Nintendo said today it has sold more than 890,000 Wii U systems to date in the U.S.

The new game console debuted on Nov. 18 and sold more units than the original Wii did in its first holiday season in 2006. Nintendo sold more than $300 million worth of Wii U hardware in the U.S after 41 days on the market. That beats sales of the Wii by $30 million for the comparable period in its first season, Nintendo said. However, the Wii U is priced higher than the original Wii, so the unit sales may not actually be better.

In December alone, Nintendo sold 470,000 Wii U systems.

“While the Wii launch established new benchmarks in the United States, Wii U has surpassed its predecessor in perhaps the most important category: revenue generation,” Scott Moffitt, a Nintendo of America’s executive vice president, said in a statement. “The demand for the Deluxe SKU, which was essentially sold out at retail this holiday, and the strong attach rate of New Super Mario Bros. U show that we have the value and the games to drive momentum in 2013. We look forward to offering great new experiences and bringing smiles to millions of new faces throughout the year.”

Nintendo sold more than 2.65 million hardware units in the U.S. in the month of December. The Japanese company said that 2012 marked the 11th consecutive year that Nintendo has sold at least 8 million hardware units in the U.S.

The New Super Mario Bros. U has now sold more than 580,000 units, an attach rate of more than 65 percent. Nintendo sold more than 1.25 million units of the Nintendo 3DS handheld gaming machine in December and sold 7.7 million units in the U.S. to date. Nintendo sold 475,000 units of the Wii in December, outselling the Wii U, and more than 40.8 million units to date in the U.S.

Ubisoft’s Just Dance 3 became the tenth Wii title to sell more than 5 million units life to date.

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With the recent boom in casual, social and mobile gaming, the pastime is no longer seen as having just niche appeal. Nintendo’s commitment to broadening its user base is typified by the range of brain training and educational games available on its DS system, which are among the games played by centenarian Kit.

Kit, who turned 100 last week, only started playing video games at the age of 96, but she now relies on her DS console to keep her mind active. “The Nintendo has been a great help to me, it’s absolutely amazing. If there’s any secret to a long life it’s to think positive and keep your mind active.”

Kit’s collection of 10 DS games includes My Word Coach, Left Brain Right Brain 2, Easy Piano and Brain Training. She reveals that her most recent Brain Training age was 64, which is perhaps testament to her use of video games to keep her mind active.

Remarkably spritely for her age, Kit lives alone in the small Scottish village of Thornliebank, despite having had both her legs amputated. After wearing out her first DS console, bought for her by daughter Pam Stewart, Kit is now on her second unit. “It’s absolutely super. I don’t feel a day over 80. I can’t speak highly enough of it,” she says.

It’s not all gaming for Kit in the evenings though, as she very sensibly takes a break now and then, something gamers are always being reminded to do. “I’ll play it in the evening, then I’ll have a break and a cup of tea, then I’ll go back to playing my Nintendo.” Wise words, indeed.

You can see a video of Kit talking about her DS console below:

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Nintendo’s handheld console is no stranger to classrooms in Japan, with it already being used in educational settings for a variety of purposes. There are a broad range of educational titles available for the DS in the region, which focus on topics such as science, math, learning languages or even writing Kanji. This latest use of the console is unique though, in its attempt to improve accessibility in the classroom, for children with hearing or other learning difficulties.

In this trial project, which has just started in the Okinawa and Tottori Prefectures, teachers’ words are converted in to text, which is then saved to a cloud-based server. The text can then be sent to devices within the classroom, including DSi consoles, with children able to read along, while also keeping a record of the lesson to access later.

In March 2010, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto spoke of his desire to roll the DS system out to Japanese elementary and junior high schools. The relatively low cost of the console, together with the flexibility offered by its touchscreen, microphone and wireless capabilities, make it an ideal learning aid. Outside of the school system, the device has also been used by McDonalds in Japan, to train part time workers in its restaraunts, using tailor made software.

You can see a video of the voice recognition program in action below. Unless your Japanese is up to scratch though, you made need to go a few rounds with My Japanese Coach in order to fully understand it.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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According to mobile analytics firm Flurry and NPD data, iOS and Android had only 19 percent of the U.S. portable game market in 2009, compared to 11 percent for Sony’s PlayStation Portable and 70 percent for the Nintendo DS. In 2011, iOS and Android have 58 percent of the market, compared to 36 percent for the DS and 6 percent for the PSP.

That’s an astounding turnaround, much like how Nintendo pulled a fast one on Sony with the launch of the Wii game console in 2006. Apple was able to pioneer the market for smartphone gaming with the launch of its App Store in 2008. Google followed suit with the Android Market, and now there are hundreds of thousands of titles available on both stores, which allow users to download games over-the-air with a simple tap on the screen.

By contrast, Nintendo and Sony have made little headway in the age of apps. They’re trying, but their efforts look feeble so far, and packaged software is still their dominant means of delivery to consumers. But they’re feeling the impact of digital distribution, just as the impact has been felt in news, magazines, books, TV, music and film.

Meanwhile, the Apple iPad and Android tablets are grabbing the high-end of the portable gaming market, and Apple is stealing away the kids with the iPod Touch. Flurry’s report asks, appropriately, “Is it game over for Nintendo DS and Sony PSP?” Apple’s devices, such as the new iPhone 4S, have been tripling their graphics performance just about every year. And touchscreen gaming on smartphones and tablets has taken off in a way that neither Nintendo nor Sony have been able to exploit.

The chart above includes projections for November and December. But it shows that iOS and Android command about $1.9 billion in revenues, compared to $1.2 billion for Nintendo, which is expecting to report its first fiscal year loss in the year ending March 31, 2012. Much of that revenue has come through the free-to-play business model, where users can play games for free and pay real money for virtual goods. That same model has turned Zynga into a powerhouse in social games.

“The days of paying $25 or more for a cartridge at a retail store may soon end,” Flurry said.

The growth of smartphones and tablets is accelerating. A total of 250 million iOS devices have been activated, and 190 million Android devices are on the market as well. Nintendo is struggling with sales of its 3DS, which took an ill-advised foray into glasses-free stereoscopic 3D of questionable quality. And Sony is responding with the PlayStation Vita early next year in the U.S.

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The game will be marketed as Infinity Blade X for Mobage. It will be free to play and supported by selling virtual goods in the game. Players can spend real-world dollars to buy better weapons, armor and spells that will help them progress through the game more quickly.

Infinity Blade broke through a lot of the boundaries for graphics on a smartphone. It was one of the first games to show that the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 could compete as gaming platform with devices that build specifically for gaming. Infinity Blade on the iPhone 4 actually looks a touch better than the graphics available on the PlayStation Portable, Sony’s handheld video game console, and much better than those on the Nintendo DS.

The game puts players in control of a man on a mission to destroy the “God-King,” a hyper-powerful knight that kicks your ass the first time you play the game. The player controls the game by swiping their finger to swing their sword and tapping the screen to dodge attacks and bring up their shield. Over time the player becomes more powerful and gets access to better equipment — like new spells, swords and shields.

Infinity Blade was a commercial success for Epic Games, the company behind the game, and brought in more than $10 million in revenue. That’s pretty impressive given that the game costs $6 on the Apple App Store. Epic Games is known for games that push the limits of graphics on devices like its over-the-shoulder shooting game series Gears of War.

Mobage has around 28 million users and carries more than 1,000 games for smartphones, tablets and feature phones.  By contrast, Zynga is the king of Facebook games and has barely started operations in the fast-growing mobile social game market in Japan. In a direct challenge to DeNA, Zynga launched a joint venture in Japan with SoftBank last year to build games for the Japanese market. DeNA has been growing at a blistering pace and could be on track to unseat Zynga as the top developer of social games for mobile devices.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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The company also cut its forecast by more than half due to the stronger yen and the delayed 3DS, which lets users see stereoscopic 3D images without requiring them to wear 3D glasses. The system was rated the most-anticipated new product by most press at the E3 game conference in June, when Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, pictured, first talked about it.

Missing the holidays is a big deal, since 40 percent of sales in the game industry occur in the fourth quarter. The delay will leave Nintendo vulnerable to rivals such as Apple, Microsoft and Sony. The Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad have grown at such spectacular rates that many believe is coming at the expense of the Nintendo DS, originally launched in 2004. Nintendo’s 3DS is aimed at breathing new life into the DS market.

Nintendo was also expected to play a big role in helping the video game market recover. Year to date sales are down 8 percent in the U.S. video game market, according to market researcher NPD. That’s largely because Nintendo’s DS and Wii game console have seen poor sales this year compared to last year. Nintendo’s top sales executive, Cammie Dunaway, resigned last week to take a job outside the game industry.

Meanwhile, Microsoft and Sony will likely breathe sighs of relief. The Sony PlayStation Move motion-control system for the PlayStation 3 went on sale last week, while Microsoft will launch its Kinect motion control system in November.

Nintendo now plans to launch the 3DS on Feb. 26 in Japan for 25,000 yen, or about $297. The system will debut at undisclosed prices in the U.S. and Europe in March.

Nintendo had previously only said it planned to launch the 3DS by March, 2011, but many in the industry had hoped that it would launch in at least one territory this fall. For the fiscal year that ends in March, Nintendo now expects a profit of 90 billion yen, less than half of the 200 billion yen it expected earlier. And it will post a 2 billion yen loss for the six months ending Sept. 30, compared with 70 billion yen it had previously forecast.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Cammie Dunaway, a former Yahoo executive, joined Nintendo’s U.S. division in November, 2007, replacing Reggie Fils-Aime, who is now the U.S. division’s president and chief operating officer. During Dunaway’s tenure, Nintendo rode the success of its Wii game console and the Nintendo DS portable to the No. 1 position in video game hardware.

Dunaway’s departure is effective Oct. 1. The timing is interesting. Wii sales have fallen to their all-time low in the U.S. In August, Nintendo’s Wii sales in the U.S. were the lowest results for an August since the launch in 2006, according to market researcher NPD Group. Dunaway gave a lot of interviews and presided over a number of Nintendo launch events alongside Fils-Aime and other executives. She was one of the company’s most recognized executives.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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40.1 million of the 77 million Americans playing games on mobile devices play them on the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad — nearly catching Nintendo’s 41 million gamers playing the DS and DSi and blowing well past Sony’s 18 million gamers on its Playstation Portable device — according to the Newzoo International Gamers Survey 2010.

Jobs’ announcement came at an Apple event unveiling its new line of iPods, an updated operating system and a new model of the Apple TV. The new lineup included a revamped iPod Touch sporting Apple’s A4 processor that Apple is seemingly embracing as a gaming platform with the unveil of an Unreal 3 engine-powered game from Epic Games, the creators of the Gears of War series.

Sales of Apple’s iPods have been slipping as of late — in its most recent quarterly report, sales of iPods were down 8 percent from a year earlier despite posting blowout numbers in its other sales categories. The outlook for mobile games, though, looks good, as NPD group indicated that it would soon count sales of mobile games as a growing part of the market.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Nintendo

The Japanese video game company is cutting $20 off the price of both units. The DSi will sell for $149, down from $169, and the DSi XL (which has a larger screen) will be $169, down from $189. The DS Lite model will remain unchanged at $129.

The DS family of handhelds has been the most successful portable gaming device to date, with more than 133 million units sold since 2004. About 42.3 million have been sold in the U.S. But Nintendo is facing pressure from competitors such as Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch, which are similarly priced but offer lots of low-cost game apps.

“We know shoppers want to get the maximum value out of every dollar they spend,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Our new Nintendo DSi prices make it easier than ever for consumers to access the tremendous variety of games, applications and social tools on the Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DSi XL systems.”

Nintendo is launching a 3D version of the DS, dubbed the 3DS, sometime this fall.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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At the Defcon security conference in Las Vegas, Ki-Chan Ahn (below) and Dong-Joo Ha (right) showed off a number of demos of how they could crack the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii and use them to upload malware. They said users don’t expect malware to be loaded on game console devices, so they could be taken advantage of more easily. (See our roundup of all Black Hat and Defcon stories.)

The researchers said they could spread malware in a number of ways. They could, for instance, inject a virus into a pirate version of a Nintendo game and upload it to torrent networks, where users download pirated games. They showed how they could play a game in a compromised Wii system.

They also found that many companies install Nintendo Wii devices in their work places, even though they don’t let you walk into the company with smartphones or laptops. (Factories and other sensitive work locations don’t allow any devices with cameras). By poisoning the Wii, they could spread a virus over the corporate network. People have a false sense of security about the safety of these game devices, but they can log into computer networks like most other computer devices now.

In the demos, the researchers showed they could take compromised code and inject it into the main game file that runs on either a DS or a game console. They could take over the network and pretty much spread malware across it and thereby compromise an entire corporation. The researchers said they can do this with just about any embedded device, from iPhones to internet TVs. All that is needed is an embedded computer, networking, and input-output systems. A few of the demos failed because wireless networks weren’t functional.

Ahn is a student at Hanyang University in South Korea, majoring in electronics. Ha is a researcher at AhnLab, a security firm. Check out the video excerpts below:

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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The new version of the portable game handheld will have a 93 percent bigger screen and sell for $189.99. The screen is viewable from the side and so it will create a more social experience, said Cammie Dunaway, head of marketing and sales at Nintendo of America, at the company’s media summit this morning.

The DS remains the most popular handheld game system, selling a record 11.2 million units in 2009 worldwide. But Nintendo isn’t resting on those laurels.

Nintendo also set a record in December for Wii console sales, with 3.8 million units sold in the U.S. alone in that month. Nintendo also sold 24.9 million games on the Wii in December.

The company also showed a demo of its upcoming Wii game, Super Mario Galaxy 2, one of the biggest games coming for the industry in the first half of 2010. The 3-D platform game has new features such as the ability to drill through a planet to move quickly to the other side of a world. It will also have Yoshi dinosaur characters to let you move faster and fly through worlds. The game launches May 23. The other big game of the first half, Metroid Other M for the Wii, will debut on June 27.

New titles for the DS include an America’s Test Kitchen cooking game and book-reading app that gives you 100 classic books to read on your DS. That, of course, is a nod in the direction of the popularity of electronic book readers such as the Amazon Kindle. We’ll see if all of this is enough to stave off growing competition from Apple with its iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad products.

Sin & Punishment: Star Successor, a follow-up to a successful downloadable WiiWare title, will launch on the Wii on June 7. That’s a shooting game. FlingSmash for Wii will arrive in the summer. Pokemon Heart Gold and Pokemon Soul Silver will launch on the DS on March 14. Puzzle game Picross 3D on the DS will debut in March.

New downloadable WiiWare games will be coming as well. There are 127 WiiWare titles already. WarioWare D.I.Y. arrives on March 28. Artist games Light Trax and Rotozoa are also coming for the WiiWare platform this spring. Nintendo is publishing those titles.

Capcom is releasing its Megaman 10 game on March 1 on the WiiWare platform. Max the Magic Marker is coming on March 8. Cave Story, an indie hit on the PC, makes its debut on WiiWare on March 22. Super Meat Boy arrives on WiiWare in the summer. And Yet It Moves, which started as a student project, will be out this summer on the WiiWare platform. Rage of the Gladiator comes this spring and takes advantage of the Wii Motion Plus.

Downloadable DS Ware titles include Metal Torrent. Photo Dojo for the Nintendo DSi will take advantage of the DSi’s built-in cameras.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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