Nintendo is gearing up to bring an extra nub to your 3DS XL, if that’s what you’re into. The company listed the previously Japan-only accessory on its website in the U.S. today, with an anticipated ship date of this Friday. The Circle Pad Pro for 3DS XL is like the original version for 3DS, but beefier, and perhaps even more unsightly when glommed on to your portable console. → Read More
Despite the fact that Nintendo’s 3DS is an excellent hand-held console, 3DS sales haven’t been on par with what the company was expecting.
But perhaps Nintendo’s brand new Nintendo 3DS XL will turn the tides. It’s very similar to a regular 3DS, but with 90 percent larger screens. According to Nintendo’s official release, it comes with a 4GB SD card, better battery life, and both Blue and Red… → Read More
The Nintendo 3DS just got a bit more connected. The gaming company has teamed with free-hotspot.com to provide 5,000 access points to 3DS owners throughout 22 European companies. 3DSs can now hop online while abroad at various locations including McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Subway, Ibis Hotels and Etap Hotels.
US gamers have enjoyed free hotspot access for sometime now. Nintendo partnered with… → Read More
3DS sales have picked up lately, but Nintendo‘s financial numbers are still weak. Big N today released [PDF] another set of disappointing results for the first nine months of its fiscal year (April to December 2011). The company lost a whopping US$630 million, compared with a profit of US$635 million in the same time frame last fiscal.
Sales were down 31.2% year-on-year to US$7.2 billion. → Read More
Resident Evil isn’t the only big video game series that made the news in Nippon today: Konami announced [JP] the so-called METAL GEAR SOLID SNAKE EATER 3D PREMIUM PACKAGE for the Japanese market. The set includes a special 3DS system, a copy of Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D, and two clear files in MGS design. Here’s the so-called “Snake Camouflage”-style 3DS: Here’s… → Read More
Japan’s video game industry is the world’s second biggest (after the US), but it’s on a downward streak for the fifth consecutive year. Based on sales, the country’s video game industry has contracted by as much as 8% year-on-year, Japan’s biggest gaming magazine Famitsu is reporting [JP].
Between December 27, 2010 and December 25, 2011, Japanese game companies generated US$5.9 billion in… → Read More
Nintendo is really lucky to own the Super Mario brand: after the bumpy, Mario-less launch of the 3DS in Japan back in February, big N is seeing record sales for its portable console. As predicted, sales in Japan for the 3DS crossed the four million unit mark before the end of the year, namely sometime between December 19 and 25.
That’s the week Nintendo sold 510,629 units 3DS systems, according… → Read More
They have been fighting against the concept of making customers pay for extra game content for years, but as previously reported, Nintendo has now changed its strategy. According to a report by Japanese business daily The Nikkei, Nintendo has chosen Fire Emblem as the first game on the 3DS to offer paid download content.
Fire Emblem: Kakusei, the latest title in the classic RPG series, is… → Read More
It’s a common platitude in the gaming industry: it’s the killer titles that make or break a video game system. One case in point is Nintendo whose 3DS sales in Japan, one of the biggest video game markets in the world, are expected to cross the four million mark two months earlier than expected.
Just two weeks ago, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said this will happen “in February next year”… → Read More
It’s now video game history: after the 3DS didn’t sell as well as expected, Nintendo decided to go for a sudden, massive price drop for its portable console worldwide. In Japan, for example, the price fell by 40% from 25,000 yen to 15,000 yen. Later, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata apologized to buyers and promised a bunch of free games for early adopters, no matter where the device was… → Read More
The 3DS sure had a bumpy start, but it seems Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata’s hunch that sales will pick up (we reported last week) is right. According to Japan’s biggest video game magazine Famitsu, the 3DS sold a solid 378,114 units between December 5 and 11. Nintendo reported 371,326 units sold in the first two days after launch in Japan, but the last week was the most successful one for big N… → Read More
The 3DS is finally get a shot of games. Nintendo’s next-gen 3D gaming handheld has so far not seen the sort of success as its predecessors. It’s not a mystery why, though. There aren’t many games worth buying. But that’s sort of slated to change early next year.
Nintendo just issued a press release detailing the release schedule of upcoming 3DS games. The entire list is after the jump but Kid… → Read More
If you’re in a Boingo-equipped airport this holiday, be sure to whip out your Nintendo 3DS for some hot head-to-head gaming. The Wi-Fi provider will be free to 3DS users on December 8 and allow them to download games and videos and access the Nintendo Zone (spoooky) via Wi-Fi. → Read More
Nintendo caused a huge splash in the video gaming world earlier this year, when it announced a drastic price cut for the 3DS (which was meant to be an answer to disappointing sales). But it looks like pushing down the price from 25,000 to 15,000 Yen helped, at least in Nintendo’s home market of Japan.
According to big N’s president Satoru Iwata, the 3DS has sold a solid 3 million times so far… → Read More
It seems factors like the smartphone gaming revolution, the rise of social games, and shrinking video game sales do have an impact on Nintendo’s business strategy after all. Various Japanese media, i.e. the country’s biggest business daily The Nikkei, are reporting today that Nintendo is planning to offer in-game virtual item sales for 3DS titles.
The background here is that Nintendo’s sales… → Read More
Not too long ago, Nintendo was printing money every month after landing two hardware smash hits in a row, the Wii and the DS. But these times are now over, it seems. The company posted their financial report [PDF] for the first six months of their fiscal year (which ends in March 2012) today, and it has registered a loss of US$923 million.
To put things into perspective, the minus for the same… → Read More
There is a very special peripheral for future owners of Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS coming soon, but it’s not made by Nintendo itself: video game accessory maker Hori announced a steering wheel that’s specifically designed for the game and that’s officially licensed by big N.
The device will feature large L and R buttons for better control. → Read More
Nintendo has just wrapped a press conference going over some developments for the 3DS. The platform has seen strong but lower than expected sales, though the pricing do-over in August has spurred adoption. This update seems like a sort of holdover while the big games are still unreleased, but any improvements to the platform are always welcome. → Read More
Hulu Plus has long been missing from the Wii leaving Netflix as the only major streaming service on the gaming console. But that changes soon. Nintendo just announced that Hulu Plus will soon be available on both the Wii and the 3DS. The exact launch data wasn’t announced, but the release states that that the service will hit “both systems by the end of the year.”
This comes as Nintendo is… → Read More
Capcom has let slip that an official Nintendo 3DS add-on circlepad – the circular joystick on the left side of the console – will be available for purchase in February to coincide with the launch of Resident Evil: Revelations. The dual circlepads will allow for more accurate aiming in many titles and I can definitely see the value, even over the 3DS’s built-in gyroscopic sensors. I’ve found that… → Read More
Sales stats for the month of September have been propagated by the NPD Group, and the usual suspects are on there with no major upsets. The 360 is leading sales with 483,000 units sold, followed by the PS3 (estimated at ~370,000 units), with the Wii bringing up the rear with 240,000. Nintendo was happy to point out, however, that the DS has just crossed over the line of 50 million sold in the US… → Read More
Following Capcom’s “Monster Hunter 3G Special Pack”, Japan is soon to get a second 3DS bundle. Namco Bandai is planning to bundle “SD Gundam G Generation 3D” with a 3DS in special design. (For some reason, the company teased the bundle last month but still offers no official information on its Japanese website.)
The so-called “Char Nintendo 3DS Premium Box” comes with a copy of the game… → Read More
That horrible 3DS cradle Nintendo showed during the Nintendo 3DS Conference 2011 [JP] today wasn’t the only official hardware-related announcement of the show: big N also took the wraps off a very special new 3DS version, the so-called 3DS in “Misty Pink”. Various Gameboy and DS models have seen pink special editions already, so Nintendo is continuing a tradition here.
But the real reason is… → Read More
The Tokyo Game Show 2011 is starting tomorrow, an exhibition that Nintendo isn’t taking part in traditionally. Instead, big N organized a separate event today, the so-called Nintendo 3DS Conference 2011 [JP], where the company showed a total of 32 new titles that will be rolled out for the 3DS in the next months.
Here’s the full list [JP]. → Read More
This week’s issue of the Famitsu, Japan’s biggest video game magazine, is due out tomorrow, but gaming geek @south1996 appears to have made an early and pretty interesting snapshot: it’s the first picture showing the 3DS joystick add-on the gaming world has been speculating over for weeks.
As you can see, the so-called “slide pad” is designed like a cradle that holds the lower part of the 3DS… → Read More
Nintendo cut the price of the 3DS from $250 to $169 just a few weeks back. Now you can get it for even less. MacMall is currently selling the blue and black systems via ebay for $150 with free shipping. The new red model is notable missing and somewhat seems to say that the blue and black flavors are just sitting in warehouses, waiting to be cleared out. → Read More
Nintendo caused a major splash in the video game world when it announced to slash the price of the 3DS in Japan, the US and elsewhere by 30-40% (depending on the country) – just a few months after the system went on sale. → Read More
Meet the red 3DS. It’s a lot like the standard blue and black model, but, you know, red. The Flame Red color flavor debuted in Japan a while ago, but Nintendo is finally bringing it here as part of the system’s relaunch this Friday. (As if the color red will help the 3DS)
The 3DS hasn’t exactly been a hit so far. The company took a big loss last quarter after sales came in well below… → Read More
Nintendo recently had an epiphany, owning up to the 3DS’s slow launch by slashing prices — and paychecks. To make up for shafting early adopters, Nintendo has also said that anyone who has a 3DS before the price drop hits (on August 12th) will be eligible to receive 20 free virtual console games. But what if I told you that you could get a 3DS for the new price and get 20 free games? → Read More
While I haven’t heard any popular outcry regarding the Nintendo 3DS price drop – a quiet that, is, in a way, the most interesting part of the entire affair – Nintendo has decided that it’s time to explain itself to the early adopters. Satoru Iwata, CEO of the company, stated that the move was, in fact, unprecedented, but Nintendo had some very good reasons for cutting the 3DS price: → Read More
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