And thus Nintendo has run out of games this gen.

YES! YES! YES!

Though is this just speculation?  Are you just assuming that since Nintendo has not announced anymore there won't be anymore?  Or did Nintendo outright say "this is the last of New Play Control series"?

I don't think it's speculation. The title is pretty affirmative.

Great, bring on the Wii Music/Fit/Sports and Animal Crossing expansion packs.

Nintendo's non-casual line-up's looking real good these days.  Can't wait for Nintendo's showing at C3 this summer:  Casual Consumer Conference.

I actually think this is sad news.  I thought there were several games that could have used this treatment, and had material added to the game. 

How about Wind Waker, but adding in the 2 dungeons that were dropped from the original, allowing for 2 new islands to explore, possibly bigger islands with plenty of secrets? 

Luigi's mansion also screamed for a port.  Oh well.  I hope NOA is smart and decides to sell some of these games as 2 packs.  I know they didn't do it with Pikmin, however I still believe Metroid Prime 1 and 2 would be much better sold together.

The original news story I used had official information on both the release date and the end of the NPC series.

I personally doubt this series is "over". Originally the article said that the series would "take a break", meaning that some more games could be released in a year or two.

I think this indicate that Nintendo might have some really strong titles for release for both the core and casual audience, and don't need the wiimakes to fill the spaces in between releases.

Can't wait!

lol WiiSports New Play Control (M+!!)

ChibiRobo is awesome.

I doubt the series is over, although the headline might make some people think that (misleading headlines is a big no-no in journalism). Considering they have been getting good sales so far I think Nintendo will continue.

Agree 100%

This sounds a little more involved than just the standard NPC release.  And don't you want a Zelda designed for the Wii from the ground up?  Twilight Princess is a Gamecube game with waggle controls shoehorned in.  We still need a true Wii Zelda and I think we deserve that before a special edition of Wind Waker.

Now NPC Wind Waker as a pre-order bonus for a new Wii Zelda?  Now we're getting somewhere. :)

too much effort on their part =\

With Ian on this one! Havn't said that in a while. But I want Nintendo's developers to spend time on new games, not things we've played already.

By the way is jungle beat supposed to have more stages?

Like I said earlier, the title in my original story was that the series was taking a break after these games were released.

The original source does say it will end, though.

Sad, I really doubt the NPC games took up much manpower or resources so they were more of a bonus.

I think the positive to this, however, is that it might confirm that stronger titles for all gamers are on the way.

I always saw the NPC releases a filler releases that promised enhancements to existing games, create awareness of franchises and sell them to the new audience.

If Nintendo has decided to end the series it means that they saw the data, info and profit they needed to continue.

Not to mention that with Motion Plus right around the corner they might focus on game ideas that use the MP to its full potential.

I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed if this is true.  There were still older Nintendo games could there that could have really benefited from becoming a NPC title.  As much as I bag on Nintendo, I never minded the NPC series because it brought back games that didn't really get the attention they should have gotten back in the day.  And let's be serious here: Ian, do you really think this Nintendo is actually using resources on NPC titles that they would have put towards new projects we'd actually be interested in?  If the devs weren't working on NPC Wind Waker, they'd be working on Wii Music 2 or whatnot...not Zelda Wii.  Call me pessimistic (a stretch, I know), but I feel the days of Nintendo actually devoting major resources to titles we care about are behind us.  They'll toss us a bone every now and then, but that's about it.

Kind of like N64.

Well, not quite.  It may feel like that, but I can't think of many games in that era that weren't targeted at core gamers.  We just didn't get games very often, period.  I honestly hope that Nintendo proves me wrong at this year's E3 with a blowout of core franchises with AAA quality installments, but right not I'm not optimistic because that would cost money and Nintendo probably doesn't see the point when they can spend 10% of the cost with 800% (I'm exagerating, yes) of the profit just making the latest "casual" (God I hate using that term after playing stuff like World of Goo and Peggle and whatnot that are a completely different breed of casual game) crap.

While I suspect this can I not wish for better?  I think the development of NPC titles could have been better used on new core gamer content.  Giving us remakes instead of new games SUCKS and they HAVE done that since Nintendo has released literally ZERO new Wii games in 2009 thus far.  NPC's have not complimented new content.  Now you could suggest that we were going to get a big drought anyway so at least the NPC's filled in the gap but I personally don't buy it.

So maybe if Nintendo wasn't working on these they would work on something I would find equally disinteresting.  Okay, fine but then I would complain that they were neglecting core gamers in favour of non-gamers.  Realistically it's the same thing.

But when presented with the option of eating dirt or eating mud one doesn't have to make a choice.  You can say "I don't want to eat either."  I reject BOTH options and demand something else.  Scaling back the remakes (at least for now) is still a good thing.  I'm not optimistic Nintendo will suddenly bust out all these core games but they COULD and that's still something.  I still see an end to the New Play Control series as a positive thing.

The thing is, I don't equate the two because there's a dramatic shift in quality: the NPC games aren't bad games, just games some would consider unnecessary re-releases with a questionable price tag.  You're saying you'd rather have Nintendo working on Wii Music 2 than NPC Pikmin, and there's just something wrong there.  ;)

Seriously, I get what you're saying.  I just think Nintendo has organized their divisions so the folks who would be working on an epic core title are working on epic core titles.  They probably have the folks on the lower rungs working on these remakes (with the exception perhaps of Retro with the Prime remakes), who would be working on other similarly important titles anyway.

This is some good news, I was worried that they were going to run with this concept and take it too far. Like Pap64 said, they probably aren't completely done with the Wiimakes, they are just going to wait a couple of years and release some more to fill another inevitable drought.

Well I was waiting for a remake of Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour but maybe we'll get lucky & they'll just make an actual sequel.

Excitebots: Trick Racing came out on Monday.

The article has been clarified, stating that the final games in the FIRST series were given a release date.

Sorry Ian.

Here is my prediction for the next series.

It will happen in 2011, probably over the summer months. There will be five games this time around instead of seven, which I believe will be:

Mario Golf Toadstool Tour
Because we very likely won't be seeing a sequel. Will have support for Wii Motion Plus (if it's successful... which it will be).

Luigi's Mansion
Another title that's unlikely to receive a sequel.  Perfect fit for the IR pointer.

Super Mario Sunshine
I don't think it performed very well it Japan. Plus it's Mario, guaranteed million-seller. Another good fit for pointer controls.

1080 Avalanche
Again, sequel seems dubious. Would support the Balance Board (optionally of course).

Star Fox Assault
Seems like yet another good fit for pointer controls. Might either be released after a new Star Fox or to build hype for a new one.

Didn't the original Toadstool Tour have some connectivity with the GBA Mario Gold game? Just realized that a Wii remake would have to drop that feature unless they made a DS Mario Golf to connect with.

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Now playing: Misery Inc. - Cyanide
via FoxyTunes

No, no, and I repeat "NO!"  I'm all for games getting in New Play Control that deserved more exposure than they got when they released.  That does NOT mean we put games in that series that sold poorly when they were released becauase they were crap.

Honestly, the only games you listed that really deserve NPC status is Luigi's Mansion (it'd actually be playable now) and maybe Toadstool Tour and 1080 Avalanche.  Mario Sunshine wasn't a great game either, and NPC controls would be rather pointless because they wouldn't change the game much.

I would actually be in favor of a remake of Star Fox:Assault but they wouldn't even need the new play controls for a selling point. Just remove the land-based missions & you'll have a shorter yet awesome game.

Dang.  But realistically this is what I assumed.  Unless Nintendo stated clearly "this is the last of the NPC games" how could you ever assume that they were done?

Eh, we're no worse off at least.

I guess the NPC remakes were an emergency measure to get some stuff into the Wii library as it turned out that third parties were dead set in their plan to keep bashing their heads against the HD market no matter what Nintendo does to give them opportunities to sell on the Wii.

You know, if you compare the lists of core and new market games Nintendo has released on the Wii you'll notice a definite core skew. There are roughly twice as many core games from Nintendo as new market games (not counting WiiWare or Japan-only releases). The new market games are the five Wii ____ games (I bet half of us even forgot that there were five, I only learned on Wikipedia that Wii Chess was a part of that line) and the Big Brain Academy thing.

I suspect the alternative is simply nothing, no casual, no core game. Considering the Cube didn't sell so well I don't think havng the NPC rereleases is worse than not having them.

Instead of releasing NPC games, Nintendo could've been proactive in marketing the recent 3rd party offerings on the system.  But lol, Nintendo's not in the business of doing the 3rd parties' work for them.  Live & die on merit this time around.

Well, they could just make all of the GBA content accessible from the get-go. I see no reason that couldn't work.

Opinions. I'm sure Nintendo thinks otherwise and would be more than happy to re-release them. Most of the Wii userbase missed those titles and would probably eat them up.