Nintendo Wii: U.S. launch titles; Virtual Console publishers

Nintendo, arguably out of all the consoles, is most about the games themselves.

So, the confirmed launch titles are pretty important.

The big guns are there, But there are some notable ommissions, like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption isn't coming until 2007.

All in all, a solid list, with Nintendo a contender for "Best Launch Portfolio", ahead of Microsoft and Sony.

("*" = Confirmed for Nov. 19)

First-Party Games between launch and March 2007:

• Battalion Wars II
• Big Brain Academy (temporary name)
• * Excite Truck
• * The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• Mario Strikers Charged
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
• Super Mario Galaxy (temporary name)
• WarioWare: Smooth Moves
• * Wii Sports (bundled with the Wii console)

Third-Party Games between launch and March 2007:

• Activision
  * Call of Duty 3
  Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
  Rapala Tournament Fishing
  * Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam
  World Series of Poker
• Atari
  Dragon Ball Z Budokai: Tenkaichi 2
• Atlus
  * Trauma Center: Second Opinion
• Buena Vista Games
  Chicken Little: Ace in Action
  Disney's Meet the Robinsons
• Codemasters
  Dance Factory
  Sidewinder
• EA
  The Godfather
  * Madden NFL 07
  * Need for Speed: Carbon
  SSX
  Tiger Woods PGA Tour
• Konami
  * Elebits
• Majesco
  Bust-A-Move Revolution
• Midway
  The Ant Bully
  The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
  Happy Feet
  Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
  Rampage: Total Destruction
  [Presumed canceled--Blitz: The League]
• Sega
  Sonic and the Secret Rings
  Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
• SNK
  Metal Slug Anthology
• THQ
  Avatar: The Last Airbender
  Barnyard
  Cars
  SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab
• Ubisoft
  * Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII
  * Far Cry: Vengeance
  * GT Pro Series
  * Monster 4x4: World Circuit
  * Open Season
  Prince of Persia (working title)
  * Rayman Raving Rabbids
  * Red Steel
  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  * Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent
• Vivendi Games
  Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

I don't know what the U.S. Virtual Console launch list and timeframe is going t0 be, but if it's like the Japanese launch (30 downloadable retro games for launch; 60 available by end of year; 10 more added each month thereafter), there have to be publishers on board.

In addition to Nintendo, the following publishers will be releasing content for the Japanese Virtual Console, and I expect a lot of overlap for other regions:

• Atlus
• Bandai Namco
• Banpresto
• Capcom
• Chunsoft
• D4 Enterprise
• Enterbrain
• Hal Laboratory
• Hudson
• Irem
• Jaleco
• Kemco
• Koei
• Konami
• NCS Masaya
• Netfarm
• Paon
• Rocket Company
• Sega
• Square Enix
• Sunsoft
• Taito
• Takara Tomy
• Tecmo