In case you missed Vaders post.

CVG  said:

Nintendo plots Wii U resurgence with 3D Mario by October

Media blitz to commence after summer; string of major releases planned for 2013

Nintendo is internally lining up a string of high profile releases for the second half of 2013 as part of a major new bid to recover from Wii U's stuttering start.

Following a strong launch, Wii U sales have fallen sharply

Discussions with retail chains at executive level paint Nintendo's 2013 release strategy as extensive, with the headline draw being a new 3D Mario game released on Wii U by October.

Internal discussions have helped restore retailers' faith in the console, which has been hit by errors since launch. Global Wii U sales have fallen two million units short of Nintendo's original forecast.

The firm's current focus on 3DS, coupled with the relatively hushed PR and promotional campaign for the Wii U in the first half of 2013, had left some retailers questioning the platform holder's commitment to its new console.

However, one person close to the matter has said Nintendo's executive circle was not comfortable fully promoting Wii U until the release of the system's spring update. In January, Nintendo said two updates would arrive before the summer is over.

The first update, which launched in April (details), appears to have halved waiting times on various system loading screens.

The underpinning theory is that word-of-mouth discussion about Wii U has not been particularly positive so far, with many users complaining about system performance. However, it is hoped that the recent firmware patch (along with an apparent second one releasing this summer) will improve the user experience and help stimulate positive responses.

Now with many of the Wii U's launch issues behind it, CVG understands Nintendo is preparing a significant global Wii U marketing campaign.

Nintendo will overhaul Wii U issues with second system update

Further to this, it was claimed by one source that Nintendo is intentionally holding back the release of some games - from Pikmin 3 to The Wonderful 101 and Wii Fit U - in order to bolster the second-half release list. However, a second source familiar with Nintendo's plans had denied the company is intentionally delaying game releases.

In April, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said the corporation initially intended to release "a few" Wii U games in the first half of 2013, but they were delayed because the company underestimated the development resources required to complete them on time.

A number of blockbuster Wii U games will be released from summer until the end of the year, one of which is a new 3D Mario title. Although CVG is not yet able to confirm what the others will be, a new Mario Kart will debut in playable form at E3.

The marketing campaign will commence at the Los Angeles event (although some claim sooner), where the 3D Mario game will also be playable on the show floor. The title will be released before October, pending development delays.

Shelly Pearce, the PR director at Nintendo UK, told CVG: "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".

She added: "We have a strong line up planned for Wii U in the second half of 2013 including the likes of Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD Wii U.

"We are looking forward to launching these in the UK and for the opportunity to showcase the full potential of Wii U."

In case you missed it, UK retailers were in a panic a few weeks back and Nintendo held a meeting recenty to let them know the plans for the rest of the year, this info must have come from there.

CVG via twitter added:

"But genuinely, there are some really special things lined up for Wii U. Really interesting Xmas for all"

Anyone else a little worried about the new consoles sales comparison? Gamesradar collated the info and showed that Wii U's 3.5 mill sales in the first five months were the same as 360 and PS3 first five month sales. Nintendo had a really unrealistic estimate at first of 5 million sales when Wii only sold 5.84 mill first five months in their figures. Their reduced 4 million estimate would have still put it above PS3 and 360 first five month sales. Part of why it's been garnering headlines is because it's missed estimates and had to be revised down. If they had forecast a more realistic estimate you might not have the panic headlines we've had for so long now.

For a new, more expensive console I wouldn't expect it to put up 5 or 4 mill sales and looking at GRs figures it's broadly in line with 360 and PS3 sales.

If Wii U is considered a massive Dreamcast like bomb with worldwide sales figures the same as 360 and PS3, can we retrospectively look back and consider them "failures" at launch too? To me, I don't expect fairly expensive consoles with a thread bare library to do gang busters. You can argue that 360 and PS3 were supply constrained or whatever but the base sales are the same, so if Nintendo created an artificial shortage, sold the same 3.5 million would it be viewed in a different light?

I know monthly North American sales are great headline generators but worldwide 5 months sales compared to other platforms are far more relevant.

I'm worried now because the new consoles will launch later this year, brand new sparkling tech with a likely high price to boot and personally I don't expect them to surpass PS3/360/Wii U first 5 month sales. Everyone is hoping that these new consoles will be a magic bullet to revitalist the market, but what if that doesn't happen? What are the sales expectations for these new consoles and what happens if they are in the 3.5-4million range? Will there be a similar panic and retail price slashing? Constant negativity about the whole industry now, not just about Wii U?

What happens to Sony, who corporately have been pretty dodgy these past few years? They need a hit, although like Nintendo they have been buoyed by the yen devaluation. I'm sure MS can weather pretty much any storm, considering the billions in losses they eat for breakfast.

The trailer for this new Eternal Darkness looks AWESOME!!!

Did these guys split from Silicon Knights? Why isn't Nintendo publishing this shit?

WHAA? Eternal Darkness 2?! Woah. Please don't suck. I worry about all these kickstarter stuff.

edgecrusher said:

The trailer for this new Eternal Darkness looks AWESOME!!!

Did these guys split from Silicon Knights? Why isn't Nintendo publishing this shit?

It is the spiritual successor of Eternal Darkness because Silicon Knights is dead and Nintendo owns the IP.

They were working on Eternal Darkness 2 but they died before they could finish it.

But who knows Nintendo could still be publishing an Eternal Darkness 2 they did recently renew the trademark of the IP.

OOOO! OOOO! ME! ME! ME! ME!

^No, but the mechanics and level design themselves were pretty damn crap. I still loved it, though.

robio said:

Controls for Eternal Darkness were definitely bad. It was originally meant to me an N64 game, and I have a feeling things got changed and ultimately sacrificed when development was changed to the Cube. Still the game's story and originality made up for the shortcomings of the controls and mechanics.

The voice acting and script were atrocious too, yet they somehow managed to pull it all together and make an excellent experience out of crap.

robio said:

Foolz said:

The voice acting and script were atrocious too, yet they somehow managed to pull it all together and make an excellent experience out of crap.

I really don't think they were that bad, at least for the time. The game is over 10 years old. If you look at the other games of the time, most were pretty bad in those areas too.

Just because your peers are crap is no excuse to be crap as well. But compared to its peers, I thought it was below standard. The only reason it got away with it is because it wasn't ridiculous, and the game as a whole was immersive and atmospheric so people playing are going to apply their own emotions to the performance and the script.

I had no bugs, glitches or fun with the game.  Really poor pacing.  Nice conceit though.