Quote:Nintendo said at a press conference in Japan that they will debut a new video-game machine in Japan next year and start console sales in China (with the IQue) to spur revenue after posting its loss. Notice they didn't say console specifically, only game machine, it could be handheld or console. Reuters has a key piece of information about this product, which we assume is the game machine. Its reported that the system will be revealed at E3 2004 and will be released by the end of 2004 in Japan.
"We want to launch the product worldwide simultaneously, but we don't know if that will be possible because of the issue of production capacity," Senior Managing Director Yoshihiro Mori told a news conference.
"GameCube is selling well after the price reduction, and Nintendo is in a better position than Microsoft, because the GameCube is more popular with younger kids,'' said Kota Nakako, an analyst at JP Morgan Securities Ltd. in Tokyo. "The price reductions should have been factored into the company's full-year forecast, and should not affect earnings."
Nintendo's group net loss totaled 2.89 billion yen ($26.6 million) in the six months ended Sept. 30. The Kyoto-based company generated profit of 19 billion yen a year ago. First-half sales rose 1.6 percent to 211.4 billion yen, the company said in a statement released through the Osaka Securities Exchange. For more on this, head to the previous news article.
We'll keep you up to date.
Posted by Ethan Pearson, Founder, Director
Source: Bloomberg
Quote:Nintendo plans to ring in the new year with three of the video game industry's most popular franchises: Pokémon, Metroid and Final Fantasy. Nintendo GameCube™ and Game Boy® Advance enthusiasts are sure to start off 2004 with a bang.
Final Fantasy®: Crystal Chronicles™ launches exclusively for the Nintendo GameCube on February 9. This is the first multiplayer Final Fantasy game available on home consoles in the United States. Through cooperation and teamwork, four players can join with teammates to perform more powerful attacks. And for the first time, players can use a Game Boy Advance to control characters, manage data and view character information. To make this Game Boy Advance connectivity feature more accessible, Nintendo is offering a link cable with pre-sell orders through participating retailers.
Also debuting on February 9, Metroid®: Zero Mission for Game Boy Advance starts right where the original Metroid for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) left off. Based loosely on the original NES maps, Metroid: Zero Mission includes all of the weapons and environments that made the original a huge hit, and also provides a totally new experience for the series' many fans by adding new enhancements and delving deeper into aspects of the story that haven't been told.
On March 22, the next chapter of the Pokémon craze will offer 20 hours of 3-D role-playing game fun for the Nintendo GameCube when Pokémon Colosseum™ hits stores. Players can upload all 200 Pokémon® from their Game Boy Advance Pokémon® Ruby and Pokémon® Sapphire games to battle against their friends on the Nintendo GameCube. Pokémon Colosseum features Jirachi, a hidden character and star of the upcoming Pokémon movie. Jirachi wakes once every 1,000 years for seven days, during which it has the power to grant wishes. To date, the Pokémon franchise has sold more than 38 million video games in the United States and more than 110 million worldwide. Stay tuned for some exciting details on an upcoming pre-sell program.
Very interesting... especially the Metroid part. So its a sequel set immediately after... huh.
Oh, and they completely fail to clear up the Stadium confusion. Which leads me to believe that that RPG part isn't as big as implied in some places...
