VentureBeat

Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime addresses OnLive, iPhone competition and used games

It’s been about six months since we last interviewed Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America. in the meantime, Nintendo has lined up the launch of its new DSi handheld console and has made it much easier to buy downloadable WiiWare games. Despite the recession, the Japanese company continues to outsell its rivals two-to-one in both the home console and handheld game player markets. We spoke with Fils-Aime shortly after Satoru Iwata, chief executive of… Continue Reading

How Nintendo succeeded in selling 50 million Wiis

Satoru Iwata, chief executive of Nintendo, said today that the Wii game console has now sold more than 50 million units, making it the fastest selling console in history. That puts it on track to surpass Sony’s PlayStation 2, which has sold more than 140 million units since 1994.

Iwata, who delivered the keynote speech at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this morning, said the reason is that “software sells hardware.” Nintendo has had… Continue Reading

February U.S. game sales slow to 10 percent, but growth rate still up

The game industry is humming along. The U.S. video game industry grew 10 percent in February, slower than a month before but still enviable considering the weakness in the rest of the economy.

The sales of console games and hardware grew 10 percent to $1.47 billion in February from $1.34 billion a year earlier  according to NPD Group, a market researcher. In all of 2008, the industry grew 19 percent.

Sales in January were up 13 percent…. Continue Reading

Nintendo wins Wii controller patent dispute

A federal court has dismissed a lawsuit brought against Nintendo over patents related to the Wii and GameCube game controllers.

Fenner Investments, a Richardson, Texas-based investment firm, alleged that the game controllers infringed on its patent, U.S. No. 6,297,751. The case was due to begin a trial on Tuesday.

Nintendo said it is pleased with the decision. But the company has been the regular target of patent holders who are trying to collect royalties.

Among those who have… Continue Reading

Sony’s PlayStation 3 blockbuster: Killzone 2 lives up to the hype

Just when we thought the Nintendo Wii had won the video game console war, along comes Sony’s Killzone 2.

In 2005, Sony whet our appetite for the PlayStation 3 (which debuted in 2006, without Killzone 2) by showing off a demo of a then-distant game. It was a beautiful cinematic shot of the opening scene of the sci-fi game, with outstanding graphics and grueling first-person combat. It was so good that the game press launched a… Continue Reading

Will the Wii jump into the TV set-top box game?

In an interview with Variety magazine, Lionsgate president Curt Marvis let slip that the Wii presents a major opportunity for Hollywood studios to distribute movies and television shows — and that this might be a reality before the year is out. While it isn’t written in stone, someone of Marvis’ stature probably isn’t just blowing smoke.

There are other indications a Hollywood-Wii deal might be in the works: Nintendo has already started developing a video-on-demand service… Continue Reading

Nintendo crosses 100 million DS game handhelds sold

Everything is relative. Sony recently celebrated the sale of 50 million PlayStation Portable handheld game players. But today, Nintendo announced it has sold more than 100 million Nintendo DS handhelds. Both launched in 2004.

The Japanese company said today it shipped the 100 millionth unit on March 6. It is also preparing to release the next version of its handheld, the DSi, on April 5 in the U.S. for $169.

When the DS launched in late 2004,… Continue Reading

DICE Summit: Nintendo shows cute applications for DSi game handheld

The Nintendo DSi is launching on April 5 in the U.S. and the Japanese company teased DICE Summit attendees today with a look at some applications for it.

The DSi is the third major upgrade to the handheld game player since its introduction in 2004. Selling for $169, this version will have two cameras, better sound, a wireless application download store and other improvements.

One of the applications in development is Moving Memo Pad, which lets you… Continue Reading

Nintendo DSi arrives on April 5

In what is sure to be a nice shot in the arm for the portable game industry, Nintendo announced today that its handheld DSi game player will hit shelves in the U.S. on April 5.

The DSi is an upgraded handheld with two cameras and is the third major version of the DS, which has sold more than 90 million units since its launch in 2004. It will sell for $169.99 in blue and black colors.

The… Continue Reading

Microsoft in talks to buy 3DV Systems?

Anxious to outdo the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft is reportedly in talks to acquire 3DV Systems of Israel.

3DV is one of the companies that’s developing a next-generation user interface for games that goes beyond what the Wii motion-sensing controller can do. Israeli site Haaretz reported today that  Microsoft plans to buy 3DV for $35 million.

That’s a pretty small amount, considering 3DV has raised $38.5 million. 3DV’s investors include Elron, a member of Nochi Dankner’s IDB group,… Continue Reading

[Updated] Defying recession: U.S. video games grow 13 percent in January

The U.S. video game industry continues to defy the recession, with sales in January up 13 percent compared to a year ago.

Overall January sales were $1.33 billion, up from $1.18 billion a year ago. Game hardware was up 17 percent to $445.4 million; game software grew 10 percent to $$676.6 million; and game accessories were up 11 percent to $209.8 million.

Nintendo continued to rule the roost. It sold 679,200 Wii console units, while Microsoft sold… Continue Reading

Mario and Sonic teaming up again on the Winter Olympics

Nintendo and Sega are teaming up again to bring the Mario and Sonic characters back together in a Nintendo Wii game based on the upcoming Winter Olympics.

That’s a big deal, since the one-time rivals are collaborating on a title whose earlier version, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, sold more than 10 million copies (more than $50 million at retail) worldwide, thanks to its timing ahead of the Beijing Summer Olympics. The new title,… Continue Reading

GDC 09: conference to reflect a more global game industry

The 2009 Game Developers Conference will feature a more global list of speakers who reflect the video game industry’s changing landscape.

The show, which runs in San Francisco from March 23 to March 27, will include keynote speakers Satoru Iwata, chief executive of Nintendo, and Hideo Kojima, the Japanese creator of the Metal Gear series of console video games, published by Konami.

Iwata is a hero for reviving the industry with the launch of the Wii game… Continue Reading

Gentlemen, start your next-generation game console rumors

The video game console wars have been kind of boring lately, with no hot rumors to talk about. But Charlie Demerjian of the Inquirer tech news site has kicked off a new round of chatter about which chips are going to be in the PlayStation 4, the Wii 2 and the Xbox3 (not the official names).

There isn’t any official information on this yet. And it’s pretty early for the console makers to lock down on… Continue Reading

Yep, Nintendo shot down Duck Hunt on the iPhone

A few weeks ago, I tried out an application for the iPhone based on the classic Nintendo game Duck Hunt. My initial reaction was to wonder how long until Nintendo had it pulled down from the App Store? Now I have my answer: a few weeks.

Nintendo requested that Lawl Mart, the app’s developer, remove it from the App Store and it complied, according to Macworld. Nintendo’s reasoning was obviously that the game infringed on its… Continue Reading

Game unit sales rise in U.S. and U.K., but Japan declines

A joint report by three market researchers shows that video game unit sales rose in the U.S. and United Kingdom in 2008, but fell in Japan.

The report — produced by the NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track Limited and Enterbrain – showed that video game software unit sales in the U.K. actually grew fastest by 26 percent, while unit sales in the U.S. rose just 15 percent and declined 13 percent in Japan. The latter drop can… Continue Reading

Nintendo game sales soar but profit outlook revised; Sony reports loss

Nintendo reported strong sales of the Wii and DS game players in the fourth quarter, but it said it would revise its sales and profit forecasts downward because of the strong Japanese currency.

For the first nine months of its fiscal year ended Dec. 31, Nintendo sales were $16.6 billion, up 16 percent from the same period a year earlier. Operating profits were up 27 percent. But net profits were down 18 percent to $2.3 billion,… Continue Reading

Wii is on track to outsell PlayStation 2, while PS 3 is on par with GameCube sales

Nintendo has gone from worst to first in consecutive console releases, with Sony doing exactly the opposite this generation. A closer look at collective data released by the NPD Group, the official tracker of U.S. video game sales, reveals the stark reversal of roles.

Based on the first 26 months of availability, the Wii is on its way to becoming the best-selling console of all time, a title currently held by the PlayStation 2, which has… Continue Reading

Will Nintendo shoot down Duck Hunt for the iPhone?

I vividly remember my first video game system, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and the games that came with it: Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt. Now I can recapture my youth on my iPhone because some developers have made a port of Duck Hunt for the device.

I’ll brush aside the questionable legality for a second and say that the game is a pretty good port of the original. It’s a bit odd because the… Continue Reading

Could the Wii be Blockbuster’s savior?

If the future of movie rentals involved trekking long distances to brick and mortar stores to overpay for a movie, Blockbuster would be all set. Unfortunately for Blockbuster, the future of the business lies online. Even worse, all of their competitors realized this before them. And so we have a company that was once the powerhouse in movie rentals in a position of extreme weakness going forward, and scrambling to make deals to catch up…. Continue Reading