News Tagged: Retail
News: New Super Mario Bros. Wii Packaging Is All Kinds Of Awesome
Paint the town red with Mario's latest adventure
We don't have our press copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii yet, but those lucky chaps over at Kotaku do - and they've taken some photos of the packaging to tease us with. Normally we wouldn't report on something as banal as this but the fact is the case for NSMB Wii looks fantastic. It's made of red instead of white plastic, so it's sure to stand out..
News: Rumour: GAME Group Not Stocking Muramasa?
UK's biggest games retailer may ignore feudal Japanese epic
Following our story last month where Rising Star Games' MD Martin Defries said some UK retailers weren't interested in Muramasa: The Demon Blade, we decided to do a little ringing around of GAME and Gamestation stores to check on the preorder availability of this fantastic game and were rather shaken by what we heard. Speaking to a manager..
News: UK Retailers Give Muramasa a Miss
Some shops not interested in swords and beautiful animation
Although we love Muramasa: The Demon Blade around here, it seems UK retailers are less than optimistic about the game's success, with some stores refusing to stock it completely. Martin Defries, managing director and general head honcho of the game's UK publisher Rising Star Games, wrote into UK trade mag MCV recently to highlight the..
News: Pink DS Lite Consoles Bite the Dust
Yet another colour out of production in Great Britain
The DS has been available in more colours than there are fish in the sea, but survival of the fittest dictates that some must be struck from the gene pool, so it's with regret we inform you that the pink DS Lite console will soon no longer be available within the UK. Okay, so it's probably not the worst news you've had all day, but considering..
News: First DSi-Only Retail Releases Hitting This Fall
Will come in a new box too
Back when the DSi was announced, Nintendo revealed that the new handheld would pack more horsepower under the hood than the DS and Lite. It certainly wasn't the first time the company had released an incremental upgrade to handheld hardware; apart from the obvious color screen, the Game Boy Color was essentially a slightly beefed-up Game Boy, complete with exclusive games..
News: Wii to Retail for £200 in the UK
Tough economic climate results in price hike for Brits
We reported a while back that UK retailers were looking into increasing the RRP of the Nintendo Wii in light of the weak value of the Pound.Nothing seemed to happen for a while and it looked as if the situation had changed, but we've just been tipped off that the price increase IS coming, and that a standard Wii console will soon set you back..
News: Sega Not Giving Up On Mature Wii Titles Just Yet
Recent retail disappointments haven't dented Sega's confidence
As much as we loved Madworld and House of the Dead: Overkill, neither title sold particularly well, which has led many 'industry experts' to suggest that mature, hardcore games just can't find an audience on Nintendo's console.In the light of two high-profile commercial bombs you'd expect Sega to step back from mature gaming and..
News: EA is Rewarded For Embracing The Wii
Sales nearly doubled on last year's total
When the Wii was released super-publisher EA caught a bit of flak for not giving the format the respect it deserved. Thankfully the company has changed its attitude and has been duly rewarded with a massive jump in sales.According to EA's financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2009, 14% of its overall revenue was generated by titles on the..
News: Nintendo EU Price Fixing Fine is Reduced
They still have £107,000,000 left to pay, however
Back in 2002 it was revealed that during the 1990s Nintendo's European operation had been colluding with retailers to keep the price of its software and hardware artificially high.Such naughty-type action was brought to the attention of the European Commission and Nintendo was promptly slapped with a whopping £134,000,000 ($199,000,000)..
News: WiiWare Games Now Available On Amazon
More power to the customer or missing the point entirely?
If you head on over to the popular online store Amazon and look around a little you can find something pretty weird: A listing for World of Goo on the Wii.Reading the item description reveals that this is not actually the game, but rather a code you can enter in the Wii Shop to get the game (Presumably, you have to enter it instead of a Wii..
News: The Wii is in 8 Million Japanese Homes
The Japanese simply cannot get enough of this machine
According to Japanese magazine Famistu, the Nintendo Wii crossed the '8 million sold' mark in Japan on April 19th.Enterbrain has also released the top five selling Wii games in Japan (it's worth pointing out that Wii Sports was not bundled with the console):1. Wii SportsLaunch: 12/2/06Life-to-date: 3,481,469 copies2. Wii FitLaunch:..
Talking Point: Could The Conduit Be in for a Rough Ride at Retail?
Game designer predicts poor sales performance for high-profile FPS
With past ‘hardcore’ failures like No More Heroes, House of Dead: Overkill and (more recently) Madworld, the Wii is getting a reputation for being a casual gamers’ machine first and foremost.This certainly doesn’t bode well for Sega’s upcoming FPS title The Conduit. Developer High Voltage Software has gone to great lengths..
News: Nintendo’s Stock Drops 7.5%
Falling Wii sales to blame
Following the news that Wii sales were 17% down on this point last year, the value of Nintendo’s stock has plummeted by 7.5%.It’s hardly a shocking plunge but considering the general shoddy state of the global economy at present it certainly could have been a lot worse.
News: Wii to increase by £20 in UK?
UK retailer Gamestation appears to be preparing for a price rise.
As we reported a month or so ago, Nintendo recently increased the price of Wiis to retailers by up to £20, reflecting the increasing strength of the Yen versus pound sterling. At the time it was unsure whether or not retailers would pass the price increase to customers, but now we’ve seen the first signs that the cost to consumers..
News: Wii Manufacturing Cost Reduced by 45%
These are tough times for many people, but apparently not for Nintendo.
According to Credit Suisse analyst Koya Tabata, the cost of manufacturing a Wii console has gone down by 45%. If this number is accurate, that would mean each Wii sold is bringing in nearly twice the profit as in previous years.And yes, the Wii most definitely brings in profit per sale, around $6 USD each actually. If you take..
News: Wii Price Increase to Hit UK?
Nintendo are to increase the price they charge UK retailers for each Wii console by up to £20.
With the Wii still selling like there's no tomorrow, retailers are left with some tough decisions in wake of this announcement from Nintendo.The obvious answer is for retailers to increase the price of each new console by £20, retaining the already slim profit margin on each console. However, when..
News: Nintendo Claim UK Developer Crown
Latest figures would indicate Mario and company had a very Merry Christmas
As the dust settles from a particularly hectic Christmas period Nintendo has emerged victorious in the UK sales arena. The veteran developer effortlessly claimed the top spot of Develop’s monthly developer chart thanks to strong performances by games such as Super Mario Galaxy and the seemingly evergreen Brain Training..
News: Oh Noes! Wavebird Discontinued
Wave goodbye to the Wavebird
The Gamecube may be old news now but for many of us the memory of this much-maligned machine lives on through the excellent Wavebird controller, which comes in very handy when indulging in Virtual Console gaming. The controller is also an excellent alternative for Wii games that are difficult to play using the Wiimote.Unfortunately Nintendo has now announced that no..
News: "Stop Buying So Many Nintendo Consoles" Says Reggie
He doesn't like hardware bundles, either
Reggie Fils-Aime has expressed concerns over the stock problems experienced by the company of late. Basically, the Wii and DS are TOO popular! He also had some cutting words to say about the increase in bundles offered by money-grabbing games retailers.From GamesInstustry.biz: Nintendo of America's president Reggie Fils-Aime says that the demand for the Wii..
News: Europe Loves Brain Training
It's already sold bucketloads of copies in Japan, American and the UK - now our European friends are warming to Dr. Kawashima's unqiue brand of mental fitness.
Nintendo's amazing success story continues with the news that its Brain Training series has topped sales charts in two key European territories. Nintendo's DS Brain Training games have topped the charts in both Spain and Germany.Dr..
