EA President: Nintendo Wii is Outdated

 

Red Nintendo WiiThe head of mega game manufacture EA had some choice words about the Nintendo Wii. Frank Gibeau believes that the console is outdated, and it’s time for a new strategy for the company. Here’s what he had to say,

When you look at Nintendo, for a while there, it was all about the Wii being the biggest entertainment platform ever and capturing the mass market, and it faded away. Now, they are coming back with a second act. I think they know that. They are very self-aware as an organization. Nintendo understand[s] the dynamics and the fact that HD consoles is a booming part of business right now. Legacy platforms like PS2 and the Wii have dropped off significantly. They are going to figure something out. They are going to come back at it

Wii sales have dropped off in the past year, but Nintendo has not confirmed any new plans for Wii 2. Microsoft and,Sony has made major gains on Nintendo as of late, which doesn’t bode well for the Wii. 

Via X Bit Labs

Nintendo Wii Game We Dare Is Pulled From UK

 

WeDare.jpgNintendo has pulled a Ubisoft Wii game called We Dare from the UK market, due to risqué commercials within the title. 

The commercials hit the Internet a few days ago, showing spanking, and other acts deemed more mature than the game’s PEGI 12 rated audience. Once the videos circled to UK, the local Government demanded it be pulled due to the inconsistent rating given by PEGI.

The commercials have since been banned in the US, but are still on Ubisoft YouTube channel being listed as private. No word on if other European countries will allow We Dare to be released.

Via Ars Techica

Xbox 360 Slowly Gains On Nintendo Wii

 

xbox-360.jpgMicrosoft Xbox 360 may finally be able to beat the Nintendo Wii. While Wii sales have slowed down, the console has been a top seller for some time now, thanks to the unique games, low prices, and the endless supply accessories. Now the Xbox 360 is looking to take over, thanks in large part to the success of the Kinect.

Since Microsoft has released the the peripheral, sales for the console has risen. Between the hit game series like Halo, and, Call of Duty the sales for the Xbox 360 have started to compete with the Wii at last.

It is about time that Microsoft can finally beat with Nintendo. It should be interesting to see how Nintendo will handle this, after all the big wigs on Nintendo have said that the Wii 2 isn’t coming anytime soon. 

Via Attack of the Fan Boy

Boo Hoo, No Guarantee for Wiis by the Holidays

This article was written on July 12, 2007 by CyberNet.

You’d think that Nintendo would have caught up to the Wii demand by the time the holiday season rolls around in December, but their senior vice president of marketing, George Harrison says that there’s no guarantee.  In fact, he says that the consoles will be scarce this holiday season. Scarce?! That’s what he said.

It’s hard for me to believe that one entire year after launch and the Wiis will still be a hard-to-find item. Harrison went on to say, “We’re trying to figure out what’s the reasonable monthly level, and as we’ve seen every time we ship product to the market, whether it’s in Japan or here in the U.S. or in Europe, it sells out in a matter of days.”I know some of you can vouch for this too.

Mariokart

For those of you who have managed to get your hands on a console, get ready for 100 new games by the end of the year! And of course along with those games will come more accessories. The one I’m most excited about (assuming I eventually get a Wii) is “The Wii Wheel” to go along with Mario Kart for Wii, of course! I’ve always been a Mario Kart fan, and the Wii Wheel would probably actually be pretty nifty. Two more accessories include  a “balance board” which will be used for fitness and exercise activities, and the “Wii Zapper” for shooting games.

While Microsoft is leading the pack with the amount of consoles sold-to-date (they had a head-start though), the Wii is catching up. Nintendo of America’s President even made the prediction at E3 (video-game convention currently going on) that the “Wii is poised to become number one worldwide in this generation very soon. Nintendo is not a fad.” With that, I guess it helps to explain why the Wii will still be a scarce commodity come December.

Source: Seattlepi.com and Reuters

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Wii Nunchuk Goes Wireless With A Hack

wnun03.jpg

The wireless Wii Remote is a pretty useful gadget. It has all kinds of sensors, works over Bluetooth and can connect to computers for projects and hacks. But what about the part that isn’t wireless? The Wii Nunchuk control is about to get some built-in wireless functionality thanks to a clever Bluetooth hack by [Rousselmanu]. By connecting a Bluetooth module to the device, he was able to view the information that it would have otherwise communicated over its wired connection, including accelerometer, button and joystick position data.

[via 8P-Tech, Hack-A-Day]

Nintendo Q3 profits down 46 percent, slashes console sales projections

Call it an unfortunate coincidence but Nintendo just announced its quarterly numbers only minutes after Sony announced its new quad-core Cortex-A9 pumping PSP (codenamed NGP) and new PlayStation Suite for gaming on Android tablets and cellphones. So what’s the damage? Well, to start with, Nintendo’s Q3 (October to December) operating profits were down 46 percent (104.6 billion yen ($1.3 billion) compared with 192.3 billion last year) on account of weaker Wii and DS sales coupled with a continued strong yen. The house of Mario also slashed its annual sales expectations projecting 16 million Wii consoles (down from 17.5 million units) and 22.5 million DS handhelds (down from 23.5 million) sold through March. It wasn’t all bad news though as Ninty maintained its annual operating profit forecast of 210 billion yen assisted by a projected 25% increase in Wii software shipments. Mind you, that’s not chump change, but gone are the days of the Wii / DS one-two knockout punch on the competition. And with a full quarter to go before the 3DS is launched globally, we’re not expecting any improvement to the bottom line until the next fiscal year.

Nintendo Q3 profits down 46 percent, slashes console sales projections originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 03:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wii Remote Plus joins Kinect and Vuzix shades for 2011’s weirdest VR shooter yet (video)

The natural evolution to Nao_u’s impressive Kinect– and Vuzix-infused already impressive virtual reality simulator? Guns, of course. A Wii Remote Plus has been added to his project, joining Microsoft’s sensor and VR920 LCD glasses for a VR shooting game that involves, well, lobbing paintballs out of a P90 rifle towards flying disembodied anime characters. Make no mistake, it’s a great technical demo chock full of aesthetic eccentricities. Full details via the developer’s diary, video after the break.

Continue reading Wii Remote Plus joins Kinect and Vuzix shades for 2011’s weirdest VR shooter yet (video)

Wii Remote Plus joins Kinect and Vuzix shades for 2011’s weirdest VR shooter yet (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 18:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best Buy Using Sleazy Tactic to Sell The Wii

This article was written on November 14, 2007 by CyberNet.

wii at best buy If you walked into a Best Buy store to browse one day and you happened to see an employee carrying a Wii above their head and proclaiming “The Last Wii!”, you might be intrigued to buy it, right? We all know that the Wii has been a rather hot commodity over the last year, and they continue to be short on supply with the current demand. Even if you had no intention of buying a system when you walked in (or you already own one), seeing it and hearing that it’s the very-last-one would be enough for anybody’s ears to perk up. You could sell it on eBay, give it to your kids, or keep it for yourself, the possibilities — endless! A Best Buy in New Jersey knows this, and so they’ve been selling “The Very Last Wii” over, and over, and over again. I’d call this a sleazy sales tactic, but one that obviously works. The story goes like this:

Saturday morning (11/10) I witnessed some amazing sleaziness over at the Princeton,NJ Best Buy. I was standing near the back of the store when one of their salespeople came strolling from a back door holding a Nintendo Wii over his head, and started walking the aisles announcing that it was their last unit. I followed, wondering both how quickly would it get snatched up and how quickly could I decide if I wanted to buy it. It took a few minutes for a couple to come rushing up to claim it, exclaiming how happy their kids were going to be. I went back to looking around the store. About 30 minutes later, I heard this announcement on the store’s PA: “Attention Best Buy customers! Julie is now walking through the store with our last Nintendo Wii! If you’re looking for a Nintendo Wii, please look for Julie!” And there was another salesperson doing the same thing as the first – walking the aisles of the store holding the Wii above her head.

I was now in the store solely to witness more of this sales technique. The second Wii took just over 15 minutes to sell – I overheard two manager-types (one in a suit, the other a yellow shirt) discussing it, the suit asking “Did Julie sell that Wii, yet? How long?” And then “Wait 40 minutes and send out the next one.” Too long for me to wait around, so I left (after stopping in at the store’s new Apple niche to set the a Macbook’s home page to the Best Buy tagged stories on Consumerist).

I suppose there’s nothing illegal or unexpected about this, but as some one tentatively in the market for a hard-to-find Wii I’m annoyed enough to swear off Best Buy this holiday season.

After reading that, I have a hard time believing that a Best Buy would feel that such a tactic were necessary! I mean, these things have been flying off the shelves on their own, without problems. Obviously we weren’t there to confirm whether or not this story is true, but it sounds like something a Best Buy would be capable of doing. If they were doing this with a Playstation 3, I’d be able to understand it a little more, but a Wii? Give me a break!

Source: The Consumerist

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Lag-free Wii on PSP episode II: Mario Kart strikes back

It looks like our favorite PSP Fanboy, Obiwan222222, is up to his old tricks once again, and his latest video shows that he has finally eliminated the lag problem that plagued his first attempt to play Wii on a PSP four years ago. Using a Wii emulator on a PC, some custom firmware, and a program called PSPDisplay, he has managed to stream video and sound to his PSP Go in real time. He also mapped the Wii controls (Wiimote waving excluded, we presume) to the handheld to complete the full Wii-on-PSP gameplaying experience. To see the slick mod in action, check the video after the break.

Continue reading Lag-free Wii on PSP episode II: Mario Kart strikes back

Lag-free Wii on PSP episode II: Mario Kart strikes back originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 22:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gaming’s first-person history lesson: 1958 to 2008 edition (video)

There’s just so much to love about this video, described by co-creator Florian Smolka as a university video-project from Munich. In a little over four minutes, we’re given a first-person tour of console gaming from 1958’s Tennis for Two (played on an oscilloscope) through late 2008’s Rock Band for Xbox 360 (using a Guitar Hero drum set, but hey, nobody’s perfect). Not every console gets a mention — apologies to Atari Jaguar and 3DO apologists — and it unfortunately stops before new hotness Move and Kinect get a nod, but that should in no way deter you from setting aside a handful of minutes to watch. Be sure to note the passage of TVs, too, and remember fondly the CRTs of your youth. Unless you grew up with LCD flatscreens, you lawn-lounging whippersnapper, you. Video after the break.

Continue reading Gaming’s first-person history lesson: 1958 to 2008 edition (video)

Gaming’s first-person history lesson: 1958 to 2008 edition (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 19:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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