Tag: Games Industry - Page 2
News Satoru Iwata: Nintendo Has No Plans To Adopt Cloud Gaming
Will continue to monitor developments in technology
During the recent investor Q&A, Satoru Iwata faced a number of questions about the future of the video game market and where Nintendo will position itself within it. One growing area of the industry is cloud gaming, which allows players to stream a game from a company's server directly to...
News 3DS Market Share For Early 2013 Shows Growth in North America and Europe
Success in mainland Europe offsets poor UK performance
Over the four pages of his presentation following Nintendo's annual financial report, Satoru Iwata focuses a great deal of attention on the 3DS and its successes, as well as areas for improvement. There have been some real positives for the handheld on a worldwide scale, with its obvious...
Feature Nintendo's Financial Revelations and Hardware Strategies
3DS leads as Wii U goes slow and steady
Around this time every year Nintendo reports its financial results for the previous 12 months, and in by-gone days they could be summarised very easily — "we're rolling in cash like money hogs, victory lattes for everyone". Recently it's not been quite that simple, with the decline starting with the initial...
News Nordic Games Picks Up The Darksiders Franchise
Red Faction, MX and Homeworld also find new homes
Yesterday we reported that THQ had sold off most of its remaining assets to other parties, however it was not clear which ones had been picked up and which had fallen by the wayside. New information has come through today and we're very happy to inform you that the Darksiders franchise was salvaged...
News THQ Raises Nearly $7 million Auctioning Off Remaining IPs
Has Vigil Games found a home?
Back in January THQ sold off the majority of its assets resulting in most of its IPs being given new homes. Studios such as Volition, the developer behind the Saints Row franchise, were quickly snapped up, however, some failed to secure a deal such as Vigil Games, the team behind the Darksiders series. The remaining...
News NPD Results Show Success for Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
Ominous silence so far on Wii U figures
It's that time again — though it seems slightly later than normal — with the NPD figures emerging to show overall games industry sales for March in the U.S. As often happens, Nintendo jumped ahead of the game earlier this week to tell us some impressive sales figures for the 3DS eShop and its software, but...
News Nintendo of America Announces Impressive Download Figures and Sales for 3DS
Online connection rate for the system is 67%
Alongside today's Nintendo Direct broadcasts, Nintendo of America has been speaking to members of the press about the handheld's recent successes, and we've been fortunate enough to be on hand for the details. Some facts and figures for the 3DS in the region have been revealed by Scott Moffitt, and they...
News Japanese Games Market Makes Long Due Return to Growth
5% boost in hardware offsets drop in software sales
Quite often we share the latest weeks' Japanese sales charts with you, to highlight how a new release is performing and to track hardware sales in Nintendo's homeland. A trend that's been consistent for well over a year has been 3DS dominance, with some occasions where the combined sales of the...
Proud to have brought Oswald into the fold
Warren Spector is a well known name in the games industry, with his legacy of titles such as the original Deus Ex assuring his place as development royalty. In more recent years he founded the studio Junction Point, which was acquired by Disney (after an initial offer was turned down) and the team went on...
Talking Point Warren Spector Asks, Where Are Gaming's Grown-Ups?
Questions for a young industry
As a Nintendo website, we often treasure and talk the most about games that are based in fantastical and, often, family friendly lands — an Italian plumber running and jumping, miniature creatures assisting a stranded rocket man, an adventure played out by LEGO characters and so on. Occasionally we get edgy and...
News UK Retailer GAME to Sell Tablet Devices
It's on like [insert trademarked reference here]
Not so long ago there were disgruntled retailers in the UK voicing — through a spokesperson or anonymous insider — disgruntlement at the Wii U's sales performance so far and the strategy coming out of Nintendo. For its part, Nintendo has been meeting retailers to offer reassurance and outline...
News Square Enix CEO Resigns Ahead of Financial Losses
Major restructuring is planned
With the financial year closing in the coming week, Square Enix has stated that it anticipates an "extraordinary loss" as it puts into effect major restructuring of the company. With disappointing sales of console titles and the costs of making sweeping organisational changes, the company anticipates reporting a loss...
News Dan Adelman: Nintendo Aims to Make eShop Publishing "as Frictionless as Possible"
Admires indie scene's "willingness to try out new ideas"
This is an important week for game developers of all sizes, as the Game Developer's Conference (GDC) gets underway in San Francisco. Nintendo will naturally have important members of the team on the scene, taking the opportunity to weigh up trends, discussion points and, most importantly, meet...
News Nintendo UK Promises to Meet Retailers, Share Wii U Strategy and Boost the System
"We look forward to updating – and exciting – our partners"
It's common knowledge that Wii U sales have lost momentum, worldwide, in the early months of 2013. After a promising set of launch figures, NPD results for North America in January and February have been low, Japanese sales are currently only beating Wii and Xbox 360 (which sells poorly...
Reaction Doom and Gloom Merchants on Wii U Being Nintendo's Last Home Console
We discuss the casual dismissal of Wii U in some quarters
In a regular series of features, we're going to take a rather strong statement or opinion expressed about Nintendo, and give our own take. These opinions aren't those of the site as a whole, but rather of a collection of your humble Nintendo Life writers. This time around we're looking at a...
News Miyamoto: "Entertainment is an Unpredictable Industry"
Not at a point of concern for Wii U as yet
Shigeru Miyamoto, as you've no doubt noticed, has been on a press tour around the U.S., and the most recent port of call seems to have been the New York Times. A number of topics were covered, and in terms of the ever-present question of Wii U momentum the Nintendo executive admitted that he'd naturally...
Talking Point Nintendo's Revised Approach to E3
It’s not all about the LA expo
Nintendo has often been one of the most secretive companies in the world, and while that prevents any unwanted information being leaked ahead of schedule, it means that at times it’s infuriating to follow as a fan. Up until a few years ago, the only chance we got to look inside the hallowed grounds of Nintendo HQ...
Interview Vblank Entertainment On Bringing a Retro Rampage to WiiWare
"It’s a twenty layer dip with something for everyone"
After a lengthy wait and a lingering suspicion that it would never come, Retro City Rampage has arrived on WiiWare, bringing its own blend of old-school game mechanics with a chaotic storytelling style. There are enough parodies and in-jokes to fill a dozen games, and it arrives on the service...
News Vblank Entertainment: Retro City Rampage on WiiWare is a "$20,000 Gift to the Fans"
Shares praise for eShop improvements
Retro City Rampage is available now on the Wii Shop or, if you've long since moved onto a Wii U, on the same platform in the new system's Wii Mode. A manic, parody-heavy flashback to the original GTA and with pop-culture references from further back in time, it's an experience unlike any other WiiWare release of...
News Nintendo Gives US Government Recommendations on Tackling Piracy Abroad
Brazil, Mexico, China, and Spain are the biggest culprits
Every year copyright holders get the opportunity to make anti-piracy recommendations for the US Trade Representative’s Special 301 report. The report gets published on an annual basis and identifies countries that, in the eyes of the US, are not doing enough to put a stop to copyright...
News EA Plans For a Future With Micro-Transactions in All Games
"Buy a truck, a gun, whatever it might be"
Some of us in the Nintendo Life team and, we're sure, throughout the community, remember the days when you'd buy a game once and have the full product right there in your hand. The march of time and technology waits for no-one, of course, and we now have extensive download options, additional paid DLC and,...
News THQ To Sell Majority Of Its Remaining IPs This April
There's hope for Darksiders yet
THQ auctioned off most of its assets last month, resulting in several studios and IPs being picked up by the highest bidders. Sadly, it appeared that the Darksiders franchise was dead and buried due to its studio, Vigil Games, not finding a suitable bidder. However, it looks as though there may still be hope for it...
News Cross-Generational Software Sales Show The Emergence of New Gamers
What will the Wii U/PS4/Xbox "Durango" generation hold?
While much has been said over the years about the disruptive influence of the Wii in the video game industry, it often needs little more than raw statistics to back it up. It's also, arguably, set high standards that are exceptionally difficult for Wii U to meet; sales and impact that have...
Talking Point Sony's PlayStation 4 Poses a Fresh Challenge for Wii U in the 2013 Holidays
A festive dust up
If you live somewhere with no internet access or connection to the outside world, it may be news to you that Sony unveiled its PlayStation 4 console in New York on 20th February. Over the course of two hours it confirmed a Holiday 2013 release, showed off the system's user interface and social functions, a new version of the...
Talking Point Gamer Protests Can Earn Small Wins From Publishers
From 60Hz retro releases in Europe, to freebies and localisations
It seems that in the modern era of social networks, free online news and consumers with greater choice than ever before, there is always something to get thousands of online commentators hot, bothered and outraged. On many occasions there are justifications and genuine reasons behind...
Rumour Aliens: Colonial Marines Had Resources Moved to More "Important" Projects
Supposedly while still collecting cheques from SEGA
Aliens: Colonial Marines is a title that has rapidly moved from being a hyped blockbuster release to a poorly received disappointment. That hasn't necessarily damaged sales excessively — it went to number one in the UK charts — but it has nevertheless had a lot of negative press and gamer...
News Latest U.S. Sales Show Decline in Video Game Market, Slow Wii U Momentum
Wii U sales below 100,000
U.S. sales tracker NPD has issued its results for January, which reflect more challenging times for the video game industry in comparison to previous years. In raw figures video game sales increased 9% over January 2012, but this year's results cover five weeks rather than four; Gamasutra has estimated that in equivalent...
News Nintendo Receives Zero BAFTA Game Awards Nominations
Um, what?
2012 was a fairly busy year for Nintendo, with some high-quality titles arriving on 3DS and the long-awaited release of Wii U. There were some rather decent games in there, which makes Nintendo's complete absence from the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Game Awards 2013 a little surprising. While failure to make it...
News Codemasters Producer: Wii U is "The Future"
Clive Moody has high-praise for Nintendo's new system
UK-based developer Codemasters' only announced Wii U offering so far is the upcoming port of F1 Race Stars, but that doesn't mean the new system hasn't caught its eye. In a recent interview with News10.net, senior producer at Codemasters Clive Moody said he had played the Wii U, and that so far...
News Wii U Software Struggled For 2% of UK Market in January
It can only get better
While the early performance of Wii U, globally, can be argued as being anything ranging from a reasonable start to a disappointment, in general terms it's shifted some units and, lest we forget, performed better in its early days than competing systems did when they launched. It's struggled to hit the early heights of Wii, yet...
News Developer States That Wii U Woes Were a Focus At DICE
More was spoken about cancelled games than those on the way
A number of game developers and publishers from every corner of the globe gathered at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas earlier this week. It's essentially a networking event for developers to come together, share ideas and talk about industry trends. Naturally Wii U was spoken about a fair...
Reaction The Rayman Legends Delay Is a Low Blow, But The Apocalypse Isn't Here
Remaining "exclusives" need to be secured, however
Let's get one key point out of the way, just so we've said it early. The delay of Rayman Legends feels, to many current and prospective Wii U owners, like a cynical cash-grab of a business move. There are good old "anonymous sources", apparently developers on the game, stating that it's practically...
News Nintendo Set For Yearly High In Download Sales
The 3DS eShop is delivering the goods
Nintendo's recent Q&A with investors, following the third quarter financial results, has now been officially translated and published in English. Comments such as those about potential additional platforms will raise some eyebrows, but further details have revealed some less surprising news, though...
Talking Point Gun Violence and Nintendo is an Unlikely Pairing
Not, perhaps, for a want of trying
Yesterday we directed your attention to an extensive investigative article on Eurogamer, exploring the links between the gun industry and video games. Most importantly, the focus wasn't just on subjective debates about the relationship between guns in games and those on the market, but also explored real,...
News EA: Excited About New Generation Which Is "Yet to Come"
Not positive words for Nintendo
Whenever the issue of "generations" of consoles comes up when discussing Wii U, it often leads to hurt feelings and blood on the floor. Defining a console generation is arguably a complex business, while some clearly feel that graphical fidelity and "power" truly represent a step to "next gen". That's left Wii U in a...