Have you picked up a Nintendo 3DS? If so, you were one of the 3.61 million that did so. While this may seem like quite the number to the average consumer, it’s not up to par with Nintendo’s expectations. In fact, according to company president Satoru Iwata that 3.61 million is a full 400,000 lower than what Nintendo was expecting to sell.
Unfortunately, Iwata doesn’t seem to know exactly why the 3DS is failing to sell as expected suggesting that the earthquake and tsunami may have had something to do with it. Luckily, he then went on to say that the company is looking to pickn up the pace this summer but did not state exactly waht they plan to do.
With hard hitting titles like Ocarina of Time 3DS just over the horizon, console sales are sure to pick up a bit but will it be enough? We’ll have to wait and see.
The upcoming Game Developer’s Conference has revealed a new keynote speaker: Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata, who will have a keynote called “Video Games Turn 25: A Historical Perspective and Vision for the Future”. Of course, games are a bit older than 25, but Mario was released exactly 25 years ago, so you can guess where he’s getting his idea from.
But of course, Iwata is expected to take the opportunity from this and talk about the future as well, a future which includes the 3DS. Most expect that the final specs and revelations about the 3DS will happen just then.
According to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, the 3D mode on the upcoming Nintendo 3DS can be tuned off, and the games will function as regular 2D games. Iwata broke the news during a recent interview with Forbes, but didn’t reveal any further news about the 3DS — which is still a code name for the handheld. It’s widely expected that Nintendo will unveil it at this years’ E3 next month.
The amount of thought that went into the naming of the Nintendo DS had to have been massive because Nintendo had to have known it was going to sell like hotcakes. DS makes sense, if it stands for Dual/Double Screen, that is, but what were some of the console’s code names?
During a WarioWare DIY interview, Satoru Iwata said the following:
“Iris was the codename of a next-generation device we were exploring to succeed the Game Boy Advance-in other words, before development of the Nintendo DS. Eventually, it became a two-screen device with the codename Nitro, which went out into the world as the Nintendo DS. So, broadly speaking, Iris was the foundation for the Nintendo DS.”
via siliconera
The new year is upon us which means a whole slew of big titles are going to hit store shelves. One title in particular I’m looking forward to is a Zelda one. I don’t know about you guys but Zelda is one of the main reasons I bought a Wii in the first place. Previously there was no word on when a new major release would hit but Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has let us know today that it will be this year.
There were no details regarding the contents of said game but come E3 I’m sure we’re going to be a lot more familiar with it.
via destructoid
Nintendo has never been known for fully embracing online gaming, and the Wii trails a distant third behind the PS3 and Xbox 360 when it comes to playing online — despite being the top selling console. Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata has revealed numbers on online connectivity, saying that 35% of Wii consoles are online and only 20% of Nintendo DS consoles.
Furthermore, Iwata said that those numbers will decline if the company doesn’t “take aggressive action” on the online front — which it of course plans to do. All we can say is; it’s about damn time!
In Nintendo’s Financial Results Briefing Q&A for the 69th fiscal term (ended in March), President and CEO of Nintendo Satoru Iwata answered several questions. One of the questions asked was if the DSi would be seeing a price cut anytime soon. In response to the question, Iwata said:
“…price cuts in one country can certainly affect other countries. For example, when you say that we should cut the price in Japan due to the current domestic market situation, once the suggested retail price is cut in Japan, people outside Japan will anticipate the same around the world.”
It would indeed hurt the early adopters’ loyalty to the company if there were such a price cut early into the product’s lifespan, but there are still more opportunities to get new customers as well. Iwata cares more about the well-being of the company on an international scale, and not on a country-by-country basis. In summary, Iwata concluded that he has no “specific ideas about the price cut at all.”
via Siliconera
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata was recently quoted as saying “The Wii is in the most unhealthy condition since it hit the Japanese market” after the announcement that the PS3 outsold the Wii for the first time in 14 months. He then went on to say, “The current condition in the Japanese market is not the one we want.”
So that means a price-cut would be in line, correct? Nope, when questioned about a price-cut Iwata responded with “A price cut in a difficult economy cannot really excite the market and drive up sales. As of now I really don’t think that a price cut is a good option for us.”
Could this be the end of the Wii dynasty? Or perhaps Japanese consumers are awaiting titles like Wii Sports Resort. Whatever the case, I’m sure Nintendo could wait it out considering the success of their recently launched Nintendo DSi console.
Read (ABS-CBN News)
A video-on-demand service was announced recently for the Nintendo Wii. It turns out, however, that this same service could be making its way onto the Nintendo DS.
Speaking to the Wallstreet Journal, president and CEO of Nintendo Satoru Iwata said that “If the Wii and the DS are connected, it should be possible to download video through the Wii and take it with you on the DS.”
The DS and Wii can already communicate in numerous ways, such as demo downloads and simultaenous game interaction.
“When the service begins, you’ll see how we’re going to do it differently in a Nintendo-like way,” he adds. “There are a lot of on-demand video services, so there’s no reason to do the same thing, so we’re going to do something different. We’ll start the service in Japan, and if it does well, we’d like to take it overseas.”
Read (Wallstreet Journal, via Kotaku)
It’s been quite a while since we’ve heard anything about Link and his adventures in Hyrule, but buzz circulating the internet suggests that may change soon enough.
Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, will give the companies keynote address at GDC in 2009 and chances are we will be hearing something of a new Zelda. This rumor surfaces from various observations:
It has already been made known that there is a new Zelda in the works and Nintendo’s release schedule for late 2009 isn’t exactly chalk full of games (see: bare).
These observations coupled with the fact that hit releases like LittleBigPlanet and Gears of War 2 have made their debut at the conference point to Nintendo announcing a new Zelda. I guess we will have to wait and see when GDC 2009 rolls around this March.
Read (TechRadar)
