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The Wii Week in Numbers
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hot Deals, Internet, Rumors, Wii,
This week’s theme seems to be numerically comparing the Wii to other consoles - and by all measures, it’s doing pretty well… First off, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Wii is dominating console sales for January. In NPD Group data cited by Microsoft of all people, Nintendo’s console sold roughly 150,000 more units (436,000 total) than either the Xbox 360 (294,000 units) or the PS3 (244,000 units). The PS2 still continues to be a juggernaut though, selling just under 300,000 units thanks to a spate of great farewell titles including Guitar Hero 2 and God of War 2.
Next up, GamesRadar.com points out that the perceived Wii drought doesn’t really match with the numbers. The chart at above compares the number of games releasing each month for the Wii with Nintendo’s previous launches of the Gamecube and the ill-fated N64, and it appears that the Wii is actually gaining momentum on the games release front. Of course, how good most of those games are is up for debate - the Wii definitely needs some more killer apps to maintain steady interest in the console.
Finally, in a chart presented after the jump, HardCoreWare looks into console power consumption and notes that the Wii is a real energy sipper - so much so that it uses 10x less than either the PS3 or Xbox 360, and pulls only around 18 watts even at peak performance.
Read More 
| Seattle PI
Read More | GamesRadar
Read More | HardCoreWare.net
Click to continue reading The Wii Week in Numbers
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Xbox Fan Had Seven Xbox 360 Replacements
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Xbox 360,
In the ongoing saga of the Xbox 360 hardware defects, one Xbox 360 fan probably set the record for the number of replaced consoles. Dean Takahashi at Mercury News reports on the circumstances of one Xbox 360 fan, Rob Cassingham. As a major fan of the original Xbox, Cassingham bought six launch consoles, some for his gaming center, and some for personal use. Since the launch, all six have failed. Takahashi details the problems Cassingham had with support, even as his problems had to be escalated all the way to Peter Moore. In terms of Xbox 360 failures, Microsoft seems to be following their pattern of denial and then grudging acceptance. The company initially denied that any problems existed with the launch consoles, and then offered free repairs for those gamers affected. More recently, Microsoft lengthened its warrantee on the console to 12 months, and an investigation into hardware failures was aired by the BBC in the UK. Other gamers have reported even having to replace the refurbished units they got from Microsoft. Microsoft’s stance continues to be that the Xbox 360 has a failure rate in line with other electronic devices, but this seems to fly in the face of reality.
Read More 
| Mercury News
Extremetech Dissects Vista Gaming Performance
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PC,
It has already been reported that there are some games that have problems under Microsoft Windows Vista, some due to compatibility problems with the OS, others with driver issues. Even for games that run correctly under Vista, often there is a performance hit taken by the OS. Extremetech has looked at a suite of game titles with some of the highest hardware requirements and run them all under Windows XP and Windows Vista across three high-end video cards to see what the performance hit actually is. Overall, Extremetech’s findings show that both nVidia have some room for improvement in their driver sets. Generally, the ATI card took a bigger performance hit in testing, but generally across the board, the cards dropped framerates by as much as 40%, but generally more in the range of 5 – 20%. The lack of maturity on Windows Vista video card drivers and the lack of DirectX 10 games on the platform suggests that the best option for gamers at this point is to wait for the software situation to firm up a bit more before upgrading.
Read More | Extremetech
Wii Super Paper Mario Screens, Now Widescreen
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Nintendo, Role Playing Games, Wii,
Famitsu is showing off a few new screenshots from Super Paper Mario for the Nintendo Wii, now in widescreen mode. Given that Wario Ware shipped with only a 4:3 display mode, hope for true widescreen gaming goodness abounds. The game definitely looks sharp in its transition to the Wii from the Gamecube, with the screens showing off the 3D mode and Mario and Bowser in battles. The game is scheduled to hit the United States on April 9th, with the Japanese release following on April 19th.
Read More | Famitsu
Wii Leads January Sales, Playstation 3 Trails
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Nintendo, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360,
A Credit Suisse analyst has Nintendo’s Wii leading January console sales with 436,000 units, according to a report from Bloomberg news. The report cites January NPD data, and has the Xbox 360 selling 294,000 units with the Playstation 3 trailing with 244,000 consoles sold. Above 200,000 units for January is a decent showing, but it will be hard for Sony to spin its numbers in the face of increasing availability on store shelves. Nintendo, of course, will be happy with their January sales; every indication into the third week of February has the Wii still facing shortages on shelves, so one might expect this trend to continue. While many had dismissed the Wii’s new control scheme as a fad, the console’s continuing popularity gets harder and harder to deny as the months continue.
Update: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has comments from both Microsoft and Nintendo here.
Read More | Bloomberg News
Licensing Bites Lumines II In Japan
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, PSP, Puzzle,
Lumines II has been out in the United States since November, so it seems a bit surprising that Japan is just getting the game now. The other shock, according to Siliconera, is the vastly depleted number of music tracks and videos for the Japanese release. Siliconera indicates that a number of the US and European songs have been removed in Japan, most likely due to licensing issues, with some Japanese replacements. It appears that for music selection, the US edition is the most complete of the three releases. Luckily for users in other territories, PSP game titles aren’t region locked, so those outside the US willing to spend a little more for an import version can get the most “complete” version of the game.
Read More | Siliconera
Internal Wavebird Mod For Wii
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Mods/Hacks, Nintendo, Wii,
One of the mods for the Gamecube has resurfaced for the Wii. Gamers were originally able to internalize the receiver for the Wavebird controller on their Gamecubes to get the dongle out of site. With the sleek lines of the Wii, the wireless receiver can be even more of an eyesore. Now, the classic mod has been updated to work with the Wii, thanks to foobar2k at the MaxConsole forums. The mod does require the disassembly of the Wavebird receiver and some soldering, and of course will void your Wii warrantee; in fact, foobar2k managed to break the DVD drive cable on the Wii while trying this mod. Still, those with a little soldering skill and a lot of caution can internalize the wireless receiver while keeping the ability to use the first wired port as well.
Read More | MaxConsole Forums
Researcher: Studies Lack Strong Evidence Linking Video Games, Aggressive Behavior
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture,
The GamePolitics blog has received excerpts from a new meta-analysis of the various studies attempting to link video game play with aggressive behavior. The study’s researcher, Christopher Ferguson has dissected 25 recent studies on video game violence and found that in general, while video game playing increased aggressive thoughts support for a link between game play and actual behavior was limited. Overall, those studies that employed better standards for measuring aggression showed lesser effects from video game play. Ferguson also found that publication bias played a large role in the studies; studies that showed stronger links seemed to be favored over those that did not.
Read More | GamePolitics via Next Generation
Donkey Kong Country, Three Others Hit Virtual Console
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo, Retro, SEGA, Virtual Console, Wii,
Nintendo posted four new games to the Virtual Console for the Wii today representing the Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, NES, and Turbografx-16. The biggest title would probably be Donkey Kong Country. Originally published on the Super Nintendo, the game had a re-release on the Gameboy Advance, and represents a time when Rare was entering the collective consciousness of gamers with pre-rendered 3D graphics and decent gameplay. Donkey Kong Country sells for 800 Wii Points. The Virtual Console also gets the side-scrolling beat-em-up, Streets of Rage for the Sega Genesis at 800 points and the platformer New Adventure Island for the Turbografx-16 at 600 points. Rounding up this week’s releases is The Legend of Kage for the NES at 500 points.
The full press release continues after the jump.
Click to continue reading Donkey Kong Country, Three Others Hit Virtual Console
Sony to Consumers: Cost Drop Is Not A Price Drop
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, PlayStation 3, Rumors,
In an interview with 1up.com, Sony’s Phil Harrison recently clarified the talk surrounding the PS3’s price and the possibility of a price drop. In a nutshell, when Sony said they were looking for ways to “cost reduce” the PS3, that means they’re looking for ways to manufacture it cheaper, so that THEY lose less money on each PS3 shipped. As for a drop in the PS3 price for consumers, you may be out of luck for a while.
1UP: Recently, Takao Yuhara indicated that price drops are a part of Sony’s plan to expand the market when the timing is right. Is it damaging, this early in the console’s lifecycle and just ahead of the system’s launch in Europe to already be talking about price drops?
PH: Well, do you know what he said was, cost reduction, not price drop, and there’s a big difference between cost reduction and price drop. So, that I believe is where the confusion came from. Obviously, we are investing our money in making PlayStation 3s cheaper to manufacture—that’s part of our business plan.
1UP: You’re not going to pass the savings along?
PH: When we can, when there are savings to pass along to the consumer, we would obviously choose to do that. That’s the business model.
1UP: Wait? You guys are doing this to make money? Really?
PH: That’s videogame hardware 101.
Read More | 1up.com
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