They look poised to make a comeback.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12970926/

Nintendo hints at Wii pricing, launch numbers
New game console, set to debut at end of year, not to exceed $250 in U.S.

The company announced that their new machine, Wii, would not exceed $250 in America. Nintendo also said it plans to ship 6 million systems between its launch in the fourth quarter of 2006 and the end of its fiscal year in March 2007.

Earlier this month at the Electronics Entertainment Expo, Sony said their upcoming Playstation 3 console would debut in two versions priced at $499 and $599 in November. The two versions of Microsoft's Xbox 360, released last fall, sell for $299 and $399.

Nintendo’s profit jumped 12.5 percent for the fiscal year through March as a foreign exchange gain and robust sales of handhelds offset shrinking sales of home consoles. But its share price dropped 7.3 percent on the Japanese video-game maker’s disappointing forecast for the year ahead.

Nintendo has taken a different approach from its rivals in offering what it calls more intuitive, or easier-to-play, games, such as virtual pets and brain teasers, to attract older people, women and others usually not associated with gaming.

Net profit at Nintendo, which also makes Game Boy machines, totaled $877 million, up from 87.4 billion yen the previous year, the company also said Thursday. Fiscal 2005 sales slipped 1.2 percent to $4.5 billion.

Nintendo is forecasting lower profit for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2007, at $579 million profit, although sales are projected to climb to $5.3 billion.

Sales of Nintendo’s home machine GameCube haven’t kept up lately, totaling just 2.35 million consoles for the fiscal year just ended, but the company is planning its upgrade home console, called Wii, for later this year.

But the company said it hopes to attract larger audiences with its latest machine. Wii has a controller that allows players to use it without manipulating a complex set of buttons, such as swinging it like a fishing rod or a sword.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

I'm gettin one!

Imago said:

I'm hearing that it will play old Genesis and Super Nintendo games, too.

kidelrich said:

yes!

And isn't Super Mario Galaxy being written for it?



I love Mario games

Imago said:

Super Mario for Nintendo 64 remains the game I measure all against! The best ever.

jerseykrs said:

jerseykrs said:

for about 4 times as much you'll be able to get a PS3 with an extra controller or maybe a game

kidelrich said:

This was and still is the best game ever

Imago said:

I will bet you, right here and now, whatever terms you want, that the PS3 games will destroy any game Nintendo releases.

jerseykrs said:

Do you work for Sony?

kidelrich said:

brownsugar said:

It's true. They will be on-line. Turbografx and Gamecube, too.

kidelrich said:

oh wow

U might aswell get a xbox360, then shell out obscene amounts of money for sony's new console. Nintendo were right when they said games were just getting bigger and bigger, without actually getting any better.


Nintendo havedropped out of the graphics race after the dud that was gamecube. I love nintendo, but the cube had

a) awfuol timing
b) xbox was more powerful
c) no mario launch title (which was insane on nintendo's part)

Still, the cube had super smash brothers, mario kart (both awesome games), and any mario related game is good.

Nintendo had to cash in on mario as the cube just was not shifting. Still, cashins like "mario baseball" have been good though.


Sony fucked sega over with the dreamcast, and nintendo was nearly down and
out with the cube. So the Wii is their last chance. They better not blow it.

Sega had 2 strikes with the saturn and dreamcast, now their hardware is gone.

Nintendo fucked up with the cube, they cant afford to lose massively like they did with the gamecube.

thesexofit said:

I don't think the game cube was that big a failure.

Sure it sold puny amounts compared to xbox and sony, but this is part of a super massive industry.

Also, the GameCube had some awesome titles, and the unit was always the cheapest.

I still think Super Mario Sunshine is a genius game. It's absolutely brilliant at times.

And kids love it.

Imago said:

Luckily, during that time of my life, i was off games in general and was out partying 24/7. So the cube was prefect for a casual gamer like me (the cube had little to 0 third party support)


Now iam off on the idea of partying every night, i need a new console. I'll proberly get a DS lite. And the Wii looks like a good bet.

I just wish sega were still in it. I was a big fan of the dreamcast. But again, lack of 3rd party games, killed the console. I dont like what sony did to sega. They just have this HUGE amount of average games, which kills the companies like nintendo and sega, who usually make very good games.

The N64 was so damn expensive when it launched, and their arrogence regarding high costs to keep the cartridge, put companies like squaresoft and capcom off. But that had alot more good games then the cube.


Funny that sony actually stole sega's idea for cd based games machine. Remember the geneis add-on "sega cd"? Nintendo stuck to their guns with the n64, and looking back, iam glad they did. Even if they did lose the battle, i still think they won the war that round. Shame they have gone now. At least nintendo are alot friendlier to third party companies now. In the past, nintendo had some clause where they owned ur game, even if u mde it for them. Something like that?

SEGA'S DEMISE WAS SPECTACULAR

But they made some dud machines. The last strong console was the Gensesis / Mega Drive. They made some dreadful machines in the mid to late 90s and the timing of their release was awful. Who remebers any games for the Mega CD? How about the Sega Saturn? Dreamcast? Multi-Mega -- was that even commercially released?

I think they even shelved plans for a Sega PC -- with a white Genesis-like control pad. But it's a shame Sega was ruined by Sony.

papaa said:

Yep. Sony stole most their ideas. As i said, nintendo did not copy the sega cd, they still went with cartridges, but sony did cd's.


I actually still own a cd album of ecco the dolphin sega cd. It is not the game, but the soundtrack? Its actually a good insstrumenal album, and sonic cd had some killer music.

The dreamcast was ahead of its time. Infact, it was too ahead of its time. 3rd parties still sided with working with a 32-bit machine as opposed with a 128 bit machine? Sony suck.

I can see why some companies turned down the n64. As i said, the cost to develop games for the console was hurrendous, and very slow. Hence why the early n64 games are pretty crap. Still, the n64 was my preferred over the ps1.

sega learnt from the saturn (though nights is meant to be a classic), and from what i remember, the saturn came out too late, or too close to the n64? But sega need 3rd party support,. Nintendo can and have survived on mario cash ins. Sega can do the same, but only to an extent.

Thanks, but I think I'll stick with my Commodore 64.