tequila bomb

Sales of the Nintendo 3DS have “slowed considerably” since the initial launch, according to analysts, with predictions suggesting the new portable will not match the success of the DS.

“Based on our recent checks, we believe that sales of the 3DS have slowed considerably since the initial launch window, although the Easter holiday could provide a near-term boost,” said Lazazrd Capital Markets’ Colin Sebastian, according to IndustryGamers.

Not suprising. It will come down to what unique games are available for the unit while it is competing with the DS.

When it inevitably replaces the DS, sales will most likely pick up. But the ’3D’ part of the ’3DS’ is a gimmick.

[T]he portable will have an approximate battery life of 3.5 to 5 hours when playing 3DS games, depending on operating conditions such as screen brightness levels and use of wireless features.

When playing DS or DSi games, the handheld will have a battery life of 5 to 8 hours. Fully charging the system’s battery will take around 3.5 hours.

The 3DS will ship in Japan on February 26 for ¥25,000, or $301, in “Aqua Blue” and “Cosmo Black” editions.

Ten games will release alongside the 3DS’s Japanese launch: Nintendogs + Cats (three versions), Konami’s Winning Eleven 3DSoccer, Capcom’s Super Street Fighter IV, Tecmo Koei’s Samurai Warriors: Chronicle, Square Enix’s Tobidasu! Puzzle Bobble, Namco Bandai’s Ridge Racer 3D, Ubisoft’s Combat of Giants, and Level-5′s Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle.

Nintendo also outlined its schedule for first-party 3DS titles in Japan: Steel Diver, Pilotwings Resort, andThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D will ship in Spring 2011;  then Star Fox 64 3D and Kid Icarus: Uprising will release in Summer 2011; and Mario Kart 3DS, Animal Crossing 3DS, and Paper Mario 3DSwill hit stores at a later date.

Looks almost identical to previous DS units. But then if you saw one at any of Nintendo’s public demos that should be no surprise. Also this unit, which has apparently been stolen from the Chinese assembly line, does not have consumer firmware installed so it doesn’t do much.

“Leaked” details so far.. It has 96MB of RAM.

Nintendo has made a loss of ¥2.01 billion ($24.5m / £15.5m) for the first six months to September 30, 2010, compared to a profit of ¥69 billion ($848.3m / £537.4m) for the same period last year.

It’s a drop in the ocean for them really. But that is how quickly things can turn around in this business. Part of the reason is the strength of the Yen affecting exports, but another facet is the shifting landscape in the tech entertainment sector, and the changing tastes of consumers.

People often ask why Apple hangs onto such a huge war chest. Part of the reason behind that I am sure is because they have a deeply ingrained fear of almost going under again. And they know from personal experience just how quickly you can hit the skids if you are too complacent. They want to protect themselves against that, and a big hoard of cash is certainly comforting. Nintendo has one too.

You only have to look at Sony’s slow return to profitability with the PS3, and how much cash they haemorrhaged getting to where they are now. And the puny amount of money Microsoft still make from their gaming division, despite having the “most successful” high end console business on the market…

• Windows and Windows Live: $3.32 billion income.
• Business: $3.39 billion income.
• Entertainment and Devices: $382 million income.

Lucky for Microsoft that they still have their core businesses to rely on. And a massive hoard of cash that they will be burning through as they try to capture a share of the smartphone market.

Expect horrific figures from Microsoft in coming quarters.

And if the 3DS fails to capture people’s imagination, expect Nintendo to start hurting too.

If you want to find someone doing that kind of volume you’ve got to look outside the game business. At, say, Apple, which is pushing games on the iPhone and iPod touch. Apple sold more 14.1 million iPhones alone during the quarter ending in September.  “Do I think that in the near term they can hurt us more than Microsoft?” Fils-Aime says. “Absolutely.”

Interesting to see how Fils-Aime’s tune has changed subtly over the last few months.

Here’s where Nintendo has an edge, Fils-Aime says. The iPod and iPhone are great for casual games like “Angry Birds” that provide a welcome distraction. Games on the Nintendo DS, by contrast, can consume. Fils-Aime admits he’s spent 150 hours playing Nintendo’s Dragon Quest.

And he perhaps has a point.

iOS devs. (small and large) only have themselves to blame if he is right.

Not the geeky stuff we really want. But some clarity from Nintendo on the 3DS package consumers can buy, and what it is capable of.

The new system, which features a 3D display and does not require separate glasses, will retail in Japan for ¥25,000 ($298 / £188).

I think it’s a little expensive.

It was also confirmed that the Virtual Console store will sell Game Boy and Game Boy Advance titles for the system.

Shock!

First-party software for the machine include re-imagings and brand new titles in the Kid Icarus, Animal Crossing, Paper Mario, Star Fox, Mario Kart, PilotWings and Nintendogs franchises.

3DS is powered by twin ARM11 CPUs clocked at a relatively meagre 266MHz, while overall system storage (sans SD card) is 1.5GB. Onboard RAM is 64MB, with 4MB of video memory. DMP’s PICA-200 graphics chip is said to be running at a relatively lightweight 133MHz.

That’s two CPUs from the original iPhone running at a combined speed which is slightly less than its original single ARM11 was running at.

The GPU is a classic, in many ways. Classic as it has some neat hardware features I have noted before. But also because it is old. And under-clocked.

The RAM is the same as shipped in the original iPhone too.

But the VRAM is a fraction of what iPhone devs. got to play with on the 2G.

This is a typically quirky Japanese peice of hardware. I wouldn’t mind playing with one. Three chips is always more fun than two!

But it will take work to get anything epic out of this thing.

Consumer data from Newzoo’s International Gamers Survey 2010 shows that Apple’s iOS devices have entered the major league of the portable gaming market.

Of the 77 million Americans playing games on mobile phones and portable Apple devices, 40.1 million do so on the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. That is comparable to the number of Nintendo DS and DSi gamers aged 10 years and up: 41.0 million.

An interesting thing about those numbers is that there is obviously some overlap, which they touch on later in the report. Horses for courses? Or just utter geeks who own all the toys available on the market?

Sony’s PSP is played by 18.0 million Americans.

Sony’s PSP, in its current incarnation, is dead.

Two-thirds of PSP and iPad gamers play games on their portable device at least three days a week compared to approximately fifty percent for the DS, DSi, iPhone and iPod Touch.

The share of paying players is significantly higher for the Nintendo (67%) and Sony devices (66%) compared to iPod Touch / iPhone (45%) and iPad (32%).

Do Sony or Nintendo do any free games?

When you read these figures, and then shortly afterwards read the recent survey on worldwide mobile OS market share, the world of Nokia, Sony, Nintendo and just about any mobile device manufacturer has a big Apple shaped cloud hanging over it.

The majority of the 160 million Americans playing computer games do so on multiple platforms depending on time of day, social setting and mood.

Gaming is now something that people do while commuting, in a boring meeting and on the loo.. as well as sprawled on the sofa in-front of a 42″ Plazma at home.

I thought for a moment in the Apple TV demonstration yesterday that Steve Jobs was flicking the remote control to make the unit do things. That made me wonder if the Apple TV remote was going to have some kind of accelerometer built into it. No-one seems to be talking about that today so I am assuming that Steve is just one of those guys who uses a remote control like a fishing rod…

If anyone knows something I don’t then please do enlighten me.

Anyway, that got me thinking…

The new Apple TV is running iOS, and it’s more than likely based on the Apple A4. (Or some variant – where are iFixit when you need them!) Edit : Apple list it as using an Apple A4 in their own specs.

Steve waxed lyrical yesterday about Apple’s iPod Touch outselling both Sony and Nintendo’s handheld gaming offerings, even when their sales figures were combined.

Nintendo’s Wii has been taking a battering also in the sales department recently. It seems to have reached its own critical mass.

If you take a look at Epic’s Citadel Demo on iOS devices it is very clear that Apple’s A4 is a match for the Wii’s graphical capabilities.

Imagine if Apple did stick a motion control remote on the Apple TV and started selling games for it… Come to think of it, we already have a motion control device in our iPhones, iPads, and the iPod Touch. Most people who buy an Apple TV do own one of those devices after all. And we already know that iDevices will become an optional remote control for the Apple TV – and much more.

Imagine the possibilities for gaming.

An iPod Touch or an iPhone and an Apple TV could eventually be all that Sony hoped the PSP and PS3 would be.

Of course, Apple or anybody else could just push out a game controller for the Apple TV and have done with it.