The Wii U Has The Advantage This Holiday Season

By now there's already been thousands of articles claiming the Wii U or Nintendo as a whole is doomed. I find that a bit odd considering the 3DS has been doing great for a long while now, and the Wii U is picking up steam following it's price drop and WindWaker HD bundle. I'm not going to waste time arguing counter points against the doomsayers. Instead, I'm simply going to point out why Nintendo has a clear advantage going into this holiday season.

  The first advantage is the Wii U's price. The Wii U is effectively $100 cheaper than the nearest competitor, Sony's Playstation 4, and even comes bundles with a Zelda game. For the Price of a PS4, a potential Wii U owner could get a Wii U and 2 or more games, depending on what they buy, and for the price of an XBox One, they can get a Wii U and a 3DS/2DS to go along with it. With the majority of consumers who buy consoles during the holiday season being parents, that put Wii U in a nice position. They can buy the cheaper option, and still get the biggest titles such as Batman Arkham City, Assassin's Creed Black Flag, and Call of Duty for their child. Price will definitely give Wii U an edge.

  Another advantage is Nintendo's franchises. We all know Mario sells. Nobody can deny that. In fact 80% of Wii U owners have New Super Mario Bros. U, and a brand new 3D 4-player Mario is coming this holiday season, as well as other famous franchises like Wii Fit, Wii Sports, Mario and Sonic Olympics, and Wii Party. Ever since the announcement of Wii Sports Club, the original Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort have seen a sales spike in the US. Both Titles have made their way back into the top 20 weekly games for consecutive weeks. People are apparently preparing to take the new Wii Sports Club online and challenge the world. The biggest key to Nintendo's success this holiday is not even Wii Sports or Mario, believe it or not. the biggest key to their success is Wii Fit. If a consumer already has the Balance Board, they can effectively get Wii Sports for just $19.99 when they buy a Wii Fit Meter. Wii Fit was already a powerhouse system seller for the Wii, and now its only $20 on the Wii U. That is definitely going to sell some Wii U consoles.

  Last but not least, Wii U will be the only new console available in every major region this holiday season. Neither PS4 nor XBox One will be available in Japan this year. That gives Wii U home field advantage for this holiday. leaving the Wii U alone with no competitor except for  PSVita TV in Japan was not the best idea on their part. So with price, their storied franchises, and availability as there big advantages, The Wii U is set to have a very successful holiday 2013. 

Super Smash Bros. Wii U may be the best in the series

unless you've been burried under a rock, you know that Nintendo is releasing a 4th Smash Bros. game for both the Wii U and 3DS in 2014. As per the writing of this article, Villager, Megaman, and Wii Fit Trainer have been announced as the latest Newcomers. It's also been stated that there will be no story mode this time around, but I have not doubts whatsoever, that this will be the best Smash Bros. game ever.

  First of all, Sakurai and his team seem to be really dedicated to balancing the game out as much as possible. This will make the game more enjoyable for competitive tournament players, and those who just play for fun with weapons galore, such as myself. very little if any talk of weapons has been mentioned so far, but if the character balancing is any indication to go by, there will probably be less Smart Bomb type items this time around. Some would argue that a lot of the items in Brawl were over powered, so here's hoping they balance that out along with everything else.

 The next thing that can really make this Smash Bros. the best one yet, is the character roster. Sakurai is looking to cut down on clowns and dud characters like Rob the Robot (shudders....) Yes, yes, I know Villager and Wii Fit Trainer aren't exactly known for being fighters, but for what's been shown, they seem to be formidable opponents. The roster is being chosen very carefully, as to appeal to every demographic that is even slightly interested in Smash Bros. That has to be a plus, right?

  Last but definitely not least, is the portability. This will be the first ever Smash Bros. game to be on a portable, the 3DS (or 2DS if you prefer that). If Nintendo are smart, they will find some sort of way to have some form of interactivity between the 3DS and the Wii U version of the game. You can finally falcon punch somebody on a bus (assuming C.Falcon returns) and not get arrested for doing so. As long as the online is smooth and better than the lagfest that was Brawl, its sure to be a hit.

 So with all of this going for it, Super Smash Bros. 4 (thats what I'm calling it) is set to shatter all of our expectations in a good way and deliver a superb, zany, quirky, tightly balanced, fighting game that we all want. Make it happen Sakurai. My Body Is Ready.