Nintendo’s Success May Damage Games Industry

Nintendo’s Success May Damage Games Industry
Kaufman Bros. Equity Research analyst Todd Mitchell has given his opinion on the recent success of Nintendo’s newest two platforms currently on the market. We have provided a quote below:

Nintendo has not only increased the size of the market, but it has also re-segmented it in its own favor, in our view. Nintendo is dominating software sales on its popular hardware platforms, leaving the publishers with a smaller slice of an only somewhat incrementally larger pie.

Moreover, we feel that the likely shorter product cycles of Nintendo’s platforms puts the publishers in a permanent catch-up mode. We think the upcoming releases of Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption will highlight this phenomena this holiday season.

The public opinion goes live only days after Nintendo announced worldwide sales figures for both the Wii and Nintendo DS thus far, which have combined for form over 45 million units sold. Of those 45 million, the company has sold over 40 million DSs and around 5.8 million Wii consoles. Total sales for the 2007 fiscal year are expected to reach at least 270 billion Yen (up from 174.3 billion in 2006).
from - http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/threads/61353-Nintendo%E2%80%99s-Success-May-Damage-Games-Industry

production budget cost nintendo 3ds

Nintendo 3DS Development Costs Will Triple Compared To DS, Still Not That High [Triple Nintendo 3DS Dev Costs Compared To Original, Still Not That Impressive]
Developers are apparently running in circles waving their arms around because of the massive increase in development expenditures they’re likely to experience if they want to make games for the Nintendo 3DS (coming march to US & Europe in 2011), to the tune of anywhere from $600k to $1.8 million as opposed to somewhere around $60k to $500k last generation and the press are helping them do just that. I hate to rain on everyone’s outrage parade, but I’ve personally worked on iPhone games that cost as much or more than $600k to make. In the game industry that’s not even cheap, it’s where cheap goes to die. Indie games have bigger budgets than that.
Contrast this to something like APB, which had a $100 million budget. We don’t exactly know what the install base for this thing is going to be, but judging from the pre-game buzz, we’re guessing massive. Not original DS massive, but sizable nonetheless. Also, the original DS isn’t going anywhere for a good long while, so you can always keep developing for that. If the game’s good, you’ll have plenty of cash to invest in 3DS development and make the next Kingdom Hearts. Pinky-swear.

Nintendo unveils new 3DS handheld

Portable games device with glasses-free 3D depth display to launch by 2011 - more details at E3

A successor to the DS is on the way from Nintendo.
Called the Nintendo 3DS, the device will feature 3D displays with added depth and detail.

The 3DS will, Nintendo says, allow users to play "games [which] can be enjoyed with 3D effects without the need for any special glasses".



Currently, a raft of games engine, middleware and hardware manufacturers are pushing a move to 3D content in the home for games and film. Sony is expected to launch 3D games for the PS3 this summer.
However 3D setups come in a mix of configurations to view depth-perception tricks on a 2D screen, from basic colour-tinted (anaglyph) versions on home DVD and Blu-ray, grey-tinted (polarised) versions in cinemas, or high-end active shutter glasses used by Sony TV sets. And many say this presents a technical barrier to making 3D accessible to mass market consumers
3DS will be backwards compatible with older DS games and will launched in Nintendo's financial year starting this April - giving it until March 2011 to roll the device out.
But it's most likely the firm is planning a Q4 2010 release - just as rivals Sony and Microsoft launch their motion controlling devices Move and Natal to compete with the Nintendo Wii.
In the official, if brief, press release detailing the 3DS, Nintendo describes it as the successor to the DS - a platform which has already sold over 125m units globally.
The firm also says Nintendo 3DS might be the device's temporary name - although DS was also first described as such back in 2004.
More details will be given at E3 in LA this June.

from - http://www.mcvuk.com/news/38138/Nintendo-unveils-new-3DS-handheld

Nintendo’s 3DS Industrial Design Subtleties, Explained

Nintendo’s 3DS Industrial Design Subtleties, Explained
When I first saw the 3DS six months ago, and even later when I saw the official pictures, I pretty much just thought of the 3DS as a slightly chunkier DS. But of course the people in charge of designing it know better than that, and when you’re making a device that will be held for hundreds of hours by tens of millions of people… every little thing counts.
Nintendo’s president, Satoru Iwata, whom I see oftener than I see some members of my family these days, interviewed the design team for the 3DS, talking about what the hard decisions were, what came down from above, what their ideas were, and so on.
It’s actually quite interesting — I like these little peeks behind the veil, like when you get to see the original sketches of the Pac-Man maze and stuff like that. They don’t shy at details, and it’s nice to hear how hands-on Iwata himself was in the process as well:

Iwata:The reverse taper was designed so the system would be easy to open, but if something hit it, all the force would hit one place, so it had a drawback when it came to durability against impact from dropping.
Akai:Right.
Ehara:I thought the shape might have to change.
Iwata:You talked about that during the second presentation.
Ehara:Yes.
Akai:But we didn’t want to change the design, so we searched for a stronger synthetic resin.
Iwata:You instinctively knew that you couldn’t produce that design unless you found a stronger material.
Akai:Yes. Looking for a new material was the first thing I did after moving to the Research & Engineering Department.
Iwata:And what did you come up with?
Akai:A material Nintendo has never used before. A type of high rigidity nylon with glass fiber in it. It’s stronger than other more common resins, but less suited to mass production.
Iwata:It does sound like it would be difficult to shape.
Akai:It is. You fill the metal mold7 with the resin to shape it, but it’s tough because of the glass fiber in it. As you repeat the process, the mold begins to wear, so we were concerned the lifespan of the mass production equipments would be shortened.

So if you end up buying a 3DS, you can be sure it was designed with love and care, and for keeps

from - http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/02/03/nintendos-3ds-industrial-design-subtleties-explained/

Nintendo 3DS Launch Date Leaked?

Other than playing some games on my iPhone or iPad, I am not that big on portable gaming. My kids on the other hand, like to take a Nintendo DS with them on occasion during boring events that we will be stuck at for a while. If you like portable gaming, and are ready to get the Nintendo 3DS unveiled this summer, the time could be coming close
A Tweet was posted by a Japanese product designer that pegs the launch date for the 3DS as November 20, which would be perfect timing for gangbuster sales for the busy holiday season. I can’t read Japanese, but the translation reportedly says “On November 20th, the 11 goods I designed for use with the 3DS will go on sale simultaneously. Those of you buying the 3DS, please buy them while you’re at it! This will be officially announced on the homepage eventually, lol. Best regards.”
That Tweet was later replaced with one a bit more vague that read, “OIRA is designed to place 20 11 11 3DS product will be released simultaneously for the product.” We can only assume that was in response to the Nintendo ninjas storming the designers abode and forcing him to change the post. I bet this guy has designed his last Nintendo product, assuming this isn’t all a hoax.
Given the fact that Nintendo has said they will provide a final release date for the 3DS at the end of September, we won’t have to wait long to find out the truth

from - http://technabob.com/blog/2010/09/13/nintendo-3ds-launch-date/
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Nintendo 3DS Specs Released: 3-5 Hours of 3D Battery Life

from - http://www.pcmag.com/


Looking to pick up one of Nintendo's new 3DS handheld gaming systems? You won't need to wear any kind of silly glasses to benefit from the system's three-dimensional effects—a first for handheld gaming devices. However, when you're at the electronics store of your choosing, you might want to pick up a few extra lithium-ion battery packs.
That's because the official specs sheet for the 3DS has been released into the wild and some of its battery-related details might come as a bit of a surprise to eager gaming enthusiasts. Slugging through native 3D titles on the system will only last you three to five hours on Nintendo's 3DS depending on the hardware demands of a given game. Legacy DS and DSi titles—backwards compatible with the 3DS—will only give you anywhere from five to eight hours of playing time.
If that sound short, it's because it is. The system—expected to be priced around $249 during its March debut in the U.S.—delivers a fraction of the battery life of its predecessors, Nintendo's DS Lite and DSi handheld systems. Worse, all of the aforementioned 3DS battery estimates are allegedly calculated with the brightness of the system turned down.
On a DSi, a battery will last around nine to 14 hours of playing time on the system's lowest brightness setting and three to four hours if you crank the backlighting all the way up. On a DS Lite, the numbers increase to around 15 to 19 hours of gameplay on low brightness and five to eight hours on high. There's no been indication by Nintendo as to how much a 3DS' already low battery life could suffer if you run the system at maximum brightness.
Nintendo executives have stated that they believe products like Apple's iPhone and iPad can coexist in the same market as Nintendo's portable devices—a fact challenged by Apple's growing market share in an area once dominated exclusively by Nintendo and Sony. But one has to now factor the battery life of a typical Apple product into the competition as well—roughly 10 hours of continuous use for an iPad, or 10 hours of video viewing on an iPhone 4.
While nobody has been able to verify just how the battery life of the 3DS affects the overall use experience, be sure to check out PCMag.com's latest look at the 3DS itself from this year's Consumer Electronics Show

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Nintendo 3DS Event Launches This Week

Nintendo are putting on a huge weekend in Japan to show off the brand new video game handheld, the Nintendo 3DS over a month ahead of the console’s release.
The festivities kick off this Saturday January 8 and goes over three days. Kicking off the event will be a “Play as Mii” demonstration where celebrity guests will demonstrate the Mii creation tool and the Augmented Reality games on Nintendo 3DS.
Nintendo will then put on a live music performance, filled with remixes of all the most memorable soundtracks from Nintendo’s rich gaming history. On the first day of the event, Nintendo will show off Metal Gear Solid and Kid Icarus. For the first time since it’s E3 announcement, developer of Kid Icarus, Masahiro Sakurai will give us an indepth look at the game.
The second day will feature Yoshinori Ono as he demonstrates Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition. Nintendo will also be showing off Capcom’s Resident Evil games.
So, what does this mean for us in the West? Nintendo are clearly committed to getting this thing in the hands of as many people as possible. We feel that a local connection tour may be inbound, which we may learn more about on January 18 when Nintendo announce full launch details of the Nintendo 3DS in New York

from - http://aussie-gamer.com