Nintendo

Nintendo Co Ltd unveiled this week a new touchscreen controller as a part of its forthcoming Wii console. The device was welcomed with gaming critics but disregarded by investors.

Shareholders were disappointed with the announcement as they believe Nintendo is too focusing on hardware while the gaming market drives into the social networking direction.

After reporting second consecutive decline in an annual report Nintendo made a statement that the company will need alliances with other firms and added that it would launch a successor to its aging Wii console.

"I now regret that we didn't tie up with someone outside the company to market the Wii. If we had done that, the fate of the Wii might have been different," Chief Executive Satoru Iwata said at a conference for investors and analysts.

Nearly 1.5 million 3D-capable handheld game players are planned for shipping by Nintendo Co in the first month after its launch on February 26, President Satoru Iwata said in an interview with the Nikkei business daily published Monday.

"It's important that we ensure a continuous supply," Iwata was quoted as saying by the Nikkei.

In the United States and Europe the 3DS will go on sale as early as in March with 4 million units planned to be sold by the end of that month on a global level.

Asylum Entertainment is launching new video games for Nintendo Wii and DS which are based on the popular kids program Doctor Who. The Doctor Who games will feature Doctor number eleven and Amy Pond struggling against the Daleks and the Cybermen.

Doctor Who: Return to Earth is the Wii title, while Evacuation Earth will run on the DS. It is quite reasonable to suppose that gamers will be encouraged to play the DS title first then go to the Wii for 'episode two'.

The games will be on sale in winter.
 

Nintendo Co announced this Wednesday that it plans to cut prices of its DS handheld gaming device by a fifth at its Japanese market as the company wants to boost the sales.

Starting June 19, 2010 price of DSi model will be cut to ¥15,000 ($165) from ¥18,900 while its DSi LL model will be lowered to ¥18,000 from ¥20,000.

The company provided no information on whether it plans price cuts outside the domestic market.

Nintendo is planning to turn handheld consoles into educational aids and teaching tools, according to the author of the massively popular video game franchise.

"That is maybe the area where I am devoting myself (the) most," Japanese video game guru Shigeru Miyamoto told The Associated Press in an interview.

Nintendo America VP of marketing and sales Cammie Dunaway, was talking to Wired magazine and her words suggest that Zelda will feature prominently at E3, with the release coming in during the second half of 2010.

Nintendo and Netflix are planning a partnership to launch a Netflix video-on-demand service to Stateside Wii owners. The information was confirmed by Reggie Fils-Aime, President of Nintendo America.

Fils-Aime said that the deal “is a continuation of an effort to bring more and more entertainment to consumers”.

While the exact prices are yet not known still it is supposed that subscribers to Netflix’s $9-per-month DVD-by-post service will be given free access to the firm’s online movie catalogue through the Wii.

An obsessive World of Warcraft player is suing the makers of the game for ruining his life, quoth a gleeful Grauniad this week.

 Nintendo has joined forces with 54 other companies like Tecmo and Square Enix to file suit against four retailers accused of distributing of the R4 Revolution flash cart, a common tool for running illegal software on the Nintendo DS. 

Nintendo will cut the price of its popular Wii video game console by 20 percent, responding to similar cuts by rivals Sony and Microsoft aimed at kick-starting demand. 

 Nintendo said it would lower the price of the Wii by $50 to $199.99 in the United States starting Sunday. The price in Japan will fall by 5,000 yen to 20,000 yen on Oct. 1.