Tag archive: satoru iwata

After a decade of lackluster online support, Nintendo may finally be wising up. During an investor's briefing today, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata announced that its upcoming console, the Wii U, will have two new features: NFC built into the controller and an Xbox Live-like online service called Nintendo Network. Downloadable content, including fullly downloadable retail games is also a possibility. Details below. Wii U to have a solid… Read More

The Nintendo 3DS is back at the top of the sales charts in Japan. Though sales of the handheld dropped 50 percent after Nintendo President Satoru Iwata announced a major price drop for the system, the 3DS's first week at its newly reduced price of 15,000 yen (down from 25,000 yen, or $250 to $170 in U.S. currency) has been quite fruitful. The handheld has sold about 215,000 units between August 8 and 14. The price cut took effect on… Read More

You've got to feel a little sympathy for Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. After the 3DS price cut, the big N's big boss took a 50 percent pay cut and accepted the blame for the portable device's poor performance so far. He's facing investors who are concerned about Nintendo's social media plans and, on top of all that, questions continue to linger about the company's Wii U console, announced in June at E3.… Read More

There are those who argue that Nintendo is behind the times in a few fundamental ways. They argue that the company has failed to embrace the sort of community building that you see on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. They also point to the company's relative absence from the mobile gaming market while console-making competitors Microsoft and Sony, not to mention just about every game publisher you can think of, has taken steps in that… Read More

Something has gone wrong. Earlier this year, the 3DS was hailed by Nintendo as its most successful handheld launch to date. However, after the hordes of Nintendo devotees were finished picking up their system at midnight, sales began to decline fairly rapidly. So rapidly, in fact, that by April 27, one month after the system's March 27 launch, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata explained to investors that the fledgling system had already… Read More

In the wake of yesterday's news that Nintendo suffered its first-ever quarterly loss and plans to slash prices on the Nintendo 3DS, the president of the Japanese company put the blame on his shoulders and told shareholders he plans to halve his salary. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata addressed shareholders today, and explained the decision to cut prices on the handheld 3-D gaming device, which has experienced lackluster sales due to a… Read More

Nintendo's upcoming console has had a lot of rumored names and codenames. Some call it Project Cafe; some call it Wii 2; others believed it might have a simple name: “Nintendo.” However, we've now learned its true name: Wii U. The Wii U is Nintendo's next generation videogame console, a true successor to the Nintendo Wii. This makes it Nintendo's sixth home gaming console since 1985 when it launched the NES.… Read More

A week after E3, buzz about the Wii U certainly shows no signs of slowing. Nintendo has published a translation of CEO Satoru Iwata's E3 Q&A with analysts. The five pages are quite a read, but Iwata clarifies where Nintendo is coming from with its upcoming Wii U console, what audiences it plans to target, and some of its difficulties with the 3DS and Wii as of late. We've compiled three of the most interesting answers below,… Read More

The Nintendo 3DS has sold 3.61 million units  in the U.S. and Europe since March 27, but Nintendo was hoping to sell 4 million. Though the Kyoto company claimed that the first month of sales was a “smooth start” a couple days ago, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata is now expressing public disappointment over the slower than expected sales, reports CVG. “Nintendo 3DS was launched in late March,” said Iwata. “The sales… Read More

During Satoru Iwata's Game Developer Conferenct keynote today, titled “Video Games Turn 25: A Historical Perspective and Vision for the Future,” Nintendo's president managed to sprinkle in a few new announcements. Chief among them is that Nintendo is working with AT&T on Wi-Fi spots, Netflix will soon be available on the Nintendo 3DS, Game Gear games will be coming to the 3DS virtual console, and a new 3D Mario game… Read More

Though we'd be more surprised if there wasn't a new Mario game in the works, game designer Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed in an interview with Nintendo President Satoru Iwata that a new Super Mario Bros. game is in the works for the 3DS. Held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Super Mario series, the Iwata Asks interview delves into the basics of what makes Mario work, how the core team (which hasn't ever changed) of Mario… Read More

Last week the news out of Japan did not seem to fare well for Nintendo. The bubble seemed to have burst, and the casual gamer push that rocketed Wii sales into the atmosphere seemed to have dried up. The company was reporting a 74-percent drop in profits over just the first nine month period of 2010, causing the gaming giant to revise its sales forecasts. But even though Nintendo has lost much of the steam that was pushing the Wii towards… Read More

Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's chief executive, will keynot the 2011 Game Developer's Conference on March 2. His speech will be titled “Video Games Turn 25: A Historical Perspective and Vision for the Future” and will focus on how developers can use successes from the past to help with future game development. This year marks the 25th anniversary of GDC. Nintendo's Mario also celebrated his 25th anniversary this holiday… Read More

At a news conference in Tokyo introducing the new Nintendo DS Lite (scheduled to go on sale in Japan March 2), Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced the company plans to begin selling a Web browser for its Nintendo DS handheld gaming systems, as well as a card which would let the devices tune into television broadcasts for mobile phones. The offerings would first be available in the Japanese market

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata refused to give details, saying he feared competitors will steal the plan, but said a prototype, which will be shown next year, will deliver “new ideas” for entertainment and won't be merely a more powerful version of its current Game Cube machine. Iwata reiterated his view that Nintendo should not follow the strategy of Sony, which is working on a more powerful chip to drive its… Read More