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 prepping for the next generation Wii, the Wii U. But that system isn’t going to launch for months and Nintendo still has to move Wii units while fighting off the 360 and PS3. Adding a major new streaming service like Hulu Plus will certainly keep some owners happy. → 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 playing games like Star Fox in 3D is quite difficult because you leave the 3D sweet spot.
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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, making it the best-selling game console ever in this country by their calculations (the PS2 is a very close second, if so). But with a quarter of a million DS units flying off the shelves every month, what does that mean for the 3DS? → Read More
I remember the time when you were either a Nintendo kid or a Sega kid — assuming you were lucky enough to have one of the consoles at all. You’d ask your friend if they had played Super Mario Bros 3 warpless, and they would respond that no, they were still trying to beat their Casino Zone times in Sonic 2. Things would be a little tense after that. And this was a prejudice that I felt would never be mended. But when Sega went all-software after the Dreamcast (R.I.P.), things changed.
Sure, we’ve had Sonic games on Nintendo systems — have for years. But a Sonic-blue Wii? According to my inner child, they’ve finally crossed the line. → Read More
Remember that one time that company called ThinkOptics tried to sue Nintendo over the Wii? Well, that’s still happening, but the idea seems to be picking up steam. Yet another company has decided to sue Nintendo over the Wii: UltimatePointer. → Read More
While I would be absolutely thrilled to indulge my Pokemon addiction on my smartphone (officially, anyway), Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has gone and shot down my dreams. According to a post-press conference interview with Nikkei, Iwata has categorically denied that Nintendo will create games for platforms other than their own.
In his own words:
“This is absolutely not under consideration. If we did this, Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo. Having a hardware development team in-house is a major strength. It’s the duty of management to make use of those strengths.”
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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 that Nintendo wants to woo female gamers with the pink 3DS: according to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, the ratio of female 3DS users is well below 50% currently, while it stands at 50% for the Wii and a bit more than that for the DS (in Japan, at least). → 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
Nintendo took to the Tokyo Game Show stage today to announce several new products including the new features of 3D video capture and upgraded online distribution. But they didn’t announce the Slidepad. Instead, the 3DS add-on just appeared on the gaming company’s website as if they were a tad embarrassed, or rather confused, about its existence.
Well, there goes Nintendo. They had a good run, right? Nearly every product from the last 10 years save the Gamecube has been built by beautiful geniuses set to change the gaming world. The Gameboy, the DS, the N64, and Wii were novel ideas and therefore prospered in the marketplace. Then came the 3DS, built around a gimmick rather than a new paradigm. The high price, coupled with lackluster launch titles, caused the 3DS to stumble out of the gate and ultimately lead to a major price reduction. It’s a sad time in Super Mario Land. → Read More
Ever heard of the Wavit remote? It’s totally okay if you haven’t; that’s not what this story is about. The Wavit Remote’s makers on the other hand… Well, they’ve decided to up and sue Nintendo over the Wii. Not only that, but they’ve included other retailers and manufacturers — including WalMart — in the complaint as well. And they’ve chosen the setting most likely to yield a win: the Eastern District Court of Texas.
Now, that’s not to say that Wavit makers ThinkOptical will get a win, but this particular court circuit tends to favor the patent holder over all else. → 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, making the device as a whole rather bulky (one Japanese game blog estimates that it makes the 3DS 1cm wider on the left, 2-3 cm on the right and 2cm to the bottom). → 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’s recent 3DS price drop seems to have accomplished the goal of moving more units, but rumor has it that Nintendo’s higher-ups aren’t too pleased with the floundering portable as a whole. Among other things, Nintendo is supposedly considering a new hardware revision for the 3DS that downplays its 3D capabilities
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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
Just a reminder: today is cheap Nintendo 3DS day and, sadly, it is the end of availability for Nintendo’s unusual “ambassador” program. The device is now available for $169 – down from its launch price of $249 – and they will be launching the 3DS in “Flame” aka “Mario” Red this September. → Read More
Nintendo investors have been grumbling about Nintendo’s tendency to release flagship games only for their own platforms for years. Mario and Zelda have, in general, spent their entire lives on some sort of Nintendo hardware, barring a few odd versions released years ago. Why? Because Nintendo has long tried to control everything about their part of the gaming ecosphere, from developer licensing to hardware sales. Sadly, benighted investors don’t see the method to Nintendo’s madness, especially considering the 3DS’ slow sales as well as the rise of the smartphone market and are now asking the giant to branch out into smartphones.
This is a terrible idea. → 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 many would call buyers of the 3DS who picked up their console prior to the $80 price cut expected on August 12 “suckers,” Nintendo is calling them “Ambassadors” and they’e offering them special updates to upcoming downloadable titles. These updates will include multi-player support and improved gameplay.
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When companies go through a rough patch, it’s pretty rare to see the big man upstairs step up in an awesome way.
Take RIM for example. In the middle of security troubles in India and amidst tough competition from Apple and others — right before a major product, the BlackBerry PlayBook was launched — co-CEO Mike Lazaridis shut down a BBC interview not only making himself look overly defensive, but making the company look frazzled.
Today Nintendo’s president took a different route. → Read More
