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Posts tagged Nintendo
Nintendo adds NFC technology to its Wii U tablet controller
Jan 27th
Nintendo shook things up in the gaming world once again by announcing that it’s Wii U controller knows a new trick: Near Field Communication (NFC). With contact-less tech, Nintendo plans to create new gaming experiences with NFC cards, figurines and even have the controller accept micro payments.
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Nintendo Reports First Major Quarterly Loss, iPhone is to Blame
Jan 27th
Gaming giant Nintendo reported their first ever major drop in quarterly profit this morning, and expects an even larger full-year loss to come. The decrease is mainly due to Nintendo’s increasing struggle to remain relevant as mobile devices like the iPhone continue to take gaming by storm.
Reuters reports:
Nintendo Co Ltd posted a sharp drop in quarterly profit and forecast a bigger-than-expected full-year loss, its first at an operating level, as it battles a strong yen and its games devices lose ground to gadgets such as Apple’s iPhone.
The creator of the Super Mario franchise dominated the video games industry for years with its DS handheld players and Wii home consoles, but is now struggling to keep up as more versatile smartphone and tablet sales boom.
The company now expects an annual operating loss of a massive $575 million, marking an end to the growth of console gaming, and the beginning of the end of console gaming as we know it.
Nintendo now expects an annual operating loss of 45 billion yen ($575 million), dwarfing expectations of a 4.2 billion yen loss, based on the average of 21 analyst forecasts.
It’s hardly surprising, however. While Nintendo does have plenty of unique titles to keep consumers’ interest, there are likeqise a large number of unique and high quality games available on iOS and Android, and considering that console games can cost $40-60, compared to an average well below $10 on mobile platforms (on devices that many people would own anyway), it appears that people are voting with their wallets.
If only Nintendo would face the music and start making Nintendo’s great games available on iOS and Android instead of focusing on their own proprietary hardware, maybe they could turn things around.
Round one goes to mobile devices. Your move, Nintendo.
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Report: Nintendo Wii U will have its own app store
Dec 30th
Having an app store is all the rage these days. Apple, Android, BlackBerry, Xbox, Amazon, Samsung, Sony — practically everybody’s has one. Nintendo’s next console — the Wii U — will reportedly have its very own too, and no, it’s not that wimpy WiiWare service we have right now.
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Motley Fool: Why Apple Should Buy Nintendo
Dec 24th
Motley Fool blogger David Talley has a novel suggestion for how Apple could spend some of its huge stash of money… Buy Nintendo! Let’s examine why he thinks this is such a great idea. (Besides the fact that the resulting company would probably have some really cool t-shirts.)
He writes:
It upsets me to no end when I hear people talk about what companies Apple should acquire. It is usually an extremely overvalued business with extreme growth prospects but very little in actual profit or profit potential. My counter is always the same: if Apple is going to make a fairly large acquisition, they better be buying Nintendo.
Talley says Nintendo has a market cap of around $17.5 billion, so Apple could easily afford them, but what would they get in return?
Handheld Gaming
Apple already has a thriving handheld gaming business with its iPods and iPads. There would be little in the way of value here aside from a few patents.
Console Gaming
“Apple is looking to make its first real debut in the living room,” writes Talley, “a room that is at various times a place to casually enjoy television, a home theater, and a gaming center. I trust Apple will master the first two areas with its iTV, but I am skeptical they will introduce anything more than scaled up versions of iPod and iPad games to satisfy the third.”
He continues, “If Apple were to buy Nintendo, they would acquire valuable hardware, experience, and an audience. Nintendo has always been on the cutting edge of gaming. Their last round of innovation, the Wii, was the first to introduce motion control gaming. Admittedly, Microsoft‘s Kinect platform has since surpassed Wii’s technology, but I think it is fair to speculate that Nintendo is working on gaming technology somewhere between the Wii and Kinect.”
Apple would acquire a team well versed in video games. This is a team that has survived the onslaught of rivals like the Xbox and PlayStation. “Nintendo survived through superior innovation and strategy when their wallet did not allow them to compete. This team would be an extremely valuable asset to a company looking to make a successful entrance into gaming.”
He goes on to say that Apple would acquire an audience with the acquisition, “Nintendo’s audience is larger than the one Apple is aimed for: the casual gamer and the party gamer.”
Nintendo Titles
Finally Apple would obtain an asset that may be more valuable than the others, Nintendo’s well known characters, such as Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong. Nintendo’s cast of characters are iconic, recognized around the world. “These titles would help push iPod and iPad sales and secure these platforms as gaming mainstays.”
Talley closes by saying he isn’t predicting any of this will happen, or even if Apple should do a deal like this, but he hopes if Apple does buy a company, that the company is Nintendo.
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Battle of the crappy batteries: PS Vita vs. Nintendo 3DS
Dec 21st
Of concern when considering a portable gaming device (or any mobile device, really) is how many hours the thing will last on a single charge. We had our fears that the 3DS battery was a lightweight, but now it’s official — even the newly launched PS Vita lasts longer.
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