US retail outlet Sears is another company that has gotten rather confused about the Wii and the Wii U. The company has listed Wii U games as Wii games and has combined Wii and Wii U hardware. This news comes as Nintendo of America proclaimed that consumer confusion over the Wii and the Wii U is virtually non-existent.
Thanks, iceazeama
Hey! Listen!
these retailers are just stupid
Why? The Wii U is hardly popular, and Nintendo did look like they first market the Wii U Gamepad as a controller for the Wii. So if anything Nintendo are the stupid ones.
Yeah Nintendo are dumb
No, Sears are the dumb ones. They have two entirely different consoles to sell, which are clearly labeled differently with both games, hardware and accessories–how is it Nintendo’s fault that retailers haven’t got their shit straight a year later?
I’m not sure that one game saying “Wii” and the other saying “Wii U” is a very clear distinction. It’s not like Sears is the first retailer to make this mistake. It’s been over a year now. If retailers still don’t understand what the Wii U is, then Nintendo has clearly done a terrible job explaining it.
PS3 and PS4 is closer, Xbox360 and Xbox One is too. They never had trouble with NES and SNES. They are simply stupid.
Guys, guys, guys, both were stupid.
were… you meant are…
er, because the game box says WII-U.
If a game box had xbox one on it, do you think people would be confusing it with xbox 360?
The Wii U is nothing different than the PS4. I mean, they all are called Playstation, just with a added number, so what is even confusing about the name Wii U? If it was a Wii, it would be called Wii, not Wii U. Just like PS3 and PS4!
Nah it sounds like an add on. Like the Kinect or Playstation Move. Or even the Wii Fit Board. Not long after it came out, I’ve had friends ask me what it is not realising it’s a new console.
Oh and PS4 doesn’t sound like an add on? Why treat Wii U any differently? That’s like someone getting confused between Xbox and Xbox One. Now THAT IS a stupid name.
PS4 sounds absolutely like a whole new console. I don’t believe for one second that you think it sounds like an add on. Increasing the number from 3 to 4 unambiguously tells the world it’s the sequel, the next gen. Adding a letter can be interpreted in any number of ways, especially considering Nintendo’s history of giving each console a new name. The Gamecube wan’t called the Nintendo 64 H; so if they released something with Wii in it’s name, the consumer has every right to think it’s part of the Wii. I really don’t understand how people can’t see that.
XB1 however is a stupid name, yes. Nonetheless they marketed it better and didn’t at the first instance make it look like it was nothing more than a controller with a screen.
It’s primarily the gamepad that’s confusing people, as you imply. The ad says “Wii U” and they see a big picture of the gamepad obscuring the console. Of course they’re thinking this new “U” tablet controller is just an add-on. They look at the price and are thinking “Fuck that shit! No way!” People mistakenly think it’s the name that’s the problem. What they fail to realize is that it’s the name plus the gamepad (and to a large extent the way that it’s been marketed) that’s confusing the hell outta people. There are a few things they could have done differently. 1) Made the console look more distinct from the Wii. 2) Featured the Gamepad less prominently. 3) And yes, admittedly, called the system something else entirely.
…Although I don’t have a problem with the name per se. Microsoft has the Xbox brand. Sony has the Playstation brand. Nintendo should be able to have the Wii brand without causing too many problems.
Remember the DSi? Yeah, people thought that was an upgrade only, which it was. Same thing is happening to the Wii U.
Because “Wii 2” says “this is the next generation Wii” whereas “Wii U” could mean anything to someone not in the know. It is not a widely recognized naming convention.
Well said.
Although as much as Wii 2 would have been better, I still don’t like it. They should’ve called it something entirely new, particularly given their stated objective of winning back the hardcore market. “look – here’s something that may or may not be a new console that has strong ties to a casual gamer’s console”. Not really selling it well to the core gamers.
If Nintendo had been serious about winning back the hardcore crowd, they would have made their system more powerful, and that’s all their is to it.
Not torn rooms the ps1-4 controls are really similar, unlike the Wii and Wii u
retailers should know what they are selling. period.
Agreed. Nintendo really botched it when they named it the Wii U. Wii 2 would’ve been more clear, or better yet, a new name entirely. And confusing product names like New Super Mario Brothers U next to New Super Mario Brothers Wii. Two verbose names with only a difference in suffix, a difference stemming from a product that the market are already confused about. They need to get their act together and end this market confusion.
The name “Xbox One” should’ve confused the hell of outta people, yet it hasn’t. It’s primarily the gamepad that’s confusing people. They see the picture and think this new “U” gamepad must be an add-on. The name is certainly problematic in conjunction with the gamepad, but the name is not the main problem in and of itself.
But it’s THEIR job as a retailer to know what game consoles are. Hell, even my mom knows that a Wii U is different than a Wii, and she can barely figure out how to work her phone. And that’s my mom we’re talking about. Not a big-name retailer like Sears.
Are you Fairy_Navi from PD?
To be fair Sears/Kmart are practically a dead company anyways, at least in my parts anyways, so this comes as no surprise.
This comment is wonderful. Thank you.
This is why nobody buys on sears anymore.
^This sear are so stupid that when a new TV model like less TV and oled are not being send to their store because the underprice them.
Should have chosen a better name Nintendo…
yeah, the name problem is one of the ark-problems of wii u.
Why? Its just like Sony and Microsoft do, they call their machines for Playstation, then Playstation 2,3 and 4… and Xbox, Xbox 360 and One. People are just stupid and wanna complain about Nintendo for anything :S
People have been conditioned to know that numbers equate to a new product. We don’t see companies buying products like the iPad B, or PSD, or xBoxR, or STD… It doesn’t work. We are not used to it.
Part of a good ecommerse group is to market to their customers, or just their target in a way they will understand. Nintendo would rather make cute play on words, and it’s a huge reason WiiU is selling lime two week old donuts… Yeah, someone will buy them if you discount them cheap, but not many.
This is where you are wrong. iPad started in sequence but since the iPad 3 has not stuck to that sequence, the difference is apple only makes 1 “new” product available to the masses so there is no confusion.
A game company can’t really do that, they can only release a new model with an ‘upgraded’. Nintendo is trying to ween out the confusion by taking the “wii” off the market. “Mini Wii” was just released thus this throws a wrench in the water and no there are 2 different products with distinct names. But they already messed up and only games and good marketing will dig them outta the hole that they are right now stuck in.
This was the same position that the 3DS was in its first year too, software is what drove the console home, let’s see what Nintendo comes up with to fix it.
Exactly. It’s the gamepad (and the way it’s been marketed) in conjunction with the name that’s the problem.
Right now everyone that is still confused about the wii/wiiu has being the same is just a retard and a lazy fuck with to much money to burn.
and this shows that nintendo usa doesn’t communicate enough with retailers – even with the big ones.
this is the same problem as with nintendo and amazon. i really can’t understand why nintendo isn’t trying to be listed by amazon again, as they are one of the biggeste retailers out there nowadays.
i think that there are some really serios issues regarding management of nintendo both in japan and in the us!
I fee like one of the big reasons why the Wii U isn’t selling like crazy right now is because of this o_o Bunch of people not knowing that this is a different console. I feel like once Super Smash Bros U comes out, people will finally know the difference. That’s my prediction~
it not hard a child of 5 is my nephew knows the difference between the Wii and the Wii u and did a mention hes 5
Well, Nintendo makes games for kids, but they need to market more clear to the ones who have the buying power.
I believe your kids do know the difference, they are probably your typical, young ones, with a fresh mind soaking things in like a sponge. This is why commercials I’ve seen have been to kids as they are then only way some parents will understand what the fuck Nintendo is marketing.
I think consumers know better than some retailers what the Wii U is by this point. If you think about it, kids talk about this kind of thing at school. Word gets around that Nintendo has a new console. Kid goes home and tells mom and dad that he wants one for Xmas. Kids can be pretty savvy about this stuff.
emm nope, this kind of retailer, wont create another category for the Wii U, simply because all Wii’s Hardware and Software works on Wii U, is simple as that
This! The only consoles that need that are the 8gigs twins.
This is what happens when you are both an Xbot and a creationist…
dafuq?
What does the “evolution is true/false” debate have to do with Nintendo?
Why couldn’t Nintendo just call WiiU a Wii 2… ugh
shocker another negative story by sickr
This is a news site, not a “praise Nintendo” site!
Why not call it the GamePad. Or stop making Wiis globally and problem solved
Reggie is a Nintendog.
As a retailer you have to be more responsible than this.
Countless comments on how Nintendo should have changed the name, same shit over and over again blah blah blah.
Indeed…
They love their rehashed comments just as they love their rehashed CoD and FIFA garbage every year…
sickr and iceazeama sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G !
You mean agitating…
of course! iceazeama is paying sickr’s bill!, lol.
Eczema is getting desperate, now he is relying on articles like this to “hurt” the Wii U? and Sickr is eating that crap up like candy
hits are money, it’s all right if he want to post all the doom and gloom, but he also should post everything else, at NintendoLife was posted an article about how The Financial Post thinks Wii U is the best bet this holidays, i mean if Sickr post the one of the Motley fool why not about this other site?
Because Sickr is a blind fool, he is both the puppet and the puppet master, he post this stuff so trolls will dance for him as well as loyal fans, but at the same time, he eats whatever the trolls feed him, in this case, the flakes from Icy’s Eczema problem
This wouldnt be happening had stupid Nintendo just changed the name.
This website fucking troll sucks ass i’ma stay on Nintendolife
The trolls have no excuse to say the Wii U is a confusion to the Wii, no one has seemed to think that the Xbox One is the first xbox and the 360 is the successor,
Where i live the retailer knows the diffirence but the puplic does not. Here we have signs in stores that say something like this: The games in the blue.cases.are for the Wi U, a new Nintendo console and wont work for the Wii!
This talks lengths about how careful about their products these retailers are… There are some market study employees that need firing.
And is izeama really browsing the net looking for negative news about Nintendo and then posting them here?
yep, he literally goes to Nintendo sites to bitch about Nintendo even on Youtube, so he searches the internet for anything he can use to troll Nintendo, its sad really
Only Nintendo and a couple of fanboys think it isn’t confusing….
And people who aren’t idiots. Most people who love gaming know the difference as well. Only the remedial are confused.
Okok i know the Wii u was a trrrible name but hey 1 year after the release EVERYONE working at store should kbow what a Wii U is… Comeon you have to be dumb to think its a Wii with a new controller if you work in the electronics department
Another sub-par retailer trying to spread F.U.D.
oh come on and than what about xboxone? it even has the same name than the ever first original xbox! AND it has the same colour branding than xbox360, even xboxone-games have nearly the same packing layout than 360-games.
Really I don’t think there is any excuse for this. You don’t hear anybody confusing the original Xbox for the Xbox One.
At this point I have to believe that Microsoft or Sony is paying these stores to screw up.
haha what a way to confuse other people to
Both sides can be blamed, Nintendo didn’t do enough over the last 12 months to market the U separately and they still are selling Wii’s which really doesn’t help. Most parents who don’t play games have no idea about the difference between Wii and Wii U and will jut buy their kids the cheaper version they see in stores.
I gotta say you’re right, Nintendo had about a year to market the Wii U and came up with barely anything. All I see is more support for the 3DS and not the the Wii U. If they don’t come up with anything then the Wii u will be a failure.
What’s really bad is that a PSP GO is listed as one of the Wii games.
Does anyone actually shop at sears though
this is not confusion this is just stupidity as a retailer should be able to do some very basic research and get it right
Complete stupidity on Sears’ part.
no it seems people don’t know how to use the site… it’s label like that but when you click the wii/wiiu hardware it takes you to wii and wiiu bundles which it’s no longer listed as wii/wiiu hardware since there’s a lot of bundle.
well that’s what happens when your new console sounds like an addon to your previous console. I can only imagine who came up with the name wiiu.
Some people are very stupid. I mean the consoles are different, and if you looked at the controller differences, one if a remote and the other a tablet-like controller – completely different. And one says Wii the other Wii U. Stupid people!
Those people really need to do better at their jobs.
Can someone e-mail Sears? It is bad enough the Wii U is confusing, if people start seeing this, they are going to be even more confused and if we all want the Wii U to succeed, we kinda need to get rid of the confusion.
Guess they don’t have a person working in the electronics section of the store who knows their shit.
Wii U is not confusing at all, majority of masses are just sub-intellectual quotient! If you can’t read a box or take 2 seconds to search the internet in today’s world to learn the difference, you are a moron!
Well… I am certainly a moron then! I bought it assuming I was buying the game pad as an addition to my Wii. I was seriously taken back when I saw a whole console in the box (although it did, at that moment, justify the price.) That’s what happens when the marketed product is focused solely on the controller, not the entire system as a whole being a completely new gaming console. Should have been marketed differently, or – as others are saying – with a different name altogether.
I checked out Sears.com & didn’t see any such issues…I don’t deny confusion does exist with uninformed retailers though. Anyways, I did notice this:
http://www.sears.com/nintendo-super-mario-3d-world-nintendo-wii-u/p-SPM9845776120?prdNo=30&blockNo=30&blockType=G30
They’re selling Super Mario 3D World for $99 retail!! Um, does that not show demand or what?? Also, it is highest priced Wii U game on amazon.com and always shows limited quantities!
Why don’t you, SICKR, ever report shit like this instead of all the repetitive, retarded, negative, non-news you seem to only post???
Should’ve just called it SuperWii (ie. NES>SNES). That said, I’ve worked for Sears in the Electronic dept. before. There’s no excuse for this to happen. They have a Catalogue dept. as well as a distinct Logistics dept. soooo…yeah, some one dun goofed lol.