Warner Bros. explains why Lego: Lord of the Rings missed Wii U

By: Jason McCarthy

  |   December 6th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

If you are wondering why Lego: Lord of the Rings was released for nearly all platforms but remained notably missing from Wii U, you are not alone.

There have been a lot of speculations regarding the game missing Nintendo’s next-generation console, but thankfully Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has come forward to put those rumours to rest by revealing the actual reason for not shipping the game for the recently launched dual-screen system.

According to the company’s representative, the primary reason for the game missing Wii U is that Traveller’s Tale and Lego were busy developing Lego City Undercover for the game.

They continued to remain committed to the project that they were working on to ensure the best possible quality and experience for the Wii U game.

”The primary reason is that [Traveller's Tales] and Lego were already working on Lego City Undercover for Wii U,” the representative said.

The explanation does not seem to be anything but the truth, since Nintendo director of product marketing Bill Trinen had conceded in September this year that the company has been collaborating with Lego on the development of Lego City Undercover for quite some time now.

The Nintendo executive had further added that the initial objective was to get the game ready in time for the console’s launch that was due on November 18 in North America.

While Lego City Undercover is still in development, it is scheduled to be released during the Wii U’s launch window period, which is to continue from November 18, 2012 to March 31, 2013.

Fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fiction and Nintendo enthusiasts will indeed be feeling pretty disappointed about not being able to join Frodo Baggins and the rest of the fellowship of the ring as they journey across Middle-Earth to destroy the one ring that can tip the balance of power in the favour of Lord Sauron, who has lost his physical form and remains a mere shadow of evil without the core of his power.

The explanation given by Warner Bros. may come off as a bit strange to some readers who have come across the reasons given by other publishers and developers for not creating or porting their games to Wii U.

The Lego: Lord of the Rings maker neither took a hit at the console’s graphical capability, not lamented its CPU.

Nintendo’s first-ever HD console has been facing criticism ever since it was revealed at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).

Wii U, however, has managed to make a solid impact in North America and Europe after its launch last month. However, it has been relying significantly on third-party support for success.

The console is due to hit the shelves in Japan on December 8, 2012.