News Byte
Lauren Goode in Commerce on January 27 at 1:19 pm PT
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told investors today that the Wii U, the company’s long-awaited successor to the Wii gaming console, will come equipped with NFC capabilities that will be used to transfer gaming data and will open the potential for micropayments through the gaming system. Satoru also said the company was readying an online game network for the Wii U system, citing lessons learned from the tepid launch of the 3DS.
Daisuke Wakabayashi, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on January 26 at 1:40 am PT
Grappling with a sluggish debut for its new hand-held game system and petering demand for its flagship home console, Nintendo Co. swung to a loss for the first nine months of its fiscal year and scaled back sales forecasts for its 3DS portable system and Wii.
Lauren Goode in News on January 17 at 7:59 am PT
We came, we saw, we conquered … but we couldn’t possibly write about every one of the more than 20,000 products showcased in Las Vegas last week. Here’s a quick catch-up.
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 12 at 5:57 pm PT
Despite sales declines bringing down the overall game industry last year, Microsoft dominated the market, with the Xbox capturing nearly half of all consumer spending from physical sales.
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 12 at 6:00 am PT
The e-commerce giant has joined a growing list of companies willing to brave the rain in order to gain access to a deep pool of technology engineers in Seattle.
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 10 at 3:23 pm PT
Turns out the big consumer electronics highlight of Microsoft’s final CES keynote last night was its six-year-old Xbox, thanks in large part to the Kinect.
Lauren Goode in Commerce on January 3 at 3:11 pm PT
If you’re a member of the Nintendo 3DS Four Million Club but don’t know how to watch the 3-D video on a Web site like YouTube, you’re not alone.
News Byte
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 3 at 8:27 am PT
Nintendo
released sales figures for 2011 today, reporting that its hot seller continued to be the Wii. The Wii sold 4.5 million units, and in close second was the new portable game unit, the Nintendo 3DS, which sold four million units. In last place was the older Nintendo DS family, which sold more than 3.4 million units. Hardware sales were fueled by Nintendo’s own first-party software titles, like Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 for the 3DS and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for the Wii, which have all sold more than one million titles.
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 3 at 7:30 am PT
The number of people playing games on Facebook tanked last week, as some game makers were unable to capitalize on people’s downtime during the holidays.
John Paczkowski in News on December 29, 2011 at 3:45 am PT
Youch. Down more than 75 percent from launch week.
