The past few weeks have been full of video game news, new hardware announcements, and rumors. NVIDIA announced a handheld console for the first time ever, while Valve also declared its intention to enter the game hardware market with its own Linux-based system. Not only have most of the subsequent articles commenting on the topic focused on what the announcements mean for Sony and Microsoft, but so have most rumors centered on the next PlayStation and Xbox.
All of this is just to say that there's a pretty big player missing from the discussion: Nintendo.
It's true that the Wii U hasn't seen the kind of sales that would place it in the same league as its predecessor, but does that mean we should dismiss the system so soon? It's rather remarkable that the Japanese gaming giant seems to have been written off despite being responsible for last generation's most popular handheld and home console. But just because the Wii U isn't pulling in phenomenal numbers right out of the gate doesn't mean it won't catch on eventually.
For some context, it's worth it to look back at the launch of the Nintendo DS. The DS, like the Wii U, didn't see any particularly fantastic titles at launch, and the system's game landscape was barren for months. Sales were neck-and-neck with Sony's more powerful PlayStation Portable, leading many to rethink the company's dominance on the handheld stage.
Once the summer hit, however, a wave of unique, innovative titles like "Kirby Canvas Curse" and "Trauma Center," as well as the runaway hit "Nintendogs," helped propel the system to rocketing sales and the little dual-screened handheld never looked back. Since then it's become much more than the most successful handheld of all time; it's home to one of the most diverse gaming libraries around.
The 3DS, too, got off to a rocky start, forcing Nintendo to drastically cut its price only months after launch. Many saw it as a sign that smartphones were cutting into the handheld market big time, that it was only a matter of time before Nintendo faded into the background and started making iPhone apps. But once the games started trickling in, the system took off tremendously in Japan, and sales across the world are healthy.
Nintendo has a knack for regularly confounding expectations, whether they're good or bad, so it's only reasonable to say that a couple of months on the market isn't nearly enough time to judge a console's success or failure. It's not impossible, or even unlikely, for Nintendo to beat expectations again. To do that, though, it needs to do what it's best at, and that's release the darn games.
That's exactly what it tried to do this week.
Sort of.
On Jan. 23, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced a slew of games, including a new "Yoshi" platformer, the RPG sequel to "Xenoblade Chronicles," and an HD remake of "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker." On top of that, it confirmed that "Pikmin 3" would release in March and showed off new footage of "The Wonderful 101" and "Bayonetta 2."
Then it did something it doesn't usually do, and that's announce four more huge titles without showing a single image, much less a trailer. A new 3D "Mario" game, "Mario Kart," an original "Zelda," and a new "Super Smash Bros." were all named with no forthcoming details.
In two moves, Nintendo both set up gamers for a better short-term line-up and tried to declare a future line-up that would be unbeatable. When those last four games will actually be released, though, is anyone's guess, and that kind of spells out the existential dilemma that's faced every Nintendo home console since the Nintendo 64: The biggest and most anticipated games on every Nintendo system are from Nintendo itself. The faster it gets them to market, the better its future will be.
This has led many, including myself, to bemoan the lack of true original projects from the company. But with all the rumors revolving around upstart hardware makers and the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo had to assure everyone that even though the Wii U might not be a powerhouse now, it's still a force to be reckoned with.
Let's remember that if the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720 launch this year only to be followed by a deserted wasteland of new game releases, because the floodgates might just be opening for Wii U owners. And whatever Nintendo and Co. have been carefully prepping for years will finally be out in the wild.
