Wii for all wins console battle for Nintendo

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Wii for all wins console battle for Nintendo

Net earnings soar fivefold as "non-core gamers" flock to Nintendo's Wii and DS consoles

Nintendo's first-quarter net profits soared more than five-fold, further vindicating the Japanese group's declared policy of making video games for "people who don't like video games".

The company also sharply raised its full-year forecasts on soaring sales of its Wii console and the continued success of its DS handheld machine. Nintendo's success ratchets up the pressure on Sony, whose PlayStation 3 is being outsold by at least two to one by the Wii.

Nintendo posted net earnings of ¥80.25 billion (£326 million) in the three months to June, up from ¥15.55 billion a year earlier. Revenue was up 160 per cent to ¥340.44 billion as the company sold 3.4 million Wii consoles and 7 million DS machines worldwide over the three months.

Hiroshi Kamide, an analyst at KBC Securities, said: “The gaming industry has woken up to the fact that there’s a real commercial side to non-core gaming. Nintendo’s been saying this for the last two or three years. They’re really reaping the rewards of that strategy now."

At the E3 conference, the annual gathering for the computer games industry, in Santa Monica earlier this month, Nintendo extended its strategy of targeting consumers formerly considered unlikely to play video games when it unveiled Wii Fit, a new game for the Wii console.

In what is becoming a signature Nintendo move, the title will come with a new controller. The Balance Board is a pressure-sensitive mat-like device that is used to regulate physical work-outs, tells users if they are overweight and will even scold users who slouch.

The promotional video aired at the E3 lunch event featured a young woman using it to take her through a yoga routine — a target market worlds away from the teenage boys who have driven the games industry's past cycles.

For Nintendo games, the company claims, the ratio of men to women buyers has fallen to two to one from an industry average of four to one.
Meanwhile, Brain Training, the 10-million-selling DS title aimed at older people and billed as a cerebral workout, is still selling 10,000 copies a week – two years after its launch.

There have also been signs that Nintendo's strategy has made other games groups rethink their strategy. On the eve of the E3 conference, John Riccitiello, the head of Electronic Arts, the largest games publisher, conceded that a barrage of sequels, shoot-em-ups and driving games was "boring people to death".

He went on to suggest that the economics of producing complex titles for technologically-heavy consoles such as the PS3 are not stacking up. A PS3 game costs up to an estimated $20 million, four times that of a Wii equivalent. EA's profits slumped 70 per cent last year, their third successive decline.

Nintendo now expects a 40.6 per cent rise in net profit to 245 billion yen for the 12 months to March, up from a previous forecast for 175 billion yen. Revenue is seen climbing 44.8 percent to 1.4 trillion yen.
Nintendo shares closed up 1,900 yen or 3.5 per cent at 56,400 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The company recently broke out figures showing that sales of games hardware and software are up more than 40 per cent in the UK so far this year compared with the same period in 2006, and have surged more than 110 per cent in Japan. Nintendo, it is estimated, accounts for two thirds of the growth.
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Nintendo now fifth biggest company in Japan

Nintendo zipped past telecoms giant NTT and a major financial group to become Japan's fifth-biggest company by market value on Thursday, propelled higher by a stellar earnings performance on demand for its Wii and DS game gear.

By mid-afternoon Nintendo's stock had climbed 8.1 percent to 614,000 yen, adding to a 3.5 percent gain made on Wednesday after its earnings announcement.

Nintendo lifted its annual outlook above market expectations after quarterly operating profit more than tripled, as its strategy to expand the gaming population to women and the elderly paid off handsomely.

Offering innovative and easy-to-play games, the company's DS handheld player and Wii console have outsold rival Sony and Microsoft machines in recent months.

Its market value now stands at 8.69 trillion yen ($US72 billion), outstripping Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), and Honda Motor which had placed higher in the rankings only a day before. It shot past Sony last month.

The Kyoto-based company revised up its operating profit forecast by 37 percent to 370 billion yen ($US3.1 billion) for the year to March 2008, topping a consensus of a 305 billion yen profit in a poll of 20 analysts by Reuters Estimates.

It also lifted its annual dividend forecast to 960 yen from an earlier estimate of 700 yen.
Nintendo's DS lets users control play with a stylus instead of manipulating a keypad, while the Wii, which competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360, comes with an unusual motion-sensing controller that can be swung like a bat or a sword.

The creator of such game characters as Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong raised its sales forecast for the Wii by 18 percent to 16.5 million units for the current business year, while lifting its DS sales target by 18 percent to 26 million units.
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They are super rich thats for sure lol. I heard they made the top 10 list of the richest companies in Japan. I think they will only get richer as more time passes. More people will buy more wii's. Still being sold out for almost a year already its crazy how the demand is so high. :) Its becoming like the invention like the Levi Jeans. Something new that whips the competition out. Global killer i call it lol:p
 
I bought my Wii used with 3 games and 3 controllers for $290...haha score!!
And I still don't really play it:p hhehehe
 
Wonderful the Wii is selling great... When do the good games start coming out? I haven't touched mine since Zelda.
 
yea it needs more games i just got one brand new last sunday

enjoying RE4 and the sports game and Wii play
 
Bleh....sold mine. Maybe when one game(other then zelda) gets released thats good I will buy one again...

They sell good, but they sit on people's shelves...My sister hasn't touched hers in 4 months...
 
im glad i didnt jump on the Wii bandwagon. I'm not sure who has fewer quality titles right now... Wii or PS3. Too close to call.
 
|MaguS| said:
Wonderful the Wii is selling great... When do the good games start coming out? I haven't touched mine since Zelda.
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Sold my Wii 3 weeks ago. Didn't touch it for weeks on end. The console's a gimmick to me. Ebay FTW!!! :p
 
I guess I don't fall into the "non-core gamer" category. I would like to pick up a Wii some day to play Zelda and a few other games but the excitement for the system just isn't there for me..I guess I prefer the more hard-core, hi-res mature games offered by the 360, PS3 and pc.
 
joe,

if you just want to play zelda, might i suggest a used game cube and zelda for that system? much cheaper way of getting into it.
 
What exactly qualifies as a good game? Does it have to be a 1st party title? I have a bunch of games that I like:

-Resident Evil 4
-Super Monkey Ball
-Zelda
-Tiger Woods
-Super Paper Mario
-Sonic
-Wii Sports
 
Nintendo is in a league of it's own. You can't really compare it to the 360 or Ps3 not only because it appeals to the masses, but because it's dwarfing them in sales. The Ps3 and 360 are going to have their own little console war with Nintendo being so far ahead it won't matter what those two companies do.

And I can't believe people still say the Wii has no "good" games.I have 5 games (out of 8) that I would consider excellent. Hell, the third parties are finally getting on the big N's bandwagon. This time next year the Wii will have a better list of games than their "competitors". Nintendo's first party games > Sony and MS's 1st and third party offerings.
 
I think it's great that Nintendo is back on the front-lines of the console war (wow, that's a dramatic statement...). For years it seemed like they were just doing miserably with everything they've released.

I must admit though that the Wii got kind of old pretty fast. It's still fun at parties and with friends and such, but I don't sit around the house playing when I'm alone. Even my wife and step-daughter (it's hers) barely use it anymore. The control scheme is neat, but playing with it for awhile, I'd rather just go back to a regular gamepad (which is good since I've got Gamecube controllers).

The best things going for it are the virtual console (which is phenomenal) and the fact that it fully functions at as a Gamecube.

Right now, I'm waiting patiently for Guitar Hero 3.
 
Sentinel54 said:
What exactly qualifies as a good game? Does it have to be a 1st party title? I have a bunch of games that I like:
Click to expand...

My opinions..

-Resident Evil 4 (Already played on Gamecube)
-Super Monkey Ball (I've never cared for these games... they're too repetitive)
-Zelda (Great games.. i'll play any version)
-Tiger Woods (Not a big golf game fan)
-Super Paper Mario (This one is pretty fun, but the dialoge scenes are just BRUTAL)
-Sonic (I only played a little and still want my 2D sonic back!)
-Wii Sports (Pretty fun, but gets old fast.. that and Wii Play stinks in comparison!)

I too have had my wii sitting on the shelf for way too long. Where are all the good games?
The games that i've had a good time with (but the fun just didn't last) were:

Warioware: Touched
Zelda: Twilight Princess
Rayman (amusing, but got old pretty fast)
Super Paper Mario

Those are the games that stand out (and I can remember now). I still shudder when I think of Elebits and Red Steel.. those are both horrid.

Comeon devs, crank out some good games!
 
This is exactly the problem with the console for people like us: we want something more than just a game, something more than just a crackerjack box toy. We want a way of life.
 
I've been rather impressed with the Wii so far, but I have been using it as a gamecube lately.

Zelda and Super Paper Mario were both excellent games. Zelda I played through several times getting 100% completion every time, put at least 150 hours total into that game. I played Super Paper Mario through a couple of times, probably about 80 hours total.

Rayman and Wariowares were both good games, but once I completed every mini-game a couple/few times it lost its fun. Right now I am playing Paper Mario:1000 years door and really like the native backwards compatibility.

I can't wait to the end of August though when Metroid Prime 3 is released. Most of the reviews say that the way MP3 plays puts all of the previous Wii games to shame, both graphically and with its control scheme.

Developers are still getting use to the Wii's controller. Rayman: RR2 shows this. It is supposed to have much better controls and look better. (probably helps that they are making it a Wii exclusive IIRC)


For me the Wii is doing much better than both my PC and 360. My 360 hasn't been turned on this year. I got my Wii in December and never went back to the 360. I am planning on selling off my 360 and waiting for the updated hardware and both Fable 2 and Halo3 to be released. My PC has just become a fancy internet machine. The last game I played on it was HL2: Ep. 1.
 
I'm not concerned about the Wii software library right now. No console has very many games during the first year. Certainly not enough to consistently occupy someone. I am usually not even an early adopter, but I really wanted the Wii to do well, so I threw in my support under the pretense that if it did well, the games would undoubtedly turn up sooner than never.

Suffice it to say, the Wii is selling like crazy. It won't be the end all be all platform, but I believe it is a safe bet to say the games are inevitable. How long? Who knows, but I see a lot of use in the future of my Wii. Even more if I take to some of the "non-gamer" games that will turn up. I've been having a good bit of fun with my DS and the quirky titles that turned up on it.
 
jester1176 said:
joe,

if you just want to play zelda, might i suggest a used game cube and zelda for that system? much cheaper way of getting into it.
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Yup, I played it on my 40 dollar gamecube. If I need a minigame playing machine I can always buy a wii, but not with the current lineup thanks. And I already played RE-4 over a year ago.

But I bet another mariokart game and mario sports series game will make it worth the buy....wait, no it won't.
 
Technoob said:
But I bet another mariokart game and mario sports series game will make it worth the buy....wait, no it won't.
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With 3rd party developers jumping ship from both microsoft and sony I think there is a little more than that in the Wii's future :rolleyes:
 
CodeX said:
With 3rd party developers jumping ship from both microsoft and sony I think there is a little more than that in the Wii's future :rolleyes:
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Yeah... they get those awsome games like... um... Farcry! WOot!
 
|MaguS| said:
Yeah... they get those awsome games like... um... Farcry! WOot!
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And red steel.

Think about the wii...what games that say "awesome gaming experience" that are coming out in the future, that provide anything that wasn't seen last generation?

I can't think of any. I don't have a ps3, but there are a ton of future titles that look to be amazing games, same with the 360. A new version of mario games and another metroid don't do it for me.
 
CodeX said:
With 3rd party developers jumping ship from both microsoft and sony I think there is a little more than that in the Wii's future :rolleyes:
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Name me an announced game from a third party developer for the wii that should interest me in the same way that assassin's creed, Mass effect, bioshock, GTA, heavenly sword, DMC4, MGS, FF13, and so forth?

Madden wii? And if there are some games, other than "devs are focusing resources on the wii now", then if they're going to be *any* good at all, and not shitty ass ports (hi farcry) meant to cash in on the wiigasm, they won't be out for a long time. That's assuming there are any even coming out that are close to being as interesting as the above.

The only supposed AAA titles people cite for the wii these days are SSB: Brawl, Mario Galaxy, and Metroid. You tell me what's in the pipeline that should excite me as a gamer.

cooking mama: raving rabbids minigames: the revenge of wario?

Wii's support is a mile wide and an inch deep
 
Technoob said:
A new version of mario games and another metroid don't do it for me.
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Do you not understand what 3rd party means? Do I need to link to dictionary.com?

http://gaming.wikia.com/index.php?title=Nintendo_Wii_and_Third_Party_Support
http://www.gamingtarget.com/article.php?artid=7252

"Wii tops X360 in number of exclusives, PS3 continues to trail in 3rd place"

The Wii has more confirmed titles in development (and more confirmed exclusives) for it than the 360 and PS3...
 
Yes, I know what third party means. When you list a third party game in development specifically that you think will be a system selling, *good* title, let me know.

I was merely pointing out, yet again, that there are no good 3rd party games that I can see, and that the only "buzzworthy" titles for the Wii are nintendo 1st party games.

and here's your list....nothing there even close to the titles I listed above.

http://www.gamingtarget.com/article.php?artid=7252&pg=2&comments=

Publisher Metascore
Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree Nintendo 69
Bust-A-Move Bash! Majesco 53
Cooking Mama: Cook Off Majesco 62
Elebits Konami 75
Escape From Bug Island Eidos 37
Excite Truck Nintendo 73
GT Pro Series Ubisoft 41
Kororinpa: Marble Mania Konami 69
Mario Party 8 Nintendo 67
Monster 4x4 World Circuit Ubisoft 51
Pokemon Battle Revolution Nintendo 57
Red Steel Ubisoft 63
Sonic and the Secret Rings Sega 69
SSX Blur EA Big 74
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz Sega 74
Super Paper Mario Nintendo 86
Super Swing Golf Tecmo 72
Tamagotchi Party On! Namco Bandai 38
Tramua Center: Second Opinion Atlus 79
WarioWare: Smooth Moves Nintendo 83
Wii Play Nintendo 58
Wii Sports Nintendo 76
Wing Island Konami 47


Unreleased (90)
Proven Franchises (18 [20%])

Title Publisher Release Date
Action Girlz Racing *NEW* Conspiracy 2007
Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None* Adventure Company 11/2007
Alien Syndrome Sega 7/2007
Animal Crossing Wii Nintendo TBA
Anubis II *NEW* Conspiracy 2007
Arctic Tale *NEW* Destination 10/2007
BWii: Battalion Wars 2 Nintendo 10/2007
Balls of Fury *NEW* Destination 2007
Billy the Wizard *NEW* Conspiracy 2007
Blast Works: Build, Fuse & Destroy *NEW* Majesco 2007
Bleach: Shattered Blade *NEW* Sega 2008
Bob Ross: The Joy of Painting TBA TBA
Boogie EA 8/2007
Carnival Games 2K Games TBA
Chocobo's Dungeon: The City of Forgotten Time Square-Enix TBA
Cosmic Family Ubisoft 2007
Counter Force *NEW* Conspiracy 2007
Cruis'n *NEW* Midway 11/2007
Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party Konami 2007
Dave Mirra BMX Challenge Crave 8/2007
De Blob *NEW* THQ 2/2008
Destiny of Zorro Destineer TBA
Dewy's Adventure Koanmi 2007
Disaster: Day of Crisis Nintendo TBA
Donkey Kong Barrel Blast Nintendo 10/2007
Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire *NEW* D3 2007
Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors Square-Enix 2008
EA Playground EA 2007
EA Trivia *NEW* EA 2007
Endless Ocean Nintendo 10/2007
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers Square-Enix 2008
Final Furlong TBA TBA
Fire Emblem Nintendo 11/2007
Fishing Master *NEW* Konami TBA
Furu Furu Park *NEW* Majesco 2007
Game Party *NEW* Midway 11/2007
Garfield Gets Real *NEW* Destination 11/2007
Geometry Wars: Galaxies Sierra TBA
Ghost Squad Sega 12/2007
Godzilla: Unleashed Atari Q4 2007
Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour *NEW* Disney 2007
Harvest Moon Wii *NEW* Natsume Q2 2008
Hooked! Real Motion Fishing *NEW* Aksys 2007
Indianapolis 500 Legends *NEW* Destineer 2007
Jenga *NEW* Atari 2007
Kirby Adventure Nintendo TBA
Line Rider inXile 2007
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Sega 2007
Mario Kart Wii *NEW* Nintendo 2008
Mario Strikers Charged Nintendo 7/2007
Medal of Honor Heroes 2 *NEW* EA 2007
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Nintendo 8/2007
Mini Desktop Racing *NEW* Conspiracy 2007
Monster Trux Extreme *NEW* Conspiracy 2007
Mushroom Men Gamecock 2008
My Horse and Me *NEW* Atari 2007
My Sims EA TBA
My Word Coach Ubisoft Q4 2007
Myth Makers Super Kart GP *NEW* Conspiracy 2007
Namco Museum Remix Namco Bandai 2007
Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution D3 2007
Nights: Journey of Dreams Sega 2007
Ninjabread Man *NEW* Conspiracy 2007
Nitrobike *NEW* Ubisoft 2007
No More Heroes TBA TBA
Offroad Extreme *NEW* Conspiracy 2007
One Piece: Unlimited Adventure TBA TBA
Opoona Koei TBA
Orb TBA TBA
Project H.A.M.M.E.R. Nintendo TBA
Project PQRS *NEW* EA TBA
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 Ubisoft 2007
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles Capcom 2007
Rock N Roll Adventures: Elviz *NEW* Conspiracy 2007
Rygar: The Battle of Argus Tecmo TBA
Sadness TBA 2008
Samurai Slash Koei TBA
Showtime Championship Boxing Destination 2007
Soul Calibur Legends Namco Bandai 2007
Space Station Tycoon Namco Bandai 2007
Super Smash Bros. Brawl Nintendo 12/2007
Super Mario Galaxy Nintendo 11/2007
Super Swing Golf: Season 2 *NEW* Tecmo TBA
Thorn TBA TBA
Tramua Center: New Blood *NEW* Atlus 2007
Ultimate Duck Hunting *NEW* Detn8 8/2007
Wii Fit Nintendo 2007
Wii Music Nintendo TBA
Yamaha Supercross *NEW* Destination 2007
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure Capcom 2007
 
Quantity =/= Quality.

Wii is looking to turn into the Gamecube game wise. Top notch first party games and not much else.
 
most of what you listed is on PC as well, I dont know about you but I would rather play all those games on my PC
 
CodeX said:
Everything you listed is on PC as well, I dont know about you but I would rather play all those games on my PC
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Did you read the list? Half of them aren't on the PC, so no, Everything isn't on the pc as well.

However, we're talking about reasons to buy a console, and the ability to buy a game on the PC (usually later, and as a bad port) does not negate the ability of that game to sell on a console.

I'm still waiting for the awesome 3rd party games that you'll be listing. I can keep naming a dozen more 3rd party console only games for the ps3/360 if you'd like, while I wait for you to name one on the wii, other than the nebulous "people are starting to develop for the wii"
 
Opinions are like assholes... but here is what I am looking forward to from that list:

Animal Crossing Wii
Chocobo's Dungeon: The City of Forgotten Time - Chocobo Tales on DS is sweet
Disaster: Day of Crisis
Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire
Dragon Quest Swords
Endless Ocean
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers
Fire Emblem
Kirby Adventure
Mario Kart Wii
Mario Strikers Charged
Medal of Honor Heroes 2
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Project H.A.M.M.E.R.
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles
Soul Calibur Legends
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Mario Galaxy
Tramua Center: New Blood

Name as many 360/PS3 games you are looking forward to that can't be played on PC... and don't lie, because I didnt, I will buy or at least rent every one of those
 
I don't own a Wii yet, but I'm honestly glad to see that Nintendo managed to finally release another system that's really stirring up the gaming community.

Having grown up with Nintendo as a kid, it's good to see that the company still has plenty of life left in it. I remember a time when Nintendo was the uncontested king of video games. The genesis was a good system, don't get me wrong. Actually I even regret never owning one back then a little bit. However you can't deny that games like Contra, Castelvania, Paper Boy, Mario Brothers, Super Mario Brothers, Super Metroid, Star Fox, Final Fantasy 6, Chrono Trigger, etc weren't the most fun a kid could possibly have while sitting inside back then. :D

After the huge disappointment with the N64, Nintendo was never the same. That console had a few incredible games like Mario 64, Goldeneye, Ocarina of Time, Perfect Dark, etc. Unfortunately though there weren't many due to 3rd party developers jumping ship for a platform that wasn't cartridge based.

I just hope that Nintendo can keep this pace up by snaring as many quality 3rd party developers as they can, and learn that they shouldn't place so much importance on console gimmicks in the future.



.....okay, I think I'm going to go dust off my SNES now. :D
 
xerus` said:
Why do Wii threads always turn into serious business >:I
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Seriously, what's with all the lists?

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