Wii U's Pikmin 3, Game & Wario missing launch window

Nintendo has announced some upcoming release dates, but the ones to make the list aren't as interesting as the ones that conspicuously didn't. The...

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Nintendo has announced some upcoming release dates, but the ones to make the list aren't as interesting as the ones that conspicuously didn't. The Wii U launch window closes on March 31, and it appears some of Nintendo's franchises won't be making that period after all.

Pikmin 3, Game & Wario, The Wonderful 101, and Wii Fit U have all been moved to the nebulous "first half of the year." Today's release announcements covered Nintendo's slate through March, so the movement of these titles to a more vague time frame pushes them out of that line-up. Pikmin had previously been called a spring release. The announcement also unsurprisingly pegs Aliens: Colonial Marines in unnamed Q1 territory, positioning it later than other versions.

Aside from those shifts, the surprise of the Wii U announcements was a date for Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, and the reveal of Need for Speed: Most Wanted on March 19. It also reaffirms Pandora's Tower for spring on the Wii, just in case you thought yesterday's announcement was the product of a geeky fever dream.

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    January 17, 2013 7:30 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Wii U's Pikmin 3, Game & Wario missing launch window.

    Nintendo has announced some upcoming release dates, but the ones to make the list aren't as interesting as the ones that conspicuously didn't. The...

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      January 17, 2013 8:11 AM

      [deleted]

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      January 17, 2013 8:13 AM

      LUGHFUDIO&GO* *$TO&LKIY<GB S*O&L$RG SDFGIKU$&^* TSDF<JGH I^&$#

      Dammit Nintendo... and Platinum games, but mostly Nintendo.

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      January 17, 2013 8:38 AM

      sad face :(

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      January 17, 2013 11:04 AM

      I understand about polishing 1st titles, but it's getting ridiculous that 3rd party titles are making it out so much further ahead of internal titles. You'd think the internal titles would have enough of a head start to make the launch window.

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        January 17, 2013 11:30 AM

        I'm thinking that in the case of Pikmin they wanted to make the touch screen more prominent (it was originally a Wii game) than what they had, that or they simply needed more polish than where they got to for this kind of release date. I don't know what the deal is with Game & Wario though.

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      January 17, 2013 11:40 AM

      Wii U sold 50k worldwide last week and this is bad news for system sales. Bad luck if you were looking for 3rd party games in the future.

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        January 17, 2013 10:44 PM

        The WiiU is selling better than the PS2, PS3 and 360 in the same time after their respective launches. I heard those three consoles are doing pretty decently now.

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          January 18, 2013 1:21 AM

          The momentum is nowhere the same. All of these consoles were selling a lot more in January. Also the Wii U launched first and needs big sales before the PS4, NextBox.
          The PS3 and X360 could afford slow starts as they were ahead of their time.

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      January 17, 2013 11:52 AM

      They should make Pikmin 3 a MOBA

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        January 17, 2013 2:50 PM

        Please No! (but if it were a separate spin-off, hell yeah)

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