CVG reports that retailers in the UK are saying that Nintendo held back many of its biggest titles into the latter half of the year for a revival of sorts. In other words, Nintendo plans to release a number of high-profile games later this year to renew interest in the console. One of those games is reported to be the new 3D Mario game that Satoru Iwata promised back in January, with retailers saying it will be out by October.

Aside from a new Mario game, the report says that Nintendo intentionally held back Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101 and Wii Fit U to help populate the latter half of this year with more Wii U game releases. There are some that refute that claim, and Iwata himself said the games were delayed after developers were taken off of games like Pikmin 3 to help finish launch games like Nintendo Land.

Of course, the Wii U already has a number of titles that range from pretty good to fantastic. What’s stopping Nintendo from marketing the console based on those titles alone? The report says that Nintendo executives wanted to wait until all of the problems with the hardware and software, including long loading times, were sorted out. The Spring update helped to reduce said loading times, and a planned Summer update will decrease those loading times even more. Nintendo is expected to start marketing the Wii U in earnest after the Summer update.

A statement from Nintendo UK said just as much:

“From July onwards we will launch a succession of Wii U titles and we will promote these extensively until the end of the year. Marketing activity will include TV, print, online and PR as well as comprehensive experiential and social media campaigns”.

The Nintendo faithful had better hope the company start marketing the Wii U sooner rather than later. The next PlayStation and Xbox are expected to launch in November of this year. Nintendo’s console will soon look outdated compared to the competition so it needs to prove that the Wii U, much like the Wii, is capable of providing those unique experiences that you just can’t find anywhere else. Super Mario Galaxy succeeded in that mission on the Wii in 2007, and a new 3D Mario game on the Wii U could do just the same this year.

When Madden NFL 25 was announced last week, a Wii U version was missing from the press release. Nintendo World Report started asking questions and got the following response from an EA Sports spokesperson:

“We will not be releasing a Wii U version of Madden NFL in 2013. However, we have a strong partnership with Nintendo and will continue to evaluate opportunities for delivering additional Madden NFL products for Nintendo fans in the future.”

If you have trouble reading corporate speak, EA is essentially saying that the Wii U isn’t selling well enough for it to dedicate resources towards a Wii U version of Madden. If the console starts to pick up in the future, EA Tiburon will start up Wii U development again. Until then, EA is watching and waiting.

Some will undoubtedly take this news as the death knell for the Wii U, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. Does Madden skipping the Wii U look bad? It looks incredibly bad, but it’s just as much an EA problem as it is a Nintendo problem. EA Sports just finished with a round of massive lay offs, its CEO stepped down and the publisher is trying to restructure itself to prepare for the next generation of consoles. Any perceived flops would look bad to already anxious investors and a Wii U version of Madden would most definitely be a flop.

That being said, Madden NFL 25 skipping the Wii U may be a sign that other major third-party titles will be skipping the console as well. In the announcement of Call of Duty: Ghosts from yesterday, the Wii U was missing from the title’s list of target platforms. The PS4 and next Xbox will be getting the game, but it looks like Activision will be skipping the Wii U after Black Ops II was kind of a flop at the Wii U’s launch.

Even if EA and Activision pull out, Ubisoft is still supporting the console with all of its major AAA blockbusters. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Watch Dogs will all be making an appearance on Nintendo’s console this year.

With all this in mind, I think it’s safe to say that the Wii U will be much like the Wii and Gamecube before it – a console for Nintendo titles and the odd third-party exclusive. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does ensure that the Wii U will remain a companion console for most gamers as they look to the PS4, next Xbox or PC as their main platform of choice.

Wiikey, a group that sells mod chips for the Nintendo Wii, have announced the WiikeÜ. Like the mod chips before it, this soft mod for the Wii U allows gamers to play Wii and Wii U games off of any USB media. The official line is that gamers can use this mod chip to play backups of Wii U games, but most would obviously use it to play pirated Wii U titles.

Some are calling shenanigans as the group has yet to provide any proof of the exploit. The group says it’s real though, and will be selling the USB emulator in the near future to allow others to hack their Wii U consoles.

So, what does Nintendo have to say about all of this? The company takes a hardline against piracy so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Nintendo is watching this very closely. In a statement to Ars Technica, Nintendo said it’s “aware that a hacking group claims to have compromised Wii U security.” That being said, the company has “no reports of illegal Wii U games nor unauthorized applications playable on the system while in Wii U mode.” Nintendo finished up its statement with a classic by saying that it “will take the necessary legal steps to prevent the facilitation of piracy.”

If the Wii U is anything like the Wii, the system’s security will be constantly compromised during its lifetime. Of course, this will only lead to Nintendo issuing more frequent mandatory system updates to patch security holes that only serve to annoy legitimate customers while doing nothing to stop those hellbent on playing games off disc.

In this week’s Nintendo Download, BIT.TRIP Presents… Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien is the sole game to hi the Wii U eShop. It’s an excellent title though, and I’ve been having loads of fun with it on the PC. The Wii U version should be just as good.

The Nintendo 3DS eShop is getting a few releases this week as well. The first is the demo for the highly anticipated Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate. The sequel to the original Lords of Shadow sets up the plot of the sequel coming out later this year.

Other releases this week on the Nintendo 3DS eShop include Mahjong Mysteries – Ancient Athena, Coaster Creator 3D and Easter Eggzstravaganza.

Two 3DS games are also running promotions this week. Fractured Soul, a hardcore action platformer for the 3DS is on sale this week for $7.99. The free Fire Emblem Awakening DLC map will remain that way until March 6. After that, it will go up in price to $2.50. New DLC in the form of the EXPonential Growth map is also available today for $2.50.

Finally, the Wii gets treated to a single WiiWare game today in the form of Retro City Rampage. The title comes highly recommended to those who haven’t yet played it on the PC, Xbox 360, PS3 or Vita.

So what’s Nintendo to do now that it appears to have a console flop on its hands? It could release exclusive games, of course, and the company did announce an exciting lineup at the end of January, but that doesn’t solve the problem in the near-term. There’s simply no compelling reason (other than maybe LEGO City Undercover) to buy a Wii U until titles such as the Yoshi Yarn game, Bayonetta 2, and the mysterious “X” are out.

In the meantime, it appears that Nintendo will be leaning on its consoles that have actually sold well. More specifically, Nintendo today announced that the redesigned Wii Mini will be released in the U.K. on March 22. The red, top-loading console was released in Canada last holiday season.

Despite the slim design of the box, the Wii Mini comes with a huge drawback: it has no Wi-Fi, and no other way to connect to the internet. That means no Virtual Console and no online Mario Kart. The Wii Mini is only for consumers who are fine with local multiplayer only, or who are only looking to catch up on the Wii’s singe-player experiences, such as Mario and Zelda titles or Xenoblade Chronicles.

In conjunction with the console announcement, Nintendo has also announced that it is adding new games to its Nintendo Selects titles. Mario Party 8, Wii Sports Resort, Mario Power Tennis, and Super Paper Mario will be available at the Nintendo Selects price when the Wii Mini launches.

A study published last month in Mass Communication and Society looked to find if there was any correlation between hostility and the kind of controller being used while playing video games. The researchers at Mississippi State University found that players using a Wii remote and Nunchuck, combined with the physical activity required to play games using said controllers, led to increased hostility in players.

What game could the subjects possibly be playing on the Wii to lead to such hostility? As it turns out, the researchers chose Punch-Out!! as their game of choice. It’s a boxing game that’s very similar to the boxing game in Wii Sports. If you’ve played either, you know that you actually work up quite the sweat while playing these games. It’s no wonder that players become more hostile by swinging fists at the air.

Some gamers may be concerned that this study will only add to the perception that video games cause violent behavior, despite having no evidence backing up such claims. The good news is that it doesn’t as the research found that hostility was increased by a small amount during a 10-minute session. The researchers say they didn’t test long-term play, but I would assume you’d get more tired than hostile after playing Punch-Out!! for an hour.

What may be more interesting to gamers is that the study also looked at how controllers impact identification and presence. As in, which controllers allow players to relate better with the characters on screen. It found that motion-based controls increased both of these feelings in players, but found that they don’t necessarily create a feeling of immersion into the game’s environment.

You can find the full study here.

[h/t: Phys.org]

Gamasutra reports that the Wii U sold anywhere between 45,000 and 59,000 units in January according to numbers lifted from NPD’s private data. In its first three months on market, the Wii U has sold 38 percent less units than what the Wii did in its first three months.

So, is this a problem? Obviously, and Nintendo has to do something to get more hardware into more homes. Delaying multiple releases later into the year isn’t doing them any favors, and a rough casual market that’s increasingly focused on mobile gaming is definitely hurting them.

That being said, the rumors of Nintendo’s collapse are greatly exaggerated. Of course, this shouldn’t be anything new as industry analysts have predicted the collapse of Nintendo and other console manufacturers numerous times over the years due to disruptions in the gaming industry. Mobile gaming definitely presents the biggest threat yet, but I can assure you that Nintendo has plenty of cash reserves to stay afloat.

So, the Wii U is in a spot of trouble, but what can Nintendo do to get it selling again? First and foremost, it needs killer apps in the forms of software. Software sells hardware – not the other way around. The Wii U, much like the 3DS before it, launched without a killer app. Nintendo Land and ZombiU are both great games, but they aren’t exactly killer apps. Rayman Legends was the closest thing Nintendo had to a killer app, but we all know how that turned out. Now we’ll have to wait until Spring for the next great Wii U games to start trickling out.

Beyond killer software, Nintendo may need to drop the price of the Wii U. The Wii U is the most expensive console that Nintendo has ever produced, and the sales are looking like that of the 3DS when it first launched at $250. Dropping the price may help spur short term sales until killer software comes out that makes people want to upgrade.

For now, Nintendo is trying to spur sales with a ZombiU console bundle. It includes the entirety of the $350 premium console, and packs in a copy of ZombiU and a Pro Controller for $40 more. In all honesty, Nintendo should have kept the price of the new bundle at $350. It’s still a bargain at $390, but consumers don’t see an extra $40 as a deal.

Nintendo released a revised sales forecast today that showed it expects to sell less hardware in every category across the board. The company now expects to sell only 4 million Wii U units before the end of March. The company also expects to only sell 4 million Wii units instead of the 5 million it predicted earlier.

The traditionally stable handheld market isn’t safe from decreased expectations either as Nintendo said it will sell 15 million 3DS units instead of the previously predicted 17.5 million. Sales expectations for the original DS are also down as Nintendo now expects to sell 2.3 million units instead of 2.5 million.

Software is also down with Nintendo now predicting it will sell 16 million units of Wii U software instead of the originally planned 24 million units. Of course, a number of titles that were expected to release in February or March have been delayed. These delays probably played a larger role in the decreased expectations than anything else.

It may look bad for Nintendo, but the company is actually operating in the black again after posting its first loss ever earlier this year. Sure, the company will post an operating loss 20 billion yen, but the company has doubled its net profit from 6 billion to 14 billion yen.

It’s also worth noting that Nintendo will most likely see a sizable sales boost later this year when a number of anticipated titles for the system are released. Nintendo already announced a number of heavy hitting first party titles for the console this year, including a remake of fan favorite The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The console is also likely to receive a price drop before Microsoft and Sony release their respective next generation consoles later this year. All of this could lead to Nintendo dominating 2013, but it’s far too early to tell at the moment.

[h/t: The Guardian]

Nintendo announced its game release schedule for the next two months today, and there’s plenty of stuff to go around for the 3DS. First up, Fire Emblem Awakening will release on February 4. The game will also have its own hardware bundle which includes a 3DS, a 4GB memory stick and the game already preloaded onto the system.

Beyond Fire Emblem, the 3DS will also be getting Brain Age: Concentration Training, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, and LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins all within the next two months.

Here’s the full release schedule for Wii U and the 3DS:

The Wii U is looking a little barren, but the 3DS sure has one hell of a lineup over the next few months. Here’s hoping Nintendo is able to get that kind of lineup for the Wii U in the Spring when titles like The Wonderful 101 and Pikmin 3 will finally be available.

XSEED, publisher of The Last Story, announced today that it’s bringing Pandora’s Tower to North America after working out a licensing deal with Nintendo, the original publisher of the game in Japan and Europe. With this announcement, the Wii can finally be laid to rest with no regrets. Well, maybe one regret.

“It’s fantastic to be bringing such a highly-anticipated title like Pandora’s Tower to such a vocal fan base,” said Shinichi Suzuki, President and CEO of XSEED Games. “North American gamers have been very patient in waiting for this game to be released, and we’re confident they will be pleased when they get their hands on the title.”

Pandora’s Tower is wildly different from both Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story. For one, the game is much darker in tone as the story revolves around a young woman suffering from a curse that slowly turns her into a monster. The protagonist, Aeron, must ascend towering dungeons to defeat the master creatures within. He then must feed the flesh of these monsters to the young girl to reverse the effects of the curse.

With a synopsis like that, you can imagine why Nintendo would be hesitant to publish it themselves. Still, the company did localize and publish it in Europe last year. The XSEED version of the game will presumably use this localization just as it did with The Last Story.

There’s no word yet on when the game will become available beyond a vague Spring 2013 launch date.

If you have yet to check out Pandora’s Tower for yourself, here’s the game’s official English trailer from Europe: