Crispy Gamer News

Various luminaries in the video game industry are voicing “cautious optimism” when it comes to the holiday shopping season. Speaking at the BMO Capital Conference in New York yesterday, folks like Mindy Mount, CFO of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, are saying that the industry is looking solid going into the holiday shopping season. Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America said during the conference that is would cut the price of the Wii to $250 and said he was “very optimistic.” Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft, said video games are selling well at places like Wal-Mart and GameStop. He predicts a 20 percent increase in overall sales for 2008 and for 2009 to be a very good year.

Strauss Zelnick, executive chairman of Take-Two Interactive Software, said overall holiday sales do not look very promising for companies that who do not have huge hits on the shelves. Naturally, he is referring to his own company. Finally EA Sports president Peter Moore is hoping that consumers come out to buy games. He has “cautious optimism” that everything is going to be okay.

If October’s hardware and software sales are any indication, then the video game industry will be in the black. Of course that all depends on consumer confidence; will Americans make the big purchases or will they head for the bargain bin to save some cash in these trying times. We will let you know in early December as the first numbers roll in from NPD Group.

Source: Reuters

The Xbox 360 price cut may not be helping Microsoft beat the juggernaut that is the Wii, but it is at least giving the company the power to take Sony’s PS3 to the woodshed. According to NDP sales data for the month of Oct., the Wii remained the top selling console with 803, 000 units, with the DS moving 491, 000 units. The Wii has sold more than 13 million units since its release in November of 2006. But the real story for the month was the Xbox 360 moving 371, 000 units, beating out the PlayStation 3 (190, 000), PlayStation 2 (136, 000) and even the PlayStation Portable (193, 000).

Of course, both Sony and Microsoft cannot seem to catch up with the Wii’s monthly sales, leaving both to fight over the scraps from the master’s table. That could change this holiday season, assuming consumer confidence is there in light of economic uncertainty here and aboard. Despite a down turn in other sectors in our economy, hardware sales were up a modest 5 percent to $494.7 million, from the same period a year ago.

Wii Music is in stores today and our review is alive and kicking - i’ll warn you: it’s not pretty. But first, the promises.. Wii Music promises some social fun using the Wii Remote and a selection of 60 musical instruments. Using the Wii Remote, players mock play instruments to a variety of original Nintendo tunes and licensed tracks with your favorite Miis. Here is an excerpt from our review:

Amidst a clanging clash of guitar, bass drums, cat meows, dog barks and glockenspiel , there’s a sense of something interesting and innovative going on. But damned if you can figure out what it is through all the noise.

I hate Wii Music because I love Nintendo and I want to love Wii Music.

So why all the hate? Read the Wii Music Review and find out.

One more week, one more round of downloadable games available on the Wii Shop Channel. This time around, Wii owners can tee off with their favorite plumber and his friends, go ten frames at the after-hours bowling alley, reunite the heroes of the Shining Force, or leave no stone unturned with this week’s Shop Channel releases.

Every Monday, Nintendo adds more new and classic games to the Wii Shop Channel library. In case you missed them when they went live on Monday, here’s the official list of new games and descriptions, straight from Nintendo.
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Earlier today, Nintendo held a press conference in Japan outlining all sorts of new goodies coming up just around the bend. Later in the day, the company gave a repeat performance for North American audiences. While most of the story was the same, there were a few extra bites of information, such as:

• The DSi will be hitting our shores sometime next year.
• New Fire Emblem and Mario & Luigi RPG games will be coming to the DS next year as well.
• Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia will hit the DS on November 10th.
• Wii Speak will hit store shelves on November 16th at a retail of $29.99.

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Obviously, the big news out of Nintendo’s press event in Tokyo this morning had to be the unveiling of the new Nintendo DSi handheld, but that was far from the only news coming from the Big N’s conference today.

After starting off with the big DSi news, Nintendo President and CEO Satoru Iwata talked about a new deal reached with McDonald’s restaurants in Japan for expanded DS download kiosks, now dubbed “Nintendo Zone”, followed up by news on the upcoming Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles and Dragon Quest IX DS titles. Iwata then addressed an issue that’s plagued Wii owners since launch: insufficient storage space for downloads. Rather than whip out the long rumored Wii hard drive, though, Iwata announced that starting in Spring 2009, Wii owners will be able to download content from the Wii Shop Channel directly to SD cards installed in the console. (more…)

So, you’re a major video game company that had an underwhelming E3 performance, and you’ve also decided to skip out on this year’s Tokyo Game Show. What do you do? Well, if you’re Nintendo, you hold a special press event in Tokyo to unveil a new version of one of your best selling consoles. Early this morning, Nintendo officially raised the curtain on the latest version of the DS, dubbed the DSi.

The new handheld is much thinner than the current DS Lite, due in large part to the decision to drop the GBA port from the device. The DSi will also include a 640×480 camera, an SD card slot, larger screens, and new audio capabilities. Using the system’s built-in browser and a Wi-Fi connection, gamers will be able to download games and other software from a special DSi Shop (think Wii Shop Channel … but smaller), and save it directly to the DSi. According to Nintendo, pricing for the ‘DSiWare’ downloads will be broken down into four categories: Free, 200, 500, and 800 points. Apparently, the DSi will also come packaged with 1000 points included at launch to spend at the DSi Shop.

The Nintendo DSi is currently slated for a November 1st launch in Japan, with a retail price of ¥18,900 (US$179). The DSi will initially come in two colors: black and white. More pictures after the jump.

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