Tag Archives: Wii

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?

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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”?!

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

Wii-mote straps at the ready, people. Otherwise, you might just “Objection” point your controller clean through your TV screen. That is, if a listing from the German USK rating system is to be believed.

The listing says Phoenix Wright is coming to the Wii. That’s all, though. No release date. No details. And, in typical German fashion, it’s not even in English! The nerve!

We’ll shoot an email over to Capcom and see what’s what.

Thanks, GamerBytes.

The Miyamoto floodgates have opened. Unless we explicitly say otherwise, you should probably just assume that any headline we post for the next 24 hours is a Miyamoto quote. (Miyamoto247? We think it has a nice ring to it.) This time, he’s talking HD graphics and Nintendo’s stance on them.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with pretty graphics, and if I’m a consumer that has an HDTV, I’d want to be able to play my games with nice graphics too. And I think as we’ve seen the penetration rates for HDTV increase, we’re going to see video games and Nintendo’s games move along in step with the progression of technology,” Miyamoto told IndustryGamers.

“But what I don’t think is necessarily true is that the graphics itself is something that’s going to make the gameplay experience better. So we’re still going to focus on the gameplay, but we’ll take advantage of the technology as it comes out.”

Wii HD confirmed. For 2019.

Nier director Yoko Taro’s got a blog. Sometimes, he writes things on that blog. Sometimes, those things are about the Wii’s lack of graphical power. This is one of those times.

According to a post translated by Andriasang, Taro got an eyeful of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. And while Crystal Bearers sparkled just enough to get passing marks from the developer, the Wii itself didn’t fare so well.

“Bearers’ graphics are well done,” Taro wrote. “I get the feeling that you could call them the highest level for Wii. However, SD graphics are just painful. This is the limits of the hardware, so you can’t do anything about it.”

“Nintendo should use their profits to make a backwards compatible HD Wii, or release an optional upconverter for the Wii, or give the television industry money to properly handle SD video,” he suggested.

More through the link.

Remember that whole Demo Play thing that had hardcore Mario masters up in arms a couple months ago? Well, as it turns out, it might not be that big of a deal. According to a Nintendo of Europe product listing, Demo Play’s just a gentle push in the right direction – not an autopilot.

“New Super Mario Bros. Wii is also the first Nintendo game to feature a dynamic help system, which allows you to access a mode showing how a level can be completed if you are stuck. The best thing about this mode is that you are free to jump into the action you’re watching on screen at any time,” reads the listing.

Bottom line: you still have to do all the legwork. Fortunately, if you want to watch Mario do his hopping and bopping without your input, you’ve still got the animated classic that is the Super Mario Brothers Super Show to fall back on. Thank goodness for that.

Thanks, Siliconera.

After being wooed by Microsoft early in the game, it appears that Netflix now wants to spread the love. Speaking with Reuters, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings outlined his plan to boldly stream movies where no other service has streamed before.

“Eventually we want to be on all the game consoles, all the Blu-ray players, all the Internet TVs. So we are working in parallel with all of those efforts. Currently our Xbox deal is exclusive and we haven’t characterized it more than that,” he said.

Expect to see Netflix on everything short of the Game Boy Color the second that exclusivity deal runs out.

More through the link.

First Toys ‘R’ Us, then Target, and now Best Buy. Kotaku received the above flier from an alleged Best Buy tipster, and it looks mighty official to us.

The crowd’s gathering. “Off with its head!” they’re screaming. Then, a metallic flash. The Wii’s price tag sits, rent asunder, splurting $50 bills all about.

That’s the future, folks. Nintendo says the cuts are retailer-specific, but this heaping mountain of fliers begs to differ. Now then, Wii price tag, let’s have bit off the top, shall we?

First Contra and Gradius got the “ReBirth” treatment, and now – if a recent ESRB listing is to be believed – Castlevania is next in line.

Titled “Castlevania the Adventure ReBirth,” the game’s ESRB description is as follows:

“This is a side-scrolling action game in which players battle against monsters in Dracula’s castle. Players use a chained whip to fight their way through halls and dungeons filled with zombies, skeletons, flying eyeballs, and bats. The enemy creatures frequently shoot projectiles and attack players in hand-to-hand combat. If players sustain too much damage, they keel over and emit a burst of red blood. Some rooms in the castle also have spikes or spears stained with red, blood-like splotches.”

Title sound familiar? That’s because a series entry on the Game Boy shared the same moniker. Could this be that game’s Dracula-esque resurrection? Probably. Either that, or Konami just loves confusing us.

Oh, the game will be rated “T,” in case you were wondering. That is sort of the whole point of this ESRB thing, isn’t it?

Remember when, back in May, Bethesda Europe managing director Sean Brennan lamented about the Wii’s dry-as-a-desert pool of “mature” games? Well, for those who don’t, he also teased the “really big” announcement of a mature Wii game from Bethesda.

VG247 asked Bethesda VP Pete Hines for clarification concerning that title, and here’s what he told us:

“[Sean] was referring to the Wheelspin Wii game Bethesda is publishing in Europe (only) and that is being shown in our booth at GamesCom this week.”

Wheelspin is — if the title didn’t give it away — a racing game. Its goal, in addition to going really, really fast, is to “push the hardware further than any other Wii racing game to date.”

It’s out this autumn, if you’re interested.

Spore Hero, a new Nintendo Wii and DS action-adventure spin-off of Will Wright’s evolution-themed magnum opus, is on track to reach the retail phase this October, EA announced today.

Both versions of the game will be arriving on October 6 in North America, and October 9 everywhere else.

Sure, the lack of geetar, drums, and rock is a bit disheartening, but pitting adorable creatures against each other in pursuit of evolutionarily gained powers has never looked so fun. Or maybe it has. Hmm.

Thanks, Shacknews.

Speaking with IGN, chief creative officer at Vicarious Visions Karthik Bala said that Guitar Hero 5′s Wii tour won’t be hindered by in-game friend codes.

“For GH5, we’ve implemented support for your global Wii Friend Codes. If you’ve got friends in your Wii address book, they’ll automatically be added to your friends list in game, so you can easily connect up with them in online multiplayer games,” he explained.

“It’s much easier to maintain a single list of friends on your Wii that you only have to enter once and use that address book directly in-game for invites, etc.”

Tons more through the link.

Thanks, Joystiq.