GAMING
GAMING
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata reflects on the Wii phenomenon and discusses the company’s latest effort to keep propelling the company forward in this Q-and-A style interview with The Wall Street Journal. Among the company’s goals: to keep new gamers engaged and an eventual push into developing markets. The Wall Street Journal (free content) (8/4)
Nintendo characters Mario and Yoshi frame President Satoru Iwata at a recent presentation.
Microsoft may lower prices on Xbox 360s to appeal to the mass gaming market. According to one report, an Xbox console with no hard drive could retail for $199 as soon as next month. Nintendo’s Wii is currently the lowest-priced console on the market at $249. CNET (8/1)
According to the head of EA Games, the company will incorporate Xbox Live avatars into new versions of its games. The avatars can don football gear and other accessories, but there is no word on whether the avatars can be inserted into the new versions of “Madden” or “NCAA Football.” GameDaily BIZ (8/1)
GAMING
GAMING
CBSSports.com launched a new version of their free College Fantasy Football game, allowing users to recruit a team of college football players from any of the 120 Division I programs or customize their player pool to include any conference they choose. CBS gained permission to use actual player names in the game for the first time this year. (Cynopsis 7/30)
Games appealing to broad audiences are proving to be little engines that could pull media companies through uncertain times. While ad revenue at Viacom was mostly flat during Q2, revenues from Rock Band and other ancillary streams were up 62% to $307 million, helping the company beat Wall Street estimates. Meanwhile game publishing giant Electronic Arts reported narrowed losses as revenue doubled to $809 million during the quarter. EA executives expect the turnaround to continue with a variety of releases planned for later this year on multiple platforms, from Spore on the PC to Dead Space on the PS3 and Xbox 360 to MySims on the Wii and Nintendo DS. (Cynopsis 7/30)
GAMING
GAMING
National Geographic Channel joined the booming casual games arena launching a branded gaming channel powered by Real Networks. Games like Habitat Rescue, developed by New York-based Rebel Monkey, are designed to dovetail with NGC programming genres including Animals & Nature, Science & Technology and History & Events. (Cynopsis 7/29)
Consumer-electronics manufacturer Nintendo has filed suit against five Japanese companies, alleging that they imported and sold games that can illegally be played on Nintendo’s DS gaming console. The company said it filed its suit, along with more than 50 other Japanese software makers, in Tokyo District Court today. The Washington Post/Reuters (7/29)
Lifetime Games announced a new strategic partnership with Vivity Labs’ FitBrains.com to expand the online game offerings of myLifetime.com. Brain fitness games testing memory, concentration, language, logic, reasoning and visual-spatial skills are its specialty. (Cynopsis 7/29)
Nickelodeon is after more serious gamers with Avatar: Legends of the Arena, an upcoming global online multiplayer game that will serve as a prequel to the animated Avatar: The Last Airbender show. The 3D online arena game will take place simultaneously in 81 markets and 10 languages. In time-tested MTVN cross-promotion tradition, Nickelodeon will offer fans hints to the game if they tune into episodes of the show on Friday nights in Sep. and Oct. (Cynopsis 7/29)
