Nintendo goes Wii U trademark crazy, will U and I enjoy these games?

Joe Osborne
Updated
Nintendo Wii U
Nintendo Wii U

Now that we know a great deal about Nintendo's upcoming tablet console, Wii U, it's time for some good old speculation. That's about all we can do with the news from Siliconera that the Mario creator has registered trademarks for a number of Wii game brands given the "U" treatment like "Wii Sports U, " "WiiWare U" and 23 more potential projects. Take a look at the list in full:

  • Wii U + logo

  • Mii U

  • Wii Fit U

  • Wii Sports U

  • Wii Music U

  • Wii Party U

  • Wii Play U

  • WiiWare U

  • Wii Balance Board U

  • Balance Wii Board U

  • Wii Wheel U

  • Wii Zapper U

  • Wii U Fit

  • Wii U Music

  • Wii U Party

  • Wii U Sports

  • Wii U Play

  • Wii U Ware

  • Wii U Balance Board

  • Balance Wii U Board

  • Wii U Wheel

  • Wii U Zapper

  • Wii Speak U

  • Wii U Speak

  • Shield Pose


Alright, so some of these are obvious, not to mention that it's entirely possible that Nintendo simply registered these to avoid other companies hopping on the coattails of its good name. (Though, we're surprised these didn't come about sooner.) However, don't you think Nintendo would be, well, dumb not to release "U" versions of its crazy successful Wii-branded games and controllers? And besides, we've already seen tech demos for a bunch of these trademarks in tandem with the Wii U's 6-inch tablet like the Wii Balance Board and Wii Zapper connected to a Wii U controller.

And that "Shield Pose" trademark was actually the name of one of the demo's Nintendo showed at this year's E3 event. So, there's definitely a possibility that, since Nintendo went so far as to trademark it, that it could be included as a mini game in something like "Wii Play U." But that's all these trademarks are at the moment--possibilities. We know, 2012 cannot come soon enough.

[Via Kotaku]

What do you make of this list of Nintendo trademarks? Do you think it's just Nintendo squatting to keep other companies out, or that some of these might lead to actual Wii U games? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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