Mario Kart coming to iPhones and Androids.

First Mario, then Animal Crossing, now Mario Kart is on its way to iPhone and Android devices.

Nintendo just announced Mario Kart Tour, which is due for release sometime before March 2019. 

The checkered flag has been raised and the finish line is near. A new mobile application is now in development: Mario Kart Tour! #MarioKartTour Releasing in the fiscal year ending in March 2019. pic.twitter.com/8GIyR7ZM4z

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 1, 2018

Japan: Hiroshi Yamauchi Father of Nintendo dies at 85.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.

Japan: Hiroshi Yamauchi  Father of Nintendo dies at 85.

Hiroshi Yamauchi (c) when he was president of Nintendo next Bill Gates of Microsoft (l) and Shozo Hasimoto, representative of Nomura Research Institute (r), during a meeting in Tokyo in 1996. Photo: Yoshikazu TsunoO /AFP  

Hiroshi Yamauchi (c) cuando era presidente de Nintendo junto Bill Gates de Microsoft (i) y Shozo Hasimoto, representante de Nomura Research Institut (d),durante un encuentro en Tokio en 1996. Foto: Yoshikazu TsunoO/AFP.

Former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi, the company that became the largest producer of video games in the world, died today of pneumonia at a hospital in Kyoto at age 85, reported the Japanese consortium.

Yamauchi, who ran the company for 53 years, took over in 1949 the direction of what was then a manufacturer of traditional Japanese playing cards. In the 70s he entered the business of the consoles and then in 1989 brought to market the Gameboy Pocket console, which became a huge hit. Yamauchi led the company, known worldwide for games like Zelda, Donkey Kong or Super Mario, until 2002, when he became advisor Satoru Iwata Nintendo and succeeded him in the presidency.

Yamauchi also owned American baseball club before selling Seattle Mariners Nintendo in 2004.

ElComercio

USA: Nintendo sold 400.000 WiiU units last week.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.

USA: Nintendo sold 400.000 WiiU units last week.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said today that during the last week, its internal data has shown total U.S. hardware sales have reached more than 1.2 million units. That figure includes the Wii U, Wii, 3DS, and DS.

According to Fils-Aime, Nintendo sold over 700,000 consoles during the last week. The Wii U topped the Wii with 400,000 units sold. The Wii, which Nintendo launched all the way back in 2006, was able to muster 300,000 Wii sales during the last week.

The Wii U, was launched on November 18.

"Wii U is essentially sold out of retail and we are doing our best to continually replenish stock," Fils-Aime said. "Retailers are also doing their best to get the product to store shelves. But as soon as product hits retail, they're selling out immediately."

Source: CNET

Is the end of dedicated mobile gaming devices beginning?

WorldWide Tech & SCience. Francisco De Jesús.

Is the end of dedicated mobile gaming devices beginning?

The latest results from Nintendo suggest that the dedicated mobile gaming device may go the way of the dedicated mobile music player, with the smartphone ruling all. Guy Daniels reports.

If the latest half-yearly results from Nintendo are anything to go by, the days of the dedicated portable games device may be numbered. The results from the computer gaming company showed a $900 million loss for the period, with a pessimistic forecast for the future – despite the new Wii U that will be launched later in 2012. Its latest DS and 3DS portable hardware and software produced far weaker sales than the company expected.

Dirk Schmidt writes on the mobile analyst website Asymco that Nintendo’s actual sales started to fall behind forecasts from 2009 and the margin is widening. As for the reason, he says look no further than the iPhone (which launched in 2007) and Android:

“By Q1 2009, iOS reached an installed base of about 38 million, half the number of Nintendo portables in the same period. Furthermore, in Q1 2009 Android phones came to the market. Portable gaming devices from Nintendo and Sony declined ever since: 17 per cent in 2009, 31 per cent in 2010 and already 16 per cent in the last twelve months.”

He says that iOS and Android have outsold Nintendo portable units by a factor of 2.1 times and 1.6 times respectively, with one of the reasons being that there are a staggering 26 times more games available for the phone platforms than for Nintendo or Sony’s portable consoles.

Angry Bird alone (with over 500 million downloads to date) has sold more than twice the amount of Sony’s cumulative portable game titles and almost as many as Nintendo’s cumulative games titles since 2007. The dedicated devices are just not attracting the number of games developers – they may have the graphics firepower, but they just don’t have the reach and potential profitability of iOS and Android.

Although Sony is also playing in the smartphone space – and more aggressively now, given that it’s buying complete control of SonyEricsson – Nintendo shows no signs of following. Microsoft is bringing its Xbox console titles to mobiles via its latest Windows Phone operating system. And even Facebook, with over half of its 800 million users playing games within the desktop application, has set up Project Spartan to bring this game play to its mobile users.

Here’s what Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata had to say in an interview with Nikkei (translated here) about extending its software games library to other mobile platforms:

“This is absolutely not under consideration. If we did this, Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo. Having a hardware development team in-house is a major strength. It’s the duty of management to make use of those strengths. It’s probably the correct decision in the sense that the moment we started to release games on smartphones we’d make profits. However, I believe my responsibility is not to short term profits, but to Nintendo’s mid and long term competitive strength.”

Nintendo is slowly adding other functions to its portable devices, such as a browser and games store, but this is a long way short of turning them into multi-use devices, let alone smartphones or portable computers.

Source: Asymco

Handheld Games : Android and iOS set to overtake Nintendo’s DS platform in full-year 2011.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Flurry Analytics  said that there has been a notable shift in US portable games software revenue, with Android and iOS set to overtake Nintendo’s DS platform in full-year 2011.

Last year, the Nintendo platform accounted for 57 percent of revenue, with Sony’s PSP having a 9 percent share, and Android and iOS having 34 percent jointly. Based on its full-year 2011 estimates, Flurry believes that the DS will have 36 percent of the market by revenue, with PSP falling to 6 percent, and Android/iOS growing to 58 percent.

The company estimates the US mobile games market to be worth US$3.3 billion in 2011, compared with US$2.5 billion in 2010, which was a slight decrease from US$2.7 billion in 2009.

In a blog post, Flurry said that “no industry has been more impacted by digital distribution than video games,” and that “leading the disruption are iOS and Android devices, whose free and inexpensive games, distributed across a massive installed base of powerful and networked tablet and mobile phone form factors, have already disrupted billions of dollars of game revenue.”

It was also noted that the change in business model is likely to be extended into the living room, with both Apple and Google moving into the TV category. “Ostensibly, this new class of hardware will create a new platform upon which the digital distribution model of apps will be overlaid,” the analytics firm said – challenging Nintendo, as well as Microsoft and Sony, on its home-turf.

Video.Taking Nintendo's Mario up a notch

WorldWide Tech and Science. Francisco DeJesús.

Nintendo says its classic mascot Mario will lead the way this holiday season, as it adapts classic titles to its newest technologies. 

Nintendo's classic mascot Mario is back and gearing up to fight for consumer dollars this holiday season. 

The company is previewing its holiday lineup and Mario remains its brightest star - with two new games for its 3DS handheld. Krysta Yang of Nintendo America: SOUNDBITE: KRYSTA YANG, SPOKESPERSON, NINTENDO AMERICA (ENGLISH) SAYING: "On the Nintendo 3DS, viewers can actually see the game in 3D without the need for special glasses. 

So it's really incredible the amount of depth, the immersiveness of the graphics and just kind of getting lost in the Mario world. So it's really fun to see these classic franchises re-imagined on the new platform with new technology." 

That new technology is also driving new editions of a number of games including Kirby and Starfox. For its Wii console, Nintendo is shaking up its action adventure game Legends of Zelda franchise with The Legend of Zelda : Skyward Sword- which uses the Wii MotionPlus technology. 

And there are some newcomers to the mix as well- Rhythm Heaven - challenges players to complete tasks in sync to musical patterns. JC Rodrigo is in product development for Nintendo: SOUNDBITE: JC RODRIGO, SENIOR PRODUCT MARKETING SPECIALIST, NINTENDO AMERICA (ENGLISH) SAYING: "Nintendo has a way of kind of making like every small moment that you play a game really kind of charming like you'll start to find things that you are going to laugh and giggle about you might be moved, you might be sad one moment, and then you are going to be extremely happy the next." And even though the much anticipated Wii U console isn't coming out until after the holidays, all the games coming out for the holidays will still be compatible with it.

E3: Nintendo's new Wii U , a game changer ?. Video Promo.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Nintendo is aiming to break the mould with its next home console, called the Wii U.

Promising more for hardcore gamers, as well as the casual audience that flocked to the Wii, the next generation console features a controller that resembles a tablet PC, with a 6.2in touchscreen. It plays HD graphics and includes a camera, joysticks and buttons.

Nintendo's announcement will pressure rivals such as Microsoft and Sony to come up with new game systems, and could jumpstart a $65bn (£39.5bn) global industry that surpasses Hollywood in size. The new device will launch between April and December 2012, the company told reporters at the E3 games  conference in Los Angeles. They did not reveal how much it will cost.

The console can also be used to play games with a TV screen. Its controller can be used to make voice calls and will be able to run previous Nintendo games. It has motion-sensor capabilities and works in conjunction with existing Wii controllers, the company said.

The device could appeal to hardcore gamers who enjoy playing first-person shooter games, an area where Nintendo has lost ground to rivals.

Wii U is the first new home console in five years. The device has graphical abilities roughly on a par with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This allows it to run the biggest blockbusters games, which currently only appear on those consoles.

At Nintendo's E3 press conference the chief executive of EA Games, John Riccitiello, said: "It's a better platform than we have ever been offered by Nintendo." Several games publishers, including Ubisoft, Codemasters, THQ and Capcom, announced that they will make games for it.

3D Glasses Free screen smartphones availables. Japan on the top.

WorldWideTech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Coming first in the race to release a 3D glasses-free screen was DoCoMo, with their LYNX 3D SH-03C Android handset, released for sale on Dec. 3. Manufactured by Sharp, the 3.8-inch touchscreen has a 400 x 800 pixel resolution screen that is capable of displaying 3D images that can be seen without glasses.


 But SoftBank are not far behind. They’ll also be introducing a Sharp Android phone to the market: the Galapagos 003SH which will be on sale from Dec. 17. In terms of content, though, SoftBank, who’ll be offering a range of 3D games like Taiko Drum Master and Biohazard, seem to have got the edge on DoCoMo.


Those unwilling to trade away their iPhones for a 3D-capable handset need not despair: a neat little device called the Palm Top Theatre, clips onto your phone and transforms 2D images into 3D, again without the need for special specs.


TVs are not far behind cell phones, and as we went to post, Toshiba were scrambling to release their glasses-free Regza GL1 Series 3D TV this month. A call to their PR office revealed that they’re still planning to release the technology within the promised deadline. This is bad news for other 3D TV manufacturers, making their efforts look dated before they’ve even had a chance to get going.


The advent of Toshiba’s glasses-free TV comes just in time for the launch of Japan’s first-ever custom-made 3D TV drama. Made in collaboration with Fuji and Sony, “Tokyo Control“ is a drama about air-traffic control. The program will be on air from 19 Jan.


Game lovers, of course, are all eagerly awaiting the release of Nintendo’s 3DS which, according to 3DS Buzz, goes on sale in Japan on Feb. 27. One of the games available to play in 3D will be Konami’s notorious “Love Plus” dating game (shown above). Passionate players will be able to, um, fondle their virtual 


Related post by WorldWideTech & Science:

Android: GALÁPAGOS SoftBank 003SH／005SH Glasses-Free 3D Screen Smartphones Sharp. Videos.

http://worldwidegadget.blogspot.com/2010/12/android-galapagos-softbank-003sh005sh.html