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Nintendo News
Check Mii Out on November
11
Latest Wii time-waster channel
set for imminent launch.
November 8, 2007 - Nintendo has revealed
that its much-flaunted new Wii channel, Check Mii Out, will hit consoles in the US
on November 11.
If you've not been keeping tabs, Check
Mii Out offers Wii users the chance to show off their fancy Mii creations, via the Posting
Plaza. Here, you can submit, exchange and browse other Miis either in
your own region or worldwide.
Users are free to browse a random selection
of 1,000 Miis, or just pop their eyeballs over the channel's current and all-time favourites. Searching by creator or unique
Mii number, amongst a variety of other options, it's even possible to target your favourite Miis or import them onto your
own Wii.
Nintendo is also promising a contest
section where users can compete in numerous challenges, creating Mii based around a specific person, character or theme. Examples
include Abraham Lincoln, the Tooth Fairy and "the biggest bully ever". Users can then vote on submissions to determine the
winner. Apparently contests will run for two weeks each, week one for Mii creation and submission, week two for voting.
George Harrison, Nintendo of America's
senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications, noted, "The Check Mii Out Channel lets people show off their
Mii creations and vote on those created by others. It's yet another way that we're building fun, interactive communities of
Wii owners without charging them extra for the privilege." Zing!
So far, Nintendo is yet to reveal details
for the European release of the Check Mii Out Channel. However, whispers suggest we won't have long to wait following the
US launch at all.
Nintendo Not Upping VC
Output
Reggie's claim of 200 VC games
by year's end was "approximate."
November 9, 2007 - Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime
recently said during an address in New York that there would
be 200 Virtual Console games available by the end of the year. With 166 titles currently available for download, a few gaming
sites out there (like Game|Life) did the math and figured out Nintendo would have to step up its VC release schedule from
three games a week to four and a quarter. IGN contacted Nintendo to see if that was the plan.
A spokesman for the company told us
the figure Reggie gave was an approximate amount of retro games that will be attainable by year's end. Nintendo does not currently
have plans to increase the amount of VC games released each week.
At the current release rate, Nintendo's
retro download service should have about 187 games by December 31.
Analyst: DS redesign
already done
Pacific Crest Securities' Evan
Wilson says new version of Nintendo's portable complete; holiday release torrent creating retail woes.
Posted Nov 14, 2007 2:08 pm PT
Nintendo's DS Lite redesign has proved
a tremendous success, regularly topping hardware sales charts around the world since it was first released in Japan in March 2006. Despite the system's success, Pacific Crest Securities analyst
Evan Wilson believes Nintendo has already finished work on its successor.
"Our contacts indicate that a refreshed
DS is complete," Wilson said today in his holiday preview
investor's note. "It is thinner (it has no GBA port), has on-board storage, and larger screens. However, we do not expect
a revamped Wii or DS until sales begin to tail off in all three major geographies." As of press time, a Nintendo of America
representative had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment.
In addition to dropping hints on a
redesigned handheld, Wilson addressed the challenges publishers
are facing during the jam-packed holiday retail season. Specifically, Wilson
said Nintendo is placing publishers in a "difficult spot." With reorders for third-party DS and Wii games taking three to
six weeks to fill, Wilson said publishers have a harder time
adjusting if they underestimate sales and also risk having to take products back from retailers if their initial orders are
too optimistic.
The holiday release torrent is also
having adverse effects at retail chains. According to Wilson,
the influx of Nintendo-platform releases, as well as bulky Guitar Hero and Rock Band packaging and a resurgence of sales for
summer blockbuster game tie-ins due to holiday DVD releases, are contributing most significantly to retail real estate becoming
a hot commodity.
Wilson notes that not all games will be affected by insufficient retail space. "Clearly, the end-of-year squeeze
creates limited space at retail, which limits the size of initial orders of games with less publicity and reorders of games
with lower quality." He anticipates games with high preorder rates, such as Guitar Hero III, Call of Duty 4, Assassins' Creed,
Mass Effect, WWE, and Rock Band, to be less affected by insufficient retail space. "Titles that could be at risk of getting
squeezed," he continues, "include Haze, Kane & Lynch, and Uncharted."
The influx of original games is also
having a negative effect on publishers' annualized offerings, according to Wilson.
"It appears that when they are offered increased choice, consumers pass on games that they purchased the previous year or
know that they can purchase the following year." Wilson notes that 2007 is shaping up much like 2004, with sports franchises,
such as NCAA Football, Madden NFL, and NBA Live, all shifting significantly fewer units than the year before.
"According to NPD, Madden sales are
tracking down 6.4 percent in August and September versus the same period last year, with unit sales down 8.9 percent. NCAA
Football sales are down 20.7 percent this year versus last year," Wilson
said.
Game News
Ghostbusters to slime
consoles, PC
Supernatural cult classic confirmed
by December cover of Game Informer as coming to Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PC; Aykroyd, Ramis-penned script to be sequel to
first two films.
Posted Nov 14, 2007 7:53 pm ET
In January, a developer working for
Slovenian outfit Zootfly uploaded to popular video-sharing site YouTube what appeared to be footage of a new game based on
the 1984 cult classic Ghostbusters. In an interview with GameSpot, Zootfly chief Bostjan Troha said that the footage was from
a prototype build for the game running on an Xbox 360, but copyright issues were preventing the project from moving forward.
It appeared Zootfly had succeeded in
its legal wranglings in February, when Dr. Raymond Stantz himself, under the guise of prolific comedian Dan Aykroyd, revealed
to the Edmonton
Sun that former copyright holders Sony had sold the rights to the game to Universal Studios, and that he would be doing mo-cap
work for the game "next year." Despite Aykroyd's statements, Universal Studios owner Vivendi refused to confirm the game's
existence.
Vivendi's silence on the matter gained
reason today, as the cover of the December issue of Game Informer reveals that a Ghostbusters game is indeed in development,
but it will reportedly not involve Zootfly's demo. The game is being developed on the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, and PC. A release
window has not yet been revealed, nor has a publisher or developer yet been attached to the project.
True to his word, Aykroyd will have
a hand in the project, penning the script with fellow supernatural scientist Egon, aka Harold Ramis. Forgoing a theatrical
release, the game will serve as a direct sequel to the first two Ghostbusters films, with Ramis, Aykroyd, and Bill Murray
all signed on to reprise their roles.
Wii-kly Virtual Console Update
VC Monday: 11/05/07
Mario makes his return.
In preparation for the release of Super
Mario Galaxy in just a few short days, Nintendo of America has released what many consider to be not only one of the top titles
on NES, but also a contender for the greatest Mario experience of the 2D era, and a contender for greatest game of all time
in Super Mario 3. For just a few bucks, players can cash in their Wii points for a slice of Nintendo history, so grab your
points card, trade in your code, and add one of the greatest games of all time to your Virtual Console library.
Also included in this week's release
are two other classic titles; Alien Soldier for SEGA Genesis, and Power Golf for the TurboGrafx16, each released at their
expected price of 800 and 600 points respectively. Obviously your duty and mission as a Nintendo owner is to purchase Mario
at all costs. After that, though, check out one of the other titles this week.
Per usual we've included Nintendo's
updated official product descriptions below. Each of the three released titles for VC this week are currently available in
the Wii Shop Channel now.
Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES, 1-2 players,
Rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): Remember when no one had ever heard of a Tanooki Suit or knew that Bowser had a clan
of Koopalings? The game that made these things common knowledge is also considered by many to be one of the best ever made.
Bowser and the Koopalings are causing chaos yet again, but this time they're going beyond the Mushroom
Kingdom into the seven worlds that neighbor it. Now Mario and Luigi&153;
must battle new enemies, returning favorites and a new Koopaling in each unique and distinctive world on their way to ultimately
taking on Bowser himself. Luckily for the brothers, they have more power-ups available than ever before. Fly above the action
using the Super Leaf, swim faster by donning the Frog Suit or defeat enemies using the Hammer Bros. Suit. Use the brand-new
overworld map to take the chance to play a minigame in hopes of gaining extra lives or to find a Toad's House where you can
pick up additional items. All this (and more) combines into one of gaming's most well-known and beloved titles—are you
ready to experience gaming bliss?
Alien Soldier (Sega Genesis, 1 player,
Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older -Fantasy Violence, 900 Wii Points): As Epsilon-Eagle, you are an alien soldier who has
been genetically engineered to produce maximum intelligence and strength. You were once a member of the criminal organization
Scarlet, but when you decided to break from the group, you were forced into a showdown with Scarlet's new leader Xi-Tiger,
who kills a hostage in his attempt to destroy you. Now it's up to you to take revenge against the bad guys in this side-scrolling
action game! Choose from six different weapons and battle the bosses of Scarlet until you reach the final confrontation with
the ultimate secret weapon!
Power Golf (TurboGrafx16, 1-3 players,
Rated E for Everyone, 600 Wii Points): Power Golf sports a perfect combination of simple-yet-realistic controls and beautiful
graphics. Swing away on 18 lush holes in one of three different game modes: the single-player STROKE PLAY mode and the multiplayer
MATCH PLAY and COMPETITION modes. Enter tournaments as one of three different characters—beginner, intermediate and
advanced. Wind strength and the slope of the green add extra challenges to each hole. Compete against other players in the
standard NORMAL MATCH or ante up one of your clubs in the unique CLUB MATCH. Up to three players can play in COMPETITION mode,
and a handicap feature is included to help novice players pull off breathtaking shots just like their advanced rivals.
Chart Watch
NPD: October retail gaming
tally tops $1.1 billion
Industry trackers put software
sales near $514 million while hardware tally more than doubles; Guitar Hero III takes four of the top 10 software sales spots.
Posted Nov 15, 2007 4:38 pm PT
The holidays are here again, as the
game industry opened the fourth quarter in a big way, according to the industry-tracking NPD Group. The firm today released
its US retail sales figures for October, and NPD analyst Anita Frazier put the industry's
yearly growth-to-date in perspective.
"This year sales have already achieved
the annual sales number for 2005," Frazier said, "and the two biggest months are yet to come. I think we'll see not only record-breaking
revenues but record-breaking year-over-year growth when the final numbers are tallied."
Game sales for October were up 39 percent
to $513.9 million, with hardware sales up 127 percent to $469.7 million. Factor in accessory sales, which Frazier said increased
sharply alongside the hardware sales, and the industry as a whole for the month took in $1.1 billion, up 73 percent from October
2006.
As promised, the group's monthly recap
also included hardware sales figures, and the Xbox 360's Halo 3-sparked reign atop the charts was short-lived. For October,
the Wii retook the sales crown with sales of 519,000 systems, followed by 458,000 units sold for the Nintendo DS. The Xbox
360 posted sales of 366,000 systems, while the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2 followed with 286,000 and 184,000 sold,
respectively. The PlayStation 3 trailed with 121,000 sold, perhaps hurt by Sony's advance notice that it would make a less
expensive version of the hardware available in November.
As expected, Guitar Hero III: Legends
of Rock was all over the sales charts. The Xbox 360 bundle of the game and guitar sold more than 383,000 copies, followed
by the Wii bundle (286,000), the PS2 bundle (271,000), and the PS2 standalone version of the game (nearly 232,000).
"Guitar Hero has certainly established
itself among the elite video games properties," Frazier said. "Very few games sell in excess of 1 million units in their first
month in market, but Guitar Hero III did easily with combined sales of 1.4 million units in only 6 days. Since it has broad
appeal, it's also the type of game that should continue to do very well throughout the holidays."
While dwarfed by the cumulative sales
of Activision's rhythm franchise, Halo 3 for the Xbox 360 sold more than any other single-platform release of a game during
the month, notching almost 434,000 new recruits. Year-to-date, Halo 3 is still the best-selling game with 3.7 million sold
in the US. Madden NFL 08 is close behind
with 3.2 million sold across all systems, followed by Guitar Hero II (2.8 million), Wii Play with Wii Remote (2.5 million),
Pokemon Diamond (2.1 million), Pokemon Pearl (1.5 million), Spider-Man 3 (1.4 million), and Guitar Hero III (1.4 million).
Top 10 best-selling games of
October 2007, according to NPD Group
Halo 3 (regular, collector's, and legendary
versions)--Xbox 360--434,000
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (with
guitar)--Xbox 360--383,000
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (with
guitar)--Wii--286,000
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (with
guitar)--PS2--271,000
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass--DS--263,000
Wii Play with Wii Remote--Wii--240,000
The Orange
Box--Xbox 360--238,000
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock--PS2--232,000
FIFA Soccer 08--PS2--130,000
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes
a Day--DS--117,000
October 2007 hardware sales,
according to NPD Group
Wii--519,000
Nintendo DS--458,000
Xbox 360--366,000
PSP--286,000
PS2--184,000
PS3--121,000
Galaxy Sells 500,000
in First Week
Mario's still got it.
November 21, 2007 - Not only is Super Mario
Galaxy the best-reviewed game of this generation, with the highest review average of any title on Wii, Xbox 360 or PlayStation
3, but it's also the biggest early success story for Nintendo. According to the publisher, the platformer has sold more than
half a million units in America since
it released last week.
"Super Mario Galaxy had the strongest
one-week debut of any Wii game to date and has also become the best-selling Mario title ever in its first week, with U.S.
sales of more than 500,000, based on internal sales figures," said George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president
of marketing and corporate communications. "It makes an easy gift choice as the holiday shopping season kicks off."
Nintendo's Wii console was the best-selling
console in October without a major new release. In a telephone conversation with IGN Wii last week, Nintendo's VP or marketing
and corporate affairs, Perrin Kaplan, said she believed that November Wii numbers, spurred by the release of Super Mario Galaxy,
would see a boost.
Nintendo moves 1M systems
in 1 week
Japanese juggernaut simultaneously
shatters records in America, UK,
and Japan; Fils-Aime laments stock shortages.
Posted Nov 28, 2007 11:31 am PT
The 2007 holiday-shopping season is
less than one week old, but console makers are already beginning to spin their sales numbers. Yesterday, Sony reported that
North American PlayStation 3 sales have tripled since the period beginning November 2--when the new $399 40GB model was introduced--through
November 24. Though the company didn't report exact sales numbers, extrapolation from NPD's October report puts the figure
at somewhere around 322,000 units sold in the US and Canada in three weeks.
Now, Nintendo has revealed its sales
figures in the US for the "Black Friday"
week of November 18-24. The seven-day period was Nintendo's best ever in the US,
with over 1.03 million systems sold in the 50 states. Of those, 350,000 were $249 Wiis, and 653,000 were $129 DSes. The latter
figure eclipsed the record set in 2005, when over 600,000 Game Boy Advances were sold during Thanksgiving Week. On November
23, two new DS colors--rose and gold--were introduced via bundles with Nintendogs and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass,
respectively.
Outgoing Nintendo of America senior
vice president of marketing and corporate communications George Harrison took the time to beat the corporate hype drum one
last time. "As shoppers look for ways to maximize their limited holiday-spending money, they turn to gifts that can be used
by the entire family," he said while presumably packing up his desk. "The Wii and Nintendo DS offer something for every member
of the family." Nintendo also touted the affordability of its platforms by saying they were well suited for families hit "with
higher gas prices and fuel costs."
Nintendo also reached two major milestones
outside the US this week. Famitsu publisher
Enterbrain is reporting that the DS has now sold 20.05 million units in Japan,
thanks to the never-ending Brain Training craze still afflicting the island nation. The handheld hit the 20 million-unit mark
in just three years--three years earlier than the previous fastest-selling game platform in the country, the PlayStation 2.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the
warming planet, the DS was taking the UK
by storm. Chart-Track--the British answer to the NPD Group--reports that over 191,000 units of the handheld were sold last
week. That's more than any other platform in a seven-day period since game-hardware sales figures began to be recorded in
the UK. Previously, the distinction had
been held by the PlayStation Portable, which sold over 185,000 units when it went on sale in September 2005.
But, as much as Nintendo's cup runneth
over, it's still not enough for Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. Speaking at a conference covered by GameSpot
corporate sibling News.com, the outspoken executive admitted that he rues the fact that many would-be Wii buyers are losing
patience with the console's ongoing shortage.
"At this point, we are literally trying
to catch up with demand," bemoaned Fils-Aime. "[Prospective Wii buyers] aren't going to sleep outside of a store overnight
or visit a retailer five or six times. It is literally a missed opportunity."
Virtual Console Numbers Revealed
Well,
one number, at least.
November
28, 2007 - A tiny bit of extremely rare insight into Nintendo's Virtual Console sales
status was provided today at a press conference held in Tokyo
by Nintendo and NTT to formalize their upcoming business tie-up for Internet service.
During a Q&A session following
the press conference, Nintendo's Shinji Hatano fielded a question regarding the current success of the Virtual Console service.
In addition to reiterating a past figure of 7.8 million downloads so far, he revealed that the service has generated 3.5 billion
yen (approximately $33 million) in sales.
The Nintendo executive said of these
figures, "We're currently unsure if this is a lot or low. They're not bad figures."
Unless Nintendo decides to completely
open up and give out full download numbers for their Virtual Console titles, vague figures like this are as good as it's going
to get.
Anyone out there want to try extrapolating
estimates on per-game downloads based on the two figures?
Rumor Control
DS rocking a special
GH peripheral?
Source: Industry site GamesAreFun.
What we heard: In February, Activision
president and CEO Mike Griffith made a seemingly off-the-cuff remark in an analyst conference call about the future of the
Guitar Hero license that sent reverberations of excitement, though not exactly surprise, through the gaming industry. Not
only would Guitar Hero be making it to the Wii, but a Nintendo DS version was also in the offing. At the time, many speculated
on whether RedOctane, whose roots are in peripheral development, would create a customized experience for Nintendo, who's
traditionally been quite keen on add-on hardware.
Since then, the Wii version has been
confirmed as an extension to Neversoft's upcoming multiplatform release of Guitar Hero III, and as such, the game would closely
mimic the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 2 versions of the game. However, RedOctane and Activision have been surprisingly
tight-lipped about the surefire hit in waiting on the DS, aside from dropping a few unsatisfying teasers.
Foremost among these came in mid-August,
when RedOctane cofounder and chief operating officer Charles Huang responded to GameSpot's query about the game's controls.
According to Huang, Guitar Hero on the DS "will play probably unlike any other DS game that has come out." Expanding upon
this, Huang stated that the possibility of creating a custom DS peripheral was definitely being explored. His comments debunked
the control scheme that many had naturally assumed the DS version would employ--something along the lines of a stylus-based
tapping or rubbing motion on the touch screen, as seen in other rhythm games on Nintendo's handheld such as Inis' Elite Beat
Agents or Ubisoft's Jam Sessions.
Exploration established, it now appears
RedOctane may be going ahead with its plans for an alternative control scheme. Reporting from last week's Austin Game Developers'
Conference, industry site GamesAreFun quoted Adrian Earle, design manager for portable specialists Vicarious Visions, as saying
that Guitar Hero on the DS won't use the stylus at all. Instead, the game will employ an as-yet-unfinalized new peripheral.
GamesAreFun didn't reveal any other details on what the input device might look like or how it will function.
The official story: "At this time we have
no comment regarding the matter."--A RedOctane rep.
Bogus or not bogus?: Likely not bogus,
banking on RedOctane's strong history with peripherals and the professed interest in an alternative control scheme. Plus,
with Ubisoft going so far as to pack in an actual amp with Jam Sessions, the Battle of the Bands isn't just a console contest these days.
Q&A
Okami Wii Interview
Ready at Dawn's Didier Malenfant paints a more detailed picture of
Capcom's upcoming Okami Wii incarnation.
October 19, 2007 - Following Capcom's confirmation
of the long-rumoured Wii outing for now-defunct Clover Studios' astonishing PS2 action adventure Okami, we fired off a handful
of questions to Ready at Dawn, the team behind the game's system migration.
Ready at Dawn are currently knee deep
in development on Sony's PSP God of War outing Chains of Olympus having completed work the critically acclaimed Daxter last
year (if you're looking for some kind of quality yardstick here). Still, Didier Malenfant, president of Ready at Dawn, managed
to take time out of his busy scedule to offer up some much needed answers on the team's surprising new project.
IGN: Has Clover Studios or any of the original Okami team been involved in the conversion? If so, in what capacity?
Didier
Malenfant: No, everything was done in-house at Ready At Dawn Studios. We had to make sure we'd be able to do this
because with the distance and the time difference with Japan
it would have made things a lot more difficult for us to wait on info when we had questions. So in a way, it made things harder
in the beginning but the guys we have here are some of the most talented people in the industry and we pulled it off without
a problem.
IGN: What has been the biggest challenge when converting the game for Wii?
Didier
Malenfant: The biggest challenge for us is that, because of time constraints, we did not use the Ready At Dawn Engine
to port the game. Instead we ported Clover's code and assets directly. In these cases it's always tough to work with code
that you're not familiar with, especially with Japanese comments. But after a little while, we knew our way around it like
it was our own stuff so it's not causing that much problems now. Of course, converting all the assets and making sure they're
optimized for the Wii is also very time consuming. It's just all worth it when you see the game come up on the Wii screen
for the first time.
IGN: How have the graphics been enhanced?
Didier Malenfant:
Okami is a total passion-project for both Ready At Dawn and Capcom. When we first discussed it with them, two things were
very clear right off the bat: Firstly, taking after a studio like Clover is some pretty big shoes to fill, something everyone
here is very comfortable with given our past projects. Second, this game is such a masterpiece in its own right that we had
to do everything we can to reproduce the experience that players had on the PS2 as closely as possible. To this day the graphics
of Okami are some of the most awe-inspiring ever seen in a video-game and I know it sounds cliche but you don't want to fix
something that's not broken.
IGN: How do the Wii controls work with the game's painting
system? Will there be enhanced functionality?
Didier Malenfant: That's going to be the best part. Okami was
made to be played on the Wii. Or maybe the Wii was designed with Okami in mind... I'm not sure. Either way, it's a perfect
combination, we use the Wii-mote to control the brush strokes and it feels absolutely awesome. I think people will be shocked
when they try it for themselves.
What new content appears in the game, compared to the
PS2 version?
Didier Malenfant: The game on Wii is going to be an exact port of the PS2 version and I think
that's what fans of the franchise want to see. This game has such a huge following throughout the world that people would
probably send us death-threats if we messed it up by trying to add things that don't have their place in the Okami universe.
Being huge fans of the franchise ourselves, we made sure that Capcom also wanted to stay true to the original before signing
on to do this.
Will the Wii version offer anything to those who have completed the original?
Didier
Malenfant: Everyone we talk to is saying that they're going to replay this even if they finished the original. The
Wii controls are perfect for this game and it makes the game play come to life in so many ways. There are also people who
never finished or played the PS2 version and this will be their opportunity to experience Okami the way it was meant to be.
This game is a huge milestone in our industry and we're going to give a lot more people a chance to see it for themselves
when it comes out on the Wii.
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