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Wii
E3 looms ever closer, and Nintendo is getting more talkative. Last week was the Nintendo Media Summit, which showed off some titles for Wii and DS including Mario Strikers Charged, Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, Brain Age 2, and this week we have a few interviews to share. Reggie Fils-Aime and George Harrison have been talking quite a bit about the Wii's success and what's to come. Both are rightly touting Wii's success in selling to a new demographic as well as the unexpected but not unwelcome high sales numbers. In Chris Kohler's interview with George Harrison, Harrison says for this generation Nintendo could be responsible for "40-45% of the hardware sold." If their competitors continue focusing on the hardcore gamer while ignoring the vastly untapped market for which Nintendo is reaching, Harrison could even see Nintendo being responsible for over 50% of hardware sales. I just spent some time in Seattle playing the newest Wii games for this summer and fall and I can tell you that demand for this system is not likely to falter throughout this year and beyond. Analysts believe Nintendo will up the capacity to make these systems, but that it won't completely meet up to the unprecedented demand. There is another way to get one of these hot devices, though. Through June 30, Wendy's is promoting its Vanilla Frosty Float dessert with a code on the cup. Anyone who goes to www.frostyfloat.com can enter their code and see if they've won one of 800 free Wiis. Considering the new dessert, which blends soda with ice cream, costs $2 and a Wii costs $250 (much more if you try to buy one on Ebay or at a retailer that loads it with extra games), that's not a bad deal.
Nintendo Breaks Records with Wii and NIntendo DS Anyone wondering just how popular Nintendo is these days needs only to read the numbers. According to videogame tracking firm the NPD Group, total sales of videogame hardware, software and accessories in the U.S. in April generated $838.6 million in sales. That’s up 20 percent over last April. Overall game sales year-to-date through April are up 20 percent to $4.2 billion.Videogame hardware units increased 52 percent in April (versus a 10 percent decline last year). Total hardware sales for the month were $338.4 million split between console hardware ($239.4 million) and portable hardware ($99 million). Sales were driven by ongoing strength in Nintendo DS (up 241 percent year-over-year) and Wii (up 39 percent from March to April). Nintendo DS topped all sales in April with 471,000 units sold, followed closely by Nintendo’s Wii with 360,000 units sold. Motion-sensor replaces laptop keyboard Researchers have used movement sensing technology like that in Nitendo's Wii gaming console technology to develop a device for laptops that removes the need for a keyboard or a mouse. The adaptor, called BT Balance, can be plugged into any laptop and allows you to manipulate menus or move a cursor by tilting the machine. Adam Oliver, head of age and disability research BT’s Adastral Park R&D centre near Ipswich, helped develop the device. He said: "The technology has obvious implications for those who are disabled or elderly and have difficulty using a fiddly laptop keyboard or mouse. "We also wanted to create an interface that was simple and intuitive. Standard ways of controlling PC applications can be too complicated, so we decided to use the analogy of a book to work with.
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