Nintendo Blog

The New York Times have posted an article that reveals Nintendo’s grey gamer drive for the Wii and DS. Excerpts..

‘Nintendo has positioned Wii, its new video game console to be released on Nov. 19, as a system that will appeal not just to hard-core gamers, but also to older adults who may be more comfortable with Pong than Grand Theft Auto.

Nintendo’s booth was in unusual company on the show floor, surrounded by those promoting the American Academy of Audiology, Lighthouse International and the Southwest Lawn Bowls Association.

In addition to Wii, Nintendo also promoted its Brain Age game for the portable Nintendo DS, which includes a series of exercises that ostensibly help to improve brain functioning. To entice visitors, Nintendo employees walked the show floor wearing buttons that said, rather optimistically, “Ask Me My Brain Age.”’

Read the full New York Times article

The Golden Joystick awards for 2006 have been announced, with Nintendo making a few brief appearances.

The big winners
Ultimate Game of the Year:          Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Game of the Year:     Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter

Nintendo Winners
Family Game Award:     Nintendogs
Girls Choice Award :     Nintendogs
Nintendo Game of the Year:     New Super Mario Brothers

(more…)

In addition to being a bizarre sock puppet rock band, Uncle Monsterface are a bunch of Nintendo fanboys. And they’re gonna prove it. The band that features singing and dancing sock puppets, giant monsters, inflatable lobsters, and songs about Count Chocula has decided to put their love of all things Nintendo to song. Collectively filled with several mountains full of child-like glee at the release of Nintendo’s new video game system, The Wii, the boys in Monsterface are penning an online-only ep that will become available for download just as they (and the rest of the world) get their hands on the next generation in gaming.

Featuring the full length songs: I’m Sorry (But Your Princess Is In Another Castle); Bring Back the Eggplant Wizard (song for Gunpei Yokoi); and MIYAMOTODE,the album will also feature short songs dedicated to the land of Hyrule (Zelda) and Samus Aran (Metroid). The album will release via snocap.com as a download-only purchase with each track costing under $1.

Nintendo’s new console, The Wii, is set to revolutionize video games as we know them, creating an unprecedented interactive experience that not only encourages participation in gamers of all age and types, but also welcomes consumers with an affordable price. Uncle Monsterface ardently believes in Nintendo’s new product and feels a distinct affinity with it’s all-inclusive, interactive, fan-friendly ethic - an ethic they themselves try to impart by creating interactive experiences with their audiences both live and via the internet.

All from here.

Not really sure what one can say to something like this. Opinions?

Nintendo has unveiled a huge launch campaign for the Wii console that will target every kind of British consumer - male or female, young or old.

Primarily utilising TV, cinema, PR and sampling, the new console will be launched with a £6.5m marketing spend between now and December and a further £4.5m spend from January to March

Read the full article

Nintendo unveils updated first party Nintendo DS release schedule for 2006 and a glimpse of what’s to come in 2007

This Christmas gamers will be filled with seasonal cheer by a selection of exciting first party games for the Nintendo DS. Owners of the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite will be able to keep themselves busy over the winter months with games including Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team, Yoshi’s Island DS and Tenchu Dark Secret.

This year Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite owners will also be able to pass time surfing the internet with the Nintendo DS Browser .

Never know what to do with all those gift vouchers you get for Christmas? Nintendo has the answer with a selection of top games to look forward to at the start of 2007 including Star Fox Command, Diddy Kong Racing DS, Mario Slam Basketball and Pokémon Ranger.

Nintendo DS Hardware / Software
Release Date Q4 2006/ Q1 2007
Nintendo DS Browser - 6 Oct 2006
Sudoku Master - 27 Oct 2006
Nintendo DS Lite Pink Edition - 27 October 2006
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team - 10 Nov 2006
Tenchu Dark Secret - 24th Nov 2006
Yoshi’s Island DS - 1st Dec 2006
Star Fox Command - 26th Jan 2007
Actionloop - 26th Jan 2007
Harvest Moon DS (Rising Star Games/Nintendo) - Q1 2007
Mario Slam Basketball - Q1 2007
Magical Starsign (tentative name) - Q1 2007
Diddy Kong Racing DS - Q1 2007
Mario vs Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis - Q1 2007
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice For All (Capcom) - Q1 2007
Pokémon Ranger - Q1 2007
Children of Mana (Square-Enix) - Q1 2007

‘If the only way the industry can show progress is to create bloodier, dirtier, more adult-themed games, videogames will become little more than top-shelf porn. For all the talk about videogames becoming too easy, that’s actually part of what games need to survive. Videogames need to present more accessible, lighthearted and G-rated experiences. That doesn’t mean they can’t be fun, it just means we have to look at what’s “fun” for different audiences. Because if the videogame industry forgets about the real next generation, if the average age of the gamer continues to rise, the future looks pretty bleak when we all hit 70.’

Nintendo will save the video game industry

Australia, Melbourne, October 16th 2006 – Add a dash of colour to your life this Christmas with a Pink Nintendo DS™ Lite. Pink is the new colour to join the current Polar White and Black colours for Australia’s highest selling handheld console*. The new Pink Nintendo DS Lite will be available on November 2nd, for an SRP of $199.95.

The release of this gorgeous new Pink version coincides perfectly with the release of the next addition in the nintendogs series – nintendogs™ Dalmatian and Friends. With the Dalmatian breed immediately available at the start of the game, fans of the spotted pup can immediately start building a relationship with their new pet. All versions of nintendogs retail for an SRP of $49.95.

“A Pink Nintendo DS and a new Dalmatian version of nintendogs is a powerful combination in the lead-up to Christmas,” explains Rose Lappin, Director of Sales and Marketing. “It really demonstrates Nintendo’s commitment to expanding the gaming market and attracting non-traditional audiences to experience the magic for themselves.”

Other upcoming games for the Nintendo DS include Clubhouse Games™, Mario™ Hoops 3-on-3 both on October 26th, Yoshi’s Island DS™ on November 23, Children of Mana™ on November 30 and Pokémon® Ranger on December 7th.

nintendogs™ Dalmatian and Friends is rated G by the Office of Film and Literature Classification.

Link

Nintendo DS Leads Video Game Industry Growth

As both an entertainment and a business, Nintendo DS™ today is the powerhouse of the U.S. video game industry, driving nearly all industry revenue growth so far this year. Without this portable system, the video game industry growth overall would be nearly flat when compared with 2005, according to independent sales figures from the NPD Group of Port Washington, N.Y.

Through September’s end, the U.S. industry overall shows revenue growth of 11 percent when compared with the same period in 2005. Nearly all of the growth comes from the portable DS – without it, the industry would report a mere 1.6 percent growth over the past nine months. DS hardware and software units posted a robust gain of 203 percent when compared to the same period in 2005. The news is the same globally: Nintendo recently announced estimated full-year shipments for DS hardware will grow to 20 million units from 17 million units worldwide, while estimated DS software shipments increased to 82 million units from 75 million.

“Numbers dramatically show the value of reaching out to the masses with products that are compelling and comfortable,” says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “And this perfectly sets the stage for our breakthrough Wii console, which appeals to both core players and current non-players with an intuitive control system and a price everyone can afford.”

The NPD numbers also indicate that during September, Nintendo DS lifetime U.S. sales surpassed more than 6.2 million units. That total includes more than 1.4 million units of the new Nintendo DS Lite systems, which launched just 16 weeks ago on June 11. It’s important to note these numbers represent Nintendo DS systems actually purchased by customers, not ones shipped only to stores.

“During a home console generation upgrade, consumer interest in existing consoles tends to drop as anticipation for new consoles increases. Hand-held game hardware and software revenues have kept the industry afloat,” says Billy Pidgeon, Program Manager, Consumer Markets: Gaming at IDC. “Hand-held gaming has spurred real industry growth, and Nintendo’s longstanding leadership in this space continues to drive this market.”

This summer, Nintendo launched its Touch Generations brand to help newcomers to video games identify which nontraditional and pick-up-and-play titles are appropriate for them. The response from consumers has been enthusiastic, as four of the top 10 best-selling Nintendo DS games are Touch Generations titles. Touch Generations games include Brain Age™: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day and the three versions of Nintendogs™. And at the same time, avid players also are fueling growth: the New Super Mario Bros.® title, exclusively for Nintendo DS, is the third best-seller among all video games this year, including console games.

Nintendo’s internal statistics show the Touch Generations brand continues to reach more women and older gamers. Nintendo statistics show a significant percentage of all Touch Generations software buyers are female and are age 25 or older, demonstrating the broad appeal of Nintendo titles like Brain Age and Big Brain Academy™, which provide engaging and entertaining content for baby boomers and seniors alike.

Sales of video games such as Electronic Arts Inc.’s “Madden NFL 07″ helped push U.S. game sales up 29 percent to $446 million in September, the market research group NPD said Friday.Overall industry sales were up 38 percent to $777 million, led by sales of Nintendo Co. Ltd’s DS, a dual-screened, handheld player that sold more than 400,000 units in the United States in September.

Year-to-date sales were up 11 percent from a year ago, with all signs pointing to a record-breaking year for the industry, NPD analyst Anita Frazier said.

“If anyone in the industry still doubts that the video games market has recovered from its downturn earlier this year, this month’s results should lay that concern to rest,” Frazier said of the September results.

Read the full article

Nintendo and AiLive Inc. announce the immediate availability of LiveMove, a groundbreaking Artificial Intelligence product, that enables the Wii Remote™ to learn.

Instead of complicated programming, developers need only take a few minutes to train the Wii Remote by examples. LiveMove lets developers focus directly on creative work without the burden of onerous coding requirements, helping them quickly unleash the potential of Wii™. The only limitation is the game creator’s imagination.

“The Wii coupled with AiLive LiveMove will usher in a new era of natural game control,” commented AiLive Chairman Dr. Wei Yen.” Powered by AiLive’s patented Context Learning, LiveMove will allow the game industry to move away from indirect digital control to more natural analog control for the first time.”

“In early 2006, I challenged Dr. Wei Yen and his AI scientists to develop AIware for the Wii Remote. When Nintendo’s development teams saw LiveMove, we instantly recognized how it would greatly increase our ability to explore and experiment with new concepts and make our lives easier,” says Genyo Takeda, Senior Managing Director/General Manager of Integrated Research & Development Division, Nintendo Co., Ltd. “This revolutionary tool liberates the imaginations of game creators. We are more than happy to share this collaborative LiveMove tool with independent Wii software developers all over the world. From a cowboy’s lasso to a samurai’s sword or a chef’s cooking utensils, we just can’t wait to play the developers’ new, ‘unexpected’ applications.”

LiveMove is currently available exclusively to Wii developers and priced at a mass-adoption license fee of $2,500 per seat. Tutorials and demos will be offered by AiLive. For detailed information about LiveMove, visit AiLive’s website at www.AiLive.net.