Most Recent: Wii U

Nintendo’s President, Satoru Iwata, was quoted in today’s edition of Yomiuri Shimbun (a major Japanese newspaper) that the Wii U’s launch price would be “reasonable.”

According to Iwata, the company has learned its lesson from the lukewarm 3DS launch: “We won’t make the same mistake that we did with the 3DS [launch price], which was considered relatively high by consumers.”

An unnamed financial analyst was quoted in the Yomiuri Shimbun article that the Wii U’s break-even price is 30,000 yen ($377), making it hard to reconcile the idea of a “reasonable” launch price and Nintendo’s desire not to sell their systems at a loss.

Hopefully, Nintendo will release the official launch price soon.

[Source: Andriasang]

When Mass Effect 3 was announced for the Wii U, myself and many others were left scratching our heads. Unlike the port of Batman: Arkham City, which while a sequel is a standalone game, Mass Effect 3 is the third entry in a series where choices carry on from the previous two. To only release the third entry seems a little bizarre.

Thankfully, EA Labels President Frank Gibeau has spoken up about the company’s further plans for Nintendo’s new touchscreen baby. Gibeau told CVG that they have at least two more games currently in development for the Wii U: “We’ve got a couple of more games in development for Wii U and we’ll have a bigger line-up for Wii U than we did on the Wii.”

While not stated explicitly, his comments (and promise of more details this Summer) imply that these unannounced titles will be released within the Wii U’s launch window in late 2012. This at least goes some way to solidifying the statements made by EA Chief Executive John Riccitiello during last year’s E3 Expo when he said his company was embarking on “an unprecedented partnership” with Nintendo.

While we can all hope for new IPs from EA, the publisher already has a full slate of PC/PS3/Xbox 360 games coming in the Fall including their sports titles, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and Medal of Honor: Warfighter. So these unannounced titles are likely to belong to one or more of those groups.

However, Riccitiello also described the Wii U tablet controller as “transformational,” which could lead one to speculate that EA is looking at games to better take advantage of the second screen. For example, how about their long-running Command & Conquer series? With Command & Conquer Generals 2 set for 2013, it would be a welcome surprise for the Wii U.

Nintendo has locked up Wii U launch games from a bevy of third-party publishers including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, THQ, Sega, Tecmo, Namco, 2K Games, and WB Games. You’ll notice one major name is missing from that list: Activision.

But don’t panic! Activision has at least one Wii U game in development, they’re just not ready to make any official announcements yet.

The news comes via GamesIndustry International, and a conversation they had with Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg, who said, “We don’t have announcements today, but we will be supporting Wii U.”

The publication also spoke to Mark Lamia of Treyarch and pushed both men on the possibility of a Wii U version of Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Obviously, neither would commit to Black Ops II on the Wii U, but Hirshberg did talk up the tablet features that Call of Duty Elite has brought to Modern Warfare 3 and Lamia had several good things to say about touch control as well.

This is definitely interesting for the future of Call of Duty on the Wii U because, I’m not sure if you’re aware, the Wii U GamePad will include a built-in touchscreen.