????哈丁-羅爾斯補充說：“對于在市場上苦苦掙扎的平臺來說，這些改進措施應當受到歡迎，但卻顯得有些零碎，不夠全面。任天堂沒有提到進一步投資營銷的事宜，沒有確切地告訴消費者Wii U是什么，究竟跟Wii有何不同。”

????盡管任天堂領先了競爭對手微軟（Microsoft）和索尼（Sony）一年時間，后兩家公司在去年11月才分別發布了次世代電視游戲主機，但是馬里奧恐怕在短期內都不太可能出現在這兩臺主機中。

????市場調查機構DFC Intelligence的電視游戲分析師喬治?克洛尼斯對《財富》（Fortune）記者說：“對于任天堂而言，它的游戲專營權和硬件已經捆綁在了一起。任天堂是一家游戲廠商，而硬件則是出售自己游戲的媒介。這種理念與索尼和微軟的截然不同。這兩家公司出售硬件，然后開發自己的游戲，從而進一步提升自己的主機銷量。”

????自任天堂于1995年發布“任天堂64”以來，它的戰略就使它不必在高性能的硬件上投入過多資金。“跟索尼和微軟競爭、開發尖端游戲主機，這種做法被視為浪費錢，”克洛尼斯補充道。“所以手握GameCube和Wii，任天堂能夠以相對索尼和微軟來說微不足道的研發和生產成本展開運作。在開發Wii過程中，任天堂決定利用易于上手的有趣游戲，吸引沒有Xbox和PlayStation的主流消費者。由于運動控制技術的出現，用戶感到非常新鮮。因此Wii獲得了巨大的成功，并在上一輪競爭中獲勝。”

????不過這樣的成功也會起到誤導作用。

????皮吉昂說：“問題取決于你如何定義成功。你需要看的是活躍的用戶基數，他們是否正在購買各種游戲軟件。Wii的情況顯然不是這樣。”

????軟件銷量的萎靡甚至導致第三方游戲廠商不再支持Wii U。美國電子藝界（Electronic Arts，EA）在針對Wii U推出大量知名游戲、卻未能吸引玩家之后，已經非正式地停止了對Wii U的支持。沒有了高知名度大作的支持，Wii U主機的銷量持續低迷。

????皮吉昂說：“這是任天堂的另一個大問題，他們沒有為第三方游戲廠商創造誘人的商機。”與此同時，任天堂出品的新版《明星大亂斗》（Smash Bros）和《馬里奧賽車》（Mario Kart）正在開發中。

????哈丁-羅爾斯說：“這些新的舉措不太可能立刻或明顯地扭轉財務狀況，而且，他們還會迅速消耗掉公司的研發預算。”盡管如此，“要想長期在市場上保持競爭力、維護品牌價值，任天堂必須堅持創新，保持個性。”（財富中文網）

????譯者：嚴匡正

????"These improvements are welcome for a platform struggling in the market, but appear 'bitty' or piecemeal and less than comprehensive," Harding-Rolls added. "There was no mention of significant further investment in marketing to actually tell consumers what the Wii U is, and to make it clear it is different to the Wii."

????While Nintendo had a year's lead over rivals Microsoft (MSFT) and Sony (SNE), which each respectively launched next-generation videogame systems last November, it isn't likely that Mario will show up on those systems anytime soon.

????"For Nintendo, its game franchises and hardware are joined at the hip. Nintendo is a game maker, and hardware is the vehicle to sell its own games," videogame analyst George Chronis of DFC Intelligence told Fortune. "That is a philosophy that is directly at odds with Sony and Microsoft which are in the business to sell hardware and create first-party games to further the selling of their consoles."

????Since the release of the Nintendo 64 in 1995, the company has taken a strategy that does not require it to invest heavily in high-performance hardware. "To compete with Sony and Microsoft in developing bleeding-edge consoles was seen as a costly waste of capital," Chronis added. "So with both the GameCube and the Wii, Nintendo could operate with negligible R&D and production costs compared to Sony and Microsoft. The decision taken during the development of the Wii was to target mainstream consumers that were not already Xbox or PlayStation owners with easily accessible games that were fun to play, and were novel thanks to the advent of motion control input. The Wii turned out to be a tremendous success and won the last cycle."

????But that success could be misleading.

????"It depends on how you define success," Pidgeon said. "What you need to look at is the active install base, and whether people are buying multiple software titles. This certainly wasn't the case with the Wii."

????The lack of software sales even resulted in some third-party publishers pulling back support. Electronic Arts (EA) has all but officially pulled support for the Wii U after releasing a number of high-profile launch titles for the system as it failed to catch on with gamers. Without high-profile titles in the pipeline, sales of the Wii U hardware continue to remain sluggish.

????"That is the other big issue for Nintendo," Pidgeon said. "They haven't created a compelling business opportunity for third party." Meanwhile, a new Smash Bros. and Mario Kart -- both Nintendo titles -- are under development.

????"These new initiatives are unlikely to provide an immediate or significant financial turnaround, but they will consume research and development budgets in quick time," Harding-Rolls said. Nonetheless, "this dependence on innovation and individuality is core to the company staying relevant beyond the short term and protecting the Nintendo brand value."