Games News for Games Heroes
Nintendo's Wii to provide AP news
SEATTLE -Two-year contract for wire services in seven languages. Rabid video gamers could get some help keeping in touch with the outside world this weekend as Nintendo Co. launches an online news service through its popular Wii console. The Wii News Channel, scheduled to debut Saturday, will primarily feature top news stories and photographs from The Associated Press.
Consoles with a broadband Internet connection and the Opera Web browser will be able to access the free news channel, which will offer AP news in multiple languages. Japanese-language news will come from a separate agency.
There were no immediate plans to sell advertising space, said Perrin Kaplan, vice president for marketing at Nintendo's U.S. headquarters in Redmond.
News will be displayed through an interactive map, which users can navigate with the Wii's wireless controller, Kaplan said.
"The beauty of it is it zooms in and out of areas of the world," she said. "So if you really want to focus on regional news or national news versus international, you just blow up the map of the U.S."
The AP has a two-year contract to provide news and photos to Nintendo and would like to provide multimedia in the future, said Jane Seagrave, vice president of new media markets for the New York-based news cooperative.
"It's a very innovative new application of what we're doing generally, which is to try to get our content to new audiences on new platforms," Seagrave said.
The AP will supply news for the Wii in English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, and Swiss-German, Seagrave said. The Japanese news company Goo will supply Nintendo's Japanese-language news, Kaplan said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Wii has been a surprise hit for Nintendo as it competes with Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 consoles.
A recent report from the market research firm NPD Group said the Wii has sold 1.1 million units since it was released in the U.S. on Nov. 19, with 604,200 of those units sold in December.
"The Nintendo Wii demographic is definitely a wider demographic than your traditional hardcore gamer," said Billy Pidgeon, a video game industry analyst at IDC in New York. "It kind of makes sense for other types of content to be made available on the Wii."
Nintendo isn't the only company hoping to offer more from video game consoles with online connections. The Xbox scored an early hit with its Xbox Live online gameplay system and has since begun offering more perks to Internet-connected users.
www.ap.org
There were no immediate plans to sell advertising space, said Perrin Kaplan, vice president for marketing at Nintendo's U.S. headquarters in Redmond.
News will be displayed through an interactive map, which users can navigate with the Wii's wireless controller, Kaplan said.
"The beauty of it is it zooms in and out of areas of the world," she said. "So if you really want to focus on regional news or national news versus international, you just blow up the map of the U.S."
The AP has a two-year contract to provide news and photos to Nintendo and would like to provide multimedia in the future, said Jane Seagrave, vice president of new media markets for the New York-based news cooperative.
"It's a very innovative new application of what we're doing generally, which is to try to get our content to new audiences on new platforms," Seagrave said.
The AP will supply news for the Wii in English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, and Swiss-German, Seagrave said. The Japanese news company Goo will supply Nintendo's Japanese-language news, Kaplan said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Wii has been a surprise hit for Nintendo as it competes with Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 consoles.
A recent report from the market research firm NPD Group said the Wii has sold 1.1 million units since it was released in the U.S. on Nov. 19, with 604,200 of those units sold in December.
"The Nintendo Wii demographic is definitely a wider demographic than your traditional hardcore gamer," said Billy Pidgeon, a video game industry analyst at IDC in New York. "It kind of makes sense for other types of content to be made available on the Wii."
Nintendo isn't the only company hoping to offer more from video game consoles with online connections. The Xbox scored an early hit with its Xbox Live online gameplay system and has since begun offering more perks to Internet-connected users.
www.ap.org
Labels: News, nintendo wii
Nintendo storms the gaming world
Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata and top execs at the gaming company's headquarters in Kyoto have every reason to be shouting the Japanese congratulatory cheer of "banzai" these days. For one thing, Nintendo's DS and DS Lite portable gaming system is enjoying light-speed growth.
On top of that, Nintendo's Wii console has blown away Sony's PlayStation 3 in the early stages of the hotly contested battle for next-gen gaming consoles. Aided by a shortfall of PS3s in the critical U.S. market, Nintendo sold 1.1 million units of the Wii since the product's launch date last November, vs. 687,000 PS3s during roughly the same period. Sales of popular Nintendo game titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and New Super Mario Bros. are also quick.
The Wii has outperformed the initial rollout phase of the high-powered Microsoft Xbox 360, which was released in November, 2005. Microsoft managed to sell only 607,000 units in the U.S. by the end of 2005.
As a result, says Standard & Poor's equity analyst Clyde Montevirgen, "Nintendo Wii won the launch phase." S&P, like BusinessWeek, is a unit of the McGraw Hill Companies.
Mass Market Potential Of course, Nintendo still has a ways to go before it can claim industry dominance. Sony's PlayStation 2 holds the all-time sales record, with more than 100 million sold. Also, in the next-gen console category, the leader in terms of units sold is the Xbox 360, with 10.4 million units sold as of the end of 2006.
Still, Nintendo executives, and some game analysts, believe the Wii's mass market potential could make it a breakthrough product for the $30 billion video game industry. Worldwide, Nintendo has sold 3 million units and is confident that figure will double by the end of March. Sony has set a similar global sales goal for PS3 by the end of the first quarter and has set a Mar. 23 launch date for Europe, where the rollout of its critical game console was delayed late last year because of a parts shortage.
Unlike Sony and Microsoft, which spent lavishly on blisteringly fast chips, graphics, and cutting edge disk technology, Iwata insisted Nintendo designers use energy-saving chips and a standard optical disk player to lower product costs. That enabled Nintendo to set the Wii's retail price at about $250, several hundred dollars less than the Xbox 360 and PS3.What's more, unlike Sony and Microsoft with their new consoles, Nintendo makes a profit on every Wii sold.
Older-Gen Gamers But it's the Wii's playability that's had the biggest impact on gamers. Iwata pushed his team to come up with a radically new controller design that would make the Wii a quality experience for sophisticated gamers and novices alike. The result was a wireless, wand-shaped gadget with built-in motion sensors and a gyro-meter to translate action directly onto a TV screen.
Nintendo is also working hard to woo new types of gamers. Figuring the hardcore crowd would need little motivation to check out the Wii, the company devoted about 70% of its $40 million TV, print, and online launch marketing campaign in the U.S. last fall to older and less experienced gamers. "We have been able to satisfy existing gamers and add the expanded audience of adults older than 25," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice-president for marketing.
The only negative publicity the product has received so far has been that avid gamers tend to lose control of their controllers. Nintendo responded to stories about renegade Wii controllers accidentally smashing through TV screens by offering consumers stronger wrist straps.
Mario, Come Home A more serious issue Nintendo faces is avoiding the kind of parts shortages and production delays that have plagued Sony. Nintendo has been working with suppliers such as Matsushita Electric, whose Panasonic unit makes disk drives for the unit, and IBM and ATI Technologies, which make the core processor and graphic chips.
Right now, meeting demand is a bit of a struggle, says Harrison. "We are shipping the Wii, and they are generally selling out in a day or two," he says.
Of course, the serious cash made in this business is on the game software side, where operating margins can run 35% to 40% on games Nintendo has developed over the years that are compatible with the Wii. This is a company, after all, that created icons such as Mario, Donkey Kong, and Pokémon.
In the first quarter of 2007, third-party game developers such as Electronic Arts will release Wii-compatible games titles such as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07. Other companies such as Buena Vista, Majesco, and Ubisoft are launching new ones, too.
Macquarie Securities analyst David Gibson reckons the average Wii owner will buy more than three games a year — and the bulk of the games will be made in-house by Nintendo.
None of this has been lost on investors. On Jan. 25 the company reported a 40% jump in third-quarter profits of $644 million, and its stock touched a 52-week high of $27.60 in trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Nintendo shares have more than doubled since early February, 2006 — and so have its U.S. depositary receipts, which now trade at about $35.75.
Investors have also been cheered by the success of the DS portable lineup at Nintendo. Since its launch in November, 2004, the line has sold 10 million units in the U.S. and enjoys a global user base of 35 million, powered by popular gaming titles such as Brain Age and Nintendogs.
In a category once dominated by Sony's PSP portable, the Nintendo DS has been a hit with women and gaming novices. Its dual touch screen design, voice recognition capability, and easy-to-use stylus have connected with consumers. To keep the momentum going, some 20 new DS games are expected to roll out in the first quarter of 2007.
The Wii has outperformed the initial rollout phase of the high-powered Microsoft Xbox 360, which was released in November, 2005. Microsoft managed to sell only 607,000 units in the U.S. by the end of 2005.
As a result, says Standard & Poor's equity analyst Clyde Montevirgen, "Nintendo Wii won the launch phase." S&P, like BusinessWeek, is a unit of the McGraw Hill Companies.
Mass Market Potential Of course, Nintendo still has a ways to go before it can claim industry dominance. Sony's PlayStation 2 holds the all-time sales record, with more than 100 million sold. Also, in the next-gen console category, the leader in terms of units sold is the Xbox 360, with 10.4 million units sold as of the end of 2006.
Still, Nintendo executives, and some game analysts, believe the Wii's mass market potential could make it a breakthrough product for the $30 billion video game industry. Worldwide, Nintendo has sold 3 million units and is confident that figure will double by the end of March. Sony has set a similar global sales goal for PS3 by the end of the first quarter and has set a Mar. 23 launch date for Europe, where the rollout of its critical game console was delayed late last year because of a parts shortage.
Unlike Sony and Microsoft, which spent lavishly on blisteringly fast chips, graphics, and cutting edge disk technology, Iwata insisted Nintendo designers use energy-saving chips and a standard optical disk player to lower product costs. That enabled Nintendo to set the Wii's retail price at about $250, several hundred dollars less than the Xbox 360 and PS3.What's more, unlike Sony and Microsoft with their new consoles, Nintendo makes a profit on every Wii sold.
Older-Gen Gamers But it's the Wii's playability that's had the biggest impact on gamers. Iwata pushed his team to come up with a radically new controller design that would make the Wii a quality experience for sophisticated gamers and novices alike. The result was a wireless, wand-shaped gadget with built-in motion sensors and a gyro-meter to translate action directly onto a TV screen.
Nintendo is also working hard to woo new types of gamers. Figuring the hardcore crowd would need little motivation to check out the Wii, the company devoted about 70% of its $40 million TV, print, and online launch marketing campaign in the U.S. last fall to older and less experienced gamers. "We have been able to satisfy existing gamers and add the expanded audience of adults older than 25," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice-president for marketing.
The only negative publicity the product has received so far has been that avid gamers tend to lose control of their controllers. Nintendo responded to stories about renegade Wii controllers accidentally smashing through TV screens by offering consumers stronger wrist straps.
Mario, Come Home A more serious issue Nintendo faces is avoiding the kind of parts shortages and production delays that have plagued Sony. Nintendo has been working with suppliers such as Matsushita Electric, whose Panasonic unit makes disk drives for the unit, and IBM and ATI Technologies, which make the core processor and graphic chips.
Right now, meeting demand is a bit of a struggle, says Harrison. "We are shipping the Wii, and they are generally selling out in a day or two," he says.
Of course, the serious cash made in this business is on the game software side, where operating margins can run 35% to 40% on games Nintendo has developed over the years that are compatible with the Wii. This is a company, after all, that created icons such as Mario, Donkey Kong, and Pokémon.
In the first quarter of 2007, third-party game developers such as Electronic Arts will release Wii-compatible games titles such as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07. Other companies such as Buena Vista, Majesco, and Ubisoft are launching new ones, too.
Macquarie Securities analyst David Gibson reckons the average Wii owner will buy more than three games a year — and the bulk of the games will be made in-house by Nintendo.
None of this has been lost on investors. On Jan. 25 the company reported a 40% jump in third-quarter profits of $644 million, and its stock touched a 52-week high of $27.60 in trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Nintendo shares have more than doubled since early February, 2006 — and so have its U.S. depositary receipts, which now trade at about $35.75.
Investors have also been cheered by the success of the DS portable lineup at Nintendo. Since its launch in November, 2004, the line has sold 10 million units in the U.S. and enjoys a global user base of 35 million, powered by popular gaming titles such as Brain Age and Nintendogs.
In a category once dominated by Sony's PSP portable, the Nintendo DS has been a hit with women and gaming novices. Its dual touch screen design, voice recognition capability, and easy-to-use stylus have connected with consumers. To keep the momentum going, some 20 new DS games are expected to roll out in the first quarter of 2007.
Labels: nintendo wii
'Elebits' allows the Wii to really shine
As everyone knows by now, it's the motion-sensing controllers that make Nintendo's new Wii the standout gaming machine that it is. What this little white box lacks in the way of visual oomph and processing kapow it vows to make up for by providing innovative game play through the use of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk.
But the question remains: Will game developers be able to create titles that fully capitalize on the machine's unique controllers and, more importantly, use them in truly ground-breaking and gratifying ways? One thing's for sure, if they don't, the Wii will go down in history as something of a novelty toy rather than a serious console contender.
Thankfully, Konami's first offering for the Wii — "Elebits" — is a sure sign that developers and publishers are, in fact, rising to the challenge. This whimsical, original and surprisingly addictive game has players on a mad hunt for tiny, colorful creatures known as Elebits, and has them utilizing both the Remote and the Nunchuk functionality in some truly creative and entertaining ways.
In this game, Elebits give the game world (one that's a lot like our own) the clean energy it needs to run pretty much everything that, in our world, we use electricity, gas and nuclear energy to run.
The story goes that Elebits have lived in harmony with humans for a long time until, one day, lightning strikes, the lights go out and the little devils start acting rather peculiar. (Speaking of the story, you'll have to wade through an opening fairy tale sequence that's cheesily executed and unnecessarily long, but after that the game immediately kicks into gear.)
Once the action gets under way, you play a 10-year-old boy named Kai who's decided to collect as many Elebits as he can using a Capture Gun that not only zaps Elebits but also picks up and manipulates objects around him.
Using the Wii's controls, it feels as though you can physically reach into and manipulate the world itself as you try to find Elebits hiding in drawers, under beds, in closets and outside on city streets, too. They're tricky things, and so you must use the Remote (which controls the boy's gravity-defying gun) to push, pull, lift, turn, twist and shake various objects on the screen and thus uncover the Elebits' secret hiding places and zap them back to where they belong.
Need to open a door? Just turn the Remote in your hand as you would a door knob. Want to pull books off a shelf? Grab hold of them with a click of a button and then yank the Remote backwards as if yanking the books with your hand.
Capture certain Elebits and your gun levels up, becoming more powerful and enabling you to lift ever larger items (a table, a bookshelf, a car) and toss them aside with ease. You quickly find that there's something terribly satisfying about the way in which you can totally ransack a room with a few flicks of the Remote.
And that's the great thing about this game — the controllers feel remarkably good in the hands as you move about and interact with this world, all of it seeming immediately intuitive. For those who do struggle to find their footing with the unusual controls, "Elebits" offers a tutorial, and a rather in-depth one at that. You won't have any trouble playing the game after you've walked through this extensive how-to.
Meanwhile, "Elebits" offers both a single-player story mode, a multiplayer mode (up to four people can compete against each other at one time) and, in a nice bit of added depth, an edit mode that allows you to create and customize your own game levels to play.
Here you can fill a room with objects to search and hidden Elebits to find and then share your creation with other players via Nintendo's online WiiConnect24 service.
No, the game's graphics are not exactly stunning. But again, that's not what the Wii is all about. Instead, thanks to the way "Elebits" incorporates the functionality of the controllers, the game is hugely fun to play, a truly unique offering and one of those titles that manages to keep you wrapped up in it for hours longer than you ever intended.
In short, it's exactly the kind of game that allows the Wii to shine.
Winda Benedetti
msnbc.msn.com
Thankfully, Konami's first offering for the Wii — "Elebits" — is a sure sign that developers and publishers are, in fact, rising to the challenge. This whimsical, original and surprisingly addictive game has players on a mad hunt for tiny, colorful creatures known as Elebits, and has them utilizing both the Remote and the Nunchuk functionality in some truly creative and entertaining ways.
In this game, Elebits give the game world (one that's a lot like our own) the clean energy it needs to run pretty much everything that, in our world, we use electricity, gas and nuclear energy to run.
The story goes that Elebits have lived in harmony with humans for a long time until, one day, lightning strikes, the lights go out and the little devils start acting rather peculiar. (Speaking of the story, you'll have to wade through an opening fairy tale sequence that's cheesily executed and unnecessarily long, but after that the game immediately kicks into gear.)
Once the action gets under way, you play a 10-year-old boy named Kai who's decided to collect as many Elebits as he can using a Capture Gun that not only zaps Elebits but also picks up and manipulates objects around him.
Using the Wii's controls, it feels as though you can physically reach into and manipulate the world itself as you try to find Elebits hiding in drawers, under beds, in closets and outside on city streets, too. They're tricky things, and so you must use the Remote (which controls the boy's gravity-defying gun) to push, pull, lift, turn, twist and shake various objects on the screen and thus uncover the Elebits' secret hiding places and zap them back to where they belong.
Need to open a door? Just turn the Remote in your hand as you would a door knob. Want to pull books off a shelf? Grab hold of them with a click of a button and then yank the Remote backwards as if yanking the books with your hand.
Capture certain Elebits and your gun levels up, becoming more powerful and enabling you to lift ever larger items (a table, a bookshelf, a car) and toss them aside with ease. You quickly find that there's something terribly satisfying about the way in which you can totally ransack a room with a few flicks of the Remote.
And that's the great thing about this game — the controllers feel remarkably good in the hands as you move about and interact with this world, all of it seeming immediately intuitive. For those who do struggle to find their footing with the unusual controls, "Elebits" offers a tutorial, and a rather in-depth one at that. You won't have any trouble playing the game after you've walked through this extensive how-to.
Meanwhile, "Elebits" offers both a single-player story mode, a multiplayer mode (up to four people can compete against each other at one time) and, in a nice bit of added depth, an edit mode that allows you to create and customize your own game levels to play.
Here you can fill a room with objects to search and hidden Elebits to find and then share your creation with other players via Nintendo's online WiiConnect24 service.
No, the game's graphics are not exactly stunning. But again, that's not what the Wii is all about. Instead, thanks to the way "Elebits" incorporates the functionality of the controllers, the game is hugely fun to play, a truly unique offering and one of those titles that manages to keep you wrapped up in it for hours longer than you ever intended.
In short, it's exactly the kind of game that allows the Wii to shine.
Winda Benedetti
msnbc.msn.com
Labels: nintendo wii
Wii Opera trial goes live December 22nd
Nintendo has revealed that the Opera web browser will be available from this Friday, December 22nd, for Wii users to download and sample the service ahead of the official release scheduled for March 2007.
Wii owners already have access to the Wii Shop for buying downloadable games, and the Forecast Channel which launched earlier today, but this is the first time the user will be able to browse websites via the console.
"Our software brings the power and reach of the Internet to the hottest videogame system available," commented Scott Hedrick, executive VP of devices at opera Software.
"Wii's unique interface adds a new dimension to our browser, making it a useful tool that the whole family will enjoy operating with ease."
The full version of the Opera browser will be available for Wii users from March next year, and will be free until the end of June. After June, users can purchase the software from the Wii Shop for 500 Wii Points (around GBP 3.50).
"In addition to providing innovative and exciting new ways to play, Wii also offers further services and entertainment for all the family," said Laurent Fischer, marketing director for Nintendo of Europe.
"Wii is the perfect console for everyone to enjoy and this is being reflected in the phenomenal sales across Europe," he added.
Matt Martin
gamesindustry.biz
"Our software brings the power and reach of the Internet to the hottest videogame system available," commented Scott Hedrick, executive VP of devices at opera Software.
"Wii's unique interface adds a new dimension to our browser, making it a useful tool that the whole family will enjoy operating with ease."
The full version of the Opera browser will be available for Wii users from March next year, and will be free until the end of June. After June, users can purchase the software from the Wii Shop for 500 Wii Points (around GBP 3.50).
"In addition to providing innovative and exciting new ways to play, Wii also offers further services and entertainment for all the family," said Laurent Fischer, marketing director for Nintendo of Europe.
"Wii is the perfect console for everyone to enjoy and this is being reflected in the phenomenal sales across Europe," he added.
Matt Martin
gamesindustry.biz
Labels: nintendo wii
Nintendo Wii breaks records in Australia
First it was announced that the Nintendo Wii had become the fastest-selling home console in the UK, then Europe - and now it's breaking records in Australia, too. GfK Australia has published new figures showing that 32,901 Wii units were sold in the four days following the console's launch on December 7. During launch week, the Wii made up 43 per cent of all videogame hardware sales in the territory.
That means it sold faster than any other home or handheld console, edging past the Xbox 360 - which shifted 30,241 units during its opening weekend - and the PSP, next in line with a figure of 27,055 units.
The software attach rate for Wii stood at 1.5 units per console - so towards the lower end of the scale, GfK conceded. But, the company observed, Nintendo's machine does come bundled with the Wii Sports game, which wasn't accounted for when calculating the attach rate.
Earlier this week, Microsoft published Xbox 360 sales figures for the same period, with regional director David McLean stating that the launch of the Wii had not had a negative impact.
Related Articles
Ellie Gibson
www.gamesindustry.biz
The software attach rate for Wii stood at 1.5 units per console - so towards the lower end of the scale, GfK conceded. But, the company observed, Nintendo's machine does come bundled with the Wii Sports game, which wasn't accounted for when calculating the attach rate.
Earlier this week, Microsoft published Xbox 360 sales figures for the same period, with regional director David McLean stating that the launch of the Wii had not had a negative impact.
Related Articles
Ellie Gibson
www.gamesindustry.biz
Labels: nintendo wii
The Nintendo Difference
No company frustrates the soothsayers quite as much as Nintendo. Across the land, divining rods are being snapped, crystal balls are being smashed and tea leaves are being stamped on in fury - as the firm whose death has been predicted countless times reveals itself once again to be in rude good health and ready to take on the world.
I refer, of course, to the launch of the Wii in Europe, which saw the firm clocking up a record breaking 325,000 sales over the weekend; but even more astonishing, and more laudable, is the stunning success of the Nintendo DS in the same week. Over half a million units of the handheld were sold in Europe last week, and the installed base now tops 8.5 million units in this territory alone. If this is an indication of how the Wii's sales will go, then Nintendo's risky gamble with the motion sensing Wiimote could actually turn out to be the stroke of genius which hands dominance of the console space back to its one-time master.
As the Kyoto-based firm continues to confound the doom-mongers who have gleefully predicted its demise for the best part of a decade, it's worth pausing for a moment to think about the other common prediction which is associated with Nintendo - namely that the company will (or at least, should) abandon the hardware market entirely, and instead focus on bringing its unique range of IPs and franchises to other platforms. Going third-party - or "doing a Sega", as industry slang would have it.
The most common argument for this strategy is that while Nintendo may be hugely profitable, the company's home consoles are in distant second or even third place behind those of the market leader - so in theory, by moving franchises like Mario and Zelda to the PlayStation and the Xbox, the firm would have a much larger target market, would sell more units, and would ultimately be much more successful. This is particularly relevant now, proponents of this model argue, because the astonishing cost of the new generation of consoles has forced Nintendo out of the arms race, leaving its games confined to an innovative but underpowered system.
On the face of it, it's a compelling argument - and it certainly worked for Sega, which has turned around its fortunes since bailing out of the Dreamcast (aided, admittedly, by being acquired by wealthy Japanese gambling firm Sammy) and is now one of the most influential third-party publishers in the industry. Why shouldn't Nintendo follow Sega's example, then, and leave the CPU and GPU arms race to the multinational giants with cash to burn?
The simple answer is because "The Nintendo Difference" isn't just a cunning marketing slogan; Nintendo genuinely is different. Its structure and business model are a radical departure from how every other company in the interactive entertainment industry works, and the comparisons between Nintendo and Sega are merely skin deep. Sega left hardware because it had no choice; the failure of the Dreamcast was a nail in the coffin, and the structure of its internal studios was perfect for transplanting into a third party publisher. Nintendo stays in hardware because it, too, has no choice in the matter.
Of course, on a very simple level, if Nintendo was to leave hardware then it would lose a major revenue stream, because the company notoriously designs and prices its consoles such that hardware is a profit-making enterprise. Making up for that lost revenue would also be tougher than it looks, because as a third-party publisher, Nintendo would be forced to pay a significant license fee on each game it sold, so its profit margin from software would be reduced. As such, the company would have to vastly increase its software sales in order to make up both for reduced margins and for the loss of the hardware revenue stream - an incredibly daunting task, even for a firm with franchises like Mario and Zelda. Bear in mind that those franchises already sell millions of copies, and have an astonishingly high attach rate with Nintendo hardware - even on a system with five times the installed base, achieving higher sales would be a challenge.
Even more important, though, is the change which would have to be made to Nintendo's entire culture, to its business and creative models, if it were to abandon the hardware market. Considering this gives an insight into the workings of one of the most fascinating companies in the videogames market - a firm which is quite unlike its competitors, with an approach which owes more to that of a toy company than to the videogame publishing model.
Nintendo's entire philosophy is focused on the platform - not on hardware or software as separate entities or businesses, but as the platform as a whole. Unlike Sony and Microsoft, where it's apparent that Chinese walls have been erected between the designers of the hardware and the creators of first-party software, Nintendo actually places its top software designers at the helm of hardware design. Consoles are designed to suit the game concepts which will run on them - a working model which is apparent in the design of both the Nintendo DS and the Wii, and which allows the company to create early first-party titles which really showcase the hardware.
This top-down approach, which creates consoles based on the games which will run on them, is the antithesis of Microsoft and Sony's approach, which designs from the bottom up - first creating a console and then worrying about what games will run on it. It gives Nintendo an enormous competitive advantage which would not be evident if it were a third-party publisher, and allows its top first-party software to innovate and evolve in ways which would be impossible on another company's hardware. It's also the approach which has informed the decision to restrain the specifications of the Wii - and indeed the DS - to a manageable level, which allows development to take place faster and less expensively than on rival consoles.
These factors combine to make Nintendo into the company it is today - a company whose low development costs, tight integration between hardware and software and enormous profit margins allow it to take creative risks, drive forward innovation and promote the growth of the gaming market as a whole. Without Nintendo's unique business model and first-party status, games like Nintendogs, Brain Age, Animal Crossing and Wario Ware simply could not exist; they either rely heavily on the hardware which supports them, or are so far off the beaten track that creating them on a system with higher development costs and lower profit margins would be commercially untenable.
That's why Nintendo will remain in the hardware business - because its consoles are more than just a platform to run its software on. They are part of a platform strategy which defines the entire company's approach to the market, and which means Nintendo is more than just one of the world's leading videogame companies - it is also, and arguably more importantly, one of the world's leading toy companies, and remains a powerhouse of innovation and development which is a driving force for the entire games sector. "Doing a Sega" is not on the cards for this firm, and probably never will be - especially not when it's still in the enviable position of being able to shift the better part of a million units in Europe in a single week.
Rob Fahey
gamesindutry.biz
As the Kyoto-based firm continues to confound the doom-mongers who have gleefully predicted its demise for the best part of a decade, it's worth pausing for a moment to think about the other common prediction which is associated with Nintendo - namely that the company will (or at least, should) abandon the hardware market entirely, and instead focus on bringing its unique range of IPs and franchises to other platforms. Going third-party - or "doing a Sega", as industry slang would have it.
The most common argument for this strategy is that while Nintendo may be hugely profitable, the company's home consoles are in distant second or even third place behind those of the market leader - so in theory, by moving franchises like Mario and Zelda to the PlayStation and the Xbox, the firm would have a much larger target market, would sell more units, and would ultimately be much more successful. This is particularly relevant now, proponents of this model argue, because the astonishing cost of the new generation of consoles has forced Nintendo out of the arms race, leaving its games confined to an innovative but underpowered system.
On the face of it, it's a compelling argument - and it certainly worked for Sega, which has turned around its fortunes since bailing out of the Dreamcast (aided, admittedly, by being acquired by wealthy Japanese gambling firm Sammy) and is now one of the most influential third-party publishers in the industry. Why shouldn't Nintendo follow Sega's example, then, and leave the CPU and GPU arms race to the multinational giants with cash to burn?
The simple answer is because "The Nintendo Difference" isn't just a cunning marketing slogan; Nintendo genuinely is different. Its structure and business model are a radical departure from how every other company in the interactive entertainment industry works, and the comparisons between Nintendo and Sega are merely skin deep. Sega left hardware because it had no choice; the failure of the Dreamcast was a nail in the coffin, and the structure of its internal studios was perfect for transplanting into a third party publisher. Nintendo stays in hardware because it, too, has no choice in the matter.
Of course, on a very simple level, if Nintendo was to leave hardware then it would lose a major revenue stream, because the company notoriously designs and prices its consoles such that hardware is a profit-making enterprise. Making up for that lost revenue would also be tougher than it looks, because as a third-party publisher, Nintendo would be forced to pay a significant license fee on each game it sold, so its profit margin from software would be reduced. As such, the company would have to vastly increase its software sales in order to make up both for reduced margins and for the loss of the hardware revenue stream - an incredibly daunting task, even for a firm with franchises like Mario and Zelda. Bear in mind that those franchises already sell millions of copies, and have an astonishingly high attach rate with Nintendo hardware - even on a system with five times the installed base, achieving higher sales would be a challenge.
Even more important, though, is the change which would have to be made to Nintendo's entire culture, to its business and creative models, if it were to abandon the hardware market. Considering this gives an insight into the workings of one of the most fascinating companies in the videogames market - a firm which is quite unlike its competitors, with an approach which owes more to that of a toy company than to the videogame publishing model.
Nintendo's entire philosophy is focused on the platform - not on hardware or software as separate entities or businesses, but as the platform as a whole. Unlike Sony and Microsoft, where it's apparent that Chinese walls have been erected between the designers of the hardware and the creators of first-party software, Nintendo actually places its top software designers at the helm of hardware design. Consoles are designed to suit the game concepts which will run on them - a working model which is apparent in the design of both the Nintendo DS and the Wii, and which allows the company to create early first-party titles which really showcase the hardware.
This top-down approach, which creates consoles based on the games which will run on them, is the antithesis of Microsoft and Sony's approach, which designs from the bottom up - first creating a console and then worrying about what games will run on it. It gives Nintendo an enormous competitive advantage which would not be evident if it were a third-party publisher, and allows its top first-party software to innovate and evolve in ways which would be impossible on another company's hardware. It's also the approach which has informed the decision to restrain the specifications of the Wii - and indeed the DS - to a manageable level, which allows development to take place faster and less expensively than on rival consoles.
These factors combine to make Nintendo into the company it is today - a company whose low development costs, tight integration between hardware and software and enormous profit margins allow it to take creative risks, drive forward innovation and promote the growth of the gaming market as a whole. Without Nintendo's unique business model and first-party status, games like Nintendogs, Brain Age, Animal Crossing and Wario Ware simply could not exist; they either rely heavily on the hardware which supports them, or are so far off the beaten track that creating them on a system with higher development costs and lower profit margins would be commercially untenable.
That's why Nintendo will remain in the hardware business - because its consoles are more than just a platform to run its software on. They are part of a platform strategy which defines the entire company's approach to the market, and which means Nintendo is more than just one of the world's leading videogame companies - it is also, and arguably more importantly, one of the world's leading toy companies, and remains a powerhouse of innovation and development which is a driving force for the entire games sector. "Doing a Sega" is not on the cards for this firm, and probably never will be - especially not when it's still in the enviable position of being able to shift the better part of a million units in Europe in a single week.
Rob Fahey
gamesindutry.biz
Labels: article, nintendo wii
Nintendo to replace broken straps on new Wii console
TOKYO (AFP) - The Japanese electronic game maker Nintendo said it would replace wrist straps on its new Wii console with a "newer version" after reports of controllers crashing into users' television screens. But the company denied it was recalling the equipment, saying there was "no problem with the current wrist strap if it is used reasonably and instructions furnished by Nintendo in user manuals included with the game are followed."
"Nintendo is offering to replace the original version of the wrist straps for the Wii Remote with a newer version," the company said in a statement posted on its website.
"We have received some reports that when consumers swing the Wii Remote with the original version of the wrist-strap using excessive force and accidentally let go, the cord connecting the controller to the wrist strap can break, potentially causing the Wii Remote to strike bystanders or objects."
Earlier Friday, Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa said the first version of the controller strap "turned out to be insufficient in its strength for some customers" and would be replaced with a thicker one.
"The decision comes after reports that some users in the United States threw their controllers when playing with Wii sports software," he said.
The new Wii features a controller that can be used as a sword, tennis racket or car steering wheel in the games shown on screen.
Wii set itself apart from Microsoft's
Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 consoles by designing a system that got players moving and encouraged family or friends to join in the activity.
But websites dubbed "Wii have a problem" and "Wii damage" have chronicled injuries and wreckage reportedly inflicted by Nintendo game controllers sent awry in the heat of play by wild swipes, loose grips or snapped wrist straps.
Wii controllers have been hurled or thrust into television and computer screens, according to online accounts, breaking windows, glasses, dishes, stereos, walls and ceiling fans.
The official Wii website warns users to "hold the Wii Remote firmly and do not let go" when playing, while taking a moment to dry perspiring hands to prevent injury to people or damage to objects.
Nintendo, which launched the Wii in the United States last month and in Japan on Saturday, has been getting rave reviews for its new controller and games that shy away from blood-and-guts action.
The Wii outsold the rival PlayStation 3 by more than double in the United States in November, according to industry tracking group NPD, which estimates that Nintendo sold 476,140 of its Wii consoles against Sony's 196,580 PS3s.
Consoles shipped from early December already have the thicker strap.
Nintendo also said Friday that it would recall 200,000 AC/DC power adaptors for Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite portable game machines.
Nintendo said some adaptors supplied by Nagano Japan Radio Co Ltd (JRC) between January and October this year could generate excessive heat and possibly cause burn injury during charging.
Nintendo said to date, it had recorded nine such incidents of overheating. One such incident burned a hole in the body of the portable game machine but no injuries have been reported.
The Kyoto-based company said models with defective AC/DC adaptors were sold only in Japan.
Cumulative sales of Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite have so far reached 13 million units.
Kyoko Hasegawa
www.afp.com
"We have received some reports that when consumers swing the Wii Remote with the original version of the wrist-strap using excessive force and accidentally let go, the cord connecting the controller to the wrist strap can break, potentially causing the Wii Remote to strike bystanders or objects."
Earlier Friday, Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa said the first version of the controller strap "turned out to be insufficient in its strength for some customers" and would be replaced with a thicker one.
"The decision comes after reports that some users in the United States threw their controllers when playing with Wii sports software," he said.
The new Wii features a controller that can be used as a sword, tennis racket or car steering wheel in the games shown on screen.
Wii set itself apart from Microsoft's
Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 consoles by designing a system that got players moving and encouraged family or friends to join in the activity.
But websites dubbed "Wii have a problem" and "Wii damage" have chronicled injuries and wreckage reportedly inflicted by Nintendo game controllers sent awry in the heat of play by wild swipes, loose grips or snapped wrist straps.
Wii controllers have been hurled or thrust into television and computer screens, according to online accounts, breaking windows, glasses, dishes, stereos, walls and ceiling fans.
The official Wii website warns users to "hold the Wii Remote firmly and do not let go" when playing, while taking a moment to dry perspiring hands to prevent injury to people or damage to objects.
Nintendo, which launched the Wii in the United States last month and in Japan on Saturday, has been getting rave reviews for its new controller and games that shy away from blood-and-guts action.
The Wii outsold the rival PlayStation 3 by more than double in the United States in November, according to industry tracking group NPD, which estimates that Nintendo sold 476,140 of its Wii consoles against Sony's 196,580 PS3s.
Consoles shipped from early December already have the thicker strap.
Nintendo also said Friday that it would recall 200,000 AC/DC power adaptors for Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite portable game machines.
Nintendo said some adaptors supplied by Nagano Japan Radio Co Ltd (JRC) between January and October this year could generate excessive heat and possibly cause burn injury during charging.
Nintendo said to date, it had recorded nine such incidents of overheating. One such incident burned a hole in the body of the portable game machine but no injuries have been reported.
The Kyoto-based company said models with defective AC/DC adaptors were sold only in Japan.
Cumulative sales of Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite have so far reached 13 million units.
Kyoko Hasegawa
www.afp.com
Labels: nintendo wii
Online gaming titles coming to Wii
The Nintendo Wii's launch has been a smash success, with stores all over North America continuing to sell out every time they receive new stock. However, the launch of the Wii's online service has been somewhat less stellar, with few titles available to take advantage of multiplayer action. Nintendo of America's Reggie Fils-Aime promises that is all about to change.
Speaking on Spike TV's Game Head television program, the amiable Fils-Aime mentioned that the first round of multiplayer-enabled Wii titles would be coming out in the second quarter of 2007.
Japanese Wii gamers have already sampled a taste of online goodness with the launch title Pokemon Battle Revolution, but North American Wii owners are still waiting for titles to properly utilize the Wii's online connection. Many games still in development for the Wii are designed around playing with people who are physically present: a recent preview of a new anime-themed golf game for the Wii on Electric Playground revealed that the developers had not included online multiplayer modes.
Fils-Aime also indicated that new multiplayer channels were on their way for the Wii's online service, but declined to give any details about what new features might be enabled on them. The Wii's "always-online" feature, which maintains background downloads and other Internet connections even when in sleep mode, could potentially enable all sorts of interesting online community features, but Nintendo has been reticent to give out any details.
The new online-enabled titles and Wii channels are expected to launch around March or April of next year.
Jeremy Reimer
arstechnica.com
Japanese Wii gamers have already sampled a taste of online goodness with the launch title Pokemon Battle Revolution, but North American Wii owners are still waiting for titles to properly utilize the Wii's online connection. Many games still in development for the Wii are designed around playing with people who are physically present: a recent preview of a new anime-themed golf game for the Wii on Electric Playground revealed that the developers had not included online multiplayer modes.
Fils-Aime also indicated that new multiplayer channels were on their way for the Wii's online service, but declined to give any details about what new features might be enabled on them. The Wii's "always-online" feature, which maintains background downloads and other Internet connections even when in sleep mode, could potentially enable all sorts of interesting online community features, but Nintendo has been reticent to give out any details.
The new online-enabled titles and Wii channels are expected to launch around March or April of next year.
Jeremy Reimer
arstechnica.com
Labels: internet games, nintendo wii
Nintendo's Wii hits Japanese stores
TOKYO - Nintendo's Wii video game system hit Japanese stores Saturday with long lineups and shortages, following its sellout U.S. launch last month. More than 3,000 people braved frosty weather to line up at downtown Tokyo electronics retailer Bic Camera, hoping to get their hands on the console, said store spokeswoman Naoko Ito.
The store started turning people away at 5:40 a.m. local time — more than an hour before doors opened — and Wiis were sold out "for the foreseeable future," Ito said.
Earlier, crowd-control staff at the store, trying to avoid a stampede, used megaphones to urge shoppers to stop pushing.
Short supplies were reported elsewhere in the capital.
With the Wii, Kyoto-based Nintendo Co. — which brought the world the mustachioed plumber Super Mario, and Game Boy hand-held game machines — hopes to challenge the dominance of Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). and Microsoft Corp. in the game console market.
Unlike its rivals' high-powered consoles, Nintendo's Wii puts simplicity above fancy graphics and computing horsepower.
Wii's remote-control wand can be swung like a tennis racket, fishing pole, or orchestra baton in easy-to-play games the company hopes will appeal to a wider audience than the traditional young male demographic.
That will be especially crucial in Japan, where a graying population has made the game industry's growth sluggish in recent years.
Wii has a price advantage at US$250 — about half of PlayStation 3 at roughly US$500 or US$600, depending on the model.
The
Xbox 360, which launched last year, sells for US$300 to US$400.
Nintendo also has more machines for sale. Nearly 400,000 Wiis were available for the Japan launch date. U.S. shoppers snapped up more than 600,000 of its Wii video game systems in the week after its launch there on Nov. 19.
Sony had just 100,000 PS3s in Japan and 400,000 consoles in the U.S. when they debuted last month.
Production problems have pushed PlayStation's European launch back to March.
Analysts expect Wii to mount a serious challenge to Sony's 70 percent market share, which it built with previous PlayStation consoles.
Sony has sold more than 200 million PlayStation series machines over the years.
Nomura Securities Co. analyst Yuta Sakurai said last month he expected Nintendo to sell 40 million machines, compared with 70 million PlayStation 3 consoles in the next five years.
More critically, the profit is also likely to be better for Nintendo, while Sony is losing money for every PS3 console it sells until it gets a return on its huge investments.
Sony is expecting to rack up 200 billion yen (US$1.7 billion) in red ink in its game unit for the fiscal year ending March 2007, much of it in startup costs for PlayStation 3. By contrast, Nintendo is forecasting profit of 100 billion yen (US$845 million) for the fiscal year, as Wii buoys earnings in the second half.
yahoo news
By HIROKO TABUCHI, Associated Press
Earlier, crowd-control staff at the store, trying to avoid a stampede, used megaphones to urge shoppers to stop pushing.
Short supplies were reported elsewhere in the capital.
With the Wii, Kyoto-based Nintendo Co. — which brought the world the mustachioed plumber Super Mario, and Game Boy hand-held game machines — hopes to challenge the dominance of Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). and Microsoft Corp. in the game console market.
Unlike its rivals' high-powered consoles, Nintendo's Wii puts simplicity above fancy graphics and computing horsepower.
Wii's remote-control wand can be swung like a tennis racket, fishing pole, or orchestra baton in easy-to-play games the company hopes will appeal to a wider audience than the traditional young male demographic.
That will be especially crucial in Japan, where a graying population has made the game industry's growth sluggish in recent years.
Wii has a price advantage at US$250 — about half of PlayStation 3 at roughly US$500 or US$600, depending on the model.
The
Xbox 360, which launched last year, sells for US$300 to US$400.
Nintendo also has more machines for sale. Nearly 400,000 Wiis were available for the Japan launch date. U.S. shoppers snapped up more than 600,000 of its Wii video game systems in the week after its launch there on Nov. 19.
Sony had just 100,000 PS3s in Japan and 400,000 consoles in the U.S. when they debuted last month.
Production problems have pushed PlayStation's European launch back to March.
Analysts expect Wii to mount a serious challenge to Sony's 70 percent market share, which it built with previous PlayStation consoles.
Sony has sold more than 200 million PlayStation series machines over the years.
Nomura Securities Co. analyst Yuta Sakurai said last month he expected Nintendo to sell 40 million machines, compared with 70 million PlayStation 3 consoles in the next five years.
More critically, the profit is also likely to be better for Nintendo, while Sony is losing money for every PS3 console it sells until it gets a return on its huge investments.
Sony is expecting to rack up 200 billion yen (US$1.7 billion) in red ink in its game unit for the fiscal year ending March 2007, much of it in startup costs for PlayStation 3. By contrast, Nintendo is forecasting profit of 100 billion yen (US$845 million) for the fiscal year, as Wii buoys earnings in the second half.
yahoo news
By HIROKO TABUCHI, Associated Press
Labels: nintendo wii
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