Nintendo slashes Wii price to $149.99

Nintendo is slashing the price of its Wii gaming console and throwing in some freebies as well.

Starting May 15, the suggested retail price for the Wii, once highly coveted by youngsters and energetic seniors alike, will be cut to $149.99 (a $50 savings from the current price). Included in the deal will be the Mario Kart racing game and a Wii wheel accessory, replacing the Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resorts games packaged with the console now.

The gaming giant will also launch Nintendo Selects, a bundle of four "must-own" games for $19.99, including The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Mario Super Sluggers and Wii Sports.

The Wii was a huge blockbuster for Nintendo after its launch in 2006, when it became a sensation for its easy-to-use wand and motion-oriented games. From January 2007 until last May, the Wii was the top-selling gaming console almost every month in the U.S.

But falling sales have plagued the Wii and compatible games since last year as Microsoft Corp.'s rival Xbox 360 and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 gained ground.

But last week, Nintendo announced that it will be showing off its next-generation gaming console, nicknamed "Project Cafe," at the E3 trade show in June. In March, Nintendo launched the Nintendo 3DS, a no-glasses, handheld gaming device which has sold more than 3 million units.

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Photo: The Nintendo Wii. Credit: Associated Press / Nintendo

Nintendo's follow-up to the Wii coming in 2012, will debut at E3 in June

Nintendo's successor to the Wii is a rumor no more.

The Japanese video game company confirmed Monday that it is developing a new home console, set to hit shelves in 2012.

The new console, which Nintendo hasn't yet publicly named, will make its debut at the video game industry conference E3 in Los Angeles this June, as Times reporter Alex Pham noted on the Company Town blog.

Rumors have been swirling for months that Nintendo was working on a new console, with names popping up across the Internet such as Wii 2, Wii HD and Project Cafe.

What will the new system entail? Some predict a simple push toward more computing horsepower and high-definition graphics. Others expect a console that uses a tablet computer as an alternative to the motion-sensing Wii Remotes that Nintendo currently employs.

Nintendo isn't yet talking about what the new system will look like, but the company is known for offering unique ways to play games.

The Wii, for example, was the first home system to introduce motion-sensing controllers -- a feature its rivals, Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360, now have as well.

The newly introduced Nintendo 3DS portable system is the first to feature glasses-free 3-D images.

But although the Wii was a huge success for Nintendo early on, often selling out in retail stores across the U.S. and Japan, its favor has declined dramatically among consumers.

Nintendo announced the follow-up console while posting double-digit declines in sales and profit for its fiscal year that ended March 31. As Pham reported:

The Japanese game company on Monday said its revenue slumped 29% to roughly $12.4 billion last year. Profit slid 66% to $948 million.

The results were much lower than Nintendo had forecast for the year, issued last May, for sales of 1.4 trillion yen and net income of 200 billion yen.

It was the second year that Nintendo's earnings took a beating. During the previous fiscal year ended March 2010, sales were down 22% while profit fell 18%.

At the core of Nintendo's poor earnings lie depressed sales of video game consoles and the games themselves. From Pham:

After enjoying a massive wave of popularity, sales of the Wii fell 25% to just over 15 million units last year, compared with 20.5 million the prior year.

Sales of its DS series of handheld consoles also took a nosedive. In the fiscal year just ended, DS sales dropped 22% to 21.1 million units, including 3.6 million units of Nintendo's new 3DS console, which was introduced toward the end of March. The year before, Nintendo sold 27.1 million DS consoles.

Head over to Company Town to read Pham's full report: Nintendo, battered by slow Wii sales, to unveil new game console at E3.

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Photo: Two women play a game on a Nintendo Wii console at a trade show in Leipzig, Germany, in 2008. Credit: Waltraud Grubitzsch / EPA

Marketing Kinect: What would Don Draper do?

If you haven't heard about Microsoft's Kinect by now, you are among a blissful breed of endangered species who have been unaffected by the company's estimated $500-million marketing blitzkrieg.

For those rare unawares, Kinect is a wireless game controller for Microsoft's Xbox 360. Slated to hit thousands of stores on Thursday, the $150 attachment lets players control the Xbox 360 with voice commands or hand and body gestures. Equipped with cameras, microphones and other sensors, the device can also recognize individual faces.

Those who have heard of Kinect and can't shake the meme out of their heads can blame Rob Matthews. As the general manager in charge of marketing for the Kinect, Matthews is the wizard behind the Microsoft curtains in Redmond, Wash., pulling the levers and knobs.

Some astute observers out there may have experienced a sense of deja vu with this campaign and its tie-ins with Macy's stores, Real Simple magazine, Burger King and Nickelodeon.

Wii know why. Matthews worked at Nintendo for eight years prior to joining Microsoft. Among his duties there: consumer marketing for the Wii game console. There, he coordinated the marketing of the Wii's 2006 launch with People magazine, 7-Eleven stores and Nickelodeon. Advertising Age magazine named Matthews "Marketer of the Year" in 2007 for his efforts.

So is Matthews just rinsing and repeating what he did at Nintendo? In an interview with The Times, the 40-year-old executive insists he's breaking new ground. Here's an excerpt of the conversation:  

Q: What's your overall approach for the campaign?

At the end of the day, the marketing campaign is designed to do three things: ignite consumer passion by letting consumers experience the product first-hand; empower advocacy by giving them ways to share their experience; and amplify that passion through partnerships.

Q: Sweet. But what does that mean?

What we've been doing is give consumers an opportunity to experience it through our mobile tour. We've been at fairs, festivals, malls since the end of July letting people try Kinect for themselves.

Q: OK, that's about a couple thousand folks. You need millions of people to make this a hit.

Right. So we created Kinect.me, a website where you can share videos of yourself playing or watch other people playing. We also created a hub on Facebook called Kinect Central, a Hulu channel and a YouTube channel with all the videos we created.

Q: So that's the sharing and amplifying parts. How's this different from what you did with the Wii campaign?

In terms of size and scope, this is far beyond anything I've ever done. We're taking things to a whole new level. With Kinect, there's no gadgets, no gizmos. It's really just about you. Let's get the marketing out of the way and let the genuine experience come though.

Q: That's interesting. You're marketing a product that people aren't supposed to notice is there at all. When this is over, what will the business school case study conclude about this launch?

It's a case study of modern-day marketing. It starts with a product that is unlike anything else. It's always easier to market a product that is special. The other thing is to understand how our notion of community is changing. Everything we do is about letting consumers experience Kinect, letting them talk about it and then shining a spotlight on what they have to say. That's what marketing is evolving into. It's about igniting, empowering and amplifying.

-- Alex Pham

Upper photo: Xbox 360 and Kinect controller. Credit: Microsoft

Lower photo: Rob Matthews. Credit: Microsoft

 

 

 

 

 

E3: Nintendo booth tour, 3DS wows crowds

 

If you thought lines to see Microsoft's Kinect at E3 were bad, brace yourself before venturing over to Nintendo's section.

Chained to the wrists of booth babes (a staple of the video game expo) and in rows set on several king-sized tables in the back of Nintendo's exhibit in the Los Angeles Convention Center, the 3DS hand-held game system is drawing the largest groups of people we've seen yet. Each person is hoping to get a few minutes with the device before it hits stores next year.

Perhaps that's because no widely available appliance is capable of producing the sort of three-dimensional effect Nintendo has pulled off with the gadget without requiring the player to wear goofy glasses.

To see it on the 3DS, you need to look straight on at the top display (the bigger of the two on the device, and the only one with 3-D), or else you're staring at a blurry screen. That's the limitation of stereoscopic 3-D without the glasses. It's not hard to do, but if you frequently turn your head between game battles, to chat with someone or glance at the TV, you have to consciously reset yourself in front of the screen.

The 3-D elements, with characters in the foreground and a sense of depth in the virtual world, are just as you'd expect if you've seen "Avatar" or a one-off movie at Disneyland. The effect is less pronounced on such a small screen. Using the depth slider on the side of the 3DS, players can switch to 2-D (and some barely noticeable variants of 3-D), but the added dimension looks to be an improvement, albeit somewhat insignificant.

Super Mario Galaxy 2: Same plumber, new worlds

Nintendo may be reaching the limit of what it can do with its mustachioed mascot.

After nearly 29 years since debuting as Jumpman, encased in a Donkey Kong arcade unit somewhere in the depths of early-'80s culture, Mario is running out of costumes.

Throughout his adventures in Mario Land, Mario Bros., New Super Mario and the handful of other variations (not to mention the cartoons and abysmal live-action film), the fictional Italian plumber has donned just about every outfit you could imagine. Frogs, raccoons, statues, capes, silly hats, no hat, metal. He's carried hammers, fireballs, ice balls, coins, stars.

With a new game for the Wii console called Super Mario Galaxy 2 hitting stores May 23, what could Nintendo possibly do to keep the series fresh? Just look around. The Japanese game maker has turned much of its attention to the world -- er, worlds -- around the character.

The Galaxy predecessor cast Mario onto a series of tiny globes, placing a heavy focus on dimensional navigation. Breaking out of the game's linear, platform-adventure roots -- where players are rewarded for jumping on a ton of enemies and collecting items in a short period of time -- Galaxy added puzzles to the journey.

I spent some time playing the upcoming release Thursday morning, with the moral support of Nintendo reps who tried not to shame me too extensively when I fell off the level. (When you die, sending Mario through a black hole, the screen flashes "Too bad" -- a passive-aggressive phrase I saw several times in my 10- to 20-minute session.)

Video game joy ride ends; December uptick of 4% not enough to counter 8% drop for 2009

The video game industry eked out a 4% sales gain in the U.S. last month, rising to $5.32 billion as shoppers snapped up nearly 2.8 million copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 published by Activision, according to a report released this afternoon from NPD Group.

For the year, video games, consoles and accessories took in $19.66 billion in retail sales, down 8% from 2008. Throw in $538 million in PC sales, which dropped 23% last year, and the total hits $20.2 billion. That's down 8.6% from $22.1 billion in 2008, which was a record year for the industry.

December capped a stomach-churning year for the game industry, with eight declining months out of 12. The genre that took the biggest hit last year was music and dancing games, which plunged 46% as players turned away from games with expensive peripherals.

Not even The Beatles: Rock Band, which was unveiled last year with great fanfare, could go against the economic tide. The title sold just $75 million last year, said Michael Pachter, analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities. Combined with $149 million from Activision's Guitar Hero franchise, the total sales of $224 million is less than half the amount Rock Band and Guitar Hero made in 2008.

"Thank God this is behind us," Pachter said. "The momentum is moving in the right direction, particularly as we lap miserable music sales."

To see the top-selling games for December, click on the continue reading link below.

10 favorite gadgets of 2009

If you're still looking for a gift, the Times' Technology staff has compiled a list of our 10 favorite gadgets of 2009. Check out the full list, with details.

Review: DJ Hero is a standout in overcrowded field of music video games

Like the Guitar Hero games it's based on, "DJ Hero" requires gamers to tap a colored button at just the right time. Credit: Activision

Grandmaster Flash. DJ Shadow. Z-Trip.

Most hip-hop heads revere these names as turntable legends. But it’s likely most video gamers have no clue who these guys are.

Activision, the publisher of the highly successful Guitar Hero franchise, is hoping to change that with its new title, DJ Hero.

The music and mixes of these notable turntablists are featured in the game along with more than 100 licensed songs, which make up more than 90 unique mixes.

Having a familiarity with actual DJing is not necessary to enjoy DJ Hero.

In fact, DJ Hero replicates the work of a real DJ about as much as Guitar Hero replicates what a real guitarist does -- which is to say not much at all.

But that’s not the point.

Simple, straightforward is what DJ Hero is about, and it succeeds in...

Shaun White makes the jump from Olympic half-pipe to virtual slopes

Shaun White shows off his new game for the Nintendo Wii. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times.

Shaun White used to battle with his older brother Jesse for control over the family's PlayStation game console while the two grew up near San Diego. Now, at 23, the Olympic snowboarder gets to star in his own video game, Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage, set to hit shelves on Sunday.

Developed by Ubisoft Entertainment, the game is a sequel to White's first title, which sold more than 3 million copies since its release last November.

White may not be a household name, but neither was Tony Hawk when he came out with his first video game 10 years ago, Tony Hawk Pro Skater. Now some fans know Hawk more through his virtual stunts than his actual work on the ramps. Could the same be true for White someday?

White spoke to us about how he got his start in snowboarding, what he wants people to get out of playing his video game and who he aspires to become. Here's a video of part of our interview with White, taken by Times videographer, Myung Chun:

And, for old school reader types, here's an edited transcript of the conversation:

How did a kid from Carlsbad, Calif., grow up to be a snowboarder?

I ended up going to Big Bear skiing with my family. When my brother started snowboarding, I did too. I was 6 then, and I started to compete when I was 7. I actually grew up in Del Mar and Carmel Valley. The schools were really good, but they didn’t recognize my sport. At the time I had money saved up [from winning snowboarding competitions and sponsorships], so I bought a house in Carlsbad as an investment when I was 13, and that let me go to school in Carlsbad. The schools there really supported me when I competed.

Didn’t you want to surf instead?

My dad got me a huge board when I was little. He loves to surf. He suited me up and sent me out on this huge wave. I went under, and when I came out and the board hit me in the face. So I said, I never wanted to do this again. I stayed away until I was 13.

One of your sponsors, Red Bull, last February built you a private half-pipe in Silverton, Colo., called Project X. Is that going to appear in the game?

It actually is. There’s a special...

Nintendo to slice 20% off price of Wii game console to $199 [Updated]

New Super Mario Bros. rides to rescue the Wii. Credit: Nintendo.

Facing a double-digit slowdown in sales of its Wii game console, Nintendo announced it will slash the price of the console 20% to $199 on Sunday.

The Japanese company has sold more than 50 million Wiis since launching the device in November 2006, making it the bestselling of the current generation of video game consoles. Indeed, many stores ran out of the console during holiday shopping seasons. But this year, the console is in plentiful supply and U.S. sales are down 21%, according to data from NPD Group.

"The last five months, April through August, tell the story," said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities. "Sales are down exactly 50%."

Nintendo also announced it would release New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the company's blockbuster bet, on Nov. 15. To fuel sales, Nintendo plans to reach out to millions of new consumers by holding sampling events where shoppers can try out games on the console.

"Combined with the value pricing, a new blockbuster release right before Thanksgiving and the opportunity for consumers to see for themselves, we will drive holiday sales to new heights," said Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo's U.S. business.

Wii sales have plunged in 2009 versus 2008. Credit: NPD Group.

The price drop is projected to give Nintendo a 40% life in sales in October, said Jesse Divnich, analyst with Electronic Entertainment Design and Research.

Sony in August slashed $100 off the price of its PlayStation 3 console to as low as $299. Microsoft countered by offering a temporary $50 rebate off its $299 Xbox 360 Elite console, bringing the price tag down to $249.

Let the price war begin.

Updated 7:21 pm: This post has been updated to include Nintendo's confirmation of its price cut, the release date of New Super Mario Bros. Wii and a comment from the company.

-- Alex Pham

Follow my random thoughts on games, gear and technology on Twitter @AlexPham.