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Despite pre-launch reports warning gamers that the Wii U would be a complete sell-out at launch that doesn’t appear to have transpired. Stock might not be right in your face, but spend a few minutes looking online and you’ll find a Wii U available to buy. Reports put launch weekend sales for Wii U at around 40,000 units, with 60 per cent of these being the 32GB Premium edition. Of the 24 launch games it was Nintendo which dominated early adopter purchases with Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros. U. Ubisoft’s ZombiU was the only third-party title to attract significant interest, largely thanks to its Premium bundle pack-in.
Thankfully for Wii U owners, new software is just around the corner. SiNG Party has been confirmed for release in January, with Scribblenauts Unlimited arriving in February and Rayman Origins coming on March 1. The games don’t end there either, with LEGO City Undercover coming in Q1 and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge set for January 11. Sadly Pikmin 3 has been pushed back to Q2.
Despite all the Wii U excitement (or lack of), it was Black Ops 2 which continued its run at No.1, fending off Far Cry 3. Ubisoft’s open-world shooter may have charted at No.2, but it failed to beat the first week sales figure of controversially promoted Hitman: Absolution, which was again in the headlines for the wrong reasons. Square Enix launched another ill-considered bit of promotion with its Hire Hitman app on Facebook. Soon after its release gamers were criticising the publisher for providing a virtual bullying tool, and within hours the app was removed, followed an apology and Square’s tail firmly between its legs.
The week also brought a few shock announcements. First Epic’s Mike Capps announced his retirement from the Unreal firm to focus on his family, and then SEGA and Creative Assembly revealed they had secured a multi-game Warhammer licensing deal with Games Workshop. And today another delay to Irrational’s BioShock Infinite was made public, this time adding another month to an already long wait for the sequel.
The games industry is pretty much set to shut down – who knows what we’re going to do over the next fortnight – but not before the annual Spike TV Video Game Awards shows off a bunch of games to look forward to in 2013. We’re hopeful there’ll be some exciting announcements, but given that things don’t begin until 2am on Saturday we may have to wait until the morning to find out what went down.
With Disc Lickers done for the year, Matt and Neon turned their attentions to our Game of the Year contenders, presented in a Advent Calender style. We’ll be continuing with these right up until December 24 so be sure to check back daily for a new game.
I’m now going to return to our impromptu office party featuring the epic soundtrack of GTA Vice City.
“Take these broken wings and learn to fly again…”
