Category Archives: Sony

Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata To Announce Second Year Of Losses

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Satoru Iwata NinNintendo Company President Satoru Iwata will announce a second year of annual losses tomorrow, accumulating almost 19 billion yen. Iwata, who became president of the Japanese company in 2002, has pledged a 100 billion yen – approximately $1 billion – profit for this financial year, but analysts say he’ll fail to reach the goal. However, Nintendo are never one to be backed into a corner, as can be seen with their determination to raise sales by their recent US advertisements and their expansion into the social markets.

Averages compiled by Bloomberg have recorded that Nintendo have lost 18.7 billion yen over the tax year, ending on March 31. But this year, Iwata wants to aim big, stating that it is his ‘personal commitment’ to see the 100 billion yen profit in sales achieved.

He said: “First of all, what I mean by committing to earning an operating profit of 100 billion yen is that this is going to be reflected in the financial forecast of the next fiscal year unless the expected foreign exchange rate situation changes. Otherwise, I would not have used a word such as ‘commitment.’

“I believe my job is to establish as promising a situation as possible to accomplish this aim. From this perspective, for Nintendo 3DS, it is vital to create similar momentum as we see in Japan in the overseas markets. So, the point is to launch several key titles seamlessly abroad to change the sales momentum of Nintendo 3DS itself, and then to create a cycle where hardware sales soar and its software sells well.

“As for Wii U, there will not be any key titles at the beginning of the year, so even though it will take some time, starting from this summer when the software lineup is enriched, we will promote our platform and aim to change the sales momentum dramatically.”

The Wii U has seen a dramatic decline in sales, partly due to a string of software delays that Iwata admitted were crucial to winning over consumers. And with tough competition on the horizon from Sony and Microsoft consoles, Nintendo’s president will have to stick to a firm resolve. What do you think about the second year of profit losses and should Iwata be pledging such a large profit for this year?

Luigi’s Mansion 2 And Nintendo 3DS Continue To Rule Japan

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luigi's_mansion_dark_moon_ghost_chase

This weeks Japanese hardware and software sales are now in. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon continues to be the best-selling software and the Nintendo 3DS remains the best-selling hardware. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is number one for the fourth week running and it sold another 56,000 units. Wii U continues to struggle as it only managed to sell 9,984 units this week compared to 14,783 units the previous week. Here’s the Japanese software and hardware charts.

  1. [3DS] Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon
  2. [3DS] Card Fight!! Vanguard Ride to Victory!!
  3. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf
  4. [PS3] One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2
  5. [PS3] Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2013
  6. [Wii] Taiko Drum Master Wii Super Wonderful Edition
  7. [PSV] Muramasa Rebirth
  8. [PSP] Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2013
  9. [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2
  10. [PSP] Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment
  1. Nintendo 3DS XL – 28,139 (34,180)
  2. 3DS – 18,584 (22,684)
  3. PlayStation Vita – 14,112 (19,328)
  4. PlayStation 3 – 14,039 (16,807)
  5. Wii U – 9,984 (14,783)
  6. PSP – 7,566 (8,876)
  7. Wii – 1,383 (1,718)
  8. Xbox 360 – 492 (536)

Could Climax Studios Be Working On A Prince Of Persia-esque Title?

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climax studiosSilent Hill: Shattered Memories developers Climax Studios has been more than a little sneaky today as tech demo images cropped up of an ‘unannounced title’ with a similar art style to the Prince of Persia series. However, the said images of the character action platformer have now been removed from their official website but you can take a peek over at Gamespot, where they managed to nab them in time. Screenshots of another unannounced title have replaced the aforementioned, which is assumed to be a horror title.

Tekken Revolution Listing Spotted Online

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jin_kazama_tekken_tag_tournament_2

A filing listed with the Australian classification board suggests that Namco Bandai is busy developing a new Tekken title called Tekken Revolution. The filing says that the title will be both “original” and “multi platform”, which suggests that the game could be a new project rather than a port. Could this be another handheld edition of the franchise along the lines of Tekken 3D: Prime Edition?

Thanks, Sam C

NPD: Analysts Expect Wii U Sales Decline During March In The US

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Despite several high-profile games having been released, industry analyst Michael Pachter and research firm EEDAR believe that the Wii U under performed last month in the United States. The news comes ahead of the March NPD figures for hardware and software sold in the United States. Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter and fellow analyst firm EEDAR believe that the Wii U only managed to outsell the PlayStation Vita, PSP and the PlayStation 2 last month. Here’s their estimations.

  • 360 – 290,000 (-22%) / 330,000 (-11%)
  • PS3 – 260,000 (-22) / 270,000 (-19%)
  • 3DS – 190,000 (-16%) / 190,000 (-16%)
  • DS – 85,000 (-20%) / 100,000 (-5%)
  • Wii – 85,000 (-51%) / 80,000 (-54%)
  • Wii U – 55,000 (n/a) / 65,000 (n/a)
  • Vita – 42,500 (-80%) / 45,000 (n/a)
  • PSP – 10,000 (-67%) / n/a (n/a)
  • PS2 – 100 (-99%) / n/a (n/a)
  • Total – 1,017,600 (-30%) / 1,080,000 (-26%)

“We expect hardware sales of 55,000 Wii U units in its fifth month (down 17% month-over-month).

“Last month… the only key hardware device to underperform our expectations was the Wii U, and its fortunes appear unlikely to improve for several months, even if Nintendo decides to drop price, as there are an insufficient number of core titles that are generating interest in the console.”

“We think that core gamers are far more likely to turn their attention to the PS4 (due in the holiday season) and the next Xbox, which we believe will be unveiled before E3 and have a launch alongside that of the PS4, and believe that the long-term appeal of the Wii U will be severely limited by the perception that the PS4 and next Xbox will be much more powerful with greater online integration and multimedia functionality. Should the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft be price competitive, we think that Wii U sales may continue to stagnate.”

Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon And Nintendo 3DS Rule Japan

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luigi's_mansion_dark_moon_ghost_chase

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon continues to be the best-selling game in Japan for the third time running. This week the game sold 68,423 units and has sold a total of 459,000 units since going on sale on March 20th. Animal Crossing: New Leaf is currently sitting in second place and has shifted over three million physical copies in total in Japan. Here’s the Japanese software and hardware charts.

  1. [3DS] Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon
  2. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf
  3. [PS3] One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2
  4. [PS3] Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2013
  5. [PSP] Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2013
  6. [3DS] Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission
  7. [Wii] Taiko Drum Master Wii Super Wonderful Edition
  8. [PSV] Muramasa Rebirth
  9. [PSP] Fate/Extra CCC
  10. [Wii U] Game & Wario
  1. Nintendo 3DS XL – 34,180 (38,442)
  2. Nintendo 3DS – 22,684 (28,538)
  3. PlayStation Vita – 19,328 (31,795)
  4. Wii U – 16,807 (22,829)
  5. PlayStation 3 – 14,783 (19,069)
  6. PSP – 8,876 (12,594)
  7. Wii – 1,718 (1,858)
  8. Xbox 360 – 536 (598)

Landslide Victory For EA Voted ‘Worst Company In America’

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ealogoFor the second year running, EA has been named the ‘worst company in America’ after battling it out with rival Bank of America for the trophy. A whopping 78% of consumers voted EA to be crowned champions in a web-poll on The Consumerist, giving them a landslide victory. Unfortunately, this is not good news for EA’s chief operating officer Peter Moore, who announced in a recent blog post, that the company ‘could do better’. Do you think EA should have been given the crowning glory once again?

Thanks, Flanneryaug

Capcom Canceled Mega Man FPS Reboot Developed By Metroid Prime Leads

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mega_man_reboot

Online gaming publication Polygon has discovered that Capcom were planning a Mega Man reboot codenamed Maverick Hunter. The game was a first person shooter developed by Austin based Armature Studio, the development studio which was founded by Metroid Prime’s creator. The game was thought to take a darker route built upon the mythology of Mega Man X. The radical game was canceled and was only in development for six months in the first half of 2010. You can read more about the game right here.

Capcom Reveals Life-Size Mega Man Statue

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Capcom has created a gigantic life-size Mega Man statue which will appear at this year’s E3 event in June and also at San Diego Comic Con. The wonderful statue was originally meant to appear at PAX East, but unfortunately it wasn’t quite ready in time, according to Capcom community manager Brett Elston.

For those who are unable to attend these events, Capcom is offering a slightly smaller desktop version which is available to pre-order on the Capcom Store through midnight, April 21st. The desktop version of the Mega Man statue is 10 inches tall and powered via USB. It will set you back $99.95. Is anyone going to make a purchase?

Grasshopper Manufacture’s New Game Isn’t No More Heroes 3

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no_more_heroes_wallpaper

Goichi Suda, CEO of Grasshopper Manufacture, has confirmed that the secret project the development team are working on isn’t No More Heroes 3. Suda says the game is a brand new IP for the company. Kazuki Morishita, CEO of GungHo Online Entertainment revealed that Yusuke Kozaki who worked on Wii title No More Heroes is working on the new project.