Latest Wii, Nintendo DS, Game Boy, and GameCube news, screenshots, and game previews

Following Nintendo’s revision to its profit forecast, a move which some analysts are calling “too cautious“, Nintendo’s shares have since dropped by 12 per cent — the largest fall Nintendo has seen in 18 years. Company president Satoru Iwata yesterday attempted to address many concerns that the business may have peaked:

“I think it is true that new information penetrates through the Japanese market very quickly and that Japanese people tend to get tired of something new very quickly,” Iwata stated. “It is also true that the population is smaller when compared with that of other major markets, so it is inevitable that the market starts to feel saturated earlier than others.”

Citing previous hardware generations, he noted that the U.S. has twice the sales potential of Japan. Europe, where Nintendo’s marketing has improved since the GameCube days, also presents growth opportunities.

Iwata also mentioned that the Nintendo DSi was one method Nintendo used to “reactivate the Japanese DS market”. Regarding the Wii, he stated that it’s “not impossible for the Wii’s total sales to exceed the final installed base of PS2“.

Tags: Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, Recession, Sales, Satoru Iwata, Wii

Japanese analyst Hiroshi Kamide speculates that the Wii craze might be coming to an end, as Nintendo today cut its income forecasts by 33 per cent.

Although Nintendo still expects to finish the year in the black, “analysts described Nintendo’s guidance as a ‘baffling and potentially very worrying‘ sign for worldwide sales of the Wii as recession curtails household spending around the world”.

Part of the problem, according to games industry insiders in Japan and the UK, is that the pipeline of “must-have” Nintendo Wii software is less strong now than it was six months ago.

On the most widely read gaming websites, there are few forthcoming Wii titles generating the sort of excitement that preceded the release of Mario Galaxy or Smash Brothers.

One big source of margin destruction has been the soaring yen, which rose 24 per cent against the dollar and 30 per cent against the euro in 2008.

Tags: Recession, Sales, Wii

Satoru Iwata, the current president of Nintendo, has been announced as a keynote speaker for the 2009 Game Developers Conference. Iwata’s keynote speech, “Discovering New Development Opportunities”, is scheduled for Wednesday, March 25th.

2009 marks Iwata’s return to the GDC stage since 2006 when he spoke about “disruptive development,” and introduced to the Western development community the philosophies on engaging new players and surprising existing players. In his 2005 keynote, Iwata discussed the next-generation console then codenamed “Revolution,” which has since become known as the Wii. Stay tuned for updates on what he will say in 2009!

Tags: Game Developers Conference, GDC, Keynote, Satoru Iwata

Kaz Hirai, current Chairman and group CEO of Sony, has been taking a lot of heat lately for his recent comments dismissing Nintendo and Microsoft as competitors and claiming PlayStation is the “official” industry leader.

“This is not meant in terms of numbers, or who’s got the biggest install base, or who’s selling most in any particular week or month, but I’d like to think that we continue official leadership in this industry,” Hirai told Official PlayStation Magazine.

“It’s difficult to talk about Nintendo, because we don’t look at their console as being a competitor. They’re a different world, and we operate in our world - that’s the kind of way I look at things.

“And with the Xbox - again, I can’t come up with one word to fit. You need a word that describes something that lacks longevity,” he added with a laugh.

Today Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg responded to Hirai’s comments claiming that Sony is an “old hardware company that’s comfortable with its market position” and they’re “out of touch with where the industry and consumer is today”.

Tags: Kaz Hirai, Microsoft, PlayStation 3, Sony, Xbox 360

Nintendo had plenty of time to increase production of its increasingly popular Wii console but was sill unable fully to meet demand during the holidays. According to Game Daily, several analysts expected sales to be higher. Although the Wii sold exceptionally well — above 2 million units in December alone — it could have “doubled that figure if supply had been better”.

Deutsche Bank analyst Jeetil Patel agreed that supply was a problem in the final month of 2008. “While the data suggest the Wii lagged a bit in December, we think there is still strong consumer demand for the console, suggesting supply constraints in the channel for the console in December,” he said.

“We still believe that Nintendo, with its Wii and DS install base, were the main catalysts behind protecting our industry from seeing the full wrath of the recession in late 2008.”

Let’s hope 2009 will be an even bigger year for Nintendo!

Tags: Recession, Sales, Wii

Shigeru Miyamoto has received “The Jim Henson Celebration Honor” from The Jim Henson Company — this is the company’s highest honor.

The Henson awards program was established in 2005 and is meant to acknowledge “organizations, individuals or products that reflect the core values and philosophy of the legendary Jim Henson and the company he founded”.

The highest Henson Honor goes to an individual, organization or product that makes the world a better place by inspiring people to celebrate life. As the creator of some of the world’s best-known video games such as Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros. and the Zelda series (which have collectively sold more than 350 million copies), and the person who ultimately oversees every Nintendo game, Shigeru Miyamoto has reignited America’s love for gaming with the creation of Nintendo’s hugely popular Wii console.

Taking the application of video games a giant step forward, Miyamoto recently developed the Wii Fit, dedicated to improving people’s physical health and well being. The game not only serves to entertain and give players a workout, it is also being used as a rehabilitation tool - known as “Wii-hab” - by physical and occupational therapists to help patients with balance, endurance and core strengthening.

Spore, the recently released PC video game, was also honored for demonstrating “ground-breaking technology in a creative way”.

Congrats to Miyamoto and Nintendo for making a difference!

Tags: Shigeru Miyamoto, Spore, Wii Fit, Wii-hab