Confirmed: Nintendo Wii U out for Christmas

Nintendo has announced a rough release date for the Nintendo Wii U, reigning in the launch to this side of 2013. But can a holiday launch tip the balance in Ninty’s accountants’ favour?

The Nintendo Wii U has been floating around looking for something resembling a release date ever since it debuted last year at the E3 gaming expo. Now, thanks to Nintendo Japan CEO Satoru Iwata, it has one.

At an earnings conference in Osaka, Japan, Iwata revealed that the Wii U will ship in time for the holidays this year in all major territories, including the UK. The launch is primed to soak up the majority of this year’s Christmas console sales and to help Nintendo return to profitability, after a year that’s seen them dip into the red for the first time ever.

If the Wii U can sell in equally monstrous numbers as the original Nintendo Wii, then the gaming behemoth should be fine… Even if efforts from Sony and Microsoft are just around the corner.

Article: RSS via Electricpig

Tags: Gaming, Gaming Console, Nintendo, Video, Wii U

Posted in Gadget News, Gaming, Videos | No Comments »

Nintendo Confirms Wii Successor For 2012

Nintendo has officially confirmed it will launch a successor to its vastly popular gaming console Wii in 2012.

Nintedo has sold 86.01 million Wiis from 2006, when the console was launched, to the end of March 2011. However, in 2010 the company sold only 15.1 million Wiis – a 25% drop from 2009 when it sold 20.1 million units globally.

The company also revealed its yearly financial results for 2010, marking a big drop in net profit which was $825 million – 66 percent less than in 2009.

The declining Wii sales paired with the shoddy financial results make this a perfect moment for Nintendo to announce the next version of Wii. A “2012 launch” is as vague as launch dates come, but Nintendo promised to have a playable unit, as well as more details and specifications of the upcoming Wii model, at the E3 Expo, which is held June 7-9, 2011, in Los Angeles.

Article: RSS via Mashable

Tags: E3 Expo, Financial Results, Gaming, Gaming Console, Nintendo, Wii

Posted in Gadget News, Gaming | No Comments »

Xbox 360 slim takes top sales spot in June

About this time last month when the Xbox 360 redesign went official and grabbed the unofficial title Xbox 360 Slim, many of us knew that the redesigned console would sell well in the market. Sell well the thing did according got the latest numbers from NPD Group for the month of June.

The Xbox 360 slim was the biggest selling console for the month beating the Wii by about 29,200 units. If you count sales of portable consoles, the Nintendo DS came out on top.

NPD also says that console hardware sales overall jumped 35% in June 2010 compared to June of 2009. Another sign that the works of the bad economy is behind us. Software sales have dropped though and despite growth in hardware sales the gaming market overall declined compared to last year. The PS3 sold 304,800 units during the month, about 206,000 less than the Xbox 360.

Article: RSS via: SlashGear

Tags: Gaming, Gaming Console, Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Slim

Posted in Gaming, Microsoft | No Comments »