By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Nintendo Discussion - What the heck is it with Nintendo and release dates?

Tagged games:

curl-6 on 11 March 2013
RolStoppable said:
curl-6 said:

This is almost exactly how I feel.

I love Nintendo. I really do. The Wii gave me some of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. When they abandoned it in 2011, I defended them, saying they were obviously working on games for their newly announced next gen console. To suffer through those two years only to be hit with another drought at the very birth of the Wii U is a slap in the face.

They give us no release dates to count down to, leaving us with no guarantee that this  drought won't last until July, or August, or November. 

I really want to get excited about the Wii U, but how can I when all their big titles are either under wraps or in limbo? If E3 doesn't impress, I may simply grab the PS4 instead. I'm starting to get very, very fed up.

Even if they gave you exact release dates, that wouldn't be a guarantee that the games come out on that day. Or are you gullible enough to believe that no game ever gets delayed?

I think I had this discussion with you before. At the end of January Nintendo announced their plans. They apologized for the lack of new games in January and February, but at the same time they said that they plan to have a consistent release schedule for the rest of the year which meant at least one game from them per month. For March they announced Lego City and Monster Hunter. That's where the drought ends, because those games will not get delayed at this point in time anymore. Pikmin in April. Wii Fit U in May. Game & Wario and Wii Party U in June and July. At E3 they will show the new Mario Kart and 3D Mario. They announced all this in January and nothing has changed since then as far as I could see. Retro's new game can also be expected to be shown off at E3, because it has been a while since their last release.

I know this launch period sucks, but the launch year of pretty much every video game system saw droughts. It's nothing new, so why the fuss? Nintendo has already laid out their plans, albeit without exact release dates. This isn't going to be a year of nothing and you are greatly exaggerating the length of this drought. Like I said, it ends in a couple of weeks. Not all of the games that release in the upcoming months may interest you, but Monster Hunter is a time sink, so that should make the wait more bearable.

I know games get delayed, but a date is still better than "TBA" when it comes to the "light at the end of the tunnel"  effect.

And yeah, I think  we did discuss this before, I've just gotten a lot more irritated and impatient since then, haha. XD One game from them a month would be good if they can actually maintain that pace, but I worry that they won't be able to; their first four months aren't very encouraging.

Maybe I'm just a pessimist, but at this rate I can just see Wonderful 101 being delayed to after E3, and maybe Mario Kart released to carry the entire second half of the year in terms of big first party games, while 3D Mario, Bayonetta 2, and Yarn Yoshi, all get released next year, or maybe even in 2015. Those are the games I want the console for, those and Monolith's Soft's X. Sadly, they all seem lightyears away. And if I were to buy a Wii U now, there honestly isn't anything I'd really want to get. I mean, I'll pick up Monster Hunter, but even that might get old if it's all that's going to be holding me over for the next six months. I've played hundreds of hours of Tri on Wii, so it'll only be half-new anyway.



Around the Network
Fusioncode on 11 March 2013
Chandler said:
“A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever.” ― Shigeru Miyamoto

That quote doesn't work in this context whatsover. The OP isn't saying that Nintendo delays their games too much, he/she is saying that Nintendo should provide release dates faster. Besides, in this gen that quote doesn't even make sense anymore.

As for the original question I'm guessing it's because Nintendo knows the game is going to get delayed constantly so they avoid that by not giving a release date until they are 100% sure they can release it that day. 



Sigs are dumb. And so are you!

Otakumegane on 11 March 2013

Man, I really want to get "X" here soon.

I don't want to wait a year for it to come over here.



http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/profile/92109/nintendopie/ Nintendopie  Was obviously right and I was obviously wrong. I will forever be a lesser being than them. (6/16/13)

curl-6 on 11 March 2013
RolStoppable said:
curl-6 said:

I know games get delayed, but a date is still better than "TBA" when it comes to the "light at the end of the tunnel"  effect.

And yeah, I think  we did discuss this before, I've just gotten a lot more irritated and impatient since then, haha. XD One game from them a month would be good if they can actually maintain that pace, but I worry that they won't be able to; their first four months aren't very encouraging.

Maybe I'm just a pessimist, but at this rate I can just see Wonderful 101 being delayed to after E3, and maybe Mario Kart released to carry the entire second half of the year in terms of big first party games, while 3D Mario, Bayonetta 2, and Yarn Yoshi, all get released next year, or maybe even in 2015. Those are the games I want the console for, those and Monolith's Soft's X. Sadly, they all seem lightyears away. And if I were to buy a Wii U now, there honestly isn't anything I'd really want to get. I mean, I'll pick up Monster Hunter, but even that might get old if it's all that's going to be holding me over for the next six months. I've played hundreds of hours of Tri on Wii, so it'll only be half-new anyway.

E3 should be in early June and since The Wonderful 101 was mentioned as a June game in January (if memory serves me right), it's already pretty clear that it won't release before E3 (but it should come out in the same month). The Wind Waker HD, which you forgot to mention, should be a lock for this year. Good Feel (developer of Yarn Yoshi) needed a good two years to complete Kirby's Epic Yarn after Wario Land: Shake It, so I don't see their latest game slipping into 2014 (KEY was released in late 2010; February 2011 in Europe). EAD Tokyo had finished Super Mario 3D Land by the end of 2011 and part of their staff should have been working on a Wii U game since the release of Super Mario Galaxy 2 in mid-2010. That seems like enough time to have a game ready for the holidays this year. Mario Kart shouldn't be too much of a problem either. And then there's Retro's game. Donkey Kong Country Returns was released in late 2010.

Bayonetta 2 I never had high hopes for in regards to a 2013 release, because for its initial announcement they only showed a teaser trailer, meaning that the game was still very early in production. This game is a likely 2014 release and so is Monolith's X. Even if it releases this year in Japan, JRPGs always take Nintendo a while to localize, so don't expect it anytime soon.

In summary, there's a good bunch of games I am quite sure of to see this year. If the first year is taken as a whole, then it's not going to be too bad. Some of the delays are because Nintendo wants to ship complete games, some of them are for business reasons. They realized that they are going to miss their forecasts no matter what, so they pretty much sacrificed this quarter to start off stronger into their fiscal year 2014. Basically, take a bigger hit this fiscal year, but present a better outlook for the following one.

I didn't forget Wind Waker HD, I deliberately omitted it because I don't like Wind Waker. :p

I kinda expected Bayonetta 2 and X to be 2014, but I at least want to see Yarn Yoshi this year, and if possible 3D Mario also. The second half of this year will have to deliver in a big way if they want to gain some momentum and change the system's unfavourable image.

The problem is, without publicising at last release months, many Wii U owners are going to feel as if nothing is coming. That's the situation at the moment, everything just seems lightyears away. You may be able to extrapolate a possible lineup schedule, but a lot of people need it to be given to them straight.



Stefan.De.Machtige on 11 March 2013

I agree with many in this thread. Nintendo dropped the ball on pikmin 3.

This is strange though.
When Nintendo dropped support for the wii, we all assumed they would be putting their full (console) team strength. It seem like either two things happened:

1. Nintendo moved too much people on the 3DS.
2. The internal transition to HD is not going smoothly.

Either way their policy on announcing things need to be improve.



In the wilderness we go alone with our new knowledge and strength.

Around the Network
TheLastStarFighter on 11 March 2013

There are two different management styles. Most companies operate around a release date. So Ubisoft tells a team to make AC4 and it must be done by XX date. That teams makes what they can and releases it. If they leave out things, or do less QA, that's what must be done. They may probably have a good estimate of the time it will take because its an annual release, and they may put in OT, etc to get it done, but it's management toward a date.

Nintendo manages toward a product. When the product is done, it is released. Do whatever it takes to make the product as good as possible, and then it will be shipped. I prefer this style, though it is nice to no AC4 will be available in October. Several other studios follow this mantra, Blizzard being a notable example. Games with outstanding quality tend to be made in this way. It's why Nintendo, Blizzard and others are held in such high regard.

I would say right now there are probably some pretty strong internal deadlines at Nintendo. I would imagine that the MarioKart team knows that they need that title out this Christmas, and several others are on ASAP notice. Pikmin 3, however, I think was never thought to be a system seller and is more of a pet project of Myamoto. It's probably done by a small team that doesn't have the resources to speed things up.



Cleary397 on 11 March 2013

Wonderful 101 is platinum games. Go ask them.
And Pikmin 3.... dont get me started on that.... Starting to think it wont even release this year :(



Current Game Machines: 3DS, Wii U, PC.

Currently Playing: X-Com(PC), Smash Bros(WiiU), Banner Saga(PC), Guild Wars 2(PC), Project X Zone(3DS), Luigis Mansion 2(3DS), DayZ(PC)

Cheebee on 11 March 2013

Well, the only reason I can think of is that Nintendo themselves don't know when their games will be ready. Really ready. They're really fussy when it comes to perfecting their games, as we all know. That just takes a lot of time, obviously, and I honestly believe they cannot possibly set firm release dates for their games so far in advance, as they tend to change, adjust and polish (even major) things up to the last minute.



Nintendo Network ID: Cheebee   3DS Code: 2320 - 6113 - 9046

 

oniyide on 11 March 2013

wasnt Pikmin supposed to be a Wii game in the first place?



Pavolink on 11 March 2013
RolStoppable said:
Even games with exact release dates can get delayed, so why does this matter? Oh right, the hype. On that note, wouldn't the lack of releasing new information/trailers be a bigger concern than the release date?


This. After the ND we don't know anything about a Wii U game aside from Lego and MH. April need at least a release and I cannot imagine them leaving may enterily to REvelations HD.



Proud to be the first cool Nintendo fan ever

Number ONE Zelda fan in the Universe

DKCTF didn't move consoles

Prediction: No Zelda HD for Wii U, quietly moved to the succesor

Predictions for Nintendo NX and Mobile