Nintendo to sell Wii in China

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Nintendo said it aims to launch its Wii game console in China and South Korea next year, helping accelerate its breakneck growth, and cement its recent lead over Sony and Microsoft. One day after the three game makers’ earnings announcements, Japan-based analysts said Nintendo looks well-positioned to win the race for top spot in the current-generation video game console market due to a strong software lineup and low hardware prices. “New game hardware comes around once in every five, six years. So making a good start is crucial,” Daiwa Institute of Research analyst Koki Shiraishi said. “Since the Xbox 360 was launched one year ahead, it is roughly on par with the Wii in total sales. But if you take a look at current momentum in net growth, the Wii is well ahead.” In the July-to-September quarter, Nintendo sold 3.9 million units of the Wii, which features a motion-sensing controller that enables users to direct onscreen play by swinging it like a racket. That’s three times as many Wiis sold as Sony PlayStation 3s and twice as many as Microsofts Xbox 360s during the same period. “We suffer a global shortage of the Wii. Our responsibility now is to deliver as many consoles as we can to existing markets,” Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said during a news conference. “But next year, I think we can bring the Wii (to China).” Iwata also said on Friday that he has no plan to cut the Wii price in response to recent console price cuts by Sony and Microsoft. “We are in a situation where we need to focus our effort on satisfying demand. I am not at all thinking about price cuts.” Sony recently announced PS3 price cuts and the launch of a low-price model to ignite demand and win back game maker support in the run-up to the critical holiday season. However, the lowest-price PS3, which goes on sale on November 11 in Japan for 39,980 yen ($350), will still cost 60 percent more for buyers than the Wii. Sony loaded the PS3 with cutting-edge technology such as a Blu-ray high-definition DVD recorder. But advanced components have driven up the price for buyers and made it difficult and time-consuming for game creators to develop PS3 software. In a major coup, Nintendo said earlier this month that software publisher Capcom would develop the latest version of its blockbuster Monster Hunter action game for the Wii. The game had previously been developed for Sony’s consoles, and the switch to Nintendo has fed speculation that support for the PlayStation franchise may be slipping. As key software for this holiday season, Nintendo plans to launch its Wii Fit home fitness game on December 1 in Japan featuring a pressure-sensitive mat that allows players to “head” virtual soccer balls and imitate ski jumping. “Wii Fit is probably going to appeal to light gamers, and it will be helping Nintendo to win more users,” Mizuho Investors Securities analyst Etsuko Tamura said.

Nintendo’s strategy to offer innovative but easy-to-play games to expand the gamer population has been a smashing success. Nintendo shares have risen more than fivefold in the past two years to make the game maker Japan’s third most valuable company. Asked what Nintendo plans to do with its growing cash pile, Iwata said the company may carry out a new capital policy in the near future, but it did not elaborate. “Nintendo has ample cash, for sure, and you may say we have strong cash-generating power,” Iwata said. “There is a chance that we will need to do something we haven’t done or we haven’t said in the not-so-distant future, in terms of capital policy, if cash keeps accumulating. But it is too early to say what it would be.” Nintendo’s cash and deposits totaled 912.7 billion yen (about $8 billion) as of September 30.

Wii sales increase in Japan; ranks three in top 10

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Sales for Nintendo Co.’s Wii increased on strong software demand in the latest sales figures from Japan.

Media Create Co. on Tues. reported that the Wii sold 65,120 units between Aug. 6 and Aug. 12, an increase from a total of 61,498 units the week prior.

Wii ranked three software titles in the top 10 game sales, including Mario Party 8, Wii Sports, and Wii Play. It ranked six titles total in the top 50 game sales for the week.

Nintendo in July recorded record profits on strong Wii sales, increasing its business year shipment forecast to 16.5 million from 14 million.

However, a recent report claims that Nintendo will delay an increase in Wii hardware production due to lack of supply components. Wii has sold more than three million units in Japan to date.

Nintendo Wii outsells PS3 6 to 1 in Japan in June

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Nintendo sold 270,974 units of the Wii in the four weeks ended June 24, compared with 41,628 units for the PS3 and 17,616 units for Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360, according to data from Enterbrain.

The Wii’s lead against the PS3 was 4 to 1 in April and 5 to 1 in May.

The Wii’s strong performance, coupled with continued brisk demand for Nintendo’s portable game gear, the DS, helped the Kyoto-based company shoot past Sony in market capitalization last week and become one of Japan’s 10 most valuable companies.

Shares in Nintendo were up 0.2 percent at 45,200 yen by late morning on Monday, while Sony, a company with sales eight times as big as Nintendo’s, fell 0.3 percent to 6,310 yen.

The Nikkei average was down 0.19 percent.

The Wii has won more customers than its two rivals since its Japanese launch late last year by offering innovative ways of playing console games.

The device features a motion-sensitive controller that allows users to direct on-screen play by swinging it like a baseball bat or wielding it like a sword, opening a new avenue of game playing.

Sony, which has dominated the $30 billion global game industry over the past decade with its PlayStation and PlayStation 2, saw a slow start for the PS3 due mainly to its high prices and lack of attractive software titles.

Source

Wii is a success, Nintendo still can’t meet demand

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The Nintendo Wii is certainly the best selling console of this generation. Almost seven months after it launched, demand is still so great that Nintendo cannot meet the demand for the console because it is so popular. One of the Wii’s attractions is the unique motion sensing controller.

Nintendo’s New York store is mobbed almost each and every day with people hoping to get their hands on the console. Some people were getting in line at 6 a.m. or earlier and getting permission to miss work to get their hands on the Wii.

If you’re hoping to pick up a Wii, you had better be prepared to call around to all the stores in your area and if one has them or is expecting a shipment, be there as soon as you can or arrive before the shipment gets there and get in the queue.

Nintendo Wiis are sold on a first come, first serve basis, it’s really a shame they don’t offer some kind of waiting list, hold list or some kind of preemptive ordering program.

None of the other competing consoles have seen this kind of demand, walk into any electronics retailer and you will be able to pick up an Xbox 360 or PS3 without any wait. Xbox 360 and PS3 sales continue to lag behind the Wii.

Nintendo has admitted that there is still a Wii shortage but is moving to increase production as soon as possible. Their contract manufacturers have been unable to ramp production up the way Nintendo would like.

An analyst from Lazard Capital Markets, Colin Sebastian, said, “Unfortunately you can’t ask a contract manufacturer to make a million a month, then 5 million.”

The Wii has sold almost 3 million units since November, demand is still unusually high and there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight.

Chris Bryne, an independent analyst said “The PlayStation 1 was certainly a big introduction, but I don’t recall any game system more than six months after its launch still having this kind of demand.”

The Bradenton Herald caught up with some Wii customers waiting in line at the New York Nintendo Store, many were hoping the store didn’t run out before they were able to purchase their way. One person wound up spending $350 on the Wii and various accessories.

The Wii is a success and it does not appear it will be going away or that demand will be met any time soon. Perhaps Sony and Microsoft should take a lesson from Nintendo.

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Wii more friendlier than PS3?

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Both the Wii and PS3 have web browsers, but which one is more friendly when it comes to Web 2.0? And why doesn’t Microsoft release Internet Explorer for use on the 360 already?

We may never know the answer to the 360 question, but the website Games Digest took on the Nintendo Wii vs. PS3 question in the battle of 2.0 supremacy. They recently took a test run of fifteen of the top websites like MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and Last.fm to see how they fared on each console.

Using a scoring system of “0 points means it didn’t work properly. 1 point means it worked partially, and 2 points means it worked well,” it appears Wii was the victor over PlayStation 3 with a margin of 26 - 20.

The conclusion by Games Digest:

Victory goes to Opera’s Wii browser, hurt by the fact that two sites (Bloglines and Google Maps) didn’t work at all on the PlayStation 3 browser. However, it’s worth stressing that PlayStation 3’s ability to upload photos and (possibly) video gives it an advantage if you’re big on this user-generated content lark. Also, these findings could easily change as various sites get a redesign, either for the better (they’re configured to autodetect a console and adapt accordingly) or for the worse (they use new plug-ins that aren’t supported by the consoles).

Wiimotes might get an upgrade soon

Posted by multippt

Now then, you have heard stories (and news reports) of the wiimote (the thing you use with the nintendo wii) breaking stuff here and there. Seriously, the wiimote (or the user) possesses a potential threat to the surroundings if the user of the wii becomes over enthusiastic and decided to go beyond the line. A flying wii (resulting from broken wii straps) can cause windows to be smashed, or worse, your TV (wow… you would need to pay more than just that broken strap)! Of course, the wiimote (strangely) does not sustain much damage (well done Nintendo!). These events might be linked to the pulling out of wii demostration units in walmarts over USA.

Now then, after all these rumbling about the wiimote doing some damage and something like that, I still haven’t said anything about the upgrade yet. Well, the truth is… wiimotes are going to have thicker straps (sorry if I made you read too much). Anyways, the thicker straps will lower the chances of your wiimote fling out of your frantically waving hands, meaning, less damage done by flying wiimotes!

Via Shacknews, Qj.net