Reggie promises big Wii game for 2008

Nintendo of America president Reginald Fils-Aime has promised a big title coming to Wii this year, speaking to GameTrailers.

In the video interview, he promises a large line-up for the second half of the year with more news to be announced at E3. Reggie then teases one unannounced title in particular.

We´re gonna have great new content, maximizing all of our key franchises. It´s gonna be a good second half. (...) There´s gonna be a big game for the holiday that the gamers will want, this holiday. (...) The gamers are gonna be excited and the expanded audience is gonna be excited.

The so-called ´E3 Media & Business Summit´ will begin on the 15th of July this year.


On a more personal note, I apologize for the lack of updates. Please bear with me. I will publish my promised in-depth article on ´Crossbeam Studios´ in the next few days. It will be worth your while, I am sure.

Source: GameTrailers
Thanks to: TGZ

Wii outsells PS3 4 to 1 in Japan

Nintendo´s Wii console has outsold the PlayStation3 by a margin of almost four to one in the four weeks leading up to February 24th.

Japanese publisher Enterbrain released the following figures today, Reuters reports (via Yahoo News).

Wii: 331.627

PlayStation3: 89.131

Xbox360: 14.079

Of course, the Wii´s current lead is partly due to some key software releases, but Reuters see an underlying trend nevertheless.

The Wii's lead on the PS3 appears to be widening: In January, Nintendo's game console outsold Sony's by almost 3-to-1.

Nintendo's own "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" for the Wii became the best-selling software for the month in Japan, with 1.33 million units sold, followed by the "Wii Fit" home fitness game, which sold 309,311 units in the four weeks, Enterbrain said.

Last month in North America the PS3 almost caught up with Wii sales. Overall figures, though, (as estimated by both NexGen Wars and VGChartz) still clearly suggest the Wii as market leader worldwide with an advantage of three to four million units on the Xbox360 and roughly twice as many consoles as the PS3.

Source: Reuters (via Yahoo News)

Phil Harrison quits Sony

Phil Harrison, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, is leaving the corporation, a press release confirmed yesterday. SCEI president Kaz Hirai will assume his responsibilities.

Harrison had been with Sony since 1992 and saw the launch of the original PlayStation, as well as its division, Sony Computer Entertainment. He is the latest in a series of high-profile departures and restructuring measures.

In September, SCEA´s PR director called it quits. And who could forget ´Krazy´ Ken Kutaragi´s departure last April? In September 2006, Sony had reshuffled SCEI management and promoted Kutaragi away from daily business.




Harrison may not have had much reason to leave voluntarily, since PS3 sales are finally picking up. So was he perhaps fired?

Let us not forget that Harrison´s public track record was stained. In December 2006, Harrison said that the PlayStation3 is so powerful that "nobody will ever use 100 percent of its capability."

In August 2005, he criticized Microsoft for bringing two Xbox360 models to market, saying: "I think it just confuses the audience. They don't know which one to buy, developers don't know which one to create for, and retailers don't know which one to stock. (...) I think we wouldn't take that strategy."

So Sony Japan may have had some reason to get rid of Harrison. And only days ago, Harrison supplied them with another reason:

I have been banging the drum about social gaming for a long time, with SingStar, EyeToy and Buzz. (...) And our Japanese colleagues said that there is no such thing as social gaming in Japan – people do not play games on the same sofa together in each other's homes. It will never happen. And then out comes the Wii.

Source: SCEI
Thanks to: Joystiq