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Your numbers are crap. Yes, the Wii outsold basically everything, it was a huge hit. It was also TEN YEARS AGO. Yes the DS/3DS sell great, no doubt. But in the current home console space Nintendo are failing spectacularly.

According to Nintendo themselves, the Wii U has sold 13.4 million units worldwide. Sony and Microsoft don't publish hard numbers, but most estimates have the Xbox One at around 25 million and PS4 at around 49 million. Or a total "not Nintendo" of 74 million. This is despite the Wii U launching a full year earlier than the Xbox One and PS4.

Seriously, literally over a trillion yen in net assets, also stated as literally billions of dollars.

This has nothing to do with the relations between Brazil and Japan and everything to do with the fact that Nintendo is dying. This company has shown time and again that all they can do is release tired useless gimmick after tired useless gimmick and pass that off as "innovation". They release the same games every single year with absolutely no change and force their customers to pay a massive premium. The Wii was a massive joke, except no one laughed. Their 3DS handheld has less power than the original PlayStation Portable and costs 3 times as much and has no games. The Wii U has less power than the original XBOX much less the 360. Don't get me started on that abomination of a controller that weighs as much as a cinder-block, has a range of about 1 foot, and a battery life measured in minutes and not hours.

Nintendo is the corporate equivalent of the walking dead. I doubt they will even be around in five years. Even their own shareholders can't stand them. They would just be better selling off all their IP to a company that knows how to actually produce something, like Disney. Then Miyamoto and Iwata should do the world a favor and commit sepuku to atone for the massive failures they have inflicted on the game industry.

Ooo, this should be fun. I'mma go ahead and debunk basically everything you've just said that can be proven with numbers.

The Wii was a massive joke.: FALSE. The Wii has sold over 100 million units, and about 9 times as much software (so, about 9 games per console. Not bad!)

The 3DS handheld has less power than the original Playstation Portable and costs 3 times as much and has no games: FALSE. The 3DS runs an ARM11 Dual-core at 268 Mhz compared to the PSP's CPU held back to 222MHz. The only way it's more powerful is through mods/hacking. In addition, the 3DS has had over 186 million software units sold, compared to psp's 5.2 million. In addition, the PSP retailed for $199. The 3DS retailed for $249, and later went down to $149. So, no, not three times more.

The Wii U has less power than the original XBOX much less the 360: FALSE.The WII U is lcocked at 1.24 GHz, compared to the original Xbox's 733Mhz. Now, the Wii U does have a slower clock than the 360, but has more memory and a higher GPU clock. Raw CPU power will only get you so far, and the Wii U is more than capable of out-shining the 360.

Controller weighs as much as a cinder-block, has a range of 1 foot and battery life measured in minutes, not hours.: FALSE. The Wii U gamepad weighs about 1.1 pounds. Cinder blocks, on the other hand, usually come in at 30 to 35 pounds. The range goes up to 27.5 feet, but typically works best up to 15. The Battery life CAN be measured in minutes, but only if you consider that 180 to 300 minutes a better way of saying it than 3 to 5 hours.

Nintendo is the corporate equivalent of the walking dead. I doubt they'll even be around in five years.: FALSE. Nintendo has enough money saved up to last 52 years, assuming an annual deficit of 250 million. That seems unlikely given that they had a profit of over

Aye, but once it got going the PS3 was able to do some heavy numbers. Part of that is because even with a slow start, it had hardware more-or-less on spec with the 360, so mutli-platform games were easy enough to bring over once it had a good base, not to mention HD collections of games after the fact.

The Wii U has no such future potential. No matter how many units it sells, the power and capabilities will always be far less than the Xbone and PS4, so devs not only have to worry about a small install base but would also have to go through the trouble of stripping out many "next gen" elements (mainly graphical, but perhaps some advanced AI or mob count, too) to make it play nice on the Wii U, which gamers don't want at all.[1] Furthermore, the attach rate on the original Wii was the worst for third parties out of all three consoles last gen at a bit over half of the overall attach rate, versus >75% on each of the other two (Source; however, it's from Nov 2008, and I'm having an incredibly hard time finding more recent numbers; Nintendo's own site shows a similar attach rate, though, so I doubt the overall ratio changed much for them).

So, with a small install base, underpowered hardware, and a far smaller third party attach rate than its competitors, what is the point in smaller third parties putting anything on the Wii U? And without third party games, why would anyone buy a Wii U unless they were big fans of Nintendo's first party properties, few of which have been announced in any concrete way? So Nintendo has thrust itself into a catch 22 that I doubt it will get out of this generation. With luck they'll have a repeat of the Gamecube; otherwise it's the N64 all over again.

[1] Dead Rising: Chop Till' You Drop for the Wii is an excellent example of what happens when this is attempted.

Article from Engadget (Mentions Japan only): http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/12/nintendo-to-retire-some-wii-network-services-june-28/

Who referenced Nintendo's "Japan" website: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/support/information/2013/0412.html

And that website in English: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nintendo.co.jp%2Fsupport%2Finformation%2F2013%2F0412.html

The overall number may be impressive. But you have to look also at overall revenue, and profits. Between the two numbers you can figure out how long the company will be solvent if nothing is changed. And if that picture doesn't look good, the first thing that companies do is cut expenses - expenses can be turned up and down by the company, revenues and profits not necessarily. And the main and most easily adjusted expense and is the payroll.

Based on the financial report from July, the company assets are 1,295,923 mln yen (about 5% yty decline), the comprehensive income was (37,242) mln yen. The total sales were 84,813 mln yen (9.7% yty decline), 41,985 mln yen of which was from hardware (roughly 20% yty decline) and 42,505 mln yen was from software (about 5% yty increase). The details for hardware sales: 540,000 DS units (65% yty decline), 1,860,000 3DS (150% yty increase), and 710,000 Wii (55% yty decline). While the losses were about 6 bln yen higher than for the same quarter the year before, the majority of it came from "foreign currency translation adjustment" - read: sucks to be dealing in yens right now. But speaking of finances - yes, they are sitting on a ridiculous pile of cash. If they didn't sell anything at all and didn't change anything, they could easily continue operating for another 10 years.

Considering that 3DS is a so-so console, and that it has 2.5 times sales of Wii, it's pretty clear that Wii sales have stagnated to the point where they are only replacing units that are breaking down due to "natural" reasons.

Also, considering their total software sales account for only 50% of overall sales, that the current level of total sales is completely inadequate, it's ridiculous to suggest that Nintendo will pull out of the hardware market. They could, but for that to work at all that would mean that they have 75% of the workforce or more working in hardware, while only 25% or less working in software, so after they lose 50% of the sales, they would wind up with hypothetical gain in the net income. In any case, based on the numbers alone, it seems to be rather clear that it makes a whole lot more sense for Nintendo to release a new and good console instead of cutting down their hardware business.

source: NINTENDO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

Its quite obvious to do, how long they can hold on to standard definition formats ? They had to make a move and they have to make it fast before ps4 and xbox720 chomps away the next gen.

Just like the Microsoft and Sony sales chomped away at the current generation right? Like when Xbox sold 28 million worldwide by Jan 2009, and Sony had sold 20 million by the same time, and Nintendo had outsold both of them combined Jan 2009? http://www.shacknews.com/article/56613/xbox-360-tops-28-million http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2009/090129e.pdf#page=11

Or how Nintendo has made a profit on every console sold, unlike MS and Sony who some still believe are taking a loss on the console itself and trying to make their profit from accessories and software sales?

Or that the Wii has still outsold both MS and Sony each and every month (with current totals being 85million Wii's, 50 million Xbox360's, and 48 million PS3's sold worldwide?

I could go on, but Nintendo clearly won this generation, and since they made a profit the entire time it has existed, they don't need to continue to squeeze the stones to get those last drops of blood...err....profit out of them, and can happily release a new product to continue to keep the pressure on Microsoft and Sony who have been struggling to make a profit on the current generation systems.

It's difficult to find numbers for these kinds of things, but keep in mind that the PS2 was available in many more countries than the NES. The PS2 sold over 100 million units, sure, but I distinctly remember seeing a record showing the sales data in the US alone to be about the same for both consoles. I can't for the life of me find it, though. Ah well.

Well, the NES sold 34 million in the US (source: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/library/historical_data/pdf/consolidated_sales_e0912.pdf), and the PS2 sold over 50 million, as of more than two years ago (source: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/01/15/PS2-sells-over-50-million-units-in-north-america-breaks-console-sales-record/).

To make that even more significant, consider this: Sony contended pretty heavily with Microsoft and (to, I believe, a lesser extent) Nintendo for console dominance, whereas the NES completely DOMINATED Atari and Sega. Even though the NES had a MONSTROUS lead over its competitors, it still only sold about half as many units as the PS2 did.

As a matter of fact, the PS2 sold nearly as many units in the US alone as the NES did worldwide.

There are some pages in Nintendo's Super Mario 25th Anniversary Campaign web site that might be of more interest to gamers. One that caught my eye was an interview with Miyamoto Shigeru. I'll do my best to translate it here. It's remarkably long, so please excuse me for making multiple posts (and doing so slowly).

Introduction
Iwata: Hello everyone. I'm Iwata for Nintendo.
Today is the 25th anniversary to the day of September 13th, 1985 when the first generation of Super Mario Brothers for the Family Computer [NES] went on sale. Even today, after 25 years have passed thanks to our customers all over the world, Mario continues to jump energetically on game screens. Passing a quarter of a century, we truly thank you, our worldwide patrons.

There are some pages in Nintendo's Super Mario 25th Anniversary Campaign web site that might be of more interest to gamers. One that caught my eye was an interview with Miyamoto Shigeru. I'll do my best to translate it here. It's remarkably long, so please excuse me for making multiple posts (and doing so slowly).

Introduction
Iwata: Hello everyone. I'm Iwata for Nintendo.
Today is the 25th anniversary to the day of September 13th, 1985 when the first generation of Super Mario Brothers for the Family Computer [NES] went on sale. Even today, after 25 years have passed thanks to our customers all over the world, Mario continues to jump energetically on game screens. Passing a quarter of a century, we truly thank you, our worldwide patrons.

And the fact that most wii owners have very low attach rates for games also hurts the prospects for the wii2.

According to Nintendo's own numbers (released yesterday), this is simply not true. The worldwide software to hardware ratio is 7.68 to 1, in the US it's 8.9 to 1. Last I checked that was ahead of the PS3 and only a little bit behind the 360. One might could make an argument that a few of those are 3rd party titles, but as far as general software sales are concerned, Nintendo has no need for concern.

that is if you move you'd expect to be able to see around one object blocking your view of another. but that does not happen with this kind of 3D.

Apparently, Nintendo has done this...and it's available today in NDS!

Please see this game: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/dsiware/krgj/index.html

The 3D environment move when you look around the NDS screen. I think it's done by some image recognition with the front facing camera.

Actually that is something he already described:

A final kind of 3D is monocular 3D. there there is one image but you eye track or tilt track in a way that lets you update the image for the new point of view.

that is if you move you'd expect to be able to see around one object blocking your view of another. but that does not happen with this kind of 3D.

Apparently, Nintendo has done this...and it's available today in NDS!

Please see this game: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/dsiware/krgj/index.html

The 3D environment move when you look around the NDS screen. I think it's done by some image recognition with the front facing camera.

However if the company knows in advance that demand is low, but that the few people that do want it have a significant need for it, then higher prices can be charged, and are necessary to cover cost of design, development, production and support staff, running the company, for a product that won't sell a lot. When there is a low demand for a product that has low prices this is usually because company THOUGHT people would want it, but nobody did, and now they've produced a lot and have to get rid of it at a cheap price. 951,045 hospital beds in US vs Wii Fit: 22.5 millions copies(worldwide) sold since oct 30th 2009 http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2009/091030e.pdf#page=6 http://www.aha.org/aha/resource-center/Statistics-and-Studies/fast-facts.html

The new handheld will contain two 640x480 cameras (0.3 Megapixels each, one pointed towards the gamer and the other on the outside of the shell)

Wiki was an easy link to get, that is why I used it. But I can give you more if you want.

Nintendo has packed a 3-megapixel camera on the exterior of the case, with another lower-resolution camera on the interior hinge.

From http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10056529-1.html This image highlights the small interior camera. http://www.dsfanboy.com/photos/nintendo-dsi/1069060/ This one shows the exterior camera. http://www.dsfanboy.com/photos/nintendo-dsi/1069061/ Those images are from the Japanese site for the DSi http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/dsi.html

FYI, there are more pics and details here: http://www.wiimedia.com/news/view/next_gen_nintendo_dsi_wii_storage_solution_and_more/
And here: http://www.dsfanboy.com/photos/nintendo-dsi/

Some of these details are a bit confused. For example, Nintendo appears to have announced a 300,000 pixel camera (0.3 megapixel), yet it's also being reported as a 3 megapixel camera. Also, there was a report (now believed to be unsubstantiated) that both screens would have touch capability.

What *is* known is that Wii Points will becomes Nintendo Points. Why? Because the DSi will have internal flash memory along with the SD Card slot that can be used to download games (both new and previous gameboy games) from the DS Shop Channel. Just like the Wii. The system also appears to have TWO cameras. One on the inside of the hinge, and one on the front cover. (More evidence that we're talking about a 0.3 megapixel camera capable of 640x480 resolutions.)

Nintendo also announced a Wii storage solution. The Wii Shop Channel will have the option to download directly to an SD Card. A player will then be able to use an "easy copy to the Wii's main memory" to play the game. It's not clear if Iwata meant the Wii would use some of its flash memory as cache, or if you really have to do the copy yourself.

The DSi will be priced in Japan at 18,900 Yen. Which is approximately $180. The DS Lite sells in Japan for ~$150, so that should give some clue to its likely American price.

Nintendo also announced new games in the form of Punch Out for the Wii, Sin and Punishment 2 for the Wii, Mario and Luigi 3 for the DSi, and Trace Memory for the DSi. They are also going to be "refreshing" the GameCube line (e.g. Pikmin and DK Jungle Beat) and re-releasing them for the Wii. I'm not sure what that's supposed to accomplish, but whatever.

Nintendo of America will hold its own press conference at 12:30 PM EDT.

Hopefully we'll get a few clarifications at NOA's press conference.

BTW, if you want to see videos of Nintendo's new stuff go here and scroll down to the box that says "Nintendo Conference". Inside that box are two large buttons. One is a video for the Wii, one is a video for the DSi.

They also have a cart that allows you to play MP3 tunes and MP4 videos on a GBA SP/micro.

As far as I can remember, I was already reading Chinese. But then, I am chinese. IMO, this is what the US DS market is lacking. Games like this:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/ybnj/index.html
I miss good and fun educational games that I use to play...

I see this factoid tossed around quite a bit.

Is there any actual evidence that it is selling to people who don't normally enjoy video games

Of course, now that Wii is facing product shortages in the markets, we are working on increasing production, and the effect is starting to show up little by little in this month already. As this month's production will be sold in the worldwide markets by the end of the next month, a small increase is expected at the retail outlets from next month. While we are on this subject, it looks like some people are misunderstanding that Nintendo is not incorporating state-of-the-art technologies into its products. It is not true. Just as an example, we are using the state-of-the-art technologies to realize the compact-sized Wii console with low power consumption. Making a significant volume of the high-tech hardware, and making an additional volume, is not an easy task at all. In fact, when we clear one bottleneck for a production increase, we will face another one. We are repeating this process as of today, and it is just premature for us to declare how many we will make from when. We would like to confirm this sometime later.

It sounds like they are a victim of their own success. The whole Q&A, while a few months old is an interesting read into the current state of Nintendo.

Of course, now that Wii is facing product shortages in the markets, we are working on increasing production, and the effect is starting to show up little by little in this month already. As this month's production will be sold in the worldwide markets by the end of the next month, a small increase is expected at the retail outlets from next month. While we are on this subject, it looks like some people are misunderstanding that Nintendo is not incorporating state-of-the-art technologies into its products. It is not true. Just as an example, we are using the state-of-the-art technologies to realize the compact-sized Wii console with low power consumption. Making a significant volume of the high-tech hardware, and making an additional volume, is not an easy task at all. In fact, when we clear one bottleneck for a production increase, we will face another one. We are repeating this process as of today, and it is just premature for us to declare how many we will make from when. We would like to confirm this sometime later.

It sounds like they are a victim of their own success. The whole Q&A, while a few months old is an interesting read into the current state of Nintendo.

You might want to check Nintendo's own Investor Relations page, which has full English versions of all their reports.

Apr-Dec '06 (Sales Units in Ten Thousands)
Japan 114
Americas 125
Other 80
------------
Total 319

Some other Square-Enix games, from the Nintendo website:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/software/lineup/inde x.html
Wii -- DRAGON QUEST SWORDS Spring 2007 Square Enix

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/index.html
DS -- Dragon Quest Monster Joker Dec 2006
DS -- Chocobo Magic Picture Book 12/14/2006

Some other Square-Enix games, from the Nintendo website:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/software/lineup/inde x.html
Wii -- DRAGON QUEST SWORDS Spring 2007 Square Enix

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/index.html
DS -- Dragon Quest Monster Joker Dec 2006
DS -- Chocobo Magic Picture Book 12/14/2006

Like I said before, you can't compare the markets directly for a number of reasons, but you shouldn't count out a company that has a seemingly infinite warchest and is willing to spend it to strong-arm their way into whatever market they'd like.

Is there anything in TFA that was not already mentioned in NOA's translation of Iwata's interviews?

It looks like they more or less solved that issue through zooming in and out. See it here (it's the flash-movie at the top).

Nintendo Japan has a couple videos up with various games, ways to use the controller, etc.

Which, given Nintendos *official* word is the 2nd December... (See http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/index.html - I can't read Japanese but...)

Strange that this article thinks it's a November release for the US.

see here:
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/topics/wii_preview/m ovie/lineup.html
there's water in my eyes after that!

Talk about unexpected features...

Check out the videos on this page, especially the ones near the bottom. Notice the relatively advanced photo editing features!

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/topics/wii_preview/p resentation/07.html

These videos show some pretty amazing functionality. Sony is probably pretty scared right now.

Lots of games shown in this new video. Kitsune has translated the game names and posted this list on Quarter To Three:

1. Wii Sports - the little guys look so cute and the way they move is so adorable! ^_^

2. Forever Blue (Nintendo) - as it's an underwater game, or at least appears to be, I wonder if Nintendo is working with Arika or some developer there at to another Everblue game...

3. Mario Strikers Charged - I haven't gotten a chance to play the first, but it's more soccer with Mario, which can't be awful.

4. Excite Truck - well of course.

5. Fail to Shave with the Controller - looks dangerous.

6. Dragon Quest: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors - inevitably, it will be the best game on the Wii by virtue of just being Dragon Quest! :P

7. Sengoku Musou Wave (Koei) - Otherwise known as the Samurai Warriors, at least thus far, but in 1st person? Reminds me of that one Neo Geo game, what was it called?

8. Red Steel (You Be Eye Soft) - why do all the yakuza lack shirts in this game?

9. Fire Emblem: Goddess of Dawn - Hells yes! Bring it on! It's something goddess for the subtitle, but a bit blurry to tell.

10. Swing Golf Pangya (Tecmo) - Was this the online PC game? I don't follow these types of games...

11. Occupational Therapy with My Supportive Boyfriend - Hm.

12. WiiSports - More cute! Yeah for cute!

13. Super Mario Galaxy - Whoa! That part with the lava flows? Trippy!

14. Necronesia (Spike) - It's Necronesia, by Spike.

15. Trauma Center (or Caduceus as its known over here) (Atlus) - Yeah! More Trauma Center!

16. Sonic and the Secret Rings (Sega) - Intriguing, let's hope it doesn't feel too limited!

17. Boy Giving Enema to Farting Imaginary Friend - Will probably only interest sex fiends.

18. Wing Island (Hudson) - Wow! Is this like a Pilotwings revival? That would be sweet, Pilotwings rocked!

19. Pokemon Battle Revolution (Pokemon) - Technically you have to say it's made by the Pokemon company, since legal-wise, they're separate. But we all know it's Nintendo.

20. Bleach Wii (Sega) - Licensed games will be more creative with the Wiimote! *snicker*

21. One Piece Unlimited Adventure (Bandai Namco) - Though this does look cool and there are quite a few good One Piece games and the manga is turbocool. Still, I'd be more reassured if it were made by the Namco side.

22. Dragon Ball Z Sparking NEO (Bandai Namco) - Sequel to Dragon Ball Z Sparking Trinity.

23. SD Gundam Revolution (Bandai Namco) - Too bad this game looks like Poy Poy crossed with Gundam, because it's going to suck and you know it.

24. Crayon Shin Chan (Banpresto) - from the ultrapopular manga/anime. Didn't this series come to America recently? I wonder how it's being received in the land of South Park.

25. Tamagotchi no Pika Pika Daitoryou (Tamagotchi the Sparkling President) (Bandai Namco) - Tamagotchi for president? Elected by board game? That can't be good, what if you forgot to feed the president and he dies?

26. Change the Channel...If You Can - Looks challenging!

27. The First Wii (or My First Wii) - Aha ha ha ha ha haa haaa. I can't resist. aha ha ha ha

28. Elebits (Konami) - This game is so mysterious. It's like voyeur vandal Pokemon.

29. Rayman (You Bee I Soft) - Those bunny commercials are fantastic. "But they can dance!"

30. Super Monkey Ball Cheerful Party (Sega) - Is there any other kind of Monkey Ball party? Do people play it at funerals? Is that why we needed the clarification?

31. Fishing Master (Hudson) - Yeah.

32. The Religious Festival Master (Namco Bandai) - I will be the number one ranked player on this, just you watch.

33. Furi Furi (Taito) - An

Looking at the summary here and here, the pictures seem to indicate that the Wii doesn't ship with a Nunchuk attachment in the box, it's sold seperately for 1,800 Yen. That seems a bit odd, given how many games we've seen that use it. Can anybody who reads Japanese clarify that?

I have to say the rest of the demonstration looks pretty impressive, though.

Looking at the summary here and here, the pictures seem to indicate that the Wii doesn't ship with a Nunchuk attachment in the box, it's sold seperately for 1,800 Yen. That seems a bit odd, given how many games we've seen that use it. Can anybody who reads Japanese clarify that?

I have to say the rest of the demonstration looks pretty impressive, though.

According to this press release, no game is included.

-Tony

I like this new video too. Looks fun. -Tony

If the wii is launching in the US on November 19th at a cost of $250, then why does the Nintendo Japan page for the wii http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/index.html say "2006 12.2 Start?" And why does Amazon list the Gamecube verson of Zelda: Twilight Princess as available on Nov 2nd? Wouldn't both versions likely launch at the same time?

And didn't Nintendo say they'd launch before the PS3?

And didn't they hint that the launch price of the wii might be determined by looking at the launch prices of their previous consoles (all of which launched at $200?)

I dunno, but I'd still put my money on an early November launch with a $200 price point.

The Wii will NOT come with Wii Sports. It will be sold separately for 4800 yen (probably around $40).

This is the press release (in Japanese) showing what comes with the Wii. No Wii Sports.

just because there's no blood or boobs does not make a game "kiddie"

From the article:

People buying the DS to play Brain Training, and Nintendogs are probably not even aware of Metroid or Advance Wars which kind of suggests this might be a one-way street -- the hardcore aren't likely to buy these 'ultra casual' titles in great numbers, because they're fairly simplistic, and don't offer a great deal of depth for a hardcore player

I don't know about Nintendogs, but as a hardcore gamer, I found Brain Training really appealing. I don't know if I would even really consider it a "game" in a hardcore sense, but there's no reason that a "hardcore" gamer can't enjoy a simplistic diversion now and then. Especially one that's supposed to be good for your brain. After all, a true hardcore gamer wants to keep skills in shape.

In Japan, even ignoring the piles of educational titles, the DS has also has a lot of decent utility software. The ever-growing lineup includes a fully-featured electronic dictionary (which also includes quizzes), interactive travel phrasebooks (which make really clever use of the dual screens between two users of one DS) and even cookbooks.

As a hardcore gamer and a Japanophile, I would still lust for this machine even if I didn't care about any of the game titles. (After all, it's cheaper than an electronic dictionary, and you can easily look up kanji that you can't read with the stylus.) Combined with the small form factor and style of the Lite, this software library is rapidly making the DS a "take-everywhere" tool, almost to the level of an iPod or a cell phone. How can this concept not catch on in the west? Can we really keep ignoring the fact that demographically speaking, game machines aren't for kids?

From the article:

People buying the DS to play Brain Training, and Nintendogs are probably not even aware of Metroid or Advance Wars which kind of suggests this might be a one-way street -- the hardcore aren't likely to buy these 'ultra casual' titles in great numbers, because they're fairly simplistic, and don't offer a great deal of depth for a hardcore player

I don't know about Nintendogs, but as a hardcore gamer, I found Brain Training really appealing. I don't know if I would even really consider it a "game" in a hardcore sense, but there's no reason that a "hardcore" gamer can't enjoy a simplistic diversion now and then. Especially one that's supposed to be good for your brain. After all, a true hardcore gamer wants to keep skills in shape.

In Japan, even ignoring the piles of educational titles, the DS has also has a lot of decent utility software. The ever-growing lineup includes a fully-featured electronic dictionary (which also includes quizzes), interactive travel phrasebooks (which make really clever use of the dual screens between two users of one DS) and even cookbooks.

As a hardcore gamer and a Japanophile, I would still lust for this machine even if I didn't care about any of the game titles. (After all, it's cheaper than an electronic dictionary, and you can easily look up kanji that you can't read with the stylus.) Combined with the small form factor and style of the Lite, this software library is rapidly making the DS a "take-everywhere" tool, almost to the level of an iPod or a cell phone. How can this concept not catch on in the west? Can we really keep ignoring the fact that demographically speaking, game machines aren't for kids?

From the article:

People buying the DS to play Brain Training, and Nintendogs are probably not even aware of Metroid or Advance Wars which kind of suggests this might be a one-way street -- the hardcore aren't likely to buy these 'ultra casual' titles in great numbers, because they're fairly simplistic, and don't offer a great deal of depth for a hardcore player

I don't know about Nintendogs, but as a hardcore gamer, I found Brain Training really appealing. I don't know if I would even really consider it a "game" in a hardcore sense, but there's no reason that a "hardcore" gamer can't enjoy a simplistic diversion now and then. Especially one that's supposed to be good for your brain. After all, a true hardcore gamer wants to keep skills in shape.

In Japan, even ignoring the piles of educational titles, the DS has also has a lot of decent utility software. The ever-growing lineup includes a fully-featured electronic dictionary (which also includes quizzes), interactive travel phrasebooks (which make really clever use of the dual screens between two users of one DS) and even cookbooks.

As a hardcore gamer and a Japanophile, I would still lust for this machine even if I didn't care about any of the game titles. (After all, it's cheaper than an electronic dictionary, and you can easily look up kanji that you can't read with the stylus.) Combined with the small form factor and style of the Lite, this software library is rapidly making the DS a "take-everywhere" tool, almost to the level of an iPod or a cell phone. How can this concept not catch on in the west? Can we really keep ignoring the fact that demographically speaking, game machines aren't for kids?

BitGenerations is giving me the warm fuzzies.

Did you actually just link to wiki for your source for worldwide console sales numbers???

Sure, but not before I checked out their sources, which are listed at the bottom of the article. All you need to do to find out that your Xbox number is absolutely incorrect is go look at Microsoft's quarterly investor report from last quarter. It explicitly mentions having an installed base of 24 million Xbox (version 1) consoles (it's on slide 14 of the deck). So even if your GameCube number is right, Xbox is still ahead of them. Add to that the fact that Nintendo's quarterly investor report explicitly calls out having sold 20.85 million consoles over the life of the console through the end of March, and we're having an argument where you don't have any facts on your side.

You can find the slide deck for Microsoft's quarterly report in the wikipedia article, or you can get it straight from Microsoft. Likewise, you can get Nintendo's straight from Nintendo.

I'm happy to have a discussion about which console is better, and which one will win the next generation, but being told that the sales numbers each company has made public are incorrect doesn't fly for me. You can argue the emotional side, or argue about the future, but arguing about facts that are in the past isn't productive.

Earlier this week a transcript of a Ninteno shareholders meeting was released, and this topic was discussed. You can read it here. The points brought up are very clear. If you have a consistent pricing strategy involving an intially high price only to drop it a month or so afterward, the consumer will notice and start to wait. Now, Nintendo also opens the door themselves to a nonfixed pricing strategy, allowing higher budget games to increase their retail price with the opposite for lower budget games. The key is to avoid the price reduction predictability, or the price drop at all.

Consumer may not always be smart, but to assume that they will not pick up on an obvious system of getting high returns at product debuts is ignorant. Do you have any idea how many people know the pricing strategies at department stores? With the evidently increased cost for the next generation of gaming, the consumer will not be as willing to throw money into things that will quickly drop in price.

It's not a rumor any longer. Though it's only been a minor note, they've revealed the shell.

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/e3_2006/wii/controll er.html

The "stick" (left hand) part of the "full" motion-sensitive setup, shown here: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/e3_2006/wii/controll er.html

http://www.digg.com/gaming/Nintendo_Wii_Classic_Co ntroller_Revealed_

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/e3_2006/wii/img_con/ photo_classic.jpg

http://files.nintendev.com/E3/Wii_classic_0501.jpg

It might not have been revealed during the press conference, but I imagine we'll hear more about it tomorrow when people can play with it (I assume there will be games that to utilize it from the Virtual Console).

2. Give us a glimpse at how the older NES, SNES, Genesis, etc games will be played (the Wii controller flat-out lacks the proper number of buttons).

I think Nintendo of Japan's website answers this question(go to the very bottom of page):

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/e3_2006/wii/controll er.html