Weekend Confirmed 130 - Wii U, Mark of the Ninja, Borderlands 2

I know that the first part of this message doesn't technically relate to this week's episode, but I figure it will be seen here (as opposed to the thread from two weeks ago).

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who was kind about my appearance on WC for the episode of 31/8/12. I had a fantastic time, and the SN community was incredibly welcoming. I'd like to thank Garnett Lee and Del Rio for taking the chance and inviting me on; Jeff Cannata for challenging my challenges and genuinely being as kind as he comes across in all his online videos; Jeff Mattas for being just as well-considered, wry and funny as I'd hoped; Ryan Calavano for calming me during the pre-show and QOTW segment; and, as I mentioned on the show, Christian Spicer for being an amazing friend and helping me out with absolutely everything while I was in LA.

I'd also like to respond to the neogaf comments. I don't have an account there, so here will have to suffice - you guys, too, were surprisingly wonderful and kind about my appearance. To those that say I didn't speak enough: I was actually super self-conscious about speaking too much! Considering I'd had a 30+ hour day the day before with only 5 hours sleep, I actually hope I got a decent balance of saying enough to sound like maybe I knew what I was talking about, without saying too much and having you all realise what an imposter and a phoney I am!

So yeah, there's that. Thanks to everyone for the twitter messages, the facebook subscriptions, the messages left on my blog, the lot. I didn't expect it, and it was incredibly nice.


REGARDING THIS WEEK'S EPISODE:

I understand why there was such an outcry re: the crew's opinions of the Wii U. Does that mean I think that most of the hate-filled, vitriolic comments are justified? Good god no.

I believe the reason it came across as such a downer cast is because the entire three-person crew was largely ambivalent (or, at least, stated ambivalent/negative viewpoints). When people agree with each other about something, that opinion becomes intensified in the mind of the listener, and you begin to hear things that aren't /actually/ being said. I genuinely do think that Garnett is one of the best - if not the best - podcast chairs out there. The *problem* (such as it was) that Andrea René and Jeff Mattas both seemingly hold similar viewpoints -- they want to see potential, but atm can't quite see it. If there had just been one extra chair who had a lot of love for the Wii U, I feel like a lot of these baseless comments wouldn't have been posted.

I also feel like there's a problem in the comments re: Garnett's suggestion of the system being expensive. I'm sorry guys, but it is. It genuinely, actually is. The Wii sold like gangbusters because you could get TEH BEST VERSION11!!!! for $250. Yes, I don't entirely agree with Garnett's SKUs fragmenting the market idea, but that's not to say it doesn't hold some truth. The best Wii = $250, the best Wii U = $350. If you're not a gamer, that's a weird thing to come to terms with.

Personally, I really really really do think it all comes down to marketing at this point. The Wii U has the potential - in my opinion - to sell as well as the Wii did, if they aren't stupid about their marketing. The Anthropologist in me (that's why I mentioned 'the exotic other' in episode 128 btw, if anyone picked that up) can easily see different ways of marketing to different societies in order to maximise sales. They've got it covered in Japan - you don't need much more than "HEY THIS HAS MONSTER HUNTER". Now let's see how they cover the West..