Word out of Nintendo’s Australian Media Summit this morning is that both Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M will arrive much sooner that expected. How much sooner? Nintendo is saying “mid year,” which in inudstry speak could mean anything from June all the way to end of August, or even September.
Still, this is much, much earlier than I think anyone who’s anyone expected. The bad news, for Zelda fans at least, is that there was no mention of Zelda. That release date, teased by Iwata and others as later this year, seems like it’s slipped a bit, especially given the fact these two powerhouse titles will drop in the middle of 2010. Maybe Zelda arrives for the holidays?
Expect more information and a more official launch date later today, when Nintendo’s North American media event kicks off on the West Coast.
Jamie
Mario Galaxy 2 is a given, it uses the same tech and idea as the original Mario Galaxy should be an easy game to get right. I imagine they started work on it shortly after the original galaxy was released so I’d say a mid-year release is fair.
Zelda needs to take a while, they will take as long as they need, which if we want the most awesome Zelda ever, means we won’t get it till, like you say, holidays 2010 (+delays).
Metroid Other M, I really don’t want them to rush it, it looks like an amazing game, but going by how much variety of footage they had in the trailer last year (both gameplay and story related cut-scene) it could well be quite a bit along already. Who knows when they tarted work on that game.
Anyway, it’s these 3 games that’ll make me play my Wii again, this past year it’s almost exclusively been PC/PS3, apart from NSMBW and Metroid Prime Trilogy, so it’ll be nice to have something to show off about when I’m playing Wii.
David
If this happens, it will feel like late 2007-early 2008 all over again when three huge games were released in less than 5 months.
November 2007 – Super Mario Galaxy
February 2008 – Super Smash Bros Brawl
April 2008 – Mario Kart Wii
Why does Nintendo overload their release schedule like this?
Jack
@David: Not to get too business-y, but I think this release schedule, if it stands, shows Nintendo has a lack of faith in the success of at least one of these titles, probably Galaxy 2. Therefore, they overload the schedule so that the two big brand names help one another build hype. I say this as a satisfied Galaxy 1 owner, but nevertheless the title underperformed in important regions like Japan, and—this is my opinion—I think Nintendo wants Galaxy 2 out the door and done with so that they can focus on something more in line with Super Mario Bros. Wii 2, or the next Zelda title, or truly original IP.
As for some more pessimism, I think Nintendo might load up the release schedule like this because of uncertainty about Other M. It’s Metroid, but it’s shaping up to be a CGI-heavy, cutscene-laden (2D/3D?) Metroid. History’s shown that kind of title, Metroid or no, won’t perform well on the Wii.
Sean Buckley
I’m not surprised to hear that Galaxy 2 is coming that early, it’s kind of an “afterthought” game, if you ask me. I can still get play out of the old title, and i’m not exactly hankering for more.
Metroid is a good “summer title,” it’s not “mainstream” enough to be a big holiday seller. People know who Mario and Link/Zelda are. Ask a Mom who Samus is? Yeah, no.
This might bring hope for a Zelda release in the fall – it would be a huge holiday seller, and may even come with a Motion + pack in, if the statements that it’s motion + exclusive are true. THAT is marketable.
cowmanodoom
I wanted news about Zelda Wii so bad!! But I guess, the longer they spend on production, the better it will be, right?
Metroid: Other M looks pretty cool though, looks like we’ll get a deep storyline with this game, unlike Metroid Prime 1 and 2, which were awesome games despite this.
Mario Galaxy 2, I can do without it. No doubt it will be a good game though. I’m just not excited about it at all.
I don’t understand people who say Nintendo has abandoned the “Core Gamer,” just take a look at that list!