Nintendo Wii Fanboy

For those of you that didn't really mind the news that Banjo-Kazooie would be making its way to the Xbox 360's XBLA service and not the Virtual Console, know this: the experience won't be the exact one you remember. In the XBLA version of the game, all references to Nintendo and the N64 have been removed from the game (save for the Game Boy shown), based on the video leaked above. In-game, N64 logos have been replaced with updated Rare logo and Microsoft Game Studios labels. What should be interesting is how TipTup is represented in both games, as Nintendo apparently owns that character.

[Via CVG]

We kind of doubted the story, but with a Square Enix RPG releasing, along with a price cut, we can understand how the Japanese public might snatch up a bunch of Xbox 360s.

[Via X3F]

The end of the world must be nigh, for we never thought we'd see the day where the Wii was outsold by the Xbox 360 in Japan. Sure enough, with Microsoft cutting the price of the console, sales have seen a boost over there. The week ending September 14th saw the Xbox 360 selling 28,681 units, while the Wii only moved 27,057 units. Close, but this isn't horse shoes or hand grenades, kiddies.

Aside from Microsoft cutting the price of their console, a number of other factors helped contribute to the Xbox 360 selling so well. For one, a new Square Enix RPG released there this week, by the name of Infinite Undiscovery, and Microsoft also came out with a new Xbox 360 SKU. We're not holding a grudge, though. Microsoft can enjoy their short time in the spotlight. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to go sabotage the jump jets on Bill Gates' diamond-encrusted jetpack.

[Via Edge]

Oh Rare. Do you honestly expect us to believe this? Nonetheless, it's their story and they're sticking to it.

The fine folks behind that Banjo & Kazooie business have commented that Avatars are not an attempt to copy the lovable Miis from Nintendo. Head of art, Lee Musgrave, says "It was an idea we had, even before Miis were part of the gaming scene, of putting these characters that you have an affinity with, not necessarily as part of the Xbox dash, but somewhere in the Xbox that you would play multiple games with, that you would have multiple experiences with that same character."

Musgrave further added that "Microsoft did not turn up one day in a speeding car and say, 'They've got Miis - do something!' It wasn't like that at all; it was something that fell into place over a period of time." But was that period of time really the year the Xbox 360 was on the market before Wii's arrival? We're not sure we're willing to swallow the red pill on that one.

Is the Xbox 360 vessel struggling to stay afloat in the murky waters of the console race? Well, not quite, but Microsoft bigwig Don Mattrick doesn't sound convinced that his company will reclaim first place from the Wii. "I'm not at a point where I can say we're going to beat Nintendo," he told Business Week. He's probably correct. The Wii continues to outsell the 360 in every region, with only the small Polynesian island of Tuvalu holding out.*

But Mattrick isn't preparing the lifeboats just yet, to take our tortured ships/consoles analogy one step further. "We will sell more consoles this generation than Sony," says he. Like we care, Mattrick. It's all about number one, baby!

* This just in: Wii took over there as well.

[Via Go Nintendo]

With the Xbox 360 dropping in price later this week, many are looking at one of the console's particular SKUs because, well, it's going to be cheaper than the Wii. For almost 2 years, the Wii has been the cheapest option on the market, so how could this lower price affect the Wii's standing as top sales dog? Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian says Microsoft may see stronger sales, but doesn't "anticipate either Nintendo or Sony to match the Xbox 360 price cut."

The Wii is in good standing and really doesn't need to cut its price, so we're not expecting Nintendo to do so, either. But, if Microsoft manages to start taking away some of Nintendo's sales, we wouldn't be surprised to hear about a price cut early next year or, if sales drop that much, this holiday. We're not expecting sales to shift that dramatically, though.

Sorry folks, looks like the new game Batman: Arkham Asylum isn't going to be on Wii. It's purely a PS3 and Xbox 360 affair, as well as for the PC. Sorry to crush your hopes and dreams (we felt you needed the closure of knowing, rather than never mentioning the game again), but the title isn't planned for Wii as of right now. That doesn't mean we can't hold out hope that the game will one day be ported to Nintendo's console. Just don't hold your breath on that one.

[Via press release]

Despite NoA's VP, Denise Kaigler, showing us all a graph with some lines on it, group manager of corporate PR at Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, David Dennis, wants us all to know that the information presented in Kaigler's little chart is wrong. To help set the record straight (and also point out how awesome is company is, we guess), Dennis offered up the following tidbits of info:

• Total third party sales for the Xbox 360 since launch is currently 67,929,999 units, followed by the Wii at 33,394,311 units and the PlayStation 3 at 19,976,325 units.
• Third party sales for the Xbox 360 since the launch of the Wii and PS3 is 54,065,728 units, still almost double the Wii's 33,394,311 units.
• If you take the total number of units sold and divide that by the number of titles released since November 2006, the Xbox 360 and the PS3 are selling more units per title on average than the Wii. This puts the Xbox 360 at 217,252 units per title, the PS3 at 156,065 units and the Wii at 132,517 units.

We have a feeling that any company can spin sales figures the right way, in their favor, but no matter how you slice it, the Wii is still on top overall. So take that, competition!

[Thanks, jimb!]

David Gosen used to work for Nintendo of Europe, but after departing with the house that Mario built, he's made his way over to the Xbox division of Microsoft. That doesn't mean he has nothing to say about Nintendo and the Wii, however. In fact, he had some downright shocking things to say in regards to his old employer. "What Nintendo have done with the Wii is truly fantastic – there is no question about it. But I think sometimes there is a thin line between gimmick and great gameplay," he said.

And, on top of that, he said his own company has research that shows Wii Fit doesn't present any kind of lasting value to those that have picked it up, because after they try it once, they don't try it again. "We've seen some research that says 60 percent of people who bought a Wii Fit play it once and don't play it again," he said. Now, if he had some papers with, like, spread sheets full of numbers and data on them, we'd take it at face value. But, considering the price (that would drive us to play the thing a bunch of times alone, but maybe we're just cheap bastards like that) and all of the content within, we're not sure we can trust him and swallow the red pill.

See also: Retrospective: Nintendo's past peripherals



[Via videogaming247]

Don't throw out that book on how to not cross streams, because the upcoming Ghostbusters game might not be canceled. At least, according to Terminal Reality boss Mark Randel, who told videogaming247 that "Ghostbusters will be published. That's all I can say at the moment."

This, of course, isn't assurance that the game will release on the Wii, since Terminal Reality is working on the Xbox 360 version (Red Fly is developing the Wii version). But, it's something, which is much better than what we had to work with previously: nothing.



[Via GI.biz]

Let's face it: each console does something pretty well. The Xbox 360 has Xbox Live, which is a pretty good online service. The PS3 has a very comfortable controller and can do some sweet media stuff. The Wii has an innovative control scheme and No More Heroes. Each console is great in their own way and this current generation's console war has been fun to watch. Now that consoles are getting older, prices are falling and we're anxious to see how the rest of this struggle for market dominance will play out. If this rumor turns out to be true, the Xbox 360 will be the cheapest console on the market, besting the Wii by $50.

Both the Xbox 360 "Arcade" bundle and the "Pro" bundle are supposedly getting their prices slashed. The "Arcade" is apparently dropping from $279 down to $199, while the "Pro" will drop from $349 down to $299. This might come as good news to the Xbox camp, but, should this happen, we wonder how this could affect the sales moving forward.

Could this drive Nintendo to cut the price of the Wii? We doubt it. With the console doing so well, we don't think Nintendo is looking to their competition to determine when they should slash their own console's price. But, if this price drop does spur a big increase in Xbox 360 sales and people start buying less Wiis, we wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo announced a price drop on our around the holidays later this year. What do you all think?

[Via GamePro]

EA's John Riccitiello doesn't mind dishing out the straight talk. In an interview with Mercury News, the EA CEO freely admits that his company failed in projecting the top dog of this current generation of consoles, instead focusing development on Xbox 360 and PS3 titles early on.

"One thing that's different is we typically figured out who the market leader was going to be before the start of the cycle and bet with our development resources on that platform," he said. Riccitiello admitted that EA made a bad call, but says the company is now "catching up" and thinks they'll be "fine." He went on further to add that they've "got some incredibly innovative Wii titles" and "incredibly innovative DS titles coming. And so I think that issue's sort of behind us."

With EA being such a big supporter of the previous Xbox and PlayStation consoles, do they think they can gain similar market share on the Wii? Even with Nintendo's tradition of dominating their own console with first-party titles? "Yes," says Riccitiello. "Tomorrow? No. Can I make a big step in that direction this year? Yes. Can I continue to make steps in that pattern? Yes. Does Nintendo want us to do it? Yes. Does the platform set itself up for that to be possible? Yes. So, it requires focus."

With the All-Play brand, we'd say EA is moving in the right direction for capturing that segment. What else they have up their sleeve, we'll just have to wait and see.

One of the benefits of being a major company is that you get to find out things first -- like how much stuff you sold. When the NPD Group informed Nintendo of the most recent figures, the Big N sent a love text to our Joystiq overlords, bragging about their current sales standings in the U.S.

But we already know that the Wii sells a lot, so what's the big deal this time? According to Nintendo, NPD figures confirm that the Wii has surpassed its competitors as the North American console leader. As of today, the Wii has sold almost 10.9 million units, which was enough to give it the edge over the Xbox 360.

Of course, there's much more to being the king of consoles than selling a lot of hardware, as you need the software to match. However you feel about the Wii's game library, though, this is quite an accomplishment for the little white console that could.

Shigeru Miyamoto played the role of diplomat to perfection when IGN asked for his views on Microsoft's (plainly Mii-influenced) Avatars. The Nintendo guru claims he found the nabbing of his personalized, blobby creations to be "quite flattering," and then went on to suggest that "the basic ideas behind those two different systems are different, and because of that I think they will probably develop in different ways."

Way to stay on the fence, Shiggy. We like to think he was privately fuming inside.