Along with today’s screenshot, Sakurai passed along the following message on Miiverse:
“Is is just me or do I smell something beastly…?”
EA earned $695 in revenue across console, mobile, and PC software sales during the latest financial quarter. Unsurprisingly, just $9 million of the total came from Wii U and Wii U titles, or 1.3 percent.
If you were to disregard handheld and PC sales, Wii and Wii U’s total increases to 3 percent. Still, that’s nothing compared to the Xbox 360 (54 percent) and PlayStation 3 (42 percent).
Also worth mentioning, handheld sales encompass 14 percent of all EA mobile sales. Sony handhelds take up 8 percent while Nintendo portables account for 6 percent.
This week’s Japanese software sales are as follows:
01./01. [3DS] Pokemon X / Y #
02./00. [PS3] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2013
03./00. [PS3] BlazBlue: Chronophantasma #
04./02. [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 #
05./03. [PS3] Grand Theft Auto V
06./00. [PSP] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2013
07./00. [PSV] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2013
08./04. [3DS] Battle For Money Sentouchuu: Densetsu no Shinobi no Survival Battle!
09./00. [PSP] Kamigami no Itazura #
10./00. [PSP] Diabolik Lovers: More, Blood #
11./10. [PSV] Dangan-Ronpa 1-2: Reload
12./00. [PS3] Samurai Warriors 2 with Xtreme Legends & Empires HD Version #
13./06. [PS3] FIFA 14 #
14./13. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf #
15./11. [3DS] Friend Collection: New Life #
16./08. [PS3] Soccer Tsuku: Pro Soccer Club!
17./09. [PS3] Tales of Symphonia Chronicles
18./00. [3DS] Sonic Lost World
19./17. [3DS] Disney Magic Castle: My Happy Life #
20./07. [PS3] Beyond: Two Souls
The latest Japanese hardware sales from Media Create are as follows:
3DS LL – 69,001
3DS – 40,507
Vita – 24,513
PS3 – 11,460
PSP – 3,807
Wii U – 2,598
Wii – 742
Xbox 360 – 351
For comparison’s sake, here are the hardware numbers from last week:
3DS LL – 94,988
3DS – 59,590
Vita – 25,763
PS3 – 11,643
PSP – 3,651
Wii U – 2,999
Wii – 806
Xbox 360 – 539
With the Super Mario Galaxy games, it was the first time we saw Nintendo truly taking advantage of a live orchestra. Super Mario 3D World, the company’s latest 3D platformer, will be receiving similar treatment.
Destructoid managed to obtain confirmation from lead composer Mahito Yokota that many tracks will feature a live performance.
He told the site:
“There are naturally a lot of tracks performed live. We’re arranging the music with a big-band feel, taking advantage of a full horn section with trumpets and saxophones.”
Nintendo’s latest financial results are in. The company did just about what most had expected – the Wii U struggled, but the 3DS continued to perform very well.
Here’s the full overview of Nintendo’s performance:
– 300,000 Wii U consoles sold in the three month period to September 30th
– That’s double the 160,000 sold in the prior three months
– Wii U has sold only 460,000 worldwide in the six month period to September 30th
– An average of 76,666 units a month worldwide
– Lifetime Wii U sales are 3.91 million
– Nintendo not likely to reach its nine million sales expectation by the end of its 2014 financial year
– Pikmin 3 and Zelda: Wind Waker HD did not significantly boost console sales during the six month period in which both games were released
– Nintendo’s net sales: 196.5 billion yet
– Loss of 23.2 million yen
– Nintendo statement: “The Wii U hardware still has a negative impact on Nintendo’s profits”
– Nintendo blamed the loss on a markdown in the US and Europe, plus advertising and research/development for Wii U
– Animal Crossing: New Leaf has sold 2.49 million units worldwide
– Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D all showing “steady sales”
– Global 3DS sales: 3.89 million for the period
– 27.38 million games sold during the period
– 3DS has now sold 34.98 million units worldwide since launch to the end of September 2013
– Nintendo not revising its forecast for the 2014 financial year even with the loss and Wii U’s poor sales
– Pokemon X/Y “showed extremely strong initial sales, further propelling the popularity of the system”
– Wii U: “we attempt to concentrate on proactively releasing key first-party titles towards the coming year in order to regain momentum for the platform”
– Nintendo pointed to Wii Party U and Super Mario 3D World
– Wii U will be offered “at an affordable price by bundling software with the system”
– New promotional activities for Wii Fit U
– Nintendo also hopes to improve digital revenue and hardware profitability for both Wii U and 3DS by reducing their manufacturing cost
You can find Nintendo’s full financial results here.
For the release of Bravely Default: For the Sequel, Square Enix is preparing a set of drama CDs known as “Reunion Festival”. Japanese fans will have access to an all-original script starting on December 25th, which is about “bringing the important people back together for a celebratory meeting”.
CD buyers will also receive a special download code for four costumes. These include a Dimensional Officer suit for Tiz, Bunny Bravo costume for Agnes, a Dukedom Civil Officer Apprentice outfit for Edea, and a rather odd piece of garb for Ringabel.
Nintendo tends to make use of various art styles with the Zelda games. We’ve seen approaches that have been realistic, cel-shaded, and even impressionistic.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker most definitely introduced the biggest change in the series. No one saw the cartoon-like visuals coming, and the style initially caused quite the uproar. It’s in part due to Wind Waker’s original reception that it seems as though Nintendo will be more cautious with art styles in future Zeldas.
Eiji Aonuma, speaking with GamesTM this month, said the development team “will be a bit more careful in the future” with regard to the visual direction of Zelda entries. That being said, Aonuma would be willing “to break new ground again” if an approach was created that would appeal to the developers and players.
Aonuma told the magazine:
“We encountered an awful lot of problems from the drastic leap we took with Wind Waker. I think we will be a bit more careful in the future, but if we find a new approach that not just the developers, but also the users would enjoy then I think we will want to break new ground again. But we haven’t found such an approach yet.”
Thanks to joclo for sending this our way.
Nintendo has announced the 2013 Japanese Club Nintendo Platinum rewards. Members who reached the status this year will receive a download code for Advance Wars: Day of Ruin as well as a calender.
Advance Wars’ inclusion as a reward is particularly noteworthy. Nintendo never released Days of Ruin in Japan, but is now doing so through Club Nintendo.
Platinum members can download the title as a DSiWare title starting today. Nintendo will also allow all Japanese Club Nintendo users to pick up Advance Wars: Days of Ruin for 800 points beginning in May 2014.
