Sims Wii

Blimey. This came from nowhere this month, and watching the stubby-limbed Chibi-faced characters of the Japanese trailer (Chibi being the form of highly stylised drawing in which the body is about the same size as the head. Chibi is used to describe a small person or child; but often in a derogatory way), you'd be hard pushed to recognise this as an actual Sims game, so alien does it seem from what came before. A radical Japan-ification has taken place - The Sims now sporting a distinct Animal Crossing/Harvest Moon vibe.
Greater construction control is promised to be on the way. You'll be constructing your own home, houses for other residents, businesses - going against the pre-designed communal area approach of previous Sims titles - as well as general eye-pleasing greenery. While we're promised the ability to design our own town, the game will decide how to populate the world - much like Animal Crossing.

With house construction, EA Japan are really going all out to accommodate The Sims, both literally and figuratively, on the Wii. The remote pointer can replicate the PC's mouse cursor control infinitely better than a clumsy analogue stick. It's a case of pointing, picking up, dragging and dropping. No opportunity for cowboy builders here.
A detailed character creator has also been revealed. Like the Mii creation, it focuses on facial details over clothes and body shape. It would've been good to have used our Miis instead - no matter how hard you try, you're not going to be able to make a likeness of yourself in-game. Unless you happpen to have a rectangular Bomberman-style head, that is.
But, though simplified, the faces are capable of wearing numerous goofy expressions - from angry frowns to googly eyes - which are used to indicate what's going on in their little Sim minds much more effectively than a thought bubble or meter-bar ever could. Online functions - visiting other towns perhaps? - and DS connectivity have also been mentioned in development plans; hopefully The Sims will fill the house-developing, townvisiting gap until the inevitable Animal Crossing game rears its own oddlyshaped head.

(c) www.computerandvideogames.com

Rumor: Wii in HD

by Adam Berger

You had had the time to wait online, drop a few Benjamins, and settle in with your respective next-gen gaming system, whether it be a Wii, PS3, or 360, but you just had to know that eventually your system would be out-of-date. Unlike previous generations (PSOne, PS2, Xbox, Game Cube, etc) these machines can be upgraded with new firmware and added capabilities over the internet, and at some point in time the hardware receives upgrades. Given the Blu-ray drive in the PS3, I expect that we won’t see many changes/additions over its life-cycle except for a larger hard drive and a decrease in size. The Xbox 360 may receive an internal hard drive and internal HD-DVD player to compete head-on with the PS3. What is in question is the Wii. Nintendo Of America president Reggie Fils-Aime dropped an interesting quote in a USA Today article:

“Tough choices about not including a DVD player at the start, tough choices about not including high-definition capability at the start. That’s because we wanted a mass-market price, and we believe the market will validate those decisions come launch day on this Sunday,” Fils-Aime said.

The key phrase here is “at the start.” Wiis currently cannot play DVD movies, but Nintendo has already confirmed that a new model will be able to in the latter half of 2007 (in Japan at least) — not that big of a deal considering most people have DVD players (originally thanks to the PS2 as well as the sub-$50 prices. I believe there will be a major upgrade of the Wii to a next-gen HD format as well as a HD firmware update of 720p/1080i/1080p support once the format war becomes more clear. Do not confuse this with an official announcement from Nintendo, just my speculation. Even though the company is looking to bring on the “casual gamer,” it just so happens that this person is likely to have an HDTV within the next two years and Nintendo will be the only one on the market without a pretty looking picture.

(c) www.gadgetell.com

New Wii, PS3, & 360 Games

January will be another slow month for new game releases for ALL the next generation gaming consoles. There will only be one game available for the PS3 and two games for each the Wii and 360. If you are waiting for new games to purchase, you might as well go pickup a currently available one unless you find something on the list below interesting. From our perspective, the only games worth purchasing this month are Sonic The Hedgehog for the PS3 and Fuzion Frenzy for the Xbox 360.

PlayStation 3:
Sonic The Hedgehog - Sega

Wii:
Baseball - Nintendo
Urban Champions - Nintendo

Xbox 360:
Fuzion Frenzy 2 - Microsoft
Dance Dance Revolution Universe - Konami

Note: The items mentioned above are games for the PlayStation 3 and Wii that are planned to be launched in December 2006. The list is accurate as of 11/30/06, however game may be added or removed. Therefore check Nintendo’s and/or Sony’s webpage for any changes.

(c) www.skattertech.com

Xbox 360 topped US hardware sales chart over Xmas - NPD

But Nintendo Wii close behind with 1.8m units sold

Market analysts NPD have suggested that the Xbox 360 was the best-selling console in the US over Christmas - with the Nintendo Wii trailing by just 200,000 units.

According to the firm's preliminary estimates, as reported by CNBC, around 2 million Xbox 360 units were sold in North America from November up until December 25.

The figure for Nintendo Wii stood at 1.8 million units - despite the fact the console only launched in North America on November 19, and the first batch of stock sold out within hours.

Stock shortages were an even bigger problem for Sony. Around 750,000 PlayStation 3 units were sold during the same period.

NPD is expected to release complete figures later this month.

(c) www.gamesindustry.biz

NexGen Wars Update: Xbox 360 leads, Wii catching up

Last July, Nexgenwars.com went on line to provide an "unbiased account" of how the three next-gen consoles are faring in the market. Back then Xbox 360 was the only one available with almost 4 million units sold. Today, after its two competitors finally launched, the sales figures are really heating up.

Based on NexGen estimates, Xbox 360 has now sold over 9 million (28%) since it launched over a year ago. Unless it sells another million within the next few days, MS will miss its 2006 sales target of 10 million

Nintendo is way, way, way off its target of moving 9 million Wii consoles by the end of the year. So far Wii sales is at 1,956,724 units (17%) since it launched. But then again, only 2 million units of the console have been released so far.

Lagging behind the two is Sony's PS3 at 792,619 units sold. Back in August Sony boldly predicted it will top Xbox 360 sales. Unfortunately, Sony didn't manufacture enough PS3s to go around to break Xbox 360's record.

Stay tuned for the final 2006 sales figures which we will post a few days from now.

(c) www.qj.net

Are people swapping PS3s for Wiis?

Jason McMaster has a report up over at GigaGamez saying that people are trading in their Sony PS3's for Nintendo Wiis. Even they were a bit skeptical at first when Tony Conrad, CEO and Founder of Sphere first pointed it out to them, but they started to believe the claim a bit when they did a little research through craigslist.org.

They decided to look up some of the hottest cities on craiglist: Austin, New York, and San Francisco. In Austin six people wanted to trade in their PS3s. In New York 18 people wanted to trade-in their big black box. In San Francisco, 48 different people want to trade in their PS3s for a Wii. This despite the price difference between the two.

McMaster spends some time speculating why people are willing to trade in at a loss. He wonders whether or not this has to do with with the fact that while most of the people who camped out for a Nintendo Wii did so for maybe four hours, PS3 lines were plagued with greedy eBayers and shootings.

McMaster has a few other theories but the scenario that he paints that we think is most reasonable is the eBay scenario. Here's his words:

Another scenario could be that they’re trading the PS3s, which are dropping in price on eBay, for the Wii to try and flip it right before the holidays. This theory is given credit by a few traders looking for two Wiis for a 60 GB PS3. That would definitely be a profit gain situation.

Can't get a PS3 and you really want one? Buy two Wiis. Can't get a Wii but you managed to snag a big black box through eBay? Trade it in and get two. To each his own.

(c) www.qj.net

Enable Tabs in the Wii Web Browser

TeamDSX Writes:

The future version of Wii Tabs will have bookmark capabilities, and maybe a weather bug type feature in the bar.

There may also be customizable skins or something like that so it'll match the Wii.

Wii Tabs support can be found at http://team-dsx.net/wiitabs/support and you can post a comment on your problem.

Here are some of the things people have been saying about our Beta release so far:

Kotaku - "Pretty nifty tool, just be sure to favorite that site as you will have to visit it first to enable the tabbing."

Go Nintendo - "Awesome find, I just added this to my favorites!"

Play-Nintendo - "have come out with some handy tabs for the internet channel on the Wii!"

Max Console - "All you have to do is visit http://team-dsx.net/wii with your Wii and click on the tab that will pop up! It is just that simple."

Wii-Volution - "This is a rather important feature I felt was missing for the Opera Browser."

So thank you everyone for your support. If you like what we do then you can support us by donating OR if you don't want to do that, then you can vote for us on a bunch of Topsites that reset monthly. The vote page is http://team-dsx.net/vote

Don't forget to spread the word on Wii Tabs. A video demo will be made also for people that need to figure out how it works, or are confused about something.

(c) http://team-dsx.net

PS3 or Wii: A Developer’s Conundrum

by Jason McMaster

Ernest Adams, Freelance Writer, Game Designer and contributor, has written another entry for his series, “The Designer’s Notebook,” about the PS3 and Wii. The question he poses in this column is “which will developers want to work on?” I believe that’s something we’d all like to know. Adams, in his column, says:

“For a long time, I’ve had a theory that there’s always room for two-and-a-half game consoles in the market – that is, two main contenders battling for first place and an also-ran that survives but never stands a chance of doing better than third. Being either first or second is normally good enough to guarantee healthy sales and long-term survival. The more critical question is, who will be the also-ran?”

He then goes on to discuss the merits of the Wii and PS3 from a developer’s standpoint. The PS3, he says, has computing power, and there’s no doubt that it’s the most powerful console ever made, whereas the Wii has interactivity on its side, with the Wii remote. He then puts forth a theory on the final outcome:

“So who, at the end of the day, will be the also-ran in this generation of consoles? On the global scale, I’d say it could well be neither the PS3 or the Wii, but the Xbox 360. The PS3 will win over the hardcore gamers who have to have the fastest, most amazing machine available. The Wii will skim off the younger players and those who don’t have as much money to spend.
Both have the advantage of being made in Japan, so they’ll crowd the Xbox right out of that market. In the US and Europe, it’s harder to say, but I see the Xbox’s early start as more of a liability than a benefit. They’ve racked up several million sales, but they can no longer claim to be the latest, greatest thing – especially as the PS3 plays Blu-Ray disks out of the box, but HD-DVD is only available for the Xbox as an add-on. The Dreamcast got an early start too, and look how that ended.”

It definitely could turn out that way, but who can really say at this point? What about the hardcore gamers who don’t want to spend $600 dollars to play Madden or FIFA? Surely that demographic isn’t completely covered by the Wii. Who knows if the Wii will even still be going strong this time next year? Maybe the “wow” factor will have worn off in regard to the controller. Each system has individual strengths.

The biggest advantage Microsoft has isn’t claiming to be “the latest and greatest”, but having a second generation of games that look great and play even better. One reason being that they’ve had their dev-kits (early versions of consoles for use by development houses for testing games) out longer, and another is their development tools are of higher quality. That’s what coming out first gets for you.

Sony has its name and the fact that it really has developed a powerful machine. I was skeptical of the PS3 at first, especially after spending so much time following it up to release and listening to the Sony Corporation say one bizarre thing after another, but they’ve really produced a high quality console. The fact that you can display movies and games at 1080p is pretty great as well as being able to swap out the hard drive. The weak launch titles may not do much for initial sales, but when the PS3 starts seeing some quality titles, it’s going to be something else.

Finally, Nintendo. What else can you say about them? Zelda, Mario Brothers, Metroid and Pokemon are all ridiculously popular and will always sell a system. They are currently making a profit on every Wii sold and have been in the black for years. Nintendo may not razzle-dazzle, but they’re not going anywhere.

“Who’s going to win this generation?”, seems to be the question that everyone is asking. The real answer, as of right now at least, is “who cares?” What we need to do, as consumers and enthusiasts, is buy your favorite console, get the games you want to play and enjoy it. We’re in the golden age right now, people, and we should be savoring every moment of it.

(c) www.gigagamez.com

No software drought for Wii, pledges Fils-Aime

Big titles on the way next year

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has promised that the Wii will not suffer from a lack of software titles as other Nintendo consoles have done in the past.

Speaking to Newsweek, Fils-Aime highlighted three games - Zelda: Twilight Princess ("arguably the best game we've ever made"), Metroid Prime 3 and Super Mario Galaxy - as examples of key titles for the Wii.

He said that Metroid was down for a release "early in 2007", while Mario Galaxy will be "strategically" timed "to make sure that we continue driving momentum through 2007".

"How do I answer the question, "Will there be no drought," and "How will we make sure that there are fantastic titles for Wii?" The answer is Zelda, Metroid and Mario. Which is a pretty darn good lineup," Fils-Aime concluded.

When then asked if he'd repeat George Bush's infamous "read my lips" pledge to deliver games at a steady pace, the NoA president added, "I thought I just did."

Speaking to MTV News recently, Fils-Aime said that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption would be the next big first party title after WarioWare: Smooth Moves (January) and Mario Party 8 (March), while Mario Galaxy would arrive sometime between March and Christmas 2007.

(c) www.gamesindustry.biz

Consoles in 2007

2007 is going to be a very interesting year for the console wars. Nintendo is off to a fantastic start with the Wii, and it appears the system built specifically to appeal to non-gamers and broaden the market has done just that—everyone who plays one says it's fun and wants one. That initial enthusiasm doesn't always translate into sales, though, much less extended sales. Once the talk shows and morning shows and news updates about the "hot holiday items" wear off, will those non-gaming masses still care? Will the idea of possibly purchasing or trying out this thing even cross their minds? Will Nintendo be able to keep the hot titles flowing fast enough to keep the core gaming demographic interested? After all, Zelda was a huge hit at launch, but nothing else has done very well, and the critical reception for other Wii titles is fairly poor. Nintendo's job throughout 2007 will be to keep the Wii fresh, keep it in the mainstream press as much as possible, and target it toward an expanding market that reaches beyond core gamers. It also has to prove that the sad reputation of the GameCube—only 2 or 3 Nintendo franchise games a year really worth getting for it—won't hold true. Nintendo needs to crank out the Wii hits, and bring forth plenty of great exclusive games from third-party publishers. That's not an easy task.

Sony has its work cut out for it. Despite the company's protests, everybody knows (and sales records have confirmed) that shipments have been below expectation and Sony has to make desperate improvements to increase supply. With a major region launch coming in the Spring (that usually requires stockpiling hundreds of thousands of units), that's going to be tough. The PS3 is at a price disadvantage, and Sony is already taking a big loss on each unit sold. It will be hard for them to reduce the price, but that needs to happen quickly. Many of the hot PS3 exclusives, like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII, are only maybe going to be done in time for a 2007 release. In short, Sony has precious little time to lower the PS3's price, fix all the little software flaws and glitches, add competitive online features to better stack up against Xbox Live, and release totally awesome exclusive games. Sony will be very busy in 2007.

Oddly enough, Microsoft seems to be in the best position moving into 2007. Its approach is less risky than Nintendo's and less reliant on shaking up the buying habits of millions of non-gamers. Thanks in part to some software delays (like Forza Motorsport 2, the lineup of exclusive titles for 2007 looks very good. Even the first six months of the year has several potential blockbusters in store. Thanks in part to Blue Dragon and some other imminent releases, Japan is starting to take notice of the Xbox 360. Sales are still not stellar and it is doubtful that we'll see a huge explosion in Japanese Xbox 360 sales in 2007, but the numbers should climb from "insignificant" to "a meaningful part of the business." And then there's Halo 3, part of a franchise so big that it will probably be responsible for millions of 360 purchases alone. Grand Theft Auto 4 will ship simultaneously on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, taking a very important feather out of Sony's cap. What was once an exclusive to Sony's platform and a big system-seller will now be available on both platforms, and the 360 will be the less expensive of the two ways to jump into the game.

Microsoft is entering the second year of production for the Xbox 360. Costs are already under control, with analysts claiming that Microsoft is already breaking even (or better) on each unit sold. With a move to smaller, cooler, more energy efficient 65 nanometer processors assumed to happen in the first half of 2007, the time is ripe for an Xbox 360 price cut. This is going to be hard for Sony to match with the PlayStation 3. Exciting things are afoot with Xbox Live. Microsoft added a video marketplace this year: Will that expand to music in 2007? Will there be a subscription model? The XNA Game Studio Express program that lets common programmers make Xbox 360 games without buying expensive development kits was just released. In 2007, we should see some sort of method for all Xbox 360 users to sample these homebrew projects. If this takes off, it could be a major point of differentiation between platforms.

Microsoft's main challenge is going to be making sure that launching early doesn't turn around to bite them. It has to remind consumers that the Xbox 360 is every bit as "next-generation" as the PlayStation 3 and convince them that the lower price does not mean inferior graphics or gameplay. The Xbox 360 has to continue to be seen as the "hot new thing" or risk being increasingly pushed aside along with the previous generation PS2, GameCube, and Xbox. It also has to make good on many of its release dates, and avoid pushing big franchises back to 2008.

The big unknowns? What will Microsoft do with the hardware? Will the next iteration of the Xbox 360 be more than just less expensive? Will it be quieter? Will it include built-in Wi-Fi, a bigger hard drive, or an HDMI port?

(c) www.extremetech.com

Wii internet channel launches: free for now

by Thomas Ricker

You've got your Wii weather, now check the Wii Internet channel. Right on schedule, Mario's elves have been marching 'round the globe dropping little messages into consoles to let owners know that their trial version of the Opera-based browser is ready to download. It's free for now, with the final version scheduled to pop in March. After June 2007, it'll cost you 500 Wii points. Welcome to the living room Opera!

(c) www.engadget.com

Wii still leads brand perception study

The latest update to BrandIntel's ongoing brand perception survey of the new crop of video game consoles finds the Nintendo Wii leading the pack. The data is compiled from criteria including general appeal, purchase intent and brand image in order to track consumer impressions. The Wii was the most talked-about console, leading the Sony PlayStation 3 by 12 percent and generating more than double the amount of conversations than the older Microsoft Xbox 360 does. Factors like price and the fun-to-play factor helped the Wii maintain the lead, although perceptions had cooled as availability has been limited.

More bad news for Sony as the PS3 continues to generate negative conversations due to the high price tag, plague-filled development and launch, and the highly debated merits of the graphics. In particular, conversations about the graphic capability of the console rank lower than those for the Xbox 360. On that same token, the Xbox 360 has indeed benefited from the shortage of Wii consoles, and its strong lineup of games has generated positive consumer discussion.

(C) www.fiercegamebiz.com

Pink PS2 will be a hit this Christmas, says GAME

 by Ellie Gibson

More stocks arriving as demand ramps up

The Nintendo Wii may be the most sought after console of the moment, but according to GAME there's another system in demand - the pink version of the PlayStation 2.

The retailer said that one of every two consumers buying a PS2 during the launch week of the new model picked pink, leading to initial stock shortages.

"The popularity of the pink PlayStation 2 has been overwhelming," said marketing director Anna Macario.

"In the autumn, a range of pink consoles were released - however we�re seeing a real demand for the Pink PlayStation 2. We�re now back in stock of the pink console in stores, so we�re hoping to fully satisfy the demand in time for Christmas."

GAME is currently offering a pink PS2 bundle with two matching controllers, a memory card, Singstar Popworld and microphones for GBP 129.99.

[Thanks goes to www.gamesindustry.biz for this article]

Nintendo Recalls 3.2M Wii Wrist Straps, 200,000 DS and DS Lite Power Adapters

All Wii Remotes are recalled

Nintendo today announced that the company will replace some 3.2 million Wii Remote wrist straps after receiving numerous reports of the straps braking sending the controller flying. Nintendo will allow customers to exchange their failure-prone wrist straps with a new beefier strap that is about double the thickness of the original.

There have been numerous reports of straps breaking sending remotes through TVs, windows and other expensive items. Nintendo responded to the Wii Remote madness by issuing a response in writing concerning the proper use of the remote. A few days later, Nintendo began making revisions to the Wii Remote in the form of a beefier wrist strap.

The new wrist strap is already included with the latest machines shipped, but Nintendo estimates that it may have to replace up to 3.2 million wrist straps, costing the company several million dollars. The old straps, which were found to be especially prone to breaking, had a 0.6 millimeter string diameter, while the new replacement strap features a diameter of 1 millimeter.

"People tended to get a bit excited, especially while playing Wii sports, and in some cases the control would come loose from their hands," company spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa said. "The new strap will be almost twice as thick."

Nintendo has setup an online replacement form for Wii customers so that they can get replacements for their Wii Remote straps. Shipments will begin on December 21 and it will take 5 to 9 days to receive replacements.

The company also announced today that it is recalling 200,000 AC adapters for the DS and DS Lite in the Japanese market.

[original post: http://dailytech.com]

Nintendo Investigating Wii Strap Problem

The Associated Press
By YURI KAGEYAMA
December 07, 2006

Nintendo's president acknowledged Thursday the just-launched Wii video-game machine may have a problem with a strap that secures its trademark wandlike remote-controller to the player's wrist.

President Satoru Iwata also said Nintendo may raise its sales target for the Wii, which is selling out at retailers since it went on sale in recent weeks in the U.S. and Japan.

The console from the maker of the Pokemon and Super Mario games is locked in a fierce three-way battle with Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360.

'We are investigating,' Iwata said of reports about the Wii's strap coming off as players swung around the controller, at times causing the remote to fly out of their hands.

Players use the Wii remote like a tennis racket, sword and other devices to play games.

'Some people are getting a lot more excited than we'd expected,' Iwata said. 'We need to better communicate to people how to deal with Wii as a new form of entertainment.'

The company has not decided on any specific measures to change the strap, Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa said.

Iwata said he first wants to see how Christmas sales go before revising Nintendo's sales target for 6 million Wii consoles by the end of March.

'I'm not ruling that out entirely, but it's premature to say it now,' he said at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Tokyo.

Nintendo has delivered more machines so far to consumers than Sony Corp. has, partly because of Sony's production problems.

Nintendo has shipped about 400,000 Wii machines in Japan and more than 600,000 in North America. The machine went on sale Thursday in Australia and is set to go on sale Friday in Europe.

Sony readied just 100,000 PlayStation 3 machines for the Japan launch, and 400,000 consoles for its U.S. debut. Its European launch has been pushed back until March.

Sony has promised 2 million PS3 machines by the end of the year, while Nintendo is targeting 4 million in global shipments of Wii during the same period. Both Sony and Nintendo are projecting selling 6 million by the end of March.

Selling machines in numbers is crucial in the gaming business because hot-selling formats attract software companies to make more games, which in turn boost machine sales.

Iwata denied that Nintendo was competing against Sony. It's more important to attract novice players and to reach out to older people and others usually not associated with games, he said.

Analysts say Wii appeals to inexperienced players and has a price advantage at 25,000 yen or $250 _ about half of the PlayStation 3.

Analysts expect Wii to mount a serious challenge to market-leader Sony, which has sold more than 200 million PlayStation series machines worldwide over the years, although they say the verdict on next-generation machines is still out for a couple of years.

Sony is expecting to rack up 200 billion yen ($1.7 billion) in red ink in its game unit for the fiscal year ending March 2007, much of it in startup costs for PlayStation 3.

Nintendo is forecasting profit of 100 billion yen ($845 million) for the fiscal year, as Wii buoys earnings in the second half.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[original post: www.topix.net]

Wii Multiplayer In Q2 2007

Nintendo of America’s top guy Reggie Fils-Aime stated in an interview that online Wii gaming won’t be available until Q2 2007. He implied that the first of the multiplayer enabled games will start to drop in March and that there should be something of an onslaught following that.

I’m not really sure how I feel about this. Six months after launch seems like a particularly long time for Wii owners to have to wait for one of the most standard features of next gen consoles: Online multiplayer action.

It sort of bugs me that companies launch products just to get them out of the door and then customers have to wait months just to get the features they were promised.

[source: http://crunchgear.com]