the marketing

Last deal publicly known is Street Fighter V
Sony agreed to fund development, and help with development in exchange for an PS4 exclusive (which maybe timed) and PC port is allowed.
Sony is also funding the marketing campaign too.

Right now Microsoft has already paid ~$1 Billion USD for Western 3rd party support on Xbox one (half of that is EA).

Sony is has spent ~$700M+ to get Western 3rd party support on PS4.

Western 3rd party support is quite expensive to get these days.

WB I don't know if they have an agreement with anyone yet.

As for Nintendo - EA relationship is goes like this:

SNES/Genesis are:

Tripp Hawkins founded EA and went to Nintendo to get special exclusive treatment from Nintendo on SNES, which included cheapest royalty rates, money and others.
Nintendo said no!

Tripp Hawkins team at newly created EA, was able to break the lock out chip on Genesis/MD. Tripp threatened to release the info publicly unless Sega gave into their huge demands.
Sega caved and Genesis/MD were given full EA support while SNES was given awful support.

When PS1, Saturn and N64 came EA ramped it up further:

Sony was desperate to make PS1 a hit, so they offered EA whatever they wanted and other 3rd parties development and marketing funds.
EA tried to extract a similar deal out of Sega and Nintendo but both said no.
Sega gave EA something.

EA then publicly announced they would not support Nintendo 64, unless Nintendo was willing to sign a deal with them.
Nintendo at the last minute give EA a few concessions, including killing any competing 1st party games (the Nintendo Sports line).

DC/PS2/Xbox/GC era:

Sony then up the deal with EA to new heights while PS2 nearing the end of development.
Sega co-developed and then eventually bought out 2K sports, to have their own sports line.
EA demanded Sega match Sony's deal and agree to kill any 1st party games that competed with EA offering.
Sega say no due to financial reasons and due to 2K actually being profitable.
EA announced publicly they would not support Dreamcast, because Sega would not treat them right.

EA in 2000 announced it would not support Nintendo's upcoming Gamecube and GBA, due to Nintendo's unfair treatment of them.
Nintendo agreed in mid 2001, to pay for all the GC and GBA ports of EA games and allow EA to use Mario, Luigi, and Peach in sports games.
They did announce full support for Xbox, because Microsoft met their demands.

When PS3, Xbox 360, Wii came around EA upped the demands again:

Microsoft outbid Sony for EA's support by a large margin.
This meant Xbox 360 was given full EA support and marketing.
PS3 was given some EA support, but shoddy ports and late content.

EA demanded Nintendo match the deal with Microsoft, Nintendo say no ending their relationship with EA.

Since DS was going strong and Wii was gaining a big interest from the public leading up to launch, EA couldn't afford to pull all sport, so they gave token support.
EA's token support did so well, that EA thought All-play brand and cartoony visuals was a better fit for Wii.
This killed EA's sales on Wii and they never recovered.

Wii U and 3DS:

Wii U and 3DS came along and EA and Nintendo couldn't' come to an agreement in 2011.
EA canceled nearly all their 3DS games in development and pulled the rest after 3DS Madden bombed (it was a horrible game).

For Wii U Nintendo offered to match marketing dollars for all good 3rd party games.
They also offered to fund any good 3rd party game as long as the Wii U version was the primary version with exclusive content and features or system exclusive.

What happened was:
EA was the worst offender on Wii U because they did the following:
*Their FIFA and Madden games at Wii U launch lacked modes and content that the other versions had.
*Need for Speed Wii U was announced for the launch, but is was delayed until Spring because NeoGaf leaked that EA wanted people to double dip on it.
The game also didn't get DLC and some other content.
*Mass Effect 3:SE launched on Wii U a week after the Mass Effect: Trilogy launched on other systems for the same price.
Why buy Mass Effect 3:SE for $60, when you can buy Mass Effect: Trilogy on the other systems for $60?
*These games were contractually obligated to be released, EA had ended all Wii U development prior to Wii U's launch.

• EA said this proved 3rd party games can't sell on Nintendo systems.

Ubisoft under shipped their Wii U games and they all lacked the extra content, DLC, and refused to give them preorder bonuses
Ubisoft's E-rated titles did the best on Wii U.

Activision refused to give them preorder bonuses and DLC that the other versions received.
Their E-rated titles did the best on Wii U.

WB refused to ship enough copies of their M rated games, and Injustice didn't receive all the DLC and patches. Also Injustice to this day is still missing the ability to play against friends. Though their E rated and T rated software sold quite well on Wii U with many versions outselling the PS4 versions.

Sega refused to bring their non Sonics games to Wii U, though Sonic and Sega All Stars Transformed saw the Wii U version sold the best at full price (and still the best selling console version by a large margin). Steam sold the best because Sega regularly gave it away for FREE!.
Sega is still refusing to bring their systems to the Wii U eShop.

Take Two outright refused to support the system after it's unveiling because "Nintendo systems traditionally sell to kids and casuals, thus our games are a bad fit for their market" that is what Take Two said.

Square has released a few games on Wii U, but I'm not sure if they came West.
Square hasn't supported the Wii U eShop in the West.

Capcom has supported 3DS nicely, with good eShop support on Wii U.
Granted they haven't released many games on Wii U outside of eShop.
etc....

Short version:
Microsoft spent ~$1 Billion USD to get Major Western 3rd party support on Xbox One (half of that is EA).
Sony spent ~$700M USD to get Major Western 3rd party support on PS4.

Major Western 3rd parties auction off their support to the highest bidders.
EA always gives the best support to who ever agrees to their demands.
If you refuse EA they will cut you out cold!

@Xenocity Well that's a very enlightening read, thanks for all the hard work.

It's also very sobering, and somewhat depressing, b/c if Nintendo is spending money to R&D NX knowing full well they won't get any 3rd party support, why bother? Unless it's a $200 4DS w/ TV out, not a $300 portable Wii U.

1 point - and you can feel free to correct me on - wasn't the $400 mil to the NFL to get them to use Surface tablets on the sidelines and on all the pre and post games shows, not for games on X1?

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/8/6120643/microsoft-surface-at-nfl-games-described-as-ipad-like

And it does bother me that Nintendo seems to have a good relationship w/ Activision - Wii U Skylanders bundles last year, Bowser and DK actually IN Skylanders this year. Yet Wii U can't get COD? That doesn't seem fair at all. Though this year it only would have got nothing, as it wouldn't get online and PS3 and Xbox360 only got online, no single player, and I equate Wii U w/ last gen still.

Still, very sobering. What can Nintendo do?

@rjejr
There was a separate NFL content deal announced at the Xbox One's first E3.
Most of that money and the money from their other deal is for Xbox One

Wii U still gets decent 3rd party support from Japan and NX should get good amounts of 3rd party support from Japan.
Wii U also gets good indie support.
Wii U gets a good amount of smaller 3rd parties too.

Lastly despite what people think, Wii U has gotten good 3rd party support from the West in forms of E and T rated games.
Activision sells more Skylanders and music stuff on Wii U than the others.

Ubisoft sells more E rated games on Wii U than PS4 and Xbox One.
They make decent E rated games outside of the shovelware.

WB sells more of all it's E-rated games on Wii U than on PS4 and Xbox One.
This includes Legos!

Capcom has put a lot of content on Wii U compared to PS4 and Xbox one, it just lacking a new Resident Evil game and Street Fighter.
Most of their releases are eShop though.

Square hasn't released much in the West on Wii U, though Japan has seen a good amount of eShop stuff and DQX

Konami has supported the eShop to some degree

Sega has done well on Wii U, they aren't supporting the eShop for the most part.

EA is the only Western 3rd party missing.

Though most of the 3rd parties who normaly supported Nintendo in the past went bankrupt last gen(Acclaim and THQ) or acquired last gen by a bigger 3rd party (Like Hudson).
The West has mainly has the big 4 3rd parties with very few smaller studios left.

Wii U has an attach rate higher than PS4 on par with Xbox One.
Literally all PS4 users are currently buying is CODs and EA sports over everything else.
If you aren't COD and EA sports, you are selling poorly on PS4.
PS4 is literally selling due to those games and upcoming games that aren't coming for another year or two.

Just because your platform doesn't get AAA M-rated 3rd party titles and EA sports doesn't mean it can do decent and be profitable.

if Nintendo launches NX console at a reasonable price (less than $250 with no pack in, $250 MAX with pack in) with a good marketing campaign, good message and good set of exclusive features.
There is no room for a Me Three console in this industry with PC stealing some of the customers away.

Nintendo should focus on their 1st party content and expanding into new IPs.
Smash, Mario, Mario Kart all gave Wii U a permanent bump in baseline sales.
Mario Maker and Splatoon gave an even bigger permanent bump to Wii U sales.
Nintendo also needs to find new innovations to improve gaming, because competition rarely adds anything (outside of Sega). Sony and Microsoft literally copied everything from GC, Wii, DS, and Wii U into their current systems.

Nintendo needs to focus on indies, smaller 3rd parties, Japanese 3rd parties and the content they can get from Western 3rd parties. This will make a massive contrasting difference with all the AAA M-rated, shooter driven dark content that defines PS4 and Xbox One.

There is a good sized market for those who don't want what PS4 and Xbox One offers and a lot of people who are quite sick of the AAA and shooter fest that those consoles offer.

There is also a good sized market for dedicated handhelds, not everyone wants to play smartphone games.
NX handheld has to be $150 max and quickly drop in price like the other non 3DS handhelds.

The size for dedicated handhelds has always been between 50M - 100M
DS was the rare outlier.
GBA sold ~80M (GBA launched at $100, was quickly reduced to $80 by 1st holiday, and near $60 by 2nd holiday).
GB sold ~70M (launched at $100, was quickly down to $50 by second year).
GBC sold ~30M (launched at $70, quickly down to $50 by second year)
Nintendo lumps them together at ~100M
3DS is inching near 60M ($250, quickly dropped to $170)
DS sold over 150M+ (launched at $150, didn't hit big until $120).

Nintendo needs to have strong launch with must have 1st party games to get people to line up.

They shouldn't agree to let 3rd parties carry at the launch like they did with 3DS and Wii U.
After 3rd parties abandoned 3DS at launch forcing Nintendo to literally divert all resources from Wii U projects to SAVE 3DS, this hurt the Wii U greatly.
Also 3rd Parties demand Nintendo give them the 3DS and Wii U launches without being dominated with 1st party games in order to get support.
Obviously that was very bad decision on Nintendo's part.

They also need to make sure the unified OS and development architect works right allowing them scale the same engines and assets between the two. This will free up a lot of resources and speed up development times.
This will also allow them to share most of the code like Apple does with OS X, iOS, WatchOS and tvOS.
This too will free up a lot of OSs.

Finally expanding out of gaming will help reinforce Nintendo in consumer minds.
Amiibo and licensed merchandise is a great first two steps.
Getting into Universal Parks, Movies, TV shows, etc... should only fuel hardware sales even further.
This expansion is what they did in the 80s and early 90s.

They made the mistake in shutting it all down to appease the industry and to appease gamer who didn't like it.

NX console and handheld might not be #1 in hardware sales and sell 100M+ of each.
There is no reason why the console can't get a base of between 30M - 60M
The handheld could easily get a base of 50M-100M.
Though they need to make sure the prices are mass market acceptable (which they aren't now).

I mean Apple makes money off of Macs, even though Macs are only 6% of global PC market (normally more money on Macs than Dell makes on PCs)
iPhones are only 18% of the global smartphone market, yet getting nearly all the hardware and software profits. (Android is ~75% of the global market).
iPad is ~24% of the total tablet market, yet they make nearly all the profits on tablets.

[b]You don't have to be #1 to be profitable and successful.[b]

P.S. there is probably a no Wii U clause in the COD deal with Sony.
Many 3rd party deals have no complete clauses for certain systems and platforms.

@Xenocity Lot of good stuff in there, I may need to make 3 posts to cover it all. But its' late now and I'm going to bed.

But you have given me hope for NX that I didn't have before. It can be done. Whether Nintendo does it is up to them. A unified platform should give them a great games library though, as you would get if you combined 3DS and Wii U. And that would also give them more time to work on other games, rather than 2 versions each of MK, SSB, and NSMB.

Pricing, games, marketing. They are going to need to do it all.

@TossedLlama @rjejr
Don't bother with massive post or posts.
There's no need for it, not to be rude there is nothing you can tell me that I don't already know about gaming culture and Western markets.

I will end this this:

Dan Adelman (former eShop head) did speak out on his final interview about Nintendo

It really comes down to the business case for these publishers. Nintendo consumers buy Nintendo systems primarily for the first party content. There’s a bit of a self-fulfilling prophesy in that publishers feel that they can’t compete with Nintendo first party, so they choose not to invest in making high quality products for the platform.

He also said:

There have been cases where companies decided to pull out the stops and make a great game for Nintendo platforms only to find that consumers weren’t interested. And it could be because consumers have been burnt by third party games on Nintendo platforms before.

The last relevant part:

[/quote]For Nintendo to break this cycle, I think they need to invest and absorb some of the risk for third parties who try to embrace the features of Nintendo platforms and help communicate to consumers which games are on par with Nintendo first party games in terms of quality. [b]Sony and Microsoft spend a lot of money securing exclusives – or at least exclusive features – on the top games and since Nintendo doesn’t really do that, third parties focus on the other systems. I’m not sure about Sony, but I know Microsoft also has a team of technical people that will go work with a studio for a few weeks or even months to help them make their games as good as they can be on those platforms.['b]

[/quote]
http://dromble.com/2015/01/21/former-nintendo-executive-dan-adelman-discusses-nintendos-culture-third-party-support-and-much-more/

@TossedLlama

Mother 3 will come to the U.S. and/or the whole of the West when the first two games sell enough to warrant the costs.

watch me get mario party 10 because it's $25 yikes

I think I need to take my anxiety medication just thinking about Black Friday... I took on a seasonal position at GameStop this year and I'm opening that day! I work from 4:30 am until 1 pm. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

@Spoony_Tech As a parent couldn't she figure it out herself? It's not worth buying a wii u if there is interest in only one game. Besides Nintendo consoles have been backwards compatible for years now, NX could possibly run wii u games..?

@Kimyonaakuma She's not well informed as to the video game market. Her kids want something she will look into it but I just don't want her to be blindsided by the fact another system is waiting behind the curtain. I don know there's already a ton of content out and the plus side is they don't own anything newer then a Wii.