[Note: This article is based around opinion and premature evaluation. None of the products discussed in this article have been released yet and later opinions on these products could change. This article was originally going to be "5 Hit or Misses of 2012" but seeing as we're half way through the year, I thought that would be silly]

Well, E3 has come to a close for 2012 and we’ve all seen some products that were excellent and some that left us thinking ‘WTF?’ However, there’s always those products shown that you are never really sure if they will be excellent in the long run or just fall through the cracks. I will be looking at a few products (most of which are from the E3 2012 showings) that I thought fit this category: a hit or miss type situation.

DmC

I already know what you’re thinking (or at least a large portion of you). You’re thinking ‘Why does this guy have DmC on a list of hit OR miss?’ You’d be right to think that based on the overwhelming negative reception still floating around. Many are already placing it under the category of “miss.” However, I’m not going to jump the gun quite yet on this game. At this moment, I still think the game still has potential to be a good title.

Why? Because it’s still in development and it’s a re-imagining. There can still be changes, additions, and some fine tuning that can be done to the game between now and January of next year. Personally from what I’ve seen, I think it looks alright. I won’t say fantastic because I don’t know every aspect of the game yet. As far as the miss aspect of the game goes, I think that’s more dependent on the fans and/or audience. Despite there being a slight rise in positiveness toward the game, the negative reactions still overwhelm and, in the end, I think could end affecting the sales. Or it could end up being bad and that could affect the game, but I can’t say that for sure.

I won’t talk too much on this one because I have another article detailing more of what I think here, but, as it stands, I think this DmC still has potential to be good. The trick is in being able to convince some of the negative feedback the other way.

Zone of the Enders HD Collection

Once again we have another game that I’m looking forward due to nothing else but the nostalgia element of the pack. However, it still has the potential to be another hit or miss. I have no doubt that the game won’t look good at all in HD. The games were already spectacular back on the PS2, but I haven’t heard of anything being added to these games besides the HD conversion. Even the collection of Ico/Shadow of the Colossus had videos, interviews, redone puzzles based on the original European editions, and the option to see what the hell Yorda was saying. Small things, but still additions nonetheless. It may be too soon to say, but this HD collection needs something added into it otherwise you only have two games with six-eight hour playtime. That and the games didn’t have much for themselves on original release.

There is the addition of the Metal Gear: Revengeance demo, but I don’t think that’ll be enough to really sell the game effectively. I know Japan is getting this for their releases. Wouldn’t that be awesome over here? Those might drive the sale of this game up if they did editions like that over here in the States and Europe.

NintendoLand

To be honest, I’m a little bit more on the “miss” side for this one. However, I know that there are to be a total of twelve minigames on this console pack-in and only six have been revealed. For the remaining six, I don’t know what they are or what they entail as far as Wii U Gamepad controls. However, I’m not too sure on the six revealed so far. As a pack-in type game, I understand the purpose is to show off the Wii U Gamepad. I’ve only seen things like finger flicking, tilting, and obstacle placement which isn’t too impressive. I don’t think the idea that two of the mini-games seemingly being one player (Takamaru’s Ninja Castle and Donkey Kong’s Crash Course) is a great idea, especially since this is a party-type game. Some of the other games don’t seem all that impressive either despite their multiplayer function like Animal Crossing: Sweet Day, where regular players just run around getting candy and trying not to be caught by the Wii U control player.

Not to say that there aren’t fun games that can bring in an audience and be a hit with a number of people. I think the two best revealed so far are Luigi’s Ghost Mansion and The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest. I like the fact that the Wii U user in the Zelda game is an extra fighter alongside the others and the idea of being a ghostly troll in the Luigi game. I’m very preferable to the functions of the Wii U gamepad for those two games. Plus, they’re vastly multiplayer oriented allowing 4-5 players at a time, so it fits more into the type of game NintendoLand is. If the rest of the games not revealed follow along the lines of those two games, you might have yourself a fun party game that can show off some interesting Gamepad tricks. If they follow the path of mostly one-player type games with very simple movement controls though, there’s a chance that this won’t gain too much attention.

Nike + Kinect Training

I wanted to talk about this one over the Wii U fit because, honestly, I see more hit potential in this game than Nintendo’s next-gen competition. I’ll start by saying as far as exercise games go, I will flat out say I’m not too big a fan of them. However, I feel like this particular game could rise above previous titles based on the intricacy of its work out programs. The fact that you get more detailed readings and you have more energized and in-depth exercises could help attract attention for those interested (Nintendo exercise games tend to focus more on stretches).

However, on the other side, I often view exercise games as fleeting in their lifespan and this one is not free from that opinion. In the end, you’re purchasing a game that has you doing activities you could do for free. I worry about the long-term longevity of games like these. Honestly, when a game like Halo 4 comes out, which is going to be getting more of your attention?

There’s also the “hit or miss” situation of it being on the Kinect. I know from experience that the Kinect does have problems every now and then recognizing movement which could pose somewhat of an annoyance. However, on the plus side, I know that when the Kinect reads movements (which I’ve found to be most of the time), it’s very accurate.

I do see the possibility of this game being implemented into various locations though and not just in homes. Much like the Wii Fit games that are implemented in clinics of various types, I could see this one, with its more varied exercises, being implemented in gyms to some extent. That could raise the sales of the game as well.

Wii U

Some might have seen this coming (the featured image was probably a dead giveaway) and I really didn’t want to bring Nintendo back into this, but as the system stands I feel it fits into this category. Granted, I like quite a bit of what the Wii U will have: the Miiverse and social networking capabilities, the addition of apps, the third party games, and the inclusion of the new controller as a primary means of play outside the Gamepad. However, there a few things I will address that I think could affect the sales of this system this holiday season and, possibly, beyond that.

The first being the inclusion of third party games we’ve already seen and, more than likely, have. I don’t think I need to elaborate too much on this. It’s more or less me hoping they don’t keep with that trend, but since a large portion of the games in the launch window are games that have already been released, that could affect how well it sells.

I’m also on the half and half with the controllers. As far as I see for the Gamepad and its interactivity with games, I haven’t seen anything to awfully spectacular in the ‘wow’ department. As far as I’ve seen, it mostly acts as a second screen where you can press buttons on screen and a device for tilting mechanics. There are a few games that showed off more cooperative/competitive type gameplay, but not that much was shown. On top of that, the Gamepad has low battery life. This, of course, is probably why there is now the ability to have the Pro Controller. With the Wii U able to accept four Pro controllers at a time, it gives me the idea that these will become the main form of game control (thus possibly helping to increase sales of the system) with the Gamepad being a secondary element of gameplay much like the Stylus pen for the DS/3DS.

Besides the weak launch library and the overall ‘mehness’ of the Gamepad though, I think anything else can help sell the system, but it might just take a bit before it starts going. I don’t always see the Wii U in this category. It’s only a “hit or miss” at the current time. When the system starts going, I imagine that third-party game releases will be based around what’s releasing at the time and I would also imagine that developers would find some new ways to implement the Gamepad into gameplay. The inclusion of additional apps is not really something I need to get into. It’s just something that has been a long while coming. I find the Miiverse, with its way of letting you talk to people via text or video and share info about games played (on multiple devices), intriguing on Nintendo’s part. I could see this element helping to boost sales somewhat, but I think it depends on how well its implemented.

The price of $300 that was announced doesn’t bother me too much, although I could see that as something that could affect the sales figures at the start. Compared to right now, it may seem like a large sum of money, but when Microsoft and Sony bring their new consoles out I imagine they will cost more than that.

Basically, in my book, it’s more about long term issues. I don’t see the controllers being too much of an issue though I fear that when the system comes out this year, it may not sell as much based mainly on the launch price and the weak launch library. I would expect that, eventually, Nintendo will build on dealing with these issues and that could help affect sales later after launch. Honestly, I can wait to see what happens. I did it with the PS3; I can do it with the Wii U.

The ball is in Nintendo’s court. We’ll just have to see what happens with the road of the Wii U as that could ultimately determine whether this system is either a hit or a miss.

So, I’ve detailed to the best of my ability, knowledge, and insight why I thought these five would be a “hit or miss” in the upcoming year. What do you all think? Do you agree with anything I said? Disagree? Do you have your own lists of hit or misses? Let me know in the comments below. I’d like to see what you think.