Nintendo apologizes for lack of Wii U software

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata apologized today for a drought of new Wii U releases in the first few months of the system's availability. He explained that Nintendo understands the need for new titles surrounding the Wii U launch, but also acknowledged that achieving quality is of the utmost importance.

"Nintendo takes seriously its responsibility offer a steady stream of new titles in the very early days of a new platform to establish a good lineup of software," Iwata said during a Nintendo Direct briefing this morning. "On the other hand, we also firmly believe we have to offer quality experiences when we release new titles. Based on our software development schedules at the end of last year, we concluded we should spend a little more time to satisfy our Nintendo standard of quality.

"I apologize to those supporting Wii U about the lack of new titles from Nintendo in January and February. But please understand we will have new titles to offer from March onward. We are planning a steady stream of games from spring to summer."

In recent weeks, Nintendo has bumped a number of "launch window" titles further into the horizon, including The Wonderful 101, Pikmin 3, Wii Fit U, and Game & Wario.

Elsewhere in the Nintendo Direct presentation, Iwata revealed a bevy of new first-party games, including a brand-new Wii U Legend of Zelda game and a Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker high-definition remake. Other first-party Wii U titles revealed during the presentation included new Yoshi, Mario, and Mario Kart offerings.