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Iwata: new Western Touch Generations games, Wii SD update still on the way
Following last week's Nintendo financial report, the company has just posted a translation of the investor Q&A session with president Satoru Iwata. Iwata had plenty to say -- there is a very high ratio of A to Q. Talking about the downward revision of sales forecasts, Iwata classified the Japanese market as "???the least robust market in the world today with regard to home console systems," due in part to an "an overall lifestyle shift where many forms of entertainment are enjoyed while on the go or during spare time."Moving on to the worldwide market, Iwata expressed an interest in developing new products to appeal more to Western interests. He revealed that Nintendo is "working on U.S. and Europe-originated Touch Generations products, which may have a smaller demand in Japan than overseas." "One or two" of these new games will be out this year. He also revealed that the hit Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode would be released internationally.Iwata confirmed that the DSi will not sell for the same price as the DS Lite in America and Europe, citing "current foreign currency exchange rates." He did not identify specific prices.The SD storage update, which allows downloaded content to be saved directly to SD, is still on the way in the spring, but Iwata did not date it. He said that the program Nintendo announced for Japan, offering 500 Wii Points to customers who help friends take their Wiis online, would start concurrently with this update.
100 Classic Books for under 20 British Pounds
Nintendo plans to confront the ailing economy head-on ... by making 100 Classic Book Collection really cheap! As with many of its Touch! Generations titles, Nintendo has confirmed a budget price point of £19.99 for the game, and a UK release date of December 26.If, like us, you've been keeping one eye on the game's Amazon listing (which has had that date for a while, but it's nice to get official confirmation, right?), you'll know you can get it even cheaper: just £14.99 (just over $22). That's under fifteen pence a book! Fifteen pence for portable copies of Sense and Sensibility, Treasure Island, Moby Dick, and a wealth of Shakespeare and Dickens (there's a full list after the break) sounds like a bargain to us.* The pound is currently weak, so anybody thinking of importing?%Gallery-38092%
DS Daily: Ha, what a noob
We know Nintendo is about bringing people of all ages, shapes and sizes together to enjoy a quick round of screen-touching. Everyone feels great, Nintendo rakes in the cash and hardcore gamers are getting plenty of recognition. Embrace diversity with Nintendo.And yet ... it's still pretty funny watching non-gamers try their hand at even the simplest casual games and screw up royally. Sure, kindly old Grandpa and naive little sister are exactly the kind of people the DS attracts, but do you still feel slight twinges of amusement when they have trouble completing the most basic of tasks? We love the whole worldwide DS craze and all, but are the hardcore among us (that is, the hardcore that got so upset over a two-hour presentation) chortling silently, basking in gaming omnipotence when it comes to touchscreen prowess? Share your amusing anecdotes with the rest of us!
Wii Music disc to include licensed songs, Nintendo 'not really thinking' about DLC
Speaking at the Nintendo's 2008 E3 developer roundtable, Shigeru Miyamoto has confirmed that the Wii Music "game" disc will contain 50 songs, featuring a variety of of public domain songs, as well as licensed music. As for DLC? Nintendo is "not really thinking" about digital song distribution, instead focusing on using WiiConnect24 to share music videos. %Gallery-27739%
Nintendo UK boss talks success and the new year
General Manager for the UK, David Yarnton, recently sat down to discuss Nintendo and the UK. The interview had a mixture of light and fluffy, with some actual tough questions sprinkled throughout. The main question as to when UK gamers will receive the same respect and consideration as the rest of the gaming world did not arise, though.Yarnton explains that Nintendo doesn't have another handheld in the works, though discussion hasn't been dying down. He also goes on to state that the focus on the DS in 2008 will be to improve on the amount of titles they have in their Touch Generations! lineup of games.What would you in the UK like to see Nintendo focus on in the upcoming year? You know, aside from the whole "giving us games in a timely fashion" thing ...
Patrick Stewart to star in new DS ads? Make it so!
Nintendo was wise to sign Nicole Kidman up last summer for its DS advertisements across the Atlantic, pushing Brain Age to the casual market with the international movie star's image. According to Nintendo UK's marketing director, Dawn Paine, the company will further broaden its target audience by recruiting Patrick Stewart, an intergalactic movie star, for its upcoming campaign.Several other British celebrities have also been called on for Nintendo's holiday season Touch Generations commercials -- Julie Walters (Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter films), Phillip Schofield, Fern Britton, Zoe Ball, and Johnny Ball -- but none of them can claim to match the starship captain's list of accolades. As Jean-Luc Picard, he facilitated first contact encounters with over a dozen alien races and saved humanity several times over during his Star Trek: The Next Generation tenure. Hopefully, Nintendo UK will be able to successfully leverage his skills as a diplomat to sell you its training games.
Nintendo details Wii Music
Among the cavalcade of announcements from Nintendo this week comes details surrounding what appears to be a full fledged game based on the Wii's conductor demo shown during last year's E3. The game, tentatively titled Wii Music, was first brought to our attention earlier in an interview earlier this year, and will allow players to control a group of musicians in both single and multiplayer modes supporting up to four players. Interestingly, while the E3 tech demo was based solely around the concept of conducting the orchestra using the Wii remote as a baton, this improved take on the concept will allow players to directly control of up to six band members using both motions and button presses, with Wii Music offing an impressive selection of 40 different types of instruments with which to outfit your band, leading us to believe that the game will support a wide array of music styles, though no details along this line have been announced. Wii Music is expected to ship in Japan sometime next year, however it's anyone's guess when the game will make the rounds to either North America or Europe.
Greek interview reveals new Wii games: Music, Health Pack
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Wii_Music_and_Wii_Health_Revealed_Uses_WiiConnect_24_To_The_Max'; Greece is not usually known as a hub of video game information, but an interview with George Katrinakis (Altavista translation of relevant page), CEO of Greek Nintendo distributor Nortec Multimedia, reveals some interesting information about two previously unknown Wii games. In the four page interview with Greek news site Contra.gr, Katrinakis talks about Wii Music, a game that sounds remarkably similar to the conductor demo shown at last year's E3. In addition to the general Wii-remote-as-conductor's-baton control shown at the demo, Katrinakis reveals that Wii Music players will be able to take control of specific musicians and send saved compositions to other Wii users. Katrinakis goes on to describe Health Pack, a Wii game that will lead the player in various exercises. Sounds kind of basic, until Katrinakis adds that the game will collect biometric data and send it to local hospitals (contracted by Nintendo) through a Wii channel. According to Katrinakis, this data will be processed by the hospital and sent back as a home check up a few hours later. No word on how the data will be collected or processed, but the idea sounds ambitious if nothing else. It should be noted that this information comes from a rough translation, and that the information is coming not from Nintendo but from a Greek distributor who might be in a position to know about future releases. Still, if the interview is to be believed, we can expect both these titles by the end of the year. [Update: Eurogamer is quoting the author of this Contra.gr article, Pavlos Papapavlou, as saying the games described by Mr. Katrinakis were "what he wants to see in the library of Wii. This is not a revelation, this is an estimation." A clarifying note on the site itself gives the same impression. We don't buy it. Both the machine and human translations we used in compiling this post made it abundantly clear through context that these were games Katrinakis believed were being planned for release by the end of the year (here's another human translation that seems perfectly clear to us). We suspect Katrinakis realized that he revealed some information he wasn't supposed to and is now backpedaling from his on-the-record statements. We've contacted Nintendo of America for an official comment, and will keep you updated with anything we hear.] [Big thanks to John for the tip and translation help!]
DS Daily: Je ne sais quois
That special something -- the DS has it, certainly; the dual screen handheld is slowly taking over the world. Sales charts everywhere are packed with DS titles. The systems themselves continue to outsell everything and hell, everyone already has one ... including your mother.So what is it? What is it about the DS that has made it universally popular? Nintendo attributes a lot of the success of the DS to Touch Generations, and while that's certainly had a huge effect on sales of the system (and in widening the market), that can't be everything. You aren't listing Brain Age as the reason to own a DS ... are you?
Take a peek at Picross
The Japanese Touch Generations site has been updated with all sorts of new Picross content, including several videos that not only showcase the game, but show off a little tag team multiplayer action. Oh, we don't mean with multiple DS units running the game ... rather, having more than one person working on the same puzzle. Dual brains for your dual screens? Sure can make puzzlin' a little easier.[Via DS-x2]
DS Daily: Surprising new gamers
It's hardly news that the DS appeals to many people who aren't exactly traditional gamers. Expanding the market is part of Nintendo's entire strategy for the handheld. That doesn't make it any less (delightfully) surprising when you get to see a new adopter in action. Every day, people who've never really gamed before pick up a DS, which isn't as immediately appealing as its new cousin, and yet something pull them in. We're betting it's all the incredibly awesome games, but that's beside the point. We want to hear your stories, stories of friends or family members now hooked on the DS despite little or no love for gaming in general.
Amazon's holiday hardware sales led by DS Lite
Amazon is already reporting that 2006 was its "best ever" year for holiday sales -- and the DS Lite led the charge! Though Amazon hasn't yet released specific numbers, they report the handheld clawed past the 360 and the PS2 to claim the online retailer's most hardware sales. When it game to games, New Super Mario Bros. and Brain Age were highlighted as top sellers. Looks like the Touch Generations campaign is continuing to kick giant slices of ass when it comes to sales. We heard that a good DS was hard to find this holiday season, but top seller at Amazon is big stuff!
Tour Nintendo.co.jp's bit Generations site
The good news: the website for Nintendo's retro, budget bit Generations (née Digistylish) series has gone live, featuring mini-pages for each of the three games contained in the series 1 package, Dotstream, Boundish, and Dialhex. The bad news: it's in Japanese. What we can extract from the site: the series 1 package, which includes the aforementioned three titles, will launch on July 13th in Japan for 2000 ¥ (about $17); the series 2 package, which includes Coloris, Digidrive, Orbital, and Soundvoyager, launches two weeks later for the same price. More good news: we've embeddded a trailer after the break, so if you're unable (or unwilling) to navigate the Japanese page, keep reading to get a glimpse of some GBA-goodness. [Via 4cr]
Time bestows "gadget" status upon DS Lite
Time Magazine recently gave the DS Lite its oh-so-coveted "Gadget of the Week" award, lauding the iPod-like design and Touch Generations series of games. Time Magazine seems to be the premier mainstream-gaming press outlet of late, also lauding the Wii in recent weeks as well.It's a bit silly, reading an article like this as a well-informed, knowledgable gamer, but pieces like this do wonders for a system's appeal outside of the established market. Before you know it, you might just be getting your backside handed to you by sweet ol' grandma in a game of Metroid Prime: Hunters.[via Joystiq]
Brain Training used to defeat dementia
According to a BBC report, Nintendo's hugely popular Brain Training titles are invading Japanese classrooms in an effort to help the older population get their minds in motion and running swiftly from encroaching dementia. How effective Dr. Kawashima's unnervingly polite floating head is at preventing or combating the condition (of which hallucination is a symptom) still hasn't been conclusively established, but for some people, keeping their minds active is enough.After demonstrating how to turn on the Nintendo DS and how to insert a game cartridge, the teacher has his elderly students engage in several different activities, not all of which are limited to Brain Training's repertoire of challenges. A golf game is used to train hand-eye coordination which, thanks to the DS' intuitive control scheme, seems to be quite easy to grasp. "It's not difficult to learn how to play them," says Atsuo Umetsu, one of the teachers. "After all I learnt, so everyone can do it." Though one of the students admits that she joined the class in order to better compete with her gamer sons, most are joining in the hopes of doing everything they can to avoid mental problems in a society where a large percentage of the population is older. Dr. Takao Suzuki, an expert when it comes to elderly affairs, points out that "nobody wants to get dementia so even if there is a very small possibility that it might work, most elderly people will want to do something in order to prevent dementia." And it's not just Nintendo that's reaching out to an older generation -- Namco has set up a day-care center allowing older people to bash drums and clobber cartoon crocodiles to their heart's content. Is this the key to defeating dementia? We don't know, but it sure sounds like fun, doesn't it?[Thanks Jon!]
Nintendo losing their Touch (Generations)?
If Nintendo's desires are realized, it won't be too long before the image of Grandpa hunching furiously over his DS Lite and murderously screaming "Blue" joins that of the bespectacled nerd in the ranks of uninformed gamer stereotypes. In an effort to reach out to those who would normally shy away from electronic devices and their confusing beeps and boops, several forthcoming and readily available DS games have recently been shoved under the Touch Generations banner. The range highlights Nintendo's popular "non-games", titles that are meant to be approachable by any person, regardless of their previous gaming experience.In North America, games like Nintendogs, Brain Age and Sudoku Gridmaster seem to gravitate towards the label quite naturally, but it seems that the selection differs significantly from that of other regions. Anthropomorphic neighbour sim, Animal Crossing: Wild World, slots right in with Electroplankton in Europe, but the choices of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Trauma Center: Under the Knife seem to fit in less comfortably. The latter two titles are far more traditional, with linear stories, clear conditions for success and failure and, in the case of Trauma Center especially, a more pronounced difficulty level that requires intricate stylus strokes--lest your patient's internal organs become reduced to a bloody mush (technical term). In other words, all the stuff that the mythical casual gamer doesn't want.The Japanese selection is almost the exact opposite, filled with English trainers, dictionaries and travel guidebooks. If you looked up "game" in one of those dictionaries, you'd likely find a description far removed from most of these titles. It raises an interesting question, then: What constitutes a game that, according to Nintendo's mantra, anyone can pick up and play? Is it a game that almost exclusively relies on intuitive touch screen controls? Or is it something with simplistic gameplay mechanics? Perhaps it's not even a game at all. Nintendo's pretty clear about the kind of people they're chasing with the DS and the Wii, but things seem less vivid when it comes to matching specific games with specific audiences. With games being such unique and often personal experiences, it's doubtful that the line between hardcore and casual will ever become especially obvious.
Nintendo to Touch Generations
Nintendo of America have announced that as of June, they'll be rebranding many of their DS "non-games" under the Touch Generations label. As the name suggests, this move supports Nintendo's continuing desire to expand the gaming demographic and to reach out to those who are under the impression that gaming's all about shooting space pirates and smashing blocks with your head. Currently available games to fall under the brand are Brain Age, Nintendogs, Tetris DS and True Swing Golf. These will be followed by Big Brain Academy, Magnetica and Sudoku Gridmaster later in the year. If all goes according to Nintendo's plan, it won't be long before Grandma and Grandpa start swinging canes because someone forgot to feed the little Nintendoggy. [Thanks AssemblyLineHuman!]
