GC: Nothing new from Nintendo
Focuses on past successes.
Nintendo has announced nothing new for Wii or DS at this year's Leipzig Game Convention, instead choosing to focus on the company's well-documented successes of the past year whilst opening up its E3 titles up to the public.
Instead of the usual press conference, Nintendo opted for a more intimate approach; groups of around thirty journalists at a time were led around the company's exhibition stand.
It had none of the bright flashy lights, loud noises and sweaty promixity to other journalists that Microsoft and Sony will no doubt be treating us to later today, and sadly none of the announcements either. Instead, Nintendo Germany boss Bernd Fakesh speant forty-five minutes showing us the impressive European sales figures for games like Brain Training, Nintendogs and Wii Sports.
"As we move through the tour, we must remember that gaming, too, is on the move," Fakesch began, claiming that Nintendo's dual strategy of new game concepts and easier, more intuitive control had opened up gaming to 'millions' of former non-gamers, especially among young females and the over-40s.
Nintendo games occupied 16 of the top 20 slots from January to July this year in Germany, and Brain Training stayed in the top 10 for over 60 weeks. Fakesch also boasted an 80 per cent hardware share for Nintendo in the handheld market, and 65 per cent of the total games hardware market.
Aside from that, we were slightly let down at the lack of any new information, although it wasn't entirely unexpected. However, Nintendo will have to bolster its Wii software catalogue before it can start becoming complacent.