Nintendo offers new 3DS bundles landing on Thanksgiving Day
Nintendo is gearing up for Black Friday with a couple new 3DS bundles that it hopes will lure the shoppers in for Christmas giving. Two new bundles will be offered starting November 24. The first bundle is a red 3DS that comes with the Super Mario 3D Land game in the box. The red color is called flame red.
The second bundle is a Cosmo black console that has the Hyrule emblem on the top in gold. The bundle comes with the Ocarina of time 3D video game, which is the latest in the Legend of Zelda series. Each of the bundles will be offered for $ 199.99 in the US.
Nintendo will also have displays set up in malls in some areas. The displays will be in one of two dozen different malls around the country and Nintendo will have the 3DS and the most popular games for the holidays on display from November 21 to December 18.
Categories: Gadget News Tags: bundles, Landing, Nintendo, offers, Thanksgiving
Hey Nintendo: Get Out of Portables and Put Mario on the iPhone
Whenever you talk to a Nintendo fan, there are two topics that are absolutely off-limits: Nintendo ditching its portable-gaming devices and the company bringing Mario to the iPhone. Upon even bringing up those topics, you can expect to be dealt some serious name-calling (“idiot” is usually a favorite) and a slew of reasons you’re wrong.
But when you cut your way through all those reasons, they usually all come back to one simple fact: Nintendo and its faithful fans believe portable game devices and Mario are synonymous with the brand, and therefore, the strategy surrounding them should never change.
“It’s about time Nintendo gets out of the portable business entirely”
Not to stir up a hornet’s nest, but I think that argument is nonsense. In fact, I think it’s about time Nintendo gets out of the portable business entirely and starts offering games from its many popular franchises, including Mario and Zelda, on smartphones.
Let’s first start out with the obvious reason Nintendo should follow such a strategy: it’s a public company with a responsibility to maximize shareholder value.
If you’ve been watching Nintendo’s financial earnings over the last year, you know that the company is suffering. It continues to see significant declines in revenue, and in most cases, steep losses that it can’t keep up for long. Currently, a key component in those losses is the decline of its portable business, led by the disappointing 3DS.
“If Nintendo ditch the portable business, the company could significantly cut down on expenses”
If Nintendo were to ditch the portable business, the company could significantly cut down on expenses, since developing hardware can be costly. What’s more, it can bring its top franchises — which are still wildly popular around the world — to hundreds of millions of handsets. At even $ 5 per game, the potential financial upside for Nintendo could be huge.
But there’s more to this than just finances. The marketplace is changing rapidly. Years ago, people were more than willing to buy dedicated gaming devices. But now that compelling titles are offered in the Apple App Store or Android Market, they’re starting to change their minds. Why not buy a $ 200 iPhone that can offer calling, games, e-mail, and much more, they ask, rather than invest in a $ 169.99 Nintendo 3DS that really only excels at gaming?
Like it or not, the future of the gaming business is in digital content. Nintendo, so far, has been loath to embrace that, only offering legacy games digitally through its Virtual Console offering. But there is a big digital-gaming world out there that it hasn’t explored, even though it has the most popular game franchise in the world.
Something just doesn’t add up.
I’m all for nostalgia, and I, too, look back fondly at the old days of gaming. But times are changing. And the companies that don’t embrace that will fail miserably. Right now, Nintendo is at a crossroads. And until it realizes that, and drastically changes its strategy by making mobile Mario games platform-agnostic and ditching portables, the company will continue to suffer.
Sorry, but sometimes, the truth hurts.
Author Bio
Don Reisinger is a technology and video game columnist. You can see what he’s up to each day on Twitter by following him @donreisinger.
The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of SlashGear
Categories: Gadget News Tags: Iphone, Mario, Nintendo, Portables
Nintendo skewered over Mario raccoon cruelty
Nintendo has come under fire from animal rights activists, livid that iconic character Mario wears a fur Tanooki suit in Super Mario 3D Land. PETA has launched a minisite titled “Mario Kills Tanooki” – complete with a playable game – to highlight the similarity between the Tanooki suit and the tanuki raccoon dogs who, in real life, are skinned alive.
“Tanooki may be just a “suit” in Mario games, but in real life, tanuki are raccoon dogs who are skinned alive for their fur” PETA argues. “By wearing Tanooki, Mario is sending the message that it’s OK to wear fur.” The organization’s mini game involves a retro 2D chase by a skinned tanuki after a floating Tanooki-clad Mario.
Nintendo is yet to comment publicly on the allegations, though we imagine the company probably won’t point out that Mario has been bouncing on Koopa for many years without a peep from PETA. We’ve reached out to the company for official word, and will update when we hear back.
[via Blast Magazine]
Nintendo 3DS set to beat DS first-year sales
This week its appearing quite possible that regardless of doubts in its success and the whole price slash situation, the Nintendo 3DS may well surpass its DS predecessor’s first year sales. It is important to note first of all that even though the price cut didn’t make everyone on the streets happy, sales did rise significantly. Sales started to soar come August of this year, and now according to the NPD Group the system has passed the 1.65 million units sold mark in the USA putting the device right on track to beat out the original in the same span.
Have a peek at the 50 million DS units sold since launch and note again that this isn’t a race between final totals, (or it isn’t yet,) instead it’s a comparison between the first year’s sales for both the DS and the 3DS, the newer handheld model. This will be quite the feat and a gigantic win for Nintendo as the original DS is still the best-selling game platform in US history. The DS’s first-year sales in the USA were 2.37 million units with 50 percent of those sales happening inside the holiday season. Nintendo America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing Scott Moffitt seemed rather ready to hit the mark again with the 3DS:
“With a massive lineup of software on the way and the first-year sales record of Nintendo DS in its sights, Nintendo 3DS enters its first holiday season with a full head of steam.” – Moffitt
In addition to the apparent jet engine rocketing the 3DS to victory here, Nintendo let known a few more impressive statistics on its recent sales, including 675,000 combined hardware units sold in October. A whole 250,000 of these were the 3DS, while 180,000 of the rest are also in the Nintendo DS family of systems. Of course this is nothing compared to the 7 million hardware units sold this year alongside more than 55 million units of software for those systems.
And don’t forget the Wii, up 8 percent in sales this month compared to last year at this same time, while the original DS has increased 23 percent this month compared to just last month. These two units are heading in to their sixth and eighth holiday seasons and are set to continue their wave of sales event though the 3DS is the new handheld and the Wii is up against the wall with the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360.
Note also that we won’t see the next Wii until at least late inside 2012 while the 3DS is still set to be Nintendo’s great handheld hope. What do you think, is Nintendo in a good place with you, the consumer?
Have a nice refresher on the 3DS while you think of it courtesy of Chris Davies:
Categories: Gadget News Tags: beat, firstyear, Nintendo, sales
Is There A Quick Fix For Nintendo?
If you’ve been paying attention to the monthly sales reports from research firm NPD, you know that Nintendo is having some trouble. The game company, which not long ago dominated the gaming space, is now an after-thought for many consumers. And in turn, the company’s financial performance is slipping.
For its part, Nintendo has kept a brave face, saying that it believes good times are ahead. The company points to increased interest in the 3DS, solid titles launching for that platform, and next year’s launch of the Wii U to make its case.
But those of us who have been watching Nintendo over the last year or so know better: the company is in deep trouble, and its prospects for future success in the game business are not nearly as great as the company would have you believe.
Simply put, times are tough at Nintendo.
But is there a quick fix in sight? Some might say that the Wii U is that fix, but I just don’t see it. As far as we can tell so far, the Wii U looks to be a fine competitor to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. But how will it hold up against the successors to those devices? If I had to guess, not all that well.
I’m also suspect of claims that the 3DS will eventually take off and help bolster Nintendo’s earnings. Unfortunately for Nintendo, 3D just isn’t all that appealing to many consumers right now. What’s more, the 3DS’ 3D effect, while interesting for a while, tends to get old before long and the novelty of the device starts to wear off.
“It’s time for something fresh – and unexpected”
So, that leaves us with software. There’s no debating that Nintendo has the best software library in the world. With Mario, Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, and so many other franchises, the games themselves could be Nintendo’s ticket to future success. The only issue is, Nintendo seems to be running out of really neat ideas.
Is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in 3D really the best the company can do? Sure, it’s a classic, but is it really something that the vast majority of consumers — including those who currently don’t own a 3DS — really want? I don’t think so.
Although Nintendo fans might disagree with this sentiment, I’m starting to think that the game company’s software is becoming overused. It’s time for something fresh — and unexpected.
Alas, I don’t necessarily believe that there is a quick fix to Nintendo’s problems. The company has too many problems — and too many competitive threats — for it to quickly turn things around. At this point, I think Nintendo will need to spend more than a year trying to fix its ailing business before it can even come close to matching its former place of glory.
The Wii was a wildly popular device for years, and the DS was a portable success, but looking ahead, I just don’t think there’s is much to be excited about with Nintendo’s business.
Author Bio
Don Reisinger is a technology and video game columnist. You can see what he’s up to each day on Twitter by following him @donreisinger.
The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of SlashGear
Categories: Gadget News Tags: Nintendo, Quick, there
Nintendo 3DS Expansion Slide Pad hits pre-order in Japan
If you are looking forward to getting your hands on the Nintendo 3DS Expansion Slide Pad, the price and ship date have surfaced. This is the expansion that is specifically made for playing Monster Hunter Tri-G. The accessory is a bizarre looking attachment that makes the 3DS fatter and a bit longer with an extra D-pad.
The Slide Pad will launch on December 10 in Japan and will carry a retail price of ¥1,500, which works out to about $ 19.50 here in the states. That is a lot cheaper than I expected the accessory to cost. The cradle also apparently adds some buttons to the back of the 3Ds too.
The idea is that the Slide Pad will give the same playing experience that monster Hunter 3D fans will get on the Wii console. Obviously, it won’t be the exact same since the 3Ds screen is tiny. Is this an accessory that you would like to get for your 3DS? If it has another battery slot it might be worth it.
[via Joystiq]
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