Well, I feel like I don’t want to take that anymore. At least for today.
Author: Austin
I wouldn’t be writing this feature if the response to last night’s quote from Gearbox regarding why Borderlands wouldn’t be coming to Wii U was different. If bloggers and pseudo-journalists had called them out and said “Hey, you know what, that reason makes absolutely no sense!”, I wouldn’t be furiously (okay, not furiously– that’s a word to make it seem more exciting) typing away right now, anxious to tell you all why this is a bunch of baloney.
Software
1. Pokemon Dream Radar
2. Pokedex 3D Pro
3. Paper Mario: Sticker Star
4. Crashmo
5. Super Mario Bros.
6. Zelda II – The Adventure of Link
7. Liberation Maiden
8. 3D Classics: Kirby’s Adventure
9. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX
10. Photo Dojo
11. Touch Solitaire
12. Cut The Rope
13. The Legend of Zelda
14. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
15. Pushmo
16. Colors! 3D
17. Plants vs. Zombies
18. Mario’s Picross
19. New Super Mario Bros. 2
20. Heavy Fire: Special Operations 3D
Videos
1. Paper Mario: Sticker Star Video
2. Paper Mario: Sticker Star October 25, 2012
3. Nintendo Show 3D: November 8, 2012
4. Pokedex 3D Pro Video
5. Nintendo Show 3D: November 22, 2012
6. Kirby 20th Anniversary Dream Collection Trailer
7. Hotel Transylvania Video
8. Adventure Time Video
9. Crashmo Video
10. Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion Video
11. Zelda II – The Adventure of Link Video
12. Liberation Maiden Video
13. Pokemon Dream Radar Video
14. Myst Video
15. Spirit Hunters Inc: Light Video
16. Nintendo Show 3D: October 25, 2012
17. Ninja Gaiden Video
18. Mario Kart 7 Video
19. Rayman Origins Video
20. 3D Classics: Kirby’s Adventure Video
Source: 3DS eShop
Eligible Club Nintendo members should be on the lookout for their Platinum rewards. Nintendo finally started to ship out the items today. Presumably the Gold rewards should be on their way out as well.
Nintendo’s 3DS ambassador program feels like it took place ages ago. Still, there are a couple of games that haven’t been officially released on the eShop.
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link finally came out last Thursday. With its official release, ambassadors can now download the “complete” version of the title.
Even though many costumers who pre-ordered the Wii U Deluxe bundle in the UK won’t be receiving their consoles on launch day, retailer GAME says that everyone who put money down will get one before Christmas due to a second shipment arriving sometime in mid-December. A statement on their website reads as follows:
“Please be aware this preorder does not guarantee a Wii U for launch. The second wave of Wii U stock will be arriving mid-December.”
It’s impossible to say exactly how much will be available or whether those who simply want to walk into the store and buy one will be able to, but at least folks who have their pre-orders down know that they’re at least somewhat safe.
I suspect a few of you have seem this already (I noted it in the end of my feature last night), but in case you hadn’t heard how crazy things got towards the end, here’s the deal: The cardboard cutout of the Wii U Gamepad (above) had bids upwards of $90,000 over the last couple of days before being removed by eBay administrators for some ridiculous reason like “This is stupid” or “This is a piece of cardboard. You can’t charge this much for it.”.
While the lister won’t be getting rich quickly off of this hilarious mockup, he’s probably pretty happy that things went as far as they did. I wonder if anyone has gotten an interview with him yet…
Amid talk that the Wii U may not be a next-generation console due to specs that are in many ways comparable to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told CNET that it is Sony and Microsoft’s responsibility “to react to what we’re doing in the marketplace and figure out what their innovation will be.”
“In the end, our competitors need to react to what we’re doing in the marketplace and need to figure out what their innovation will be. It’s likely that faster processors and pretty pictures won’t be enough to motivate consumers. They need to react to what we’ve done and we need to continue innovating with the Wii U and we will.”
In the past – and especially as of late – some have said that the Wii U could become irrelevant or at the very least find itself in a position comparable to Wii if the machine’s capabilities aren’t up to par with the PS3 and Xbox 360 successors.
But for Reggie, he doesn’t believe releasing the Wii U is a way to catch up with current-gen consoles:
“We don’t believe so. For us, launching new systems is about bringing new consumer experiences to the marketplace and we’re doing that with Nintendo land and third-party publishers are doing it with games like ZombiU. For us, now is the right time to launch new hardware.”
Reggie wrapped up by saying that “consumer response [to the Wii U] has been very positive,” and the console’s performance thus far is “quite comparable” to the Wii. He also made sure to mention that he sees Wii U as “a living, breathing” product that will improve over the years.
