Not looking good for the Wii is it?

You would have thought that Nintendo would have learnt that lesson by now that you have to make a console straightforward to develop for if you want strong third party support - the only reason it is better to develop for the Wii and Gamecube was because the N64 was notoriously bad in that regard.

I cannot think of any 'classic' game in the last three generations of consoles that wasn't first or second party produced.
 
I think that it's well known now that Sony went to nVidia for that very reason, and at the last minute. That the original idea for the GPU in PS3 is not what it currently has, it would have been some mad Cell - GS hybrid that would have sent developers up the wall.
 
I've just been looking at the numbers - basically at Nintendo's net worth, they are currently valued at $40 billion which goes to show just how substantial an industry computer games have become in the last generation, that is a fraction of the worth of Sony and Microsoft but they don't specialise in computer games and computer games only.
 
At one point, their market worth was higher than that of Sony as a whole. :lol:

Indeed, their wikipedia page quotes a figure of $85 billion.

I'd hate to know what their market value was when they launched the NES.
 

Why would that rile me? It's all bang on.

You would have thought that Nintendo would have learnt that lesson by now that you have to make a console straightforward to develop for if you want strong third party support - the only reason it is better to develop for the Wii and Gamecube was because the N64 was notoriously bad in that regard.

The gamecube and wii are seriously easy to develop for! The only thing that's slightly strange are the texture stages, but from what I remember Nintendo's pipeline support was pretty good.
 
The gamecube and wii are seriously easy to develop for! The only thing that's slightly strange are the texture stages, but from what I remember Nintendo's pipeline support was pretty good.

Okay I kind of messed that one up - as an industry expert what would you put the lack of support for both wii and gamecube down to? I seem to recall that Resident Evil was exclusive to gamecube so was it simply that hardware sales were not that strong?
 
Okay I kind of messed that one up - as an industry expert what would you put the lack of support for both wii and gamecube down to? I seem to recall that Resident Evil was exclusive to gamecube so was it simply that hardware sales were not that strong?

I wouldn't say industry expert! :lol:

With the Gamecube it was a hang-over from the very expensive to develop for N64, developers just were wary. Plus it was hard to gauge at first, just what the machine could do (since early dev tools weren't brilliant).

With the Wii, their games have to compete for shelf space with the family games, and as such never do as well. Plus they have to scale down assets, and in some cases (Splinter Cell) re design the games. It all costs.


But above all else, what Weaste posted is a major thing. Nintendo just haven't got over the whole 'controlling everything and making money out of the developers' thing. It's a real pity, because their developer support has come on leaps and bounds and was better than Sony and M$ by miles last generation.



For the wii perhaps but I thought the gamecube was competitive on that front.

It was more than competitive, thanks to it's streamlined nature it had much more power readily available than anyone first estimated.
 
For the wii perhaps but I thought the gamecube was competitive on that front.

All it is is an over clocked GameCube, there is nothing else in the box.

The problem with ports from the PC and the HD twins is that Flipper/Hollywood are in the main fixed function and not programmable, so you simply can't take the programmable shader code developed for a modern Direct X class GPU and use it, you have to start from scratch, and even then, there are many effects that are simply not possible or would take far too long to achieve.
 
All it is is an over clocked GameCube, there is nothing else in the box.

The problem with ports from the PC and the HD twins is that Flipper/Hollywood are in the main fixed function and not programmable, so you simply can't take the programmable shader code developed for a modern Direct X class GPU and use it, you have to start from scratch, and even then, there are many effects that are simply not possible or would take far too long to achieve.

With the Tev stages, there's not a lot (if anything) you couldn't do that you could on the Xbox/PS2 and I don't remember it being that difficult to get to grips with. However just on the eye, it appeared to be a system used much more on the GCN than the Wii (unless it's by Nintendo, or that conduit game).
 
I never understood why you'd justify buying a fecking Wii with it being able to help you lose weight.

fecking go play tennis on a tennis court, or golf out on the course, you planks.
 
it's not good (though not unexpected of course) that industry wide sales have dropped.

The figures are clearly wrong though.

Sony Corp., the maker of the PlayStation 3, sees “very, very strong” Christmas holiday sales for its video-game consoles in Europe, said Andrew House, head of Sony Computer Entertainment in the region.

The company expects to exceed its target of sales of 15 million PS3s in its fiscal year, aided by “strong demand” in Europe and North America, House said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Rome.

“Sales have been significantly up year-on-year in a market that has been overall slightly down,” he said.

Sony Sees `Strong' Europe Christmas Sales on PS3 Rise - Bloomberg

Yes, some arse is going to say that it's Sony spin, without thinking that executives of public companies can't fiddle figures, it's illegal. Hardware sales are obviously up, not -47% as the figures quoted suggest.

There is no NPD hardware figures anymore, we've never had them on a regular basis for Europe, so that leaves only Japan.
 
There are still figures they are just reported differently.

Xbox sales are up but PS3 and wii are down year on year.

September 2010 NPD Place the Xbox 360 and Halo On Top

I never said that XB360 sales were not up, that's the entire premise of my argument - PS3 and XB360 are both still experiencing growth in hardware and software both on their own, and especially together. Wii is not, and we don't have to rely on conjecture and sales estimates to know that, as Nintendo has said it themselves.
 
I never understood why you'd justify buying a fecking Wii with it being able to help you lose weight.

fecking go play tennis on a tennis court, or golf out on the course, you planks.

Thing is though with Golf Cesc, it costs an arse load of money. You're looking at $500 for a half decent set of clubs, then green fees and Golf balls and you're looking at atleast $700 start up and then 2-5 hundred a year in fees.

In saying that, Golf is fantastic for weight loss if you're not using a golf cart. 18 holes is close to a 8-10 km walk followed by the swing action that actually takes a good portion of core body strength.
 
Thing is though with Golf Cesc, it costs an arse load of money. You're looking at $500 for a half decent set of clubs, then green fees and Golf balls and you're looking at atleast $700 start up and then 2-5 hundred a year in fees.

In saying that, Golf is fantastic for weight loss if you're not using a golf cart. 18 holes is close to a 8-10 km walk followed by the swing action that actually takes a good portion of core body strength.

Theres also the privacy issue and being able to lose weight while in the warm and in the luxury of your own house.

I think the Wii Fit is a brilliant idea personally.
 
I never said that XB360 sales were not up, that's the entire premise of my argument - PS3 and XB360 are both still experiencing growth in hardware and software both on their own, and especially together. Wii is not, and we don't have to rely on conjecture and sales estimates to know that, as Nintendo has said it themselves.

I know mate that line was just summarising the NPD data.

NPD data has just gone subscription only and they have changed how it is delivered, it is still there and it states only xbox has growth, ps3 and Wii are in decline year on year.
 
So considering the stage of the product lifecycle that wii is in, do you think we will see the announcement of it's successor in the next twelve months Weaste?
 
I would expect an announcement in the next 12 months, yes. I don't know what effect the 3DS being delayed will have though.

Nintendo 3DS delay casts gloom over games giant
TOKYO | Thu Sep 30, 2010 2:57pm EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo's struggle to bring its hotly anticipated 3D-capable player to the market has sparked concerns over the outlook for the company, with sales of its existing products sliding in key U.S. and European markets.

Nintendo shares fell more than 9 percent on Thursday after the video game maker slashed its profit forecast for the year and said its new 3D-capable handheld player would miss the crucial year-end shopping season.

"We had been expecting a November launch for Japan, so the news was a disappointment," said Singapore-based analyst Atul Goyal of CLSA. "With a delayed product launch, the stock should be in a twilight zone, where it may not do much for the next five-to-six months."

Many analysts had factored in a 2011 launch for the United States, but were taken aback by the late Japan sales date, set for late February.

Nintendo blamed the strong yen and lack of hit software for its existing handheld DS and Wii home game consoles, as well as the late launch of the new product, for a downward revision to its profit forecasts.

The new Nintendo 3DS, boasting a display that can be used without special glasses, set gamers abuzz at the E3 gameshow earlier in the year and was seen as key to reviving the company's sagging sales.

Nintendo shares were down 9.3 percent at 20,870 yen at 1:03 a.m. ET, heading for their biggest one-day drop in nearly 20 months. Volume spiked to 2.7 million shares, already 4 times the daily average over the past three months.

The stock fell as low as 20,770 yen, a level last seen in December 2009.

The launch delay will put the pre-holiday spotlight on rivals Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp, whose new motion-controlled gaming accessories will be in stores in time for the peak shopping season in all major markets.

Based on Thomson Reuters StarMine's Analysts Revision Model, a measure of change in analyst sentiment, Nintendo ranks in the bottom percentile, placing it below Sony and Microsoft.

RED FLAGS

Nintendo will not launch the new version of its DS until February 26 in Japan and March in the United States, by far the biggest market for the game machine maker.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata blamed the delay on inability to meet anticipated demand within the year.

"They are struggling with product transitions," said Jay Defibaugh, a game sector analyst at MF Global in Tokyo.

"Those are struggles that will be ongoing for the next couple years for their Wii and 3DS, and I think that raises red flags among investors for the company's fundamentals over the medium term."

Nintendo 3DS delay casts gloom over games giant | Reuters
 
I know mate that line was just summarising the NPD data.

NPD data has just gone subscription only and they have changed how it is delivered, it is still there and it states only xbox has growth, ps3 and Wii are in decline year on year.

Slim and a price cut upped the PS3 a lot last year, that down figure is for the same month last year, not the year as a whole. XB360 has had a bump because of the new model, and a new Halo. Sony must know the orders from retailers coming into the GT5 release.

In any case, through all sorts of sources, we seem to have the numbers.

XB360: 484,000
PS3: 312,000
WII: 254,000

PS3 just outsold the Wii in the US!

HD gaming: 800,000
Wii: 250,000

The thing is in a nosedive.
 
BBC News - Nintendo reports loss as sales fall

Nintendo reports loss as sales fall

Nintendo has reported a half-year loss after being hit by falling sales and the high value of the yen, which lowers its overseas earnings.

The Japanese computer games firm posted a net loss of 2bn yen ($24.7m; £15.6m) for the six months to 30 September.

This compares with a net profit of 69.5bn yen for the same period in 2009.

Nintendo's sales for the first half of its financial year were down 34% to 363.16bn yen, partly due to lower demand for its Wii console.

The company did not release a net profit figure for its second quarter to 30 September, however its operating profit more than halved to 30.9bn yen.

Nintendo is forecasting that its annual profit will drop to the lowest level in six years, as sales of the Wii console decline for the second year in succession.

The firm has also been forced to delay the launch of the new 3D version of its DS hand-held console in the US until March, meaning it will miss out on key Christmas sales.

Nintendo's weak results were in line with market expectations, as it had already warned at the end of last month that profits would be lower.

The release of its latest figures came after the close of Thursday trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Nintendo shares had closed down 0.7%.

Thankfully, it's not yet bleeding silly amounts of money, but it's clear that they are going to have to do something with the Wii.
 
gizmo.jpg
 
Thankfully, it's not yet bleeding silly amounts of money, but it's clear that they are going to have to do something with the Wii.

Well as I've said before, I reckon that's a lot to do with research costs. They seem pretty keen on 3D gaming without glasses (have been since before the Gamecube even came out), so who knows what's up their sleeves.

As the for 3DS, I don't think it's going to affect the sales that drastically missing the xmas period, since most parents will still be buying the DSi anyway.


no-one is going to want a wii when MS and Sony release their gizmo's

The Wii run it's course anyway. Frankly I'm surprised it lasted into this year. However, even though sales are down they are still decent numbers being pushed.


Overall I doubt Nintendo will be worrying any time soon.
 
Does anyone here think it's inevitable that Nintendo will go down the same route as Sega and eventually give up on producing it's own hardware and produce their own trademarked software for Sony or Microsoft?

I can imagine it would be a fairly lucrative contract if they were to sell the exclusive Nintendo rights for Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Princess and the other crew from the Mario games like Wario, Bowser, The Koopa's and Pikachu and the other Pokemon's, Starfox, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Link and I've probably missed a few. They might even decide to just work as a software company in their own right selling their games to all platforms.

In a way it would be a shame to see a company of gaming legends decline like that, but on the other hand the gaming masses might once again be able to enjoy these characters and story lines?
 
As the for 3DS, I don't think it's going to affect the sales that drastically missing the xmas period, since most parents will still be buying the DSi anyway.

What's your take on the long term prospects for mobile/handheld gaming? With the smart phones becoming evermore powerful, and the distribution model being highly flexible, is there a space in the longer term for dedicated gaming devices do you think? We know that Nintendo have not gone with anything bleeding edge for a while, can you really see Sony Computer Entertainment trying to stick a PS2 level device into an expensive handheld, or are they going to let Sony Ericsson take over in that space? What does that mean for Nintendo in the same space in your mind? 14 million iPhones in the last quarter alone from Apple makes DS and PSP sales look horribly flat. Are the 3rd parties going to jump ship to the more generic space?
 
The Wii run it's course anyway. Frankly I'm surprised it lasted into this year. However, even though sales are down they are still decent numbers being pushed.

Sony are having similar problems with the PS2 and PSP, steady decline with the PS3 now propping the division up, maybe it's time to put them to bed, or sell them into emerging markets. I think that they shipped around 3 million PS1s in its final year, so the PS2 forecast is double that for this financial year.

14_image.jpg


golden_blunder said:
no-one is going to want a wii when MS and Sony release their gizmo's

Wii is not in that bad a position yet, with Nintendo still forecasting 17m for the financial year, sticking it in around the same level as PS2 was in 2005/6 leading up to the launch of the PS3. It depends now on whether they follow the Sony line and keep selling both Wii and a new system, or they follow the general line that they have recently taken and discontinue Wii. The last time they substantially let two consoles overlap was with the SNES and the N64, which was binned with the release of the GameCube, which was binned with the release of the Wii. They could be seriously overestimating that 17m figure though, because as you say, they are simply guessing what impact Move and Kinect sales this Christmas will have on their own sales numbers. It looks to me as if they are forecasting "not much".
 
I don't know how much Disney spent on making Epic Mickey, but it was quite a bit, and charted this week in the UK individual format chart.

- 39 DISNEY EPIC MICKEY WII DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS

Yep, 39th!
 
Don't know about chart performances but its been a good couple of months for the Wii. Metroid, Goldeneye, Donkey Kong and Epic Mickey all worth buying.
 
The point I was trying to make is that if any console should be able to sell a Mickey Mouse game it's the very family oriented Wii, surely? Yet here, there is a major brand with Disney, a major brand with Mickey, and it hits 39th in its launch week. It's just bizarre to me and I can't understand what is going on.
 
Nintendo sells large amounts of Wii and DS


Their software sales maybe going down but that's having no impact on their hardware sales. Considering the fact that Nintendo make a profit on their hardware, I'd say the sales figures in the report above, will do a lot of good for their finances.

Last week they sold 600,000 Wii consoles and 900,000 DS systems:eek: US shoppers bought around 9,000 nintendo systems every hour.

Last year, they sold 550,000 Wii consoles and 1,000,000 DS systems during the same period. Hardware sales are definitely not down.
 

Well she looks quite good :cool:

And those charts are for the week ending on the 27th, while Epic Mickey was released on the 26th. It might do a bit better in the next lot of numbers (or nearer Christmas).
 
NPD - 10/31/10 through 11/27/10

01. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, Wii, PC, NDS) ACTIVISION BLIZZARD ** - 8.4 Million
02. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (360, PS3) UBISOFT ** - 1.14 Million
03. Just Dance 2 (Wii) UBISOFT
04. Madden NFL 11 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP) ELECTRONIC ARTS
05. Fable III (360) MICROSOFT**
06. Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii) NINTENDO - 430.5K
07. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (PS3, 360, Wii, PC) ELECTRONIC ARTS
08. Gran Turismo 5 (PS3) SONY** - 400K
09. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP,PC) TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE
10. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) NINTENDO**

Hardware:

Nintendo DS: 1.5 Million (-11.8%)
Xbox 360: 1.37 Million (+68%)
Wii: 1.27 Million (+0.8%)
PS3: 530k (-25%)

"Black Ops debuted as the best-selling game in its launch month (in history) with black ops selling 8.4 million units at retail in the U.S. With only one month of sales, it has become the 7th best-selling game of all time, life-to-date."

"Black Ops accounted for 25% of all video game software units sold in the month of November."
:lol: I don't understand the COD thing personally, but good for them I guess.

Media Create Sales: November 29, 2010 - December 5, 2010

01. / 00. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom 3 (Capcom) {01/12/10} - 1.950.717 / NEW
02. / 00. [PS3] Tales of Graces F (Bandai Namco) {02/12/10} - 215.187 / NEW
03. / 03. [WII] Mario Sports Mix (Nintendo) {25/11/10} - 59.007 / 143.991 (-31%)
04. / 00. [NDS] Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Miniland Mayhem (Nintendo) {02/12/10} - 57.474 / NEW
05. / 01. [PS3] Gran Turismo 5 (SCE) {25/11/10} - 55.682 / 486.389 (-87%)
06. / 05. [NDS] Pokemon Black / White (Pokemon Co.) {18/09/10} - 54.848 / 4.548.954 (+27%)
07. / 04. [WII] Super Mario All-Stars (Nintendo) {21/10/10} - 45.904 / 659.319 (-3%)
08. / 00. [NDS] Momotaro Railway: World (Hudson) {02/12/10} - 45.126 / NEW
09. / 00. [PSP] Kamen Rider: Climax Heroes Os (Bandai Namco) {02/12/10} - 36.856 / NEW
10. / 00. [WII] Kamen Rider: Climax Heroes Os (Bandai Namco) {02/12/10} - 35.132 / NEW
11. / 10. [WII] Wii Party (Nintendo) {08/07/10} - 30.900 / 1.263.462 (+26%)
12. / 00. [WII] Taiko Drum Master Wii 3 (Bandai Namco) {02/12/10} - 29.328 / NEW
13. / 07. [NDS] Super Fossil Fighters (Nintendo) {18/11/10} - 22.511 / 91.534 (-14%)
14. / 11. [NDS] Magician’s Quest: The Merchant’s Store of Sorcery (Konami) {11/11/10} - 22.091 / 109.613 (-1%)
15. / 02. [NDS] Super Robot Wars L (Bandai Namco) {25/11/10} - 19.556 / 148.610 (-85%)
16. / 18. [WII] Kirby's Epic Yarn (Nintendo) {14/10/10} - 18.278 / 231.773 (+32%)
17. / 13. [WII] Wii Sports Resort (w/ Remote Plus) (Nintendo) {11/11/10} - 18.146 / 61.655 (+5%)
18. / 08. [PSP] Dangan-Ronpa (Spike) {25/11/10} - 14.340 / 39.904 (-44%)
19. / 22. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) {10/04/08} - 14.207 / 3.001.325
20. / 00. [NDS] A Penguin's Troubles: The World (Konami) {02/12/10} - 14.046 / NEW



WII - 8
NDS - 7
PSP - 3
PS3 - 2
360 - 0
PS2 - 0


HARDWARE

Code:
__________________________________________________________________________________      
|System | This Week | Last Week | Last Year |       YTD |  Last YTD |        LTD |      
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------      
|  PSP  |   325.528 |    77.364 |    42.648 | 2.291.127 | 1.909.470 | 16.034.215 |
|  NDS  |    78.526 |    56.457 |   111.532 | 2.313.272 | 3.331.138 | 31.592.352 |
|  WII  |    56.095 |    41.267 |    46.673 | 1.286.265 | 1.312.870 | 10.891.464 |
|  PS3  |    41.760 |    68.840 |    46.558 | 1.354.075 | 1.284.059 |  5.855.442 |
|  360  |     3.497 |     4.329 |     3.685 |   194.399 |   341.943 |  1.404.071 |
|  PS2  |     1.440 |     1.332 |     2.057 |    76.593 |   195.156 | 21.686.770 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------      
| DSiLL |    40.465 |    28.370 |    67.243 | 1.168.694 |   167.796 |  1.675.601 |
|  DSi  |    36.481 |    26.548 |    37.021 |   935.482 | 2.686.096 |  5.274.428 |
|  DSL  |     1.580 |     1.539 |     7.268 |   209.096 |   477.246 | 18.056.852 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------      
|  PSP  |   323.653 |    75.689 |    38.839 | 2.224.774 | 1.851.559 | 15.892.107 |
| PSPgo |     1.875 |     1.675 |     3.809 |    66.353 |    57.911 |    142.108 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
The breakdown for the top 3 titles in the UK for last week was.

Black Ops:
Xbox 360 (52%)
PS3 (38%)
Wii (5%)
PC (3%)

FIFA11:
Xbox 360 (39%)
PS3 (38%)
Wii (8%)
DS (7%)

NFS:
Xbox 360 (55%)
PS3 (42%)
Wii (3%)
PC (1%)

Why on earth should any of those developers bugger about with the Wii?

Individual chart was:

01 (03) WII Just Dance 2 (Ubisoft)
02 (02) PS3 Gran Turismo 5 (Sony Computer Ent.)
03 (04) 360 Call Of Duty: Black Ops (Activision Blizzard)
04 (14) 360 Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit (Electronic Arts)
05 (06) PS3 Call Of Duty: Black Ops (Activision Blizzard)
06 (05) WII Donkey Kong Country Returns (Nintendo)
07 (07) 360 Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft)
08 (09) WII Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo)
09 (17) PS3 Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit (Electronic Arts)
10 (11) 360 Fifa 11 (Electronic Arts)
11 (13) PS3 Fifa 11 (Electronic Arts)
12 (08) NDS Professor Layton And The Lost Future (Nintendo)
13 (15) WII Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
14 (10) WII Michael Jackson: The Experience (Ubisoft)
15 (18) 360 Kinect Sports (Microsoft)
16 (16) PS3 Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft)
17 (12) WII Wii Party (Nintendo)
18 (21) WII Just Dance (Ubisoft)
19 (20) NDS New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
20 (25) 360 Medal Of Honor (Electronic Arts)
21 (24) PS3 Medal Of Honor (Electronic Arts)
22 (22) WII New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo)
23 (19) NDS Art Academy (Nintendo)
24 (32) 360 Fallout: New Vegas (Bethesda Softworks)
25 (30) 360 Dance Central (Microsoft)
26 (26) WII Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo)
27 (23) 360 Halo: Reach (Microsoft)
28 (29) 360 Fable Iii (Microsoft)
29 (27) 360 Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare (Take 2)
30 (35) WII Disney Epic Mickey (Disney Interactive Studios)
31 (31) WII Goldeneye 007 (Activision Blizzard)
32 (34) WII Sonic Colours (Sega)
33 (__) PS3 Fallout: New Vegas (Bethesda Softworks)
34 (28) WII Super Mario All-stars 25th Anniversary (Nintendo)
35 (33) PC Football Manager 2011 (Sega)
36 (36) PS3 Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare (Take 2)
37 (38) WII Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo)
38 (01) PC World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm (Activision Blizzard)
39 (__) WII Raving Rabbids: Travel In Time (Ubisoft)
40 (__) NDS Toy Story 3 (Disney Interactive Studios)

Wii top selling SKU with Just Dance 2 - at least one third party is making money out of it, but with what type of game? Maybe Ubisoft simply understand the Wii market and the others don't have the foggiest idea.