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Nintendo's Big
Bet on Small Games
Turns
out the next big thing from Nintendo will be new games for
its miniature console, the DS.
By
Yi-Wyn Yen
August 6, 2008
 Despite
all the speculation of what’s in store for the major
video game consoles—the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox
360, and Sony PlayStation 3—Nintendo is paying a lot
of attention to what they think consumers want: More games
for its portable handheld system.
With video game publishers eager to appeal
to the DS crowd, Nintendo will release an all-star lineup
for the dual-screen console by the end of this year. Electronic
Arts will feature its designer-creature game Spore and Take-Two
Interactive will release a custom version of Grand Theft Auto
for the DS. Activision Blizzard launched a version of its
popular Guitar Hero franchise for the DS in June and sold
more than 300,000 copies in the United States in its first
week.
The DS’s sales growth continues to impress
the gaming industry. Thanks to hit games like Pokemon and
the new Guitar Hero, analysts expect the DS to have outsold
the Wii in June when NPD Research releases its monthly figures
later this week. Nintendo executives say lifetime sales of
the DS are expected to reach more than 100 million.
“People thought 2007 would be the peak
year for the DS,” said Nintendo of America president
Reggie Fils-Aime on Tuesday. “We’re running 12%
ahead of last year’s record [U.S. sales] of 8.5 million.”
Women and girls have been a growing segment
of Nintendo’s success with the DS. They represented
30% of DS owners in 2005 and shot up to nearly half of all
buyers in 2007. Over the past several months, Nintendo has
been running TV ads with celebrities such as Carrie Underwood
and Liv Tyler playing DS titles like Nintendogs and BrainAge.
Fils-Aime said sales of those titles and the new Super Mario
Bros. have at least doubled since the ads started running
in May.
Nintendo executives said they are looking
at new ways outside of video games to add value to the DS.
An executive highlighted scenarios in which a wireless-connected
DS can provide travel details at an airport or tell you where
the nearest Mexican restaurant is.
Nintendo is also releasing new games this
year to complement the Wii balance board, which it began selling
in May in North America. Olympic gold medalist Shaun White
kicked off Nintendo’s press conference at E3 by riding
the Wii balance board to show off his self-titled snowboard
game that game publisher Ubisoft will make exclusively for
the Wii. “I lean forward to go faster when I ride [in
real life],” White said. “You can do the same
in the game.”
Wii Music, an irreverent musical game that
will debut later this year, closed the 1 ½-hour event.
Nintendo attempted to create suspense with smoke rising on
the stage and bright lights bouncing around the Kodak Theater,
but it had a goofy effect. A guy with a faux Mohawk waved
the Wii nunchucks and tapped his bare feet on the balance
board to simulate drumming while Nintendo’s legendary
designer Shigeru Miyamoto strolled out on stage pretending
to play a saxophone by holding his Wii controller close to
his mouth.
Wii Music is the latest addition to the growing
titles that capitalize on the music trend. However, unlike
games like Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero World Tour, Wii Music
doesn’t rate your performance or allow you to compete
with other players. Wii Music uses the controller and balance
board to play more than 50 different instruments and players
can record their performances. Said Miyamoto through a translator,
“We’ve designed Wii Music to experience the joy
of performing music.”
Of course, if making melody isn’t your
thing, Fils-Aime notes that you can get the Guitar Hero III
for the Wii, which in May outsold the other Xbox and PlayStation
3.
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