Wii

Report: Netflix Streaming Also Coming to Nintendo Wii

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 29, 2009 - 8:33am.
New York - Netflix (NASD: NFLX) will make its on-demand streaming of movies and TV episodes available on the Nintendo Wii, joining the recent addition of Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 and previous exclusive streaming partner, Microsoft's (NASD: MSFT) Xbox 360, according to StreamingMedia.com analyst Dan Rayburn.
tags: Games | TV | Movies | Nintendo | Netflix | Wii | Wii HD |

Report: U.S. Game Sales Up 1%; Sony PS3 Leads for First Time

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 20, 2009 - 7:43am.
Port Washington, N.Y. - Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 for the first time ever led U.S. video game sales in September, which on the whole rose 1% from a year ago after several months of  decline, according to sales figures compiled by market research firm NPD Group. Overall sales were $1.28 billion in September; despite Sony's success, game hardware sales fell 6% from a year ago, to $472 million.

Nintendo Cuts Price of Wii to $199

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 24, 2009 - 6:09am.
Redmond, Wash. - Confirming reports from earlier this week, Nintendo officially announced on Thursday that it will knock $50 off the price of its popular Wii video game console, which as of Sunday will retail for $199. Nintendo was the last of the big three console makers to discount its current-generation console; both Sony and Microsoft recently made price cuts on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, respectively.
tags: Games | Nintendo | Wii | Retail |

Reports: Nintendo to Knock $50 Off Wii Price

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 23, 2009 - 12:56pm.
Redmond, Wash. - Nintendo plans to knock $50 off the price of its popular Wii video game console next week, which would bring the cost to $200, according to reports from Engadget and Kotaku. The price cut will reportedly take effect on Sept. 27 at Best Buy and other retailers. Nintendo is the only one of the three big console makers to have not yet cut the price of its current-generation game console.

tags: Games | Nintendo | Wii | Retail |

Report: U.S. Video Games Sales Sink for 6th Straight Month

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 11, 2009 - 7:03am.
Port Washington, N.Y. - U.S. video game sales slid for the six month in a row in August, down 16% from a year ago to $909 million, and are now down 14% year-to-date, according to sales data compiled by market research firm NPD Group. Hardware sales fell 25%, to $298 million, although NPD noted that all consoles except Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PS2 realized sales increases over July levels.

Report: Xbox 360 Console Most Likely to Fail; Wii is Most Reliable

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 2, 2009 - 10:33am.
San Francisco - Microsoft's (NASD: MSFT) Xbox 360 consoles fail at a rate of 23.7% during their first two years of use, compared with a failure rate of 10% for Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 and just 2.7% for Nintendo's Wii, according to a survey of 16,000 failed consoles conducted by warranty provider Square Trade.

Nintendo Settles Patent Infringement Claims From Hillcrest Labs

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2009 - 9:40am.
Redmond, Wash  - Nintendo has settled patent infringement claims brought against the company by Rockville, Md.-based Hillcrest Laboratories, over the motion-control features of the Wii console remote control, Bloomberg reported.

Sony Introduces PlayStation 3 "Slim" With $299 Price Tag

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 18, 2009 - 10:24am.
Foster City, Calif. - Sony Computer Entertainment (NYSE: SNE) has announced plans to introduce a cheaper, slimmer version of its PlayStation 3, which will sell for $299 when it goes on sale Sept. 1. At $299, the PS3 "Slim" is still more expensive than Microsoft's Xbox 360 or Nintendo's Wii.

Report: U.S. Game Sales Plunge 31% to $1.17B in June

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 17, 2009 - 7:18am.
Port Washington, N.Y. - U.S. video game sales plunged 31% in June, to $1.17 billion, the most precipitous drop since the industry saw a 41% year-over-year decline in September 2000, according to figures from market research firm NPD Group. "This is one of the first months where I think the impact of the economy is clearly reflected in the sales numbers," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

Judge Tosses Patent Infringement Claim Against Nintendo

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 12, 2009 - 8:17am.
Redmond, Wash. - Nintendo of America announced on Friday that a federal judge in Los Angeles has dismissed a patent claim against the company brought by Guardian Media Technologies, which sued a host of companies for allegedly infringing its technology that sets parental controls on DVD players.

Nintendo Working on New Zelda for Wii; May Release in 2010

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 3, 2009 - 12:26pm.
London - Nintendo plans to release a new "Legend of Zelda" title for the Wii that it hopes to release some time next year. Legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto showed key artwork from the game to a closed-door audience after Nintendo's larger press conference at the E3 tradeshow yesterday. Miyamoto said the title could end up being exclusively controlled by the company's forthcoming Wii MotionPlus controller, "but some people think of Zelda as more of an RPG with simpler controls, so trying to think of a way to keep everyone happy is going to occupy me."  

Report: U.S. Video Game Sales Down 17% Again in April

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 15, 2009 - 5:23am.
Port Washington, N.Y. - U.S. video game sales were down 17% in April to $1.03 billion, the second decline in as many months for an industry that had previously shown resilience in the current economy, according to sales data compiled by market research firm NPD Group. While game software sales plunged 23% year-over-year, to $510.7 million, NPD noted that April 2008's numbers up were nearly 50% on 2007, fueled by the release of blockbusters "Mario Kart" and "Grand Theft Auto 4."

Nintendo Debuts Free VOD Service for Wii in Japan

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 4, 2009 - 11:31am.
Tokyo - Nintendo has launched a free video-on-demand service for its Wii console in Japan that features entirely original programming, Wired.com reported. The "Wii no Ma" service -- a play on the Japanese word for "living room" (ocha no ma) -- includes sponsored programming on a variety of topics, including documentaries and cooking shows. The company is reportedly expected to launch a similar service in the U.S. this year; it's unclear whether it will also feature original programming, or merely offer libraries of downloadable movies and TV shows like the Xbox and PlayStation.

tags: Games | Video | Nintendo | Wii | Wii no Ma |

Sony PlayStation 3 Outsold Nintendo Wii in Japan Last Month

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 6, 2009 - 9:34am.
Tokyo - The Sony (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 outsold the Nintendo Wii in Japan for the first time in 16 months in March, Reuters reported, citing sales data calculated by Japanese magazine Enterbrain.

Report: U.S. Game Sales Up 10% in February to $1.47 Billion

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 20, 2009 - 7:59am.
Port Washington, N.Y. - The U.S. video game industry continued to buck the economic downturn in February, with sales up 10% from a year ago to $1.47 billion, led, once again, by strong sales of Nintendo's Wii and DS systems, according to a report from market research firm NPD Group. "The U.S. video games industry continues to post strong year-over-year comps despite the tough economy. Unit sales increased even more than dollar sales did, reflecting a slightly lower average retail price for all categories as compared to last year," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

Report: Online Gaming Grows on Consoles, Declines on PC

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 10, 2009 - 12:30pm.
New York - Online gaming grew in popularity from 19% in 2008 to 25% this year among the 20,000 respondents recently polled by market research firm NPD Group.

Report: U.S. Video Game Sales Up 13% in January to $1.33B

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 13, 2009 - 10:04am.
Port Washington, N.Y. - Continuing to buck the overall economy, U.S. video game sales were up 13% in January, to $1.33 billion, once again led by strong sales of Nintendo's Wii and DS hardware, according to a report from market research firm NPD Group. Game hardware sales grew 17%, to $445.4 million, while game software sales were up 10% and accessories sales increased 10%. "At this point in the console lifecycle, we would expect to see a greater percentage of total industry sales generated by software sales, but the continued strength in hardware sales is changing that scenario a bit," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

Nintendo Surprisingly Cuts Profit Forecast By 33%

Authored by Jay Baage on January 29, 2009 - 12:42pm.
Tokyo, Japan - Nintendo, the maker of the popular Wii games console, stunned the market on Thursday with a 33% cut of its profit forecasts to 230 billion yen ($2.6 billion) in the year ending March 31. Nintendo cut its Wii sales forecast for this fiscal year by 1 million consoles to 26.5 million.
tags: Games | Reports | CE | Nintendo | Wii | Japan | Earnings |

Report: U.S. Game Sales Rise 10% in November to $2.91B

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2008 - 8:47am.

Port Washington, N.Y. - Once again bucking the overall economic downturn, U.S. video game sales were up 10% in November, to $2.91 billion, while year-to-date sales are up 22%, to $16.04 billion compared with $13.14 billion at the same point a year ago. "One reason for the continued strength of the industry compared to other forms of entertainment comes from a number of sources," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "Certainly, the expanded audience for gaming due to the availability of a wider variety of compelling content is a strong contributor. Economic factors are also at play given that a video game is a relatively inexpensive form of entertainment for the hours of value it provides. Our Consumer Spending Indicator shows that video games is the category consumers are least likely to cut back on this holiday."

Disney Releases "Ultimate Band" Music Game for Wii, DS

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 25, 2008 - 10:42am.

Burbank, Calif. - Disney Interactive Studios (NYSE: DIS) on Tuesday announced the release of "Ultimate Band" for the Nintendo Wii and DS. Developed by Utah-based Fall Line Studio, the game features tracks including "Fell In Love With a Girl," "Whip It" and "My Generation." Ultimate Band also lets players lay down their own tracks; the DS version features a "built-in recording studio," according to Disney.

tags: Games | Music | Disney | DS | Wii | Ultimate Band |