Miyamoto: ‘there may still be some possibility’ for Wii Music franchise
At a New York City roundtable event, Nintendo’s resident wunderkind Shigeru Miyamoto showed Joystiq and several other press outlets his latest creation: New Super Mario Bros. Wii (more on that later). During the Q&A that followed, when asked if he was particularly surprised by the reception of any of his games, Miyamoto responded that while he wasn’t “truly surprised” by the reaction it got, he thinks “there may still be some possibility with … Wii Music,” the Big N’s poorly received music title.
“The development team members, the directors of Wii Music were I think, maybe a little bit shocked by the reaction and had hoped it wold get a better response than it did,” Miyamoto explained, through a translator. “So I think if we were to do anything, it would be a matter of getting back together with them and trying to understand what their expectations were and where the gap was between their expectations and what the resulting product was.”
That doesn’t mean Miyamoto doesn’t have any insight into the game’s failure to connect with gamers. He explained that the “gap between the positives and the negatives seems to be pretty big,” referring to the games reception. “The thing that’s interesting about Wii Music is there are people who are very versed in music and play the game and their evaluation of it is very high but at the same time there are a lot of people who play it and don’t have a very good opinion of it.”
As if to prevent any “Wii Music 2 confirmed!” headlines from finding their way online, Miyamoto clarified, “We have talked about it but it isn’t anything that’s concrete at this point.” As unusual as it is to see a Nintendo product miss the mark, it’s similarly unusual to hear the company acknowledge as much.
Miyamoto: ‘there may still be some possibility’ for Wii Music franchise originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Analyst: Poor Wii Music, Animal Crossing sales stamina to blame for downturn
Wii sales have been the lowest they’ve ever been in Japan. Is the Japanese public losing interest? Screen Digest analyst Ed Barton told GameBizBlog that the Wii sales downturn is mostly due to the lack of staying power exhibited by Animal Crossing: City Folk and Wii Music.
Barton says that the continued success of Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii only back up his claim. “These are older games that obviously have shown tremendous stamina, but Nintendo always needs to bring out new ways to drive console sales forward, and we just didn’t see that with Wii Music and City Folk.” Even though both titles sold decently enough (Animal Crossing was one of the region’s top 10 selling games in 2008 and Wii Music debuted with 92,000 units sold in its first week), they lacked the necessary sales stamina of Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii.
He says that there isn’t much hope on the horizon either, despite the imminent release of Monster Hunter 3 on Wii. He warns that trying to transfer the user base from handheld to home console is risky and that the gamble may not pay off for Nintendo. Barton is of the mind that “it won’t have the same level of success that it had on the PSP.”
Analyst: Poor Wii Music, Animal Crossing sales stamina to blame for downturn originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Amazon: Tuesday Gold Box is all Wii deals [Update]
![b78f2_all_wii_gb._v245542664_ Amazon: Tuesday Gold Box is all Wii deals [Update]](http://wii.wowgoldit.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-o-matic/cache/b78f2_all_wii_gb._v245542664_.jpg "Amazon: Tuesday Gold Box is all Wii deals [Update]")
Update: Amazon has revealed today’s Gold Box Deal. It’s Wii Music. Amazon also added clues for today’s Lightning deals, listed below.
We don’t mean to alarm you at such an early hour but … Amazon is holding an All Wii Gold Box event today, March 31. Beginning at 3 a.m. EDT (12 a.m. PDT), Amazon will offer savings on six different Nintendo Wii titles. Time sensitive promotions (a.k.a. Lightning Deals) begin at 9 a.m. EDT (6 a.m. PDT).
Today’s Gold Box Deal: Wii Music, priced at $29.98 (40% Off) and the downloadable PC game, Airport Mania: First Flight for 98 cents.
Amazon has updated the Gold Box page with the following hints for today’s Lightning Deals (and we take a wild stab in the dark at what it could be):
- 9:00am EDT — “In the Garden of Weeden, honey, don’t you know that I love you?” (Play Control! Pikmin or Harvest Moon, maybe?)
- 1:00pm EDT — “Start training now.” (WiiFit or Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, maybe?)
- 5:00pm EDT — “The Milky Way’s got nothing in comparison.” (Super Mario Galaxy, maybe?)
- 6:00pm EDT — “Give me a W! Give me an I! Give me another I! What does that spell?” (Wii Cheer, maybe?)
- 9:00pm EDT — “That’s so cute! The animals think they’re people!” (Animal Crossing: City Folk, maybe?)
Continue reading Amazon: Tuesday Gold Box is all Wii deals [Update]
Amazon: Tuesday Gold Box is all Wii deals [Update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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This Week on the Nintendo Channel: Jazz
This week, the Nintendo Channel has plenty of videos and, much to our surprise, some new DS demos as well. Avalon Code is back, and it brought its friend Trackmania DS along for the ride. Then there’s the lovely Nintendo fluff for Wii Music that you can see in the video above. Want the full list? Click past the break and you can have it for the low, low price of free.
Gallery: Wii Music
Continue reading This Week on the Nintendo Channel: Jazz
This Week on the Nintendo Channel: Jazz originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Wii Music introduced into D.C. school’s curriculum
A Washington D.C. elementary school has turned to Wii Music to help win support for its music program.
FOX News 5 D.C. reports H.D. Cooke Elementary school isn’t using the software to replace the music curriculum but to further pique the students interest in music. The Wii Music injection is, in part, a response to a mandate by D.C. School Chancellor Michelle Rhee for every school to have a music teacher on staff. H.D. Cooke is the first school to use such a program; however, the program is planned to spread to 50 schools across the United States.
The supplemental usage of Wii Music is a good example of engaging kids with popular tech from their generation; however, it will give them the false hope that playing a trombone is as simple as waving your hands around like a crazy person.
[Via Kotaku]
Continue reading Wii Music introduced into D.C. school’s curriculum
Wii Music introduced into D.C. school’s curriculum originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Nintendo also wins at advertising
Nintendo has made a business of manufacturing money printing machines, but how has it done in marketing those machines to people? Well, as you can guess from the title of this post, the company hasn’t done too badly.
Phoenix Marketing International’s Travel and Leisure Division conducted its Video Game Advertising Performance Index (AdPi) Audit and found Nintendo was the only gaming company in Q4 of 2008 to earn above average AdPi scores. The score, which determines effectiveness and impact in all three media categories (print, television and digital), shows that Nintendo has done a pretty good job of pushing its wares on the populace.
The highest-rated ads were:
- TV: Nintendo’s Wii Music; and Activision’s Call of Duty: World at War
- Print: Nintendo’s Wii Fit; Disney Interactive’s Disney Think Fast; and MTV Games’ Rock Band 2
- Digital: Nintendo’s Wii Music; Activision’s Call of Duty: World at War; and Ubisoft’s The Price is Right
In order to gauge the effectiveness of an ad, consumers were asked if they would buy the game, if the ad was worth watching again, and if the ad was inspiring or worth talking about. Well, we know of at least one ad that definitely fits the bill.
Nintendo also wins at advertising originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Nintendo: Wii Music needs to ‘clear the hurdle’
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has no problem admitting Wii Music didn’t live up to the company’s expectations, but he doesn’t want you to consider it a failure, either. During a recent Q&A session, he spoke about the company’s hopes regarding Wii Music, as well as the difficulty Nintendo has had with consumer reception.
“There are people who highly appreciate it and those who do not appreciate it at all,” Iwata said, adding that perceptions can be changed. It’s all about word of mouth to him, as he said, “A cycle is born where people who have hands-on experience can immediately understand its appeal, easily explain the positive experience they had to those around them, who then spread that information to the others.” That works, unless you’re a blog who pretty unanimously hated it and told everyone how you felt.
With Wii Music, the company was never able to achieve this “positive cycle,” and Iwata says Nintendo now needs to “reevaluate” why it hasn’t been able to “clear that hurdle.” Nintendo, here’s a protip from us: Emphasize that it has a dog suit and beatboxing. You might sell a few extra copies if you push that.
Nintendo: Wii Music needs to ‘clear the hurdle’ originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Wii Music shows students how to play the dog
Filed under: News
If there’s one thing that’s stuck with us concerning Wii Music, it’s the ability to play the dog. Well, okay, there’s also Stan Lee on the beat box. Now, thanks to a collaboration between Nintendo and MENC (The National Association for Music Education), such fun can be had in the classroom.
Nintendo and MENC are working together with teachers in 51 cities across the United States to implement Wii Music into their lesson plans. “By partnering with educators and bringing Wii Music into their classrooms, we hope to give students a memorable, hands-on experience that helps them discover their own creative voice,” said Cammie Dunaway. Executive director of MENC, John J. Mahlmann, agrees, stating “At any grade level, it’s essential to provide students with the tools and encouragement they need to be creative.”
It’s pretty cool, me must admit. Video games never were welcome in the classroom when we were younger, so we’re glad that educators are seeing their potential. What’s next? Physics professors mapping out the force of Mario stomping on a goomba’s head?
Gallery: Wii Music
Looking for more on Wii Music? You can catch an E3 trailer here, read about our time with the game here, and learn how to play the Famicom, banjo, steel drum, handbell, trumpet, timpani, acoustic bass, shamisen, harmonica, cello, harpsichord, cheerleader, saxophone, sitar, cowbell, electric bass, drums, dog, accordion, taiko, clarinet, conga, electric guitar, harp, flute, marching drum, violin, piano, guitar, and marimba.Wii Music shows students how to play the dog originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Miyamoto unsure about next Zelda announcement
Filed under: Interviews
There’s an entertaining interview with Shigeru Miyamoto over at the Official Nintendo Magazine site, in which Shiggy mostly comes across as a bumbling, endearing eccentric: apparently, he “strummed on an invisible guitar” for the entire interview, and voiced his suspicions that his cat is hiding games from the Miyamoto family. Ha.
Anyway, the article is mainly designed to promote Wii Music, but there is the odd very vague comment about the next Zelda. The opportunists at ONM couldn’t resist mentioning the ‘Z’ word, but Miyamoto wasn’t budging too much. “I’m really not sure when we’ll be able to make a public announcement on that,” he said, adding, “I can’t even say if the next E3 will be the right opportunity to do so. But rest assured, our teams are working on new projects right now.”
So the next Zelda … might not be at E3 next year! If that’s the case, we could reasonably expect to see something at Nintendo’s fall conference(s). We’d at least like to have a peek next year — having downloaded Ocarina of Time from the Virtual Console over the weekend (spoiler: it’s still unfathomably brilliant), this blogger is aching for a new entry in the series.
Gallery: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Miyamoto unsure about next Zelda announcement originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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November NPD: Double Megaton
Filed under: News
In October, the Wii was the top-selling console in the US, with 800,000 systems sold. Then in November, Nintendo sold 2.04 million Wii systems. No, wait, that’s not right — it needs italics, bolding, and underlining.
2.04 million Wiis. In one month. This is what happens when Black Friday and adequate stock meet. It’s a record for November, obviously. Is this the turning point for the Wii? Is this when it starts to eclipse the mighty DS Lite for good? Who knows? We’re too dazzled by big numbers to analyze.
Unsurprisingly, the surge in Wii sales meant great numbers for Wii Play, because people tend to like having multiple controllers. Much more unexpected is the appearance of Wii Music in the software top 10. It’s not a Wii Fit or Wii Play-caliber hit by any means, but some people bought it. Also on the subject of Wii music, the Wii version of Guitar Hero World Tour was the only version to make it into the top 10. No Animal Crossing, though. Check after the break for the top 10 list.
- Wii: 2.04m 
1.237m (154%)
- DS: 1.57m 1.079m (220%)
- Xbox 360: 836K 465K (125%)
- PSP: 421K 228K (118%)
- PS3: 378K 188K (99%)
- PS2: 206K 70K (51%)
1. Gears of War 2 - Xbox 360 - 1.56 million
2. Call of Duty: World at War - Xbox 360 - 1.41 million
3. Wii Play w/ remote - Wii - 796K
4. Wii Fit - Wii - 697K
5. Mario Kart Wii - Wii - 637K
6. Call of Duty: World at War - PS3 - 597K
7. Guitar Hero: World Tour - Wii - 475K
8. Left 4 Dead - Xbox 360 - 410K
9. Resistance 2 - PS3 - 385K
10. Wii Music - Wii - 297K
[Via Joystiq]
November NPD: Double Megaton originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Top 10 Best Selling Games
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