All Articles: Wii

See how many systems Nintendo has sold since they started selling systems

Posted on April 27, 2012 by John Scalzo

Nintendo has been in the video game business for a long time. Longer than Sony, Microsoft, Sega, Activision, Electronic Arts… nearly everybody actually. So it stands to reason that the company has sold a lot of systems and a lot of software. How much? Well, I’m glad you asked.

During their most recent quarterly financial briefing, Nintendo revealed lifetime-to-date sales figures for all of their consoles and handhelds. Some of the numbers may surprise you:

Hardware Sold

  • DS: 151.52 million units
  • Game Boy/Game Boy Color: 118.69 million units
  • Wii: 95.85 million units
  • Game Boy Advance: 81.51 million units
  • NES: 61.91 million units
  • Super NES: 49.1 million units
  • Nintendo 64: 32.93 million units
  • GameCube: 21.74 million units
  • 3DS: 17.13 million units

All Software Sold
(Includes Nintendo-Published and Third-Party Titles)

  • DS: 900.31 million units
  • Wii: 818.46 million units
  • Game Boy/Game Boy Color: 501.11 million units
  • NES: 500.01 million units
  • Super NES: 379.06 million units
  • Game Boy Advance: 377.52 million units
  • Nintendo 64: 224.97 million units
  • GameCube: 208.57 million units
  • 3DS: 45.42 million units

All sales data is based on worldwide totals and is accurate as of March 31, 2012. Italics indicates currently available system.

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Nintendo announces New Super Mario Bros. 2 for 3DS and Kirby Anniversary Collection for Wii

Posted on April 21, 2012 by John Scalzo

Nintendo has been teasing a new sidescrolling Mario game for the 3DS for more than a year now, and this morning the company finally revealed New Super Mario Bros. 2. The game will be available this August and it’ll bring Mario, Luigi, and the popular Super Leaf with it.

Also announced this morning is a Kirby Anniversary Collection for the Wii. The game (which is currently untitled) will contain “a variety of previously released, fan-favorite Kirby games.” No release date was revealed, but Nintendo did say it would be available later this year.

“A new Mario game and a big Kirby celebration will help make 2012 an especially great year for Nintendo fans,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing. “Whether they’re playing at home on Wii or using Nintendo 3DS to have fun on the go, players can look forward to experiencing some of our biggest franchises in exciting ways.”

The first four screenshots from New Super Mario Bros. 2 can be found after the break. (more…)

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Zelda Producer: Gameplay comes first, where a game fits in timeline is a coincidence

Posted on January 6, 2012 by John Scalzo

You didn’t think the arguments over the Legend of Zelda’s official timeline were over did you?

After revealing the official timeline to the English-speaking world, GlitterBerri has continued to translate Hyrule Historia on a page-by-page basis. Through her (and her team’s) work, she has discovered that the official timeline is not quite the pre-planned story bible that some fans hoped it would be.

Instead, on page 238, series producer Eiji Aonuma falls back on the traditional Nintendo party line. He confirms that the gameplay hook of a Zelda game is created first and where it fits within the timeline is actually just a coincidence:

Chapter 2, “The Full History of Hyrule,” arranges the series in chronological order so it’s easier to understand, but from the very beginning, Zelda games have been developed with the top priority of focusing on the game mechanics rather than the story. For example, in Ocarina of Time, the first installment of the series I was involved in, the main theme was how to create a game with pleasant controls in a 3D world. Or in the DS game, Phantom Hourglass, the focus was having comfortable stylus controls. Finally, in the most recent game, Skyward Sword, we focused on an easy way to swing the sword using the Wii motion plus.

Thinking of that way of developing the games, it may be correct to say that the story is an appendix to that. I even think that setting Skyward Sword as the “first story,” was merely a coincidence.

So the bottom line is that “The Official Zelda Timeline” is nothing more than an after-the-fact creation used to make Hyrule Historia more enticing to fans. And that’s fine. The timeline as stated still fits together rather elegantly.

But I have to admit, knowing that there was never a plan does put a bit of a damper on the timeline. Especially since Skyward Sword had been billed as the “first story” in the Zelda series since it was announced.

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Justin Verlander’s Major League Baseball 2K12 box art revealed

Posted on December 28, 2011 by John Scalzo

This wintry Wednesday can definitely be classified as a slow news day. Thankfully, 2K Sports has added some Spring to our steps with the reveal of Justin Verlander’s Major League Baseball 2K12 cover. The Detroit Tigers pitcher went 24-8 with 250 strikeouts in 2011 en route to winning the AL Cy Young and AL MVP award. He also threw his second career no-hitter and took two other potential no-hitters into the 8th inning before surrendering a hit.

That’s quite a resume for a guy who’s only 28.

Major League Baseball 2K12 will be released on the DS, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, and Xbox 360 on March 6, 2012.

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Official Zelda timeline is officially official

Posted on December 23, 2011 by John Scalzo

Behold, the official timeline of the Legend of Zelda franchise in all its translated glory (click to enlarge)!

With Hyrule Historia now available in Japan, Zelda translator extraordinaire GlitterBerri has unveiled a more complete English language version of the timelime, confirming the three-way split in the timestream. GlitterBerri also said that longtime Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma is listed as the Supervising Editor of Hyrule Historia, so that’s as close to an official stamp of approval as you can get.

Nintendo obviously isn’t going to stop making new games in the Legend of Zelda franchise anytime soon (in fact, a new Zelda game is in development for the 3DS as we speak), so it’ll be interesting to see where future titles fit into the timeline.

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Official Zelda timeline released by Nintendo

Posted on December 21, 2011 by John Scalzo

Nintendo has gone all out for The Legend of Zelda’s 25th anniversary. In addition to the concert tour and multiple new game releases, the company has released a commemorative art book in Japan titled Hyrule Historia. Apparently, it also contains an official Zelda timeline sanctioned by Nintendo!

According to a fan translation at Kotaku, the timeline is actually comprised of three parallel universes, all of which are created due to Link’s actions during and after The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Are you ready to think fourth dimensionally?

If Link fails in his quest to defeat Ganon, the events of A Link to the Past come to pass. However, if Link wins the day, the timeline splits in two distinct ways. The Wind Waker branches off from the future timeline where Ganon ruled for seven years while Majora’s Mask follows on from OoT’s ending of Link back in his boyhood village.

So, when its all mapped out, the official timeline looks like this… (more…)

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The Madden Curse Strikes Back: A Midseason Report on All 32 Cover Finalists

Posted on November 11, 2011 by John Scalzo

The 2011 NFL season is only at the halfway point and the Madden Cover Curse has already claimed another victim. Fans selected Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis as the Madden NFL 12 cover athlete, and while some joked about the curse at the time, few gave it much thought as the lockout consumed all NFL news. But here we are: the lockout is over and it’s safe to say that few players have been victimized by the curse like Hillis has.

The running back has missed the last three games with a hamstring injury and he has already been ruled out for this weekend’s upcoming game against the St. Louis Rams. Hillis also missed the Browns’ week three game against the Dolphins with a serious strep throat infection. Some reports say he lost as much as ten pounds in a single week.

As if these injuries weren’t bad enough, Hillis has only had one breakout game the entire season. In week two, against the Colts, Hillis ran for 94 yards and scored two touchdowns in a 27-19 Browns win. He even managed to catch four passes as well. It’s a disturbing return to form for the Madden Cover Curse, which spared Vince Young, Brett Favre, Larry Fitzgerald, and Drew Brees in recent years. Troy Polamalu (who shared the cover of Madden NFL 10 with Fitzgerald) was the last victim of the curse, missing 11 games in 2009.

But what about the other 32 players that Hillis defeated in EA’s single-elimination tournament to select the Madden NFL 12 cover athlete? Have they been cursed by association? All told, seven players besides Hillis have succumbed to the Madden Cover Curse, even though they were never on the cover! Two more are currently nursing injuries and may join their ranks.

I’m not sure if I believe in curses and superstitions. But the Madden Cover Curse has affected nine of the 13 cover athletes chosen since John Madden gave up his spot on the box, and while a regression to the mean is to be expected for the top players of the previous season, the curse seems to go beyond that. I’m sure some statistics grad student could create an interesting paper out of the percentage of NFL players that suffer a statline reduction from season to season. But until then, this study is the best we have. (more…)

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Christina Hendricks, Sean Faris to star in Need For Speed: The Run

Posted on October 19, 2011 by John Scalzo

Before Castle, Nathan Fillion starred in Drive, a TV show about an illicit cross-country road race. Today, EA has announced that his Firefly nemesis, Christina Hendricks, will star in Need For Speed: The Run, a game about an illicit cross-country road race.

Hendricks, who also stars in Mad Men and Ryan Gosling’s new flick (also coincidentally titled Drive), will be joined by Sean Faris (Ben from The Vampire Diaries) in the game.

Sean Faris is Jack Rourke, one of the best drivers around. Jack’s cockiness and arrogance has led him into a debt he can’t repay. The mob has put a price on his head, and it’s a lofty one. Christina Hendricks stars as Sam Harper, a woman with ambition, street smarts and a penchant for lightning fast cars. Sam is the only person who can help Jack. Sam fronts Jack’s buy-in for The Run, a cut-throat coast-to-coast race from San Francisco to New York with a prize of $25 million. With Sam as his eyes and ears, all Jack needs to do is win.

A demo of Need For Speed: The Run was just added to the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store. The full game will be available for the 3DS, PC, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 on November 15.

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