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Wii serious business during Thanksgiving week
Behold what the Wii can do when it's actually available to shoppers. During last year's Thanksgiving holiday week, the console shifted 350,000 units in the U.S., even though shortages were pretty major at the time. With more Wiis in stores this year, that number jumped to 800,000. In a single freakin' week. To put that in perspective, Nintendo sold 803,000 Wiis in the whole of October. Italics. Yikes.Satoru Iwata broke the happy news in an interview with Reuters, adding that "When the economy is strong, people tend to buy three things from the top of their wishlist. But when things are bad, people often buy only the first thing on their list. Fortunately for us a lot of shoppers put our products at the top of their list." That's a pretty sizeable "nyah!" to the competition.[Via Joystiq]
What a Wiik: Nintendo claims 800k consoles sold Thanksgiving week
Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata is rolling in six-dollar bills right about now. (Okay, since they don't exist, a bunch of fives and ones.) Speaking to Reuters, Iwata revealed that 800,000 Wiis were sold in the US during the week of November 24-30. That's up nearly half a million units over last year's 350,000 consoles sold during the same period, according to Nintendo's sales data.Iwata sees the downturn in the US economy as an upturn for sales of Wii. "When the economy is strong, people tend to buy three things from the top of their wish list. But when things are bad, people often buy only the first thing on their list," he remarked, concluding, "Fortunately for us a lot of shoppers put our products at the top of their list."Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime stated in October that Wii production was ramping up for the holidays, but still probably wouldn't meet demand. There must have been at least an additional 450,000 consoles for shoppers to snap up Thanksgiving week, though – but will that be the extent of the holiday production bump? With Wal-Mart.com today touting tens of thousands of the system for sale, we'll have to wait for full holiday sales numbers to see how much ramping Nintendo really upped.
Free character migration for EU realms
We're just now coming out of our Thanksgiving turkey-induced haze here at WoW Insider, so if you've seen this already, forgive us, but Blizzard announced late last week that there's relief on the way for EU characters tied up by queues -- they've got a whole mess of free migrations in the mix. We've got the whole list of transfers after the break as well.Argent Dawn appears to be in the worst shape, as Blizzard is sending players from that realm onto three different realms. Magtheridon seems to be the least busy -- all they're transferring off there is the Horde-side players. They're also transferring players off of a few different realms to the newly-created one, Chamber of Aspects, so if you're looking for a new start, there you go.These migrations are going until December 2nd, so now's your chance, EU players, if you're on the selected realms and have been waiting to jump ship.
WoW Insider's handy-dandy Wrath of the Lich King instance guide
The guys 'n gals over at WoW Insider have been kind enough to put together a handy guide to all the Wrath of the Lich King 5-man instances in gallery-form. So, for those of you who've already filled up on turkey or some form of meat substitute (tofurky, anyone?) and are already looking to delve into Wrath, this may be the perfect thing to help you along the way! If not, well then we're happy you've already hit 80 -- just don't brag about it to us, because we're sensitive about our addictive-resiliant personalities.Actually, we're just sensitive to our need to subscribe to -- and play -- three or more MMOs at a time, which is why we're loving this efficiency-boosting guide. Gallery: Wrath of the Lich King Dungeons One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
Mmmmm...Hot Apple Mac mini pie for Thanksgiving
While purists may sneer, there are a lot of us who love apple pie for Thanksgiving dinner instead of the traditional pumpkin pie. After seeing this Apple Mac mini pie and the dough-logo Apple pie, you may never want to eat pumpkin pie again. The geniuses at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories provide step-by-step instructions on how to make your own Mac mini Apple pie. While not everyone has a 45-watt carbon dioxide laser to cut the fancy Apple logo-shaped lattice on top, I'm sure you can get perfectly fine results using an X-acto knife or some other sharp cutting instrument. For those of you on the West coast of the U.S., there's still time to run out, buy a square Springform pan, pick up a carbon dioxide laser, and get one of these pies cranked out just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. Don't have the engineering acumen for a square pie in a round-pie world? You could use the overlay method that Dana Knisely attempted successfully this year, for a well-branded and well-browned postprandial treat. There's no word on whether sun-stamped apples were used in the making of either of these scrumptious desserts. (Update: Dana's husband Matt reports that her pie features 100% organically grown Pennsylvania apples. Yum!) For all our readers in the US and friends across the globe, TUAW wishes you a very happy Thanksgiving. Thanks to tipsters hc & Chris for this Thanksgiving treat!
DS Daily: Your Thanksgiving plans
Morning folks, and a happy Thanksgiving, y'all! Today, rather than dedicate this space to talking about some DS-related minutiae, we're leaving it open for discussion about your Thanksgiving plans, and how the DS slots into your Turkey Day schedule. Do you plan to spend a quiet moment getting further through Chrono Trigger? Converting Granny to Brain Age? Playing a spot of wireless Mario Kart DS with cousins?Maybe you don't plan to pick up your beloved handheld at all. To which we say: hey, Thanksgiving is a time for coming together, and that extends to people and their DSes as well! Er, probably. I don't know, I'm British. This is all one big mystery to me.By the way, we'll still be posting today, so if you do get bored at any point, feel free to poke your head in. Have a grand day, everybody!
Wii Warm Up: Turkey Day
To those of you who celebrate it, happy Thanksgiving! And happy Thursday to everybody else! We'll be running a reduced shedule today, but we'll still be there, in the form of a few posts and also in your hearts (perhaps). Anyway, let's talk Turkey Day, and more specifically what role gaming will take in your Thanksgiving celebrations. As this is a time for families and togetherness, the Wii is probably the ideal Thanksgiving console. What will you be playing between mouthfuls of turkey and cranberry sauce?
Happy Thanksgiving from WoW Insider
America today is celebrating Thanksgiving Day, a holiday where we all sit down with friends and family, eat loads of turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries, and all the other good stuff, and give thanks for all the blessings we've received throughout the year. WoW Insider would like to wish you, our readers, a happy Thanksgiving and a great and safe holiday season. We are thankful for many things, but mostly for you: it's because you come and read and visit the site that we get to keep it going every day of every week the rest of the year. Much appreciated -- thank you.Many of our bloggers are also with their families and attending their own celebrations this weekend, so posting may be slow around here today and tomorrow. Odds are that you haven't reached 80 yet, and even if you have, odds are even better that you haven't grinded all the reputations you want, so just head on into the game and work on that for a bit, and we'll be back after this weekend with our usual news, views, and insight into this game and its players.
Joystiq asks: What are you thankful for?
It's Thanksgiving Day here in the states, which means that unless Lara Croft and Nathan Drake have a love child and proceed to shoot up a shopping mall, you're probably not going to hear a whole lot from us today. Even Ludwig, a South African, likes to pretend he's sharing in the festivities with a little faux-turkey he makes every year from hut roof shavings and leopard paws. But we wanted to have a place for you, the Joystiq Biomass, to commune with each other and share what you're thankful for in gaming this year. It can be a developer, a favorite game, a new mechanic, anything: It's your choice. Heck, we don't even care if you're bursting to give thanks for something non-gaming, as long as we're all together. (Oh, and sorry about ending the headline with a preposition. Hopefully next year you'll be able to give thanks for better Joystiq writers.)[Update: Hey, how's about you do me a solid and not be total trolls if you're posting here. Please? For me?]
Vanguard's Harvest Festival brings new quests, encourages bird-eating
With Halloween now behind us, the Thanksgiving events are starting up. Vanguard appears to be the, well, vanguard here, as its Harvest Day event began yesterday. Quest NPCs with four new quests have arrived in Khal -- the Halgrim family are recent immigrants who want to host a Harvest Festival, but Salrash the Birdmaster is determined to stop them because he finds the Halgrim's plan to have a feast on bird meat abhorrent.There are, in typical Vanguard fashion, raid four raid mobs that you can hunt down to celebrate: the aforementioned Salrash the Birdmaster, Turfin, Duksworth, and Ciran. Sounds like fun -- don't stuff yourself with phat loot and costumes too much!
Chrono Trigger turns back DS clock on November 25
Thanksgiving this year will include both turkey and time travel, a magical cocktail made possible by Square Enix. The company said that it'll ship its DS throwback to SNES favorite Chrono Trigger in North America on November 25, just two days before families sit down for the annual feast.Giving players plenty to keep them busy while fighting off the adverse effects of tryptophan, Chrono Trigger's DS debut promises new dungeons, touchable controls and an arena mode. Additionally, as the RPG keeps with the original's pixelated sense of style, Square Enix has all but ensured that Thanksgiving 2008 will play out much the same way as it did some thirteen years prior, as we ignore seldom seen family members in favor of the more interesting trio of Crono, Lucca and Frog.
Rock Band and turkey: A Thanksgiving family test, part 2
Add the Sterns to the great family bands of popular culture. Put us on a flashing marquee like the Osmonds, Jacksons, and von Trapps that came before. With a rotating lineup of three generations, a band dog who curls up next to the drummer, and enough hijinks for a Monkees plot, we've toured across the country from San Francisco to Boston. It doesn't matter to us if our fame is virtual and our fans digital; Rock Band was a hit at our annual Thanksgiving gathering.Before I left the West Coast, I loaded up a dedicated carry-on with an Xbox 360, Wii, and the full complement of power supplies, video cables, and controllers. I made it through airport security without any problems. (And on the flight home, I wondered how many Rock Band kits the TSA had been screening.)Like last year, the Wii was still popular. But we mostly stuck with Wii Sports. Even casual gamers have a glut of titles to wade through; we never opened Zack and Wiki and only briefly tried EA Playground and Rayman Rabbids 2.Instead, Rock Band filled most of our game time. While I thought it'd be fun to try with my family, I never expected it to be "this year's Wii" as my sister said. Disguised as a rhythm game, Rock Band is a sleeper family hit. Every day, we joked about "getting the band back together" before assembling that evening's players.
Nintendo enjoys its biggest sales week ever in U.S., breaks record
It seems that Black Friday was very, very, very good to Nintendo, as both the DS Lite and the Wii performed quite impressively in the U.S. over the holiday week. Nintendo has announced that it sold 653,000 DS Lites over the week of November 18-24, setting a new record for the portable, for Nintendo, and for the entire industry. The number of units moved is record-breaking, exceeding the industry's previous record, also held by Nintendo with the Game Boy Advance's sales during Thanksgiving 2005. The Wii also performed quite admirably, selling 350,000 units, a number topped only by the console's launch week. No word on how these sales figures compare to Sony or Microsoft's, but it's not like it's a competition or anything, right? Update: Specified sales figures as pertaining to the U.S., and clarified the record as industry-wide. Read -- Nintendo Sales Go Through the Roof During Thanksgiving Week [GameDaily] Read -- Nintendo Has Its Biggest Week Of Sales... Ever [Game|Life]
Rock Band and turkey: a Thanksgiving family test
"Did you bring that Mario game? Your father really wants to try it ... what is that?""A plastic drum set, mom," I reply. "We're going to pretend to be rock and roll stars as a family and then I'm going to write about it for work." She stares intrigued for two, maybe three nanoseconds before uttering, "Cool ... How about Wii Bowling? Can we play that?"Inspired by last year's Nintendo Wii family tests (and just hopeful to get more playtime in), I decided to pack up my copy of Rock Band for Xbox 360 (a daunting task, rest assured) and take it to my parent's house for Thanksgiving.
MapleStory celebrates Black Friday with big sale
It's Black Friday, and that means every one (in the United States, at least) is busy shopping for the holidays! And with MapleStory, shopping and online gaming go hand in hand. Nexon, the company behind MapleStory, announced that there will be a huge Black Friday sale for MapleStory users this weekend.So, if you're into MapleStory, that's good news for you; items in the Cash Shop will be sold at a big discount and there will be special sales of very valuable items for very low prices at certain times. If you're not, well, you still have all the "real-life" deals we pointed out earlier today to salivate over.
Cinemassively: Teh n00b Song
It's the day after Thanksgiving, commonly known as Black Friday. Today is not unlike your typical day in World of Warcraft. Americans scour the sale ads online and in print, and strategize how they're going to get their loot.Olibith's Machinima interpretation of "Teh n00b Song", by Pure Pwnage, is the perfect theme for the day. A poor n00b thinks he can just kill wolves in peace, but teh_pwnerer has other plans for him. As little Fyapowa is taunted mercilessly, he tries to fight back, but to no avail. As you're kicking and punching your way to better deals, think of Fyapowa and teh_pwnerer. Were you the n00b or the pwner today? As a fair warning, the pwner gets his just deserts in the end!
WRUP: Can barely move edition
Much like the child above, we found ourselves completely ravaging all parts of our turkey, dining on its meat and eventually collapsing in our chair. It probably didn't help that we had some wine with dinner, since the two made us incredibly drowsy. We still can barely move, as we type this post out by using a long stick and slapping it against our keyboard while we lay on the couch. We're not sure if we're going to be able to move until Sunday, at least.What about all of you who celebrated the holiday with us? How are you holding up? And, for our International readers who don't celebrate, what will you be playing this weekend
The Joystiq Thanksgiving: 2007 edition
Aren't you glad you don't have to ford rivers and worry about death-prone oxen to make it home for a turkey feast? Check out the highlights for today:JoystiqueryJoystiq Holidaze: explaining the PS3 SKUsJoystiq Holidaze: explaining the Xbox 360 SKUsReminder: Win a $5K gaming PC from Falcon NorthwestToday's most Olympic video: Mario & Sonic at the Olympics reviewX3F Week in Review: November 16, 2007 - November 22, 2007NewsCall of Duty 4 not HD: only 600p, claim pixel countersSin & Punishment's Saki cameos in Smash Bros. BrawlFreeverse discusses porting Marathon 2 to XBLAPopcap's Bookworm now available on mobile phonesAGEIA to give UT3 modders a physical with PhysX mod kitPoor sales of Space Giraffe make Jeff Minter sadRumors & SpeculationSony exec flirts with PlayStation phone ... againCulture & CommunityMapleStory holds in-game Black Friday salesYahtzee travels to America, visits Valve1UP talks turkey gamesSelfless crazies play Desert Bus for charity
Wii Fanboy Poll: Are you and the family playing Wii today?
With today being a holiday, we wondered if you were bringing the Wii into the mix? The strategic thing would be to bust out the console and get your game on before stuffing yourself with mashed potatoes, turkey and cranberry sauce, though. We would never dare tell you how to live. But, that is if you in fact plan on actually playing the console with family and friends. %Poll-6091%
MapleStory holds in-game Black Friday sales
MapleStory is one of those "free" online worlds that earns its keep by charging users for in-game items (the same business model practiced by Habbo Hotel). So it's nice to hear that Nexon, the Korean company behind the MMO, is starting a tradition of offering Black Friday sales on the world's most popular items.The sales will run from this Friday (you know, Black Friday), through Sunday, but only for short intervals at a time. In addition, special, rare items will be sold each day for one hour only. Check out the entire Black Friday sales schedule after the break. Happy Turkey Day, Maple citizens.
