Far-flung release dates on Gamestop are rarely accurate, since they give publishers so much time to change their minds. But as of right now, February 2009 is slated to be the best time for Wii owners (or gamers in general) who like over-the-top, silly gore, thanks to a sequence of high-profile releases.
We predict delays for at least two of these games which will push them out of the same month, but if such a confluence actually does occur, just go ahead and try not to watch any TV news or read any newspapers this February.
A lot of those Wii Fit bundles people have been snatching up (and never playing again) came from GameStop, apparently, as the company reports a net earnings increase of 162.1 percent to $57.2 million in the second quarter. For the period of three months ending August 2nd, sales increased by 34.8 percent to $1.80 billion.
It wasn't all thanks to Wii Fit, though. There were some other big titles that released during this time period, including Grand Theft Auto IV and Metal Gear Solid 4. GameStop's CEO R. Richard Fontaine is obviously happy about the increase in profits. "By prioritizing our investments and focusing our resources, GameStop continues to significantly outperform the specialty retail segment as a whole, when comparing top-line growth, comparable store sales, and net earnings growth." Yes, but while you're commenting, is there anything you'd like to pre-order today?
Yesterday, NCSX opened preorders for Japanese copies of Wii Music, which is officially coming out October 16. We haven't gotten an official US date beyond 'Holiday 2008,' but two retailers seem to have agreed upon a potential date: November 3. Both Amazon and GameStop are taking preorders for the multiplayer musical toy thing, to ship (as of now, anyway) on that projected release date. Gamefly says October 29, which is very strange: Gamefly's release dates tend to be behind the real date, not ahead of it.
With the holiday season rapidly approaching, we're sure Nintendo will date or delay Wii Music soon, but for now, we can look forward to the shortages kicking off on November 3.
Character design and concept art are two areas in which Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars excels, and the free gifts for those who preorder the game use both extensively.
Those who reserve a copy at Gamestop will be able to claim the "life-size" statuette above, as well as a pack of eleven Mushroom Mentrading cards (a twelfth comes with the game itself) featuring the title's diverse range of enemies. The "Jackalope" has ensured that we shall not sleep easily tonight.
It's probably worth mentioning that a further eleven cards will be offered to those who preorder Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi on the DS, as well as a superb Les Claypool/Mushroom Men poster. Red Fly's customized Mushroom Men VW Bus is not, alas, a preorder perk, but it is rad. Take a look.
People seem to either fall in the "love it" or "hate it" camp for Red Steel. For some, the controls were a mess, but others felt that they worked pretty well after an hour or so of playing. If such mixed opinions initially scared you away from Ubisoft's launch game, you might be happy to know that you can now pick up the title for super cheap.
Starting today (and lasting only one week), GameStop is selling used copies of Red Steel for $9.99. This deal is available in brick and mortar stores only, but you can check if your local store has copies in stock by using the retailer's website.
For those of you who've played Red Steel -- is it worth $10?
Well, November or some other time or nothin', but we really wanted to use the old Nerf tagline, you know? In their original press release revealing Nerf N-Strike, EA assigned it a fall release window. A new listing on GameStop.com for the game provides a more definite release date: November 17, which puts it right in the middle of the holiday release season. If this is the real release date, it could mean that EA intends for Nerf N-Strike to be one of their major Wii releases for the year!
In addition to the release date, GameStop also offers a potential price for the game, which also includes the mindblowing Nerf gun/Wii Zapper hybrid: $59.99. No matter how awesome the gun is (and it looks way awesome), that game had better be vast for that kind of scratch.
[Update: Majesco sent out a press release with a real release date on it! June 10. This release went out mere hours after our email to Majesco. Coincidence? Most likely.]
We don't know if this is official (but then no Blast Worksdate has ever been official), but Gamestop's release date for Blast Works: Build, Trade, and Destroy has moved from May 20 to June 3. If we weren't looking forward to playing the game, this carrot-and-stick routine would be comical, but really we're just angry. This was originally supposed to come out in October.
Amazon still says May 27. Best Buy says May 29. Were we regular shoppers and not game bloggers (which requires us to try to keep up with release dates and such), we would definitely have given up on following Blast Works by now. We'd just buy it whenever we happened to see it in a store.
If you plan on getting Wii Fit without being trampled by Oprah-watching woman types, you better have secured your preorder already, as pickings are getting slim.
Not only has Amazon stopped taking them for Nintendo's popular fitness game, but IGN reports that GameStop has also suspended preorders for the title and Game Crazy is nearly tapped out. GoNintendo notes that Toys R Us (dot com) has run out of preorder stock, too, leaving Walmart's online store as one of the few options left -- although we're sure it's only a matter of time before that ends, as well.
This sounds eerily similar to what happened in the UK a few weeks ago, and now retail copies of Wii Fit seem to be more scarce than holy grails there. The one lesson that we can take away from all this? Nintendo is really good at printing money.
EB Games' site has a rather interesting listing up. It's for Boogie Superstar, which we can only assume is a sequel for EA's Boogie game (you think, Wii Fanboy?). Uh, did Boogie do well enough to justify a sequel? Also, will this supposed new sequel utilize the Balance Board, as rumored?
Despite some lukewarm reviews and an overall failure at retail, it would seem that EA is not giving up on their rhythm-based franchise. Let's just hope that this time around, it will require more than a babbling baby's effort to actually succeed.
For those of you who like to collect promotional DVDs, know that GameStop is giving away free DVDs that show off Wii Fit. Our best guess is that the footage on the DVD is things you've already seen (here at Wii Fanboy, we hope), so if you're intending on picking it up and catching something new to watch to hold you over until the bundle is released, then perhaps that might not be the best plan in the world.
Instead, we suggest you approach this as an opportunity to show it off to someone in your life who doesn't know what the 411 is. Show the game off to your mom, your English teacher or simply get a bunch of the DVDs and throw them around like ninja stars. That used to be fun with those AOL 3.0 CDs back in the day.
Likely sensing our discontent over the lack of pearl necklaces included with US copies of Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, GameStop is now offering the adventure game for only $19.99!
Just three months ago, Capcom marked down Zack & Wiki to $29.99 from its original $39.99 pricing. Could this be another universal price drop, soon to kick into effect at other retailers?
Though GameStop has discounted copies available online, you can save on shipping by picking one up at a brick and mortar location nearby. Make sure to ask the clerk if the shop will throw in a pearl necklace with the deal.
Gallery: Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure
News of GameStop's trade-in offer on Mario Kart Wii may well have had some of you sifting through your collections for those barely used copies of Cabela's Big Game Hunter and Carnival Games, but is trading in your games a regular thing for you kids? This blogger has always been something of an anti-hoarder, and consequently I've become a serial trader in the last year or two, after discovering that reasonable deals could be had on the high street, if you look in the right places.
If you were worried that you'd have to give up your first-born child (which we at Nintendo Wii Fanboy calculate is worth about $15) for the Wii Wheel, we have some reassuring news. Although GameStop recently posted an ad which gave us the impression that the Wii Wheel would retail for $14.99, Nintendo Power has us thinking differently. According to the scan seen above, the wheel's MSRP will actually be five dollars less, costing a more reasonable $9.99.
So, if you're planning on getting a few extra of these, we recommend doing so at stores that don'tcharge above the suggested retail price.
When UFO Interactive told us that Heavenly Guardian would be out in "Q2," we had no idea it would be so soon in this particular Q. Gamestop now lists the shooter, which was once a sequel to Kiki Kaikai/Pocky & Rocky, with an April 22nd release date, at an excellent price of $19.99. UFO confirmed both the release date an the price to us.
Apparently, the PS2 version slipped out to a few retail outlets a while ago, and we didn't even notice -- and neither did other review outlets, it seems. The Wii release should be a bit more high-profile, if only because we're talking about it right now! It's an original, fully 2D action/shooter game; how could we not talk about it?
We haven't come across many deals for Mario Kart Wii, but one way that you might be able to get the game cheaply is through GameStop. By now, most of you are probably familiar with how the games retailer works (and can efficiently read post titles), so the fact that trade-ins are involved shouldn't surprise you. Specifically, though, this deal is like the recent Brawl one -- you have to trade in two games from a preset list of titles, and then you can pick up Mario Kart for ten dollars.
Just check after the break for the complete list to see if there are any two games you can part with.
Far-flung release dates on Gamestop are rarely accurate, since they give publishers so much time to change their minds. But as of right now, February 2009 is slated to be the best time for Wii owners (or gamers in general) who like over-the-top, silly gore, thanks to a sequence of high-profile releases.
