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Japan Goes Crazy for the Nintendo DS
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Portable/Mobile,
As picked up by all the major news sites, the Nintendo DS is now officially the fastest selling game console ever sold in Japan. In about 20 months, Nintendo sold 10 million units of their handheld wonder. To get a grasp on a number like that, take the following over-simplified mathematical explanation—since launch, the DS has averaged a sustained rate of one console sold every 6 seconds in Japan for the past year and a half. Even more impressively, the DS has seen a recent upswing in sales (thanks to the release of the DS Lite), selling 2.34 million units in the past two months, for an average of about 1 DS sold every 2 seconds.
It should also be noted that, unlike some of their competitors, Nintendo has based these numbers on consoles sold, not consoles shipped, meaning that all 10 million of these units really are sitting in the hands of Japanese consumers. Now, with about 8% of Japan’s population owning a DS, it should be interesting to see how long Nintendo can sustain this astounding sales rate.
See the press release linked below for more amazing figures on world-wide sales, straight from the source.
Read More 
| Nintendo Press Brief
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Robbie Bach Presents At Financial Analyst Meeting
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, PC, Portable/Mobile, Xbox 360,
Robbie Bach, Microsoft’s President of the Entertainment & Devices Division, recently spoke to financial analysts as a part of Microsoft’s annual Financial Analyst Meeting. Transcripts of the talk, a webcast, and PowerPoint slides have been posted to the web.
Most interesting to gamers would be his comments on the gaming division and Microsoft’s plan for growth. Much of the talk reinforces things that Microsoft has said before: the Xbox 360 has sold 5 million units worldwide, and they still anticipate reaching 10 million units by the end of the year. Bach hopes Vista will enable growth in the game space; according to him, Vista is “critical to our gaming platform.”
Specifically within the gaming arena, Bach highlighted three titles: Viva Pinata, Forza 2, and Gears of War. Viva Pinata, as previously mentioned, will co-launch with an associated animate television program, and is probably the biggest wild card of the bunch. Microsoft is clearly aiming for a younger demographic with the title. Forza 2 is being pitched as a competitor for Sony’s Gran Turismo series, and Gears of War, of course, is Epic’s latest shooter. Microsoft’s original Xbox 360 content will be key in driving market share.
Live Anywhere was also discussed. As previously mentioned, this will allow users of Windows Vista to connect with Xbox 360 gamers, and part of the presentation demonstrates this interactivity with Shadowrun. Live Anywhere will also integrate with Microsoft’s Zune platform, but obviously not for gaming initially. There does seem to be some risk opening up the Live platform to the PC; the PC is not a closed system like the Xbox 360, and gameplay balance and security must become a consideration here.
Finally, in terms of actual financial numbers, Bach revealed that Microsoft hopes to have the Gaming division profitable by 2008.
Read More | Microsoft
In the portable arena, Nintendo with their updated DS Lite and their line up of games have been getting the lion’s share of the attention. Any mentions of Sony’s PSP seem to be associated with bad news. Gamers have been crying out for quality game releases. Others have proclaimed the format “dead.” Target recently pulled UMD movies from their store shelves, selling out the remainder of the discs online. High profile Hollywood studios have scaled back their UMD release schedules. UPI’s Tech File recently caught up with Peter Dille, Vice President of Marketing at SCEA to talk about the UMD format, the PSP, and where Sony wants to take the format in the future.
According to Dille, Sony has been trying to address the issue of the mixed success of the UMD format. The PSP market is different, “unlike the DVD market, the PSP consumer is targeted.” Certainly, the first batches of UMD movies to hit the market didn’t seem to be appropriate for the PSP target audience, but whether even Sony’s new targeted audience approach can succeed seems doubtful. Even the ideal demographic will still buy based on price. Typical gadget-oriented users would also seem to be the type that would be able to convert their existing DVDs rather than purchase another copy in a different format.
On Sony’s game strategy, Dille attempts highlights games like SOCOM, Grand Theft Auto, and LocoRoco. While SOCOM and Grand Theft Auto were definitely high profile titles for the PSP, at the same time the games seem like scaled down versions of their console brethren. That’s not to say the games are bad; they just don’t seem to be unique.
Sony also seeks to expand the audience for the PSP. While Nintendo has been going after the casual and novice gamer to great success, Sony’s tack seems to be pushing the PSP to become a jack-of-all-trades. Dille highlights the GPS and Camera functionality, and Sony’s efforts to expand the multimedia features of the device.
Dille also touches on the PSone download service, and reminds gamers that the PSP enjoyed a great deal of success in North America. The attention of gamers, though, seems to be slipping towards the DS at this point. Hopefully some A-list titles and a renewed focus on the capabilities of the console will turn things around for Sony.
Read More | UPI
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According to an analyst with American Technology Research, nVidia has won the contract to provide the multimedia chip for the next generation iPod. EE Times quotes Satya Chillara as saying:
Based on our analysis, we believe Nvidia is designed into the next-generation vPod socket at the expense of Broadcom… the Nvidia chip adds 3D graphics functionality in addition to… the existing features… that Broadcom supported.
There has been no confirmation of this from other sources. While gaming has not been a priority on the Macintosh, Apple has been investing in game development. Microsoft is already targeting the portable music market and potentially looking toward portable gaming. Apple may be looking to push into games before Microsoft can get a foothold. Of course, there are a ton of rumors about the next generation iPod. A move into casual gaming certainly fits within the realm of possibility. However, how this might integrate with the rumored full-screen touchpad is up in the air; no one really can say which, if any, of the rumors are true.
Read More | EE Times
Lumines II Video List Revealed
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Portable/Mobile, PSP,
According to Gaming Target, the latest issue of Game Informer has dropped the complete list of tracks for the highly-anticipated Lumines II on the PSP. This is looking like some much-needed relief from the worth-buying PSP game drought.
Over at Joystiq, the editors have brought up an interesting point, though - if all Lumines II is adding is new videos and songs, why can’t the original game be updated through some sort of WiFi download as an expansion pack? The tin-foil-hat conspiracy theorist in me says “because then they wouldn’t be able to sell you another $40 game”, but more likely is that they never built that level of expandability into the original Lumines. Hopefully we’ll see some gameplay improvements or extra modes as well, to make it worth the purchase price.
The full list can be found after the jump.
Click to continue reading Lumines II Video List Revealed
Read More | GamingTarget.com via Joystiq
PSP “Greatest Hits” Coming July 25th?
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Portable/Mobile, PSP, Rumors,
There isn’t a whole lot of verification yet on the ol’ internet, but PSXExtreme is reporting (without properly listing sources, tsk tsk…) that Sony will be releasing a set of “Greatest Hits” titles at a reduced price of $19.99 for the PSP come July 25th. Games listed include Hot Shots Golf, Wipeout Pure, ATV Offroad Fury, Ape Escape, Twisted Metal, Midnight Club 3, Star Wars Battlefront 2, and Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, with more expected shortly thereafter.
There’s no news (yet) of this on the official Playstation site or any of the other major venues, so take this with a large-ish grain of salt for now. We’ll update as necessary when more information becomes available.
Read More | PSX Extreme
PSP “Greatest Hits” Coming July 25th?
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Portable/Mobile, PSP, Rumors,
There isn’t a whole lot of verification yet on the ol’ internet, but PSXExtreme is reporting (without properly listing sources, tsk tsk…) that Sony will be releasing a set of “Greatest Hits” titles at a reduced price of $19.99 for the PSP come July 25th. Games listed include Hot Shots Golf, Wipeout Pure, ATV Offroad Fury, Ape Escape, Twisted Metal, Midnight Club 3, Star Wars Battlefront 2, and Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, with more expected shortly thereafter.
There’s no news (yet) of this on the official playstation site or any of the other major venues, so take this for with a large-ish grain of salt for now. We’ll update as necessary as more information becomes available.
Read More | PSX Extreme
Sony Releases Films on Memory Stick
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Hardware, Portable/Mobile, PSP,
Sony has introduced the new Memory Stick Duo Entertainment Pack that includes the ability to unlock 1 of 4 movies for playback on the Sony PSP. The package allows PSP owners to play back from the memory stick one of the following movies, Hitch, S.W.A.T., The Grudge, or XXX: State of the Union. The Memory Stick Duo Entertainment Pack comes in 1 and 2 GB sizes and retails for $60 and $100. A 1 GB Memory Stick Duo without a movie currently goes for about $60 at Bestbuy, making the Entertainment Pack a good deal. Sony is definitely starting to take steps in the right direction for distributing movies for the PSP.
Read More | Sony
DS Lite Moves 200,000 Units In Europe
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Portable/Mobile,
While Nintendo’s first day sales figures for the DS Lite in Europe didn’t particularly amaze the gaming public, the handheld is selling in respectable numbers. Nintendo of Europe recently announced that in the ten days since launch, they have sold over 200,000 DS Lites in the UK. This has brought their total sales of DS and DS Lites in Europe to over five million consoles, and has pushed many of their software titles to similar success. For whatever reason, Nintendo has not done as well with the DS in Europe as in the US and Japanese territories, but it looks like they are making progress.
Read More | Nintendo of Europe
Ctrl-Alt-Del Designs Parody Of Sony’s Controversial Ad
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Culture, Portable/Mobile, PSP,
Sony’s latest European ad campaign has certainly caused a ruckus here in the US. Many readers have found racial overtones in the current ad campaign. Ctrl-Alt-Del has taken the initiative to provide Nintendo with a controversial ad to piggyback on Sony’s latest campaign. Judging from the ad Nintendo doesn’t like game consoles that “got back”.
Read More | Ctrl Alt Del
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