Super Mario 3D Land, which released on Nov 11, became the fastest selling portable Mario game in history with more than 500,000 units moved since launch, confirmed Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword also became the fastest selling Zelda game ever, with 535,000 copies sold since its US launch. The game released on Nov 20.

Fils-Aime said these successful releases also helped in moving units of both Nintendo 3DS and Wii. Last week’s 3DS sales rose by 325% compared to sales the week of November 6.

“What this has been able to do is drive our Nintendo 3DS business in only eight months to surpass the full first year volume of the original DS and we still have the bulk of the holiday to go,” Fils-Aime said, “and we still have the launch of Mario Kart 7 (out Sunday, Dec. 4) to continue driving our full-year sales on Nintendo 3DS.”

He also said that Wii had its biggest Black Friday ever, with more than 500,000 units sold.

“We know that Black Friday and that entire week is a key selling week and it is important for products like ours to have a jump in momentum and we were fortunate to see that,” Fils-Aime added.

“For us, it really was driven by unique and powerful software and what gives us confidence is that we still have more software to launch in the balance of this holiday period.”

Thanks, USA Today.

Nintendo’s released another ad for the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, featuring, again, Robin and Zelda Williams. The ad shows Robin Williams teaching his daughter – whom he’s named after the popular Nintendo franchise – a few tricks for becoming a master. The game’s out for Wii on November 20. You can watch the trailer below.

Be sure to check out the full gallery (7 images) over at Destructoid.

We hate “announcements of announcements” as much as the next guy, but in this case at least they’re alerting the fans so they can tune in themselves.

It’s not specifically said to be Dragon Quest 10, but it is widely speculated to be.

The bundle will be releasing alongside the game’s official release on November 20, costing $69.99. The gold Wiimote Plus will only be available as part of the special bundle, though.

Nintendo’s also confirmed that every copy in the initial production of Skyward Sword will come bundled with a special music CD featuring orchestral arrangements of select songs that will be performed at The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony Concert, which takes place in October.

Skyward Sword launches in Europe for Wii on November 18.

Nintendo has a history of stalwartly refusing to lower the full retail price of their first-party games, a position that they’ve eased up on lately as they’ve brought more titles to the Nintendo Select brand.

Let’s just hope the rest of Nintendo’s library drops soon. We’re looking at you Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

The Wii version, which will be shipping in a special yellow box, will be releasing on November 18. 3DS owners will have to wait a little longer: the handheld version’s out in February 2012.

The series has sold a whooping 19 million units to date, and the next edition will feature a number of new events, including horse riding and football.

“Red Fly was in the unfortunate position of laying off around 30 people on Wednesday June 22,” the studio’s CEO Dan Borth said to GameSpot in an interview.

“The reduction of staff was a response to a large high-profile project that was, to our surprise, reevaluated and then canceled.” Borth gave no indication of what that project might have been.

Borth continued, saying that the studio is bouncing back from the hit, and will continue working.

“Red Fly has been an agile, passionate company from day one, and while this news was very difficult, we’ve made a concentrated effort to reinvest in ourselves and the way we want to make games.”

“Currently, we are all very excited about our new opportunities and working diligently to make them a reality,” Borth said.

Red Fly’s previous games include Mushroom Men as well as the Wii versions of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, and Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

Beginning on that date, Nintendo will retail the console for under $150 in black or white, and it’ll come bundled with Super Mario Kart and a steering wheel, which will replace previous bundle titles Wii Sports and its sequel Resort.

The same bundle will come here in the UK on May 20 for £129, dropping the price by a massive £50

Nintendo will also introduce on May 15 a new budget line of Wii titles known as Nintendo Selects. The first titles to be included in the line-up are The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Mario Super Sluggers and Wii Sports. Those titles will be priced at $20 as part of the line-up.

The same line will also be introduced here in the UK from May 20, according to MCV, with titles to cost from £19. First games included are Wii Sports, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Mario Strikers Charged Football and Animal Crossing: Let’s Go to the City.

“From the day it launched, Wii has let players of all ages and experience levels have fun with one another,” said NoA boss Reggie Fils-Aime.

“The new suggested retail pricing for both the hardware and select games will help create more of these magical moments for even greater numbers of people.”

Most major retailers, including Gamestop, Amazon, Bestbuy, ToysRus and Target have slashed the Wii’s price to $ 169.99, a $30 drop from its previous price of $199.99.

Engadget had reported that the Wii will be getting a price cut in May, down to $150.

Various reports also suggest that Nintendo’s set to announce Wii 2 at this year’s E3.

Hopefully Nintendo will make something official soon.

When asked by IGN about the possibility of a Wii main series entry in the Pokemon franchise, GameFreak co-founder Junichi Masuda replied:

“I don’t think so. I think the Pokemon core series is always going to be with handheld hardware, in the future as well.”

“I consider handheld hardware you can carry around with you as almost being equal to being with Pokemon, always. I think handheld really matches the idea of Pokemon that we have. Also, you can communicate and transfer data all the time, whenever you want with a handheld. That’s also a match with the Pokemon concept.”

Granted, that doesn’t mean home consoles are being completely left out in the cold. Masuda added that consoles are perfect for “parties, and those sorts of things.” “Maybe in the future, if we can think of a way to do something cool with that, then that’s the sort of environment we can work in,” he explained.

Pokemon Party Babyz. It’s inevitable now. Consider even the mere possibility, and never know happiness again.

The Wii’s hardly circling the drain, but the old gal’s definitely seen better days.

“The back half of any system cycle always attracts a higher proportion of buyers who are concerned with price, ease of use and group play.… This late-adopter group is the next audience for the Wii,” Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told the LA Times.

The price bit especially stands out, seeing as Nintendo president Satoru Iwata recently shot down any hope of a Wii price drop in the “near future.” Clearly, however, the current price isn’t exactly sending these late adopters into a frenzy, so perhaps something will happen there sooner rather than later.

If not, well, it’s not like the competition’s any less expensive.

A patch? On the Wii? Get out of town.

Sure enough, Treyarch’s treating Nintendo’s used Sedan of a console with all the care usually reserved for Microsoft and Sony’s hotrods. So said a post on the official Black Ops forums:

“Thank you for helping us to identify the various connectivity issues you have been experiencing. We have fixed many of the problems you have reported and are currently testing those fixes in anticipation of releasing an update.”

“Stay tuned for the delivery of this update within the next week or so.”

So there you go, Wii owners. Someone doesn’t think you live in caves and fashion spears out of old Gamecube discs. Unfortunately, that someone isn’t Nintendo itself.

Better brush up on those bartering skills. Otherwise – unless our dear Emperor of Economics Lewie digs something up – you won’t be getting that shiny new Wii on the cheap any time soon.

“Of course, we cannot say [a Wii price cut] will never happen, but we are not thinking of it for the near future,” Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told the Associated Press.

Nintendo, of course, recently posted its first six-month loss in seven years thanks in part to lowered Wii sales, but mostly due to a DS sales face-plant worthy of its own short-lived Youtube sensation.

As a result, the console-making colossus is baiting its hook with Wii bundles and the upcoming 3DS – both of which Iwata hopes will reinvigorate Nintendo’s flagging numbers.

“Hopes are high for the 3DS as the first device that can show 3D movies to reach a mass market,” he said.

Granted, the announced Japanese 3DS price (25000 yen) equates to roughly $300 or £187, so the mass market may need equally massive pockets in order to afford one. On that note, do you think it’s too early to start bugging Nintendo for a price drop?

Ubisoft’s put out a trailer for the Wii version of Michael Jackson: The Experience, and while it does technically demonstrate what playing the game will entail, it does so in a way we can’t quite see ourselves replicating. For one, we don’t even think our living room – which you may have seen on the cover of Sardine Can Monthly’s most recent issue – has room for that many people. Also, we have no friends.

Now then, while we sob and ponder where we went wrong in life, you should totally check out the trailer. It’s neato!

Thanks, Siliconera.

When you hear the word “April,” what do you think of? Chocolate rabbits? Practical jokes? Finally taking down your Christmas lights?

Well, we think of videogame sales. That’s all we think of. Ever.

See inside our minds after the break.

• NPD March 2010: Raw Data
• NPD April 2010 hardware: DS the clear winner
• NPD April 2010 software: Conviction tops with 486K units sold
• NPD April 2010: Microsoft – 360 sales contributed $204M spent for the month
• NPD April 2010: Sony – PS3 sales up 37.2% for the year
• NPD April 2010: Games sales down 26% for the month
• NPD April 2010: Nintendo pleased with being tops

Call of Duty fanatics who only own Wiis (all two of you) can breathe a sigh of relief: Black Ops is coming to your favorite console after all.

Activision delivered the good news to Eurogamer, simply stating:

“Black Ops will be available on all four platforms, PS3, X360, PC and Wii, on 9th November.”

Shortly before the game’s formal unveiling, rumor had it that the globe-trotting, possibly time-traveling Call of Duty title would forgo a Wii release altogether. It seems, however, that Wii gamers will be having their cake and waggling it too. Whatever that means.

So hooray and all that.  If you’ve ever wished you could just wave a wand and make all war go away, this is probably the closest you’ll ever get. Unless you actually have a magical war-ending wand, of course – in which case, what are you doing reading about videogames? Why aren’t you ending all wars? You dick.

Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection. One of these things is not like the others. According to Nintendo mother brain Shigeru Miyamoto, however, Nintendo’s offering won’t remain the F-student of the online world forever. Will that mean subscription fees? Maybe. Bet you can’t guess who Nintendo’s been cribbing notes from.

“Probably the other thing that we are desperate to realise is the core [online] business structure,” Miyamoto told Edge. “Do we need to demand customers pay monthly fees to enjoy online activities? Or give an online subscription that is free of charge, but then offer something extra for people that pay, so that they get some extra value? With these core business strategies I think we are less active than we should be.”

Miyamoto was hesitant, however, to declare his company’s attempt a total failure. He continued:

“It is true, though, that Nintendo hasn’t been very proactive in developing such online activities as an MMOG. But when it comes to our endeavours that try to take advantage of internet technology, where we can provide our customers with more fun and entertainment, then I think we can say we have been very, very proactive and well-received. And that attitude won’t be changed at all in the future.”

Yeah, remember how we called Miyamoto “Nintendo’s mother brain”? Well, we have to assume Samus blew off the part of him that remembered Friend Codes exist right before this interview. Sorry Shiggy, but juggling more numbers than an Excel spreadsheet is not our idea of “fun” or “entertainment.” Sad to say, unless Friend Codes are removed from the equation entirely, gamers’ only response to a Wii subscription fee will be to dismissively chuckle before turning back to play more Modern Warfare 2.

Oh hey, look, a soapbox! Were we standing on that the whole time? Talk about embarassing.

Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty titles may have a spotty history with Nintendo’s tiny white wonder, but Treyarch’s always made sure to deploy its titles to Nintendo’s front line.

Black Ops, however, might be a different story.

GameStop’s pre-order listing for the game has all the usual suspects – PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 – but no Wii.

IGN contacted Activision to dig up some dirt on the potentially six-feet-under version of Black Ops, only to be told that the publisher hasn’t announced any platforms for the game yet. So as of now, the official word is that Black Ops isn’t coming out for any videogame consoles. Yep. Hopefully that’ll change eventually.

We’ll keep you posted.

Move over, Nintendo. According to Cohort Studios CEO Lol Scragg, you’re no longer the coolest kid on the motion control block.

“The PlayStation Move is a great piece of hardware,” Scragg, whose studio is hard at work on one of the first Move-centric games, an on-rails shooter tentatively titled The Shoot, told Develop. “It has a fantastic feel to it and it’s incredibly accurate. We’ve had no issues with it, and the hardware and the libraries have come on well.”

“Having used both controllers a lot, I’d say it was clear that the Move controller is so much more accurate [than the Wii],” said Scragg. “And it’s not just across the X and Y-axis either, the Z axis is really accurate as well.”

Big talk? Oh yeah. But as it turns out, Scragg was only peppering us with warning shots from his hyperbole pea shooter. This, on the other hand, is a salvo from his megaton cannon:

“I understand that, if you read any of the forums, you’ll [see] people state they don’t need motion control, but that’s because they’ve likened motion control to the Wii. Once Sony and Microsoft start releasing their own games for their motion controllers, I think the core will come round to it.”

Madness. They’ll have to pry the gamepads from our cold, dead hands. Unless, of course, Scragg’s onto something. Guess we’ll find out later this year.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, which console has the most Internet-connected users of them all? Is it the Wii? No? Well then surely it’s the Xbox 360? Still no, huh?

Yep. It’s the PS3. In a study of 2,000 adult broadband users in the US, The Diffusion Group found that a whopping 78 percent of PS3 users take their console equivalent of a souped-up sports car for regular drives down the information superhighway.

The Xbox 360, meanwhile, lagged slightly behind with 73 percent of its users choosing to go online, while the Wii finished last with 54 percent.

Madness. How anyone could not be utterly smitten with Friend Codes is beyond our comprehension.

Thanks, Gamasutra.

You haven’t eaten lunch for a whole year. You’ve sold organs you didn’t even know you had. On the rare occasion that you venture out to a restaurant, your meals are more spit than food because you’ve become notorious for never-ever tipping.

But all of that’s ok! Because now you can afford a fancy-shmancy “next-generation” game console. Your life’s back on track, it’s all uphill from here, and… hold on. “Sold out”?!

This is bad. Real bad. But don’t panic. Everything will be all right. Just ask GameStop’s Executive VP of Merchandising Tony Bartel. Tell ‘em, Tony!

“Obviously it’s a question we ask the platform holders constantly,” Bartel said of recent PS3 and Wii shortages. “I can tell you that we do anticipate we will be in this situation, at least with the PlayStation 3, for another couple months unfortunately because we could sell a lot more hardware than what we have on both the PS3 and Wii platform.”

“We do believe the Wii will come into stock quicker than the PS3, so we do anticipate that those shortages should abate sometime before the next couple months,” he added. “But I don’t have clarity as to why there is a shortage other than because of the unprecedented hardware demand in December, and I think we are still scrambling to catch up from the surge that occurred.”

Wait a minute. That’s not reassuring at all! Tony, why can’t you be more like SCEA comms boss Patrick Seybold, who told us the PS3 shortages would only last a just-vague-enough-to-be-reassuring “bit longer”?

Really, the nerve of some people. Telling the truth? It’s sickening, is what it is.

Thanks, IGN.

The Wii? Outsold by something that’s not another Nintendo console? No, no, no. This isn’t right at all! Quick, analysts! Soothe us with your soothsaying!

Speaking with Industry Gamers, EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich barely even batted an eyelash before citing what’s become nearly as much of a Nintendo trademark as Mario, Link, and Pokemon: supply issues.

“Our extensive retail channel checks have all indicated that, in fact, the Nintendo Wii is in short supply. We believe February numbers reflect entirely on the Wii being supply constrained and has little to do with declining demand of the product,” he said.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, however, paints a far bleaker picture.

“Nintendo’s overall performance was well below our expectations, with software down over 30% and Wii hardware units down almost 50%. Nintendo had warned us that February would be a difficult month due to supply constraints, but we believe that the problem runs deeper than that, as sales of staple titles like Wii Fit with Balance Board and Wii Play were well below historical levels,” he explained.

Which would be fine if Nintendo had something to pick up the slack. Pachter, however, sees very little on Nintendo’s horizon, and worries that the sun may be setting for Nintendo’s slim white box.

“There is clearly strong demand for the PS3 at the moment due in part to its list of exclusives in early 2010 (Heavy Rain, God of War III, MLB the Show 10, et al) and Blu-ray compatibility. Nintendo’s Wii, on the other hand, will not see any exciting exclusives until at least May (Super Mario Galaxy 2) and its software attach rate continues to decline,” he said.

“This is exemplified by Wii Play, which sold barely 50,000 units in February, and Wii Fit, which also came in well below what we had expected. Titles such as these are finally starting to fade, suggesting that the new Wii purchaser is more casual than ever. Unlike the PS3, with multiple high-profile exclusives and the newly-announced Move Controller, and the Xbox 360, with Project Natal, the Wii lacks an important upcoming catalyst.”

This looks like a job for the Wii HD! This year for sure, right?

February 2010′s dead and gone, but let’s remember it for what it was: a month during which videogame consoles were sold. Yep. For that alone, we’ll remember February 2010 for the rest of our… what were we talking about again? Oh well. It probably didn’t matter.

Check out the full list of hardware sales after the break.

Hardware Sales, February 2010

1. Nintendo DS 613.2K
2. Xbox 360 422.0K
3. Wii 397.9K
4. PlayStation 3 360.1K
5. PSP 133.4K
6. PlayStation 2 101.9K

Will Wright knows casual gaming. After all, we’re talking about the brain behind The Sims here. He was – in a sense – casual before casual was cool.

So when Nintendo cast its net wide and started reeling in mothers, grandparents, and the occasional fitness buff, you can bet that Wright took notice. But even after selling millions upon millions, Wright’s still not sold on Nintendo’s little white videogame console. At least, insofar as the “videogame console” part goes.

“I think the Wii is a very unique platform, and that’s kind of its core value. That’s why it’s been so successful – because it’s pretty clearly different than the Xbox or the PlayStation. I think the Wii provides very fun experiences for the most part, but it’s kind of a different level of experience; it’s not like these 40-hour involved RPG games as much as it is like these fun toys to pick up and start playing in five minutes,” he told Industry Gamers.

“And it’s really fun with a group of people sitting around… It really is more into what I would call the toy market, because most of the Wii games I’ve enjoyed felt more like toys than like games,” he added.

That, in Wright’s opinion, goes a long way towards explaining why many publishers sail into Wii development with the best of intentions, only to wreck against it and sink like a sack of bricks.

“I think the fact that people are struggling on the Wii in a business sense isn’t necessarily indicative of the Wii,” he noted. “What we’ll be seeing going forward is that the console businesses will each have a very specifically defined niche. And Nintendo is just about the only manufacturer that invests in much as software as they do in hardware – or probably even more in software than hardware actually. So it’s always been a very unique platform in that sense because the biggest competitor as soon as you go into that market is always going to be Nintendo.”

There’s tons more through the link.

Seems like only yesterday we were scanning Toys ‘R’ Us fliers and picking away furiously at Nintendo’s buttoned lips over a potential Wii price drop. Then – shock – it happened.

But that’s not good enough for Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey. He thinks that, with Natal and Arc on the way, Nintendo needs stop treading water before its end of the pool gets a little more crowded.

“Importantly, Nintendo built the majority of their casual mass market oriented installed base from a $250 price point. We believe Nintendo needs to cut the price of their console from $200 to $150 immediately, as they should establish as meaningful of an installed base as possible before the Natal and Arc are introduced” he told Industry Gamers.

“We believe they also need to generate strong hardware sales momentum into their competitors release or face the draconian consumer perception of the Wii having a dramatically reduced entertainment value proposition over a faded technology innovation; Rock Band anyone?”

There’s tons more soothsaying through the link – much of which foretells of dark times ahead for Nintendo. Come on, Nintendo elves! Build the DS2 faster! Time’s running out!

Now you see them. Now you don’t. Like an expert magician, Nintendo waved its wand and – poof – WiiWare’s game demo service disappeared.

It’s a neat trick, yeah. But will the bite-sized freebies be reappearing any time soon?

In short, “maybe.”

“From the start, the demo program was always planned to be available for a limited time on a trial basis,” a Nintendo rep told Joystiq.

“We’re looking at our results and deciding our next steps,” the rep added.

We’ll give you a hint, Nintendo: people like free things. In fact, short of our ill-fated attempt at handing out free candy to children while sitting in a non-descript van outside a local park, we’re not sure if any free “experiment” has ever failed.

“Halloween On The Go,” we called it. It was practically fool-proof. The court called it a different kind of proof: “evidence.”

In true Nintendo fashion, the big N’s “what we’re thankful for” list suffered a bit of a delay over the weekend. But the waggle-powered behemoth’s excuse for its tardiness is passable, we think. See, Nintendo was busy taking advantage of shoppers who were taking advantage of Black Friday deals. So, can you guess what the company’s thankful for? Here’s a hint: It goes “ka-ching, ka-ching.”

The tally breaks down as follows: 550,000 Wiis and more than one million DSes. Impressive, yes, but 800,000 Americans shook off their turkey comas and waddled out to buy Wiis last year.

Still though, a win’s a win, and Nintendo’s not complaining.

Thanks, Kotaku.

Looks like Project Natal and Sony’s motion wand have their work cut out for them, as – at the moment – Nintendo’s tiny white console has proven to be the biggest lady killer in gaming history. Speaking at a BMO Capital Markets event, Reggie Fils-Aime revealed that 80 percent of female “primary players” (that is, the main users of consoles in their households) are Wii owners.

In addition, Reggie pegged the number of female primary players in the Americas at 11 million. This means that roughly nine million of them have had their hearts melted by the Wii’s irresistable charms.

As long as Nintendo keeps its female friendly hands off of belching in public, not asking for directions, and – of course – beards, though, we have no problem with this. More women in the gaming world is always a good thing, but the second they start out-belching and out-bearding us, men are officially obsolete.

Thanks, Kotaku.

Speaking with Gamasutra, Cowen Group analyst Doug Creutz turned his crystal ball on the upcoming holiday scuffle between Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft. The bottom line? If you’re a game publisher placing your bets, move your Nintendo money into the PS3′s corner.

According to Creutz, Wii gamers are holding off on game purchases this year – at least, in comparison to last year. Thus, he concluded, core games will keep publishers’ stockings stuffed this winter, while “the Wii bubble could be deflating.”

“While we believe the Wii is likely to be a drag on overall software sales through the holiday, the impact should be limited to those publishers which have invested significantly in Wii development, with the biggest negative impact likely to be felt by Electronic Arts, which (unwisely in our view) heavily invested in Wii development for [calendar 2009],” he added.

The PS3′s fortunes, said Creutz, are also turning around. But in a good way. According to a survey he conducted, 21 percent of respondents plan to purchase a PS3. The Xbox 360, meanwhile, only claimed 12 percent of purchase intent. Granted, the Wii’s holding strong with 26 percent, but that’s still a far cry from the prior two holiday seasons’ almost perpetually barren Wii shelf spaces.

More through the link.