About six months ago I had a lofty, if unoriginal, idea. I wanted to do a blog about Nintendo, a gaming company whose products I’d been playing with since I was 6 years old.
But, what should I do with a blog about Nintendo?
At first, I thought that news and analysis of the company and its products was the way to go, regardless of the fact there was already a glut of Nintendo-related information on the Internet and dozens upon dozens of websites and blogs dedicated to spewing out news bits as they broke.
I’m one guy with a job and a family. I don’t have time to compete, and quite frankly the benefits of doing so are very limited.
For a brief moment, I thought analysis might be a more relaxed way to go. I’ve watched the video game industry for years, and if you know anything about analysts, that’s about 80 percent of the qualifying criteria. Luck and the ability to be coherent make up the remaining 20 percent. However, it seems to me a blog dedicated to analysis would be full of the kind of blowhard nonsense gamers love to hate. Let’s face it, we all have our preferences when it comes to gaming consoles and video games.
So today I find the best way to shift the focus of this blog is to simply write about what I know. I’m a gamer, a dedicated fan of Nintendo platforms (though not a fanboy), and I have a wealth of gaming memories and casual opinions on Nintendo topics that I can use to relate to other people. Hence, that’s what I’m going to do.
The Nintendo Wire ceases to be about hard gaming news, and will instead focus on the aspects of gaming that brings a lot of people together.
I hope you’ll find this new direction as refreshing as I will.
Satoru Iwata announced during Japan's Nintendo Direct presentation that a couple more New Super Mario Bros 2 DLC packs had been released to the eShop. Amazingly, North America has been provided access to these packs too and can be purchased for $2.50 each. Check out all the details below!
Pack #4: Gold Mushroom Pack At only a two star difficulty, this pack presents players with countless opportunities to collect Gold Mushrooms, which will quickly boost your coin total.
Nintendo has confirmed it will be selling its next generation console, Wii U, at a financial loss when it releases next month in all major regions other than Japan. This is the same problem Nintendo is currently having with its 3DS handheld but Nintendo still hopes Wii U will sell 5.5 million units by the end of its launch window on March 31st.
Controversial Chinese technology manufacturer Foxconn has taken the heat for employee underage interns to put together components of Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U console, a Nintendo official stated to Kotaku today. Said Nintendo of America Senior Director of Corporate Communications Charlie Scibetta:
“Foxconn has taken full responsibility for this incident and has moved quickly to ensure that all affected individuals no longer work at Foxconn. In fact, Foxconn’s own policies prohibit the employment of underage individuals and the company has pledged to Nintendo via direct communications to improve its process of enforcing this policy to avoid any similar issues in the future.”
Nintendo will also be sending staff to personally monitor conditions at the manufacturing plants of its various partners.
Last week it was revealed Foxconn reportedly forced children as young as 14 years of age into extended shifts at the Chinese plant. Foxconn has come under fire this year for its working conditions at a factory that puts together notable tech products, such as the iPad.
Nintendo obviously needed to respond to the latest revelations quickly, and it’s fortunate for the game maker Foxconn has so publicly accepted full responsibility for its actions. But this likely won’t be the last time we hear of an issue like this.
Nintendo Life did a poignant piece this past weekend that explains the uncomfortable truth of how and why we get great consumer technology at an affordable price. It’s worth reading and then considering before you get too wrapped up in the kind of selfish desires that ultimately drive this and every consumer industry forward.
Can’t find a Wii U for the kids this Christmas? Maybe a nice consolation prize would be the new Skylanders Giants Wii bundle being released for the holiday shopping season?
Despite being a last-gen console (or two generations old, depending upon how elitist you are about graphics), the bundle does come with the newest game in the Skylander series, the video game equivalent of peanut butter and chocolate as far as kids are concerned. For $150 you get a Skylanders Giants Starter Pack, with an exclusive giant figure and a Wii console and remote in a shade of blue that hurts to look at.
However, if you do go the Skylander route, don’t think you’ll be getting away with spending just $150, as there are altogether somewhere approaching 100 figures, expansion sets and items your kids are going to want for the game that fall between $10 and $25 a piece.
With the launch of Wii U just weeks away, Slate.com has taken the occasion to reflect on Nintendo’s long history in making video games and its place in the industry today. Says the article’s author:
“The Nintendo brand name evokes a cast of gaming characters widely known and widely loved: Mario, Princess Peach, Donkey Kong. It conjures up for men of a certain age fond memories of collecting coins and shooting fireballs and breaking barrels.”
But it’s not all fun and games in the land of Nintendo. The article describes how Nintendo was losing ground to competition like Sony and Microsoft in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as well as how the company found its groove again in 2006 when it effectively went “casual” with the Wii.
“…Nintendo had brought back a sense of childlike wonder to video games. Media stories abounded about geriatrics playing Nintendo games and doctors using it for therapy. And, of course, millions of people picked them up off the shelves. To date, the Wii has sold nearly 97 million units worldwide, compared with the Xbox 360’s 67 million and the Playstation 3’s 64 million.”
Like many who’ve written about the upcoming Wii U, the author shares some reservations that the new console’s hook – its GamePad – will have the simplistic magic of the “Wiimote” that made everyone fall in love with the Wii.
“With two analog sticks, nine buttons, a D-pad, and a touchscreen, the GamePad looks like something that would operate the Curiosityrover, not something that will appeal to casual gamers.”
The Wii U has a lot to live up to, and in some sense its worst enemy might be its own predecessor console in terms of expectations. Hype among the general public for the Wii U has been muted compared to what the Wii received. Granted, the world of tech in 2012 is much different than it was in 2006 (remember that was pre-iPhone), so it’s hard to gauge where the public’s mood on Wii U really is.
Pre-sales for the console are sold out, and hype among the hardcore gamer crowd is healthy. It’s safe to say Nintendo is going to have a satisfying launch with the Wii U, but it’s going to have to be prepared for a strong follow up in the spring, when that 4-month launch window for the console closes. I see a strong right punch right out of the gate, what I’m looking for next is a mean left hook going into E3 2013.
Nintendo has reported its annual profits will be below the company’s previous expectations – way below.
Officials announced Wednesday it expects profits of $75.2 million (6 billion yen) by the end of its fiscal year in March. That’s down 70 percent from initial forecasts of $251 million (20 billion yen), and it was caused by weak overall sales of the 3DS.
While the handheld has been gaining momentum after a botched launch in the spring of 2011, sales haven’t picked up enough to meet Nintendo’s expected profits. Officials also blamed increased appreciation of the Japanese yen for the slashed financial forecast.
Nintendo is about to launch a new console, the Wii U, worldwide late this year, starting in the U.S. Nov. 18. Officials expect sales of the system to help pick up its earnings pace. They expect to sell roughly 5.5 million Wii U units globally by the end of its fiscal year. That accounts for half of the 10 million new gaming console units Nintendo expected to install in homes between the Wii U and the original Wii, which has seen a very recent price drop in advance of the holiday shopping season.
Apple introduced the world to the iPad Mini Tuesday, a 7.9-inch screen version of the genre-defining tablet that fits right into the palm of your hands. At a starting price of $329, it represents a very affordable gateway into Apple’s sexy iOS platform, an ecosystem game industry analysts swear – with all the hysteria analysts usually swear with – is going to one day blow the traditional handheld gaming market right off that comfy pedestal it’s been perched atop for years.
And when people think about handheld gaming, they’re really only thinking about Nintendo, with its 3DS/DS devices – or GameBoy, for people who still don’t know they haven’t been called that in about eight years. Naturally, since the iPad Mini falls between the iPod Touch (which some complain is a bit too small for gaming) and the full iPad (which some complain is a bit too large for gaming), many are going to wonder if the Mini is just right for the mobile game market to be not just a competitor, but a worthwhile replacement for something like the 3DS?
Make any gaming device any size you want, there is one standard rule that applies to determining whether any gaming platform is going to be a success – quality games have to be present.
Apple can hit you with quantity and a growing library of truly spectacular gaming experiences (stuff that goes beyond the tired Angry Birds format). Nintendo will hit you with its own stable of character-driven games that the company – smartly so – simply won’t allow on any other platforms.
If Nintendo isn’t giving up the console space to competitors like Sony and Microsoft, it certainly won’t give up mobile space to companies like Apple and Google. And, quite honestly, you’ve got to give the company credit for holding its own against these tech giants on all fronts.
When it comes to gaming, Nintendo has got a brand that’s stronger than Apple. That could change one day, but I think Apple would have to expand its company focus into being a developer and publisher of its own stable of first-party games for their devices. That’s not really Apple’s style, and I think we all know by now Nintendo isn’t going to relent on making its own devices.
The writing just isn’t on the wall, no matter how much industry analysts would like you to believe it’s coming. Honestly, why would we as gamers want it to? Tablet gaming is a great new option for people who enjoy games. Both tablets and handhelds have space in my world, my guess is they have space in yours too. Frankly, it’s time for everyone to stop thinking in terms of “either/or” and start considering the paradigm of “also and in addition to.”
Top writer for IGN, Rich, has tweeted that although Nintendo has been pretty quiet as of late there is big news to be revealed starting Thursday. Most likely, Wii U will be on the agenda but we'll have to wait and see.
I know it’s a little quiet on the Nintendo front but… it’s not. There’s a lot coming up. Starting Thursday.
If you want to play an EA game on Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U console, you’re going to need an Origin account. And that’s just what you’re going to get, according to new information about how the two gaming giants are working together on the new system.
Information about your particular Wii U console will be provided to EA for the purposes of establishing an Origin account, reveals new language in EA’s privacy policy. This happens when you play any EA title for Wii U, which will include a special edition of Mass Effect 3, as well as Madden ’13 and FIFA ’13 when the console launches Nov. 18 in the U.S.
EA wants as much information about who is playing its games on the Wii U and how they are playing them. Officials say down the line this will help establish a better online ecosystem for Nintendo players.
This doesn’t really clear up anything about how the Wii U’s online multiplayer ecosystem will work, or whether this has any ties to the console’s Miiverse functionality.
... and this time they're focusing their attention on the 3DS. Square Enix has recently published a new RPG that takes advantage of the system's more unique features; namely the 3D visuals and the AR functionality. It's called Bravely Default: Flying Fairy and the company said they have no plans to bring the game to North America at this time.
Outside of making immensely popular video games and video gaming hardware, Nintendo has made another successful career of dodging the bullet in courtrooms.
Games Industry International reports a patent infringement lawsuit over the Wii Balance Board filed by Impulse Technology Ltd. has been dropped, after a judge in the case interpreted the wording of the patent in question in a way that fell to Nintendo’s favor.
It’s not the first time Nintendo has come out a winner in court. The company has been sued several times over technology that exists in the Wii, including lawsuits over the system’s “Wiimote” and parental safety setup.
Nintendo has so far not faced any lawsuits over the GamePad controller of its upcoming Wii U console, but that’s likely to change, especially if the console is a rousing success story like its predecessor. Right now industry analysts like to tell you the GamePad is a bad idea for game design. Who’s going to claim giving birth to the idea with that kind of rap?
A My Nintendo News post today tells of a rumor that Wii U might not have all of its features activated when it launches in North America Nov. 18. Among the missing features may be the much speculated-over Miiverse. You can read the full post here.
Miiverse was one of the first things Nintendo told us about Wii U just prior to this year’s E3 show back in June. However, not much has been said since, and we’ve all heard stories from developers still in the dark about Wii U’s online play, even though they have games scheduled to release on the console next month.
Granted, operating systems do evolve over the course of a console’s life. That is the case with the PlayStation 3, about ready to roll out some changes. And it’s certainly been the case with the Xbox 360, with a user interface that’s practically transformed the purpose of the machine. Still, without Miiverse, which is supposed to be Nintendo’s primary interactive hub for Wii U players worldwide, how will early adopters react.
According to the rumor, Nintendo is launching aspects of the Wii U interface in stages so as not to overwhelm buyers. If Miiverse is missing at launch, my question is will players end up feeling underwhelmed by the experience.
Of course, Nintendo Tvii will be launching alongside Wii U this November, at least in the U.S. Nintendo execs stateside have been pushing that feature as much as they have the game play opportunity available through the console’s GamePad.
Nintendo has been trying to nose its way into the profitable digital format business. Will the traditional gaming firm be able to make the jump?
FORTUNE –The gem of the video game industry these days is digital format sales -- games you can directly download from the web. After all, downloading is convenient and eliminates packaging and shipping costs that hurt profit margins.
Is the Wii U Nintendo’s true next-generation console? An opinion piece online for MCV Pacific suggests it’s not and that Nintendo has some wiggle room to introduce a more powerful system within a few more years.
“‘It was never intended as a next generation console,’ they’ll say as they distance themselves from it three years down the track and come out with a ‘real’ successor which can match the grunt of the next Sony and Microsoft offerings. ‘It was part of the Wii family, but this is what we’re actually doing for the future of gaming.’”
Provocative viewpoint, to say the least. The writer takes cues from a perception that Nintendo officials aren’t really touting the Wii U with buzz words like next-gen. True, no one from the company has been slinging those claims around with reckless abandon. However, you have to keep in mind Nintendo is on a divergent path from the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox brands. Nintendo isn’t competing one-for-one on graphics and processing power. It gave that up last generation by introducing a non-HD console that was only a shade more powerful than its previous system.
Ultimately, I believe Nintendo has done some soul searching and asked itself this question: What value would we add to the gaming landscape by simply being one of three major brands trying to entice hardcore gamers with raw horsepower and a stable of exclusives?
Nintendo slowed its pace in going for the latest and greatest graphics last generation. Officials stopped to take a look around them and notice there was entire market of untouched consumers, who could potentially be pulled into gaming if given the right introduction. That’s where the Wii came in and it paid off.
Admittedly, Wii U isn’t carrying the buzz of its predecessor for a number of reasons. It’s unlikely, though, that Nintendo is going to abandon this product early just so it can get back into the rat race with Sony and Microsoft.
If there’s a story about the gaming industry that breaks my heart, it’s the story of what’s happened to Rare, Ltd. over the last decade.
Rare, for those who don’t know, is a UK based game developer that has created franchises, like the shamefully underused Battletoads, and the Banjo-Kazooie series. The company really hit something special when it began working closely with Nintendo in the early 1990s, a partnership that resulted in one of the most amazing games visually at the time – Donkey Kong Country – on the Super NES. In addition, Rare built a unique fighting game for the platform, Killer Instinct.
I think Rare hit its zenith on the Nintendo 64, however, building the legendary Goldeneye 007 and spiritual follow-up, Perfect Dark, two first-person-shooters that really helped define some of the foundations for building games of that type. Those titles alone were enough to deserve accolades, but the afore-mentioned Banjo-Kazooie originally appeared on the N64, and in my opinion, was one of the finest games on that system. The company followed up with a sequel, Banjo-Tooie, a year or so after developing the sprawling 3D platformer, Donkey Kong 64. In addition to those titles, Rare developed a couple more original properties in the under-appreciated Jet Force Gemini and, more notably, Conker’s Bad Fur Day.
Rare was able to eek out one more game in partnership with Nintendo in the early 2000′s for the GameCube, Star Fox Adventures, which was a re-jiggered N64 property first introduced as Dinosaur Planet.
After that Rare was purchased by Microsoft, and produced one game of note for the original Xbox, Grabbed by the Ghoulies. The developer became a little more active early after the launch of the Xbox 360, producing Kameo: Elements of Power as a launch day game (a title that was originally slated for the GameCube), new IP Viva Piñata, a sequel to Perfect Dark, Perfect Dark Zero, and eventually a third game in the Banjo-Kazooie series, with the subtitle “Nuts and Bolts.”
Today, Rare is making Kinect Sports for the Xbox 360, and while that seems commercially lucrative for both the developer and Microsoft, it’s very sad for someone who grew up on a stable of Rare games that represented the best of what the gaming industry had to offer.
Over the summer there was rumor that Nintendo might actually be in talks to buy back Rare from Microsoft. However hopeful that makes me, I have to assume at this point it was just a rumor, because virtually nothing about it has been said beyond that tidbit. Outside of that, some former Rare employees are supposedly off on their own planning a spiritual successor game to Banjo-Kazooie, but no word on where that title, if it ever materializes, might land.
For my money I’d love to see Rare rejoin Nintendo as a second party developer, especially now that Nintendo is about to launch with the Wii U. Texas-based developer Retro assumed the place of Rare in a lot of ways beginning in the GameCube years with the excellent reimagining of the Metroid series in Metroid Prime, not to mention producing a revival of Donkey Kong Country on the Wii, “Donkey Kong Country Returns.”
Retro is working on at least one Wii U project I’m sure we’re all excited to see, but I don’t think anyone would mind if Rare could return to the halls of Nintendo and bring with it its fantastic properties like Banjo-Kazooie, Conker, even Jet Force Gemini, which I think would be a real treat if that game were ever released one of the Virtual Consoles.
It doesn’t seem the separation has served either Nintendo or Rare particularly well. A lot of talent that was responsible for Rare’s early successes are now gone, and Nintendo really could have used a company like Rare to serve as another pipeline for games for the Wii.
For now, I’ll leave you with a few game play clips of several vintage Rare games.
A handful of the most popular titles for the Nintendo 3DS are now available in digital format from the Nintendo eShop, the company announced today.
Super Mario 3D Land, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Star Fox 64 3D, and Mario Kart 7 are $39.99 a piece to download directly to your 3DS. The games join New Super Mario Bros. 2 in the first-party lineup of titles available digitally.
Nintendo promises to make more popular titles available on its eShop in the future. For now, you’ve got a pretty healthy lineup of quality titles provided you have the cash in your wallet and the memory space on your handheld.
A Nintendo representative has confirmed to Kotaku that you'll only be able to voice chat with select games. Games that will be supported include Assassin's Creed 3 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. The Wii U GamePad includes a mic but you won't be able to use it with in-game voice chat. Instead, you will need to purchase a headset from Turtle Beach or Mad Catz which will plug into the headphone jack.
Retailers GameStop and Amazon have claimed that the Wii U Pro controller, Nintendos answer to a traditional gaming controller have will boast an 80 hour battery life.
“Your games, your way. However you think of your gaming style – hardcore, old school, or purely nostalgic – the Wii U Pro Controller puts you in the game,” reads the official description for the controller.
Complex Gaming has created a handy little outline for how players will be using the Wii U’s GamePad to play Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 when the game and console launch on Nov. 18 in North America.
You can see the full presentation here, but among the highlights are using the GamePad’s screen as a mini map and place to select quick loadout options. And, of course, there is the fact you can play the entire game on the GamePad, leaving your significant other free to watch Property Virgins.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will be the first full HD game of the series to appear on a Nintendo console. It remains to be seen whether the added functionality of the GamePad will endear this version of the title to players.
