Nintendo has announced its early 2009 game line up which kicks off with Pokémon Platinum. the popular DS title will hit shelves March 22, 2009.

Other familiar games among the over 100 planned releases are New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis and New Play Control! Pikmin are coming out for the Wii with edutainment title Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, Personal Trainer: Math and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars headed for the Nintendo DS.

More games from the Q1 2009 Nintendo line up follow the break.
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The NPD numbers are in for November, and as far as console sales go, Gears of War 2 dominated the chart with 1.5 million units sold and Call of Duty: World at War coming in a very close second with 1.4 million in sales (for the Xbox 360 version).

Shockingly enough, Nintendo’s Wii Music came in last in the top 10, and while that in itself does not surprise me, the fact that it is even in the top 10 is what I am curious over. I suppose that the company’s stellar ad campaign was what did it, along with unsuspecting parents rushing out to buy the game on Black Friday because all the stores in their area were out of Rock Band 2 and World Tour. They probably thought that their kids would like it just as well, by they will unfortunately find out the hard way come Christmas morning.

Top Ten Games

1. Gears of War 2 (Epic, Xbox 360) – 1.56 million
2. Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch, Xbox 360) – 1.41 million
3. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) – 796,000
4. Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii) – 697,000
5. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii) – 637,000
6. Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch, PS3) – 597,000
7. Guitar Hero World Tour (Vicarious Visions, Wii) – 475,000
8. Left 4 Dead (Valve, Xbox 360) – 410,000
9. Resistance 2 (Insomniac, PS3) – 385,000
10. Wii Music (Nintendo, Wii) – 297,000

(Thanks VG247)

NASCAR is racing onto the Wii gaming console for the first time with Electronic Arts’ NASCAR Kart Racing. Gamers can step into the shoes of some of their favorite Sprint Cup Series drivers including NASCAR celebrities Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. You’ll also find Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson at the starting line as well as Jeff Burton, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Elliot Sadler and Tony Stewart. Ten original characters, each with their own skills, are also ready to step up to the challenge adding some strategy to the game as you pair drivers with teammates. There are also Two Unlockable Mystery Drivers which makes me wonder if there will be any special appearances from beyond the grave.

These racing giants will be leaving their familiar tracks behind for new adventurous routes through deserts, freeways, back roads, canyons and junkyards Mario Kart style. These reversible tracks are pulled from areas surrounding Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Dover International Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway.

NASCAR Racing Kart starts its engines February 10, 2009 exclusively on the Wii.

BringIt is setting up a service with a secure site where gamers can compete for cash online 24/7. Any game platform with Internet connectivity can get in on the action.

“BringIt is going to transform the videogame landscape by allowing individuals to compete online for bragging rights and real money through skill-based gaming,” said BringIt CEO and founder Woody Levin. “Gamers have shown great interest and support for competitive gaming, so we are pleased to offer BringIt as a player-driven service that quickly connects gamers, allowing them to play legally for cash while getting a more intense competitive rush.”

Some of the titles in the service during the beta period are Madden NFL 2009, Gears of War 2, FIFA 2009, Halo 3, Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock, Rock Band 2, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart. BringIt will accept PayPal and major credit cards for bets between $1 and $100,000. Read more about the terms and conditions from the press release after the break.

I should think that mixing videogames and betting will seriously up the danger factor for gamers with addictive personalities. It should also make BringIt a lot of money.
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It looks as though U.K. fans are just as crazy about the Call of Duty franchise as those in the U.S. because according to the All Formats charts from Chart Track, the week one sales of Call of Duty: World at War are higher than sales for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare when it debuted. Outselling CoD4 by more than 2 to 1, World at War is expected to be the most popular game during the Holiday Shopping Extravaganza across the pond.

If you look at the rest of the chart, you will notice that games published by Activision Blizzard dominate the chart by having 25 percent of all sales for the one publisher. Of course, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is on the chart as well, taking spot number two while Guitar Hero: World Tour coming in at number six (full kits for this game were just released recently released).

Last week’s number one best-selling game was Epic’s Xbox 360 exclusive Gears of War 2, which dropped 64 percent and down to position number four.

To give you an idea what our British brethren are playing, here are the top selling games for week ending November 15:

1. Call of Duty: World at War
2. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
3. Football Manager 2009
4. Gears of War 2
5. FIFA 09
6. Guitar Hero: World Tour
7. Professor Layton and the Curious Village
8. Mario Kart Wii
9. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009
10. WWE Smackdown Vs RAW 2009

Thanks: GamesIndustry.biz

Nobody really took kindly to Nintendo’s condescending remark that only “geeks and otaku” cared about the Wii’s serious lack of storage space (Not the least of which was David Jaffe).  While Laurent Fischer, the one who originally made the comment, later apologized, there was still no word that Nintendo was actually addressing the complaints about storage capacity.

During E3 last week, MTV Multiplayer got to chat with Nintendo of America prez Reggie Fils-Aime and one of the topics that came up was what spawned the “geeks and otaku” comment.

Reggie said explained that they’re looking at the situation and while they don’t have anything to announce currently, “certainly it’s an issue we are aware of and we’re working to find a solution and we will.” In other words, he said exactly what you’d expect.

Multiplayer also asked if Nintendo had been hearing from more than the core gamer audience about the lack of storage space, which prompted him to explain, “As we continue to have things, as you point out, like Mario Kart that has its own channel when you’re playing from an Internet perspective, we’re just making this challenge tougher and tougher. So in our view this is becoming much more of a mainstream problem, which is why we have a sense of urgency to solve it.”

Ah, well the mainstream wants it, so there must be a solution on the way! Hopefully it won’t be too pricey, whatever it is.

As if the hardware numbers didn’t clue you, Metal Gear Solid 4 dominated the software charts for last month here in the United States. The game sold 774,600 units, but if you combine that number with how many Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3 bundles were sold (which include a copy of the game), the NPD estimates that about a million copies of MGS4 were sold last month. I guess people really wanted to know whether or not Snake and Otacon would have that dreamy ending they’ve been wanting since the end of the original Metal Gear Solid.

There are a few other easy-to-predict things in the top ten, such as Guitar Hero On Tour selling quite a few copies, as did Wii Fit and Wii Play. Battlefield: Bad Company (on 360) and Ninja Gaiden 2 both had strong sales, as did Mario Kart Wii.

But the major surprise — aside from GTA IV’s disappearance — is just how well Lego Indiana Jones sold. With the new movie being released, it was assured a good number of sales, but the Wii, PS2 and DS versions of the game combined for 822,600 copies sold, or in other words, straight cash money.

Kris Pigna over at 1UP made a good point regarding On Tour, suggesting that the game’s sales may have been much higher if the DS bundles were included in the figures. It’s worth keeping in mind, but I’m sure Activision is happy with selling 400k copies of a game that will likely have legs.

June 2008 Software Sales

1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) — 774,600 (Roughly 1 million including bundles)
2. Guitar Hero On Tour (DS) — 422,300
3. Ninja Gaiden II (Xbox 360) — 372,700
4. Wii Fit (Wii) — 372,700
5. Wii Play (Wii) – 359,100
6. Battlefield: Bad Company (Xbox 360) — 346,800
7. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) — 322,400
8. LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure (Wii) — 294,500
9. LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure (DS) — 267,800
10. LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure (PS2) — 260,300

Nintendo isn’t waiting for E3 to announce its upcoming titles for the Wii and DS. Gamers will be treated to several old favorites with games featuring Mario, Wario and Kirby as well as another Mystery Case Files game.

Frankly I was hoping to see some new fresh titles, but it appears that Nintendo is playing it safe and putting its money on old reliable franchises. Still, the company knows what it does well and keeps doing it. Details on Mario Super Sluggers, Kirby Super Star Ultra, Wario Land: Shake It! and Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir follow the break.
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I’m a big fan of Boom Blox; it’s one of my favorite Wii games, and certainly the most fun I’ve had with any third-party title on the platform. The overall reaction to the game was quite positive, as the game garnered solid reviews. But according to the NPD Group (via GameDaily), the game sold only 60k copies in May, coming in at #25 for the month — surely that’s not what Electronic Arts had in mind for their Steven Spielberg-branded game had in mind, particularly in a month where sales of the system were so high at just over 675k.

Analysts have been split about what this means. Ben Schachter said, “While overall hardware and software trends for the Nintendo Wii continue to be strong, we would like to see more third-party hits on the platform,” before adding, “To-date, Guitar Hero III, Sega of America’s Mario and Sonic: Olympic Games, and TTWO’s Carnival Games are the only third-party Wii games that have sold more than 1 million units to-date according to NPD, and there are many third-party Wii exclusives that have come-and-gone with minimal reaction from the market.”

Anita Frazier disagrees and simply believes the game was caught in a month where the attention was directed to things like Wii Fit and GTA, which is the theory I personally subscribe to. “It’s still really hard for new IP to breakthrough the noise in the market, and there has been a lot of noise so far this year. Between Super Smash Bros. Brawl, GTA IV, Wii Fit, Mario Kart and the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4 (to name a few), there have been some really high profile game releases. The game was really well reviewed so I’m suspecting the marketing just didn’t break through the clutter to the extent that they were hoping for,” she said.

Earlier this week, however, EA CEO John Riccitiello told the audience at the William Blair Investor Conference (via MTV Multiplayer) that sales were actually on target, and that it had actually “met our expectations internally.” He also remains hopeful about the game’s future, saying, “A title like this one — can it do several hundred thousand or a million or more units? Sure, it’s just gotta keep selling.”

I’ve gotta think that PR and marketing folks are as envious as can be of those who work at Nintendo. At the very least, when it comes to responding to the month’s NPD numbers, it’s the easy job there can be — there’s no need to spin the numbers to make things look good. The numbers speak for themselves and with the release of Wii Fit, Nintendo dominated both the hardware and software sides of the NPDs in May.

Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit ended up number two and three on the best selling software for month of May in North America, which Nintendo’s Cammie Dunaway attributes to the Wii Wheel and Balance Board accessories’ attractiveness to both new and veteran gamers alike.

“The Wii Wheel and Wii Balance Board accessories make game play fun for new gamers while presenting new challenges for those who have been playing a long time,” said Dunaway. “The diversity of the seven Nintendo games represented in NPD’s top 10 for May demonstrates how Nintendo has something for everyone.”

More than 5.8 million copies of Wii Play have been sold to date, according to Nintendo. I wonder what percentage of those purchased weren’t entirely for the purpose of securing a second Wiimote — could it be anything less than 99%?

One fact I found particularly interesting was that, of the top 30 best-selling games in May, 19 of them were for Nintendo platforms. That means only 11 of the remaining titles were for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, and PSP. (Without even having the numbers in my hands, I think it’s safe to assume none of the games were for the original Xbox.) Most of them can’t even begin to compare with GTA, but for there to be that many Wii and DS games selling well has got be playing a major role in future plans for developers and publishers.