2013 NPD report: Spending up slightly in the US
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
NPD’s annual report for 2013 is in, and it reveals all sorts of figures about consumer spending in the US.
Last year, Americans spent $15.39 billion on new, used, rental and digital titles. Yet despite the seemingly high number, sales only saw a 1 percent increase year-over-year.
Physical sales were down in the states 11 percent compared to the year prior. However, digital and mobile transactions offset the decline.
Hardware sales increased by 5 percent year-over-year, resulting in a 2 percent gain in overall spending.
EA CFO Blake Jorgensen says mobile gaming won’t kill consoles
Posted on 10 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment
EA CFO Blake Jorgensen talked briefly about the role of smart-device (“mobile”) gaming in the culture of video gaming as a whole at the Stifel Tech, Internet, & Media Conference this past week, saying that he believes the two core experiences– mobile and console– to be fundamentally different, though they can compliment each other:
– Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen
He also said that most of the experiences people desire on consoles can’t be replicated on mobile devices yet, like the 64-player online battles in Battlefield 4. “Mobile is a much more quick, short burst of gameplay.”
Via Gamespot
More: Blake Jorgensen, EA
Nintendo once patented an illumination system
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Random, Wii | 8 Comments
Way back in August 2010, Nintendo filed a patent for an illumination system, which would seem to work with Wii in some fashion. The item was just published for viewing in the US database today.
Here’s an interesting abstract included with the filing:
An illumination system includes an information processing device capable of communicating with a server via a network and an illumination device capable of receiving a signal from the information processing device. The information processing device includes a reception portion and a lighting control portion. The reception portion receives instruction data from the server, and the instruction data indicates an instruction to cause the illumination device to emit light in accordance with a television broadcast image and/or audio. The lighting control portion outputs a control signal to the illumination device, and the control signal controls lighting by the illumination device based on the received instruction data. The illumination device sheds visible light in accordance with the control signal.
For what it’s worth, the original patent contained drawings in which the Wii is shown. It doesn’t seem like it’d be too tough to bring the tech over to Wii U, though whether Nintendo still has interest in the idea is unknown.
More: patent
Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures Inc. trademark “Phantom Gate”
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments
Last December, Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures Inc. filed a new trademark for “Phantom Gate”. Given the connection between all three companies, there’s a good chance this is Pokemon-related. A Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, perhaps?
More: Creatures Inc., Game Freak, top, trademark
Leaked magazine scans reveal new Pokémon
Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS, General Nintendo, Images, News, Screenshots | 3 Comments
Thought you were finally getting close to catching them all thanks to the recent release of Pokébank? Well too bad because it looks like another Pokémon is on the way, according to leaked scans from an upcoming CoroCoro magazine. This new Rock/Fairy type Pokémon, Diancie, brings the total number of monsters in the series to 719.
Wedbush January 2014 NPD predictions
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 3 Comments
Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter has provided his NPD hardware estimates for the month of July 2013.
Here’s the full roundup:
PlayStation 4 – 375,000 units
Xbox One – 350,000 units
Wii U – 60,000 units (would be up 5% year-over-year)
Pachter also says that fall/holiday titles from 2013 will drive software sales for January. These include Call of Duty: Ghosts, Battlefield 4, EA Sports’ titles, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Just Dance 2014, NBA 2K14 and GTA V.
Overall, software sales are anticipated to fall by 20 percent – $300 million this year compared to last year’s $373 million.
A continued decline in sales isn’t expect for the rest of 2014, Pachter says.
“In a nutshell, we think that the rapid ramp in sell-through for next generation consoles will cause an unprecedented ramp in next generation software sales, and notwithstanding current generation software sales weakness, we expect overall industry software sales to rebound into positive territory later this year. We believe this rebound is not only sustainable, but we expect it to be dramatic in the back half of the year, with double-digit gains expected.”
More: Michael Pachter, NPD, sales
Ubisoft, Sony Pictures Entertainment partner for Rabbids film
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Rabbids starting out as a gaming franchise. Then Ubisoft adapted the series into a television show. And now, the company has partnered with Sony Pictures Entertainment to bring Rabbids to theaters.
The Rabbids IP will be getting a full-length feature film in the future. Ubisoft Motion Pictures will be oversee and actively participate in the film’s production. Jonathan Kadin and Hannah Minghella, president of Production for Columbia Pictures, will oversee for Sony Pictures.
Head on below for the official announcement.
Nintendo has no complaints about Flappy Bird
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments
Flappy Bird, a mobile game that some say takes inspiration from Mario for its designs, is not at all an issue for Nintendo, a spokesperson has said.
The company’s Yasuhiro Minagawa told the Wall Street Journal that Nintendo did not issue any complaints about the title.
Minagawa stated:
“While we usually do not comment on the rumours and speculations, we have already denied the speculation.”
One could argue that Flappy Bird became a sensation in just a matter of days. However, the free game’s success led creator Dong Nguyen to take it down from the App Store and Google Play. Nguyen has said that there haven’t been any legal issues, and Nintendo’s comment reaffirms that the company did not play a role in its removal.
More: Dong Nguyen, Flappy Bird, Yasuhiro Minagawa
Square Enix trademarks “Luminaries of the Legendary Line” in the US
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment
Trademarks for potential Dragon Quest game localizations continue to appear. The latest, as spotted by Siliconera, is “Luminaries of the Legendary Line” registered in the US database.
Now the only question is: do these filings have anything to do with the Japanese Dragon Quest 3DS remakes? Or do they pertain to the smartphone remakes?
More Nintendo figmas in the works
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment
Max Factory has revealed three more Nintendo figmas currently in production. Zero Suit Samus (Metroid: Other M), Link (Zelda: A Link Between Worlds) and Cordelia (Fire Emblem: Awakening) will get new releases down the road. Samus and Link are both “regular” figmas while Cordelia will be a scaled figure.
Thanks to NutOfDeath for the tip.
