via Eurogamer


Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says that a Wii Sports sequel isn't the inevitability you might imagine.

Speaking to Japanese blog 1101.com in an interview partly translated by GameSpot, Iwata says: "We're not closing our doors to the possibility of a sequel, but it's definitely not coming out soon."

Rumours of a Wii Sports follow-up have been doing the rounds since last December. The original game comes free with US and European consoles, and is sold separately in Japan.

Doing a quick sequel would undoubtedly be popular, but Iwata reckons that that's the "easy" route and that by taking it "you disengage yourself with the pursuit of true entertainment".

And of course it all ties in with Nintendo's grand plan to grow the market rather than simply pumping out sequels to diminishing returns. "Even if we make great products, if the number of new customers doesn't increase, it won't reach people," he says.

Besides, if they did a Wii Sports sequel then people would be less impressed by my bowling skills. So, good work. ...

via Games Industry


On the heels of NPD data showing 403,600 consoles sold in August, Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime promises an "unprecedented" Wii supply in North America for the holiday season.

Speaking to Dean Takahashi and Mike Antonucci of the San Jose Mercury News, Fils-Aime promised "substantially more than the launch, substantially more than has been seen to date."

Even so, given the level of demand, Fils-Aime suggests that it will still be difficult to obtain a Wii this holiday season.

Although noting that Nintendo does not take its success lightly, and realises it is in a long-term battle, Fils-Aime did not seem concerned with the recent PS3 and Xbox 360 price cuts.

"In terms of our competitors, what we continue to see is that 360 and PS3 essentially trade share as they alternate on price reductions. But, really, none of that is impacting our business," he said. ...

via Games Industry


Sony is in negotiations to sell its microchip production facilities to Toshiba, and an agreement is likely within a few months.

According to a Reuter's article, the sale is part of Sony's strategy to shed costly semiconductor assets and focus on the production of products such as image sensor chips used in digital cameras and camcorders.

The sale, worth approximately USD 869.7 million, includes production lines for the Cell microchip used in the PlayStation 3.

Neither Sony nor Toshiba responded to the report in the business daily Nikkei, but earlier this year Sony had said that it planned to cut back on future chip spending and may not produce next-generation microchips in-house.

Sources reported that Sony is considering setting up a join venture with Toshiba after the sale, to secure a stable supply of chips for its game machines. ...

via Games Industry


The UMD is a dead format that's a waste of money, time, and investment according to David Perry.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, the Shiny founder and operator of GameConsultants.com revealed what he would do if he were in charge of PlayStation Portable development.


He referred to the recent PSP Slim and Lite remodel as a "head in the sand" move.

As for what current PSP owners will do with their UMDs if Sony turns to a download-only handheld, Perry said that it would be fairly trivial to include software to validate that a user owns a certain game, much like iTunes. With authentication, users should be allowed to download digital versions of UMD games they already own.

When questioned as to why Sony hadn't already done this, Perry responded: "The truth is, the stores will not carry PSPs unless they feel they are going to get a piece of the action on the back end. And Sony has not come up with an innovative business model that can support that concept."

But with the industry moving in the direction of digital downloads, Sony needs to come up with a shared revenue system eventually.


The complete interview with Dave Perry will be published tomorrow on GamesIndustry.biz ...

via IGN


To coincide with pre-TGS coverage, SEGA announced today that NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams players will be getting a bit more content than they thought when the final version hits. According to SEGA representatives, NiGHTS "will feature a two-player mode and network support at launch."

While details are still sparse on this feature, the official Japanese site also refers to this addition as "duel" mode, implying that it'll be competitive and not cooperative. In addition to "duel" mode, we got official word from SEGA of America that the game will actually feature multiple two-player modes, some of which will be available only locally, and others that work the full potential of Wii with Nintendo WiFi Connection. Since details at this moment are still relatively secretive, we were able to confirm only one online mode of play, which is a two-player "race" competition. Details of whether or not you can play against only friends, or if a random matchmaking system will be included are still unknown.

As for other details, SEGA also plans to reawaken the Artificial Life (A-Life) feature in NiGHTS, which allows users to control and manage a sandbox environment where you can capture, raise, and combine animals from the Nightopia world.

Details on both "duel" mode and the A-Life system are still pretty sparse, but we'll know more once the Tokyo Game Show kicks off officially. More as it develops. ...

A firmware update for the Playstation 3 came along yesterday and like 1.92, it's nothing major. This is what Sony said on their website for version 1.93:


Let's all wonder what 2.00 will have when it reaches that number. ...

via Kotaku


Pokemon fans around the world rejoice! At 5PM Central European Time today, Nintendo is launching the Global Trading Station website, allowing you to stay up to date on the latest Pokemon trading trends across the globe. The site will feature a bevy of stats on Pokemon trading, including most traded, most wanted, and most deposited, and they will be able to bookmark any Pokemon they discover via the site for when they use the GTS in game. The site will also feature a spinnable globe that will let players check out trades around the world while learning facts about the various countries, such as capital cities, population, native language, etc. See? Pokemon isn't just about a deep-seated love for Mudkips - it's about learning as well.


See the Pokemon Global Trading Station website here ...

via Eurogamer


Activision has flown a new demo for Spider-Man: Friend or Foe into the Xbox Live web.

It's wrapped up in about 432MB of web, and features cartoon violence and friendship themes.

The demo will let you play as arachnid man himself, on your own or in co-operative mode with one of the baddies-turned-good Green Goblin or Venom.

You'll be able to try out a boss dust-up, too, against old Doctor Octopus, and eventually unlock a sidekick cheat code for your efforts - that you can use in the full game.

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is being created for PS2, 360 and Wii by Next Level Games - the same brain responsible for the rather good Mario Strikers Charged on Wii.

There's also a PC offering from Beenox, as well as DS and PSP offerings from Artificial Mind & Movement - Activision's dream-team-port-squad.

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is due out across all platforms on 12th October. Look for our thoughts nearer the time. ...

via Eurogamer


Those of you tuning up for the 28th September release of Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights can now try out the multiplayer in a new Live demo.

We've already had a Juiced 2 demo, as you know, but this 1.37GB effort emphasises the online element with support for up to eight players.

Which is good news for everyone outside Asia, where the demo isn't being distributed. As one commenter on Major Nelson's blog notes, isn't that where all the big tuner fans live? Indeed it probably is, but it's also where all the Xboxes aren't, so you can see their point. ...