Nintendo to Release New Zelda Game; Wii U Sales Down

By Gilbert Falso :: 5:44 PM

Zelda fans have something to look forward to – Nintendo has announced that it will soon be releasing a new Legend of Zelda game for the company’s handheld 3DS gaming device.

The new game, scheduled to hit store shelves around the holidays, will be set in the virtual world from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, first released on the Super Nintendo system in 1992.

In addition to Zelda, Nintendo is also planning on bringing back old favorites like Yoshi’s Island, Donkey Kong, and Mario and Luigi.

“Nintendo 3DS and Wii U continue to evolve into some of the best bets in gaming,” claims Nintendo’s President Reggie Fils-Aime.  “We’ve had an incredible 2013 so far with titles such as Fire Emblem Awakening and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, and the rest of 2013 and beyond is even better.”

The new games come ahead of a Wii U system update planned within the next week that will provide new functions and address game loading time issues. Nintendo’s Wii U has suffered issues with customer adoption and sales numbers continue to drop.

According to sales figures analyzed yesterday, only 55,000 Wii U consoles were sold in the U.S. in March. This is down from 66,000 units sold in February. Peak numbers for the new console came during the Christmas holidays, with 463,000 units in December and 425,000 units in November.

“Combined Wii U and Wii unit sales were down 27% last month, while combined 3DS and DS unit sales were also down 27% compared to last February, and have not shown positive growth since October 2011,” said analyst Michael Pachter with Wedbush Research.