FredTheCat

Can't say I'm surprised, or at all bothered. I presume the real reason is that these games are only popular in the US, and EA wants to kill off the 2nd hand market so won't support the WiiU as we can freely trade shovelware or games we're bored with.

Developers and publishers whine about poor sales, but they deserve to have poor sales when they miss out DLC or other content available on other platforms, or think that WiiU owners will pay double price for a quick port of old PS3 & Xbox games (EA I'm looking at you!).

Great article!

I think WiiU sales will rocket, but only if Nintendo remember to do some marketing!! That has been lacking in recent months, although I've now seen Lego City ads a few times lately (none when it was released though!).

I do still love my GC Wavebird, even better than the standard GC controller.

The WiiU Gamepad has to be best though - I recently had to give up my Xbox due to the controllers killing my arthritic hands (don't even get me started on how uncomfortable the PS pads are). However the Gamepad has to be by far the most comfortable controller I've used, & I'm able to continue gaming.

I hope the new Tetris release is compatible with the retail version, sometimes it is really difficult to find players atm and would be great to have more players online!

Most people seem to think other regions have a better Club Nintendo. I just wish Europe had a Gold/Platinum scheme so we had something to aim for each year (and get a freebie too!!). I don't know why Europe isn't offered game downloads as part of the Stars Catalogue as it would be easy enough to introduce.

NoA gets all the good Club Nintendo stuff! Just hope it arrives on the European site soon.

Having said that, I do like my recent Mario & Boo notebooks. Also a massive thank you to NoE for sending out another Mario notebook to me quickly when the first one disappeared in the post.

I would have purchased this had it been launched when promised, simply because there was a drought in WiiU games. However by the time this comes out, I'll be too busy with Pikmin et al. Nothing to do with Ubisoft boycotting, just I'll have better games to play!

My VB has pride of place in my home, and looks just as new today. It is such an oddity everyone asks what it is. Shame it is not comfortable to play on for any length of time.

I'm unsure why people keep saying they go through loads of batteries for their wiimotes. Why not just buy a set of AA rechargable batteries and a charger? High capacity 2400 mAh one are about £5 per pack of 4 on Amazon plus chargers about £10-£15.

It wasn't wrong to say it was mandatory as it was mandatory to prevent crashes! What is more worrying is Rare being unable to solve the problem.....and they're a much worse developer now!!

This doesn't bode well for the next Perfect Dark. I was thinking this would be Perfect Dark "One" after the second being named Zero? Maybe Rare had a hand in naming the xbox as it can't count either!

@Bluezealand
Erm, not what I said! As the game is on sale in the US, then it can't be a gameplay problem. That leaves probs with the language dictionary (most likely in the slang terms and what is & is not acceptable in any given language). This will either be English specific (i.e. not American English) or in other European languages. Sometimes these are only found out close to, or after launch, This has been an issue before a number of times, I remember one of the Mario Party games being pulled around launch day because of a slang word, acceptable in America, is not acceptable in the UK. However that was quickly fixed, discs re-printed and released a few weeks later.
I'm unsure why Nintendo has gone so quiet on it, even stores are completely in the dark. It wouldn't take much for NoE to let us gamers, and game sellers, know whether they will be releasing it.

Bearing in mind it was pulled at the very last minute means the game can't have that much wrong with it - it must be in non-english dictionaries. It can't cost Nintendo much to release it at least on the eshop (if anything).....even if it is just English language only?
It seems Nintendo has no basic business sense - are senior execs working for MS & Sony?

I was initiallly disappointed, but then read that Criterion is not developing the game so couldn't care less! Criterion has shown every other developer how you can do a brilliant port of a game to the WiiU, and urge every WiiU owner to get hold of a copy if they like racing games.

Now that Microsoft has announced they will be killing off the 2nd hand market, it is expected Sony will now follow suit (they wanted to anyway, and now MS has bitten the bullet it makes it easy for them).

If Nintendo stick as is, and do not restrict 2nd-hand games, then it could easily end up being the winner of the new gen (as they did with the Wii). Microsoft has overestimated gamers' loyalty to the xbox brand.....if we cannot trade in games for new ones at a sensible price then the xbox one is highly likely to fail to keep its customer base.

Zavvi are now taking deposits for the Xbox.....at £399.99 it is priced too high, WiiU struggles with a £250/£300 price point!
The price and the introduction of paying to play 2nd hand games will make the wiiu launch look like a wonderful one! I bet now MS has said they'll be charging to play used games, Sony will be following suit
.
Suddenly the console race is on and looks like the WiiU has a couple of major advantages it didn't have 24 hours ago!!

oops, 'with all this...' should have been 'wish'!!

PS3 was a success primarily because it was the cheapest way to get blu-ray at the time, now the players are so cheap it means nothing. I do with MS & Sony would stop with all this home entertainment nonsense.

If the rumours about having to pay to play 2nd hand games is true, I suspect the rings of death for this machine.

Now we find out why EA was having a hissy fit about the WiiU.

It has obviously entered into a financial agreement with Microsoft to bring its annual sports shovelware onto the XBox. I'm really really devastated that I'll miss out on these games......now gimme Pikmin3 !!

Isn't "British English" just "English"?

(Sorry couldn't resist!)

EA has just realised that WiiU owners will no longer tolerate the shovelware, endless DLC and annual update rip-offs which are central to its operating model.

We haven't lost any quality new titles here, I got bored of playing the same football and golf games after about the 4th iteration.

Hopefully lots of people will try out Shadow Wars. I bought this with my 3DS on release day, and it still holds the record on my system for the greatest number of hours clocked up. It is a superb game, I only hope a sequel is in the works.

Subtitles shouldn't bother me, but it smacks of cheapness when you are English and have to have either French or German subtitles at the bottom of the screen!!

Nigel Farage should be told.....it'll be another reason why he thinks we should escape from the EU !

While I will miss another NfS - I love the WiiU version, I won't miss any other of EA's dross. I bet the whole falling out is due to Nintendo not being keen on fleecing its fanbase with endless DLC and other money-traps, whereas EA would steal your granny as ransom if they could.

You have to laugh at the people who insist on such censorship. Its not like she was ever naked, but the fear of an outcry because the cleft of the buttocks is on show is really pathetic.

However, shooting and killing people is commonplace and rarely censored!

They are going to announce another five-year slip in launch date for Pikmin 3.

@ferthepoet
It was released but withdrawn on the release day. A tiny number of people managed to get hold of the game but most of us who ordered it are still waiting! No-one will say why, there was rumours that there was a non-english dictionary problem which caused the withdraw. no'one knows anything or whether it will ever get released.

Come on NintendoLife, work your magic and find out for us PLEASE !!

I predict this will be on sale for a few milliseconds in Europe, only to be pulled with no explanation and to never be heard of again.
Polygon need to issue a statement over the Unlimited fiasco before trying to kid us into believing this one will be ready by the Autumn.

@patcherstation
If ZombiU was to be ported to the 360 or PS3 then you'd miss out the key component of the game, which is the gamepad being used as a real-time backpack. If you could pause and select items on the other consoles then the game would just be like any other game.....we don't need more CoD clones!!. You'd also lose all the tension and scariness of the current game. I only suggested keeping it in London as it would be cheaper than doing a whole new city....and I'm fed up with playing games which are usually set in a US city (whether real or generic). Alternative cities which would be great could be Edinburgh, Paris or Rome? Or one set in Wales with Zombie sheep?

$100 prices this device out of the market....I presume if it ever hit the UK then it would be £100 (if you follow Nintendo's currency converter!!). Just get a universal charging pack for a much cheaper outlay, then you can keep playing on the go (and also recharge your phone & other stuff too).

It would be really foolish of Ubi to ignore the success of the original and not be working on a sequel. All they need to do is keep the London setting but improve the graphics, add more landmark locations (one exploring the Gherkin &/or Shard would be really good). Oh, and make sure there are no glitches like the basement nursery!!

I simply bought a portable battery pack which can charge not only my 3DS but myt smartphone and Nexus7 (and anything else with a USB or compatible lead) on the go. There are lots around, price varies depending on how much spare battery capacity you need when out & about!

To anyone who wants Eternal Darkness, ebay has quite a few copies for sale!!

This game is an oddity as it isn't really a Mario game at all. It was originally Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic in Japan, which NoA had converted to the Mario we know as the real Mario2 was deemed too dificult for the American market. The original Super Mario Bros 2 is now known as Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels.

Why isn't Nintendo releasing the games in order? Oops, of course its Nintendo....why do something logical!

Picking up my mint condition virtual boy for £300 now looks like a massive bargain!

I bet EA are remaining quiet until the point the game is successful, then their leeching lawyers will surface!

It is a real shame that Lego City Undercover has not done so well, Nintendo should have advertised the WiiU on TV again by now, along with a Lego advert. It seems at the moment they have been infiltrated by Sony and Microsoft execs who are intent on destroying the WiiU through lack of support.

I would expect that Nintendo would demand the game be for WiiU only if they were to allow the Eternal Darkness name to be used. EIther way, so long as this does come to WiiU I'll be happy....I still occasionally dig out the original on my Gamecube.

It is about time Nintendo stopped messing around, officially reduce the price and give another Ambassador promotion to its loyal customers who bought the system at launch. I've given up asking for games to be released!

@Lin1876
Was thinking exactly the same! Marketing and Nintendo seem to be incompatible.
What I really want to know is where on earth has Scribblenauts disappeared to. It has been weeks since it was pulled from EU and still no explanation. I need it know I'm at 95% complete on Lego City!

I have both and while the 3DS one is good-ish, the WiiU one is amazing. I only hope that assuming Nintendo start doing some WiiU adverts, the WiiU Lego City ends up selling in large numbers.....I've not had so much fun playing a game for ages!

I just picked this up from ToysRUs for just under £30, but for a limited time they are giving customers a free Lego keyring torch! However I'm torn between the 3DS and WiiU versions of Lego CIty now though!

@nintendogamerz
Adverts do persuade people to buy things, otherwise no company would spend money on them! You only have to look at good sales figures for dross such as Aliens Colonial Marines & Walking Dead (not to mention annual rip-offs like CoD & FIFA) to see proof!

@JSuede
Yup the UK launch advert is better than the US one, unfortunately it had to be withdrawn as it fell foul of advertising standards. Also, it was hardly played on primetime television, and six months later I've not seen another WiiU advert. I was expecting to see some heavy advertising from Nintendo for Monster Hunters & Lego City.....have not seen any advert for either. Until Nintendo spends some money on getting adverts out there, then the WiiU will continue to fail (and third parties will continue their exodus).

Luigi's Mansion did have an ad budget, and its in the top selling games this month......it aint rocket science to understand the connection between advertising and sales!!

I had to look at the date after viewing those ads to check it wasn't still April 1st. These ads patronise families, and alienate 'core' gamers.

We don't need any more generic family ads, we need a return to great advertising like the advert for N64' Legend Of Zelda:-
"Will though get the girl, or Play like one?" is a legend in itself (check out Youtube for the ad).

I don't know why people think the problems are solely due to the name, after all Xbox became 360. WiiU can be a successful console if Nintendo sacks its marketing team and replaces them with people with abit of common sense. The least they should be doing is reading all the comments on NintendoLife about what we want the adverts to show......it aint rocket science!!

The end-date for redemption is mid-July means Nintendo are releasing Donkey Kong and Animal Crossing before then. I think mine will be Animal Crossing as it will be useful keeping it on the system, otherwise I'd be endlessly swapping cartridges!

'Slightly Mad Games' (great name!) should look to Criterion and their wonderful version of Need for Speed U for pointers as to how a WiiU version should be. If they can get near to Criterion's WiiU version then they'll be onto a winner!

I cannot understand why cash-rich Nintendo isn't bidding for some of the big name franchises - Darksiders sequels as WiiU exclusives (and 3DS) would bring much-needed console sales and may prevent more developers from ignoring the system.

It seems like pledging $17 (or about £12) is a pretty good punt for me to get a copy of the game (assuming the goal is met). Looks like I'll be placing my first pledge on kickstarter for this game!