????任天堂深陷困境。

????本周初，享有盛譽的視頻游戲公司任天堂（Nintendo）宣布公司最新家庭游戲機Wii U銷量不及預期，僅售出306萬臺。去年10月，該公司曾表示，希望到今年3月底銷量能接近550萬臺，但現在這一目標已降到了400萬臺。游戲軟件的銷量則要好得多：去年年底一共賣出了1,100萬個游戲。其實任天堂也調低了這方面的預期，即到今年3月的銷量目標從2,400萬款降為1,600萬款。

????去年11月評測Wii U時，我打心眼里覺得它有很多亮點：雙屏的體驗頗為有趣，首發的幾款游戲也很有意思，其他還有很多。但這臺游戲機還是有一些不足之處。要想提振銷量，任天堂必須在如下幾個方面進行改進：

????降價（這是明擺著的）。Wii U標準款起價300美元，其他型號價格更高。如果現在是2001年，游戲迷們對這個價格絕不會多考慮，肯定趨之如騖。但是時過境遷，現在不管傳統游戲迷或開發商是否愿意承認，蘋果的iPhone、iPad和谷歌安卓（Android）設備上的各種休閑游戲已吸引了大量年輕用戶。只需要看看任天堂不斷下降的價格底線就能證明這一點了。日前任天堂總裁巖田聰表示，公司近期不會考慮下調定價，部分原因在于目前任天堂游戲機的售價已經在成本線以下了。但是為了讓產品顯得更有競爭力，尤其是面對iPad mini那極富吸引力的329美元的售價，采取降價這樣的激進舉措可能還是勢在必行。

????升級硬件。去年10月我就評測了一臺Wii U，它有很多招人喜歡的地方。但讓人難熬的加載時間不算在內。比如，在退出一個游戲或是應用時，要加載Wii U的主菜單，還是需要最少16秒，最多28秒（平均耗時為20秒）。從大方面說，這聽起來不算多長時間，但所有這些時間加起來，加載時間就讓人覺得沒完沒了了——其他用戶，比如急躁的日本女性用戶就會認同這一點。考慮到另外兩個對手，已經征戰市場多年的索尼（Sony）的PlayStation 3和微軟（Microsoft）的Xbox 360并沒有出現這個問題，這個情況就更不可原諒了。任天堂也承認了這一問題，同時表態自己正在設法解決。但真正要解決可能還有待時日了。

????加快游戲開發。發布新游戲機時，首批配套的游戲通常要等一段時間才會推出。Wii U也不例外。但更糟的是，幾款主打游戲，如《皮克敏3》（Pikmin 3）、大有希望的動作游戲《神奇101》、以及《瓦里奧游戲》都被推到了“今年上半年”才能發布。如果以前Wii U就不好賣，那現在情況就更是如此了，因為他們能指望的力作只是《樂高都市》（Lego City Undercover）或從其他平臺上移植過來的游戲，比如《極品飛車》（Need for Speed: Most Wanted）。《塞爾達傳說》（Zelda）、《星際火狐》（Star Fox）或《銀河戰士》這種級別的游戲根本就連影子都沒有。而任天堂獨有的經典游戲卻是吸引買家的必備利器。（財富中文網）

????譯者：清遠

????Nintendo is in trouble.

????The long-respected video game company announced earlier this week that sales of its newest home console, the Wii U, were lower than anticipated, with just 3.06 million units sold. Last October, the company had said it expected to sell nearly 5.5 million machines through the end of March, but now that number has been downgraded to 4 million. Software sales fared better: 11 million games sold through the end of last year, though Nintendo also scaled back its expectations there, from 24 million to 16 million sold through March.

????When I reviewed the Wii U last November, I genuinely found a lot to like: a fun dual-screen experience and several interesting launch titles, to name a few. But the console had -- and still has -- rough edges. Here's what Nintendo (NTDOY) must do to potentially goose those sagging sales:

????Lower the price. (Obviously.) The Wii U starts at $300 for the standard model and climbs from there. If this were 2001, that's a price gamers wouldn't think about twice. But times have changed, and whether or not many traditional gamers and publishers want to admit it, casual gaming on the Apple (AAPL) iPhone, iPad, and Google (GOOG) Android devices is siphoning away younger users. Look no further than Nintendo's declining bottom line for proof of that. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata recently said the company was not planning a price cut any time soon, in part due to the fact that the company is already selling the console below cost. But to make it a more compelling sell, particularly when faced with the iPad Mini's attractive $329 price, a more drastic measure like a price cut is probably needed.

????Upgrade the firmware. There were many things to like about the Wii U when I reviewed one last October. Atrociously long loading times were not one of them. And they're still a nuisance. Loading up the Wii U's main menu, say, when exiting out of a game or an app, still takes 16 seconds at best, and 28 at worst. (The average time is 20.) In the big scheme, that doesn't sound like a lot of time, but add up all those seconds, and the loading time becomes interminable -- something other users, like this angsty Japanese woman would agree with. It's also pretty inexcusable given that the Sony (SNE) PlayStation 3 and Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox 360 -- consoles that have been on the market for years -- don't suffer from this. Nintendo has acknowledged it's a problem and says it's working on a fix. It can't come soon enough.

????Accelerate game development. When a new console launches, the first slew of games is usually followed by somewhat of a lull in releases. The Wii U is no different. But even worse, several key games like Pikmin 3, the promising action game Wonderful 101, and Game & Wario were pushed back to "the first half of the year." If the Wii U was a tough sell for some before, it's even more so now when the best they have to look forward to is Lego City Undercover or games ported over from other consoles like Need for Speed: Most Wanted. Where is Zelda, Star Fox or Metroid? Classic franchises unique to the Nintendo brand are a must-have to pique buyers' interest.