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xBASSxMONSTAx

Member Since 21 Jul 2012
Offline Last Active Aug 08 2013 04:49 PM

Topics I've Started

Wii U May Be in Trouble due to Closure of Vital Semiconductor Factory

04 August 2013 - 09:24 AM

 

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There may be more trouble on the horizon for the already slow-selling Wii U. On Friday the prominent semiconductor manufacturer Renesas Electronics posted its quarterly financial report, together with notice of extraordinary loss and a press release about an impending restructuring of the company.
 
As part of that restructuring Renesas, that merged with NEC Electronics in 2012, announced that it decided to close four semiconductor plants in Japan within 2-3 years, including the state-of-the-art factory based in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture (as reported by the Wall Street Journal), and this may spell trouble for Nintendo and the Wii U.
 
The reason is quite simple. The closing factory was responsible for manufacturing the console’s Embedded DRAM, that is quite properly defined the “life stone” of the console.
 
The production of the 1 cm-wide semiconductor for Nintendo was responsible for more than half of the load of the factory at peak times, but the slow sales of the console determined a reduction in demand and a gap in the usage of the machinery and personnel, forcing the plant to run at a loss.
Nintendo told the Japanese Magazine Weekly Diamond that “the closure of the plant won’t have immediate effects on the production of the Wii U”, but the outlook of things isn’t too positive for the future.
 
Nintendo could try to contract another company to produce the component, but there are circumstances that make it difficult. According to a Renesas executive the production of that semiconductor was the result of the “secret sauce” and state-of-the-art know-how part of the NEC heritage of the Tsuruoka plant, making production elsewhere difficult. In order to restart mass production in a different factory redesigning the component may be necessary.
 
In light of the situation an increase in the production costs of the console seems very likely on the medium and long term due to the shift of production to a different location and to the possibility of a redesign of the hardware. One thing is for sure: the Wii U really can’t can’t get a break as of late…
 

 

 

 
Nintendo have no luck as of late. :(

Ubisoft – Zombie U “wasn’t even close to being profitable”

08 July 2013 - 09:24 AM


 

The highest selling third-party game on the Wii U wasn’t even close to being “profitable”, Ubisoft’s CEO Yves Guillemot has confirmed.

 

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Zombie U, a launch title for the Wii U, failed to make a profit and the publisher has no plans for a sequel.

Speaking to GI.Biz, Guillemot said the Wii U exclusive didn’t even come close to recovering the investment the publisher made on the game.

He went on to say that the failure of the game as a Wii U exclusive was the main reason for switching Rayman Legends from being a Wii U exclusive to a multi-platform game.

“We must find a way to ensure the creativity of those games could have a big enough audience,” he said. “We hope it will take off. At the moment, we’ve said ‘let’s do through Christmas and see where we are from there.”

Peter Moore, EA chief operation officer, has also elaborated about why the publisher isn’t actively supporting the Wii U.

“We were there with four games for them [at launch]. It’s been a disappointment when you look at sell-through and, as a company, we have to be very judicious where we deploy our resources,” he told GI.Biz.

Moore cited the lack of online engagement on the console as being one of the main reasons for its titles making little impact on the system.

“The lack of online engagement that we see on Wii U [is troubling]. It’s so integral to what we do. They’re so small it’s hardly worth running the servers. It seems like a box that’s out of sync with the future of EA – which is one that gives a real social feel to our games. The Wii U feels like an offline experience right now.”

 

 

 

Ouch. That must hurt Nintendo's pride. The best 3rd party game on Nintendo's Wii-U and it wasn't even close to being profitable. Looks like we are not getting a sequel then.  :(


Back of Pikmin 3's boxart reconfirms 1080p

08 July 2013 - 02:14 AM

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That's good to know. :)


Nintendo to announce secret “brand-new types of games” for Wii U soon

05 July 2013 - 01:44 PM

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In a meeting with investors recently, Iwata discussed these secret games and explained why they haven’t talked about them yet. “When it comes to brand-new types of games, we have to announce them not too far in advance of the actual release dates in order to have a strong impact in the market and minimize the chance of others introducing similar or competing products. We are working on new types of games, but we would like to announce them much closer to their actual release timings for this reason.

I'm excited. :)

Miiverse photo attachment in testing phase

09 June 2013 - 04:59 PM

 

 

 A Nintendo employee has revealed that photo attachments are on the way to Miiverse.

 
Well-known Nintendo spokesperson Tom posted the news directly to Miiverse, including a photo of the plane’s wing as he noted that he’s on the same flight to E3 as Nintendo of America president Reggie File-Aime.
 
“The photo attachment option is still in its test phase so it isn’t available to everyone,” he said.

 

 

 
Seems like it's a nice added feature to miiverse. Can't wait.

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