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Downloadable Demos and Voice Chat Coming to the DS
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Wireless,
Good news for DS owners today:
Owners of the dual-screen DS who go near the kiosks will automatically receive a notice on their devices offering game demos, movie trailers and other content for temporary download. The information will be erased from the DS once it’s turned off.
Nintendo also said it was adding voice chat to the sci-fi action game “Metroid Prime: Hunters,” available March 20. Players who join up for multiplayer battles over Nintendo’s wireless Internet service will be able to talk to each other through the system’s built-in microphone before and after games, but not during, said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America Inc.‘s executive vice president of sales and marketing.
We’d like to hear more details on the demos. How many demos will we be seeing? Obviously, they will disappear once you turn off the DS, unless they decide to sell some sort of memory module. Any way you cut it though, the DS’s future is brighter than ever.
Read More 
| Nintendo
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Nintendo’s Perrin Kaplin Discusses Company’s ‘New Look’
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Wii,
Well all know that if Nintendo wants to gain a significant amount of market-share in the upcoming console war, they’ve gotta change their image - and fast. Perrin Kaplan, VP of Marketing and Corporate Affairs, discusses the industry, Nintendo, and its “new look” in the linked Forbes article.
The major difference for Nintendo right now (indeed, the key to its “new look”) is its “Blue Ocean” philosophy—something that executive vp of sales and marketing Reggie Fils-Aime has discussed many times now. “Inside Nintendo, we call our strategy ‘Blue Ocean.’ This is in contrast to a ‘Red Ocean.’ Seeing a Blue Ocean is the notion of creating a market where there initially was none—going out where nobody has yet gone. Red Ocean is what our competitors do—heated competition where sales are finite and the product is fairly predictable,” Kaplan explained. “We’re making games that are expanding our base of consumers in Japan and America. Yes, those who’ve always played games are still playing, but we’ve got people who’ve never played to start loving it with titles like Nintendogs, Animal Crossing and Brain Games. These games are Blue Ocean in action.”
So what do you think of this ‘Blue Ocen’ strategy? Will it actually work?
Read More | Forbes
The new EGM features an interview with Reggie, what follows is a snippet of it:
EGM: When Nintendo first showed the controller, it said there were other functions it wasn’t talking about yet. Might those include a digital camera and microphone?
Reggie Fils-Aime: As much as I think [Nintendo President Mr. Satoru] Iwata likes me, if I shared that with you I probably wouldn’t be here. [Laughs] You know, here are the facts: Come [this May], we’ll disclose a lot more. After [that], we’ll disclose even more… There are certainly elements to everything we’re doing about Revolution—I’m talking beyond the controller, the virtual console, all the different elements...
While this really isn’t actually much of a hint, Reggie’s getting us excited about the Revolution all over again. Whatever Nintendo’s hiding, it’s going to be big.
Read More | 1Up
Playfeed’s Mario Party 7 Review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Nintendo, Nintendo Gamecube, Reviews, Strategy,
So, Mario and his gang have come together once more with a planned activity (this time, taking a cruise) with the end result turning out to be the madhouse that is Mario Party. This is the seventh iteration of the popular party game series - the fourth one for the Gamecube. We took Mario Party 7 for a spin, and we report back with our full review after the jump.
Click to continue reading Playfeed’s Mario Party 7 Review
The Evolution of Controllers
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Nintendo, Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Retro, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360,
Revolution Advanced has put together an extremely comprehensive feature on the history - or rather evolution - of video game controllers. The article spans from the Atari 2600 controller all the way to the Nintendo Revolution remote control. It’s almost hard to believe how far controllers have come since the industry’s inception - but then again, technology has really advanced over the years. On second though, the controller featured at the bottom of the list, the Revolution controller, is arguably one of the simplest controllers ever made. Thoughts?
Read More | Revolution Advanced
Feeling the urge to immerse yourself in more Nintendo nostalgia? The linked original 1984 Nintendo Entertainment System commercial may just do the trick. The commercial features R.O.B., the Zapper (Nintendo’s gun), and Duck Hunt. While I owned an NES, I never got my hands on a R.O.B. so I was a little surprised when I saw it in the commercial - it honestly was a smaller than I pictured it. I was also amazed to see how many bonuses the machine came with - two controllers, a Zapper, Duck Hunt, R.O.B., and more. All of a sudden, the Xbox 360 Premium and Sony PSP Value Pack don’t seem to pack that much value.
Read More | techeblog
How’s this for nostalgic? 8-bit character key chain with controllers that make noises attached.
NCSX says:
The next time you’re at a Miyamoto signing, bring one of the Dot Graphics Sound Keychains and press it continuously while you’re queuing up to make a complete nuisance of yourself. Once you’ve reached the head of the line, press it once more as if signaling victory and have Miyamoto sign the back of the joypad to increase its value ten-fold. Or something like that.
Each keychain features an old school character motif and a Famicom controller attached to a ring. Press the “A” button on the controller and a jingle will sound off. Just one jingle. You’d think with the technology available to manufacturers nowadays, a few more jingles wouldn’t exactly kill their bottom line. Click on the links below to listen to each sound (WAV file).
These puppies retail for $13.50 each - not bad at all. I’d probably buy one or two if I wasn’t spending so much money on the retro Xbox Live Arcade games.
Read More | NCSX
DS Lite Coming to America
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Portable/Mobile, Release Dates,
Good news for everyone who has fallen in love with Nintendo’s recently revealed DS Lite. According to IGN, the portable machine will be coming out here after it release this spring in Japan. It’s unfortunate that we’re going to have to wait longer to get it, but we’re still glad it’s coming out here. Of course there’s always the option of importing.
Read More | IGN
Nintendo DS Lite Revealed
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Portable/Mobile,
Just two weeks after Nintendo quelled reports of a rumored redesign, they go and announce the updated version of the Nintendo DS - that being the Nintendo DS Lite. Feast your eyes on the smaller, lighter, Apple-er Nintendo DS. Now, like the upgrade from the Game Boy Advance to the GBA:SP, the Nintendo DS Lite is pretty much the same machine, just tweaked out with a few improvements. For starters, it has a smaller footprint than the original DS, and is lighter. The new unit is just 133.0 x 73.9 x 21.55 mm when folded and weighs 218 grams, while the current DS measures 148.7 x 84.7 x 28.99 mm and weighs 275 grams. You will also notice that the Start and Select buttons have moved, as have the microphone and speakers.
While the LCD screens remain the same size, they are now brighter. You can even adjust the brightness between four different settings. Now, this one is currently announced for release in Japan on March 9, 2006 at a price of 16,800 yen ($145), which includes AC adapter. That is about $15 more than the current Nintendo DS sells for in Japan. No word yet on when - or if - this one will see an American release. We will definitely be keeping our eye on this one.
Read More | Nintendo Press Release (Japanese)
Subway’s Jared Blames Nintendo for Weight Problems
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Culture, Nintendo,
Surely the name Jared Fogel rings a bell. Jared’s the guy that’s been featured in just about every Subway advertisement over the last ten years, who boasts about how much weight he lost from eating at Subway. In total, he lost over 250 pounds since he changed his eating habits.
Before he lost that weight, he weighed in at a grand total of 425 pounds. Just recently, he blamed Nintendo for becoming overweight. Fogel describes being a child and holding the Nintendo controller with one hand while eating chips with his other hand. In all fairness, Nintendo shouldn’t be blamed here. Yes, the video game machine may have led to his obesity problem, but the Nintendo did not make him fat. Rather, his mom and dad’s poor parenting skills didn’t prevent him from putting on the excess weight.
We’re sure Jared understands the idea of responsibility, as he picked himself up and got into better eating and excercise habits. To blame Nintendo seems improper though.
Read More | 1Up
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