I’m continuing to work on restoring forum integration with the main site. I encountered a significant breakthrough last night following a few hours of toiling away on the computer, which fixed some behind-the-scenes issues and will lead to the ultimate goal of linking both areas of the site.
I’m not sure how long it’ll take, but hopefully things will be completely back to normal by the end of the week.
The NPD Group no longer releases video game hardware numbers. And since Nintendo declined to put out a response for May’s NPD, official hardware numbers for the Wii, 3DS, and DS aren’t available.
Wedbush Securities, however, is reporting that Wii sales came in at 236,000 units. The firm also stated that the 3DS sold another 97,000 systems in May.
Wedbush provided the following commentary:
“The 3DS again failed to deliver the results we expected, leaving the industry outlook unclear near term. Without further price cuts for PS3 and 360, we expect hardware sales to trend down later in 2011, though we think that Sony and Microsoft may consider cuts around the holidays later this year. The Wii is likely to continue to have weak sales due to consumer anticipation with the Wii U, and we don’t expect the PS Vita to launch in the U.S. or Europe until next year due to supply constraints.”
This information comes from Ubisoft’s Michel Ancel, who was asked if believes Wii U is a next-generation machine…
“Not really. I think Wii U is next-gen in terms of interface. I think people are going to copy it, because you’ve got this mix between tablet, touch screen and big screen – big screen and little screen – there are a lot of possibilities. I don’t know if Sony will do it, or Microsoft – but yes, I think it’s a possibility. But I think the main thing is to have this – offering new ways to play is very interesting.”
As you can see above, Ancel didn’t exactly explain why he doesn’t view Wii U as a next-gen console. He seems to believe that the interface is, but not the console as a whole? I wonder why…
It looks like Tomonobu Itagaki is much more interested in bringing Devil’s Third to Wii U than originally thought. Speaking with Impress Watch, Itagaki said that the team is actively looking into releasing the title for Nintendo’s upcoming console and is excited about the possibility.
Interestingly, Itagaki tried out the Wii U for the first time at E3 last week. He believes that the console was made with Japan in mind as Japanese homes are small and don’t often contain numerous televisions. According to Itagaki, Japan has moved into a more portable mindset due to this. He told Impress Watch that streaming feature is Nintendo’s way of tackling low console sales in Japan. He added, “I believe it is a good idea.”
Devil’s Third is set for release in early 2013.
The ice cavern is one of the many areas that has been touched up in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. Specifically, Grezzo has recreated the room where you obtain the Iron Boots. It actually looks more like an ice cavern now!
This information comes from Nintendo’s UK marketing manager Rob Lowe…
“It’s absolutely fundamental to the success of Wii U to have better third party support than we’ve had in the past for our previous consoles. I think Mr Iwata totally recognises that. That’s why we had a Ubisoft round table session [during E3], that’s why John Ricitiello was on stage at our conference. And even at a local level we’re doing everything we can to support third parties much more than we have done in the past. It goes all the way through the company, from Nintendo Japan, to Nintendo Europe, to Nintendo UK. It’s very different for us to act like that because traditionally we would invest our time and money more into first party. We have a sightly different business model to Microsoft and Sony, who will obviously invest more money or marketing support in third party titles. It’s almost the opposite for us but I think we realise now we have to invest in a much bigger way in third party partners because there are certain types of games that we’re just not specialists at. If we want to create a console that will appeal across boundaries to all different types of gamers we’re going to need their support more than ever before. We’re hoping we’ll get a lot of exclusives as well because of the unique way the console is made. It is much easier for third parties to move their products across from Xbox 360 and PS3 to Wii U. However, the way that the controller has to make you think and make the developers think will hopefully mean that titles that are ported over will hopefully have individual features that aren’t on the other systems.”
You have to like how Nintendo is getting involved with third-parties so far. They’re publishing LEGO City Stories, had EA speak at their E3 conference, and had a roundtable at the show with Ubisoft. And there are also some amazing experiences on the way from outside companies. Having said that, I wonder how long third-parties will stick around if they start seeing poor sales for the hardcore titles they’re pushing out on the Wii U.
Nintendo of America PR director Mark Franklin on whether developers are required to use the screen transfer feature in every game…
“We’re not making any prerequisites to any of the developers to say ‘you have to do this, you have to do that.’ What we’re showing at this year’s show is just the possibilities. That’s just an example. Certainly, that’s a possibility.
Franklin on how easy it is for developers to implement the screen transfer feature…
“I’m not going to get into the technical side, but it’s certainly up to the developers to make that choices. We’ve shown what’s possible and now it’s up to the developers to come up with content.”
Sales estimates for Dead or Alive: Dimensions are in, courtesy of May’s NPD report. The bad news is that the title sold under 20,000 units in the United States last month. However, keep in mind that the tracking period recored just a few days of sales. Dimensions launched in the U.S. on May 24 while NPD’s May period ended on the 28th.
Right now it’s tough to say whether Dead or Alive: Dimensions is on the right track, but currently I’d say that the situation is a bit bleak. Less than 20,000 units for what is arguably one of the few must-have 3DS titles is far from encouraging. Right now there’s reason to be concerned, but it would be helpful if we’re able to eventually see a month full of sales. For reference, first week sales for Dimensions in Japan came in at 23,000 units.
