Industry News, Industry Features - Page 16 of 25

Just a couple of suggestions from John Riccitiello

Whether it's the top priority or not, Nintendo is undoubtedly looking to pick up declining profits with the upcoming 3DS. However, in response to the Move and Kinect peripherals for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 respectively, launching new hardware might not be the only answer if Nintendo is to...

Whilst gaming on the DS/PSP are on the decline

With the technological capabilities of modern smartphones on the increase and the popularity of digital games from outlets such as the Apps Store, it's no wonder Nintendo has been as vocal as it has about how companies like Apple are the real enemy in relation to their own console sales. In recent market research conducted by Interpret, it has found..

What exactly is the purpose of attending, then?

First, there was the exciting news that Nintendo would be attending the Consumer Electronics Show for the first time in 16 years. Then, there was the disappointing mix-up that mistakenly listed Nintendo as an exhibitor with a public display. Now, hopes of announcements ― even behind closed doors ― have also been dashed as Nintendo officially..

Will the extra cost be passed onto consumers?

Earlier this year, Satoru Iwata stated 3DS games may cost as much to develop as Wii titles, something that has now been backed up by Japanese studio Marvelous Interactive who's given some frightening figures for studios wanting to get into this potentially explosively lucrative market. The studio revealed at an investors' meeting that its development..

Could Nintendo be taking Sony and Microsoft too lightly, or over-reacting to Apple?

It's strange that Nintendo would see Apple and its range of iOS devices as more of a threat than Sony or Microsoft and their stake in the home console and handheld markets. Reggie Fils-Aime, President at Nintendo of America has echoed the concerns of Satoru Iwata and...

"n-Space is down, but definitely not out"

It seems n-Space – the company behind several DS instalments of home console titles – is one of the latest development studios that's resorted to reducing its staff numbers due to the pressure of the economic climate of the last several years. Last Friday's undisclosed number of lay-offs has had the company CEO, Dan O'Leary, updating n-Space's official..

Service needs more promotion, awareness, money

Although Nintendo UK has just started on a high-profile advertising campaign to draw more awareness to the Wii's online features and WiiWare titles, for many developers it's something that should have happened years ago. Until now, Nintendo's efforts to promote the Wii's online capabilities have been limited to references to online play in selected..

Veteran publisher laments "weak" third party sales performance on Nintendo's console

In case you hadn't noticed, EA is pruning its workforce with gay abandon at present, hacking away 1500 jobs in order to reduce its running costs. The fact that many of its Wii titles have underperformed (Dead Space Extraction has reportedly sold a pitiful 9,000 copies in North America) has surely contributed to..

Thoughts also passed on motion control

Square Enix president Yoichi Wada has opened his mouth and allowed various predictions to spew forth, some of which were collected and bottled during an interview with The Financial Times. Wada has foretold that Nintendo's successor to the Wii will be available in 2011, and is likely to be closer to the PS3/360...

Even The Big N is susceptible to to the downturn

Nintendo has just released its financial statement for the previous quarter and the results make for interesting reading. Despite the fact that the manufacturer is beating away all competition from rivals such as Sony and Microsoft, net sales were down down by 40% compared to the previous year. Net...

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..

Lawsuit reveals a Rogue Squadron Wii game was in the works.

A few months back San-Rafael-based Factor 5 (the studio behind the popular Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series) was declared bankrupt with between $1 million to $10 million in unpaid debts. In addition to this, the company was also faced with 69 claims for unpaid wages totaling more than $900,000. As you can imagine, much wailing and gnashing..

Lionhead boss intends to give the UK developer an "identity"

Lionhead boss and newly appointed creative director of Microsoft Europe Peter Molyneux has been speaking exclusively to Gamesindustry.biz about his role in assisting Microsoft's internal development teams - with Rare being one of them. Molyneux - who founded legendary UK software house Bullfrog (Populous, Magic Carpet) before starting up..

Copycat motion control systems don't impress industry analyst

Where would we be with expert analysts telling us what to think, eh? Take Wedbush Morgan chappie Michael Pachter, for example. Following Microsoft and Sony's recently unveiling of motion control systems at this year's E3, Pachter has waded in with his own viewpoint on all this technological advancement: This year’s E3 again focused on..

Another overconfident prediction from the creator of Betamax

For those of you that have any interest in this kind of thing, Sony Europe boss David Reeves stepped down recently and was succeeded by a fellow called Andrew House. This year's E3 was House's first as president of Sony Europe, so it's unsurprising that he wasted no time in chiming in with a typically brash Sony-style sound-bite when Edge..

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..

Encouraging words from EA...do they finally get it?

During the conference keynote address EA Sports head Peter Moore spoke about EA Sports' current philosophy towards the Wii stating that "You can't simply take what you're doing on the PS3 or Xbox 360 and port – that's a dirty word – down to the Wii." New titles like Grand Slam Tennis (EA's first tennis game) and the new Tiger Woods..

Could a slowing market and a boost in "core" game sales have us swimming in great releases this year?

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..

Warning for third parties looking to make a quick buck

The Nintendo Wii recently became the fastest selling console of all time and is generally perceived to be doing pretty well right now. However, analyst Doug Creutz from Cowen & Company has commented that third parties looking to make easy money by sinking cash into Wii development may be...