Nintendo eShop Down: Offline Maintenance Sidelines Wii U, 3DS Games Like Dr. Luigi, Mario Tennis, And Pokemon Bank

The Nintendo eShop continues to be down and offline, affecting Wii U and 3DS releases.

"We sincerely apologize for the connection problems in the Nintendo eShop. We understand this is taking longer than expected, but we can assure you that providing a solution is our top priority. We are determined to make sure everyone can enjoy all that Wii U and Nintendo 3DS have to offer," said an official statement from Nintendo.

"In an effort to manage the high volume of traffic and ultimately improve your experience, we are temporarily taking the Nintendo eShop services offline between the hours of 4 p.m. - 4 a.m. ET. Thank you so much for your continued patience. We will keep you updated."

It began after the Christmas season, where undoubtedly a number of Nintendo 3DS and Wii U systems were gifted, thus overloading the Nintendo eShop network and causing it to come to a grinding halt.

In addition, it is believed that the release of the Pokemon Bank service also contributed to the eShop going down and offline, considering it was released worldwide on December 27.

The Nintendo eShop being down and offline will likely affect its online holiday sales, especially with a string of new games being released.

For the Nintendo Wii U, Dr. Luigi and CastleStorm are two games that will be affected by the Nintendo eShop being down. For the 3DS, the anticipated Mario Tennis, Cubit the Hardcore Platformer Robot, Bird Mania Christmas 3D, and EDGE will all likely receive poor sales due to the storm being offline.

Currently, it is unknown how long the Nintendo eShop will be down and offline intermittently around the world. Hopefully Nintendo resolves the issue before the New Year hits so brand new 3DS and Wii U owners are not soured by the induction experience.