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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 7 Comments

“Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 50-Fact Extravaganza” seemed to have been a very smart move for Nintendo. According to president Satoru Iwata, pre-orders increased “rapidly” after the presentation was shown.

Iwata stated during the company’s latest investor briefing yesterday:

As I have mentioned, “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS” kicked off very well. Now I would like to explain how it will affect the Wii U installment.

As for bringing the “Super Smash Bros.” franchise into multiplatform format and releasing the Nintendo 3DS version first, there had been skepticism that each would end up consuming the demand for the other or it would weaken a key title for the Wii U platform. We now have a strong belief that our decision is giving the “Super Smash Bros.” franchise even more momentum. On the morning of October 24 in Japan, we released a trailer titled “Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 50-Fact Extravaganza.” A great number of people watched it online and we received a large amount of feedback.

The two installments of “Super Smash Bros.” are packed with elements that utilize the specific features of each platform. Before disclosing the “Extravaganza” trailer, people had been skeptical of whether we could actually have 50 new facts about the Wii U version. But as the trailer showcased the differences between the two versions, which seemed to surpass expectations, pre-orders for the Wii U version rapidly started to increase.

“Super Smash Bros.” is the most appealing when played together with others, and as the two versions have noticeable differences, they will not cannibalize each other. Rather, as more copies of the Nintendo 3DS version are sold and more people enjoy it, the momentum for the Wii U version becomes stronger.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 3 Comments

Check out some noteworthy comments from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata regarding overseas 3DS sales below:

When it comes to the overseas markets, we do not plan to launch New Nintendo 3DS/3DS XL for the U.S. or Europe this year. Additionally, there are only a couple of big titles, “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS,” and “Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire,” overseas as no “YOKAI WATCH” franchises or “Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate” will be scheduled this year there. Based on these observations, some might wonder if, apart from the domestic market, the sales of Nintendo 3DS will really be able to gain momentum in the overseas markets.

The overseas markets are different from the Japanese market in both their stages of popularization of Nintendo 3DS and their market characteristics.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 1 Comment

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata discussed strong pre-orders sales for Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire during the company’s latest financial results briefing yesterday. Read on below for his comments.

In addition, we have had very strong pre-orders for “Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire” to be released around the world in November. As you can see from the slide comparing them with those for “Pokémon X” and “Pokémon Y” released last year, the momentum of pre-orders has been robust regardless of the region.

Many people in the industry would anticipate that however dramatically “Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire” have been remade, their sales would be lower than those of “Pokémon X” and “Pokémon Y,” which were completely new titles, but the trend of pre-orders has gone against their expectations so far. In particular, they have been surpassed by far in Europe.

Please let me show you an interesting hypothesis explaining the reason for such strong pre-orders: Those who have enjoyed the “Super Smash Bros.” series and those who were impressed with “Pokémon Ruby” and “Pokémon Sapphire” as the first “Pokémon” title are of the same generation and overlap substantially with each other. We call it the “Hypothesis of the same-generation of “Super Smash Bros.” and “Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire.”

Those who were elementary school students when “Super Smash Bros. Melee,” and “Pokémon Ruby” and “Pokémon Sapphire” were released have grown up and they are now 18 to 25 years old. Our research in each part of the world commonly indicates that consumers between the age of 18 and 25 represent a large percentage of those who purchased “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS” in the release period. It is approximately 30 percent in Japan, which is twice the overall average of Nintendo 3DS software, and has even reached 50 percent in the U.S. and Europe. This great momentum for the game in the initial stage was supported by this generation.

Thanks to “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS,” consumers of this generation pay more attention to Nintendo 3DS and are likely to remember enjoying “Pokémon Ruby” and “Pokémon Sapphire.” We think this is why the pre-orders for “Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire” have been strong. They are now old enough to pay for their own expenses. They can afford to buy Nintendo 3DS to enjoy both “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS” and “Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire” if they choose, and they might encourage their friends to play it with them too. We therefore see it important to stimulate their latent demand in the year-end sales season.

Taking into account both the trend of pre-orders and the same-generation hypothesis, we anticipate that “Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire” to be released next month will have more sales potential than just another remade game in the industry.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Jarop(@gamrah) in News, Screenshots, Wii U | 4 Comments

Not all that much to say about today’s screenshots, looks like Sakurai is just having a bit of fun!

“It is bitter, yet tasty.”

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 23 Comments

This week’s issue of Famitsu contains an interview with Pokemon president Tsunekazu Ishihara. Ishihara discussed Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire and a few other topics, but the most interesting comments came about when he talked about the future of Game Freak’s titles.

Famitsu first inquires about Pokemon as a whole. When asked about the current situation and views of the future from his perspective, Ishihara teased:
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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments

Nintendo finally unveiled specific Quality of Life plans during its latest financial results investor briefing. View the overview below for a quick summary of information.

– QOL device is non-wearable, non-contact, non-operating (no controls), non-waiting, and non-installation efforts
– First QoL device monitors your sleep
– QoL device seems to send data monitored while you sleep to the cloud to be analyzed
– Teaming up with American company “resmed”
– Basically you put it next to your bed and sleep
– The device collects data and then presents a score along with ways to improve sleep and tiredness
– Things like dietary advice, exercise, etc.
– Separate services to be provided in order to improve QOL and be measured by the sleep sensor in a feedback loop
– QOL servers to connect with gaming devices, QOL servers, and smart devices to expand the definition of a platform
– “QOL Improvement” device(s?) will be compatible with Nintendo consoles and smart “devices”
– This begins starting in 2016

Source 1, Source 2

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 51 Comments

Pre-loading is coming to Wii U this year, Nintendo has announced. The functionality will arrive towards the end of 2014.

There are also plans to bring the same feature to 3DS sometime in 2015.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed the company’s new pre-order plans during the company’s latest investor briefing.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 31 Comments

Nintendo posted supplementary information about its latest financial results just a few minutes ago. We have an updated release schedule, plus a new million sellers list. View the gallery above for all of this information.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 4 Comments

Nintendo has prepared a new system update for 3DS – version 9.2.0-20. Unfortunately, it’s not quite as exciting as the last firmware, which added theme functionality.

Today’s update only has one purpose. Nintendo’s complete patch notes are as follows:

Further improvements to overall system stability and other minor adjustments have been made to enhance the user experience

Nothing more to the update than that! As usual, you’ll need the latest update before you can access the eShop.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, General Nintendo, News, Wii U eShop | 3 Comments

Curve Studios is currently hosting a Reddit AMA, which can be found right here. A lot of interesting details have been shared about the company and its various games. For a quick roundup of the more noteworthy tidbits, check out the summary below.

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