Donkey Kong delay hurts Wii U holiday lineup

Tropical Freeze pushed to February as Nintendo leans on Super Mario 3D World, Mario & Sonic Olympics, Wii Party U to bear the load.

The Wii U’s holiday lineup is looking a little lighter as Nintendo today delayed the launch of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Previously set for a December debut, Tropical Freeze has been pushed to February in North America, as confirmed by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata during a Nintendo Direct presentation.

“In order to deliver the optimum gaming experience, we need a little more time for development of this title,” Iwata explained, adding, “We would like to apologize for this delay and hope you understand.”

The Wii U’s holiday lineup still has a handful of big exclusives yet to launch, including Super Mario 3D World on November 22. The same month will also see the launch of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014, as well as the digital debut of Wii Fit U. Meanwhile, October’s release slate is headed up by Wii Party U, Sonic Lost World, and this week’s retail launch of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD.

Analysts including IHS’ Piers Harding-Rolls and Baird’s Colin Sebastian have pointed to this holiday season as a key stretch for the Wii U. Sebastian said “the fate of the platform” rests on its holiday software lineup, while Harding-Rolls said this season’s sales performance will dictate his firms long-term outlook on the system.

Billionaire Nintendo Changemaker Hiroshi Yamauchi Dies

The long-time leader of Nintendo and an icon of Japan’s videogame industry, Hiroshi Yamauchi, passed away today in Japan at the age of 85.

Nintendo released a statement saying the company “is in mourning today from the sad loss of the former Nintendo president Mr Hiroshi Yamauchi, who sadly passed away this morning.”

Yamauchi took over the family company, founded by his grandfather in 1889 as a maker of playing cards, after his grandfather suffered a stroke. Over his 53 year reign,  the college dropout transformed Nintendo into a global video game industry powerhouse. His vision launched the Game Boy console and the classic Donkey Kong and Super Marios video games.

In 2002, Yamauchi stepped down as Nintendo president because of bad health, but kept on as an adviser. He left the company in good shape: sales reached $4.5 billion and profits almost tripled to $1.3 billion, thanks in part to the success of a new portable video game player. At his request he gave up his retirement $11 million allowance and asked that it be included in company profit instead.

Yamauchi bought the Seattle Mariners baseball team in 1992, later transferring it to the company’s U.S. unit.In 2005, Yamauchi left Nintendo’s board of directors, but remained the largest individual shareholder with a 10% stake. As of April 2013, Forbes estimated Yamauchi’s net worth at $2.1 billion; he was #13 on this year’s Japan rich list.Yamauchi will be buried on Saturday. He is survived by his wife and three children.

Nintendo of America President on PS4, Xbox One Launch Titles: “Meh”

With the PS4 and Xbox One set to launch in the same month, it’s not surprising that there’s a good deal of mud being slung by Sony and Microsoft. Now, Nintendo wants to get in on the fun.

Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America’s president, told IGN:

It’s all about the games. The competitive systems have announced their launch lineups. I’m allowed to say ‘Meh.’ I look at our lineup of titles and I feel good about our lineup. We’ve got Zelda. We’ve got Mario. We’ve got Donkey Kong. In addition to great titles like Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101, I feel very good about our lineup, and I feel very good about the value proposition we’re putting out there for the consumer.

Apparently, the Wii U also has cloud capabilities, Reggie explained:

We’ve got cloud technology that we’re delivering with Wii U. Nintendo TVii is all cloud-based technology. But the difference is, we don’t talk about the tech. We talk about the experience. We make sure that the consumer has fun with the game experiences that we provide. And so I think as you compare and contrast Nintendo with other players in the space, for us it’s about games, about the fun, about the entertainment value, and not about the tech.

Of course, all clouds are not equal, with the term ‘cloud’ having a very broad meaning that includes Gaikai, Remote Play, Dedicated Servers, PSN, XBL and a visible mass of liquid droplets floating in the sky.

Today’s interview with Fils-Aime comes hot off the heels of the announcement of the 2DS and a Wii U price cut.

What do you think of the PS4/XBO’s launch lineup? Do you have a Wii U? Share all in the comments below.

 

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