Wii MotionPlus will likely make the Wiimote much better.
(Credit: Nintendo)The MotionPlus, a $20 accessory designed to improve motion detection for the Nintendo Wii remote control, will easily sell 10 million units after its market debut on June 8, an analyst contends.
Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter told Edge this week that the majority of those sales will occur when the accessory is bundled with Wii Sports Resort, EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour '10 later this year.
He contends that 20 percent of U.S. and European Wii owners will buy those three titles, helping the Nintendo sell 8 million units of the Wii MotionPlus in just a few months. Pachter predicts another 2 million units will sell with new Wii consoles.
EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich, also interviewed by Edge, isn't so quick to agree. He estimates that only 3 million units of the accessory will sell by the end of 2009 and that sales will reach 10 million units during Nintendo's next fiscal year, which starts in March 2010.
Although they don't agree on exactly when the 10 million mark will be reached, the analysts both predict that the accessory will be popular.
"I expect MotionPlus to be a sneaky success and ultimately attach to at least one third of the (Wii's) installed base," Pachter told Edge.
"Our forecast could be conservative," Divnich added. "Yearly sales could balloon much higher."
In addition to selling well, the MotionPlus is set to transform the Wii experience.
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Artist's rendering of the PSP Go!
(Credit: 1up.com)A report from 1Up.com says the new version of the PSP will be hitting store shelves later this year. It will be announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June.
1Up.com also says the new PSP will be called the PSP Go! It's slated for a September release in Japan, followed by a U.S. launch in October or November. The publication said that the Go! will sport slide-out controls. Those who were hoping for dual analog sticks will be upset to hear that the new PSP will presumably still feature a single analog nub. 1Up believes that the Go! will come in two versions: one with 8GB of internal memory and another with 16GB of memory.
Shockingly, 1Up sources told the publication that Sony will be dumping the UMD drive for digital downloads. Players looking to add titles to their handheld will be able to do so by buying games from an online store.
Sony has not confirmed 1Up's report. And it's likely that the company won't be saying much as we get closer to E3. But if the 1Up report is true, is it enough to force Nintendo from its top spot in the hand-held gaming space?
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Nope, this isn't the iPod killer. Sorry.
(Credit: Nintendo)Speculation abounds over Nintendo's intentions with its new DSi. Is it designed to compete with the iPod Touch, thanks to its music playback function? Is it taking aim at mobile phones with its two cameras?
The argument might be made that it is trying to compete with Apple's iPhone-like music player, which is increasingly being marketed to gamers. But Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has a different take on that suggestion.
On the company's Nintendo DSi page over the weekend, Iwata expressed that the notion of Nintendo trying to compete with the iPod is ridiculous. In his "Iwata Asks" post on the site, he said the following:
Nintendo doesn't have any intention of directly competing with existing products, but the mass media has a tendency to portray everything as a rivalry between opposing companies. It seems (that) some people have the impression that we want to compete with cell phones or the iPod, that putting cameras or music players in our devices is out of character for us.
I hope those who have such an impression will take an interest in what Nintendo can make when it dedicates itself to pleasing as many people as possible who pick up a DS, and I hope they'll actually pick one up themselves.
But as much as Iwata and his team might try to disregard other game-friendly gadgets on the market, he explains that "it can be next to impossible with words alone to draw a distinction with previous products."
With two 0.3-megapixel cameras and a music player that can't compete on any level with the iPod, I don't think it's too difficult to agree with Iwata. But assuming that Nintendo truly doesn't want to compete with Apple or other media device manufacturers, why are those features there in the first place? Are they just extra add-ons that we probably won't care about?
... Read moreSunday, NPD released its January video game sales figures, and once again, Nintendo dominated.
According to the research firm, Nintendo sold 680,000 Wii units and 510,000 DS units. Microsoft was able to sell 309,000 consoles in January, and Sony once again trailed the pack with 203,000 units sold.
On the software side, Nintendo's Wii Fit, Wii Play, and Mario Kart Wii took the top three spots, while Left 4 Dead and Call of Duty: World at War rounded out the top five.
This ain't your grandfather's gaming industry.
(Credit: Rockstar Games)At this point, after well over a year of leading the video game industry, it shouldn't be a surprise that Nintendo dominated the charts for yet another month. After all, the company has found a way to provide consumers with a fun and unique experience at a price that's more affordable than its competition. And in this economy, that's a necessity.
But as the months have worn on and more Wiis enter homes around the world, I'm left wondering if I'm an "old school" gamer who has been left behind. Sure, I own the Wii and I've played all the games listed here, but if we are to believe that sales figures can adequately determine the preferences of gamers, I don't think it's out of the question to say that I'm no longer the typical gamer. And it's Nintendo's fault.
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