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George Harrison Chat Transcript Online
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Wii,
Attendees of Nintendo’s virtual summer camp, Camp Hyrule, were able to chat with George Harrison, Nintendo’s Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications. GoNintendo has posted a full transcript of the online chat. One eager gamer tried to pry pricing and release date information from Harrison, but of course, he refused to answer.
Other interesting points from Harrison include the revelation that the excitement generated at E3 caused third party publishers to start more new Wii projects for 2007. In addition, it was revealed that the Wii version of Twilight Princess would not be able to utilize the Gamecube controller; those looking for a “pure” version of the game will need to buy the Gamecube version of the game. Harrison also discusses Nintendo’s marketing efforts around the Wii, and the unfortunate fact that Game Boy Advance owners will see declining releases into 2007.
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Wii Say Goodbye to Sonic WildFire, Hello to Sonic & The Secret Rings
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Rumors, SEGA, Wii,
In yet another piece of news that was quickly censored by major videogame companies, Gaming Age reported today that the upcoming Sonic Wild Fire for the Nintendo Wii will now be named Sonic and the Secret Rings. Later, SEGA asked Gaming Age to remove this news from their site, but thanks to the power and beauty of the internet, the name can still be found on other major venues including Cubed3.com.
Censoring the fact that a black Wii is coming I can sort of see, but the name for a game? Come on guys - you haven’t even let us see enough screenshots to know what to think of this game, and the title really isn’t giving anything away. A Sonic game that features rings? Wowee! I never would’ve guessed.
Read More 
| Gaming Age
USA Today was recently able to grab Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime for a short interview about the upcoming Wii console. While specific launch details aren’t discussed, there is some information about how Nintendo will seek to differentiate itself from its competitors this holiday season. Fils-Aime again strongly stresses the innovative gameplay mechanics that the Wii controller will try to offer for this generation. For online play, Nintendo will be pursuing the same model of free Internet play that the Nintendo DS offers. This implies that Nintendo will still be using friend codes as a method of controlling the online experience. Fils-Aime also stressed that Nintendo is really striving to be a strong competitor in this generation. On Microsoft’s comments that consumers could purchase a Wii and an Xbox 360 for the price of a Playstation 3, Reggie’s response was that Nintendo would “rather have the consumer buy a Wii, some accessories, and a ton of games, vs. buying any of my competitor’s products.” With their entry into the console wars, Nintendo is strongly targeting market share growth through an expansion into untapped markets. Fils-Aime believes that the Nintendo DS approach has led to their success in the handheld market, and that this approach will help Nintendo grow into the future.
Read More | USA Today
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Prince of Persia a Trilogy No More, Coming to Wii
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Rumors, Ubisoft, Wii,
Late last week some rumors were running around that the much-lauded Prince of Persia series would be making it to the Nintendo Wii. Other than the fact that this goes against Ubisoft’s earlier statements that The Two Thrones completed the PoP trilogy, the rumor made a lot of sense, as Ubisoft has proven to be the Wii’s most staunch 3rd-party supporter.
Well, the news is a rumor no longer - today on IGN.com a spokesperson for Ubisoft replied:
“I can confirm that a game based on the popular Prince of Persia franchise is one of many titles Ubisoft has in development for Nintendo’s Wii… At this time we can not provide an official date for the game or any additional information about it.”
... and that’s all we have to go off of for now. Given how much Ubisoft is enamored with Nintendo’s Wiimote, it seems a given that the game will use this control scheme. We’ll probably have to wait a good while, though, before we find out exactly how Ubisoft plans to implement the controller for this franchise.
Read More | IGN.com
Siliconera is hosting some new Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz screenshots for the upcoming Wii game. The shots capture some of the various mini-games that the player will encounter, but nothing from the main game. The game should be a launch title for the Nintendo Wii, and hopefully will erase gamer’s memories of the travesty that is Super Monkey Ball Adventure.
Read More | Siliconera
7-Eleven currently is running a giveaway through the end of January 2007 based on pin codes on certain Slurpee cups. Interestingly, from November 1 through the end of the promotion, 7-Eleven will be giving away 711 Nintendo Wii systems. Stuck in the rules portion of the contest is this clause:
November 1, 2006 through January 31, 2007 the following Instant Prizes will be available to be won: (711) Nintendo Wii, ARV: $299.99 USD ($399.99 CDN) each; and (100) $60.00 USD ($70.00 CDN) Video Game Shopping Sprees awarded in the form of VISA® Gift Cards (subject to issuer’s terms and conditions).
Now, Nintendo has come on record stating that the Wii will not cost more than $250 in the US, so the pricing on the 7-Eleven site hopefully points to a “prize package” including the console plus one or more game titles. Given that all of the other average retail value price points on the site seem accurate, this at least gives some indication from outside of Nintendo about where the Wii price points are going to fall. Wii fanatics without the cash to buy a Wii no matter where the ultimate price falls should start slamming Slurpees in November.
Read More | 7-Eleven via Infendo
Ubisoft’s Megaton Announcement: Seven Games at Launch for Wii
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Corporate News, Driving, First Person Shooters, Nintendo, Simulation, Ubisoft, Wii,
Let’s just get straight to the point: Ubisoft today announced that they have been developing seven Wii games which will be available at launch for the console. The titles are:
- Red Steel (previously announced)
- Rayman: Raving Rabbids (previously announced)
- Far Cry
- Blazing Angels
- Open Season
- Monster 4x4: World Circuit
- GT Pro Series
A huge surprise (outside of the fact that Ubisoft somehow found a way to keep 5 launch titles for the Wii secret until now) is the addition of Far Cry, a FPS which garnered a lot of praise for its stunning graphics and would seem to run counter to Nintendo’s philosophy of de-emphasising graphical power. It should be a real test of what exactly the Wii can do, given that Far Cry is fairly taxing for even high-end PCs and the Xbox.
In one last piece of news, Ubisoft also announced that they will be releasing “an accessory in GT Pro Series that will make this game a must have”. Hmmm…. Wii steering wheel anyone?
Read More | IGN.com
EA Reports Financial Results
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Electronic Arts, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360,
Electronic Arts today reported their preliminary financial results for their first fiscal quarter. The period ended on June 30, 2006, and while gross profit for the quarter was up 14 percent to $245 million, the company still reported a net loss of $81 million. Net revenue was up in both North America and Europe, but down in Asia. In this quarter, EA saw increased revenue from 2006 FIFA World Cup, with the tournament raising the game’s profile. CEO Larry Probst believes EA is positioned well to take advantage of the holiday launches of both the Playstation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii, and the continued growth of the Nintendo DS. EA holds its position as the leading publisher for the Xbox 360, and Probst stated that EA is “on schedule with strong support for the launch of PlayStation 3 and we have increased our development efforts for the Nintendo DS and Wii.” EA’s fortunes are tied closely to the success of the various hardware platforms; their projections for the upcoming year are based on successful launches for both the Wii and the Playstation 3. The company still projects to lose money in the second quarter, which typically is not a strong driver of sales. For the full fiscal year, EA estimates earnings per share to range between net losses of $0.30 per share and break even. Given the risk involved with the Playstation 3 launch, EA’s goal of reaching break even during the fiscal year would seem to be optimistic.
Read More | Electronic Arts
Wired: The Infinite Arcade
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360,
On the surface, the concept of an infinite arcade would appeal to most gamers. Stretching out like some kind of video game equivalent of Borges’ “Library of Babel,” the infinite arcade would promise every kind of game experience ever created. One of the ways the industry is trying to achieve this is through the downloadable game business model. David Kushner of Wired Magazine explores this concept, through the eyes of the gaming industry.
There have been some successes in this arena; Kushner brings up Geometry Wars, one of Microsoft’s hits on their Xbox Live Arcade service. Peter Moore seems to believe that downloadable content is the future: “…the concept of driving to the store to buy a plastic disc with data… will be ridiculous.” Both Sony and Nintendo seem to be eager to offer similar content. Valve has built their Steam service, and Turner Broadcasting has invested heavily into the subscription service Gametap. Even the vaporous Phantom was trying to cash in on the downloadable bandwagon.
From the perspective of the game publisher, this model is attractive from a financial point of view; digital downloads are cheaper, there’s no manufacturing or inventory to take care of, and there is no competing for shelf space. However, there are other benefits that go unmentioned in the article. Digital downloads with secure authentication can help reduce piracy; when a user is determined to have violated the terms of service, their rights to the game can simply be revoked. Moore believes the plastic disc will become a quaint concept, but as the disc goes away, so does the concept of ownership. While future generations might laugh at having to buy cartridges and DVD-ROMs, the current generation values the ability to have ownership of physical media.
The other option that content providers may be salivating over is the ability to make consumers pay for the same content, over and over again. In the physical media world, providers make this happen by staging various DVD special editions over the years; witness George Lucas and his fan-base provoking staged Star Wars releases. In the physical-media free world, content providers can now fragment their content. Developers offer game collections with multiple games; the individual games can now be sold separately at $5 a pop. Gamefly gets users on the hook for $9.99 per month to continue playing their old content. Used games become a thing of the past, and forget returning games that don’t deliver on their promise. Downloadable games can be locked to a specific console, so users can’t let a friend borrow a game that they have finished. Backwards compatibility becomes a joke when gamers that buy a new console have to re-purchase all of their downloaded content anyway.
The infinite arcade seems like a dream, but way that game publishers provide the content would appear to take away a lot of freedom from the gaming public.
Read More | Wired
Rumor: Nintendo Coaxing Independent Studios with Free Wii Dev Kits
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Nintendo, Rumors, Wii,
When Nintendo announced their Virtual Console service for the Wii, they dangled the possibility of not only downloadable retro/classic games but also new games developed by independent studios with smaller budgets. Well, if this latest rumor proves true, then Nintendo may be aggressively pursuing this idea. According to gaming site Kotaku,
Just got word of an interesting (and totally unconfirmed) rumor from one of our insiders. It seems that Nintendo is giving Wii development kits to smaller studios. A developer in a big coastal American city apparently received a mysterious package from Nintendo. Office staff, programmers, and even the president weren’t aware what was inside. The box was opened, and viola, Wii dev kit. This could be a ploy on Nintendo’s part to get as many companies working on Wii games as possible.
Now, one would have to guess that Nintendo didn’t send the development kit unannounced—giving a kit to a studio without asking them to sign some sort of non-disclosure agreement would mean that this studio could in effect legally post all of the technical details about the Wii. However, if the studio had already been in talks with Nintendo and received the dev kit free of charge, then this would be great news for potential indie developers on a tight budget.
Since we’re speculating, here’s an even more interesting thought—why wouldn’t Nintendo take this to the next level?? Given the similarity between the Wii control system and a mouse / keyboard combination, it seems like the Wii could be a very easy console to program for, even for doing simple homebrew projects. If I got my wish, Nintendo would provide free, downloadable programming toolkits to anyone with a PC. Combine that with a system whereby Nintendo takes a percentage of profits out of homebrew projects sold through the Virtual Console and you’ve got the ultimate game development platform! (and one that could make Nintendo a pretty penny in the process) Of course, given Nintendo’s somewhat confrontational history with 3rd-party developers, the rumor from Kotaku and the above daydreaming may not come to pass anytime soon.
Read More | Kotaku.com
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