Posts about Nintendo
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—>Nintendo is showing no mercy to those who picked up a DSi since it was released in April and announcing that gamers will have to pick up the new, redesigned DSi LL if they want to stay cutting-edge. More »
—>This HSN presenter remembered to use his wrist strap when playing with a Wiimote, so good for him! Unfortunately, it turns out you also have to make sure any attachments are firmly attached. More »
—>Last week we praised Nintendo and disparaged Sony for the way they handled reports from gamers that system updates broke their consoles. More »
—>While it's our job to name the Worst Company In America, BusinessWeek has decided to identify the world's best businesses, tapping management consultant firm A.T. Kearney to rank the world's best companies. More »
—>It's a good week for Microsoft and its fanboys, because both Playstation 3 and Wii gamers are reporting recent system updates are rendering their consoles nothing more than bricks. More »
—>A Kotaku tipster spotted a Toys R Us ad that indicates the Wii will finally be cutting its price to $199 the last week of September after sticking at $249 for its first three years. More »
—>The history of video game console competitions reads much like that of New York's crime families — you see powerful leaders making bold, risky moves to snuff out their rivals and fierce, tribal alliances that breed clashes between vocal factions. More »
—>The Xbox 360 breaks five times as often as its closest failure-prone competitor, the PlayStation 3, a print edition-only Game Informer survey found. More »
—>If you adore your Wii but lament the fact that its motion controls don't allow you to get more intimate with it, take heart. The company has patented a controller that lets you straddle it and ride it like a big boy. More »
—>All Jess wanted was a Nintendogs-style DS game that would let her frolic with an imaginary pet dolphin, teach it a few tricks and perform routines in front of an adoring virtual crowd. Discovery Kids: Dolphin Discovery seemed to fit the bill because its site, as well as the box it comes in, says the game lets you do just that. More »
—>Bad news for gamers who are dreaming of an Xbox 361, PlayStation 4 or Wiii. You won't be playing hovercraft Mario Kart or holographic Halo until well into President Palin's first term. More »
—>Here's another "I bought a box of rocks!" story, only this time there's proof that the victim wasn't pulling a dirty trick on Walmart. Instead, it was someone before her who bought and then returned a Nintendo DS, only they swapped out the unit with rocks before making the return. More »
—>A lot of readers sent us the story of a Florida teen who received the awesome birthday gift of some rocks and crumpled up Chinese newspapers inside a Nintendo DS box. After some fuss and the discovery that another customer had already returned the same box of rocks, Wal-Mart made the situation right. Reader Ryan found himself in a similar situation, but without the happy ending (yet!): a Texas Best Buy sold him a paving stone instead of a Macbook Pro. More »
—>Video games are proving recession-proof as record sales continue even as the economy goes from bad to worse to holy %#$% #$%!! More »
—>Nintendo, apparently forgetting that they are a large corporation, went out of their way to make sure all the variables that caused John's Wii to glitch were addressed. Read his full letter inside. More »
—>You know what makes you angry? Wii bundles. Here's the situation. You go to the store to buy a Wii. You ask if they have any in stock. They do. You decide to buy the Wii — only to find out that they won't sell you the Wii without forcing you to buy a bunch of other stuff. You become very angry. You write to us. More »
—>When you have a Japanese Nintendo DS and it breaks while in America, who do you send it to? Reader Drew expected high repair fees, but got a surprise when he spoke to Nintendo of America Representative, Amanda. More »
I have a first generation Nintendo Wii and I recently bought the game Boom Blox for it. When I put the game in to start playing it would often lock up at the health warning screen and I would have to restart my Wii by unplugging it since no other method would work. More »
—>If you think you can sign up with Comcast just to get a Wii and then cancel or downgrade service, think again. Downgrade service or cancel in the first year, $250 in fees, second year, $125. Other restrictions apply. The insider says the new Wii promotion is a bunch of crap and they and other Comcast CSRs won't be offering it to customers unless customers beg for it because of all the caveats. Frankly, they're in the right for protecting their asses on this one. However, it's not too hard to imagine scenarios where Comcast gets the account details wrong and customers wrongly get assessed fees... The internal document, inside... More »
—>Just like we told you via exclusive insider leak last Tuesday, Comcast is indeed giving away a Wii to new triple—play subscribers. It says so right in their press release. You will have to sign a new 2-year contract with Comcast for "Triple Play" services. And you will have to sign up with Comcast. There is that. More »
Comcast will be giving away a limited supply of free Wiis in an upcoming promotion, a current employee tell us. The offer is good for new Comcast triple-play subscribers signing up July 28-August 17th in select markets. Our tipster confirmed the promo will be good in Miami, San Francisco, Houston, Denver, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, and some other markets too. In valid markets where triple-play is not available, double-play subscriptions are eligible.The cable provider is apparently undaunted by the unresolved incompatibility issues between some Comcast-provided routers and the Wii. More »
—>Nintendo is facing accusations that a popular Youtube video is nothing more than a viral-video marketing campaign for the Wii Fit, reports The Telegraph. The video, quite simply, features a young woman using a virtual hula-hoop in her underwear. What separates it from other videos is that the 2 people in the video have both been identified as employees of the same advertising company. Nintendo denies the allegations. The video and details, inside... More »
—>Toys"R"Us' website may claim to have Wiis in stock, but as reader Nick discovered yesterday, they don't. Nick ordered the elusive console first thing yesterday morning, but Toys"R"Us quickly sent an email explaining that the Wii was backordered and unavailable. As of this morning, Toys"R"Us' website still inexplicably lists the Wiis as "In Stock." More »
—>Reader Dave said he was shopping with his friend (male) at Walmart, searching for the coveted Nintendo Wii. He was happy to find that Walmart had 7 or 8 of the consoles in stock — enough for both he and his friend to purchase one. Walmart, however, had other ideas. Dave says that Walmart wouldn't let he and his friend each purchase a Wii because they were "together." First they're rationing rice and now men are forced to share their video games? What's going on in America, folks? More »
As a way of saying sorry to Guitar Hero III customers whose discs only supported mono sound, software maker Activision is sending out free faceplates to attach to your electronic axe. Not sure if that makes up for the 3-4 weeks people had to wait for a replacement disc, but good on ya, Activision. [Infendo] More »
—>The video game industry is on fire! Wooo! Sales are up! Times are good!
In December, Nintendo had its biggest month ever with the hot-selling game system. Holiday shoppers bought 1.4 million Wiis, according to sales data released Thursday by the NPD Group. The Wii's success helped drive the video game industry to a record-setting $17.9 billion in sales, about 43% higher than 2006's $12.5 billion, which was also a record.Meanwhile the music industry isn't having such a fun time. Sales are down. People are getting fired at EMI and the Rolling Stones are all pissed off about it. More »
The WSJ Holiday Sales Blog says that sales of the PS3 are picking up while Nintendo struggles to meet the demand for the Wii. Sony's CEO claims that they've been selling 200,000 PS3 units a week in the U.S. since Black Friday. [WSJ Holiday Blog] More »
—>Nintendo thinks depriving potential customers of the coveted Wii is a sound business decision that will ensure its long-term survival. Sure, you want the Wii now, but your passions are fleeting and unreliable. If you can't wait for Nintendo's post-holiday production ramp-up, hit the jump and we'll tell you how we snagged our Wii. More »
State of the Console Wars: Wii is still winning, Microsoft is second, and Sony is complaining that they're not as far back as Microsoft says they are. [Seattle P-I] More »
—>"While moving to our new house last week a friend who was helping us accidentally spilt beer on my son's DS lite and it stopped working. I knew that his DS was still under warranty, but I also knew that I would not cover physical damage caused by neglect. After checking Nintendo's website, and confirming that spilling liquid on it would not be covered and that I would have to pay for the repair." More »
—>Reader John tells us that he witnessed some Best Buy employees announcing "the very last Wii" over and over again. Oh those crafty kids at Best Buy! More »
Amazon will supposedly sell a unspecified but large number of Wii game consoles on Wednesday, October 31st at 10 am PDT (1 pm EDT). [NintendoWiiFanboy] More »
—>We mentioned this in "morning deals" but thought we'd post about it, too. Nintendo is offering up to 4 free grippy-type Wii remote jackets to customers who've already purchased the Wii. More »
—>Next gen consoles have more features than ever before, but if you're like many consumers, you don't know about them. More »
Nintendo will introduce a step-board-like Wii peripheral that senses your movement, measures your Body Mass Index, ratcheting up the system's physically active game factor. [Seattle P-I] More »
"Demand still appears to exceed supply, and we believe that shortages could persist through the remainder of the year, including the key holiday period," said Colin Sebastian of Lazard Capital Markets, in a report by Next-Gen.biz. More »
—>At least 60 Wiis will be arriving and selling at Target stores this Sunday, according to an inside source. More »
—>Reader Colin writes us to share an email he sent to Target about their practice of marking items as "Sale"... with no actual discount. Colin writes to Target:
I'm currently in the process of shopping for a Nintendo DS, and have been keeping out for any kind of deals on the item before I buy it. Today I was in the Turnersville Target, and I noticed a big red SALE tag on the DSes. However, the price was still the usual $129.99. I asked the clerk at the electronics counter and he told me "Yeah, that just means it's at the price in the flyer." Quite frankly, the only word I can think of for marking an item with a SALE tag when it is not, in fact, at a sale price, is deceptive.We thought this might have been an isolated incident in New Jersey, so we went to our local Brooklyn Target and sure enough, the Nintendo DS Lite is marked "Sale" even though there is no discount. More »
—>Didn't feel like standing in line for a Wii? No worries. Nintendo says they're ramping up production. Could the Wii drought be over? More »
—>We don't feel so bad that we don't yet have a Wii, because Dubner over at Freakonomics doesn't have one and he's certainly wealthier and more popular than we are. He's posted a letter from one Paul Kimmelman summarizing the baffling shortage of Wiis. It raises some interesting questions. More »
The ad reads: $24 Sale, Each Nintendo DS Games (fine print: Choose from over 30 titles to stuff their baskets! Includes all reg. $29.99 and above DS games.) To me, that ad says, if ANY DS game is $29.99 or over, then I get it for $24. Sound about right? Well, anyone who just answered yes would be wrong, including me.Naturally, the game that Jared wanted to buy rang up at its normal (non-sale) price. No big deal, right? Jared thoughtfully brought the ad to show the manager. Oh, if it only were that simple... More »
The message telling me I had to wait for a CSR didn't even finish playing before a rep was on the line. I explained my problem and she said she'd get me an RMA right away to get it fixed. More »
A new Mayo Clinic study shows that adding activity to video games helps fight obesity. More »
—>Law firm Green Welling LLP has filed the inevitable Wii wrist strap class action lawsuit, wherein they claim, " Nintendo's failure to include a remote that is free from defects is in breach of Nintendo's own product warranty." What's the point of suing Nintendo? More »
- "Nintendo's president acknowledged Thursday the just-launched Wii video-game machine may have a problem with a strap that secures its trademark wandlike remote-controller to the player's wrist. More »
Wii fans in Washington state queued up for the Wii at 10pm last night, only to be told they weren't going on sale until eight this morning. A dispatch from the front lines: More »
Carbon nanotubes have one of the highest tensile strengths of any material known to man, which is how we know that the Wii wrist strap is not made of them. The Wii strap has been breaking at inopportune times all over the country since the Wii's release in mid-November—and the results have been disastrous enough to warrant a few news stories and at least one blog dedicated to documenting the destruction. Because after you've bounced a video game controller off your laptop and into your brand new plasma tv—you're going to take a picture. And we're going to laugh. In all seriousness, Nintendo might have a little problem on its hands if these "accidents" are caused by a faulty wrist strap. May we suggest Kevlar next time?—MEGHANN MARCO More »
—>Sick of looking for a Wii to buy your ingrate kids? Here's a tracker that automatically checks websites for Wii availability. Best Buy is noticeably absent, but otherwise it seems comprehensive. —MEGHANN MARCO More »
According to the Globe and Mail, Canadian Best Buys are holding back part of their shipment of Nintendo Wiis. Why are they doing this? More »
When it came time to pick it up on November 19, FYE wanted to make him buy two additional games and a $25 gift card. These additional purchases, to the sum of $400, were not disclosed when filed the pre-order. More »
—>Here at Gawker Tower (actually, a giant disused school bus turned vertically that was used by local teens for sex parties until the smell got too bad), we really love the circle jerk. So it was nice when our geeky, mouth-breathing colleagues over at Kotaku took time out of their busy schedule of writing about video games and wondering what it might be like to touch the soft mound of a woman's breast while she was conscious to pass on a reader email, indicating a new protection plan scam from our buddies at Best Buy. More »
Everyone who got burned on the original Nintendo Gameboy Advance debacle felt the existential yawning of deja vu when Nintendo recently announced that, less than a year after launch, they were shrinking down the size of their Nintendo DS handheld and making the screen better. This was after previously ensuring all of us that the device was Panglossian in its perfection and could not be foreseeably improved. What a perfect way to burn the customers who made Nintendo's experimental console a success — try to sell them the same product again a year later with the form factor that the product could have been in the first place! More »
• Amazon is taking pre-orders for the iRobot Scooba, the floor-washing counterpart to the Roomba, for $400. We are unduly excited about this product, but we really recommend waiting until some reviews come out before dropping four bills. There is also some question as to whether or not a Scooba owner will be tied to purchasing only the Clorox-branded cleaning solution, or if something can be whipped up at home. But still, new robot! Coupon code JANCLEAR takes off $25. More »
• Woot's pushing their own wine again. As homebrewers, we have nothing but empathy for their project. As drunks, we find the price of $55 for three bottles buzz prohibitive. More »
