Nintendo affected by 3DS price-cut

Nintendo Co. fell the most in at least 21 years in Osaka trading after a lack of demand for its new 3-D handheld player led the company to slash the product's price and earnings forecasts.

Nintendo, the world's largest maker of video-game machines, tumbled as much as 21 percent to 11,010 yen and traded at 11,210 yen as of the 11 a.m. trading break on the Osaka Securities Exchange. That's the stock's biggest drop according to exchange data compiled by Bloomberg dating to May 18, 1990, and its lowest price since before the Wii console was introduced in November 2006.

Nintendo will cut the price of the five-month-old 3DS player as much as 40 percent, and it lowered the profit forecast 82 percent as more gamers flock to Apple Inc.'s iPhone and online games played on Facebook Inc.'s service. The company needed "drastic measures" to lure gamers, President Satoru Iwata told reporters in Osaka yesterday.

"The company remains in the severe situation for next few years until it develops something revolutionary, not an extension of existing products," said Mitsuo Shimizu, an analyst at Cosmo Securities Co. in Tokyo. "Social games are killer because who would spend around $40 to buy software when you can get it for free or something much lower."

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Nomura Holdings Inc. were among brokers that cut their ratings on the stock after the earnings missed analysts' estimates. The price is now at its lowest since May 2004.

3DS Price Cut

Net income may total 20 billion yen ($257 million) for the year ending March 31, compared with Nintendo's previous estimate of 110 billion yen, the Kyoto-based company said yesterday. The forecast was almost 70 percent below the lowest of the 21 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The price of the 3DS, released in February, will be lowered to 15,000 yen from 25,000 yen in Japan starting Aug. 11 to trigger "momentum" for the product before the year-end shopping season, the company said. In the U.S., the 3DS will cost $169.99 starting Aug. 12, down 32 percent from the current price of $249.99.

"Not a long time has passed since they started to sell 3DS, so it's a little doubtful if they made much profit out of it," said Masayuki Ohtani, a strategist at Securities Japan Inc. in Tokyo.

Cheaper Than Vita

The cuts will make the 3DS cheaper than the PlayStation Vita portable player that Sony Corp. plans to introduce this year.

Nintendo's 20 billion yen forecast would result in its lowest profit in more than 25 years. The company also slashed its revenue forecast 18 percent to 900 billion yen and reduced the full-year operating profit estimate by 80 percent to 35 billion yen.

The video-game maker kept a forecast to sell 16 million 3DS players by March 31, betting the price cut will spur demand. Nintendo cut its annual sales projections for the Wii by 7.7 percent to 12 million and lowered the forecast for previous- generation DS players by 18 percent to 9 million units.

The company plans to introduce flagship titles such as "Super Mario 3DLand" and "Mario Kart" in November and December for the 3DS, the company said.

Capcom Co., based in Osaka, Japan, began selling a game from the "Resident Evil" franchise for the 3DS this fiscal year.

EA sports Facebook revenue

The average lifetime revenue from customers playing EA Sports games on Facebook is $56 for each paying user, Electronic Arts has said.
That figure is drawn from in-game payments on three Facebook-hosted EA Sports Games; FIFA Superstars, Madden Superstars, and World Series Superstars.
The $56 per customer “surpasses the net revenue we received from players on consoles” Electronic Arts said. It is not clear whether the comparison is lifetime Facebook game revenues versus a single boxed EA game sale, or average lifetime revenues from console customers.
Yet the figure puts into perspective the rapid pace of the digital games sector, which EA is positioning as a priority target for growth.
EA insists the Facebook revenue figure is on an upward path. Company CEO John Riccitiello said the Facebook platform could eventually have as many as 75 per cent of customers with their accounts tied to their bank.

EA Sports chief Peter Moore said Facebook is “not only a scalable, standalone business, but also a gateway for bringing new players to deeper EA Sports experiences on consoles, tablets and smartphones.”
The Superstars series of Facebook games work on a free-to-play basis. Customers can, if they wish, purchase in-game items to enhance their experience.
EA said the number of paying customers, versus non-paying, is in the “low single digits” – likely less than five per cent.

Batman Arkham City | OFFICIAL gameplay trailer (2011)

A successor to 2009 s smash hit game Batman Arkham Asylum; Arkham City gets a release date of October 18th 2011 in the US. Developed by Rocksteady Studios, Batman Arkham City is one of the most anticipated games of 2011. Although a lot of journalists got a glimpse of the gameplay at GDC 2011, below is the first trailer release for the fans, which shows quite a bit of gameplay and some really cool villains from the Batman franchise. Drawing in an all new story, Batman must once again fight off hoards of thugs and take on some classic villains such as Two-Face, the Penguin, Cat-Woman and the Joker to save the day.

Not only will Batman have an updated arsenal of gadgets, but the trailer also shows a lot of new moves. Batman will be able to glide through the environment using his trusty cape to gain a vantage point (The gliding mechanics look cooler as compared to the previous game). The combat too has been tweaked and Batman now has the ability to takedown multiple enemies at a time. Though brief, the trailer also teases Batman s new detective vision that highlights enemy locations and clues on screen.

Until the launch of the game, enjoy the trailer below.

Star Wars theme XBOX 360

The Force will be with the Xbox 360.

Star Wars themed XBox 360

Microsoft Corp. unveiled a limited edition Xbox 360 console at a Comic-Con panel on Thursday that will be modeled after the character R2-D2, with a wireless gold-colored controller resembling his droid pal C-3PO.

The console will make the character's signature beeping sounds when the white-and-blue console is turned on and the disc tray is opened. It will also feature a 320-gigabyte hard drive, the largest available for Microsoft's gaming system.

The "Star Wars"-themed console, available later this year, will cost $449.99 and come with a white Kinect sensor, headset and "Kinect Star Wars," an action-adventure game utilizing the camera-based controller system.

"Kinect Star Wars" developers also confirmed that a pod-racing mode based on "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace," would be featured in the game.

The game allows players to use gestures to drive pods across intergalactic landscapes, as well as wield light sabers and other powers of The Force.