Nintendo head honcho Reggie Fils-Aime sits down with G4TV’s Adam Sessler to answer questions about the Nintendo Wii price-cut, whether there’s a Wii 2 in the works, and if third-party developers are losing faith in the console when it comes to more mature games. Will Reggie crack under the pressure or will he and Adams finally make a love connection? Check out the video at G4TV or stay here and watch it below:
Nintendo has finally decided that a price drop is in order, putting its Wii home console system in the familiar position of being the cheapest one on the market. Starting Sunday, Sept. 27, Nintendo will lower the suggested retail price for the system by $50 to $199.99. The new $199.99 Wii price point includes the same content as the original including 1 Wii Remote and Nunchuck, and Wii Sports.
“Wii has reached more video game players than any game system before because it attracts everyone—both men and women, and people of all ages,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Our research shows there are 50 million Americans thinking about becoming gamers, and this more affordable price point and our vast array of new software mean many of them can now make the leap and find experiences that appeal to them, whatever their tastes or level of gaming experience.“
This is the smartest move Nintendo could have made given that both Sony and Microsoft have already cut the price of their home consoles.
Naturally this will open up new players to already popular franchises like Wii Fit, Wii Sports Resort, Metroid Prime Trilogy - and new stuff like New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nov. 15), and Wii Fit Plus (Oct. 4). Nintendo also announced that it will run some in special events in select cities called World of Nintendo. Kicking off in Long Beach, Calif., World of Nintendo will show off the latest Nintendo Wii and DS games and give consumers hands on time with the likes of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit Plus, Punch-Out!! and WiiWare titles as well as DS/ DSi games like The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box and Nintendo DSiWare titles. A full list of dates for the month of Oct. after the break.
If Microsoft isn’t cutting the price on its , the someone ought to tell the people that make flyers for Wal-Mart, Meijer and Target. The latest, the Target ad, which some astute readers (and possible insiders) sent in to Engadget, reveals pricing from next week’s Target flyer. It has been heavily rumored that the Xbox 360 60GB Pro system would be getting a price to $250, while the Xbox 360 120GB Elite system would be sold for right around $299 - the same price as the PS3 Slim.
As Engadget point out in its article, Target’s weekly ads tend to run from Saturday to Sunday, which would put these new prices into effect on August 30 - the date that other flyers have shown for these price cuts.
Meanwhile Microsoft continues to remain quiet on the matter. The speculation, which is proving to be true ever so slowly, is that the 60 GB Pro edition of the Xbox 360 will be phased out and the 120 GB Elite and Arcade SKUs will remain. We’ll keep you posted as this story continues to evolve.
image credit: Engadget
Mezmer Games today announced that the arcade RTS game Stalin vs. Martians has been upgraded thanks to a new patch. Gamers can get hold of the new patch by downloading it from their digital download portal of choice The patch includes the following updates:
- Historical inevitability radius is bigger now.
- Minimized crashes with Stalin Falcons + the y always bomb the target.
- Cursor fixed, more bright now.
- The game is less complicated in levels 2,3 and 5.
- First attack in mission 2 starts earlier.
- Additional forces in mission 7.
Mezmer Games is also dropping the price for the game to 9.99, available on all major digital download portals from June 7th. For more information, please visit: www.mezmergames.com
Hard times for Sony this week as it announced a staggering net loss of 165.1 billion yen ($1.7 billion) for the fourth quarter and a net loss of 98.9 billion yen, or 98.59 yen per share, for the fiscal year ended March 31. This rather sad occasion is punctuated by the fact that it is the first full year loss in 14 years. The company had posted a net income of 29.0 billion yen for the January-March quarter a year ago. In the fiscal year ended March 2008, it had a net income of 369.4 billion yen.
Sony puts some of this bad news off on its electronics segment, which dropped 17 percent in the fiscal year, and a decline to a stronger yen, deterioration in the business environment and “intensification of price competition.” The only silver lining? The company’s loss was less than analysts expected. Analysts were expecting a net loss of 228.7 billion yen for the quarter and 173.8 billion yen for the year, while Sony had said it was expecting a loss of 150.0 billion yen for the full year.
And on a related note, analysts say that this highlights the need for a PS3 price cut, and one in particular is predicting that it will finally happen. Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian believes that Sony will cut the price of its rather pricey console by about $100 USD. Sony says that it will see a 30 percent sales increase for the PlayStation 3 in fiscal 2010 - which means it is either delusional (at its current price) or that a price cut is in the works. Coupled with some solid PS3 titles like inFAMOUS, God of War III, Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2 and Gran Turismo 5 coming out in FY 2010, A price cut really could save Sony’s bacon.
We’ll know more, no doubt during E3 in the first week of June.
The PlayStation 3 will be getting a price cut, with an announcement coming “in days” according to Janco Partners’ Mike Hickey. hickey is citing rumblings, whispers and “increased speculation” in retail channels that a price cut is imminent. In a note to investors Hickey said that Sony needs to cut the price of the PS3 by $100 USD to remain competitive. I’ve been saying that for almost a year.
Without that price cut, Hickey speculates that PS3 units will sit on store shelves, gather dust and see companies that make software and hardware move their resources to other platforms. Always a bride’s maid, never a bride. At least Sony has its health.
Some other juicy speculation: there’s a rumor floating around retail channels (we assume) that Sony might be planning an SKU without the Blu-Ray player, which would certainly make it easier to sell at a lower price. The big problem with that rumor is that there’s no feasible way such an SKU could work because PS3 software requires a Blu-Ray player.
We’ll have more on this story as it develops - or as the case may be - is proven to be a bucket full of bullshit.
thanks, Gi.biz
According to a source (mole) inside Microsoft, the Xbox 360 will be given another price cut across all SKUs. This price cut will supposedly happen in September and will see the Arcade version with no hard drive cut to $199, the 60GB Pro version cut to $299, and the 120 Elite for $399. This inside source, who spilled the beans to arstechnica.com, also said that the Platinum Hits version of Forza 2 will include all the DLC tracks that have been released.
This inside source has been pretty accurate so far: this is the selfsame person that predicted the new 60 GB SKU and the price cut on the 20 GB model.
Source: arstechnica.com (Image courtesy of www.wildcru.org)
