From our perspective of looking at it from the outside, it seems no matter what Nintendo does to try to get the ship righted on the Wii U, they keep stepping on themselves. The latest disaster involves the release of Mario Kart Wii U or Mario Kart 8.

Mario Kart 8 is a solid title and comes from a franchise that has the Wii version selling over 30 million units alone. This is exactly the sort of thing that Nintendo needs to make it the centerpiece of its releases this holiday season, right? Not if you are Nintendo. Instead, we learn that Mario Kart 8 will not arrive on dealer shelves until spring 2014.

Nintendo has opted to go with Super Mario 3D World as its big title this holiday season. Not that this is a bad title, but the Wii U could use all of the title support that it can get this holiday season; and a big title like Mario Kart 8 isn’t the sort of title that you would want to hang on to. Better planning would have seen this title on schedule for release this holiday season. The reality is that the Wii U needs innovative, new and the best software now. Dragging this out is only going to make things worse.

Nintendo of Europe Newsletter confirms it here.