Preview: Nintendo picks up sales with new games
By: Michael Shahin
The gaming industry hit the gamers hard during the last couple of months of the year, being the holiday season and all. This year is no different, and big publishers have saved their “good” stuff all year long, and are ready to put prospective hits out. The first for the season was on Nov. 3, Activision launched Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
As gaming has been growing, more and more retail locations are doing midnight launches for these games. Just a few years ago it was only GameStop who would do a midnight launch and only for huge games such as World of Warcraft or any new consoles. Now in order for retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, Fry’s Electronics and Target to compete, they too must do midnight launches for these gamers.
Last year Nintendo was struggling with sales, however they’ve picked up quite a bit this year. According to Nintendo’s financial briefing, they sold 3.49 million units of Mario Kart 8, and have a total of 7.29 million Wii U units sold. Almost half of Wii U owners have a copy of this game. And for last November, Pokémon X and Pokémon Y sold over 12 million units for the 3DS. “I’m super amped for the new Super Smash Bros. on the Wii U. I already have it for my 3DS, but definitely getting for the Wii U to play with all my friends,” said MCC student Alfredo Chavez.
Nintendo has more up its sleeve to help with this holiday season, and they’re ending it with a trifecta of titles. Nov. 21 Nintendo will be launching three big hit games, possibly the most anticipated games all year long. Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U will be coming out, along with Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 3DS came out Oct. 3 of this year, and had sales of over 2.8 million copies. Many gamers were excited for this game, and had been camping out of local shops to pick the video game at midnight. Shane Kitzman, Best Buy public relations, said of the turnout for midnight releases that “It varies depending on store location but it can be anywhere from a dozen to 60+ depending on the title. And the number of stores we open fluctuates, too. It can be anywhere from 150 to 800+.”
Super Smash Bros. has had a growing fan base beginning with the first game on the Nintendo 64, and even sees play in the professional gaming sector. Back at E3 Nintendo hosted the Super Smash Bros. Invitational where they hosted the world’s top 16 players, and had them battle it out for everyone to see. After the success at E3, Nintendo hosted the two games, Super Smash Bros. Wii U and the 3DS version for all Best Buy locations across the U.S., and according to Best Buy they had more than 30,000 people attend the event nationwide.
Many new games for Nintendo consoles have, or are expected to come out this year including Bayonetta 2, Hyrule Warriors, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Super Smash Bros., Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
