No Nintendo console has ever launched with more software than Wii U. Twenty-nine retail games were released alongside the Wii U on November 18th, including GamePad showcase Nintendo Land (which is packed-in with the Wii U Deluxe Set), 2D platformer New Super Mario Bros. U, new survival-horror/zombie IP ZombiU, and a strong version of the most important multiplatform game of the year, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.
Nearly all the bases are covered, but some players still want more. Specifically, they want more Nintendo franchises on Wii U, with the most commonly cited examples being The Legend of Zelda and a new, 3D Mario title. The good news is that both those games are coming. The bad news? Nintendo's not ready to say when we'll get to play them.
The Legend of Zelda for Wii U has been confirmed before, and Shigeru Miyamoto has been quoted about the "different experiments" Nintendo is running for the game. The most recent rumors suggest that Zelda for Wii U will be released in 2014, and that it will graphically resemble Wii's Skyward Sword.
Up until now, Nintendo has been notably quiet on the subject of a new 3D Mario game, though rumors about just such a project made the rounds last August. Now, however, the proverbial cat is safely out of the bag. In an interview with IGN, Nintendo Global President Satoru Iwata casually promises that announcements about 3D Mario and Zelda games for Wii U are on the way.
"We will announce the launch schedules for new 3D Zelda and Mario games in the future, but this is not the right opportunity for me to indicate when we will make such announcements."
Sounds like players who claim to be waiting for a proper Zelda game to drop before they invest in a Wii U had better start saving up.
Nintendo managed to sell over 400,000 Wii U systems during the console's first week at North American retail, but the launch has not been incident free. The system's ambitious TVii app has been delayed into December and there have been reports of the console freezing, but the biggest headache for Wii U owners (and, possibly, the biggest deterrent for prospective buyers) has got to be that infamous, massive day-one patch (read our Wii U review for details). Iwata isn't happy about it, either.
"Personally I think that users should be able to use all the functions of a console video game machine as soon as they open the box. So I feel very sorry for the fact that purchasers of Wii U have to experience a network update which takes such a long time, and that there are the services which were not available at the hardware’s launch."
Personally, I agree. Here's hoping that by the time Wii U's 3D Mario and Zelda games are finally released, the system's day-one patch is nothing but a distant memory.
Let's hear from you, Ranters. Did any of you encounter problems with the Wii U patch? Which are you more excited about, Legend of Zelda for Wii U, or an all-new, 3D Mario game? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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Source: IGN, Paul Gale Network