Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

The latest Injustice: Gods Among Us character saga is about to come to an end. We knew an announcement was coming this week, but NetherRealm Studios’ Ed Boon has now confirmed that the news will be revealed tomorrow. Thankfully this won’t be dragged out any longer.

Boon’s tweet reads:

Source

Posted on 10 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments

Details from the latest NIntendo annual report have come in, and it gives some interesting figures that really put things in perspective:

– Over the past 30 years, Nintendo has sold 653 million units of hardware.

– 268 million consoles, 385 million handhelds
– 2.195 billion units of software sold on home consoles
– 1.907 billion units of software for handhelds
– Software numbers include download software and bundled software

To put things in perspective: That works out to nearly 60,000 units of hardware sold every day on average, and nearly 375,000 units of software sold per day on average. The average software tie ratio? 6 games per unit of hardware.

That’s a lot of merchandise. Wowza.

Via Polygon

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos, Wii U | 6 Comments

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Square Enix’s latest financial results has some good, and it had some bad.

For the first quarter of the company’s fiscal 2014, Square Enix once again posted a loss, but didn’t see as big a downturn as it did last year. Net sales came in at 24 billion yen ($245.3 million) – a decrease from 24.9 billion yen year-over-year. Meanwhile, net loss stands at 493 million yen ($5 million), which is quite a bit better than last year’s 2 billion yen ($21.1 million) loss.

Square Enix’s Digital Entertainment division – primarily focused on video games – were up having posted net sales of 11.5 billion yen ($118 million) and an operating income of 1.3 billion yen ($13.4 million).

Square Enix states in its latest financial results that console game sales were “weak” following the lack of new titles shipped during the first quarter. Encouragingly, Dragon Quest X “has been showing steady performance.”

Source

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos, Wii U | 0 comments

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 1 Comment

Gamasutra recently had the chance to speak with Bayonetta 2 director Yusuke Hashimoto and producer Atsushi Inaba about the upcoming Wii U game as well as Platinum as a whole. Topics include working with Nintendo, elements of the actual game, and general talk about the studio.

You can find a few excerpts below, and the entire interview here.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 1 Comment

Just a short while ago, Nintendo published its 2013 annual report. It’s mostly filled with a lot of pretty pictures (find them above, because they’re neat) and sales data, but it also features a message from president Satoru Iwata.

Iwata reiterated Nintendo’s “basic strategy” relating to “the expansion of the gaming population, which is to encourage as many people in the world as possible, regardless of age, gender or gaming experience, to embrace and enjoy playing video games.”

Later in his message, Iwata commented on Nintendo’s financial situation. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, he hopes that the company will be able to once again achieve “Nintendo-like” profits. Nintendo intends to continue creating “brand-new and unique proposals, and make efforts for the growth of the home entertainment industry with a mission that is to pleasantly surprise people and put smiles on the faces of everyone Nintendo touches.”

You can find Iwata’s full note below.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, General Nintendo, News, Wii Shop Channel | 3 Comments

This month’s digital rewards on Club Nintendo have gone live. Members can choose from Mario Golf (3DS, 150 coins), Brain Age Express: Sudoku (3DS, 150 coins), Wario’s Woods (150 coins, Wii), and NES Play Action Football (Wii, 150 coins). These items last through September 1.

Visit this page to order a downloadable game.

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos | 0 comments

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 5 Comments

How do new projects inside Nintendo begin? How are new ideas fostered? Company officials gave an inside look of sorts through an explanation provided to SAIPO:

“In software development, there’s no proposal to the actual company. At first, 2-3 people bring the idea to the table, and then actually write the program and build a prototype game. As the project moves forward, more people are hired, and the game gradually takes shape. In the end, the team will end up between 30-50 people, and if it is a large title, it can get up to 70 people.”

For Japanese manufacturers, elements such as the suggested retail price, date, overview, expected costs, and making a proposal describing the workforce along with other items are what leads to approval for the beginning of development. When it comes to Nintendo, however, there is no proposal to stop the ability to develop freely. Employees can actually build a prototype, and as long as the game is interesting, it has a shot at getting the green light.

Mid-level executives from Nintendo also said:

“We don’t have a concept of ‘continually getting better and better’ within the company, because this doesn’t apply to making new things. We don’t mission statement, motto, or song to support this thinking either. We are just a company that is blind to this idea.”

Also worth noting, the privileges of the development team are rather large – even if the president has a chance to intervene, he doesn’t do so often. As an example, some consoles such as the Nintendo 64 didn’t sell particularly well, but from possible failure, there is a simple corporate thinking of always being able to challenge the situation.