This fella could use a little energy boost.  A jog?  A fruit smoothie?

Wii and DS sales are slowing down in Japan causing an uncomfortable disturbance in the force that is Nintendo's cash flow. This has also highlighted a boost in “hardcore” game sales there. Does this mean that to get the more “hardcore” titles here in the NA and EU regions we need to just stop buying everything else to get someone's attention?

Last year in Japan video games sales were down 18% all together while in the US they were up. Sales of the PS3 have begun to catch up a little with the Wii and the contest between the DS and PSP in Japan is near even.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal Satoru Iwata said “The Japanese market is not very strong right now overall…. We need to do something to re-energize it.”

He also says Nintendo is "beginning to look vulnerable". You can expect that energizing ‘something’ will come in the form of MotionPlus, DsiWare, Video Downloads and whatever new surprises they’ll have for us at E3 this year.

There's a lesson to be learned here. No recession can hold a “hardcore” gamer's wallet closed if you give them what they want, but then it looks like maybe their wallets alone aren’t deep enough to carry the market where Nintendo wants it.

[source kotaku.com]