Posted on 15 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment

29-year-old Takao Ike of Kanagawa Prefecture has been arrested for making consistent bomb threats to Hudson. The man has been thoroughly unhappy with some of Hudson’s recent games. From October 2008 to January 16 2009, Ike has carried out 11 different threats against the company by sending emails. In one email, the man also said he was sending a bomb to the company and would kill everyone. At one point, Ike had demanded 80 trillion yen.

In the words of Takao Ike himself, he said that he sent the threats “because I posted my demands concerning the games, but the games didn’t improve.”

Source 1, Source 2

Posted on 15 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Activision
Atari, Inc.
Atlus U.S.A.
Azuradisc, Inc.
Basco Distribution
BDA
Bethesda Softworks
Brady Games
Capcom USA
CH Products
Conny
Creative Mind Interactive Inc.
CTA Digital, Inc.
DDR Game
Digiwinner Limited
Disney Interactive Studios
dreamGEAR
egameforless
Eidos Interactive
Electronic Arts
Epic Games
EZ Games Distribution, Inc.
Game Center Distribution Inc.
Game Outlet Europe
Game Source, Inc.
GAMETech
GelaSkins
Graffiti Entertainment, Inc.
iBeta Quality Assurance
IGN.com
Innex, Inc.
Iron Will Creations Inc.
J.F.J. Disc Repair
K2 Network
Kaltman Creations
KOEI Corporation
Konami Digital Entertainment
Leashtec
Majesco Entertainment
Matcom Distribution
Mayflash Limited
Microsoft Corporation
Midway
MTV Games
Namco Bandai Games America
Nintendo of America
Penguin United
Performance Designed Products
Prima Games/Random House, Inc
Rampid Interactive
Rebellion
RTI Disc Repair
Scanavo North America LTD
SEGA of America, Inc.
Sony DADC
Sony Online Entertainment
Square Enix, Inc
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.
THQ
Turtle Beach
U.S. Games Distribution, Inc.
Ubisoft Entertainment
USERJOY Technology Co., Ltd
Video Game Advantage
Warner Bros. Interactive
Z-Best Audio & Video Inc.
ZeroPlus Technology Co., Ltd

Source

Posted on 15 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments

Two unnamed men attempted to rob a GameStop store in Solon, Ohio an hour before closing time last night. The incident involved a one hour standoff. Fortunately, no deaths or injuries have been reported and police were able to diffuse the situation without firing a single shot.

According to reports, the manager of this particular GameStop was speaking with another manager in Macedonia at approximately 8 p.m. when the two men tried to rob it. Cops came rushing to the scene with members of the SWAT team after they were notified that the store in Solon was being robbed. Police were told that one suspect was inside of GameStop while another was trying to escape by climbing through the ceiling and crawling out of a Mitchell’s ice cream shop.

Eventually, the suspect still inside the store gave himself up, followed soon after by the second suspect. Both men were arrested.

This is not the first time that GameStop in Solon has been robbed. This most recent event marks the second/third time that robbers have targeted the store in the past year.

Source 1, Source

Posted on 15 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment

“Japanese game companies are notorious for not ‘getting it’. They are thought of as slow moving, orthodox, and out of touch. One of the places where Japanese companies seem to not ‘get it’ is community. Sure, you may have an American branch leading a great community effort, but it is very rare for a Japanese company to reach out in a meaningful way to its Western users. PlatinumGames.com is our attempt at getting it right. It isn’t simply a translation of our Japanese webpage.” – Note on PlatinumGames.com

You really have to love PlatinumGames. Not only are they completely devoted developers, but they really care about their fans, including Westerners.

Source 1, Source 2

Posted on 15 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

In a recent interview, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick confirmed that DJ Hero does exist. The game had been rumored to be in development from a few sources, but nothing was confirmed by Activision up to this point. Unfortunately, Kotick did not discuss platform details. However, that information should be known in the near future.

“We have the product called DJ Hero that’s coming out later this year which is a turntable that you can actually play competitively and spin discs and mix songs.”

Source

Posted on 15 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Thanks to Billy for the news tip!

Source

Posted on 15 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Market leaders initiate the industry’s own platform as a combination offline/online event

From 31 July to 2 August 2009, Leipziger Messe presents a new games fair. Headlined GAMES CONVENTION ONLINE, it is the first independent platform in Europe for what is currently the most dynamic market in the gaming industry: browser, client and mobile games. The new gaming trade show is supported by market leaders in the online industry such as BIGPOINT and GAMEFORGE.

Carsten van Husen, CEO at GAMEFORGE 4D, emphasises the need for the industry to have its own platform: “The size achieved and the dynamics for growth in the market for online games really cry out for a strong fair – in Europe too. Given our domestic industry’s leading world role for this segment, Germany is predestined to serve as the location.” GAMEFORGE is the biggest independent provider of online games worldwide. More than 65 million gamers are registered for GAMEFORGE games which are on offer in 50 languages.

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Posted on 15 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment

Jan. 28, 2009
Nintendo Reports Third Quarter Financials For Fiscal Year 2009
Global Sales Mark 17% Growth Over Previous Year

Despite nearly unprecedented strength of the yen against major foreign currencies, Nintendo Co., Ltd. on Thursday (Japan time) reported 9-month (April to December 2008) global sales of 1,536 billion yen, an increase of nearly 17% over the same period in 2007, along with 501 billion yen of operating profits, up 27% from a year ago. This marks the fourth consecutive year that Nintendo Co., Ltd. has exceeded the previous results for the same nine month period. At the same time, recurring and net profits for the same nine month periods each declined about 18% due to 174 billion yen of foreign currency reevaluation losses from assets held in currencies other than Japanese yen (such as bank deposits without forward exchange contracts).

For the full fiscal year ending March 31, 2009, the company revised its unit sales forecast for the portable Nintendo DS™ system upward by 3% to 31.5 million globally, while the DS software forecast was lowered by 7% to 193 million. For the Wii™ system, with softness in the Japanese consumer market, full year global unit sales estimates for both hardware and software were revised downward by 3%, to 26.5 million systems and 193 million games, respectively, in spite of the overall robust sales outside Japan.

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Posted on 15 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments

Two men from Russellville, Arkansas were arrested on Saturday in connection to the theft of 114 video games. Markique Collins, 24, and Thomas Dixon, 25, stole the video game merchandise by hiding three to four games at a time in their pants. Stealing video games has been an ongoing activity for the two since December 9, 2008.

Det. Bobby Stevens of the Russellville Police Department testified at a bond hearing on Monday and said that Collins and Dixon stole about $6,000 worth of video game merchandise from Hastings Books, Music & Video. By concealing products in their pants, sensors were prevented from picking up that the games were being stolen. The two would go home and remove all security devices and stickers and then go back to GameStop to sell them.

A former employee of Hastings (who now works at GameStop) had been able to pick up on the situation. His store was receiving quite a few games from the two men and noticed that a sticky residue remained where Hastings typically places its stickers. Following this, the Hastings store was able to find video of the suspects stealing video games. Both Collins and Dixon have admitted to their wrongdoings. District Judge Don Bourne set Collins’ bond at $25,000 and Dixon’s at $10,000. The two men have been strictly warned to stay away from Wal-Mart – where they were arrested from criminal trespass not too long ago – in addition to Hastings and GameStop and Wal-Mart.

Posted on 15 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Nintendo Chief Returns to the GDC to Kick-Off Main Conference With Lecture Focused on Discovering New Development Opportunities

SAN FRANCISCO—Jan. 27, 2009— Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo Co., Ltd. will deliver a keynote address at the 2009 Game Developers Conference, kicking-off the main conference’s schedule of lectures, panel discussions and roundtables that provide the central forum for learning, inspiration, and networking in the games industry. The address, “Discovering New Development Opportunities” marks Iwata-san’s first return to the GDC keynote stage since 2006. The Game Developers Conference takes place March 23-27 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.

Being a developer himself, Iwata’s keynote lectures at the Game Developers Conference are known for inspiring other developers to think about creating games in new and different ways. His 2005 keynote gave developers the first information about the technology being used for the next-generation console then codenamed “Revolution” which has since become known as the Wii. In 2006, Iwata spoke about “disrupting development,” and introduced the Western development community to philosophies on engaging new players, surprising existing players and the role the company’s video game systems would play in expanding the market and widening the possibilities for developers.
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