Once upon a time, either here on Infendo or in the clandestine back channels of the Infendo staff offices (read: gmail), I predicted that in 2007, we would see one of the major print magazines like BusinessWeek or Wired run a cover story about the resurgence of Nintendo.

It came a bit earlier than even my fanboyish self could have predicted. Fortune has a huge article on Nintendo up right now, and the cover is over there, to the right.

The gravy:

While game consoles typically attract youngish males with an antisocial streak, the Wii is bringing people of all demographics together: in nursing homes, for Wii bowling leagues, on cruise ships, at coed (!) Wii-themed parties and, of course, in lines – as hordes of consumers clamor to buy the impossible-to-find $250 machine. Nintendo is churning out over a million units a month and still can’t meet demand.

Game. Set. Match? Not quite, especially six months into the long haul. But damn, that’s some sweetness right der.

Ubisoft is in a great position now. They were quick to recognize the potential in the Wii and got a gob of games out for it in time for launch. A bit too quick, however, as many of the games lacked the polish and finish of some of the more robust Wii titles to date. Seriously, I think Far Cry didn’t even have an intro screen. It just started you off in level 2.

Regardless, they made bank off the Wii even if their effort was sub-par at best. (more…)

The last post I’ll do on the now infamous Nintendo Media Day of 2007 is, fittingly, a Penny Arcade webcomic that diffuses (I hope) the situation with a bit of humor. It’s also a ringing endorsement for Mario Strikers Charged.

Charged is quickly becoming a must have title for me. I’ve played soccer literally all my life; I’ve loved the videos of actual gameplay over at GameTrailers and elsewhere; and this title just feels like a perfect arcade summer distraction to me. Plus it has bicycle kicks. There could be a game called bicycle kicks where all you do is perform these incredible football moves over and over (with Matrix-style slow downs) and I’d still be playing it this time next year.

My my my. What do we make of today’s online news? Seems Nintendo’s completely free Wi-Fi connection service reached 5 million users. To me, this represents the abysmal failure of the Friend Code system. Yes, class, that was sarcasm. But only a *little* sarcasm, not my usual levels by any means.

I’m certainly not going to say these numbers mean Nintendo has a wild success on its hands, but at 5 million people online in this short amount of time, their first effort into a mass audience online network is something to take notice of.

(more…)

Nintendo is releasing two new DS Lite colors in Japan.  On June 23rd, Gloss Silver and Metallic Rose will join the five existing colors available in that country.  No indication has been given if these colors will make their way to other territories.

Personally, the availability of a silver DS Lite in the US would be extremely tempting for me.  What do you think of the new colors?

Nintendo announced in a press release today their top five most popular Wi-Fi games as follows:

1. Animal Crossing: Wild World
2. Mario Kart DS
3. Metroid Prime Hunters
4. Pokémon Diamond
5. Pokémon Pearl

What’s been your favorite online game so far, and what are you most hopeful for?

Here’s some recent reviews of new(er) games you may or may not be interested in:

• Mario Party 8 (66%) -  “Played alone, against the computer, the game is barely worth popping out of its case. But, having even one other human opponent ups the fun exponentially–you just can’t get the same satisfaction out of trash talking against a faceless computerized enemy.”
• Mortal Kombat Armageddon (75%) – “Get two people together and it’s damn good fun! Fans should not be disappointed.”
• Diner Dash (63%) – “It’s brilliant because it presents a slick and fast-paced management puzzle within firm boundaries and rules that manages to teach the player all of its lessons before he or she gets bored and moves on.”

Any Infendo owners of the above care to chime in with your take?

Game Wad is reporting that the following features will be included in Madden 08 for Wii when it’s released on August 14:

• Real-time ESPN ticker updates
• Online tournaments
• Worldwide quickplay multiplayer matches
• Promised roster updates not just for the 2008 season, but 2009 as well
• Mini-game party mode, with 22 mini-games
• Miis are used in minigames

To echo the sentiments of Eddie Inzauto, “That sure is a lot of online stuff for the Wii.” Indeed. Looking like an online blowout for Wii come this fall. Patience web fans. Patience.

The Mii-specific Friend Code news from today has, expectedly, brought the panic prone and rumor mongering hordes of the Interwebs to a tizzy. I realize I’ve posted on it already today, but new information has surfaced that required I revisit the topic with some topical freshness. (more…)

Ok, Ok, Super Mario Strikers is already out in the Europe this week. I get it. But did you know its online component was adopted en masse faster than the German language was by France during World War 2? (a tasteless surrender joke, I know, I know)

The Tanooki tells it like it is:

For the week ending May 27 (yesterday), online activity for Nintendo WFC games was as follows:

1. Pokémon Diamond – 1,460,474 connections
2. Pokémon Pearl – 1,007,074 connections
3. Mario Strikers Charged Football – 399,569 connections
4. Animal Crossing: Wild World – 360,855 connections
5. Mario Kart DS – 294,993 connections
6. Metroid Prime Hunters – 201,480 connections
7. Jump! Ultimate Stars – 128,872 connections
8. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker – 108,299 connections
9. Tetris DS – 71,347 connections
10. Pokémon Battle Revolution – 51,781 connections

Um. Wow. I’d say Pokemon titles taking the top spots are a wash, so I’m giving the crown to Strikers this week.