No First-Party Releases for the Wii in June

Nintendo has always been about the first-party licenses. Since the release of the Nintendo Wii in November 2006, there has been at least one Nintendo-published title released each month. This is probably due to the embarrassing third party support on the Nintendo Gamecube, where there was basically no support from any company other than Nintendo. But this month Nintendo is not releasing any games, and is hoping to bank on third party games.

This shouldn't be a problem from the DS. There have been plenty of outstanding third party games released on the handheld, and June shouldn't disappoint. Guitar Hero: On Tour is looking to be a huge seller on the DS, and the system will no doubt still sell like hotcakes.

But the Wii may be in a bit of trouble. Let's face it: Third party support on the Wii hasn't been very great. I was looking at a list of best selling DS games the other day, and there is only one game in the top 10 that was not published by Nintendo. And that game still has Mario in it (Mario and Sonic at the Olympics). It's almost pitiful, if you think about it.

But Nintendo is banking on success of games like Rock Band, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and LEGO Indiana Jones. While it's true that all three are looking to sell well, it is still in question whether or not they will sell enough to make up for the lack of a Nintendo game.

Nintendo has released enough noteworthy games for awhile, with big names such as Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, and Wii Fitness still on everyone's minds. However, it's still a bit odd that Nintendo changed their marketing strategy so suddenly. I'm assuming it is because the Wii and DS are selling so well, and they don't really need to have huge titles every month. Which is good in a sense, because Nintendo deserves a break. But if this month does not go well, you can be sure that they will never go another month without releasing a first-party title.