At Infendo we try to bring you the most positive and informative news we possibly can. When my review of Video Games Live was being plagued by some imposters who were pretending to be Tommy Tallarico, I took the initiative to get in contact with him and try to find out what exactly was going on. When we finally started talking we managed to have nice conversation about Video Games live and gaming in general and we talked about his view on my review. Hit the jump for the transcript of the interview.
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At one time or another we have all wondered what Nintendo’s next step in the industry will be. Whether it be unrevealed games, ideas, or possible hardware revisions it’s always exciting. Using all of my combined Nintendo knowledge and examining past patterns, I’ve constructed a small list of predictions that I believe the company will make. This list covers major games, new peripherals, hardware, etc… Here we go!

(Note: In case you skipped the paragraph above, the list below are complete speculations, predictions, and guesses. They could be completely wrong, but I do believe I’m not far off.)

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“I have an idea for an Infendo post you should do…” — Sean Malstrom

And so began this simple post on an extraordinary idea. Perhaps a bit crazy too, but then again all disruptive technologies are labeled as such before they’re accepted en masse.

The idea? That the Balance Board packaged with Wii Fit isn’t an accessory at all. It’s a console, just the like Wii or even the PlayStation 3.

You were wondering when Nintendo would update the Wii? Unveil a Wii 2? Good news: The Wii Balance Board is it.

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Nintendo and its approach to online gaming has been pretty perplexing to guys like us, huh? Friend Codes head us off at every pass like some small town sheriff drunk with power; servers groan and creak when we attempt to Brawl with friends and strangers alike; and don’t get us started on trying to chat in-game, right?

Most of us are optimists, I’d like to think, and deep down we give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt. Soon, we say, soon they’ll get it right and we’ll be seamlessly battling it out online tossing taunts at friends while the latest Wii Connect 24 update downloads in the background, complete with an “adults only” Friend Code nullifier that essentially makes the annoying online gatekeeper a thing of the past.

But I’m not an optimist. I don’t believe any of that. Two different things happened this week that lead me to believe none of it will ever happen. This has been Nintendo’s plan all along. The ironic thing about it all? It’s going to work. (more…)

Video game sales tracking Web site VGChartz.com is now reporting 22 Wii games have sold one million copies or more worldwide.

LucasArts’ Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga is the latest Wii game to go platinum, making it the ninth third-party game to reach this prestigious plateau.

These figures sharply contrast criticism asserting Wii software has poor selling potential. For comparison, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 now hosts 35 million-sellers 28 months after its release, while Sony’s PlayStation 3, released alongside Wii in Nov. 2006, has only 10.

Wii has reached 22 million-sellers in only 16 months, far outpacing software sales of Nintendo’s last console, the GameCube, which had 38 platinum-selling games by the end of its five-year life cycle.

In terms of specific Wii software, Wii Sports remains at the top of the list with more than 20 million copies sold, including non-Japanese pack-in sales. Wii Play follows with nearly 11 million, and Super Mario Galaxy rounds out the top three with more than 6 million copies.

Wii Fit is big in Japan (1.5 million sold in three months) and arguably will be as big if not bigger in the US when it goes live in a month or so (more people, more people who subscribe to new “weight loss” gimmicks, Wii’s existing momentum among people outside the now incorrectly described “core” or “traditional gamer”). But, just in case, Nintendo is allegedly preparing a massive marketing push to ensure the peripheral is seen and experienced by as many people as possible. I’m talking Oprah here people, Oprah. (more…)

The game industry is, undeniably, already well on its way into a new era. It is, like a certain presidential candidate, change we can believe in. It is both an exciting time (as a player) and an uncertain time (as a developer). But it is also a highly lucrative time, as is usually the case when truly disruptive trends begin to come to a head (see also, iPod).

Hardware and software sales continue to trend well into the billions of dollars; industry figureheads like former Sony exec Phil Harrison have allegedly stepped down because of blowback against some of the newer game ideas that are making money where there wasn’t any to be made in the past; and, since I would be remiss to not include it in a post on a fansite devoted to passionate discussion about its very being, there is, without question, Nintendo. (more…)

Thanks to the one-two punch of titles like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the quirky Wii Fit balance board, Nintendo has widened its lead in Japan over Sony’s PlayStation 3.

According to an article from Reuters today, Nintendo’s Wii game console outsold the PlayStation 3 nearly 4-to-1 in Japan in February despite Sony’s console beginning to narrow the gap last autumn. In addition to strong hardware sales, Wii software titles also dominated the best seller list. Super Smash Bros. Brawl led the software sales with 1.33 million units, followed by Wii Fit which sold 309,311 units in the four weeks.

According to Reuters, Enterbrain and the Japanese gaming mag Famistsu, the Wii’s lead on the PS3 appears to be widening. In February it was 4:1; in January, the Wii outsold the PS3 by almost 3-to-1. Nintendo sold 331,627 units of the Wii in the four weeks to Feb. 24, compared with 89,131 units of the PS3, market research firm Enterbrain said.

Microsoft, content to sell to that lucrative “niche collector’s market” in Japan, sold 14,079 Xbox 360 units in the February reporting period.

Some Nintendo-related awards news out of the Games Developers Conference this week:

The 2008 Game Developers Conference has honored Nintendo with a Game Developers Choice Award.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for Nintendo DS won for Best Handheld Game of the Year. The game continues to enjoy strong momentum in the U.S., with more than 1.1 million copies sold since its Oct. 1, 2007, release.

Nintendo received nominations in three categories: Best Game of the Year (Super Mario Galaxy), Best Handheld Game of the Year (The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass), and Best Game Design (Super Mario Galaxy). The awards were presented during an annual ceremony the night of Feb. 20, 2008, at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. The awards are among the highest honors in game development, acknowledging excellence in game creation.

I got this for Christmas, played it for a few weeks, and then it got pushed to the side by Advance Wars, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga and even a resurgence of Puzzle Quest, which I acquired in December for $15 and still can’t get enough of (random system-freezing bugs aside). Am I getting tired of Zelda? I dunno. Maybe I’m just not a fan of this version of Zelda on the handheld. Maybe there are just too many games to play right now.

In a GDC interview with GameDaily this afternoon, Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat discussed Wii development and revealed some of the surprising praise Ubisoft received from Nintendo for its Nov. 2007 Wii release, My Word Coach.

“We were working in secret on a game called My Word Coach…and we had the chance to show the game to (Nintendo of America President) Reggie Fils-Aime, and he saw the game and said, ‘You got it. You guys got exactly the type of game we want for this machine,’” said Mallat.

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VG Chartz is reporting Carnival Games has surpassed one million copies sold worldwide.

Released in Aug. 2007, the exclusive Wii minigame collection has since exceeded virtually all sales expectations despite receiving mediocre review scores. Carnival Games is currently averaging an aggregate score of 56 on Metacritic.

Carnival Games was developed by Washington-based Cat Daddy Games, a studio primarily focused on PC games, and published by Global Star Software. G4TV reported a rumor on Jan. 17 that a sequel may be in development for a 2008 release.

Capcom announced yesterday a 15 percent raise in expected 2008 operating profit, elevating the company’s forecast to 11.5 billion yen. Capcom expects net sales of 81.6 billion yen and a net income of and 62 billion yen for the year.

The company cited better-than-expected software sales as the reason for the boost, particularly noting the “robust sales” of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. According to Capcom, the exclusive Wii shooter has sold 950K copies worldwide to date.

In a somewhat pleasant surprise, the company’s financial statement also highlighted the performance of another Wii exclusive, Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure. Capcom’s internal figures show the critically acclaimed puzzler has sold a respectable 300K units worldwide.

Capcom noted these results were offset by “sluggish growth” of the Wii exclusive We Love Golf and Mega Man Star Force 2 in Japan. Perhaps if gamers were offered an actual Mega Man sequel with the actual Mega Man, “growth” would be less “sluggish.”

Industry analysis and corporate hyperbole aside, there is something to be said for logic.

Nothing deductive or philosophical, either. Just simple, basic logic. The kind of stuff kids learn between finger-painting and cookie breaks in first grade. Logic as it operates in the minds of seven-year-old boys; back then, we weren’t exactly sure what impact “cooties” would have on our health and well-being, but our instincts told us - animalistic survival tactics, perhaps? - they were something to be avoided.

Cooties are bad. Girls carry cooties. Therefore, girls are stupid, gross and to be avoided at all costs.

I suppose one could even call it common-sensical. It just makes sense, and it would stand to reason that similar logic should be at work when major third-party video game publishers decide which platform to support with their best development teams. They watch as Nintendo’s Wii outsells both Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 on a monthly basis, and as logic provides, they put their most capable teams on quality Wii software to make a profit, develop and sustain consumer loyalty and, ultimately, develop a healthy portfolio for the market’s hottest platform.

Only they don’t.

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It doesn’t take much of a search of the Infendo archives to discover where I stand on big, bloated blockbuster titles like Halo 3 or Metal Gear Solid 4.

To summarize, I think they’re pretty much the worst thing to happen to gaming since the Virtual Boy. (more…)

Today Gamasutra asked a bunch of analysts if Nintendo should revisit the 1980s, when the Nintendo Seal of Quality actually meant something, and then apply that mindset to the Wii.

Apparently, there’s a dearth of low-quality, sub par efforts on the Wii right now, and it’s officially time to completely forget the DS’s early track record and again start declaring to the hilltops that the sky is falling and the bubble is set to burst. (more…)