Wii U Finally Ready To Play: Part 1

The Wii U has been out for just under two years, and to say that its time on the market has been rocky would be a dramatic under statement. At its launch the system was plagued with ports of games that had been on the market for at least a year. Games such as Darksiders 2, Mass Effect 3, and Arkham City were all great games when initially released.  Porting these games for the Wii U launch did nothing for Nintendo in terms of generating buzz for their new system.

Nintendo didnt help matters with the line up they had ready for the launch. Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros Wii U did little to showcase the systems ability or appeal. Many consumers viewed NSMBWiiU as nothing more than just a port of its Wii counterpart, and Nintendo Land as a fancy Wii Sports Resort. These games, although good on their own, should have been complemented by a big name title from Nintendo. With Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze release being pushed back, and no other big titles expected until at least a year later hurt the Wii U significantly. With out a killer app there just wasn't enough there to justify the purchase of the system. The blame doesn't fall on only Nintendo's shoulders though.

Gaming giants EA and Ubisoft have had plenty to do with the Wii U's weak start. They claim their games wont sell on the console, but that can be attributed to them sabotaging their own titles. EA released Mass Effect 3 on the Wii U with no plans of porting all the dlc over. Then they follow this up by releasing the Mass Effect Trilogy on every console excluding Wii U and include all dlc up to that point in the box. Ubisoft loves to delay games to the point that gamers either forget the game exist or buy it on other consoles( looking at you Watch Dogs). Ubisoft released Watch Dogs back in May, while Wii U owners are still waiting for the game in November. Ubisoft even had the nerve to not include all the dlc in the  Wii U. Lets not forget the game wasn't well received by the public anyway. Its sad really, I remember when the game was first announced, I was more excited about this version than the Xbox/PS counterpart. This type of self sabotage is ONE of the reasons third party titles have not sold as well on the Wii U.

If Nintendo had to rely on third party games they would be in terrible trouble, Thankfully they have the in house studios to develop amazing games on their own. This is exactly what Nintendo has done this year. Mario Kart 8 proved the Wii U has potential for amazing games, both single player and online multi-player, and also helped give the system a tremendous sales boost. Since then the console has seen sales steadily increase as fans anticipate the arrival of Super Smash Bros Wii U. The game is going to be everything Nintendo has sorely missed these past two years. With games like Hyrule Warriors and Bayonneta 2 recently released, and Captain Toads Treasure Tracker on the horizon, the Wii U is making a name for itself based on the quantity and quality of its exclusives.

Nintendo is looking to have an amazing holiday season this year on the back Super Smash Bros Wii U/3DS, and based on the games we know are coming in 2015, the trend should continue into the future.

Many people were counting the 3DS out for its bad start and look at the handheld now. Its much to early to count Nintendo out this generation. The 3rd party companies will hopefully rethink their stance on the Wii U. Even if they don't, Nintendo will still be there to develop amazing software for their console. All three of the consoles are headed into the new year with great games on the way. It just makes the wait for next year's E3 that much harder.

Here is a list of some of the announced games expected sometime in 2015.

Legend of Zelda Wii U (working title)
X (working title)
Project Cars
Devil's Third
Mario Maker
Yoshi's Wooly World
Kirby and The Rainbow Curse
Nes Remix Pack
Splatoon
Mario Party 10