On the other hand, retailers have a history of under-ordering certain kinds of games on Nintendo consoles. I remember Muramasa as an example of a game that almost no retailer in Europe bothered stocking. They simply decided it wasn't going to sell. They may have made the same decision about Monster Hunter 3U.

Lack of distribution is exactly the kind of problem that the eShop can solve.

Undershipped just like all recent Nintendo releases. WTF is going on? Is this intentional in order to drive customers to the eShop?

I think retailers really underestimated how this game would sale so they took the safer route which in turn hurt their own profit but increased Nintendo's if people buy from the eShop, one thing for sure is that the retail situation will be interesting as more and more games also go the DD route, but the thing that won't change is that they'll(retail) be hurting either way.

the prices on the eshop are rediculous ... at least here in germany ...
60-70€ for a game ... I was like oO ...

thx god you can buy the games for 50-55€ retail here at the stores where I live, and they have enough stock left.
just bought it today for 53€ because i couldnt resist any longer :) (there were at least 10copies left)

enjoy the game man, damn thing can be really addictive lol

Weird how inconsistent eShop prices are. In some regions they're cheaper than retail; in some they're the same price; evidently in Germany they're higher. Nintendo has to fix that. They should be cheaper in every region.

How many copies of the game were shipped? 'Cause if they only shipped like 50k this is a complete joke.

I thought about going digital only for wii u but it just isn't worth it. Digital is more conveniant but the prices are too high and i do like the gorgeous blue wii u cases and the box art. You can get assassin creed 3 on amazon for £22, last time i checked it was £50 on e-shop. I think e-shop is more expensive than "gay" GAME and that is an accomplishment in itself. Anyone who buys a game from e-shop has been royally screwed by nintendo's suits.

Highly unlikely it's going to bite themselves in the ass.    If you need a physical copy, it's not hard to go on Amazon or order products online.   Some people prefer the brick and mortar stores, however, I only had one instance during a Target Buy 2 get 1 free sale, where I couldn't find a game I wanted, prompting me to go to a different Target to be able to purchase a physical copy of Darksiders 2.

At least with Digital versions of said games, you get $5 for every $50 spent if you bought a Deluxe console, however, if I recall, the games are tied to the console, NOT to your Nintendo Network account, if this is not true(And I don't have another friend with a Wii U to verify this)   then you can't re-sell games.

With Playstation and Xbox, you own the games, you are allowed to download them with multiple accounts(2 on PS3, down from 5 in 2011, not sure how many on Xbox).

Sony originally had the account limit at 5, before full games were being released.   It was common practice between 2 of my friends, to share the cost of DLC, so all three of us could use it.   When it was brought down to 2, we simply used my console and a separate monitor/my other PS3 for sharing of DLC.

Digital downloads are favored by some people, because you do not need a disc to swap games.   I am sure that I will not hit whatever magic limit there is on the Wii U game console until Virtual Console is released, however, thanks to Playstation Plus, it was very easy to hit the 100 application cap on the Vita, 20 of which you have no control over.   People prefer digital downloading because it also saves wear and tear on your disc drive, loading directly from the hard drive, which is far less likely to fail.

Unless you are the type that likes to sell games after you are done with them, there is no harm buying digital, other than the fact you might pay slightly more compared to a sale, or Amazon/Newegg, which regularly offer games below full price(New Super Mario Bros U is regularly 49 and change, Zombi U is about the same, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is around $45, versus $55 digitally)

And how many of you own Cellphones?   Everything is digital, the only things that are not digital are accessories, and even some of those are bluetooth enabled.   Technology changes, so do business practices.    Some things however, will never be replaced.

Will CD's ever go obselete like Casette tapes, 8 track tapes, and VHS tapes?   No, because on a CD, you can get to anywhere you want, no matter where you are on a song.    Some people prefer the physical route because they like the sense of owning the product, do not have the fancy technology to hook up a 3.5mm cable to your cellphone, ipod, etc, and play the music digitally, or are more old fashioned.

Will Blu-Rays ever go obselete?   Not anytime soon, but this one is more likely.    If the generation of 4k technology is not supported by Blu Ray, or there is another capacity of disc that will, that works much better, this one is more likely to go away than the simple CD, which is cheap and effective.

Will wired printers ever go obselete?   No

Will flip phones ever go obselete?   I wish they would, but sadly, some people like simple technology, so the safe answer is no.   Commonly used?  No.

Will computers ever go obselete?   The safe answer is no, the technology will always be there, even if the form changes.    Will people ever fully support touch screen functionality on a computer?    No, keyboards make the computer easier, which is why people with tablets purchase them.   Those who have used a mouse for years prefer them over touch screen, which is faster, but more annoying to drag/drop.

Wireless and digital are very popular, however, nobody will fully support it.   Some people prefer headphones over bluetooth/wireless that needs to be charged, not to mention, the bluetooth signal will sometimes cause interference, dropping the song out, a wired headset will play 24/7.   There are pros and cons to everything.

I suspected conspiracy when they managed to release Luigi's Mansion 2 on a holiday in my country when everything was closed. But i don't buy retail-games on NIntendo-systems online on principle.