Are you looking forward to Rabbids LAND on the Wii U? Did you play any of the Rabbids games on the Wii? We're taking the plunge, and looking at one of them today!

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 was released for the Wii on November 13, 2007 in the U.S., and was developed by Ubisoft Paris. It released with a MSRP of $49.99, and received an ESRB rating or "EVERYONE 10+" with "Cartoon Violence, Crude Humor" listed as content for gamers and parents to be aware of.

How many U.S. Wii owners have reported playing Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, and how many hours have they reported being Rabbid rabid? Brew yourself some coffee, and take a look below!



Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 has approximately 337,017 U.S. Wii owners that have reported playing the game through the Nintendo Channel, with days possibly reported. The players have reported 4,640,386 Total Hours of gameplay since the game released, almost 5 years ago now. The total average play-time is 13 Hours 46 Minutes "Per person, with the average time played per day/session being about 1 Hour 29 Minutes.

How was the Rabbids' second Wii outing received by critics and customers? The game's "professional" critic review score average is 67.71%, based on 27 reviews on GameRankings.com. It has a customer review score average of 82.29%, based on 122 reviews from Amazon.com.



I am really looking forward to Rabbids LAND on the Wii U. The original Rayman Raving Rabbids was a day one purchase with our Wii system. Why? My wife. Growing up, she took a liking to rabbits and the original promotional videos of Rayman Raving Rabbids really caught her attention, and the humor in them helped sell her (and me) on giving the game a try. I wasn't really sure what to expect from it, but I think the original game had some of the best uses of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in the launch titles for the system. The Rabbids dancing mini-games were the family favorite in the games, and provided us with many hours of fun.

I personally enjoyed the first-person rail shooting mini-games in the first game a lot, and I was excited to see Ubisoft try new things with the sequel's first-person rail shooting mini-games. They filmed real life city locations for the rail shooting mini-games in Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, and put the Rabbids in those locations. If you want to see what the first-person rail shooting (real life location) Rabbid mini-game looks like, watch the first video below.


Being that we are now pretty big fans of the Rabbids and own three of their Wii games, I really am expecting Rabbids LAND for the Wii U to be fun and funny, and I'm also expecting it to use the GamePad in some of the most unique ways out of all the launch games. If you haven't seen any promotional videos for Rabbids LAND on the Wii U, the second video is a short trailer for that game.


As for the average reported for Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, because our average is about 30 hours higher than the average reported, it makes me think most Wii owners used this as mainly a party game and would pull it out occasionally to play with friends and family, instead of playing through the majority of the mini-games and attempting to get high scores in them as we would did.

Did any of you play Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, or any of the other Rabbids games on the Wii? If so, do you have a favorite game from the series, or perhaps a favorite mini-game?

Are any of you looking forward to Rabbids LAND on the Wii U?

Will New Super Mario Bros. U have some form of online multiplayer?

New Super Mario Bros. U will be releasing with the Wii U on November 18th, just over a month away now. Nintendo has not really detailed the Wii U's online features, and hasn't even really confirmed which Wii U launch games will feature any sort of online multiplayer, yet. We do know New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land, both Wii U launch titles, have Miiverse functionality; but Miiverse details have not been fully discussed by Nintendo either.

At the Wii U Preview on September 13th, Nintendo showed off two new game modes in New Super Mario Bros. U for the first time, those being the Boost Rush Mode and Challenge Mode. So, Nintendo had kept two new modes in New Super Mario Bros. U under wraps until the Wii U event, and nothing was said if either of those modes would have an online multiplayer function.

Why do I think New Super Mario Bros. U might have a form of online multiplayer, outside of just Miiverse communication? Brew yourself some coffee, take a look at the images below!



Look at the two boxes for New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land in the image above. Do you notice anything different between the them? If not, take another look.

So, why would one box have the text, and not the other, if it is just talking about Miiverse? At the Wii U Preview event in September, Nintendo's Bill Trinen said of Miiverse, "...we're gonna go into more detail on Miiverse in New Super Mario Bros. U and other games, as we get closer to launch."

Again, we know that both New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land have Miiverse functionality, according to Nintendo representatives' statements and the official Nintendo fact sheets for both games. You can see the statements from the Nintendo fact sheets for both games in the image below.


If you are still haven't spotted the difference, look to the right of the ESRB's "E" logo on NSMBU's box. The small black text next to the ESRB rating says, "Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB". Not just in English, but also in Spanish beneath it, "Les échanges en ligne ne sont pas classés par l'ESRB". The image below shows it up close, and personal?


Why does New Super Mario Bros. U's box have that extra text, but Nintendo Land's box doesn't? The fact sheets for both game specify Miiverse functionality, so if the text is only for the Miiverse functionality in New Super Mario Bros. U, is it a lot different from what is being offered with Nintendo Land's Miiverse functionality?

I think it's interesting that both games feature Miiverse, and both boxes have the Nintendo Network logo on them, but only the NSMBU box has the text specifically about online interactions. Perhaps the Miiverse interactions allowed in New Super Mario Bros. U will be different from those allowed for Nintendo Land? Maybe Nintendo is trying to change the standard "online multiplayer" lingo, to a Wii U console specific "Online Miiverse" lingo for future marketing reasons?

Knowing how Nintendo has been pretty careful with what they are saying about the Wii U and even certain games being developed for it, gives me slight hope that they are preparing one last big Wii U online details reveal. I hope they detail the key features of the system such as Miiverse, multiplayer, patching, eShop prices, accomplishments, the friend code situation, and things like video chat and voice chat features.

Having games to demonstrate the online functionality live, or even in a pre-recorded video, like New Super Mario Bros. U, I think would help cement buyers' decisions, and perhaps even make the console more appealing to gamers currently sitting on the Wii U fence.

I hope that New Super Mario Bros. U features some form of online co-op, or even a Mario platforming multiplayer battle mode of some sort. Even if it doesn't though, I already have NSMBU pre-ordered (for Bean 1, our oldest son), so we should be playing it together as a family this holiday season at the very least, and maybe even with some of you if there is online multiplayer of some sort in the game.

Do you think that Nintendo has perhaps kept online multiplayer for New Super Mario Bros. U a secret this entire time, waiting to tell us all about it when they detail more of the Wii U's online capabilities and Miiverse features within the next few weeks? If you haven't decided on buying a Wii U system yet, would New Super Mario Bros. U having online multiplayer help you make your decision?

Are there any Wii U online features that could still be revealed, helping to push you toward getting the system if you still aren't sure about it?