We are continually working around Nintendo's consoles that are playing catch up to the latest technology. Sure they innovate with new ways to play our games, but at the same time, their hardware is lacking in basic functions. We witnessed the Wii's incapability to play a standard DVD movie, and the lack of a social online platform.
The missing social online platform is still a negative blow to the Wii U's consumer. Reggie Fils-Aime stated, in an interview with Forbes, "What we’re doing is creating a much more flexible system that will allow the best approaches by independent publishers to come to bear."
"So instead of a situation where a publisher has their own network and wants that to be the predominant platform, and having arguments with platform holders, we’re going to welcome that. We’re going to welcome that from the best and the brightest of the third party publishers," he concluded.
We had also covered Iwata's talk about the online plan for Nintendo a few week's back stating:
"Iwata stated that their current direction is helping third parties create a system, flexible enough to enable them to do the types of things that they might want to do. He also stated that Nintendo does not want to include a prerequisite that every game has to include features such as VoIP, because some developers may not want to."
With the lack of a centralized online plan, there will come a lack of structure. If Nintendo built a solid online foundation, they wouldn't be receiving as many complaints from third-party developers. Gamers want this online structure, when will we get this in a fashion that is suitable to what we are looking for?
We may see Wii U in a similar situation as the Wii. Rumors are pretty common now about the new Microsoft and Sony systems, while the Wii U is not even out yet. Nintendo's already addressed that the Wii U will not be more powerful than the current systems out. We might see the Wii U with ports from the current systems out, which may look good now, but will not be able to compete with Microsoft and Sony's new consoles. Then we have this lack of a centralized online platform thrown into the mix. How long can they play catch up on expected functions? With Nintendo's first-party titles and innovative ways of playing, if they incorporated these basic functions, they could compete to gain more of the hardcore market, as well.
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