Quote:OSAKA (Reuters) - Japanese game maker Nintendo Co. Ltd. raised its full-year net profit forecast by 20 percent on Monday, citing a stronger dollar and solid demand for software titles for its handheld GameBoy Advance machine.

Nintendo, known for games featuring characters such as Mario, Donkey Kong and Pokemon, said it now expected group net profit of 84 billion yen ($758.9 million) for the year to March 2005, compared with its May forecast of 70 billion yen.

It also raised its net profit estimate for the April-September first half to 46 billion yen from an original 25 billion yen.

The sharp upward revision was due mainly to a foreign exchange-related gain of 36 billion yen, the company said. It holds about $5 billion worth of dollar-denominated deposits, which it revalues at the end of every accounting period.

The latest revision stems from a change in its assumed exchange rate from 105 yen to the U.S. dollar to 110 yen to the U.S. dollar. The dollar traded at around 110.60 yen on Monday.

Strong demand for its software titles for GameBoy Advance also helped improve its operating profit margin in the first half, more than offsetting slower-than-expected sales of its GameCube consoles, Nintendo said.

``Our GameCube hardware business was slightly hurt by price cuts by our rivals ... but we're considering launching a sales promotion campaign for the peak Christmas shopping season and expect to achieve our full-year sales target,'' Nintendo Senior Managing Director Yoshihiro Mori told a news conference.

Mori declined to comment on whether the company planned another price cut on the GameCube console.

Nintendo in September 2003 slashed prices for the GameCube console to below $100 in the United States to boost flagging sales. In the April-June first quarter it sold 650,000 GameCubes, versus 80,000 units a year ago, as a result.

The company kept its consolidated revenue forecast for the year to March 2005 unchanged at 430 billion yen.

Nintendo last month struck the first blow in what is set to be an all-out war with Sony Corp. for the lucrative handheld game console market, aggressively pricing its new dual-screen model at $149.99 and setting its U.S. launch date for Nov. 21.

In a bid to keep the dominance its GameBoy Advance has given it in the handheld market, Nintendo set the price for the ``DS'' dual-screen console at the bottom end of analysts expectations.

Gamestop has two DS boxarts up that seem to be official, and I think they look pretty cool. Looks a lot like the DC cases, eh? Two things though... "Super Mario 64 DS" sounds a bit ridiculous, and I hope they don't use the same crappy cardboard boxes that Gameboy games have always used. I'd love to see a tiny dvd-like case. That way the boxes won't just be for display. :)

Boy, Tycho sure hates good RPGs. For some reason or another he absolutely despises non-shitty RPG combat systems, i.e. anything that's not turn-based. Stuff like Star Ocean, Tales of Symphonia, Final Fantasy XII... read it for yourself:

Quote: Final Fantasy casts a shadow so large that it envelops the entire genre, which is well known. Nobody does Final Fantasy better - a truism that now includes Square-Enix itself apparently, as with their XII iteration they've shrugged off the iconic turn-based combat and gone with one of these Goddamn real-time hybrids that so appeals to a game reviewer's keen sense of novelty. This is part of a larger discussion that I have with Gabriel the Elder, and I guess now you can have it, too.

Quote:The other half of the conversation has to do with these Goddamn hybrid action systems that have come into phase in role-playing games. Tales of Symphonia is one of the worst games I've played in recent memory. Star Ocean is a joyless, grating exercise I could recommend only as penance for some grievous moral miscalculation. Certainly, their stories are caricatures of cliches based on a half-understood mishmash of Western and Eastern folklore, but I have to be honest with you when I say that applies to virtually all content Japan produces. I can't claim ignorance of it at this point, and honestly the surreal experience of having my own culture digested and projected back into my cornea is one of the reasons I seek the genre out. But both of them have different takes on this action/RPG hybrid that has bum-rushed the genre, and I'm glad that technology allows us to do things like this, but I have to tell you that I don't see it as a substantial improvement. I'm quick on the draw and I can push a button in sequence with the best of them. But there is something natural and sensible and universal about a turn-based system that allows for absolute, explicit position, clear delineation, and genuine decision making. Maybe that seems quaint to you, but dividing the sequence of play into turns has a validity that isn't diminished by advancing technology.

*explosion*

Okay, so I watched this debate thing. First of all, not a single network listened to those requirements. Stupid "reaction shots" abounded. What is this, a reality show? ... *cough*

Anyway, I'm left feeling... disappointed... There were a FEW actual bits of real information about what they wanted to do, but most of it was just "but that person said something that can be incorrectly interpretted this way!". It was less of a scientific debate and more of a high school debate... I mean, did you listen to the talks beforehand? People barely even mentioned actual facts, so much as "they have to sound concise and such and such", which has no relevence on who is actually right.

Not enough logic in the end, I'm as confused as I've ever been about this thing.

I think I'll accidently vote for Oscar the automaton...

Jay: Now before I start writing Ghostchasers III, who do you have back from the original cast?
Male assistant: Uhh... the black guy.
Female assistant: But we've only got him for two days. He's also playing the black guy in Batman 3.

Jay: I'm tempted, but I don't know... can Duke really be president? Can he be trusted with nuclear weapons?
Jeremy: We trust him with the ones he has now.

Bob Dole: Bob Dole, good to meet you, Duke.
Dan Quayle: I'm Dan Quayle. I gotta go boom-boom.
Duke: Bob, I'm thinking of running as a republican.
Bob Dole: That nomination is mine! *lightning strikes outside* If you interfere, I'll release this tape. *turns on TV*
Duke (on the TV): Pretty kitty Calooco, you know that I love you so, with your fur so soft and fair, I would not take you anywhere... *sobs*

Forrest Gump: Mr. President, I'm Forrest Gump, owner of Bubba Gump shrimp.
Bill Clinton: Shrimp? I love shrimp! Shrimp cocktails, shrimp scampi, shrimp puffs, shrimp ca bob...
*hours later*
Bill: ...peanut butter and shrimp sandwiches, shrimp milkshakes, shrimp wine...
*even more hours later*
Bill: ...Count Shrimpula cereal, and blueberry pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a little brown sugar, and some shrimp.
Forrest Gump: You sure like shrimp, Mr. President.
Bill Clinton: Did you say shrimp? I love shrimp! Shrimp? I love shrimp! Shrimp cocktails, shrimp scampi, shrimp puffs, shrimp ca bob...

Cyrus: I wanna thank you for helping my wife and my little girl. It's more than I did...
Jay: Well, there are a lot of people in New York that would have done what I did... they're called putzes.
Cyrus: Mmm. I like pepperoni on my putzes!
Jay: ...I'll bet you do.

Mets coach: Alright, which one of you threw the firecracker at the little girl?
*random player raises hand shamefully*
Coach: You're off the team. Alright, I'm making a list. Who's gotta go to court today?
*4 guys raise their hands*
Coach: You're off the team. Now, who impregnated my daughter?
*remaining 3 guys leave*
Coach: Oh, marvelous.

Johnny Wrath: Well Howard, my new album is, uh...
Howard Stern: Shut up. Margo, can I see you naked.
Robin: Ahahahahaha!
Margo: Of course not!
Howard Stern: Then get out.
Robin: Hahahaha!!
Howard Stern: Robin, what's so funny?
Robin: I don't know, I wasn't listening! *giggles more*

Post more!

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=6547

Quote:In a Q&A with Playbill magazine, Mel Brooks says that he's currently working on a Spaceballs sequel. Here's the clip from the interview which starts off by talking about the big screen adaptation of The Producers.

Playbill: Will you have a role in it?

MB: It's doubtful, but I'm writing myself back into the Spaceballs sequel that I'm now writing, so you haven't seen the last of my face. Why another Spaceballs? It wouldn't feel right have anyone else play Yoghurt and the first one was the best experience I've had making a movie since Blazing Saddles.

Playbill: When can we expect that?

MB: Best case scenario: a week before the new Star Wars opens. Worst Case Scenario: a year after the new star wars opens.

Quote:According to an article on SankeiWeb (Japanese Only), Nintendo's Advisor Hiroshi Yamauchi announced at a press conference in Kyoto that Nintendo will be investigating the possibility of forming an animation studio. At the press conference, Yamauchi said "Video games are very similar to films. Although the final decision is up to the [October] management meeting, we should be headed in that direction. Nintendo is prepared to accept the risks involved."

Quote:It seems that Hiroshi Yamauchi, ex-Nintendo president and still raving lunatic, is willing to ask Nintendo to finance an animated movie.

The last videogame company that tried the field of animated film failed pretty miserably, but it appears that Yamauchi-san is going to approach the Board of Directors in October anyway to see if Nintendo will consider a movie. His announcements were made at an event in Kyodo.

The film will be based on the poetic works from the famous Ogura Hyakunin Isshu compilation, and while that does not sound like a popular business venture outside of Japan, Yamauchi insists that the idea would work both at home and abroad. His plans for the movie follow along the lines of Hayao Miyazuki, a director best known for his films Princess Mononoke and the much heralded Spirited Away.

In Katamari Damacy you have a little guy who rolls a ball and picks up junk. That's it. That's all you do. And the graphics are barely on par with a PSX game. So then why is it one of the funnest, craziest, and most addicting games ever made? Well, it's hard to say, but in Katamari Damacy as you pick up more things your katamari [that's the sticky ball thing that pick up stuff] gets bigger and you can pick up bigger things like cats and dogs and then people and then cars and then you can pick up bigger things like houses and skyscrapers. It's the kind of game that can only be made by a Japanese person, who has perfected the art of making things that are really crazy and that make no sense. And it's only $20.

I suppose someone had to make a thread about this movie. If you havn't seen it yet, do so now. I wouldn't call it Monty Python-esqe...which is what every (lazy) American journalist loves to catergorize English comedies as. But, it's still INCREDIBLY funny. If you're a fan of horror movies, and more specifically zombie movies you'll pick up on the numerous clever references. Oddly, it's more scary, and more of a zombie movie than that atrocious RE2 movie was. I highly recommend this overlooked film.

http://www.shaunofthedead.co.uk/

The Warp Pipe guys have been hinting at something big involving the DS which is supposed to be announced mid-to-late October. You can find all of the details here and here are the pictures they have released:







Remember that stuff from over a year ago about Gamespy working with Nintendo for their online network? Since Nintendo doesn't want to do it someone like Gamespy could, but nothing came of it. Well now it looks like the Warp Pipe guys are going to be the ones to bring Nintendo online (at least for the DS), and I'm anxious to see what happens.