WIRE REPORTS

Nintendo Registers First-Quarter Loss of $288.5 Million USANewsWeek.com Videogame giant Nintendo Co. today posted its first quarterly loss in more than two years as the overseas earnings went down due to stronger yen and the ... and more » Disney's Iger Opts for Buy-Don't-Build Approach in Drive for Digital Heft Bloomberg That would be in addition to more traditional product tie-ins such as plush-toy merchandise, games for Nintendo Co.'s Wii console, coverage on ABC and the ... and more » Sony Leads Profit Surge Wall Street Journal But a cautious outlook from Nissan Motor Co. and a rare loss from Nintendo Co. offered signs that pitfalls may still lie ahead. Sony joined Fujitsu Ltd., ... and more » The Canadian Press Japanese electronics makers soar, while Nintendo tumbles into red The Canadian Press Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata even declared at one point last year his company was "recession free." Nintendo's fortunes turned sour, however, ... and more » Nintendo Reports First Loss in Two Years on Stronger Yen, Weaker DS Sales Bloomberg Takushi, speaking from Zurich, also discusses Nintendo Co.'s first quarterly loss in more than two years. He speaks with Andrea Catherwood on Bloomberg ... and more » Swisscanto's Takushi Says `Time Running Out' for Sony: Video Bloomberg Takushi, speaking from Zurich, also discusses Nintendo Co.'s first quarterly loss in more than two years. He speaks with Andrea Catherwood on Bloomberg ... and more » Research and Markets: Nintendo Co. Ltd. SWOT Analysis - Examines the Companys ... Trading Markets (press release) Provides all the crucial information on Nintendo Co., Ltd. required for business and competitor intelligence needs - Contains a study of the major internal ... and more » Nintendo posts lowest Q1 profit in 5 yrs, keeps view Reuters TOKYO, July 29 (Reuters) - Japan's Nintendo Co Ltd (7974.OS), hammered by a strong yen and waning demand, posted its lowest first-quarter ... and more » The Canadian Press Nintendo posts quarterly loss on slumping sales from few software titles The Canadian Press Kyoto-based Nintendo Co. said Thursday it suffered a loss of 25.22 billion yen (US$289.17 million) for the April-June period compared with a profit of 42.32 ... and more » Elpida, Japan Tobacco, Kyocera, Murata, Nissan Motor, Sony: Equity Preview Bloomberg Nintendo Co. (7974 JO): The world's largest maker of video- game machines reported a first-quarter net loss of 25.2 billion yen, reversing from net income a ... and more »

DAILY REPORTS

Jun 26 Studio Ghibli to Make Games Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation studio that wowed American filmgoers with "My Neighbor Totoro" and the Oscar-winning "Spirited Away," plans to bring its quirky sensibility and style to video games. Ghibli's "Ninokuni," a joint project with the game developer Level-5 of Professor Layton fame, will have its debut on the Nintendo DS handheld console in December and on Sony's PlayStation 3 machine next year. Industry insiders predict it will be a hit in Japan, where Ghibli's "Spirited Away" still reigns as the country's biggest grossing film of all time. (New York Times) Jun 22 Tokyo stocks decline as investors lock in gains after Nikkei's surge Tokyo stocks fell Tuesday as investors locked in gains with the Nikkei stock index coming off Monday's one-month closing high, while eyes were on the yuan's movement following China's recent announcement to allow for more flexibility. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 125.12 points, or 1.22 percent, from Monday to 10,112.89. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 7.93 points, or 0.88 percent, to 894.56. Nearly all 33 sectors on the TSE fell, with the oil and coal products sector being the biggest decliner, ahead of the miscellaneous sector that includes printing companies and game giant Nintendo and the mining sector. The only gainers were banking issues. (AP) Jun 15 Nintendo shows off 3D portable game device Japan's Nintendo Co Ltd on Tuesday took the wraps off a new version of its DS handheld device that can play games and show movies in 3D without glasses, as the hardware wars with Microsoft Corp and Sony Corp heat up. The trio that rules the market for gaming devices unveiled at the E3 expo this week nifty new gadgets aimed at widening the global gaming population by drawing in more casual gamers, just as the industry is beginning to recover from a two-year slump. (Reuters) Jun 8 Akihabara: touring Tokyo's geek mecca Outside a major department store in Tokyo, dozens of gamers are scattered inside a cordoned off barrier, heads buried in their Nintendo DS handheld games consoles. Oblivious to the pedestrian chaos around them, they come daily to battle each other and trade rare items over Wi-Fi in one of Japan's most popular video games, Dragon Quest. Just metres away, swarms of nubile young ladies dressed in maid outfits beckon passers-by into a plethora of "maid cafes", while a cutesy girl dressed in a miniskirt police uniform hands out flyers for a new massage parlour, Action! Akiba Fumimomi Police. Stressed workers can come to escape the daily grind while lying in the laps of one of these costumed beauties, submitting to anything from "basic punishment" to "jail sentence". (Sydney Morning Herald) Jun 2 Nintendo to cut DS price in Japan as much as 21% Nintendo Co., the world's biggest maker of portable video-game players, said Wednesday it plans to cut the price of its DS hand-held device for the first time in Japan on June 19 to bolster stagnating domestic sales. The recommended retail price for the DSi model will be reduced 21 percent, to ¥15,000 from ¥18,900, according to a statement on the company's Web site. Nintendo also said it will lower the price of DSi LL, which has a larger screen, by 10 percent, to ¥18,000. (Japan Times) Apr 19 Why is Japan so behind? Once upon a time, Japanese games eclipsed Western ones. They looked better, were more fun and were just better. Those days have passed. At last year's Tokyo Game Show, Mega-Man designer Keiji Inafune said that the Japanese game industry was "finished". Inafune, it seems, was speaking in hyperbole. The Japan industry is not finished - case in point, Nintendo. That's a Japanese game company that has been doing extremely well. The rest of the Japanese industry, however, has been hit pretty hard. The Western market has exploded, and Western game development has truly come into its own. The big issues with some (not all) Japanese games are things like interface, controls and save systems - among other things. Fix that stuff! And all that is totally manageable. Besides that, Japanese developers should really do what they have always done: make games for Japan. It has served the country well in the past. No reason why it couldn't in the future. (Kotaku) Apr 13 Nintendo says 3DS biggest handheld product since 2004 The world's biggest maker of video-game machines joins Sony Corp. in embracing the Nintendo Co., projecting the first drop in annual sales of its DS handheld player, said the forthcoming 3-D model will be the company's biggest portable product introduction since 2004. The 3DS, going on sale this fiscal year, will compete against Sony's PlayStation Portable and Apple Inc.'s iPad in the market for portable game players. (Bloomberg) Apr 8 Nintendo and Google making a search game for Wii This just in from the "Strange Bedfellows" department: apparently Nintendo has enlisted the help of Google to create a Wii game where players compete to guess the most popular search terms. The game, entitled Ando Kensaku, will be out in Japan on April 29 and won't likely see much of a release elsewhere given its quirkiness. The screenshot above gives you an idea of the cutesy avatar style of the title, featuring 14 mini-games where several players can choose from a multiple choice search term spread. (mashable.com) Mar 23 PlayStation's Move ratchets up gaming interaction, fidelity At first touch, the PlayStation Move feels awfully familiar. Unveiled at the recent Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Sony's forthcoming wand-shaped motion controller and the smaller subcontroller handle similarly to Nintendo's Wii Remote and Nunchuck. There are differences, of course: It's lighter. (Japan Times) Mar 23 Nintendo to launch 3D-capable DS handheld Nintendo is planning to launch a new version of its handheld DS gaming device on which users can get the illusion of 3D without using special glasses, it said Tuesday. The device, provisionally called the 3DS, will be launched in Japan before the end of March 2011, the company said. No further details were provided, but Nintendo said it would disclose more information at the upcoming E3 gaming event. E3 is scheduled to take place in Los Angeles from June 15 to 17. (Computerworld) Mar 21 McDonalds to Use DSes to Train Employees in Japan Trademark law may state that the slogan "It only does everything" can only be used by Sony to describe the PlayStation 3, but when we live in a world where the Nintendo DS can be used to train fast-food workers, we think Nintendo should have a legitimate claim to the description. According to Japanese trade paper Nikkei (via Andriasang), McDonalds will indeed soon be using the DS to train their part-time employees in Japan, using a proprietary program called "eSmart" that they're developing themselves. (1up.com) Mar 20 Nintendo: DS rolling out to Japanese schools Nintendo is reportedly working hard to put its consoles in the hands of Japanese school kids. In an interview, general manager Shigeru Miyamoto said he is committed to turning the company's consoles into educational aids and teaching tools. Miyamoto said in an interview that Nintendo's DS handled is already being used in Japanese museums and aquariums, and will find its way to the country's junior high and elementary schools in the new school year. (techspot.com) Mar 11 Sony unveils motion-sensing game control kit Sony has a new message for Nintendo Wii gamers: Come join us. The maker of the PlayStation 3 unveiled on Thursday its highly anticipated motion-based controller system, as it takes aim at Nintendo's dominance in gaming. With PlayStation Move, Sony hopes to lure gamers who have outgrown Nintendo, which launched the Wii in 2006 and became the first to introduce motion-detecting controllers. (Japan Times) Mar 2 Japanese Stocks Rise as Chip Companies Advance; Sekisui Gains Japanese stocks rose for a third day as global chip sales climbed and U.S. consumer spending increased more than expected. Sumco Corp. led gains by chip-related stocks. Sony Corp., an electronics maker that gets almost 25 percent of sales in the U.S., advanced 1.3 percent. Sekisui House Ltd., Japan's second- biggest homebuilder, climbed 3.3 percent after the company forecast a return to profit. Nintendo Co. jumped 3.1 percent after Kyodo News said the company sold more than 10 million Wii consoles in Japan. (BusinessWeek) Feb 13 Japan Is Still Big Portable Country In Japan, the PSP and Nintendo DS platforms are still outselling the home console competition. And it's the bigger versions of each portable platform, the standard PSP-3000 and Nintendo DSi LL, that Japan's buying more of. Sony's PlayStation Portable once again tops the charts, thanks to strong sales of God Eater and the three-way split of the Nintendo DS platform. Combined, the DS would have sold some 52,000-plus units, but that's not how sales tracker Media Create does it. (Kotaku) Feb 10 Queensland Nintendo pirate cops $1.5m fine The Australian Federal Court has ordered Queensland man James Burt to pay Nintendo $1.5 million in damages after he illegally copied and distributed a part of the Super Mario Bros. videogame for the Nintendo Wii console a week before its official release. The Japanese gaming company announced the settlement today and said the damages would compensate for the loss of revenue caused by the piracy. (The Australian) Feb 3 2009 videogame sales dip eight percent in Britain, Japan, US Videogame sales in the three leading markets -- Britain, Japan and the United States -- declined eight percent last year to 379.3 million units, according to a report released on Wednesday. Activision's "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," was the top-selling game of the year, meanwhile, despite only being released in November, according to the Top Global Markets report. Nintendo games grabbed the next four places on the 2009 best-selling list, according to the report, which is compiled using figures from the NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track Ltd and Enterbrain Inc. (AFP) Jan 4 Nintendo Dominates in Japan Final Fantasy XIII topped the Japanese game charts -- for exactly one week. But New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Nintendo's lineup of long selling hits quickly showed who's boss as the year came to a close. Media Create has provided Japanese sales stats for the last full week of the year, covering December 21 through December 27. Nintendo usually rules the year-end period in Japan, and this trend continued this year as New Super Mario Bros. Wii dominated with over 500,000 units sold. Since its release in early December, the multiplayer Mario has topped the 2.4 million mark. (IGN) Dec 17 Tokyo man marries video game character Nene Anegasaki is a witty, doe-eyed beauty. She looks perfectly perky in sexy skirts, doesn't pick fights and is always at one Tokyo man's beck and call -- that is why the 27-year-old decided to marry her. The only complication: She is a videogame character in the Nintendo DS game called "Love Plus." Still, that didn't stop Sal 9000 -- the only name the groom would give -- from marrying Nene in a ceremony witnessed live by thousands on the Web. (CNN) Dec 11 Japanese Software: Mario Wii Tops Charts As Change Comes To Top 10 To nobody's surprise, New Super Mario Bros. Wii topped the Japanese sales charts for the week that ended December 6, selling 953,000 amidst a chart featuring numerous sales debuts. That figure is an all-time first-week Wii sales record for the nation, beating Nintendo's own previous high point of 816,000 for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. (gamasutra.com) Dec 2 Man marries video game girlfriend Oh, Japan. Land of techno toilets, seven-patty burgers, and where a man can marry his video game girlfriend. Mazel tov to the groom and virtual bride! Last week, a Japanese man, who goes by the name SAL9000, tied the knot with Nene Anegasaki, a character from the digital dating simulator Love Plus. The two had flirted for some time through SAL's Nintendo DS. Clearly crazy for each other, the pair got hitched in a public ceremony in Tokyo on Sunday. (csmonitor.com) Nov 2 Where To Go Next: Nintendo Earlier in the week, Nintendo Co. Ltd. (NCL) announced their first profit drop in four years. The company's first half profits for the current fiscal year declined by 59% as a result of sluggish Wii sales in both Japan and North America. NCL president, the often frank and amicable Satoru Iwata stated in an earnings press conference: "We didn't release strong software continually [for the Wii] and let the good mood cool down." (siliconera.com) Oct 27 Nintendo to launch new DSi handheld in Japan Nintendo Co plans to launch a new version of its DSi hand-held videogame player with a larger screen in Japan as early as this year to kick-start sluggish demand, the Nikkei business daily said on Tuesday. Nintendo, which cut the price of its popular Wii videogame console last month, has been looking to bolster demand for the DSi, whose monthly sales have slowed to a third of their peak levels following its launch about a year ago. (Reuters) Oct 20 PlayStation 3 outsells Wii for first time in U.S. Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 outsold Nintendo Co.'s Wii console for the first time following a $100 price cut, helping the U.S. video game market end six consecutive months of declining revenue. Hardware, software and accessory sales in the world's largest game market rose 1 percent to $1.28 billion last month, researcher NPD Group Inc. said Monday. Sales of Sony's PS3 more than doubled to 491,800, while those of the Wii fell 33 percent to 462,800. (Japan Times) Oct 9 Wii Fit Plus Takes Japan By Storm The release of Wii Fit Plus has been met with open arms in Japan. The newest Balance Board-powered fitness game from the house of smiles sold more than 340,000 copies in its first week on sale. It was a good week for Nintendo platforms, with Level 5’s soccer RPG sequel Inazuma Eleven 2 scoring the second place spot, an impressive 280,000-plus copies moved week one. (Kotaku) [ More... ]