Video Game News and Reviews

Wii will outsell competition

A report from Framingham, Mass.-based IDC predicts the Nintendo Wii will outsell its rivals over the next year or so, ultimately shipping and selling more consoles than the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360. Nintendo's unique approach of appealing to a broader gaming audience will pay off, the report predicts. "With the Wii, Nintendo is abdicating the specification war, leaving Sony and Microsoft to slug it out between themselves for the hardcore market," said program manager of IDC's Consumer Markets: Gaming program, Billy Pidgeon.

"Nintendo... is the only one of the three manufacturers working to grow its total accessible market for its hardware and software by broadening its audience beyond the traditional market," IDC said. "Nintendo has designed its latest hardware and software to be more inviting and fun, and less intimidating for non-gamers including those who may never self-identify as a gamer. IDC believes hardware shipments of Nintendo's Wii will capture a little more than a third of the worldwide market by 2008, rising slightly above Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360." The report notes, however, the market will not encounter the dominance from one console the way the PlayStation 2 controlled the market last time around.

For more details:
- read GameDaily's

"Madden" creator forms D2C games

Scott Orr, the creative force behind Electronic Arts' (EA) most popular and well known sports titles like John Madden Football and NHL Hockey, announced the formation of a new casual games studio, D2C Games, aimed at exploiting what he feels is an "underserved" niche of casual sports games--with a keen eye on connectivity between players, which he told me is an essential element of the sports game. "Of course you want to play against your buddies," he says. With the technical aid of Bart Besseling, who will serve as the chief technical officer, D2C aims to produce games costing between $500,000 and $1.5 million, with around a $20 cost to consumers.

The company's game platform, Hydrant Technology, allows for easy integration of multiple game elements, which will allow D2C to produce high-quality content for a much lower cost than their competitors, of which there are many. "D2C is committed to taking the casual game segment in a new direction by making games that are easy to pick up and play, tuned to maximize the fun factor, and socially connect players together both in game play and user driven content," said Orr in a prepared statement. He also said companies like Sony have been very supportive of PlayStation Portable product development, and the company has been in talks with Massive, Inc. about in-game advertising opportunities, and plans to speak with Double Fusion and IGA Worldwide soon.

Nokia, Glu ready to N-Gage

Top mobile game publisher Glu Mobile and Nokia announced a deal where Glu will provide content for the mobile communication company's re-launched N-Gage platform. The first title will be the World Series of Poker Texas Hold'em, which allows players to compete against up to eight other mobile gamers. "Glu Mobile is one of the driving forces in the mobile gaming industry and we're excited to be working with them to bring premium mobile game experiences to our N-Gage platform," said director of games publishing for Nokia, Gregg Sauter.

As this newsletter has stated before, many skeptics doubt the N-Gage can be reborn successfully. That being said, teaming with Glu, a Fierce15 winner and an innovative leader in mobile gaming, is a step in the right direction if Nokia hopes to avoid the mistakes of the past.