Nintendo of America will release its awesome make-your-own Wario game in early 2010, but apparently not Sin and Punishment 2, according to a press release issued Monday.

Faced with flagging Wii sales, the Kyoto gamemaker is under pressure to release more big software titles for the console in the U.S., but those aren’t forthcoming in the first three months of next year. Unless Nintendo adds some titles to the schedule, it seems that the only Wii game it will publish in Q1 is the underwater exploration title Endless Ocean: Blue World.

Meanwhile, the rich get richer: The portable Nintendo DS, which just set an all-time sales record in November, will get a whole raft of first-party support: The RPG Glory of Heracles, an America’s Test Kitchen cooking title, the next entry in the Pokemon series and, most notably, Wario Ware: D.I.Y., for which I totally flipped out upon its Japanese release.

 With continuing blockbuster support and the amazing DSi XL coming soon, Nintendo DS is sure to keep flying off the shelves. But what of Wii? Nintendo seems content to rest on its laurels for a while. There’s every reason to believe that games like New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Wii Fit Plus will hang out on the Top 10 software charts into the first few months of 2010, so perhaps Nintendo just wants to hold the rest of its lineup back until it feels it’s necessary.

Hard-core gamers do have three big titles to look forward to in Q1: Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, No More Heroes, and Red Steel 2. It’s a bit sad when three games in three months is all we really have, though.

By Chris Kohler