Wii sales continue to slide

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has publicly admitted the Wii’s momentum has slowed and that a failure to deliver any decent games has soured the public to the console.
His statements were made after the company had to announce a 58% drop in net profits and a 43% drop in Wii sales.

He even admitted, "“The Wii has lost momentum. We’ve been unable to keep introducing good software, and the favourable mood towards the console has cooled.”

Back in April 2009, he knew the trend would change towards the Wii yet little to nothing has been done to try and reverse this.

Industry analyst Michael Pachter has stated on a number of occasions that a Wii HD is on its way however, Reggie Fils-Aime has adamantly denied this rumor saying on GTTV, "Michael [Pachter] continues to be the only one who believes this is going to happen. I don’t know how forcefully we can say that there is no Wii HD."

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The Modern Warfare 2 effect

It's to be expected that a lot of people will be playing a AAA title like Modern Warfare 2 as soon as it's released. However, the impact of a title like this has never been quantified before. Gamerbytes.com took a look at the concurrent players online figures for some popular XBLA titles prior to the release date and as you can see, there's been a dramatic drop over the last 2 weeks.

It's cool to see that how one single game release can pull players away from another popular release. I fully expect this trend to reverse once people a) finish MW2 or b) get tired of playing MW2.

Many of the XBLA titles listed above are a great way to kill an hour or two and have a lot of fun. (Except for TRIALS HD... minimum play time I would guess is more than an couple of hours AT LEAST! lol)

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Rockstar talks Grand Theft Auto 5

It might be a long way off but Rockstar co-head-honcho Dan Houser has dropped the first hints that the team’s ready to start conjuring up ideas for Grand Theft Auto 5.

The build up to Grand Theft Auto saw fingers reduced to bloody stumps, and it looks like Rockstar’s planning to put gamers through it once more after Rockstar co-president chatted briefly about GTA 5.

But don’t plan that pre-order just just. It’s barely in the design stage. There’s still the matter of where to set the carjacking follow up.

“We’ll think of a city first, then the characters.” According to The Times the script will be up to or around 1,000 pages long. That’s ten times as many as a feature film, apparently.

Houser also hit out at those eager to chastise video games for encouraging bad behaviour. “Look, video games are a popular and easy enemy,” he said, adding that the controversy is all part of doing stuff that hasn’t been done before.

He suggested that there’s a double standard when it comes to so-called violent games and movies.

“Manhunt 2 was banned in the same week that Saw was released. The arguments become quite ludicrous quite quickly when people argue that games are somehow more dangerous than full-motion video.”

“Within Rockstar, sometimes we feel that some of our games get singled out and held up as pariahs. All we want to do is tell a story with rounded characters. Like GoodFellas, which is a key film for us, our rounded characters happen to be criminals.”

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Call of Duty(R): World at War: ZOMBIES Available Now From The App Store

This Holiday Season, Bring the Joy of Slaying Zombies to Your iPhone(R) or iPod touch(R)

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov 16, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — This holiday season, bring the joy of slaying Zombies to the palm of your hand – Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) and developer Treyarch, announced today the availability of the Apple iPhone & iPod Touch app: Call of Duty: World at War: ZOMBIES. This mobile version of the hit gameplay mode from Treyarch’s blockbuster title Call of Duty(R): World at War delivers upon the experience of one of the most popular and played online games of 2009. Call of Duty: World at War: ZOMBIES offers both single player and the game’s highly-addictive co-op gameplay experience in full 3-D, allowing up to four players to join a game via Wi-Fi, locally or across the Internet, and up to two players via Bluetooth, all on the go!

“This is a great opportunity for fans of Call of Duty: World at War to take the fight against the Zombie masses wherever they are,” said Mark Lamia, Studio Head of Treyarch. “Zombies is a single player and co-op gameplay mode that people from all over the world have enjoyed playing and have spent countless hours conquering limitless waves of Zombies.”

The Call of Duty: World at War: ZOMBIES App, developed by Ideaworks Game Studio for the iPhone and iPod touch, is available for $9.99 from the App Store at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

Introduction of the Call of Duty: World at War: ZOMBIES game on the iPhone and iPod Touch follows the August release of the free iPhone application that allows registered Call of Duty: World at War fans who own iPhones to remotely access important news and updates, and further allows players with linked accounts on www.CoDWaW.com to see key stats from the blockbuster game. The Call of Duty: World at War Companion has been downloaded more than 800,000times since its release.

Call of Duty: World at War is rated “M” (Mature) by the ESRB for Intense Violence, Strong Language, Blood and Gore. For more information about Call of Duty: World at War, visit www.CoDWaW.com.

About Activision Publishing, Inc.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.

Activision Publishing maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Russia, Japan, South Korea, China and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s website, www.activision.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Publishing’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Activision Publishing generally uses words such as “outlook,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “might,” “remains,” “to be,” “plans,” “believes,” “may,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “estimate,” future,” “plan,” “positioned,” “potential,” “project,” “remain,” “scheduled,” “set to,” “subject to,” “upcoming” and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause Activision Publishing’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include, but are not limited to, sales levels of Activision Publishing’s titles, shifts in consumer spending trends, the impact of the current macroeconomic environment, the seasonal and cyclical nature of the interactive game market, Activision Publishing’s ability to predict consumer preferences among competing hardware platforms, declines in software pricing, product returns and price protection, product delays, retail acceptance of Activision Publishing’s products, adoption rate and availability of new hardware (including peripherals) and related software, industry competition, rapid changes in technology, industry standards and consumer preferences, protection of proprietary rights, litigation against Activision Publishing, maintenance of relationships with key personnel, customers, licensees, licensors, vendors and third-party developers, counterparty risks relating to customers, licensees, licensors and manufacturers, domestic and international economic, financial and political conditions and policies, foreign exchange rates and tax rates, integration of recent acquisitions and the identification of suitable future acquisition opportunities, and the other factors identified in the risk factors section of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Activision Publishing and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Activision Publishing nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision Publishing or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

A(C) 2009 Activision Publishing, Inc. Activision and Call of Duty are registered trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.

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Fan-hack recreates Super Mario Bros. world 1-1 in New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Damn...those homebrewers are ridiculously fast...
Homebrewers have made all sorts of new aspects for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and now they're already going at New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Perhaps someone could hack Wart into the game! Thanks to Tsampiras for the heads up!



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Reggie wanted online play in New Super Mario Bros Wii

Bet you were pumped about playing four-way New Super Mario Bros Wii online, right? We were. NoA boss Reggie Fil-Aime was too. That was before “the developers” took all our dreams, hurled them against the rocks of death and turned our lives to glue by making it local-only.
“This was a decision made purely by the developers,” he told Kotaku. “They believe this experience, in the same room, to be elbowing your friends and family members as you’re playing the game


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Giant Mario Kart tifo pops up during a soccer match

Look at that absolutely massive tifo for Mario Kart! This popped up during a game between Lyon and Marseille. Thanks, Gusto, for the tip.

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