GAMES

Here’s some great news for those of you in Europe interested in playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Sin and Punishment: Star Successor. Nintendo announced that Galaxy will be available in Europe on June 11, not long after America’s May 23 date. And Sin and Punishment will be out in Europe (under the slightly altered title Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Skies) on May 7, exactly one month before North America gets its hands on that Treasure.

The bad news is that Metroid: Other M is dated simply “Q3.” It’s due June 27 in North America. We’ve collected all the European release dates for Wii and DS (including a “summer” date for Dragon Quest IX!) after the break.

[Via Eurogamer]

Continue reading Mario, Metroid, Sin and Punishment, more dated in Europe

Mario, Metroid, Sin and Punishment, more dated in Europe originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why does a man play Mario? This brand new Super Mario Galaxy 2 trailer of the May-due Wii game is maybe the ideal answer to that question.

It’s not just the drilling through planets in Galaxy 2 or the bigger than a moon dragon that Mario must battle. It’s the clever use of movement by Yoshi tongue and the reinterpretation of classic Super Mario enemies like Dry Bones and Boos that make Super Mario Galaxy 2 feel fresh.

Check out some of the game’s 3D and 2D platforming action in this brand new gameplay trailer, then keep an eye peeled for hands-on gameplay impressions from today’s Nintendo media summit hitting later tonight.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 Trailer (HD) [GameTrailers]

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter doesn’t think the announcement of Netflix streaming on Wii is that big of a deal in growing the rental service’s customer base. Pachter’s perspective is that “fewer than 20 percent” of the US’s 26 million Wii owners are connected to the internet, which is a necessary component to stream movies through the service. In comparison, he believes over 75 percent of Xbox 360 and PS3 users are caught up in the internets.

IndustryGamers reports that Pachter expects “some traction” from the Wii announcement, but that it won’t “jump start Netflix activations.” He believes the Nintendo console’s installed base will “embrace the Netflix service only gradually.” With so many consumer electronics receiving the Netflix streaming service, Pachter does believe it’ll “allow Netflix to maintain its prior pace of subscriber additions as new customer additions from the Xbox 360 installed base begin to slow.”

Pachter: Netflix on Wii won’t matter as much as on other consoles originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We were really hoping that Nintendo and Microsoft could rally after their near-bottom finishes in former annual iterations of Greenpeace’s green business practice rankings — after all, we bet they’re pretty sick of getting beat by Nokia. (Ewwww!) Unfortunately, this latest “Guide to Greener Electronics” report (.pdf link) looks a lot like all the previous ones: Nintendo finished dead last, and Microsoft finished not far behind. Sony, on the other hand, finished a bit closer to the middle of the road.

Nintendo gets bashed for its increased greenhouse emissions and for failing to control its e-waste recycling. Microsoft, which fell from 15th place to 17th since last year, lost points for not following the statutes set by the “Restriction of Hazardous Substances in electronics directive.” Sony did relatively well in most categories, but also lost a few points for its e-waste management. You know what this means, right? Greenpeace is obviously just a shadow organization for PS3 fanboys. We knew it all along!

Greenpeace calls out Nintendo, Microsoft in ‘Greener Electronics’ report originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Four months after its release, Nintendo has stopped publishing and shipping the Metroid Prime: Collector’s Edition. A company rep told an interested gamer the only way to find it now is through the second-hand market.

“[It] is no longer being shipped,” Nintendo told the blog Coffee With Games. “When first introduced, it was announced that there would be limited availability. However, a reason for this was not announced. That being said, you may still be able to locate a copy via stores that specialize in previously played or used games.”

Granted, it should be rather easy to find this game elsewhere. But it’s interesting to note the relatively short lifespan and the fact it’s the New Play Control! to be discontinued.

Metroid Prime: Trilogy is No Longer Being Published or Shipped? [Coffee with Games via Go Nintendo]

Capcom’s dynamic defender will begin opening arguments on Nintendo’s online game service next Monday; Miles Edgeworth demo due “in a few weeks.”

Get the full article at GameSpot

Nintendo Store Update: Headliners joined by Moki Moki, Rubik’s Cube puzzler, while Blaster Master, Earthworm Jim 2 rise on VC; Little Pet Shop, Bejeweled Twist-ing onto DSi.

Get the full article at GameSpot

Nintendo’s resident name jotter-downer and kiester-kicker recently divulged to BMO Capital Markets attendees that the Wii is outperforming its rivals when it comes to female gamers. According to its estimates (via Kotaku), 80 percent of the female console gaming crowd prefers Wii over the alternatives. With an estimated 11.7 million female console gamers in the Americas — it’s important to note this data of Nintendo’s doesn’t take into account DS owners or PC users — the figure comes out to roughly nine million ladies waggling their way into the fun zone.

Nintendo: 80 percent of female console gamers prefer Wii originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Capcom porting original Phoenix Wright court room drama to Nintendo’s console beginning in January for $10; Justice for All in March, Trials and Tribulations in May.

In June, Capcom said that Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth would be available for the DS on February 16. With no other installments in Capcom’s courtroom drama franchise announced, it would logically follow that Miles Edgeworth would be the next game released in the Ace Attorney franchise. However, those who made such an assumption would, in fact, be wrong.

Will anyone object to a $1 add-on?

Today, Capcom said that it will port the three original DS installments in the Ace Attorney franchise to Nintendo’s downloadable game service, WiiWare. A pared-down version of Phoenix Wright’s initial 2005 outing will lead things off in January for 1,000 Wii points ($10). The game will include the first four cases found in the DS installment, with the fifth case available in May for an additional 100 Wii points ($1).

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All will follow in March, with Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations arriving on WiiWare in May. Capcom did not indicate whether these two installments would also be trimmed versions of their original DS editions. However, the publisher did confirm that the games will cost 1,000 Wii points ($10) a piece.

For an idea of what to expect from the three Ace Attorney titles, check out GameSpot’s reviews for the original Phoenix Wright, Justice for All, and Trials and Tribulations.

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Weakening Wii sells only 5.75 million units during six months, down from 10.1 million; just $2.5 billion in annual profit now expected; new large-screen DSi hits Japan November 21.

Anyone doubting that the Wii’s momentum is ebbing was rebuked today by Nintendo’s own earnings report. For the six months ended September 30, 2009, the company saw its profits plummet by 52 percent, falling from ¥144.8 billion ($1.6 billion) from April to September 2008 to ¥69.5 billion ($766 million) from April to September 2009. On a year-on-year comparison, overall revenues fell from ¥836.9 billion ($9.22 billion) to ¥548.1 billion ($6.0 billion), a decline of 34.5 percent.

Shrinking earnings are likely causing some tension among Nintendo’s staff.

As has been indicated by both American and Japanese sales reports, the main reason for Nintendo’s flagging fortunes is the Wii’s slowing sales. Worldwide, the console sold just 5.75 million units during the six-month period, down from 10.1 million during the same period in 2008. Lifetime sales of the Wii now total 56.14 million units.

Wii software was less impacted, falling from 81.4 million to 76.2 million during the six-month window. This trend may change, though, since the Wii’s price dropped to $200 in the US at the end of September.

In a brief statement, the company admitted a lack of blockbuster games was partly to blame for the Wii’s flagging fortunes. “With respect to the Wii, software titles which briskly drive hardware sales were not launched in the first half of the [fiscal] year [ending March 2010],” read the statement. “In addition, the negative impact of the Wii hardware price reduction and appreciation of the yen were also absorbed.”

The DS platform fared better, with worldwide April-September hardware sales dipping slightly from 13.7 million units to 11.7 million units.The figure included some 7.2 million units of the DSi handheld, which has now sold 10.1 million units since launching last November in Japan and in April in the US and EU. DS software sales fell from 85 million units to 71.1 million units.

Despite today’s announcement of the new, larger-screen DSi LL, Nintendo believes that decreased Wii and DS sales will impact its earnings more than previously expected. The company revised its profit estimate for the year ending March 31, 2010 to ¥230 billion ($2.5 billion), down from the ¥300 billion ($3.3 billion) it had previously forecast. The new figure marks a decrease from the nearly 280 billion yen ($3.1 billion) profit the company posted for the financial year ending March 31, 2009.

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