Nintendo's Record Year: 150% Jump in Operating Profit

[Paco]

<TABLE style="MARGIN: 0px 13px 13px" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=499><TBODY><TR><TD class=gy12>After raising its forecast several times, the final results are in for Nintendo and they're very, very good. Sales and profit were way up and are expected to climb again in the new fiscal year. The DS fueled Nintendo's growth as 23 million units were sold. The Wii has sold 5.84 million. More within...

</TD></TR><TR><TD class=gy12>As was expected, after Nintendo raised its forecast for the fourth time, the company today has officially announced record results for the fiscal year ended March 31. Revenues were up 90 percent to 966.5 billion yen and operating profit climbed an incredible 150 percent to 226 billion yen—both record highs for Nintendo.



It should come as no surprise that these fantastic results were largely driven by the Nintendo DS handheld. Nintendo had full-year sales of 23 million units of hardware and 123 million of software. Life-to-date the DS install base worldwide has grown to over 40 million.



Also contributing to Nintendo's bottom line has been the strong start for the Wii. Nintendo said that through March 31, the company has sold through 5.84 million units. It was Nintendo's goal to ship 6 million worldwide by the end of its fiscal year. Along with the nearly 6 million Wiis sold, almost 29 million Wii games have been purchased. Nintendo boasted that the Wii has "taken a step toward becoming a cultural phenomenon, appealing widely to both avid and previously disinterested game-playing audiences."



In the new fiscal year (which started April 1), Nintendo is anticipating sales of another 14 million Wiis, which would bring the install base to nearly 20 million by this time in 2008. The company also expects to sell another 55 million Wii games during that time.



Nintendo doesn't really see its DS slowing down anytime soon, either. For the current fiscal year, the company has forecast sales of 22 million more units and 130 million units in DS software sales.



After posting a record year, the company believes it will have an even better year now. Nintendo is forecasting consolidated sales to increase nearly 18 percent to 1.14 trillion yen and operating profits to increase nearly 20 percent to 270 billion yen.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Nintendo owns everyone! I really wonder if Sony and Microsoft see these results and wonder if they took a wrong turn?

[Great Rumbler]

This sort of thing happens when you sell your console above cost.

[DMiller]

Nintendo really caught onto something with the DS and the Wii. I never really bought into what they have been saying the last few years about the gaming market stagnating, but it just goes to show why I'm not an executive in the gaming industry. It was tough for us hardcore gamers to see what Nintendo was seeing, and I'll probably always have to have a console in addition to the Wii, but Nintendo really has found a way to break into some untapped markets and it is going to make MS and Sony look pretty foolish if things don't improve for them.

[N-Man]

I liked this so much the first time around, and I guess it really is appropriate...

[A Black Falcon]

This sort of thing happens when you sell your console above cost.

Well, not if you don't sell much... but Nintendo sold everything it shipped, everywhere, or very nearly. For both consoles. :)

[lazyfatbum]

The PS3, regardless of what camp you stay in is just weirdly retarded, like a manufactured failure. Even hardcore Sony fans denounce the thing. When Ryan (the resident (former) sony fan) called the PS3 out as a techno-toilet I was blown away. It's how I felt about the PS2... and PS1... and even their TV's and walkmans, but yunno, imma bit biased. But when the former fans freely piss on it and wonder what the hell Sony is doing you know there's trouble. All eyes were on Sony and a few bumps and bruises could have been overlooked, but they ate themselves from the inside out.

The 360 is, well, we all know why its not doing as well as it should. No Halo. The entire reason XBox became popular was because of Halo and its online network to play Halo on. Everything else was third party shit you could get anywhere. New generation, same problem. Mostly third party shit (EA) you can get anywhere with the occasional gem (that zombie game I cant remember the name of), but it doesnt keep the momentum rolling. If MS wants to hit Nintendo hard and make the PS3 practically nonexistent they need to really focus on a release schedule for the next year that gives us a consistent flow of good, original exclusive games... (or Halo) Which is why any of us by any console, but MS cant deliver on that to the point that it warrants a slice of mainstream interest.

"So how does Nintendo get away with it?"

Cheap. New. Fun. Nintendo's STILL riding on Wii Sports, it's STILL the most played game on the system. Even Wii Play sold well (thanks to the pack-in). For the hardcore, we get promises mostly. Promises of an uber Mario of the Gods and the best Metroid yet. Nintendo made good on Zelda fur sure but the hardcore are wondering where the games are. Nintendo's holding off on everything because it wants its retarded network to shine which, if you've seen the Mario Strikers setup, it just might. Lobbies and all, throw in voice chat like Pokemon and the friendcodes can be overlooked. All entirely free, it has the potential to wipe the floor with 360 and make subscribers feel stupid.

But as far as the hardcore, we hold our Wii's and hope for the games we've only read about or seen screenshots of while the mainstream gobbles up (STILL) Wii Sports and the like.

But when Halo hits (and you better believe its going to everything the hype says and more simply because MS knows it needs it) you'll see 360 pick up in America and Europe. As much as Wii? No, Halo cant grab the mainstream. Its as close a hardcore game can get to mainstream but no where near the levels of Wii.

And by this time next year, Nintendo's going to release a Wii 2 that plays music CD's and DVD's. It might have TiVo like recording for television too and either more flash memory (upgradeable) or an internal hard drive and who knows what else (there's rumors of an apple-like Movie Download channel for doing as the name suggests and other interesting stuff). No one realizes that while marketing execs and anal-cysts have declared the set-top all-in-one box a failure in the market, Nintendo quietly slipped in its own kind of set top box and its doing pretty damn well and if all goes as planned, will completely devour the entire market with Wii 2.

To keep Nintendo going, deliver the hardcore promises, keep the mainstream playing.

To get 360 out of its hole, Halo, Halo, Halo.

Sony... fuck if I know. There's absolutely no reason to buy one, so i'd start there.

[Paco]

And by this time next year, Nintendo's going to release a Wii 2 that plays music CD's and DVD's. It might have TiVo like recording for television too and either more flash memory (upgradeable) or an internal hard drive and who knows what else (there's rumors of an apple-like Movie Download channel for doing as the name suggests and other interesting stuff). No one realizes that while marketing execs and anal-cysts have declared the set-top all-in-one box a failure in the market, Nintendo quietly slipped in its own kind of set top box and its doing pretty damn well and if all goes as planned, will completely devour the entire market with Wii 2.

Is this speculation on your part or from Nintendo themselves, because that would be pretty cool.

[Great Rumbler]

A bit of both.

[lazyfatbum]

Nintendo says a Wii 2 is coming that is upgraded and is to include DVD playback and music CD playback. Everything else is rumors as far as the movie d/l channel, tivo shit, etc. They're strong rumors though since many of them come from third parties giving hints. But at the least, a Wii 2 with DVD and CD playback is coming.

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, speculation of a Wii that also plays DVDs has been around for some time now... but one with HDD support would count for a lot more to me. It badly needs more storage space, and SD cards aren't enough. Expensive. And besides, you can't actually use them to store VC games you want to play, you have to transfer stuff to the HDD to use it...

Anyway, yeah, Sony is in big trouble. Some people are saying "N64 or GC success"... well, if so, why is it well behind what the N64 and GC were at by this points in their lives (well, GC certainly; not sure about the N64 because of the long delay between regions, but probably)? :) Maybe once it reaches $300 it'll start doing better, but if by then the thing is far, far behind in sales, it'll be too late... yeah, Sony has problems. They deserve them, though, after their behavior. :)

MS? Agreed, Halo 3 will heal many wounds. It won't sell the 360 with the nongamers the Wii is targeting, but MS isn't trying to win that market (Viva Pinata aside). Its nonexistent Japanese marketshare hurts a lot -- like with the GC/Xbox thing, the PS3 will probably get more Japanese third party games than the X360 simply because it's selling better there. The 360 seems to be doing great with the people who buy them -- the owners have lots of games, etc -- but the marketshare just isn't increasing like they want it to. That's the problem with having a console built on bald-space-marine games, I guess. :)

[Great Rumbler]

The N64 and the GC actually turned a profit though. The PS3 selling at those levels will not.

[Dark Jaguar]

There are NO levels of sales that will make the PS3 turn a profit, because it costs more to make it than they are selling it for.

That's kingergarden math if they think "well if we sell MORE then maybe...".

[A Black Falcon]

That's not true, DJ. If it sells well and then Blu-Ray takes over the world, eventually because of game and Blu-Ray movie income, it will turn a profit. Someday.

... yeah, that's not exactly likely. But still, it's the model everyone other than Nintendo uses... lose money on the systems, make it on games (and, for Sony, movies). Sony's problem just is that they are losing so MUCH money per system. Well, MS is too, but they can bear it... even with their size, Sony just doesn't have MS's money.

[Dark Jaguar]

Yeah the round-about way works for Microsoft. I'm just saying that, in and of itself, no amount of sales will make the console itself profitable.

[A Black Falcon]

Console sales themselves no, but overall you can make money if your game (and movie, if you make money off of those too) sales are high enough. That's the main way Sony has made money all these years... and even this time it IS possible if sales are good enough. It'll just take a lot longer than it did previously.

[Dark Jaguar]

I know... I said that I know. I explained what I meant.

[lazyfatbum]

Explain it again you dumb woman! "NO ONE LISTENS TO ME, MY FEELINGS DONT GET RECOGNIZED, I'M NOT APPRECIATED, MY VIBRATOR DOESN'T KILL ENOUGH OF MY NERVE ENDINGS AS I'D LIKE IT TO"

How is your SKIRT today, WOMAN

I almost forgot to mention my two cents on Metroid and totally ignore this thread's topic. It's going to be neat, and not just any neat. I believe Nintendo is going to position it head to head with Halo 3. Now there's a saying in the business of entertainment called jumping the shark, it means going way out of the box of what the story (or gameplay) usually adheres to. I think Metroid 3 is gonna jump the shark with multiplayer. I think there's gonna be Metroid Hunters/Corruption DS connectivity, I think there's going to be in-game voice chat (western game) and I think it's going to blatantly say 'I'm Nintendo's answer to Halo multiplayer'.

And i'm not entirely sure it'll be a good thing. But I dunno what Nintendo's option is as far as first person shooters to compete and offer a different flavor. But you know Nintendo understands how beneficial a FPS is, Goldeneye and the original PD are still popular today and 'everyone' played Ge on the 'distant 3rd place system', even people who hate Nintendo played Ge (and to a lesser extent PD, even though its a superior game).

[DMiller]

Lazy, you totally missed the meaning of "jump the shark." It means when a franchise gets to a point where they are running out of ideas and resort to uninspiring plots. It comes from the TV show Happy Days when the Fonz jumped over a shark on a jetski.

Either way, I agree that Metroid 3 could be pretty good. Obviously the single player has always been solid, but it will be interesting to see if they can deliver a decent multiplayer. The multiplayer in Echoes was pretty forgettable.

[lazyfatbum]

lmao I didn't know, I gotta find a clip of that.

and yeah Echoes was more of a thrown-in thing.

[EdenMaster]

That's not true, DJ. If it sells well and then Blu-Ray takes over the world, eventually because of game and Blu-Ray movie income, it will turn a profit. Someday.

That is the biggest "if" I have ever seen. Seriously. I can't see the top of it because the clouds block my view.

I cant see a single scenario where Blu-Ray comes out of this alive. It baffles the mind, think about it. Why are you going to pay for a new (and thus, expensive) peice of hardware and movies (not to mention <i>REBUYING</i> those you already own), for a format which offers only marginal improvement on the current standard? DVD surpassed VHS because it was superior by leaps and bounds, with menus, scene skipping, extra features and all that. Blu-Ray is basically DVD+. A format that does have it advantages, but ones that the normal market doesn't really care about. There are always those hardcore fans (lazy, I'm sure you're one), who demands nothing but the best video and sound quality possible. That is the minority, though. Most people just want to watch a movie, and they have a DVD player perfectly capable of doing just that.

Blu-Ray is a joke.

[Great Rumbler]

There are NO levels of sales that will make the PS3 turn a profit, because it costs more to make it than they are selling it for.

That's kingergarden math if they think "well if we sell MORE then maybe...".

The PS2 was sold at a loss as well, but it turned a good profit. The reason for this was that it achieve a high enough market penetrations to sell huge amounts of games in all three major territories. My point being, that if the PS3 only sells 30-40 million units in its lifetime there's no way it can sell enough games to turn a profit.

[A Black Falcon]

I almost forgot to mention my two cents on Metroid and totally ignore this thread's topic. It's going to be neat, and not just any neat. I believe Nintendo is going to position it head to head with Halo 3. Now there's a saying in the business of entertainment called jumping the shark, it means going way out of the box of what the story (or gameplay) usually adheres to. I think Metroid 3 is gonna jump the shark with multiplayer. I think there's gonna be Metroid Hunters/Corruption DS connectivity, I think there's going to be in-game voice chat (western game) and I think it's going to blatantly say 'I'm Nintendo's answer to Halo multiplayer'.

And i'm not entirely sure it'll be a good thing. But I dunno what Nintendo's option is as far as first person shooters to compete and offer a different flavor. But you know Nintendo understands how beneficial a FPS is, Goldeneye and the original PD are still popular today and 'everyone' played Ge on the 'distant 3rd place system', even people who hate Nintendo played Ge (and to a lesser extent PD, even though its a superior game).

You're also confusing the N64 and GC, Lazy. The N64 was second place, not third. Also, it did pretty well in the US...

Worldwide - PSX 100 million; N64 32 million; Saturn 10 million

US - PSX 35+ million; N64 20 million; Saturn 2 million

Comparatively, the GC...
Worldwide - PS2 - 100+ million; Xbox - 24 million; GC - 20 million; Dreamcast 10 million

US - PS2 - 37 million; Xbox - ?; GC - 12 million; DC- ?

The Xbox hit Nintendo's marketshare hard, I think (the SNES had only sold 22 million in the US; the total hardware sales number drop from the SNES to N64 wasn't large, actually. The PSX just found a market Nintendo wasn't able to target and crushed Nintendo utterly in Japan and Europe...). The N64 had been strong in some genres American audiences like -- FPSes, racing games, etc -- and the Xbox took those markets. The GC had few Western third-party exclusive games; the N64 had many more. Nintendo can't completely get that back, not with the X360 focusing so strongly on FPSes and having the graphics that many hardcore gamers want, but it can certainly do a lot better than the GC... and I mean with gamers, not just with new audiences. I agree, Metroid is a hugely important title for this.

That is the biggest "if" I have ever seen. Seriously. I can't see the top of it because the clouds block my view.

I cant see a single scenario where Blu-Ray comes out of this alive. It baffles the mind, think about it. Why are you going to pay for a new (and thus, expensive) peice of hardware and movies (not to mention REBUYING those you already own), for a format which offers only marginal improvement on the current standard? DVD surpassed VHS because it was superior by leaps and bounds, with menus, scene skipping, extra features and all that. Blu-Ray is basically DVD+. A format that does have it advantages, but ones that the normal market doesn't really care about. There are always those hardcore fans (lazy, I'm sure you're one), who demands nothing but the best video and sound quality possible. That is the minority, though. Most people just want to watch a movie, and they have a DVD player perfectly capable of doing just that.

Blu-Ray is a joke.

Oh, absolutely -- it is a huge, huge "if", and you're probably right that Sony isn't going to manage to pull it off. I was stating the theory, not saying that it's going to happen... :)

I do think that Blu-Ray is outselling HD-DVD, though... the real question is if consumers care about either one. At this point, I would say no. HD-DVD/Blu-Ray won't catch on like DVD did, you're right. Still, videophiles and others will eventually get one or the other, and that few percentage of people with HDTVs who actually can figure out which cables to get to get the best picture quality and actual HD will want one to see the difference...

... yeah, not too big a market there... well, Sony just has to hope that people buy Blu-Ray stuff for their HDTVs and buy the discs even though they're only getting 480p because they're using the composite cables and don't know the difference (or see much of a change from DVD), I guess. :)

The PS2 was sold at a loss as well, but it turned a good profit. The reason for this was that it achieve a high enough market penetrations to sell huge amounts of games in all three major territories. My point being, that if the PS3 only sells 30-40 million units in its lifetime there's no way it can sell enough games to turn a profit.

Exactly. Though at this rate, 30-40 million is looking pretty optimistic...

[lazyfatbum]

Okay so distant second place then. ;D

In my opinion in order for Metroid 3 to really hit Halo 3 we need a multiplayer mode that allows for weapon switching, to switch from a single shot explosive, a sniper, an automatic, etc. Now this can be done in a way where you play as the Hunter with that ability. Like playing as one guy his special is sniping, playing as another you get explosives, a Team Fortress 2 setup basically.

Also, bots with varying degrees of difficulty.

Now, throw in morphball, grapple beam, beam combos, screw attack, space jumping and all things Samus Aran and you'd have all kinds of awesome. They should also play around with the level names, like offering a building map called Perfect in the Dark or a mountain range called Hey Low.

[Paco]

Okay so distant second place then. ;D

In my opinion in order for Metroid 3 to really hit Halo 3 we need a multiplayer mode that allows for weapon switching, to switch from a single shot explosive, a sniper, an automatic, etc. Now this can be done in a way where you play as the Hunter with that ability. Like playing as one guy his special is sniping, playing as another you get explosives, a Team Fortress 2 setup basically.

Also, bots with varying degrees of difficulty.

Now, throw in morphball, grapple beam, beam combos, screw attack, space jumping and all things Samus Aran and you'd have all kinds of awesome. They should also play around with the level names, like offering a building map called Perfect in the Dark or a mountain range called Hey Low.

Metroid won't "hit" Halo. They're two very different games. Metroid 3 has the potential to become its own success though.

[Great Rumbler]

Okay so distant second place then. ;D

In my opinion in order for Metroid 3 to really hit Halo 3 we need a multiplayer mode that allows for weapon switching, to switch from a single shot explosive, a sniper, an automatic, etc. Now this can be done in a way where you play as the Hunter with that ability. Like playing as one guy his special is sniping, playing as another you get explosives, a Team Fortress 2 setup basically.

Also, bots with varying degrees of difficulty.

Now, throw in morphball, grapple beam, beam combos, screw attack, space jumping and all things Samus Aran and you'd have all kinds of awesome. They should also play around with the level names, like offering a building map called Perfect in the Dark or a mountain range called Hey Low.

While I hope that they abandon multiplayer altogether and focus all their energies on making an awesome singleplayer, it may be for the exact purpose that you outline that MP3 has been delayed as much as it has.

In a way, MP3 could be Nintendo's test case for the online multiplayer component of their system, and they're going all out to tweak that aspect to where it can compete [on some level] with Xbox Live and Halo 3.

That's all speculation, but it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out to be very true.

[lazyfatbum]

Looking at all of Nintendo's games if you look carefully they all say 'TBA' or '2007' and they're all practically done. There's an interview with the MGS creator who played SSB:M and said its done, it could be released tomorrow. Why are these games getting held up? Awesome online modes. Nintendo's showed us with this system their priority is to listen to what people want and the one thing that comes as a negative spike in to the heart of Wii is the massive collective out cry for a not suck online network so we can kill our friends.

MS is going to put everything behind Halo 3 and do everything but offer free blowjobs to push the sales (I wouldn't put it past em). The *only* possibility to compete there is going to be Metroid 3. Not to mention the tongue in cheek rivalry between Metroid and Halo with Halo blatently stealing the Metroid trademark. Nintendo (and MS) have also seen the countless fan videos of Samus Aran kicking the shit out of Master Chief and the Metroid Prime Halo PC mods, so we're all but demanding a conflict to the eyes of marketing execs.

Metroid won't "hit" Halo. They're two very different games. Metroid 3 has the potential to become its own success though.

Yeah one's a FPS with a story driven single player mode where you play as a woman in a suit of armor killing aliens with upgradeable weapons and the other is... OH WAIT :D Your statement was retarded, I add it to the retarded pile.

[Paco]

if you say so, lazy. if you say so...

Halo is story driven if you're paying attention. Having played both series I can attest that both have rather interesting stories, and equally compelling gameplay though vastly different. The awesome thing about not hanging on to Nintendo's nuts is that I get to enjoy both series. Pity for you though.

[lazyfatbum]

No reason to start attacking Paco, i'm sure there are plenty of women who will love your small penis and tell you that its special.

This is by far, hands down, the best thing ever. Ending's weird, but who cares. Fight!

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[A Black Falcon]

Meh, from what I've seen of them, if I had an Xbox I wouldn't get the Halo games...

[Paco]

I would have liked it more if they would have stayed true to the nature of Halo. In other words, they shouldn't have made MC move like Samus or Neo from the Matrix.

I have to admit it was entertaining though.

lol...I thought they were gonna make-out.

[lazyfatbum]

In my mind, they made out. But then Samus kills her. ;D

I thought it was a cool twist that MC is a Japanese girl. Samus, Japanese company, 'American' girl. MC, American company, Japanese girl. I dunno if Bungie will do it when they eventually do show her but it would be the bees knees if she's of Japanese heritage, nodding to the obvious trademark infringem-- I mean 'homage'.

When she she starts shine-sparking and rams MC through the hull of the ship, the first time I saw that I was like come on Retro, bring it back, yunno you want to. It would be near impossible to control though. ;D

[Dark Jaguar]

lazy, that last part was utter bull (and boring at that). Master Chief speaks with a voice like granite, a voice that SHEERS SURFACES SMOOTH. This is apparently some OTHER Spartan unit (they have more than one special unit with that power suit).

Of course, bullets are no match for Chozo tech, and "Zero Suit" is no match for... ANYTHING, as travelling through that pirate ship without it in Zero Mission will tell you. It is a fun little diversion though.

[lazyfatbum]

She uses a voice changer, adoy! ;D

I love how the space jump boots become rocket, flying things. I want that! But speaking of zero suit do you think in SSB:M zero suit Samus will be a separate character or when you play as Samus you can pull a combo to ditch the suit (Zelda/Sheik)? Because if Nintendo puts Samus and Dark Samus in there Dark Samus could do the same move and become that pure phazon skeleton thing, That would be better than porn

[lazyfatbum]

Okay not everyone comment on the video at the same time, think of the bandwidth people, Jesus.

[Great Rumbler]

Okay not everyone comment on the video at the same time, think of the bandwidth people, Jesus.

I've already seen it before.

[A Black Falcon]

I've seen it before too. It's pretty good...

As for 'female Master Chief' thing, wouldn't that be a bit too much of a Metroid thing to have it be revealed at the end or something (with, as you say, some kind of voice modifier or something)? There are female Spartans as well as male ones, but the Halo main character is pretty well established as a man, I'd say...

[lazyfatbum]

um... did you play the games?

[Dark Jaguar]

Apparently a friend of mine has a few of the books (there are BOOKS?) for the Halo world and according to that, Master Chief is a guy, named "Jack" or "John" or something with a J, who's married (or was) and everything.

[lazyfatbum]

well.... now i'm confused. Wasn't MC totally revealed to be a woman in DOA4? and at one point was referenced to be a girl in Halo 2?

Also I wouldn't pay attention to the books. The novels (of any established character) always fill in blanks and usually over shoot by a long shot. ie: in one Metroid graphic novel I saw they had Samus as a teenager traveling to Zebes, but the games (NCL) clearly describe her upbringing on k-12 where she was trained by a Chozo avatar who resembled an old man, not to mention the girl never got her Chozo suit until in her 20's and used a modified stripped down version of the United Federation of Galaxies Mechanized Assault Combat Suit (which is what you play in through the first half of M:ZM).

The novels throw out a neat idea that the suit was actually her father's when he served for the UFG, further hinting at the Chozo being a wholly omnipotent always-existing flow of ideals who can warp and sculpt time lines through interference (the avatar that trained Samus can be used there too). Since the Chozo suit was essentially made in a modular format to adhere to the Combat Suit (which was made hundreds of years after their mass extinction)

But of course the cannon is that the Chozo are long extinct and merely eluded to still exist within several different planes of existence, such as the water-walls in MP1 where some of them seem to be speaking directly to you as if written only moments ago, like a message of 'hey glad you made it Newborn, you look good, how's the pitching arm?'.

[A Black Falcon]

well.... now i'm confused. Wasn't MC totally revealed to be a woman in DOA4? and at one point was referenced to be a girl in Halo 2?

That's a different Spartan. Master Chief isn't his name, it's his rank... and Spartan is what they call people with power suits like that. There is more than one of them.

[Paco]

That's a different Spartan. Master Chief isn't his name, it's his rank... and Spartan is what they call people with power suits like that. There is more than one of them.

Correct. I'm surprised you know this seeing as how A)You don't like FPS and B) You don't like Halo.

[A Black Falcon]

Correct. I'm surprised you know this seeing as how A)You don't like FPS and B) You don't like Halo.

I spend a lot of time reading gaming websites and stuff, though, remember. There are a lot of games I haven't played (or haven't played much), yet know quite a bit about...

... and anyway, it's Itagaki. What else would you expect?

Also, Halo's original (over nine minute long) E3 2000 PC trailer was incredibly cool when I first saw it courtesy of the PC Gamer CD in their next issue after E3... once it went to Xbox I mostly stopped caring, but that original trailer was cool.