Business
Nintendo dominates US game sales… again
The DS and Wii outsold the competition in that order yet again for the month of April; the DS selling a whopping 417K units with the Wii selling 360K units. GBA even managed to outsell the PS3 by 4,000 units at 84k. From a competitve console standpoint, the 360 sold an unimpressive 176K units considering the seven year old PS2 outsold it yet again. Oh, and Nintendo games made up the top four selli...
The myth of the hardcore gamer
Ok, OK. There are certainly hardcore gamers out there, but there’s a point to made in here somewhere. The point is that for Nintendo, the phrase “hardcore gamer” is about as relevant to their bottom line as tube socks. Microsoft themed tube socks. It’s irrelevant to Nintendo because I seriously doubt Reggie or Miyamoto or Iwata sit around big stuffy conference rooms sweatin...
What’s the deal with a lack of Nintendo support at Blockbuster?
I’ve got a bone to pick with Blockbuster Video: why doesn’t the company stock more Nintendo titles for rental, especially when considering the immense success of DS and early success of Wii? I don’t rent games that often, but even the struggling PSP gets more rental love than the DS and Wii. Has anyone else noticed this? If not, just go look at the number of games on the store...
We’re Number One – top sellers for the week
Here are the number one Wii and DS games sold around the world this week: Wii North America: Super Paper Mario EU/UK: Wii Play Japan: Wii Sports DS North America: Pokemon Diamond UK: Cooking Mama Japan: TOEIC Test DS Training Since little to no games were released this week, the top sellers this week are exactly the same as last week. (Last week’s release of Spider-Man 3 didn’t take th...
DS sells 10 mil in Japan; You’d think it’d be more
Respected Japanese publication Famitsu announced today that Nintendo hit the 10 million sold milestone in Japan for the DS Lite. It also did it in record time selling more than two times faster than the mega-selling PS2 for the same period. Not sure how high the total is including DS phats, but I would have sweared this would have been more. Don’t the Japanese buy like a half mil of these th...
Nintendo warms to critical user-generated comments
Next-Gen examines Nintendo’s once controlling past with regards to user-generated content, particularly critical comments made about the company online. VP George Harrison divulges… “Opening up a MySpace area doesn’t sound all that innovative to you guys,” he told an audience of game marketers. “But for us it was a big deal. When people previously said bad things about Nintendo ...
Iwata dishes on Nintendo; disses Wii/DS critics
In a report by GameSpot, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata responded to continued Wii shortages some 6 months after it’s launch and defending Wii/DS and “next-gen” systems: “It looks like some people are (saying) Nintendo is not incorporating state-of-the-art technologies into its products,” Iwata said. “We are using state-of-the-art technologies to realize the co...
We’re Number One – top sellers for the week
Here are the number one Wii and DS games sold around the world this week: WiiNorth America: Super Paper MarioEU/UK: Wii PlayJapan: Wii Sports DSNorth America: Pokemon DiamondUK: Cooking MamaJapan: TOEIC Test DS Training Pokemon continues to dominate the DS market in the US while Wii Sports overtakes Super Paper Mario for the #1 spot in Japan despite the Wii version of Big Brain Academy releasing t...
The Wii: A new challenge for third party developers
This news from GameIndustry.biz is right up my alley: an analyst calling out lazy third party developers for producing utter schlock for, or bypassing entirely, the Wii. In response to comments made by Todd Mitchell of Kaufman Bros. Equity Research, IDC analyst Billy Pidgeon basically smacks the man around the room for appeasing developers that lack the ability to innovate (of which, IMO, there ar...
Nibris’ Sadness is an art book
Call me the cynical video game scientist, because when it comes to game development, I need to see screenshots and live action in-game trailers to believe a game actually exists. So it is today that I have come to the conclusion that Nibris is not developing a game in Sadness, but an art book. Wii Fanboy has some new “exclusive screenshots artwork” today that, for the first time, has l...
We’re Number One – top sellers for the week
Here are the number one Wii and DS games sold around the world this week: WiiNorth America: Super Paper MarioEU/UK: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight PrincessJapan: Super Paper Mario DSNorth America: Pokemon DiamondUK: Cooking MamaJapan: Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings On the DS front, Pokemon and Final Fantasy dominate with their franchises’ newest offerings. Wii-wise, Super Paper Mario conti...
Nintendo’s wild success = bad news for big name publishers?
There are rumblings today in the investors arena that Nintendo’s wild success is going to be bad for video game publishers. From Seeking Alpha: The DS and the Wii are taking the video game industry by storm. Both appear to be bringing new gamers into the market. However, this may not be a positive dynamic for the major video game publishers. Nintendo has not only increased the size of the ma...