Electronic Arts has apparently come to the conclusion that the Wii is not a suitable platform for future versions of its Tiger Woods golf game and will not be releasing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 on Nintendo's motion control console. It wasn't all that long ago when the Wii was the most popular platform for the Tiger Wood series, so it's a bit surprising EA has decided to skip it altogether.
With Wii console sales declining and the slow start of the 3DS handheld console, it might have been easy to count Nintendo out of the game in 2011, but it's all about how you view the numbers. Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime points out that Nintendo sold over 12 million pieces of hardware between the Wii, 3DS, and DS family in 2011.
Nintendo isn't accustomed to losing money on an annual basis. In fact, it's never before happened, at least not in the last 30 years in the electronics business (Nintendo's history actually dates back to 1889 as a playing card company). Be that as it may, Nintendo now expects to lose 20 billion yen, or about $264 million, for its fiscal year ending on March 31, 2012, the company said.
Out of all the modern game consoles, none is in need of an upgrade more than Nintendo's Wii. It doesn't have a hard drive, the online multiplay sucks, it can't do Full HD, and the graphics look dated compared to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. A recent price cut, along with another rumored cut next month, prompted speculation that a Wii 2 is in the works and could be released as early as this summer. That's all well and good, but what kind of upgrades can we expect?
According to rumors, Nintendo is gearing up to drop the price of its Wii game console in the middle of May by $50, dropping the cost down to $150. We'll have to wait and see if that happens, but in the meantime, both Best Buy and Toys R Us marked the motion-controlled console down to $170. Is it worth rolling the dice, or will you be kicking yourself in a month?
Now that both Microsoft and Sony have added motion controls to each of their respective consoles, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Nintendo may have lost a bit of its competitive edge. The Wii is no longer the only console in town that lets you control the on-screen action by flailing around in your living room. And until the upcoming price cut takes effect, it no longer trumps all other modern consoles at the register. Could these be clues that at Wii 2 is on the horizon?
The Nintendo Wii has always held a pricing advantage over its two main competitors, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 consoles. That's no longer the case with Microsoft now selling a 4GB Xbox 360 for $199, the same price as the Wii. To regain its competitive edge at the register, rumor has it that Nintendo is going to knock another $50 off the Wii on May 15th.
Sony CEO Jack Tretton didn't mince any words when discussing Nintendo's Wii and DS gaming consoles. He isn't concerned about the recently released 3DS, nor is he losing any sleep over third party numbers, which has the PlayStation 3 sitting in third place with 49.2 million PS3's sold globally, compared to 86.3 million Wiis. If you ask Tretton, and CNN did, Nintendo builds 'babysitting tools.'
Let's forget for a moment that watercooling a Nintendo Wii console is about as useful as putting racing tires on a Pinto. After seeing what one looks like (a watercooled Wii, not a Pinto), we don't care. The final result is a thing of beauty that makes for a great conversation piece, even if it won't make Super Mario Galaxy load any faster.
If you were to march into your local Best Buy to purchase a non-refurbished modern gaming console for the least amount of skrilla, you'd have to decide between a $299 PlayStation 3, $299 Xbox 360, and $199 Wii. That doesn't include gimped systems, like the $199 Xbox 360 with the hard drive stripped out, but the core models from each of the big three. What's interesting about this is that the price is the same now as it was 18 months ago, and at least one analyst thinks something has to give.Connect with MaximumPC
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