Despite a resurgence in popularity born of the release of Nintendo's Wii, the venerable Japanese video game maker is taking an earnings beatdown. And most blame Apple as the likely culprit.
This week, Nintendo revealed that its fiscal-first-half net profit plummeted better than 50% and added that things are bound to get worse before they get better. As reported by MacDailyNews, Nintendo "faces growing competition in the hand-held market from Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPod touch and their growing lineup of games," writes Kenneth Maxwell of the Wall Street Journal.
These are some new magazine Scans of the Nintendo Wii game Tales of Graces
These are some new images of the Nintendo Wii game Endless Ocean 2 Wii
Our friends at Nintendojo say that they've gotten a confirmation of a Wii price drop to $199. Details on where the info came from is below.
Wii will be reduced to $199, effective Sunday, September 27th, and will likely include retailers nationwide. The confirmation was made during a retailer conference call today where a Nintendojo staffer was in attendance.
I have no reason not to trust the gang at Nintendojo, so I think we're looking at a done deal here. On top of all that, how many more retailer flyers do we need to see before everyone is convinced!?
The Wii is a crazy fun console with a lot of great games. But it has its share of warts. Particularly its clunky menu and submenu channels, which feel like they were designed by a Japanese toy company instead of a usability expert. And connecting with friends online is way more tedious than it should be (although play with strangers is as easy as on other consoles).
I’m sure there are more, but those are the two that quickly come to my mind. What about you—what do you dislike most about Wii?
Why is DS so awesome? It’s games. That’s why Apple will have a hard time overtaking Nintendo. Writes MSNBC’s Winda Benedetti:
This has been a week, and really more like an entire month, that has delivered me (and a great many others) unto gaming heaven. That is, this week saw the launch of both “Scribblenauts” and “Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story” — two staggeringly awesome games that have kept me with a DS clutched in my hands for far too many hours.
SEGA® Corporation and Nintendo Co. Ltd. today made a historical announcement that two of the biggest icons in the entertainment industry, Mario™ and Sonic™, are joining forces to star in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Developed for the Wii™ video game system and the Nintendo DS™ system, this momentous agreement marks the first time these two renowned stars have appeared together in a game.
Published by SEGA across Europe and North America, and published by Nintendo in the Japanese market, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games will be available for Holiday 2007 and is licensed through a worldwide partnership with International Sports Multimedia (ISM), the exclusive interactive entertainment software licensee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
According to our insider source who wishes to remain anonymous, Nintendo is working hard to get a trailer made on a working build of the next Wii Zelda game. According to our source, the trailer will launch in October at an upcoming conference [Nintendo Business media summit?] and it will show shed some light onto the mystery of why Link didn’t have a sword.
As much as we can speculate to what is in the trailer, I hope to see that there is atleast a mention of Wii Motion Plus in the next Zelda game. What do you guys think about that?
