Nintendo is taking its Wii and DSi show on the road. The Nintendo Holiday Mall Experience will touch down in 35 shopping malls this month and next month to offer customers demos of some of Nintendo's games. Nintendo Holiday Mall Experience participants can play games like archery and basketball in Wii Sports Resort and step onto the Wii Balance Board to experience the Wii Fit Plus, and more. Nintendo will also let customers try out the handheld Nintendo DSi system.
Here is a list of malls participating in the Nintendo Holiday Mall Experience, which runs Nov. 23 through Dec. 20.
Sports Authority has cut a deal with Nintendo to start carrying Wiis and the Wii Fit line of products in its stores. Sports Authority stores will now have a dedicated Wii Fit Plus Experience area that provides Wii Fit Plus demos. Trainers will also be on-hand to lend advice and insight into the Wii Fit Plus experience. Sports Authority has also set up an informational website called thewiiauthority.com.
Kotaku reports that Sports Authority president David Campisi says the company was working on the deal with Nintendo for about a year.
Campisi told Kotaku. "This is about getting the nation fit. This could be really, really game changing."
Activision Blizzard, Inc. is extremely happy these days. The game publisher reported
that first day sales of its new title Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 were a whopping $310 million.
That topped the previous record holder, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.'s "Grand Theft Auto IV," which reported 3.6 million units world-wide on its first day of sales last year. Activision said first-day sales of its game were $310 million in North America and the U.K.
Modern Warfare 2's strong initial sales are a bright spot in an industry that has been suffering from weak consumer demand so far this year. Evan Wilson, an industry analyst for Pacific Crest Securities, said sales of the game were better than he had expected. He estimated that Activision, which distributes the game developed by Infinity Ward, sold 6.5 million copies of Modern Warfare 2 world-wide on opening day.
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Modern Warfare 2 features Russian ultranationalists who want to wreak havoc on the world and is the latest in the Call of Duty series, which was first released in 2003.
The Call of Duty series was originally set in World War II. But the developer decided to change the game to a modern time period and sales exploded. The game allows players to play different characters in the game, which has a realistic setting. The game is expected to sell well throughout the holiday season; many stores have been taking pre-orders since April.
Nintendo was able to sell more Wii units after lowering the price to $199.99 in September. The NPD Group says Nintendo sold over 500,000 Wiis in October. Sales of Sony's PlayStatoin 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 both fell compared to September. Sales really should have risen in October for these units given the holidays are getting closer.
Here are the gaming console sales for October according to data from the NPD Group. Kotaku says NPD's data ran from 10/4 to 10/31.
Wii - 506,900
Nintendo DS - 457,600
PlayStation 3 - 320,600
Xbox 360 - 249,700
PSP - 174,600
PlayStation 2 - 117,800
Apple's iPod Touch and iPhone are not included in the sales figures for gaming devices even though many now consider them a threat to the Nintendo DS.
MCV is reporting that Microsoft's new Project Natal add-on for the Xbox 360 could priced in the $50 to $80 with a release around November, 2010. The camera add-on will allow for games where a person's body acts as the game controller. It is a direct challenge to the Wii. MCV says Microsoft plans to manufacture 5 million units.
Microsoft is planning to manufacture 5m units for day one release, with a mix of console and camera plus solus SKUs expected.
The device should cost under £50 when sold solo. One publishing source says Microsoft is "trying to get as close as possible to 'impulse buy'". Another even says the camera could even retail for just £30.
Project Natal could mark a new turning point in video games as they move away from using a controller. If you are not familiar with the Project Natal you can see a couple explanatory videos here.
A New York company named Virtusphere, Inc. has created a virtual reality experience they call the Virtusphere. The Virtusphere is a 10-foot hollow sphere - big enough to contain a person. Virtusphere, Inc. calls the large sphere a locomotion platform that allows users to be completely immersed into their interactive virtual experience. The person wears a wireless, head-mounted display. The person feels as if they are moving in the virtual reality world as they walk inside the sphere. The company believes its device would work great in theme parks. They are also marketing it to the U.S. Department of Defense. Take a look:
Electronic Arts has reinterpreted Dante Alighieri's epic poem as a video game. The plot description from the game's website has the hero, Dante, attempting to rescue the soul of his lover from Hell.
Inspired by the real Dante Alighieri, but adapted for a new generation and a new medium, the hero of the game is a soldier who defies death and fights for love against impossible odds. The Italian mercenary Dante returns home from the wars to find that his beloved Beatrice has been murdered, and her soul pulled down into Hell by a dark force. He gives chase, and vows to get her back. For weapons, he wields Death's soul-reaping scythe, and commands holy powers of the cross, given to him by Beatrice.
The release date of the game is February, 2010. Reuters says epic poem are worked into the game. Take a look:
Activision's Band Hero hits stores today. The game from the makers of Guitar Hero is available for the Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DSLite. Players can create a band using any combination of multiple guitarists, bassists, drummers and vocalists. Each band can have up to four lead singers. Players can also use the karaoke-style Sing-Along mode. Stars including Taylor Swift and Maroon 5's Adam Levine make appearances in Band Hero as playable characters. You can watch a video about how Taylor Swift was digitized for Band Herohere.
"Band Hero takes the critically acclaimed Guitar Hero 5 game features to new heights and delivers the most popular artists into your living room," said Dan Rosensweig, president and chief executive officer of Guitar Hero. "As our first E10+ rated console game, Band Hero will become the new soundtrack to family game night."
The games features songs from artists and bands including Taylor Swift, No Doubt, Lily Allen, The All-American Rejects and Jackson 5. Destructoid notes that Styx "Mr. Roboto" is on the song list. A complete song list can be found here on Amazon.com's product page and on the Band Hero website. Players can also import select songs from Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero Smash Hits and Guitar Hero World Tour.
The new Band Hero commercial features Taylor Swift singing while Travis Barker, Pete Wentz and Rivers Cuomo rock out to Taylor Swift's song "Love Story." You can watch the making of for the commercial below.
DJ Hero his stores today. The game for the Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3 lets you put your DJ skills to the test. The game is based on the same concept as Guitar Hero. The game features tracks from Rihanna, The Killers, Marvin Gaye, Daft Punk, Queen, Black Eyed Peas and more. The game features mixes by DJ AM, Cut Chemist, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Jazzy Jeff, J. Period, DJ Shadow, DJ Z-Trip and more. You can see an interview with Daft Pun here and an interview with Z-Trip here.
Ther DJ Hero Renegade Edition wihich includes special edition hardware and a limited edition CD collaboration between Jay-Z and Eminem. The Renegade Edition also includes the premium Renegade turntable controller and hardshell turntable carrying case. The DJ Hero Bundle with Turntable retails for $119.99 and the DJ Hero Renegade Edition retails for $199.99.
Sony and Netflix announced that they are joining forces to make movies and TV episodes from Netflix available to be streamed instantly to TVs via the PlayStation 3. Netflix expects to begin streaming via the PS3 system next month at no additional cost to Netflix members in the United States who have a PS3 system. The PS3 system's installed base has reached close to 9 million units in the United States, and Netflix recently reported 11.1 million U.S. subscribers as of September 30.
It's good news for PS3 gamers but it isn't new in the gaming world. Wired notes that Netflix has been available for the Xbox 360 gaming console for nearly a year.
DJ Z-Trip is one of several DJs featured in the upcoming DJ video game called DJ Hero. Z-Trip thought he was going to have to put on a special suit and move in front of a green screen but he says they were able to create his likeness using 360 degree photographs. Z-Trip says looking at himself in the video game is "the most surreal thing in the world." The game can be purchased with the Renegade turntable pictured above. It comes out October 27th. Take a look:
This HSN host needs to be more careful. He was trying to play tennis on the Wii with a tennis racket attachment when the racket came off and went flying into the flatscreen tv. It looks like the tv was damaged. The attachment is part of a cheap pack that contains a plastic golf club, baseball bat and tennis racket that attach to the wiimote. You certainly don't need these attachments to play the Wii and based on this video it looks like they can fly off pretty easily. Take a look:
Sales of video games finally pulled out of a six month losing streak in September. The L.A. Timesreports that game sales climbed 5% in September over the previous year. The games leading the charge were a mix of sports, adventure and music games. Here are the top ten titles sold in September according to data from the NPD Group.
Gizmodo reports that a large new Wii accessory called Cyberbike is slated for a January release in Europe. The pricing is not yet known. Gizmodo says Cyberbike is bundled with a "lame treehugger game." Wired and Kotaku agree that the game itself does not sound very exciting. Wired says you save the planet by "cleaning up pollution by flying your bike over things." Yes, that sounds rather dull but it still sounds more exciting than having no game at all while you ride your stationary bike. The concept here seems to be to make exercise more enjoyable not to create a better game than Halo.
Even if this version of the idea doesn't work there is something exciting about connecting exercise equipment to video game consoles. If a quality bike, rowing machine or stairmaster was developed that could connect to one of the game consoles then a variety of games could be developed for it. Microsoft's upcoming Project Natal device will let you use your body as the controller so there is a lot of potential for gaming fitness with that concept as well.
Cosplay is when players dress up as their favorite video game characters or as anime characters. There were many people playing dress up at the Tokyo Game Show. Take a look at some of the detailed costumes. You can also look at some cosplay photo galleries here, here and here.
Nintendo is taking its Wii and DSi show on the road. The Nintendo Holiday Mall Experience will touch down in 35 shopping malls this month and next month to offer customers demos of some of Nintendo's games. Nintendo Holiday Mall Experience participants can play games like archery and basketball in Wii Sports Resort and step onto the Wii Balance Board to experience the Wii Fit Plus, and more. Nintendo will also let customers try out the handheld Nintendo DSi system.
Nintendo was able to sell more Wii units after 
