Items tagged with Wii U
The CEO of Activision Blizzard Bobby Kotick announced this morning that he would lead an investor buyout of the company worth approximately $8.2 billion dollars. The move would free Blactivision (how has this moniker never caught on?) to become an independent publisher and free it from the clutches of Vivendi, the evil French entertainment conglomerate. Vivendi has reportedly been attempting to sell Activision Blizzard for years, due to an apparent hatred of actually turning a profit, given than the game developer owns some of the most popular franchises on Earth. Kotick, otherwise known as Satan (if you think I'm kidding, hie thee to Google and type "Bobby Kotick is a" in the search bar and...
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Major questions have been asked about how the Xbone handles user privacy, game authentication, used games, and online check-ins -- questions that you'd think Microsoft would answer directly. Instead, the company has opted to release a new website online, rather than put any particular individual front and center to take fire on the topics. Regardless, these are the answers to the questions we've been asking for nearly a year -- let's dig in. There's one high note. Family Gaming: Discs and downloads are equal partners on Xbox One -- buy either one on launch day, and you're treated identically. Your library will be available on *any* Xbox One -- if you sign into your own gamer profile on your friend's...
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Oh, Nintendo. At a time when the company should be doing everything in its power to capture a greater audience - heck, the audience it once had - it pulls a stunt that leaves its most devout fans upset. This week, some folks who produce "Let's Play" videos on YouTube began suffering a "Content ID" match on their content, courtesy of Nintendo, which means that they can no longer monetize their videos. When a Content ID match occurs, it allows the owner of the content (or in this case, game), to monetize the videos for themselves by putting an ad at the start of the video. For those who produce Let's Play videos to earn a bit of extra cash, this directly impacts them. So now the argument is, does...
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During the Wii U's big unveil, Electronic Arts (EA) talked a big game about the console's graphics and how it can't wait to pump out titles for the platform. There was an air of excitement from the publisher, who at the time seemed to be dreaming big. Well, not quite two years later, what a pipe dream that turned out to be. Sure, EA tossed a few ports at the console, but other than that, there hasn't been much activity from EA. In fact, there isn't any activity at EA right now in regards to the Wii U. "We have no games in development for the Wii U currently," EA spokeman Jeff Brown told Kotaku. Brown wouldn't go so far as to say EA is finished making games for the Wii U forever, but the lack...
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One of the apparent casualties of Disney's decision to hand EA the reins of Star Wars development is the Wii U. DICE is one of the studios that EA confirmed would be working on Star Wars property, alongside Bioware and Visceral. The Battlefield developer has previously stated that the next generation of the Frostbite engine wouldn't run on the Wii U (meaning no Battlefield 4 for Nintendo's console), but new comments indicate that there's no chance of a Frostbite 2-powered game, either. EA's initial announcement confirmed that future titles would be running on Frostbite 3. A reader then asked Johan Andersson, technical director of DICE, if this meant no Wii U games. Andersson responded with the...
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Nintendo Co. on Wednesday is back in black after reporting its first full-year loss in the history of the company last year. This time around, Nintendo's financial report reflects a profit of 7.1 billion yen (around $71.7 million) for its fiscal year ended in March, up from a loss of 43.2 billion yen ($436 million) in the prior year. At the same time, Nintendo posted an operating loss of 36.4 billion yen, or $366 million. What those numbers reveal is that Nintendo benefited from a recent weakening of the yen, which hit a four-year low earlier this month, ultimately helping the company squeeze out a profit. As for hardware sales, Nintendo sold 3.46 million Wii U consoles around the globe last...
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Despite having a head start over the competition, Nintendo may have lost the next-generation console war before it's fully begun. Nintendo's going to battle with the Wii U, an IBM PowerPC-powered console that launched in the U.S. on November 18, 2012, and several other territories shortly after, but sales haven't been through the roof. How low have they been? Wedbush analyst Michael Pacter put the tally at just 80,000 Wii U units in February, a number that jibes with NPD Group's data, and that's troubling for a number of reasons. First, it's not outselling the original Wii, a much older console. Even more troubling is that Nintendo's Wii U sales in February were less than half of the 165,000...
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Nintendo can pat itself on the back knowing that it beat both Microsoft and Sony in releasing next generation consoles, but being first isn't always the best strategy. At least one analyst believes the Wii U amounts to a misfire, saying Nintendo made a mistake in releasing it. "I think they misfired on the Wii U," Wedbush Securities managing director Michael Pachter told GamesBeat. "It's just not that different from the other two consoles, and the gameplay isn't as unique as the Wii. They made a mistake, it's something they probably can't recover from." Pachter's comments echo that of HotHardware's when we declared in our Wii U review that Nintendo ultimately missed the mark. Here's a quick refresher:...
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AMD has yet to make an official statement on this topic, but several unofficial remarks and leaks point in the same direction. Contrary to rumor, there won't be a new GCN 2.0 GPU out this spring to head up the Radeon HD 8000 family. This breaks with a pattern AMD has followed for nearly six years. Starting with the HD 3000 family, which debuted in November 2007, each successive generation appeared 9-13 months later. The HD 4000 series debuted in June 2008, the HD 5000 products launched in September 2009, the HD 6000's in October 2010, and the HD 7000 family in January, 2011. By that calendar, we should have seen a new HD 8000 GPU within the next few months. AMD recently refreshed its mobile...
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In a conference call with investors, Activision discussed the success of its Skylanders series, which is a Spyro the Dragon spinoff that's played along with toy figures through a "Portal of Power." Young children between 6-11 years old represent the target demographic, and that's something that concerns Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick when it comes to the Wii U. "As you know, we were somewhat disappointed with the launch of the Wii U," Kotick said. "And I think it's a challenging environment this year, and one of the things we are concerned about is what the install base of hardware will be like for 6-11 year olds. But we have a lot of confidence in the franchise in the long term. I think...
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Most of our console coverage tends to focus on hardware, rather than software, but with Sony's PS4 unveiling just weeks away, we want to consider the greatest threat facing the console industry: mobile gaming. Console sales (hardware and software) have tumbled for the second year in a row, even as game purchases from tablets and smartphones have soared. These factors would be troubling in any context, but the economics of new console launches are particularly brutal. Sony and Microsoft historically take a bath on console launches and hope to make up the difference in software sales. A few weeks back, we delved into Microsoft's video game operating income since 2005 -- let's take another...
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Nintendo now expects to sell fewer Wii U consoles than it initially anticipated, the Japanese video game maker said Wednesday as it slashed its sales outlook for its newest gaming device. The company said it sold 3.06 million Wii U consoles to date, and only expects sales to reach 4 million through March, down from a previous forecast of 5.5 million units. It wasn't just the Wii U that was downgraded. Nintendo adjusted its sales expectations for its 3DS handheld console to 15 million units through March, down from a previous forecast of 17.5 million units. The company also expects to sell fewer software titles, reducing its forecast of Wii U game sales to 16 million units, down from 24 million...
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AMD's fourth quarter results for 2012 are in, and they're as bad as everyone has been expecting. The only good news is that since everyone has been expecting it, the company's stock shouldn't take too hard a hammering. Total revenue for the year was $5.42B, down 17.5% year-on-year. Gross margins fell from 45% to 23% thanks to a much higher cost of sales. AMD ended 2012 with a $1.1B net loss, compared to a $486M income in 2011. Computing Solutions (CPU sales) revenue fell to $4B for the year, down from $5B in 2011. Graphics revenue was down 10% year-on-year, to $1.41B in sales, as opposed to $1.565B for 2011. There are a few glimmers of positive news. Computing solutions revenue was down sharply,...
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Nintendo took a lot of risks with the Wii U. It bet on the second-screen controller becoming a major draw, that the console's relatively limited hardware wouldn't be an issue, and that it could spark the same kind of meteoric sales volume a second time around. It's the first time Nintendo has ever tried to launch such a comprehensive device, and as we noted in our review, the Wii U isn't a slam dunk. Early sales data for the all-important holiday season indicates that gamers may feel the same way. Japanese magazine Famitsu reported that post-Christmas Wii U sales slumped to 70,000 units per week, down from 76,000 the week before. That's particularly important because, in Japan, the week after...
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Ever since the Wii U was announced, there've been conversations on the type of CPU it used and what sort of performance gamers could expect from it. Deep off-the-record comments from game developers indicated that the Wii U's horsepower was on par with, or perhaps a bit behind the Xbox 360 and PS3, which naturally raised questions about just how "next-generation" the Wii U would be. Now, Wii and PS3 hacker Hector Martin (aka Marcan) has answered some of these questions and raised a few others. According to him, the Wii U's CPU is a triple-core design clocked at 1.24GHz. Marcan identifies the base design as a PowerPC 750, which makes a great deal of sense. Nintendo used PowerPC 750-derived processors...
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The Wii U launched last week, to general acclaim and positive responses; Nintendo sold some 400,000 Wii U's in North America. That's not quite equal to the Wii, which moved over 600,000 units in 2006, but it puts the next-generation console well ahead of the PS3 and Xbox 360 when those consoles debuted. Nintendo is feeling pretty stoked about this, but the company's North American president, Reggie Fils-Aime, took a surprisingly arrogant tone regarding Sony and Microsoft. "In the end, our competitors need to react to what we're doing in the marketplace and need to figure out what their innovation will be," Fils-Aime told CNET. "It's likely that faster processors and pretty pictures won't be enough...
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Nintendo is the first of the 'big three' console makers to launch next generation hardware, but the Wii U has already found some criticism among game developers as an underpowered machine. Specifically, 4A Games' chief technical officer (CTO) Oles Shiskovtsov told NowGamer that the "Wii U has a horrible, slow CPU," citing that as the reason the platform will not see Metro: Last Light. Shiskovtov's comments may have caught THQ off guard. The game publisher almost immediately went into full damage control. "I think there was one comment made by Oles the programmer -- the guy who build the engine," THQ's Huw Beynon, who works as a full time representative of 4A Games, told Eurogamer. "It's a very...
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Hulu announced its new Video Games hub which will feature HD trailers, game play videos, and reviews of the hottest new games. Located at www.hulu.com/videogames, the new video game hub also has information about a game's release date so you will know when you can get your hands on a game you're eyeing. The Video Games hub is currently available on the PC. Hulu plans to roll it out to all Hulu Plus enabled devices over the next few months. Some of the titles you'll currently find in the Video Games hub include Halo 4, Black Ops 2., and Assassin’s Creed III. Additionally, Hulu plans to highlight some of the video games for the Wii U such as New Super Mario Bros U, Nintendo Land, and SiNG...
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The more things change, the more they stay the same. How so? Well, it's been six long years since the last major console launch (the original Wii and PlayStation 3 both debuted in November, 2006), and though the landscape looks decidedly different these days, gamers apparently still have to deal with yesteryear issues, like low inventory and inflated online prices. Nintendo's Wii U console is sold out online, as well as in many brick-and-mortar stores. The console launched to the U.S. market just yesterday (November 18, 2012), giving gamers a choice between the Basic Set for $300 (8GB storage) or the Deluxe Set for $350 (32GB hard drive and various extras). Both are now hard to come by just a...
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Nintnedo's making a concerted effort to play a bigger role in living room entertainment with its Wii U console than it did with the original Wii, but some features integral to that goal won't be available right off the bat. The company didn't give a specific reason as to why the delay was taking place, and instead offered up a canned statement about wanting its service "to be the best possible experience for all consumers." One of the features being held out until December is Nintendo TVii. "In December, Nintendo will activate this unique application that will transform how people find, watch and engage with TV shows, movies and sports," Nintendo said. "Nintendo TVii makes watching TV simple...
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The next generation console wars will officially begin on November 18, 2012, which is when Nintendo's upcoming Wii U console will be available to purchase. Leading up the launch, Nintendo of America has begun its marketing blitz with its first Wii U commercial, a one-minute ad-spot that appears on YouTube and Facebook ahead of its TV debut. Nintendo's ad presents the Wii U as a family-friendly console, much like the original Wii, with shots of gamers of all ages enjoying the console in some way, shape, or form. The theme of the ad is "How U Will Play Next," and as such, much of the ad is dedicated to showing off gameplay mechanics using the touchscreen-equipped Wii U GamePad. While this is Nintendo...
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Apparently Nintendo's upcoming Wii U game console isn't powered by a Power 7 processor after all, as was previously believed to be the case. IBM took to Twitter to clarify that fact, while offering a somewhat vague clue as to what hardware the Wii U will be running. "Wii U chip clarification: It's a 'Power-based microprocessor,'" @IBMWatson stated in a Twitter post. Previous information seemed to suggest the Wii U would tap into IBM's Power 7 architecture, but IBM chalked that up to a miscommunication in a followup tweet. "Pardon the error. It's a custom chip built on Power Architecture base," the company said. There have been rumors that the the Wii U's "Expresso" (codename) processor is essentially...
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