Reactions to story from Kotaku, the Gamer’s Guide

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  Bruce Everiss closes eyes and plugs ears - Wii and DS are not worth developing for

  http://gonintendo.com/?p=43196
  104 days ago in GoNintendo - What are you waiting for? · Authority: 1,704

  The Nintendo Wii is not worth developing for. It is nearer the end of its life cycle than the other two consoles and it is mainly first party games published by Nintendo themselves that sell. Third party titles from other publishers are mainly low
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  Video Game Industry: Made Of Money?

  http://wiibits.com/2008/05/15/video-game-industry-made-of-mo...
  104 days ago in WiiBits - All the latest news bits on the Nintendo Wii. · Authority: 2

  A comprehensive article at SeekingAlpha by Bruce Everiss, who was part of both Imagine and Codemasters in their start-up days, calls the video game industry “one of the most attractive areas to invest,” a worthy commendation given the arguably challenging state of the U.S. market. Everiss says that even in tough times, the game industry is set to keep growing: And the industry is still at its very beginning, it will grow to be bigger than movies and TV combined as it leverages its key advantages of interactivity, connectivity and non linearity. Notably, he also opines that from a market perspective, both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 are “both a fair way from peaking in their product cycles” - but at the same time, he also states the Wii is “not worth developing for,” and “near the end of its lifecycle.” Ouch. Video Game Industry: One of the Most Attractive Areas to Invest […] Original post by Leigh Alexander No Tags
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  Gaming: State of the industry -- April numbers

  http://wikilaw.blogspot.com/2008/05/gaming-state-of-industry...
  104 days ago in Wikilaw · Authority: 6

  NPD Group's numbers for the gaming industry for April are in, and its a banner month, especially compared to last year. The industry did $1.23 billion in sales in the US, up 47% from last year's $839 million. This brings the industry's YTD total to $5.47 billion. If anyone had doubts that the gaming industry can play with the big boys, they should be erased now. The breakdown by content area below. * Hardware - $426.2 million (+26%) * Software - $654.7 million (+68%) * Accessories - $154 million (+39%) Analysts are bold on the industry, especially Bruce Everiss, formerly of Codemasters and Imagine. He calls the industry "One of the most attractive areas to invest" and set to grow. He also discusses the product cycles of the X360 and the PS3 (summary: both are a good bit away from hitting their peak and have some time left in them before their parent companies start looking next-gen) and hates on the Wii (summary: it's not worth developing for and near the end of its life-cycle). I have to agree with him on the 360 and PS3. The current state of the flagship games (GTA IV, Haze, Gears of War 2, MGS 4) and the upcoming MMO wonders (The Agency, Age of Conan) are showing a depth of power that is well beyond the launch titles. And I have to give note that PS3's Warhawk is still wildly popular this far after launch. The Wii, however, may follow Nintendo's strange habit (as they did with the DS) of not peaking with good games for over a year or two after launch. We're just now starting to get the Wii Fit's, the Mario Karts, the Smash Bro's, the Galaxy's. So they may surprise in the end. On the other hand, the technical limitations of the Wii are basically at hand. It can't put out power to make graphical wonders like Gears of War 2, Bionic Commando Rearmed, and certainly not GTA IV. It doesn't have the photorealism capabilities of Gran Turismo V, so the whole coolness of having a motion sensing controller is wasted (and duplicated by the SixAxis and the DualShock 3 controllers on the PS3, which DOES have those capabilities.) Anyway, back to more numbers. From Kotaku, it looks like GTA IV reigned supreme this month, along with Mario Kart Wii. It comes as little surprise to see Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV sitting atop the NPD Group's April software sales chart, with the Xbox 360 version scoring 1.8 million-plus sales alone. Mario Kart Wii, however, keeps GTA IV from total chart domination, as it outsold the PlayStation 3 version by an estimated 120,000 copies. Combined, however, both GTA IV's had a stronger debut month than March's chart topper, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Nintendo didn't just have a good month on the hardware side, as Wii games Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wii Play and Guitar Hero III all landed in the top ten. New Pokemon action helped two DS titles grab pre-break billing. 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360) - 1,850,000 2. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 1,120,000 3. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) - 1,000,000 4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) - 326,000 5. Wii Play (Wii) - 360,000 6. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (PS3) - 224,000 7. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (DS) - 202,000 8. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (DS) - 202,000 9. Guitar Hero III (Wii) - 152,000 10. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) - 141,000 Total software sales reached $654.7 million for April '08. That's a 68% boost over the previous year, which saw just $389.4 million in software spending. Yeah, just. NPD analyst Anita Frazier notes that GTA IV saw an attach rate equal to 20% of the total Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 install base. She also reiterated that next month we may see far more impressive sales of Rockstar's crime epic, but that its April sales were nothing to sneeze at, writing "With only 5 days at retail during the reporting month, GTA IV is one of the fastest-selling titles in video games history." And more numbers, specifically for the Wii now: * Wii - 714,200 * Nintendo DS - 414,800 * PSP - 192,000 * Xbox 360 - 188,000 * PlayStation 3 - 187,100 * PlayStation 2 - 124,400 Totals were down across the board, with the Wii taking the least hit from March to April, each piece of hardware showing in the same position as the previous month. Despite that month to month drop, hardware was up 26% over April of last year. Total hardware spending in April amounted to $426.2 million, compared to $339.2 million spent in April of 2007. NPD analyst Anita Frazier pointed out that more Wiis at retail, obviously, means more Wiis sold. And while some Wii owners may bemoan a lack of new releases—Mario Kart Wii aside—Frazier writes that "With a couple of blockbuster games already in the market this year, and with Wii Fit and Rock Band still to come in the next two months, the pipeline of content to continue to drive hardware acquisition looks very good" Frazier also points out that less than spectacular sales on PS3 and 360 hardware may not be indicative of underperformance, noting that "[S]ince the game was only in the market for 5 days during this reporting period, that sales lift could very well be evident in May data." To May, then! And finally, the Wii software sales numbers: 1. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 107,000 / 1,227,000 2. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP) - 82,000 / 1,992,000 3. Wii Fit (Wii) - 53,000 / 2,039,000 4. Link's Crossbow Training (Wii) - 49,000 / 141,000 5. Meccha! Taiko Drum Master DS: 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken (DS) - 34,000 / 133,000 6. Pokémon Ranger Batonage! (DS) - 27,000 / 535,000 7. Deca Sports (Wii) - 22,000 / 207,000 8. Wii Sports (Wii) - 21,000 / 2,979,000 9. Boura wa Kaseki Holder (DS) - 17,000 / 102,000 10. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) - 16,000 / 1,620,000 11. Wii Play (Wii) 12. Mario Kart DS (DS) 13. DS Bimoji Training (DS) 14. Tottado! Yowiko no Mujintou Seikatsu (DS) 15. Valkyria Chronicles (PS3) 16. Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin (PS2) 17. Katekyoo Hitman Reborn! Fate of Heat (DS) 18. Mario Party DS (DS) 19. New Super Mario Bros. (DS) 20. Naruto Shippuuden Shinobi Retsuden 2 (DS) 21. Yattaman DS: Bikkuridokkiri Daisakusen da Koron (DS) 22. Emblem of Gundam (DS) 23. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 5 (PS2) 24. Crayon Shinchan Arashi wo Yobu Cinema Land (DS) 25. Zaidan Houjin Nippon Kanji Nouryoku Kentei Kyoukai Koushiki Soft: 250-Mannin no KanKen (DS) 26. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS) 27. SimCity DS 2: Kodaikara Mirai e Tsudzukumachi (DS) 28. Brain Age 2 (DS) 29. Taiko Drum Master DS (DS) 30. Animal Crossing Wild World (DS)

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