It's Nintendo Day! Nintendo spouted off a variety of interesting news today, announcing that Gamecube sales had quadrupled in the US since last week's pricedrop, with 61k units being sold in 7 days as opposed to 15k each week all summer. It seems they liked that, as they also mentioned the imminent price drop from €199 to €99 (?79) in Europe which should spur another couple of thousand people to finally get the purchase over with. The company also had some bad news, dropping its first half projections from a profit of $117M to a loss of $23M due to losses in foreign exchange rates. That economy, eh?
Nintendo posts first ever profit loss Shares of Nintendo Co Ltd dropped last week upon the announcement that Nintendo would, for the April-September period, post their first projected financial loss since going public over 40 years ago. The loss has been attributed to slow worldwide Gamecube sales and foreign-exchange rates. Reuters
Gamecube selling fast -- not unlike hotcakes GamesIndustry.bizreports that North American sales of the Nintendo Gamecube have skyrocketed as a result of the recent price cut that took effect late last month. Sales of Nintendo?s Gamecube have since outperformed the PS2 by 20% and outsold the Xbox by a 145% margin. The Gamecube was outperformed only by sales of the Game Boy Advance, which has consistently sold more units than any other hardware system.
N-Gage a dismal failure "Nokia's N-Gage sold less than 5,000 units across the entire United States during its first week of release. This extremely low figure accounts for both videogame retailers and cellular huts... For sake of comparison, Nintendo's Game Boy Advance sold over 540,000 units during its first week of release in the U.S." GameSpy
Grand Theft Auto instigates lawsuit against Sony, Take-Two, Wal-Mart ?KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- A $246 million lawsuit was filed against the designer, marketer and a retailer of the video game series "Grand Theft Auto" by the families of two people shot by teenagers apparently inspired by the game. The suit claims marketer Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., designers Take-Two Interactive Software and Rockstar Games, and Wal-Mart, are liable for $46 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages.? CNN.com
Final Fantasy X-2 will kick ass in NA and Europe Famitsu reports that the much hyped Creature Creation system that will be in the upcoming Japanese release of Final Fantasy X-2 International+Last Mission has also been confirmed for the NA version of the title, leading Gamefront to believe that the NA version of the game will, in fact, include all elements of the International version. And if North America is getting it, then Europe is likely getting it too. Hopefully they won't muck up the NTSC to PAL hertz conversion this time around. Gamefront
One month break to end soon You might be wondering just what we've been up to since Squenix revealed its new shit at the beginning of October. Well, we've been doing absolutely nothing, which is probably part of the problem. Don't worry, though! It's almost time for midterms, so instead of studying, look forward to us cranking out at least a review of FFXI, a look back at the previous month of unveilings, and other crap that we would promise you if I had any authority over the rest of staff. Yeah.
Final Fantasy XI for PC out today in NA You know what they say - time to go out and buy that game! Also time to go out and buy a new harddrive and graphics card, because no way you're going to play it without 6gb of space and 128MB of pure polygon-pumping visual power! Buy it
Final Fantasy XII delayed With the initial commercial campaign for Final Fantasy XII starting up on November 19th, Square Enix has curiously opted to delay the release of the game into the next financial year (04/05). Previously, it was set for a release in this financial year which ends on March 31st 2004. So it may just be delayed by a day then. Right.
Unlimited: SaGa out in Europe Square Enix Europe and Atari yesterday released Unlimited: SaGa in Europe. The only reason this is interesting is because I was in a store picking up Viewtiful Joe and happened to notice that it not only comes in deluxe cardboard embossed packaging with a 3-panel character art foldout, but also contains a second disc with the European version of Final Fantasy X Eternal Calm. Mmm-mm good.
Kutaragi reveals PSP concept design At Sony's US shareholders' meeting on Tuesday, Playstation master Ken Kutaragi gave a quirky little presentation about Sony's upcoming new strategy involving the PSX and Cell processor. He also showed this design for the PSP, which although definitely not final, is pretty freaking sexy. The PSP will apparently be made to compete with the GBA, N-Gage, iPod, and cellphone/PDA market. Wow.
Early Final Fantasy X-2 release anticipated Square-Enix anticipates initial shipments of Final Fantasy X-2 to arrive as early as November 18 instead of the original December release. In addition, Square-Enix also anticipates that you will purchase this game like the love-starved Final Fantasy slave that you are. GameSpy
Zelda bonus disc announced Starting November 17, Nintendo will begin shipping Gamecube systems bundled with a free Zelda bonus disc. The package will retail for $99, while the disc includes four complete Zeldas - The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask, as well as a playable Windwaker demo. Current Gamecube owners, don't fret -- you can still get your very own Zelda bonus disc by subscribing to Nintendo Power or purchasing two of Nintendo's four holiday titles. Nintendo.com
Final Fantasy XII unveiled One week before Square Enix's official unveiling of the title, Shonen Jump has shots of Final Fantasy XII, which Quiter happily got digitized for you. Judge them for yourself, then get into the forums to talk about it!
Update: The main hero and heroine appear to be named, respectively, Van and Ashe. Whether the two characters merge into a super-summon-hybrid called "Vanish" is unknown as of yet. SHMFoD
Matsuno comments on Final Fantasy XII The Magic Box reports that Final Fantasy XII mastermind Yasumi Matsuno talked a little about his latest creation in July, at the Playstation Meeting, for god's sake, stating that it would come on two DVDs, feature "tighter controls", a less important love story, a huge "world map", resemble his 2000 opus Vagrant Story, and cause people to ask "Is this Final Fantasy?". He neglected to comment on whether or not Van has a bare ass like VS hero Ashley Riot.