Reggie Fils-Aime, President and Chief Operating Officer of Nintendo of America, has blasted Sony’s recently released PSP Go stating the console itself is fundamentally flawed in concept.
The PSP Go may have a fundamental concept problem in terms of ‘Who’s it for?’ and ‘What’s the benefit?’ I have the utmost respect for all our competitors, but it’s interesting to try and answer the consumer question of ‘What’s in it for me?’ in that product.
- Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America
It appears the Nintendo DSi is the console of choice for consumers in Japan as Media Create’s hardware chart for September 28th through to October 4th shows.
Pop superstar Beyonce has expressed her interest in promoting and creating a new fitness game that incorporates both dance and performance for the Nintendo Wii.
I’m interested in a lot of different things. I’d like to get involved in videogames since I really love Wii Fit. I think it would be a great idea to incorporate choreography because for me my workout is way more fun when it involves dancing as opposed to running on a boring treadmill. So I would love to do some kind of fitness game but incorporate dance and performance into it. I think a lot of women would enjoy that.
- Beyonce
Jack Tretton, the outspoken President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, has boldly claimed the company takes more risks than Nintendo and caters to a wider audience than both of its competitors combined.
“In an industry that’s certainly had its challenges this year, we like to say that the environment where PlayStation wins is best for this industry. We have a brand that can play on a worldwide basis, young and old, male and female, where our competition tends to be relegated to either select regions or to select consumer audiences.
We don’t have unlimited money, we cater to a more mass market audience. I think we’re willing to take a little bit more risk than a competitor like Nintendo is and ultimately we deliver to the masses on a worldwide basis and that’s what we’ve done for the last 15 years.”
- Jack Tretton, Sony America
It’s been revealed that an astonishing 37 per cent of Nintendo Wii games aren’t reviewed by any gaming publications.
According to Jesse Divnich, director of analyst services at Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, 37% of Nintendo Wii games released between January 2009 – June 2009 weren’t reviewed.
“Does the data debunk the theory that Wii games are improving? No, not necessarily,” he argued. “Wii games are improving. It is just coming at the cost of not reviewing the increase in casual and low-budget titles. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 will likely trend a similar statistic in the years to come, as the increase in their installed base and the expansion of their demographics, due to price cuts, will likely draw in more developers who release casual and low-budget titles.”
- Jesse Divnich, Electronic Entertainment Design and Research
Those thinking the mighty Rare have given up developing for the Nintendo DS are mistaken if this recent quote is anything to go by.
“I don’t think it’s fair to assume that we’ve permanently quit DS development, but yes, we are focusing on other things at the moment. Natal is a pretty big deal and needs a lot of attention.”
- Rare
Since the recent price cut Nintendo have seen sales of their Wii console double in the United States.
Nintendo have announced that they’ve sold in excess of 150,000 Wii units since their recently annouced price cut. To put that in perspective that’s double the weekly sales rate for the majority of the year.
Amazon have taken one step further and have slashed the pricing of the Nintendo Wii in the UK to £139.99
Whilst most retailers are selling the Nintendo Wii for the recommended retail price of £179.99, Amazon have effectively started a price war and have seen fit to stock the console for £60 less than its competitors.
Boxart images from UK gaming emporium GameStation confirm Wii consoles will be bundled in Europe with Wii MotionPlus and a copy of the fantastic Wii Sports Resort.
Nintendo have cleared up gamers fears about the forthcoming ‘demo play‘ included in the New Super Mario Bros Wii.
The game itself will not complete levels for you as first thought, however, it will show gamers the way to fully complete a difficult level if they choose to access the dynamic help system.
“New Super Mario Bros. Wii is also the first Nintendo game to feature a dynamic help system, which allows you to access a mode showing how a level can be completed if you are stuck.”
