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Nintendo’s Wii U Puts Hardware Strategy to the Test – WSJ.com

November 20, 2012 exitlanguages Leave a comment

Like its famous character Super Mario in his latest game, Nintendo Co. is trying to outrun its enemies.

The Japanese videogame pioneer, coming off of its first annual loss in more than three decades, will start selling the Wii U in U.S. stores Sunday—its first home console in six years.

With the new machine, Nintendo is betting it can continue to push pricey hardware in a videogame market where most of the growth has been in software for smartphones and other mobile gadgets.

“The changes that have taken place over the last few years are massive,” said Nintendo President Satoru Iwata in a recent interview. “If we don’t do anything to keep pushing forward, we may see demand shrink as those devices encroach on our space.”

Starting at $299, the Wii U packs high-definition graphics with a 6.2-inch, tabletlike controller that offers a second screen in addition to the television display—a big change from the current generation’s more simple motion-sensing wand.

In packing more technological muscle, Nintendo aims to win over the core gamers who never fully embraced the motion-sensing games of the original Wii.

via Nintendo’s Wii U Puts Hardware Strategy to the Test – WSJ.com.

Categories: Article Tags: game, Gamepad, Games, Mario, Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, Video game, Video game console, Wii, Wii U

EA blasted for selling the same FIFA game two years in a row | Games Blog – Yahoo! Games

October 7, 2012 exitlanguages Leave a comment

Think Madden doesn’t change enough year to year? Then you’ll get a real kick out of FIFA 13 for the Nintendo Wii.

Released on September 27th for nearly every video game system available, the latest iteration of EA’s soccer sim has already sold over 4 million copies. Wii owners, however, were miffed to find out that their version of the game is nearly identical to last year’s model, FIFA 12.

How close are the two games? Close enough that Nintendo Gamer broke them down and found that, wow, yeah, it’s pretty much the exact same thing.

Really all that’s been updated are the player rosters, as the gameplay modes, graphics, menus, and even play-by-play chatter are unchanged from FIFA 12. But that didn’t stop EA from slapping a 13 on the box and charging a full $50 for the game.

Needless to say, fans are a little upset.”Awful game!!! It’s the same as Fifa 12 Wii,” writes Metacritic user Gamegd. “Shame on EA. They should have never released this. It’s just an update of the roster of FIFA 12 sold at full price!”

It’s no better on Amazon, where gamer S. Daylor complains that FIFA 13 is “99.9% the exact same game as FIFA 12. Did EA not think people would notice?”

EA offered a comment to Wired about the matter, telling the site that they “felt it was important to continue to offer fans the opportunity to play an authentic football experience on Wii,” which is a nice way of saying that they don’t care much for the Wii anymore. However, they also confirmed that indeed, FIFA 13 contains no new modes or features.