– Lead Content Manager Carsten Myhill
Well, that’s pretty unfortunate! I remember watching the E3 2012 footage of Assassin’s Creed III and thinking that the naval battles were one of the most interest parts from the game, and you would think they would be primed for multiplayer considering the mechanics of the gameplay.
What’s interesting is that Myhill also said they were focusing all of their resources on creating the perfect “open-world pirate experience”, so they don’t have the resources to do multiplayer ship-battling.
By NPD’s count, the Wii U had an absolutely abysmal January, selling somewhere between 49K and 59K units throughout the whole month. According to a source at Gamasutra, however, they may have been a little closer to 100K in actuality.
The source claims that about 100,000 units went off store shelves during the first month of the year, but nearly 40% of that was eventually returned by people who were planning on re-selling the system for a profit on eBat, Craigslist, and the like. Because demand is so low for the system, they were unable to re-sell. This is what caused the 50K-60K readout by NPD, despite the fact that 100K units had been sold in total without considering returns. Another source at Gamasutra helps confirm this, saying that for every 100 Wii U units sold in any given store this past January, roughly 40-50 of them were returned.
The only problem? If this is true, it arguably bodes worse for Wii U than if it’s not true. Having a 40% return rate on your console– regardless of why– is definitely not a good thing.
The latest video additions to the 3DS eShop are as follows:
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate Video 2
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate Video 1
Etrian Odyssey IV Medic Video
Etrian Odyssey IV Landsknecht Video
Nintendo Show 3D: February 28, 2013
Mahjong Mysteries – Ancient Athena Trailer
Coaster Creator 3D Trailer
Source: 3DS eShop
Consumers can pre-order Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon from Newegg for $30. The offer is valid through today only. Dark Moon will be available for $40 at launch, so by reserving the game now, you’ll be saving $10.
The latest Wii U/3DS-specific UK software sales are as follows:
Wii U
1. Nintendo Land – Nintendo
2. New Super Mario Bros. U – Nintendo
3. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed – SEGA
4. Darksiders II – THQ
5. ZombiU – Ubisoft
6. Assassin’s Creed III – Ubisoft
7. Sports Connection – Ubisoft
8. Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition – Warner Bros. Interactive
9. Rabbids Land – Ubisoft
10. Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth – Ubisoft
3DS
1. New Super Mario Bros. 2 – Nintendo
2. Paper Mario: Sticker Star – Nintendo
3. Mario Kart 7 – Nintendo
4. New Style Boutique – Nintnedo
5. Super Mario 3D Land – Nintendo
6. Sonic Generations – SEGA
7. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed – SEGA
8. Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask – Nintendo
9. Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion – Disney Interactive
10. Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games – SEGA
Source: Chart-Track
Is Xenoblade heading to Wii U? I personally wouldn’t bet on it. However, there are two retailers hinting at a Wii U version of Monolith Soft’s RPG.
Best Buy as well as Walmart list Xenoblade for Wii U. My guess would be that this is simply an error, as the listings were probably intended for “X” instead.
Although, given how difficult it is to find Xenoblade for Wii these days, re-releasing the game and in HD may not be such a bad idea…
