When the Wii U launches on November 18, Nintendo will sell the new console starting at $299, which isn't a bad price at all for a new console, especially something as promising as the Wii U. However, Nintendo confirmed that it will be selling it under cost, meaning that the company will take a loss for each console they sell.
Nintendo has revealed a pair of new Wii bundles in the hope of slowing the dwindling sales of the console, promising a choice of titles and pricing from $129.99. The first bundle pairs the white Wii, a matching Wii controller, and a Nunchuck, with Just Dance 4, and will go on sale from November 4 in the US. If you're not into dancing, however, never fear: there's a second, even more feature-backed bundle to choose.
Nintendo continues to see gaming hardware sales fall, but the company has trimmed losses and is pegging its hopes on Wii U as it slashes financial predictions. Numbers for the first half of 2012 confirm another drop in net sales, down to 200,994 million yen ($2.52bn) in the period of April to September 2012, with net losses of 27,996 million yen ($351m). Nintendo 3DS sales rose, up to 5.06m units, primarily thanks to the new 3DS XL, but Wii sales dived to 1.32m units.
Today, we're finding once again out that crime doesn't pay - or at least it does for a little while until you get busted. One Nintendo counterfeiter, named James Success Brooks, is more than likely facing time in the slammer after Nintendo discovered he was selling counterfeit Wii and DS games online. According to Croydon Guardian, Brooks sold these games online between 2009 and 2011, raking in around £600,000 ($960,120) in the process.
Because of the high-definition graphics of the Wii U and the 854×480 resolution of the Wii U GamePad's screen, a lot of people have been guessing that the lag time would be incredibly high. However, Ubisoft's Rayman Legends developer Michel Ancel has confirmed that the GamePad's screen only has a delay of 1/60 of a second.
Nintendo has slashed the priced of the Wii ahead of the holiday shopping season, bringing the motion-tracking console down to under $130 to keep sales ticking until the Wii U arrives. Now down to $129.99 complete with two classic games, the black version of the console is offered with Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort (squeezed onto a single disc, no less).
While hype for the Nintendo Wii U may not be as substantial compared to other consoles, pre-orders for the Wii U went quickly and eventually sold out. Now, console scalpers are looking to make bank on their pre-ordered Wii U consoles by selling them on eBay for almost a quarter as much as they originally paid for the console.
Nintendo's incoming Wii U has only been up for pre-order for a few days, but already it seems that some retailers are having issues keeping the console in stock. This is immediately reminiscent of the original Wii, which was a rare find for quite some time after release. Could the Wii U be headed for the same post-launch stock issues? That's hard to say for sure, but it certainly seems that way.
It's time for the first big official list of Wii U games to be brought to light, and with the pricing for the USA, Europe, and Japan already set alongside a November store date, the fun can begin! Starting with such giant titles as The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, LEGO and Donky Kong, it's looking like Nintendo may still have some magic under their belt. Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime seems to think so too, noting that "the new system also creates extraordinary new possibilities for game developers, bound only by the limits of their imaginations.”
Epic Mickey 2, as many of you already know, will be releasing on the Xbox 360 and PS3. That wasn't the case for the original Epic Mickey, which was exclusive to the Nintendo Wii. Now that we know Epic Mickey 2 is coming to HD consoles, fans are wondering if developer Junction Point will bring the original to Xbox 360 and PS3. Apparently studio boss Warren Spector wants it to happen, but he needs your help.
Nintendo saw Wii sales halved in its most recent financial quarter, the company has revealed, with only a surge in 3DS demand helping gross profit grow. Sales of the Wii console dived from 1.56m units in Q1 2011 to 710,000 in Q1 2012 [pdf link], with Nintendo keen to gloss over the dive in favor of focusing on 3DS sales more than doubling from 710,000 to 1.86m in the same period. Nintendo says the new 3DS XL and the growth of digital game downloads will help rescue the next quarter.
NPD has released its report of video game sales data for June 2012, and like the months before, it isn't all that pretty. Overall sales of both hardware and software were down 30% year-over-year, dropping from $989 million in June 2011 to $699 million last month. Hardware was the biggest loser, falling a whopping 45% to just $201 million in June.
