Hiroshi Yamauchi: The Man, the Myth, the Mario

As many of you likely know by know, Hiroshi Yamauchi, President of Nintendo for over 50 years, has died at the age of 85. Let's take a look back at the man who helped create what is arguably the most influential video game company in history.

The Year of Luigi

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! I love you!*

Earlier this morning, Nintendo broadcast another Nintendo Direct, showcasing upcoming games and content, some of which was unannounced.

E3 2012 Tuesday Recap

Today, Nintendo unveiled some of their new games for this year, most of them for the Wii U. Some of high points include:

E3 2012 Live Broadcast

Greetings, Nintendorks! Ready to check out some sweet, sweet Nintendo news and announcements? Me too!

For this year's presentation, Nintendo will be broadcasting the event from here, their E3 Facebook page. As long as the server doesn't crash from so many people tuning in, that should work.

E3 Bingo 2012

It’s almost here! One of the best days of the year is fast approaching: Nintendo’s E3 Press Conference, where we wait anxiously for announcements about new systems, new features, and most importantly, new games.

As I have done in the past, I have created a fancy shmancy new bingo card for this year’s conference. Behold! (click for larger view, or open in a window/tab)

Game Developer’s Conference News!

Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata gave the keynote speech today at the Game Developer’s Conference. While much of what he talked about was aimed at developers (duh), there were some nice new nuggets of information. Check it out!

• A new Mario game is in the works! Yes, this is obvious, because there is always some kind of Mario game in the works, but this is a brand-new 3-D adventure built from the ground up for the 3DS.  Also, it’s being made by the team that made the Mario Galaxy games, so we should be in for a real treat! (Notice the interesting logo below! A similar tail was on the ‘3’ on the Mario 3 title screen. Tanooki, anyone?)
• In addition to offering Game Boy (including Color and Advance) games for download, the 3DS will have Game Gear and Turbo-Grafx games.  Plus, some of the classic games will be updated to run in 3-D! PLEASE NINTENDO, MAKE LINK’S AWAKENING ONE OF THESE!!!
• Netflix will be available for the 3DS! You can start watching a movie on the 3DS and then finish it later on the Wii (or vice versa). Now we just need Netflix to get more good stuff worth watching!*
• At the moment, the 3DS allows users to take 3D photos, but later on, it will also allow people to shoot 3D movies! Fun times!

As you can tell, there is much to be excited about when the 3DS launches this month. Only 35,000 minutes before it’s released!** Hooray!

-benjamines

* I’m half kidding
** March 27th, in case you were wondering

Nintendo News: May 14, 2010

According to the NPD (they keep track of video game sales and all that stuff), the Nintendo DS will soon pass the PS2 as the best-selling video game system of all time.  Despite having been released 5 years later, Nintendo’s dual-screen wonder will take the top spot from Sony’s once-popular brand.  As of March 31, the DS had sold 129 million units.  Go Nintendo!

Speaking of numbers, the big three of video game companies (Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, of course) have all released their sales number from the past year.  As is not surprising the Wii has a secure lead, selling 70.9 million units worldwide in the last year.  Microsoft is still in second, but just barely, which does not bode well for them, since they released the XBox 360 a year before the other two.  They sell well in the US, but not so much in Japan or Europe.   Maybe they should consider making something besides FPSs.  They sold 40.3 million units compared to Sony’s 35.9.

A rumor is circulating that the next Scribblenauts game will be called Super Scribblenauts.  A now-dead link on Amazon seemed to confirm the announced sequel.  The name would fit, since WB Games has stated that the game will have adjectives.  The real question?  How in the world will typing “repugnant” help anything.  In any case, as long as they fix the controls, the game sounds like a lot of fun.

-benjamines

Nintendo News: May 10, 2010

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata mentioned in a recent interview that Japanese gamers strongly prefer 2D Mario titles to 3D ones.  This may be evidenced by the fact that New Super Mario Bros. Wii has sold 3 times what the first Mario Galaxy has (in Japan at least), and in a much shorter period of time.  He speculated that 3D Mario games tend to be too difficult to control for many gamers.  This may be at least part of the reason that Mario Galaxy 2 will come bundled with an instructional DVD on how to play the game.

After a failed attempt at entering the used video game market, retail juggernaut Wal-Mart has announced that it is giving it a second chance, this time with another provider.  It is testing a used video game/DVD service in 5 locations to gauge customer response.  This is likely partly due to the recent closing of Game Crazy, leaving GameStop as basically the only national chain of used video game stores (which is a crying shame, to be honest).  If not Wal-Mart, let’s hope someone can keep GameStop from becoming the only place to buy games used.

EA has announced that beginning with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, new EA Sports games will come with an Online Pass to play the game online.  If the game is sold used, it will not come with the online pass.  Gamers who buy a used copy will need to purchase their own Online Pass ($10) to play online.  This is part of EA’s “Project Ten Dollar” initiative to reclaim sales lost to used game vendors.  Essentially, new EA games will come with codes to redeem for free Downloadable Content, where gamers who buy used copies will have to pay for said DLC.  It seems risky and arrogant, but it remains to be seen if Project Ten Dollar will have any effect on anyone.

-benjamines

Nintendo News: May 06, 2010

Later this year, Disney will be releasing a Wii game called Epic Mickey.  It’s an action-platformer starring the quintessential mouse, but with a darker edge.  Not only that, the game will be transformed into an actual book.  Few details have been revealed on either title, but we’ll likely get more info at E3. [via NeoGAF]

In Nintendo’s fiscal report, they announced that Wii sales are down 21% from last year.  This is probably due to fewer high-profile titles in 2009.  This year will see a new Zelda, Mario, Metroid and several other big name titles, so I really don’t think this is a big issue.  Besides, even with the downward slide, this was Nintendo’s third-best year ever.

The latest issue of Nintendo Power talks about the next De Blob game, among other things.  One little sidenote mentions the announcement a new major game right around E3.  Whether or not it will be anounced in the magazine or at E3 is not clear.  Here’s hoping it’s a new F-Zero.  PLEEEEEAAAAAAASE!!!

-benjamines

Nintendo News: May 05, 2010

So apparently, everyone’s favorite oddball little brother Luigi will be playable in Super Mario Galaxy 2.  You could play as Luigi in the first one, but not until you beat the game as Mario.  This time, you can switch between Mario and Luigi on certain levels, and he can use all of the same powers that Mario can.  It’s not quite co-op, but still pretty cool.  That guy’s got mad hops. [via Kotaku]

The newest entry in the Metroid series, Other M, has been delayed and will hit stores on about August 31st.  The game is closer to the original 2D-style Metroid games, and is played primarily by holding the Wii remote sideways.  There are also some first-person sections thrown in.  The game has been promised to delve deeper in Samus’ largely unknown story.  And for all you timeline buffs, the game takes place between Super Metroid (SNES) and Metroid Fusion (GBA).

Namco has announced that the next big Pac-Man evolution will be unveiled at E3 in June.  This will coincide with the pellet-eating orb’s 30th anniversary.  Expect announcements for games on every console and game-esque device on the planet. [via Joystiq]

-benjamines

Nintendo News: May 04, 2010

Happy Tuesday!  Time for some newsday!

A couple of years ago, some of the folks at Retro Studios (makers of the fantastic Metroid Prime games) left and formed a new studio called Armature.  Well, now they’ve announced that there’s a new big game in the works with an unannounced publisher.  So, I guess it’s not much news, but it is interesting! [via 1up]

Nintendo releases its earnings report for fiscal 2009 on Thursday.  In it, earnings are expected to fall.  Some of the suits claim that this is due to poor 2010 sales thus far and the Wii price cut.  Either way, they’re still projected to report about $2.43 billion in profits (down from $2.95 billion).  So yeah… they’re still ok. [via Joystiq]
[Note: Nintendo’s fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31 of the next year.]

On that note, Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo’s hard-ball President, announced that the Wii has sold 5 million units since January 1.  That’s more than the PS3 and Xbox 360 have sold in the last year... combined!  He also said that since Netflix launched on the Wii a few weeks ago, nearly 1 million new customers have signed on.  Sounds like Nintendo is ridin’ high… still. [via Edge]

-benjamines