September 9th, 2012

Nintendo Land appears as a stand-alone title at another retailer — so, what does this mean?

55 Comments

Based on how Nintendo Land is being handled at various retailers, it appears the game will be a stand-alone title, rather than something that’s packed in with the system by default. The above image, for instance, is from JB-Hifi down here in Australia and seems to suggest exactly that. Of course, there are two caveats:

  1. This could be the expectation of the retailers, but that doesn’t make it confirmed.
  2. Even if it’s available as a stand-alone title, there’s a chance there’ll be multiple bundles, one or two of which may include the game.

Either way, just a few days until we have all the details.

(via nintendolife.com)

  • ClassicHyperSonic

    $99?
    What the hell?

    • WII U MAD?

      It’s the stupid retailer’s prediction. Can’t believe what they’re saying. $60 maybe, but $100? Silly.

    • warwick75

      It’s not a silly prediction, that’s how much games generally cost in Australia or New Zealand.

    • Soeroah

      EG: OoT 3D was $64. Skyrim was $60 for PC, about $85 for consoles.

      When I see a game going for $24 I almost buy impulsively, because gamewise, $24 feels like pocket change compared to normal prices.

    • WII U MAD?

      Facepalm, sorry about that. I was thinking USD, I should’ve read the whole thing.

    • COLE TRAIN

      That’s Australian dollars….

    • MMGM

      That’s what retailers put if they don’t know the final price…. I know it’s stupid, and I freaked out when I saw so many WiiU titles that had $99 dollars on it at GameStop.

    • Holonboy

      Why was this thumbed down? It’s true.

      In an industry where preorders are likely, if they set the price at 60 but turns out to be higher, those with “preorder price guarantees” get lucky and the retailer loses money, those who preordered in store with a deposit get angry, and those who preordered online without the preorder price guarantee notice a extra large bill with their credit/debit card and get mad.

      If they set it too high, say 100 bucks, and the price drops, then the consumer would be happy and no crazy moms would rage.

      100 bucks is just a placeholder until Nintendo reveals the MSRP for their games. Third-parties have already begun sharing their prices to retailers.

    • Anna

      It’s in Australian Dollars.

    • http://twitter.com/Cactusman13 Daniel

      60 US dollars is equivalent to 100 aussie dollars in terms of video games here in australia, despite the fact that the aussie dollar is almost the same as the us dollar :/

    • http://PolyKhromeGames.blogspot.com/ Brian Lockett

      Yeah, that sucks. :/

      We outta make a universal gamer’s currency. lol

    • Bicentennial_Pidgeon

      Rupees.

  • HITMAN SQUID

    hopefully it comes with the system in all bundles and the original system cause why wont they put it as a starter so it shows what the system can do

    • http://twitter.com/Revolution5268 Revolution

      well for one there some game in nintendo land required to have wiimotes & plus, i don’t think wiimotes will be bundle in the console.
      because you will be playing a game that you can’t play without the wiimotes.

  • http://twitter.com/paulct91 Paul Taylor

    Why is that game bundle listed as $100?

    • lonewolf88

      its not american dollars that iin american dollars is probably 59

    • Ichigo Kurosaki

      It’s probably the game and the controller bundled together. Wii Sports wasn’t even a full $20 by itself.

    • http://PolyKhromeGames.blogspot.com/ Brian Lockett

      I seriously doubt the GamePad controller even as a bundle would cost what amounts to $60 USD. The Wii Remote and Nunchuk alone cost about $40 together, if memory serves me correctly. The GamePad as a separately-sold item would go for at least $80, I would imagine.

    • http://www.facebook.com/AJ.Fowl Andrew Chambers

      As of about 6 months ago, the gamepad was going for $80. The price could have changed though

    • mod

      it Australian Dollars.

  • Captain Falcon

    lol, they can’t even get the box art template correct.

    • http://PolyKhromeGames.blogspot.com/ Brian Lockett

      It’s an ad, not a game case. If they spent a lot of money on ads for the game before the official game case design got finalized, they’ll still use those ads. They probably had these ads printed a couple of months in advanced. They figure it won’t matter too much if it differs a bit from the final game box art.

  • JWHO

    Im pretty sure it will be bundled i know i wouldn’t buy it as a stand alone. no not because i think its 2 kiddie i wouldn’t get it because it really wouldn’t last in my gaming library its like play 3 to 5 times the forget about it and play Rayman Legends.

  • RockieOllie

    “So what does this mean?”
    It means I’m not getting it. Its a nice game I’m sure,but there is no way I’m going to buy a mini game collection game. I’m sure others will love it. Me personally its a pass.

    • Holonboy

      If I have some extra cash when the system launch window passes, I might get it. Otherwise, I’ll wait for the price to drop, till my birthday so my dad can get it or till it becomes a Nintendo Select.

  • Sam.

    In new Zealand they had it separate too. I have heaps of photos from ebgames of there advertising of the wii u

  • noobingtons

    it’ll probably be like wii sports. a bundle

    • http://PolyKhromeGames.blogspot.com/ Brian Lockett

      For $99, if it is a bundle, it’d probably be a GamePad controller bundle, unless they’re saying that you can just preorder a Wii U/Nintendo Land bundle for $99 down. But still, what games they bundle, they also sell as standalone.

    • jesse

      you did not understand his/her comment right at all

  • ePik Min

    I thought everyone agreed on the success of Wii bundles and that it is clear the Wii U should do the same.

    They would sell the console with a stupid composite cable noone would use (theoretically), but would not try to sell NL with it? This game would be a perfect base to learn to use the console and to get started. I really doubt this will be this way. Why would they do it this way?

    Ok let’s wait for next Thursday >.>”

  • http://www.facebook.com/coryag1 Cory Ag

    I am finally staring to see quite a bit of advertising for the wii u now..actually it’s not known now..but Burger king will be doing a WII U Promotion on October 25th..so….some time in October the Wii U will be out?

    • Holonboy

      Or shortly after.
      It’s not uncommon to see promotions to create hype prior to something’s release.

  • http://twitter.com/iamdylaniacona Dylan Iacona

    GameStop has this for New Super Mario Bros U, Zombie U,and a bunch of other games back here in Jersey

  • Sonic20012

    Well, I would really like it to be bundled with the Wii U, but I’ll still buy it if it’s a stand-alone game. I think Nintendo is nuts if they don’t bundle it, because…WE ALLLLLLL BUNDLE!!! LOL

  • King Boo

    I’m thinking they might just include a download code so they don’t have to print copies, keep cost down.

  • Nintendo

    People need 2 stop B*tching about it not being packed in with the wii u!!! Just from looking at what they showed off so far, we’ll be getting a bang for our$!!!

    • http://PolyKhromeGames.blogspot.com/ Brian Lockett

      You’re being the kind of Nintendo supporter I fear to see here: A naive one.

  • Pyroblock

    it means no one will get the game

  • Hybrilynx

    pretty stupid unless every single one of those mini games plays online worldwide with other players.

    • http://PolyKhromeGames.blogspot.com/ Brian Lockett

      Even then, it’s still not worth the price of being a standalone game. It’s 2012. Online gameplay shouldn’t be a highlight as special anymore. Especially for a collection of just 12 mini-games.

    • Hybrilynx

      i know online games should be common. its just that nintendo doesnt. starfox 3d would have been the awesomeness of online gaming on a 3ds, but its not.

  • http://PolyKhromeGames.blogspot.com/ Brian Lockett

    This is seriously lame, Nintendo. I get the strongest feeling that this is not just an expectation of retailers, but an indication that Nintendo Land will be sold as a full-priced standalone game and possible as a bundle. That simply will not do.

    I’m almost sure this is a sign that this game will be sold as a full-priced stand-alone game and as a bundle, and I got that feeling about the game even at E3. The way they raved about it, they sure acted like it was a full-featured game.

    This game should be a pack-in game and nothing more. Not even as a bundle, really. They seem to forget just how much of a challenge it’ll be to define Wii U as a good home for “core” games. It’s far easier to market Wii U to “casual” gamers than it is to “core” gamers, so Nintendo needs to make sure the Wii U has an image of being worth the “core” gamers’ trust as well as the other kinds of games.

    By selling a game that should just be a pack-in game, you’re showing the “core” veteran gamers that you don’t mind selling less-than-full games as a standalone at full price. They’ll view it as Wii all over again, as just another home to an abundance of overpriced family games and shovelware. You can’t make this game appear as a value–not even by bundling it. If they make this a “standalone game” available as a Wii U bundle, it’ll seriously devalue of what gamers think Nintendo thinks of the Wii U: just another Wii.

    • http://PolyKhromeGames.blogspot.com/ Brian Lockett

      Just to be clear, I’m not calling Nintendo Land a bad game here. I’m saying here that, by now, a game like Nintendo Land should be free with the Wii U, and not promoted as some reason to buy a Wii U. It’s simply not the kind of game that’ll sell Wii U very much in itself, so it might as well be included to increase the standard value of buying a Wii U.

      One wrong move like this can be the difference between support and abandonment of the Wii U, for gamers, but also for game developers. If Wii U gets painted as a home for less-than-”core” gaming machine from the start, it’ll won’t meet up to game developers’ expectation for the system in terms of promising “core market” sales, and they’ll take their business elsewhere–during a time when Wii U would really need more early support.

      I love you, Nintendo, I really do, but you really drop the ball at times, even when the ball’s in your court. It’s out of tough love I sharply criticize you here. I just don’t want to see Wii U fail.

    • csaw

      But you should also keep in mind something else important, price. If not having this game bundled in makes the wiiu cheaper then its alright with me. This game isn’t wii sports, so even if it was bundled it wasn’t going to be the game that everybody rushed to get a wiiu for. If the amazon rumor that came out a few days ago has any merit, then its quite possible thag nintendo may create a $250 bare bones package, and a $300 package with this game or another game bundled with it.

    • Anna

      Nintendo Selects: Wii Sports.

  • Snake

    Why would anyone pay 99$ for a game?

    • Symbol de Au

      Australia.

    • Diamond Ammo

      I’d pay that much for monster hunter, shoot, 500+ hours of gameplay compared to the average 8 hours of other games….

    • Snake

      Yeah Monster Hunter is worth 100$.

    • Hybrilynx

      i thought that said 99 cents. like, one of those things where you pay $1 to get your copy even if the store sells out. wow $99 is a shell no. not even for metroid.

    • crey

      Welcome to Australia

  • EPIK

    It means every single dang idiot on the internet is underestimating this game, as Metroid Blast has clearly shown us, everyone’s quick to judge the 30% of the game they’ve seen so far, especially since not even half of them have even played the game yet.

  • Armageddon

    i never found this game really interesting.

  • Harvey

    Do you guys forget that this is an Australian Retailer??? Each region does things differently, Nintendoland still might launch with Wii U. I think Northern America will launch Wii U with Nintendoland. Just cause it might not launch in Australia doesn’t mean it won’t in other regions as a bundle.

  • zxride64

    We will wait and see if it is packed in for free good, if it is not it needs to be reasonable priced based on the content maybe even make it a digitally only game. But hopes for it to be pre-installed for the Wii U at least in countries outside of Japan. (remember Wii Sports was not a pack in for the Wii in Japan.)