Speaking before Nintendo's investors, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimes states that their rivals, Sony and Nintendo, made a grave mistake in developing expensive consoles. "They've gone down the path with building expensive machines that they lose money on. They've gone down the path with games that are hard to develop," said Fils-Aime. Pretty believable from someone who said that the "Wii isn't a fad, it is the future"? We'll see.

Read more in the full article!

The holiday season is almost here, and we'll most likely see lots of console units and gaming software end up underneath the Christmas tree and in the Christmas socks of all good children. However, too much demand that outweighs the actual supply is always a bad thing.

Analyst Colin Sebastian from Lazard Capital Markets said that there will indeed be a general hardware shortage, not only for the Wii (as mentioned by Reggie Fils-Aime in his statement that there will be a Wii console shortage this holiday season). Explained Sebastian,

Holiday hardware demand may outstrip supplies. We believe one of the themes from the upcoming holiday period could be hardware supply constraints, driven by ongoing strong demand for Nintendo’s Wii and a shift in Xbox 360 unit sales from 4Q into the September quarter, while Sony’s PS3 and PSP may benefit from lower price points.

So aside from the almost-inevitable Wii shortage, we may also witness shopping brawls over who gets the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3? Certainly not an impossible scenario, what with the release of the more affordable PlayStation 40GB SKUs, and quite possibly the newly launched Xbox 360 arcade SKU, which is aimed at the casual market.

Nintendo clearly made a very smart move when they decided to go towards a different direction with the Wii, focusing on a new way of gaming rather than on advancing tried and true methods. However, if you wanted to see your favorite Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games on the Wii, which would it be?

While the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 focused on power, the Wii opted to find a different mode of gameplay. But this decision caused the platform to be barred from games that needed a more powerful system so this was what prompted the San Francisco Chronicle to ask Reggie Fils-Aime - President of Nintendo America - what games from the other platforms he wished the Wii had.

Fils-Aime gave this answer:

I've been very intrigued with LittleBigPlanet (from Sony). [...] Microsoft has done well. There are a range of first-person shooter type games that are all very well done that could all do quite well on a Nintendo platform.

Certainly, the Halo trilogy - anyone who would look at that and say, "No, I think we could live without it," probably doesn't think real long about this industry.

Even games like BioShock. I thought that was tremendously well done. The writing was tremendously clever. I would love to see more of that type of content in the industry overall that actually makes people think a little bit.

Well maybe in the next generation of consoles, who knows? Maybe we'll see a port enter the market or something similar. What games would you like to see on the Wii?

We're barely three weeks away from what could be the world's biggest game expo after the E3 downsizing of 2007. Yup, it's an event most of us would love to be in: The Tokyo Game Show 2007!

It's no secret that TGS has always been the Far East's answer to E3 in terms of big announcements and sneak peeks of exciting projects. If there's a shindig that the big game publishers are saving their aces for, this one has to be it.

Here's a short list of just some of the stuff we expect to see. Feel free to add your own wishes at the comments, though, because we're sure you have some big ideas of your own:

1. An apparition of Final Fantasy XIII - Square Enix was mum on this big PlayStation 3 project in E3 and even in during GC 2007 in Germany. Could they be saving the best for the year's last huge show? They better be because we're all aching to see more than just screenshots. A new trailer and some details would be terrific.

2. More of Wii Fit - There's no doubt that the most anticipated release for the fastest-selling console in history is next year's exercise game Wii Fit and its accessory, the Balance Board. We saw a bit of this with Reggie Fils-Aime in E3 and we can expect a bit more for the Japanese crowd.

3. More Metal Gear Solid 4/ Metal Gear Online teasers - You know a big game is about to hit when its PR machine is getting noisier by the day. We've been seeing new MGS4 trailers from Santa Monica to Leipzig and it would be almost a travesty if its hometown Tokyo doesn't get one. Also, the multiplayer MGS Online is looking hot and we won't be surprised if there are more details soon.

4. A big Halo 3 showing - So maybe the Halo franchise isn't quite as big in Japan as it is here in the US, but with the TGS just a few days away from the big game's Japanese release, is there any reason why Microsoft should hold back? The game, as we all know, is already at gold status, so expect it to be shown off in full force.

More of our wishes and expectations after the jump!

According to a report by The New York Times, Nintendo of America's Reggie Fils-Aime sees the Wii as not just another option to the more powerful Xbox 360 from Microsoft and PlayStation 3 from Sony. In fact, it appears the Japan-based gaming giant is actually not settling for thwarting hardcore gaming alone.

 

"We don't consider just Sony and Microsoft our main competitors," said Fils-Aime. Nintendo's Satoru Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aime are planning on taking on the mainstream entertainment market, using an affordable, family-friendly gaming console.

"If people decide to stay home on a Saturday night playing Wii bowling instead of going to the movies, we win. If people spend 22 minutes making their perfect Mii instead of watching a sitcom, we win," Fils-Aime continued.

One of the more common sentiments online (in forums, boards, etc.) holds that Sony's PlayStation 3 was designed from the start as an all-in-one multimedia entertainment package, while Microsoft's Xbox 360 serves "core" gamers who rely on bleeding edge graphics and visually stunning games. The Wii doesn't deliver on either of those fronts, focusing on what is more important than the latest in pixel-shader technology. Fils-Aime explained:

Both of our competitors have focused on an old paradigm. They focused on more technological horsepower as the path to success. They fell into a trap of just listening to their core user base rather than focusing on attracting new customers.

According to him, every household has a geek or techie that can set up their console or PC to an LCD TV or monitor. But when the geek isn't there, what the people eventually want is to simply attach the console to an average TV, switch it on and see it work instantly. Nintendo of America's president concluded:

That's what Apple got so right with the iPod. There were plenty of MP3 players out there, but Apple came along with a product you could just pick up and play. And that's what we think we got right with the Wii. I think the consumer electronics industry needs to recognize that.

Non-hippie, Oblivion-rocketeers Media Molecule made quite the impression on Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime. He said that - of Sony's Phil Harrison's title line-up in his keynote at the 2007 Game Developers Conference, LittleBigPlanet stole the show. What about the PlayStation Home? Well, that's something at the bottom of his list.

 

Nintendo America's president, who revealed the Nintendo Wii's successful drive for third-party game developer support at N'Gai Croal's exclusive interview, was quoted to have said at a latter part of the interview:

You know, I think the best thing shown by Phil Harrison was LittleBigPlanet. The group doing that game is fantastic, and I say that having seen the rag doll little product that they had created. ... That product, I think, is quite intriguing. I'm not sure how well it will do on the Sony platform, quite frankly, but I think that the product they showed was outstanding.

So it might not be surprising that the Japanese gaming giant, who always had the eye for creativity rather than going for the mainstream, figured that Sony should be given due credit for beating them to the punch. He said, and we quote, "Frankly, Nintendo wanted to do some business with those folks, but to give Phil some credit, he got there first."

So Rag Doll Kung Fu Mark Healey, Alex Evans and their army of 10 developers could have been working for gaming legend Shigeru Miyamoto, instead of having to adapt their originally 2D, non-"age of aquarius" game for Sony's "We love it, but can we have more of the age of aquarius stuff?" antics. But they've taken the road most travelled, and that's probably what matters to most.

To Deutsche Bank securities analyst Jeetil Patel, the sales of the Xbox 360 and PS3 are just flat out disappointing, and that in Sony's case a price cut is "critical" in order to stimulate the market. The analyst put all three consoles on the block in a recent interview and had surprising things to say about the "next-gen" consoles.

Jeetil Patel talked about the Xbox 360 and PS3 and their problem with lack of demand:

Next-gen hardware sell-through of 700K units in Feb-07 brought its total HW installed base to 8.0mn in the US, still 30% less than the prior cycle at 11.2mn units at equivalent stages. Xbox 360 (230K) and PS3 (130K) unit sales were below expectations of 250K-300K and 200K respectively. Retail checks reveal that ample supply exists, suggesting a demand problem for next-gen consoles.

Patel also spoke about the PS3: "PS3 consoles are available at retail but sales are lackluster. Its 130K units sold in February was less than Xbox 360 sales last year (160K) and even less than the original Xbox sales of 140K in Feb-2002."

Deutsche Bank was equally unimpressed with the Xbox 360, with Patel stating: "Particularly disappointing is Xbox 360 HW sales of 230K in February, which puts its installed base at 5mn or in-line to the original Xbox which was an unproven console and faced substantial competition from the PS2."

The Wii however, has a different problem. It seems that Nintendo is having a problem keeping up with demand: "With Wii shortages likely in the next 1-2 quarters (and potential PS3 re-allocations to Europe), we are concerned that next-gen sales could further disappoint."

Nintendo has taken the lion's share of the market recently. In fact, combining the sales of the DS with the sales of the Wii shows that Nintendo grabbed 54% of the market in February. Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime has reiterated that Nintendo is doing the best it can to alleviate shortages; "... there are hundreds of thousands of consumers still waiting to get their hands on the system so we continue to both ship more units to retail every week and work non-stop to build capacity," he said.

All told, it seems that the Wii could be dominating the market now, but a market leader has yet to emerge for this generation of consoles.

Yes, folks, for those who may not have been aware of it, this would be a good time to point out to you that the Internet (well, it was actually just Digg...) has practically imploded (yet again) for the better part of today.

The reason for this? One line out of Reggie Fils-Aime's mouth, spoken at this year's Game Developers Conference and directed at Sony's Phil Harrison. One line which may actually end up immortalized in video game history books, web comics, blog entries, and trivia centers for years to come.

As eloquently documented by Wired's Susan Arendt, this was how the whole thing went:

"Kick his ass and take his name!" someone shouted from a few rows behind me.

"Who?" answered Reggie in mid-autograph. "Phil Harrison, front row!" Sure enough, there was Phil Harrison, seated dead center, front row. Looks like he could show up on time for Nintendo’s keynote, but not Sony’s.

With a grin and a chuckle, Reggie replies, "Some would say we’ve already done that."

Touchdown. The crowd goes wild.

We're pretty sure this was all said in the spirit of friendly competition, and that any added color that others may have perceived in that exchange were most probably based on their own console preferences and biases.

For all we know, Harrison and Fils-Aime may have gone off together afterwards and had a successful Molten Core run with the rest of their guild in World of Warcraft. We'll never know.

Them's some fighting words over at Nintendo's camp. According to the video interview, the folks who shot Spike TV's Game Head segments managed to catch Reggie Fils-Aime making a rather pointed attack on the PS3.

In relation to the PS3's current spate of negative media attention and the long lines for PS3's opening days, Reggie made a pass towards the spate of PlayStation 3-related shootings and violence. As caught on camera, Fils-Aime said, "Were those the people ducking to not get shot or...? I'm just not sure."

In contrast to those statements, Phil Harrison focused more on how many people were satisfied with their purchase because they bought a PS3 and were entertained by it. Said Harrison,

We are creating technology that empowers entertainment for people. And ultimately, it's the people who spend their money, who buy the machine, who love the machine, who have a tremendous relationship with that machine...

In any event, here's the fourth segment of Game Head's DICE episode, where the offending bits are clearly heard.

Download: [Game Head - DICE - Segment 4 - Feb 24, 2007]

Yes, we love our violent video games, but the truth is, we're entitled to them. Most of us gamers are over 18 after all, so we should be considered "mature" enough to handle and at the same time be entertained by all the blood, sex, and gore that we immerse ourselves in while playing our favourite games.

The problem with that, is that's all that the outside world thinks about us. Outsiders generally view the gaming sub-culture as a collection of violence addicted pre-pubescent-underage or overage-yet-still-stuck-in-the-basement, pimply anti-social avoidant, self indulgent, will never enjoy the company of the opposite sex, individuals. Despite the presence of gamer-culture/geel-culture centric websites and TV channels, a lot of old farts in power still don't "get it."

They tend to forget that a lot of gamers now-a-days aren't only young people who play games, but are people who make art, people who earn billions making games, people who have children of their own, and people who are care.

Think of this post as a collection of recent news stories that show very good examples of how we gamers should represent ourselves to the world.

Giving back to the community...

You've got to hand it to those guys from Penny-Arcade, they know how to give back to the community. They really do their best to make claims that say that gamers are know-nots or that gamers are violence addicted yahoos irrelevant. For one thing, officials of the Child's Play Charity, a gamer-focused toy drive organized by Penny Arcade, has recently announced that more than $495,000 worth of toys, games, and books on the wish lists of more than 35 participating children's hospitals have been donated as part of the gamer supported charity.

It doesn't stop there. The annual charity auction dinner of Child's Play is set to be held next week. All proceeds from the auction will be set to assist hospitals within the charity's network. This year's dinner is scheduled to take place on Wednesday December 13 in Bellevue, Washington.

Items up for bid this year include a Wii console autographed by Reggie Fils-Aime, a speaking line in Halo 3, a PS3 console, an appearance in the Penny Arcade comic strip, Penny Arcade artwork, tickets to the Halo 3 launch party, an Xbox 360, ATI Radeon video cards, collectors edition of Guildwars Nightfall, and a whole lot more.

With items like those, people will definitely bid.

Get the rest of the article after the Jump!