Miyamoto: "Nintendo Wii U is okay I guess sort of not really"

[Magus]

Is it just me, or does most of the news coming out of Nintendo regarding the Wii U seem obsessed with downplaying it and pointing out is numerous flaws? I guess Nintendo's new marketing strategy is "don't get your hopes up it's kind of cool but not really in the same league as our competitors why don't you look at them instead?" I do suppose on the one hand this is a step-up from how the Wii was touted as the ultimate motion-controlled gaming revolution, but it seems pretty dire for Nintendo that they can't actually seem to come up with much good to say about the thing. It's definitely better for their sales figures if I am lied to and buy it than if they just tell me up front it's not all that great. OR, in the best of scenarios, they make a product I won't be disappointed in and sell it on those strengths?! Eh, maybe they can at least focus on trying to sell the thing instead of listing reasons not to buy it.

Things the Nintendo Wii U will be the same or worse at than XBOX360/Next gen XBOX and PS3/PS4 (as pointed out by its own creators numerous times for some reason):

Online gaming
Playing movies
Graphical power and third party support
Probably isn't going to play Dragon Quest X (this would help it sell consoles)

This is not to say it might not be better than the current competition (this article for example points out that it will probably look better than the XBOX360 and PS3), but it doesn't seem to be attempting to push the envelope graphically at all. AND THE CREATORS CONTINUALLY POINT THIS OUT LIKE IT'S A GOOD THING. Well Miyamoto does, anyway, and since he's basically the public face of Nintendo now I think it is rather telling.

This isn't so much a discussion of the Wii U's merits. Right now as long as it has next-gen Zelda or Mario I think it's probably going to be fairly successful. What I really want to ask is: why is Nintendo's strategy to continually play catch-up with its competition, offering minor monetary savings in exchange for massive deficiencies...and then to point this out all the time like its the most amazing sales strategy ever? No wonder their stock price is taking a hit. They can't even prevaricate about how their new machine is going to be a wondrous and amazing new device to change the face of gaming forever! They just keep pointing out how it's definitely not that and you probably shouldn't really be paying much attention to it.

My advice to Miyamoto and his fellows at Nintendo: research the term "puffery" and then apply it to your statements. Attempt to sell your machine on its strengths (if there are none, make them up) instead of pointing out how its various deficiencies are actually apparently selling points.