This week’s Famitsu has revealed Hot Blooded Tough Guy Kunio: Fighting Concerto for the 3DS. The game will incorporate new modes and features a brand new story. Interestingly, some members from the original team are involved as supervisors.
Hot Blooded Tough Guy Kunio: Fighting Concerto launches in Japan on August 8. Pricing has not been announced.
A new Okami announcement of sorts is coming next week. On Twitter, the official Japanese Okami Twitter account writes:
“Hello, this is Okami news. Sorry I’ve been kind of out of touch lately, but I have the feeling we’ll be able to drop a fresh announcement like WHAM! around the beginning of Golden Week, so please look forward to it. Right now we’re on track with preparations.”
Famitsu has a tease of its own in its latest issue which states:
“The new game to bring fans tears of happiness finally comes to life! A must-see!”
Could the two teases be connected…?
Nintendo hasn’t said much about the new 3D Mario action game and Mario Kart title for Wii U. Both were mentioned briefly during a Nintendo Direct a few months ago, but other than that… nada!
Despite the silence, could these two anticipated titles be coming to market this year? An inclusion in Nintendo’s financial results announcement seems to point in this direction.
“Based on the strong lineup of upcoming software titles for both the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U systems, Nintendo expects to return to Operating Income profitability by the end of the current fiscal year. During the next several months, Nintendo expects to launch new titles in the Mario Kart (Wii U), Super Mario Bros. (Wii U), Wii Fit (Wii U), Pikmin (Wii U), The Legend of Zelda (Wii U and Nintendo 3DS), Mario & Luigi (Nintendo 3DS) and Pokémon (Nintendo 3DS) franchises. These games, along with titles from Nintendo’s third-party publishing partners, will help drive hardware momentum and introduce new audiences to the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS platforms.”
The new Mario and Mario Kart games will be playable at this year’s E3, so they must be fairly far along in development. It’d be pretty crazy to see both of them in the same year, though.
This week’s Japanese software sales are as follows:
01./00. [3DS] Friend Collection: New Life #
02./00. [PS3] Naruto Shippuden: Narutimate Storm 3
03./00. [PSP] 7th Dragon 2020-II
04./01. [3DS] Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon
05./03. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf #
06./00. [PSP] Amnesia Crowd #
07./02. [3DS] Card Fight!! Vanguard: Ride to Victory!!
08./04. [PS3] One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 #
09./25. [3DS] Tousouchuu: Shijou Saikyou no Hunter-Tachi Kara Nigekire!
10./00. [360] Monster Hunter Frontier: G1 Premium Package
11./09. [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2 #
12./05. [PS3] Pro Baseball Spirits 2013
13./16. [3DS] Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Best Price!)
14./08. [PSP] Pro Baseball Spirits 2013
15./10. [PSP] Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment #
16./07. [PSV] Muramasa Rebirth
17./15. [3DS] Mario Kart 7
18./11. [PS3] Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX
19./12. [PSV] Soul Sacrifice #
20./06. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Super Deluxe Edition #
The latest Japanese hardware sales from Media Create are as follows:
3DS LL – 57,089
3DS – 18,833
Vita – 15,011
PS3 – 13,915
Wii U – 8,798
PSP – 7,816
Wii – 1,379
Xbox 360 – 515
For comparison’s sake, here are the hardware numbers from last week:
3DS LL – 28,139
3DS – 18,584
Vita – 14,112
PS3 – 14,039
Wii U – 9,984
PSP – 7,566
Wii – 1,383
Xbox 360 – 492
The 3DS has many, many great games. In some cases, some of these titles have stayed in Japan.
Nintendo did recently announce that it will be publishing Bravely Default in the west, a high-quality title that 3DS owners have long been looking forward to.
The Big N’s efforts with Japanese software releases in North America and Europe won’t stop there. In its latest financial report, Nintendo said that it is “planning to more actively support the Japanese software developers in distributing their key titles overseas.”
Nintendo’s goals in full for the 3DS are as follows:
For “Nintendo 3DS,” in order to set in the overseas markets the same trend as in the Japanese market, we will concentrate on proactively releasing key Nintendo titles. “Animal Crossing: New Leaf,” a hit title which contributed to sales growth in Japan, will be released in the U.S. and Europe in June 2013, and the latest titles from the Pokémon series, “Pokémon X Version/Pokémon Y Version,” will be released globally in October 2013. In addition, we are planning to more actively support the Japanese software developers in distributing their key titles overseas. In Japan, we continuously strive to stimulate the market by releasing new titles such as “Tomodachi Collection,” launched on April 18, 2013 as a sequel to the popular “Nintendo DS” version of “Tomodachi Collection.” Furthermore, in overseas markets, we will more actively attempt to boost the sales rate of the downloadable format of packaged software, a sales method that we started last summer, in order to increase the number of new sales opportunities and improve our profitability.
The Wii U is struggling in the marketplace right now. In order to improve the situation, Nintendo is planning on releasing more software for the system.
That makes sense, right? When you have quality software and games that people care about, that should lead to some increase in hardware sales.
Nintendo noted in its latest financial report that it will be launching “key Nintendo titles from the second half of this year through next year in order to regain momentum for the platform.” The company will also look to “improve the sales by communicating the compelling nature of our hardware and software” through Miiverse. Finally, improving hardware profitability is another goal, which will lead to reduced costs.
For the “Wii U” system, launched in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013, there were some delays in software development that resulted in intervals between new software title releases at the early stage of this year. Taking this into consideration, for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, we plan to concentrate on proactively releasing key Nintendo titles from the second half of this year through next year in order to regain momentum for the platform. Nintendo strives to improve the sales by communicating the compelling nature of our hardware and software to as many people as possible through our new network service called “Miiverse,” which offers an environment where people can empathize with others and share their gaming experiences. We also strive to reduce costs to improve hardware profitability.
Paradox Interactive is working on Magicka – Wizards of the Square Tablet for Android and iOS devices. Unfortunately, the company has no plans to bring the game to either of Nintendo’s platforms at this time.
When asked if Paradox has any interest in bringing Magicka – Wizards of the Square Tablet to the Wii U or 3DS, the studio responded:
“At this point there are no plans to bring the game to those platforms.”
Well, you can’t have them all!
Nintendo today reported financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013. After reporting a net loss in its previous fiscal year, Nintendo was able to return to profitability in both Net and Ordinary Income for the full year, although Operating Income remained negative.
Based on the strong lineup of upcoming software titles for both the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U systems, Nintendo expects to return to Operating Income profitability by the end of the current fiscal year. During the next several months, Nintendo expects to launch new titles in the Mario Kart (Wii U), Super Mario Bros. (Wii U), Wii Fit (Wii U),Pikmin (Wii U), The Legend of Zelda (Wii U and Nintendo 3DS), Mario & Luigi (Nintendo 3DS) and Pokémon (Nintendo 3DS) franchises. These games, along with titles from Nintendo’s third-party publishing partners, will help drive hardware momentum and introduce new audiences to the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS platforms.
