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Posted
Dec 03 2007, 05:13 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
I was shopping at a Best Buy in San Jose yesterday and here's what I found: 
Stacks of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. When I asked where the Wiis were, a saleswoman gave a small snort and shook her head. The store was out.
It's a common scenario across the country, and in other parts of the world. A year after its release, the console that many expected would be in third place has become a hit of such proportions that people still line up overnight to buy one. I've had a Wii since its launch, and spent a good chunk of the weekend playing "Super Mario Galaxy." This console definitely holds up over time.
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Posted
Dec 14 2007, 11:01 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Give Nintendo credit for at least trying to address the Wii shortage frustrating many parents this month. The company said today that you'll be able to buy a raincheck that will guarantee a Wii gets into your hands....by the end of January.
Here are the rules: You can only buy the raincheck at a GameStop store on Dec. 20 or 21. And you have to pay full-price ($250) for the system at the time you buy the raincheck. Here's the funny thing: Nintendo is guaranteeing the Wiis but then saying the rainchecks are only available as supplies last. And we've seen how long anything related to the Wii lasts in stores.
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Posted
Oct 18 2007, 10:31 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Sony makes some historic blunders. One of the biggest was making digital music players that wouldn't play MP3s, the most popular digital music format. Those devices played Sony's own ATRAC format, which the company killed a few months ago.
Sony hasn't learned from its mistakes. Consider the PlayStation 3, the too-expensive game console that hasn't become the hit the company wanted. Sony's finally selling a cheaper PS3 in the U.S., just in time for the holidays. It'll cost $400, but will have only 40 gigabytes of storage -- half that of the standard version, which is getting a price cut to $500 from $600.
That's fine. Some people don't need more than 40 gigs anyway in a video game system. But get this: the cheap PS3 won't play games made for the PlayStation 2. That feature is called backward compatibility, and it's a dealbreaker. A typical PlayStation 2 owner probably has a nice library of video games. The new PS3 won't play any of them.
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Posted
Sep 04 2008, 04:36 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Microsoft has decided that it would rather be the video game market share leader than make a buck at the business. (Microsoft is the publisher of MSN Money.)
Redmond cut the price of its Xbox 360 to $199. That drops it from its previous sticker of $279. The action may take some business away from the Sony PS3, but it is more clearly aimed at market leader Nintendo which has remained in the front spot for months with its $250 Wii.
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Posted
Sep 09 2008, 11:17 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
When it comes to portable gaming devices, Nintendo is king. The company has sold 80 million DS systems, and its legacy with the GameBoy line dates back nearly 20 years. Nintendo owns this category, hands down.
Yet that isn't stopping Apple, which boldly stated today that it has "the best portable device for playing games." Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch can play tons of games, including sports, racing and other action titles. And the graphics look pretty good, certainly equal to, if not better than, what you get on Nintendo's players. Apple unveiled new iPods and an iPhone update today.
Can Apple really expect to go after the Nintendo empire? As much as Apple wants to believe otherwise, the iPhone is not a gaming device. It's a phone first, and secondly a platform for applications, including games. And no one is buying the iPod Touch primarily as a game player.
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Posted
Jan 29 2009, 04:06 AM
by
Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner site The Big Money.
Investors may not be happy with the performance of bank executives and their top employees these days, but, apparently, compensation committees are satisfied.
The New York Times kicks off its business coverage today with some numbers that are hard to swallow. New York's financial institutions paid out a gaudy $18.4 billion in bonuses in 2008, "the sixth-largest haul on record," it reports.
Citing figures released by the New York State comptroller, the NYT calculates, "Wall Street workers still took home about as much as they did in 2004, when the Dow Jones industrial average was flying above 10,000, on its way to a record high."
Meanwhile, the bonus largesse Merrill Lynch bosses distributed in the firm's dying days continues to dog former CEO John Thain.
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Posted
Jun 05 2008, 10:48 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Bizarre iPhone countdown story #4,289: Forbes looks at how Apple's iPhone could kill....the Nintendo DS? A four-year-old gaming device whose sales are already flattening? Pick something a little more challenging, would ya? The not-so-elegant point Forbes tries to make is that Apple will soon let outside developers make software for the iPhone and iPod Touch. And games will be a big part of that, seeing as how the devices have a touch-screen and are motion-sensitive.
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Posted
Jan 29 2009, 10:01 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Alas, gone are the heady days of 2007, when Nintendo (NTDOF) raised its profit forecast twice, delighting investors who never imagined that the Wii system would be such a hit. "With a lineup of killer games on the way, the business will be smooth sailing," a Tokyo asset manager said at the time. Err, right. Fast forward a year or so, and Nintendo finds itself in the unfortunate position of cutting its forecast -- by a stunning 33%. That would be the first yearly profit dip in quite some time. And it's going to sell 1 million fewer Wiis than it thought. The news shocked
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Posted
Jun 02 2008, 10:09 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Here's an old story: Nintendo has a hot new product out, and it's impossible to find in stores! Today the hot new product is the "Wii Fit," a $90 game that came out May 19 and is still in short supply. The console that plays it, the Wii, was a tough find last December, turning many parents into frantic retail stalkers before the holidays. Nintendo doesn't like to have too much inventory, having learned a big lesson when no one wanted its last console, the GameCube, according to the Los Angeles Times. And lately, it's begun sending more units to Europe to take advantage of the strong euro, analysts say. Europe got as many as 2 million copies of "Wii Fit," while North America recieved 500,000, according to analysts. Yes, that's shrewd business, but when does a red-hot product turn into missed opportunity and lost revenue for the company?
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Posted
Jun 12 2009, 07:07 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Video game and game console systems sales plunged in the US in May. According to industry research group NPD, software sales were down 17% to $449 million and sales of players dropped 30% to $303 million compared with the same month last year.
While the Nintendo Wii is still the market leader, it is losing share and losing it rapidly. Sales of the Wii dropped 15% from April to 290,000 units. Sales of the Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox 360 were flat at 175,000. Sony (SNE) PS3 sales moved up a bit to 131,000.
The drop in console spending is not a good indicator for consumer spending. Game platforms cost between $200 and $500 and are often used for hundreds of hours a month, making them cheap entertainment. The fact that consumers are shunning the purchase of moderately priced electronics is a sign that people still have serious concerns about the prospects for the economy and employment.
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