Hasta La Gadget!

It seems like after a little back and forth, Nintendo has come forward to announce that they will be releasing apps on smartphones, but not in the way that many had initially imagined. During a business presentation by Nintendo’s President, Satoru Iwata, he revealed that Nintendo would be developing apps for mobile devices that would in a way act as an introduction/advertisement to gamers that would make them want to buy more hardware and software from Nintendo. However Iwata did clearly state that these apps are not games and that they have no plans on introducing any of Nintendo’s games onto mobile.

According to Iwata, “I have not given any restrictions to the development team, even not ruling out the possibility of making games or using our game characters. However, if you report that we will release Mario on smart devices, it would be a completely misleading statement.” It seems that Nintendo’s stubbornness is still holding strong, but whether or not it will pay off remains to be seen. Earlier Nintendo announced several plans that they had for the future. One of them was how the company planned on releasing a new platform that would be health-related, which was a pretty interesting turn of events.

Nintendo Will Develop Apps For Mobile, But Not Games original content from Ubergizmo.

Nintendo is taking a lot of heat at the moment, namely due to the poor performance of the Wii U which has many, investors, fans, gamers, worried about the company’s future. Well it looks like Nintendo has a new plan for 2015-2016 and that is to release a new platform. This seems to be in line with the rumors that we have heard on how Nintendo could be prepping new consoles, but if you were thinking that their new platforms are for gaming, think again. According to The Wall Street Journal, Nintendo’s President Satoru Iwata announced that they will be exploring a new platform that will be health-related, not game related.

With the market already flooded with wearable technology, such as smartwatches, fitness bands, and so on, Nintendo will instead be headed in the opposite direction with “non-wearables” that will help to monitor your health. For those wondering what on earth are non-wearables, Iwata stated that they will be sharing additional details about their new business later on during the year of 2014, and will launch it for the fiscal year through March 2016. This is an interesting approach and it looks like Nintendo could be branching out of the games industry into something else. Will this work out for them? We guess we will just have to wait and see.

Nintendo’s Plans For The Future Could Be Health Related original content from Ubergizmo.

Good news gamers! If you have been looking forward to getting Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U, you might be interested to learn that Nintendo has officially announced that the game will be making its way onto the console in May. Previously it was reported that the game along with Super Smash Bros. would see a release in Spring, but we guess we’ve got a more concrete date at the moment, although a specific release date has yet to be given. However given that gamers have been waiting a long time for the game, we guess a few more months of waiting can’t hurt.

Unfortunately Nintendo’s President Satoru Iwata did not mention as to which region the May launch date might apply to. For all we know the game could see a release in Japan first, or Europe first, or US first, before it makes its way onto other markets, but hopefully more details will be revealed in the coming weeks and months. Mario Kart 8 is probably one of the more highly anticipated titles coming to the Wii U. If there is one criticism that the Wii U has faced is its lack of games compared to other consoles, and hopefully with more first-party releases like Mario Kart 8, perhaps things will start to turn around for Nintendo.

Mario Kart 8 For Wii U Will Be Released In May original content from Ubergizmo.

Nintendo continues its downward spiral as it’s game console the Wii U remains unpopular and its profits slump. During the company’s latest earnings call, it became clear just how poorly the Wii U is selling. According to the call, Nintendo sold only 5.86 million units since the Wii U launched.

That represents an incremental 2.8 million units compared to the number sold as of the end of 2012. 2.8 millions sounds like a lot of units – until you consider Sony sold more PS4 consoles in a couple of months than Nintendo sold Wii Us over the course of an entire year.

Microsoft also sold more Xbox One consoles in the same period, with over 3 million consoles sold since launch. A bright spot for Nintendo continues to be the 3DS, which sold a substantial 12.9 million units last year, though smartphone and tablet sales have got the be eating into their handheld market share too. Hopefully, the Big N will find its way back to its former glory in the not-too-distant future.

[via Engadget]

Could the Nintendo Wii U go through the same growing pains the Nintendo 3DS did before it went on to become one of the best selling handheld consoles? Or is the Wii U doomed to fail, thus leaving a stain in Nintendo’s books? Naturally the first scenario would be preferred by the folks at Nintendo, investors, and die-hard fans who love the games that Nintendo puts out, but unfortunately the reality is that the Wii U is doing rather badly. According to Nintendo, the Japanese company recently announced that they have only managed to sell 2.4 million Wii U units in the nine months that ended on the 31st of December 2013. To put things into perspective, this pales in comparison to Sony and Microsoft who sold 4.2 million and 3.9 million units of their console in a span of six weeks.

According to the numbers, Nintendo’s profits dropped by 30% although they did make a profit of around $99 million, mainly thanks to sales of the Nintendo 3DS hardware and its accompanying software. In fact it would seem that software far outsold the hardware of the Wii U and the 3DS, suggesting that the software was being bought by existing gamers rather than new gamers looking to get both hardware and software. Nintendo is also now forecasting a loss for the fiscal year of $242 million ending in March 31 2014, where previously they expected to profit of $532 million. Nintendo’s executives are also expected to take pay cuts, with their president Satoru Iwata to take a pay cut of 50% as we had previously reported.

Nintendo Only Manages To Sells 2.4m Wii U Units In 9 Months original content from Ubergizmo.