All Articles: New Super Mario Bros. U

Nintendo sold $300 million worth of Wii U hardware in 2012

Posted on January 10, 2013 by John Scalzo

wiiuprice

What do you do when you want to brag about the sales of your latest system, but it sold less than your previous system? First, you stop talking about unit sales of your previous system and, second, you start touting the total amount of money your new system made.

Watch closely…

Nintendo has announced that the two Wii U hardware bundles have generated $300 million in sales during the last two months of 2012. The company’s newest system is now in the hands of nearly 890,000 gamers in the US.

Nintendo also wants you to know that the Wii only managed to generate $270 million in sales during its first 41 days on sale. So you see, the Wii U is clearly more popular! But wait… the Wii’s lower price means that Nintendo actually sold over a million Wii systems in 2006. Or over 100,000 more than the Wii U at the same point in its lifecycle. Whoops.

It’s still way too early to declare the Wii U a failure (or a success), but these kinds of half-truths when it comes to sales numbers never end well.

Oh well, at least New Super Mario Bros. U is a huge hit with over 580,000 copies sold.

Posted in News, Wii, Wii U | Tagged

The Walking Dead shambles away as the big winner at the 2012 Spike TV VGAs

Posted on December 8, 2012 by John Scalzo

The tenth annual Spike TV Video Game Awards have been handed out and The Walking Dead has come away the big winner, trouncing more ambitious (and expensive) titles such as Halo 4 and Mass Effect 3.

The episodic adventure game based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book series won Game of the Year, Best Adapted Video Game and Best Downloadable Game. Developer Telltale Games also won Studio of the Year while Melissa Hutchinson was honored in the Best Performance By a Human Female category for her role as Clementine.

The other big winner of the night was thatgamecompany’s Journey, which nabbed three awards: Best PS3 Game, Best Independent Game, and Best Original Score. Gearbox’s Borderlands 2 also took home three awards: Best Shooter, Best Multiplayer Game, and Best Performance By a Human Male (Dameon Clarke as Handsome Jack). The viewer-voted Best Character award was also given to Borderlands 2’s Claptrap.

Hit the jump for a complete list of winners from this year’s Spike TV Video Game Awards, which also includes XCOM: Enemy Unknown, New Super Mario Bros. U, Sound Shapes, and many others. (more…)

Posted in News, PC, PS3, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nintendo Power’s last issue goes out in style

Posted on November 30, 2012 by John Scalzo

The final issue of Nintendo Power’s nearly quarter-century-long run is being delivered to subscribers now. It’s even possible to say that it’s the end of an era. Thankfully, Nintendo is sending their beloved official magazine off with a rather fitting tribute.

A Reddit user has posted a picture of the final cover and the claymation figures depicting a key moment in New Super Mario Bros. U that bears an uncanny resemblance to the cover of the first issue.

Yup, this is definitely the end of an era. Also, these tears running down my face are because of allergies. Yup, definitely allergies.

Posted in 3DS, DS, Etcetera, News, Wii, Wii U | Tagged

New Releases: Wii U, Hitman Absolution, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, More

Posted on November 18, 2012 by John Scalzo

The Wii U is finally here! If you managed to pre-order one, you’re likely playing it right now. And you also probably know that 29 games will be available on day one including New Super Mario Bros. U, Nintendo Land, ZombiU, Scribblenauts Unlimited, Assassin’s Creed III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and Mass Effect 3. Wow.

In non-Wii U release news, Square Enix will release Hitman: Absolution, the first game in the series in over six years, for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Also available this week is Sony’s PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale (PS3, Vita), Activision’s Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse (PC, PS3, Xbox 360), and Sega’s Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (PS3, Vita, Xbox 360, Wii U).

Disney Interactive and game development legend Warren Spector have teamed up again to bring a second Epic Mickey title to stores. Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360) is available today, along with its 3DS spinoff, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion.

Finally, Atlus plans to release Persona 4: Golden for the Vita this week.

Looking for more new releases? You can find them after the break. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS3, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nintendo brings 5,000 Wii U demo kiosks to stores

Posted on November 5, 2012 by John Scalzo

Nintendo has announced that they’ve completed their rollout of Wii U demo kiosks, installing over 5,000 of the machines at Target, Best Buy, GameStop, Walmart, and Toys R Us.

Not every kiosk will feature the same titles, but playable demos of the Nintendo-published Nintendo Land, New Super Mario Bros. U, and Sing Party will be included at most kiosks. Some will also feature demos of Ubisoft’s ZombiU and Rayman Legends. Other games will be available in video form. I tried the demo kiosk at my local Target this weekend and the Wii U GamePad was already broken.

The Wii U console and at least two dozen launch games will be available on November 18.

Posted in News, Wii U | Tagged , , ,

Nintendo details more New Super Mario Bros. U features

Posted on October 30, 2012 by John Scalzo

With the launch of the Wii U less than three weeks away, Nintendo has pulled back the curtain on a few more features found in New Super Mario Bros. U.

Like the previous New Super Mario Bros. games, U will feature several bonus modes. Challenge Mode tasks players with completing a level (either by themselves or with a friend) while meeting a variety of objectives such as “clearing a course without touching a single coin or touching the ground.” Coin Battle is a multiplayer-only mode that, you guessed it, makes players compete to collect the most coins in a course.

Nintendo is also boasting that New Super Mario Bros. U will feature a world map “for the first time since 1991’s Super Mario World. Now, I don’t want to tell the biggest video game publisher in the world their business, but that is just wrong. What they meant to say is that every game side-scrolling Mario game since 1991’s Super Mario World has included a world map and U is no exception.

Finally, Nintendo is bringing back the rabbit chases from Super Mario 64. The rabbit now has a name, Nabbit, and he’s wearing a purple bodysuit, but catching him will net Mario a powerful P-Acorn, “which will allow them to fly continuously through an entire stage.”

Want to know more about all these new features? Hit the jump for a complete description, straight from Nintendo. New Super Mario Bros. U and the Wii U console will be available on November 18. (more…)

Posted in News, Wii U | Tagged

Nintendo Japan will also release New Super Mario Bros. U, Nintendo Land on December 8

Posted on September 13, 2012 by John Scalzo

So we know that the Wii U system will launch in Japan on December 8, but what games will our Japanese brethren be able to play on it? Right now, Nintendo has two games planned for release alongside the system’s launch: the side-scrolling New Super Mario Bros. U and minigame collection Nintendo Land.

At E3, Nintendo announced that Wii Fit U, Game & Wario, and Platinum’s Project P-100 would also be released on launch day. We’ll find out later this morning if that’s still the case, or if they’ve been pushed back into 2013.

Posted in News, Wii U | Tagged ,

Wii U will be playable at PAX Prime 2012

Posted on August 28, 2012 by John Scalzo

Nintendo has announced that if you’ve got a ticket to this weekend’s PAX Prime expo, you’ll be able to demo eight different Wii U games during the big show.

The lines are sure to be long, but expo attendees who brave them will be able to play…

  • New Super Mario Bros. U, the latest 2D Mario game
  • The long-awaited Pikmin 3
  • The minigame collection Nintendo Land
  • The superhero squad sim from Platinum Games, Project P-100
  • The Wii U-enhanced Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge
  • Scribblenauts Unlimited, the hi-def sequel to the popular DS series
  • The Wii U-enhanced Trine 2: Director’s Cut
  • …and ZombiU, Ubisoft’s zombie epic

PAX Prime will take place this weekend (August 31 – September 2) at Seattle’s Washington State Convention Center.

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