Slumping Wii, DS sales hit Nintendo's earnings

Nintendo has endured an extremely difficult six months.

The game company lost 2.01 billion yen, or about $24.6 million, during the six months ended on September 30. During the same period last year, it generated a profit of about of about 69.5 billion yen. Revenue for the six-month period just ended was over 363 billion yen, representing a steep decline from the 548 billion yen revenue Nintendo posted during the same period in 2009.

Although sales are slumping, Nintendo said that a key reason for the steep decline in its financials can be attributed to the strength of the yen. According to The Wall Street Journal, the currency's appreciation over the past year has helped slice about 28.1 billion yen from its revenue.

But the Wii and the DS aren't helping matters either. Nintendo says it sold 6.69 million DS units during the six-month period just ended. During the same span in 2009, it sold 11.7 million DS units around the world. The company shipped 4.97 million Wii units between April and September, down from the 5.75 million Wii consoles it shipped last year.

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Netflix on Wii now accessible without disc

Due to exclusivity agreements with Microsoft, users of Netflix’s popular Instant Streaming feature on PlayStation 3 and Wii consoles were restricted to using a disc the company provided to access the service. Thankfully, those times are over.

Nintendo has announced that starting today, Netflix subscribers can download the new Netflix Channel from the Wii Shop Channel. This new channel allows users to view and access any of the thousands of TV programs and movies right from the Wii’s main menu. It also means you won’t have to eject your copy of Kirby’s Epic Yarn every time you have a craving for Law & Order: SVU.

Sony made similar moves last week, ditching the disc to support Instant Streaming from the main system menu.

Via : thetanooki

PlayStation Move: Is The Move The New Wii?

After four long years of Wii leading the video game console world, Sony finally released its ultimate rival: PlayStation Move. PlayStation Move is very much similar to Wii as it is also a motion-sensing game controller platform.

What sets this PlayStation Move apart from Wii is that while the latter’s sensor bar uses infrared lights, PlayStation Move makes use of PlayStation Eye camera and inertial sensors to track and perceive the control wand’s motions—very impressive.

Once the PlayStation Move’s release date was announced as September 15, 2010, The Move became one of the most anticipated video games consoles ever. It was first launched in Los Angeles in the E3 Expo.

According to tech experts, the release of this game console “changes everything”. Apparently, for the very first time, the player will actually feel like he is the character in the video game. The Move was configured to track and copy the player’s motions at a ratio of 1:1. How amazing is that?

Feedbacks regarding PlayStation Move illustrate a very promising performance in the market of technology and gaming in the next weeks.

With Sony’s PlayStation Move’s latest innovations, I wonder if Nintendo and Microsoft can still produce something that can top this video game console because the Move itself gives “virtual reality” a new meaning.

Via : basicstory.com