Unless you’ve preordered or plan to wait on line overnight, it’s going to be very tough to get a Nintendo (NTDOY) Wii U on Sunday. Preorders for the console with the unique touchscreen controller and wireless streaming functionality have been sold out since September and we’re already seeing skyrocketing prices on auction sites such as eBay. Needless to say, the Wii U is all but guaranteed a successful launch. According to Gamasutra, the hardware isn’t the only thing that is selling out – GameStop (GME) is also seeing huge demand for Wii U games. GameStop says 1.2 million Wii U games have already been preordered, which is double what it saw for the original Wii.
GameStop noted that Wii U titles leading the pack are: Assassin’s Creed 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, New Super Mario Bros. U, Scribblenauts Unlimited and Zombie U.
Unlike the Wii that launched in 2005 with a copy of Wii Sports packed into every box, the Wii U’s $299.99 Basic Set doesn’t come with any games. To get the NintendoLand pack-in, consumers will need to buy the $349.99 Deluxe Set.
The increase in demand for Wii U games could be due to the fact that there are simply more console gamers than there were before the Wii broadened its appeal and Nintendo is releasing a new console with a new Super Mario game for the first time since Super Mario 64 launched alongside the Nintendo 64.
