• Wednesday, May 16, 4:21 PM In one of the odder joint ventures out there, Toyota (TM) teams up with Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) to turn the Nintendo DS into a navigational tool. For a cool $3K bucks, a driver can buy Toyota's Smart Navi system to add a Super Mario experience to the simple function of driving around town. 2 Comments [Global & FX]
• Thursday, April 26, 3:28 AM Nintendo (NTDOY.PK): Full-year 2012 operating loss of ¥37.3B vs. consensus of -¥41.4B. Net sales of ¥820B. Says it expects to stop selling the Nintendo 3DS at below cost and return to operating profit of ¥35B in fiscal 2013, below consensus of ¥40B. Shares +2.85% in Tokyo. (PR) Comment! [Earnings, Tech]
• Friday, April 13, 8:13 AM March was another dismal month for U.S. retail video game sales, per NPD. Hardware sales fell 35% Y/Y, and software sales 25% - figures worse than February's 18% and 23%, respectively. The Xbox 360 (MSFT) was again the best-selling console, and Electronic Arts' (EA) Mass Effect 3 was the most popular game. With Xbox and PlayStation (SNE) refreshes not arriving until next year, and mobile device competition only intensifying, sales could remain under pressure for a while. 5 Comments [Tech]
• Monday, March 26, 11:27 AM Nintendo's (NTDOY.PK) Wii redefined the console market, bringing in millions of casual gamers who would have never bought a conventional system, and in doing so may have saved its parent. But now, as Horace Deidu notes, Nintendo's future is being threatened by mobile devices that are having a similar disruptive impact, and its 3DS handheld isn't selling well enough to stem the tide. Comment! [Tech, Quick Ideas]
• Thursday, March 8, 11:58 AM Epic Games, developer of the Gears of War franchise, says it's worried Microsoft (MSFT), Nintendo (NTDOY.PK), and Sony (SNE) will allow Apple (AAPL) to dominate the gaming market by refusing to deliver consoles featuring cutting-edge performance. The remarks follow the release of an iPad featuring a retina display and faster processor, and come amidst rumors the next Xbox and PlayStation will feature ho-hum specs. (also) 1 Comment [Tech]
• Tuesday, March 6, 10:45 AM Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) shows there's still a market for consoles despite the rise of causal gaming, as long as they're cheap enough. Nintendo sold 4.5M 3DS handheld devices in the U.S. in the year after it was launched, although the company had to slash the product's price 30% after it initially flopped and take a loss on each device. Comment! [Tech, Consumer]
• Saturday, March 3, 10:15 AM The home video game console market, long a triopoly controlled by Microsoft (MSFT), Sony (SNE), and Nintendo (NTDOY.PK), could soon witness a flurry of new entrants, at least if Valve has its way. Valve, owner of popular PC gaming service Steam, is reportedly working on the "Steam Box," a hardware/software spec that OEMs could use to build their own consoles, running the Steam service. 4 Comments [Tech]
• Friday, February 10, 5:16 PM Perhaps taking a page from Nintendo's (NTDOY.PK) Wii U, Microsoft's (MSFT) next Xbox will feature controllers sporting HD touchscreens, claims Xbox World magazine. The next Kinect, meanwhile, will reportedly be able to track finger movements. However, it's also suggested the unit will cost as much as £399. Prior rumors have claimed a no-frills, low-end model will be sold along with a more powerful system. Comment! [Tech]
• Friday, February 10, 9:29 AM U.S. retail video game hardware and software sales each fell 38% Y/Y in January, claims NPD, an ugly showing even after accounting for the ages of the major consoles, and likely further evidence of the impact made by mobile and social gaming. In December, the Y/Y declines were only 28% and 14%, respectively. The Xbox 360 (MSFT) was again the top-selling home console; its 270K shipments gave it a 49% share. GME -2.3%. Comment! [Tech, On the Move]
• Monday, January 30, 1:52 PM In-line with rumors, an exec at Microsoft France (MSFT) says the next Xbox won't arrive this year, in spite of the Wii U's (NTDOY.PK) expected 2H launch. "We're not here to counter Nintendo and they're not here to fight the other manufacturers," he claims. Nonetheless, Eurogamer reiterates a prior rumor that Microsoft will offer a set-top box-like Xbox aimed at casual users to go with a more conventional machine. 1 Comment [Tech]
• Thursday, January 26, 10:36 AM Nintendo's (NTDOY.PK) weak sales report (I, II) just highlights the point that the traditional video game industry is getting crushed by cheaper smartphone and tablet choices as well as Facebook's social games, according to Michael Comeau. He argues that although traditional hard-core gamers will always pay up for the latest cutting-edge hardware and software, the average consumer is losing interest. In the line of fire: THQ, GME, ATVI, SNE. Comment! [Tech, Quick Ideas]
• Thursday, January 26, 4:27 AM More on Nintendo (NTDOY.PK): Forecasts a ¥45B ($580M) operating loss for the year to March, the first since the company started announcing earnings in its current form in 1981. Wii annual sales forecast cut to 10M units from 12M. 3DS gaming device cut to 14M from 16M. (Nintendo's earnings) Comment! [Tech, Earnings]
• Thursday, January 26, 4:09 AM Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) swung to a loss during the first nine months of the year on sluggish Wii sales, costs associated with its new 3DS game system and the impact of currency fluctuations. The damage: net loss of ¥48.35B ($622M), revenue of ¥556.2B (-31%) and on an operating basis a loss of ¥16.4B. (PR) Comment! [Tech, Earnings]
• Tuesday, January 17, 2:51 PM Though concerns about the smartphone/tablet market's impact on the handheld console market are easy to find (I, II), IDC expects the latter to rebound in 2012, thanks to strong sales of Nintendo's (NTDOY.PK) 3DS and Sony's (SNE) PlayStation Vita. The firm notes that in the crucial child/teen segment, the penetration of paying gamers is still much higher for handheld console titles than for smartphone/tablet titles. Comment! [Tech]
• Friday, January 6, 2:11 PM MCV claims Microsoft (MSFT) and Sony (SNE) will respectively unveil the successors to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 at the gaming industry's E3 2012 convention, due to be held from June 5-7. Price and launch details aren't expected, but the announcements could nonetheless steal some thunder from Nintendo's (NTDOY.PK) Wii U, which is expected to arrive in 2H 2012. Comment! [Tech]
• Thursday, January 5, 9:11 AM Japanese sales for Sony's (SNE) PlayStation Vita continue to head downhill in a hurry: Media Create estimates only 42.6K units were sold in Japan in the week starting Dec. 26, down from ~72K in the prior week, and far below the ~198K Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) 3DS units that were sold in the country. Meanwhile, it's estimated the Japanese gaming industty at-large declined 8% in 2011. (also) Comment! [Tech]