Business News, Business Features

Nintendo's former figurehead impacted by tumbling share value

Having $2.1 billion in the bank would make us very happy indeed, but that amount of cash can only secure you 13th place in Japan's rich list, according to Forbes. Former Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi used to be sitting pretty at the top of Japan's richest people, but his fortunes...

Ho Ho Bros

It's almost that time of year, when everyone is merry, bright, and decking the halls with boughs of holly. Whether we like it or not, it's creeping up fast. Buying cards for this festive time, meanwhile, can often be a little bit dull, but GamerPrint has something to offer gamers for the upcoming holiday season. The gaming enthusiast's...

Glowing praise from an unlikely source

As the Nintendo-loving world waits with bated breath for the Wii U to launch and various skeptics pour scorn over its chances, it would appear that the new format has unequivocal support from one sector of the market, at least. Business Insider's Dylan Love got some hands-on time with the new console at a...

"We take our responsibilities as a global company very seriously"

Yesterday, allegations surfaced online that Chinese manufacturer Foxconn - which counts Nintendo, Sony and Apple as some of its clients - was employing children in its factories. Foxconn has since admitted guilt, issuing the following statement: We recognize that full...

Upwardly mobile?

Are you sick of hearing people saying that Nintendo should start making games for smartphones? Yes? Well prepare yourself for more nausea, because a new pressure group - with the snappy title of Nintendo Go Mobile - has been created to achieve just that goal. Here's what they have to say, spelling errors and all: Nintendo go...

Is that a flying pig?

After today's financial reports confirmed major losses for Nintendo, there are once again calls for the company to take its greatest IP treasures onto other platforms, such as smartphones and tablets. We've heard this all before, with investors saying similar things when Nintendo dropped the 3DS retail price. It's as likely now...

Time for a transition

Today Nintendo announced its annual financial results, and the big headline is that it made a loss of 43 billion Yen, roughly $529m USD or £327m GBP. While we don't need to fear for the future of the company at this stage due to its significant stockpiles of cash and assets, it’s nevertheless a blow for the big N. The loss...

If in doubt…

Nintendo is set to announce its latest financial results that will cover the past year, and it’s anticipated that, for the first time in its history, the company will record a yearly loss. It’s an obvious blow for Nintendo, particularly as the past five to six years have brought staggering success. Even the results for 2010-2011...

President comes out swinging

One of the most anticipated 3DS games is nearly here: Super Mario 3D Land releases in Japan next week, and Nintendo president Satoru Iwata expects it to ignite 3DS hardware sales. Speaking to investors after the company's quarterly results, Iwata revealed that since the price drop the 3DS is selling at a better pace than...

Not all doom and gloom

Nintendo just posted a 70 billion Yen loss: even the least economically minded of us can tell you that's not good. Every cloud has a silver lining though, and in this case it's the dramatically increased upswing in sales of the 3DS. In the period between April and June 2011, Nintendo shifted just 710,000 consoles around the world: in the period between June and September it..

The results are in

Nintendo's quarterly financial results just appeared on the company's Japanese site and, as expected, the company is still struggling in the market. Nintendo failed to meet its sales targets set in July 2011, with DS software and the 3DS still dropping short of expectations, missing its ¥240 billion income target by 10%. This in...

"Putting smiles on faces" paramount

Nintendo is all about creating games, but it's also a huge company with all the business stuff that entails: shareholders, finance sheets and stacks of paperwork. Business documents can be exceedingly boring, but when Nintendo's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report starts with a message of "Bringing...

Cuts sales projections for Wii and DS

The accounting period just before launching a new console is always a tough one: who's likely to shell out for a machine when a newer, shinier model is on the horizon? Perhaps that's partly to blame for a sharp decrease in Nintendo's third-quarter profits which saw the company's operating profit drop to $1.3 billion / £814m, compared with $2.31 billion / £1.4..

Studio to be absorbed like one of Bomberman's explosions

Hudson, well known for its Bomberman and Deca Sports series, is to be fully absorbed by Konami on April 1 of this year. Konami, the studio behind Castlevania, Dance Dance Revolution, Silent Hill and many other titles has been Hudson's parent company since April 2005, holding a 54% stake. The new arrangement will switch this to a 100% stake,..

Collaboration intends to get more people active through physical play

Nintendo and the American Heart Association have announced a new partnership to help people become more physically active through play. The collaboration aims to get people "motivated, empowered and active." What this means on a surface level is that Nintendo's "active" games, including Wii Fit Plus and Wii..

Says a pay service isn't out of the question

Compared to Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, the Wii's online service is...somewhat lacking. While functional when put to use by capable hands, the Wii's free online is undoubtedly in last place when it comes to services, ease of use and capabilities offered. But hey, it's free, right? For now it is, at...

Could she be a Red Sox fan?

Denise Kaigler, former vice president of corporate affairs at Nintendo of America, has reintegrated herself into the video game industry after giving up her position last November due to the strain commuting had put on her family life. Prior to her two years of service at Nintendo, Kaigler held a marketing executive position at Reebok for 16 years. With all of this..

Unwilling to let GameCube compression tech go

Nintendo recently renewed their license with S3 Graphics to continue using their S3 Texture Compression technology. They explain the tech as follows: S3TC texture compression uses an advanced compression algorithm that achieves up to six-fold compression of complex textures and images that are used in today's hardware accelerated gaming titles. This..