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Nintendo Sells 1.5 Million Systems During Black Friday Week
Like Donkey Kong, Nintendo loves to do some good, old-fashioned chest-pounding from time to time. This week Nintendo is crowing about last week — between Nov. 21 to Nov. 27 (which includes the crazy, consumer-driven Black Friday) — because the Big N sold 1.5 million video game systems during that time, according to the company’s press release.
Nintendo’s new Red Wii Bundle helped push Wii sales to 600,000 for Black Friday week.
“U.S. shoppers bought about 9,000 Nintendo hardware systems nonstop for every hour of every day during the week of Black Friday,” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime in the company’s press release. “For the past several years, consumers have decided that Nintendo defined both top value and all-inclusive entertainment, and that sentiment continues again at the start of this shopping season.”
To break it down, Nintendo says it sold 900,000 Nintendo DS/DSi/DSi XL units during the week, while Wii sold 600,000 units.
Source: Nintendo Press Release
EA CEO Rules Out Purchase of Rock Band Developer
John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts, does not like catching a falling knife. Then again, not many people spend their free time throwing sharp objects in the air to catch them.
Back on topic, though, Riccitiello likened purchasing Rock Band-developer Harmonix to catching falling knives in an interview with Bloomberg (via IGN).
“I’m sure some smart investor will buy the business (Harmonix) feeling that they can catch a falling knife, but more people have been cut trying to catch falling knives than have benefitted from getting the timing exactly right,” Riccitiello told Bloomberg.
The EA CEO seems to be referring to the lackluster sale of music games, in general. In addition, he said the company “is still out of favor,” seemingly putting the story to rest that the publisher will be buying Harmonix.
Gaijin Games Reveals Title of Final Bit.Trip
WiiWare enthusiasts know the Bit.Trip series is the cream of the crop for the service. Hot off the heels of Bit.Trip Fate (which currently has a free demo download), Gaijin Games revealed on its blog the final name of the last title in the series — Bit.Trip Flux.
Along with the announcement, Gaijin release this mysterious statement:
A lesson is learned.
Life is.
Simply.
There is no death.
There is no before.
There is no after.
All is in flux.
Simply.
Gaijin did not release any pricing or date info for Bit.Trip Flux.
Source: Gaijin Games Blog
Nintendo Download For Week of Nov. 29
Nintendo staffer Matthew Tidman is most likely squealing in delight because Cave Story is now available for Nintendo DSi. Not only that, but those curious about the title can download a free demo of the WiiWare version.
Along with the Nicalis title, many other games are also available for Nintendo’s downloadable services this week:
WiiWare
- Airport Mania: First Flight (by Lemon Games) — 500 Nintendo Points
- HB Arcade Disc Golf (by HB Multimedia Studios) — 1,000 Nintendo Points
- Cave Story Demo Version (by Nicalis) — Free
DSiWare
- Cave Story (by Nicalis) — 1,000 Nintendo Points
- Frenzic (by Two Tribes) — 200 Nintendo Points
- Spot It! Challenge (by Big John Games) — 200 Nintendo Points
Virtual Console
- Magical Drop II for NEOGEO — 900 Nintendo Points
Let us know in the comments what games you’ll be purchasing.
sigh…. remember when you used get excited for mondays cause of the vc?
I didn’t squeal in delight, but I was very conflicted over whether to download the game or not seeing as I’ve owned it on PC and Wii now. I ended up downloading it even though I didn’t need to. The graphics are much closer to the PC version than the WiiWare version, but the jukebox is a nice feature.
Personally, I bought the game the same way I bought Shantae: Risky’s Revenge. On my DSi and DSi XL. We have to support DSi Ware when sweeeet stuff like Cave Story or Shantae: Risky’s Revenge come out.