Nintendo recently reported its six-month financial results for the first half of the current fiscal year, and the Kyoto, Japan-based publisher and developer had a pretty good haul, though certainly well below company expectations. According to data obtained by Gamasutra, total profit for the period came in at a cool $772 million, a 52 percent year-over-year decrease attributed to unfavorable exchange rates, as well as lower software and hardware sales. As a result, Nintendo significantly cut profit forecasts.
On the surface, it might seem like Nintendo’s gold-plated castle is eroding. Some might even suggest that the Wii and DS maker is in a tough spot, and should start searching for the panic button. Looking at the numbers though, I don’t agree.
What you see there is myself and a man called Charles Martinet. Charles Martinet is a voice actor. If you’ve never heard of him, that’s okay. All you have to know is that he is the voice of Mario, and this makes him one of the coolest people you could ever meet.
Look, he said “Spiderman” to Pillowfort in the Mario voice. That makes him a winner in my books.
Some more photos, and impressions of New Super Mario Bros. Wii over the jump.
Well, it happened once again. The “hardcore” Wii fans kick and scream for a “hardcore” title for their little girly system. A big boy M-rated title releases and receives generally good marks across the board from all the major reviewers out there. Finally, the monthly sales numbers come back, and everyone is shocked at how poorly it does.
Editor’s note: This is yet another in a long list of kick-ass Sarcastic Gamer Survival Guides. If you want to check out the others in the series, click here for the list of guides, which includes GTA IV, Call of Duty 4, Gears of War 2 and Far Cry 2.
In Dead Space Extraction, it’s kill or be killed. You have to think fast, with a finger ever at the trigger. Of course, it’s important to make every shot count. You don’t want to get caught with your pants down, forced to reload with a bevy of foes bearing down.
For those having some difficulty surviving the Necromorph-infested halls of the USG Ishimura, I’ve put together a handy little guide to ease the pain. Even if you’re an ace shot, you might find that some of my tips push your star rating to a new height. So, as Black Label Society singer and guitarist Zakk Wylde would say, fire it up.
Well, I wasn’t going to write on any of these topics, but seeing as times are tough and we’ve got a very large demographic of people who haven’t had their first part time job yet, free and cheap is more good-er.
Welcome to the last second. The nick of time. The skin of our teeth.
Extra Life is nearly here.
In this episode of the show we discussed our personal reasons for getting involved in Extra Life, and the ways that people around the world are making this event their own. We’re just days away from the 2nd annual event, that raises money for pediatric cancer research and treatment.
We also got deep into a game called Demon Souls, Brutal Legend, and even hinted at something hysterical coming up on the next episode. Find out which member of the show got lost on the easiest driving mission in Brutal Legend. Hear Dave say something rather intelligent. Meet a child you would love to have known.
It’s a special episode of the Sarcastic Gamer Podcast, with an ending you don’t want to miss.
To get involved in Extra Life (There’s still time) just decide whether you’d like to SIGN UP to play on Saturday or simple DONATE.
If you’d really like to make Lono happy sponsor him.
If you don’t want Dave to get jealous, you’d better sponsor him too.
FINALLY, here’s the link so that you can get the embed code for last year’s video, created by our friend TempleDog. See how many sites you can get to post it. Time is running out. Every bit helps.
Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2 has released to world wide critical acclaim. It’s charting at about a 96 on the fabled “Metacritic” review aggregator, which we all know is the last word in what is good for you. So, the game must be good. Right? However, some critics on the fringe, who have given their own opinions on Uncharted 2, have been met with wide eyed nerd rage over their ridiculously low review scores.
Raging idiotic fanboyism, or shoddy internet journalism? Can there be a winner between the two? Find out, after the jump.
Someone named “corporalgregg3”decided to take a magnifying glass to the whole “Kurt Cobain unlocked avatar” mess and came up with a Youtube compilation video of the avatar Cobain’s more teeth-jarring Guitar Hero 5 performances, really highlighting the ugliness of the whole thing. However, if you go look the video up, it has mysteriously disappeared, pulled down at the insistence of Activision.
Activision’s Guitar Hero 5 has drawn a lot of flak for it’s reanimation of Kurt Cobain’s corpse for its rhythm game. Courtney Love, the cracked out looking wife of the dead singer, apparently signed away so many of her rights to her husband’s estate to Activision that I wouldn’t be surprised to see Kurt Cobain muscled into the next Call of Duty or Prototype sequel.
[Editor's note: Devin is a new guest writer for Sarcastic Gamer with some interesting views on various aspects of gaming. Please welcome him as an occasional provider of great gaming content!]
We live in a world that tries to screw us over every chance it gets. If you paid the full price for TMNT: Turtles in Time on the Xbox Live Arcade, you know what I’m talking about.
The economy is going down the crapper, and for those of us without pools of gold to swim through, we have to start buying games selectively. This could mean- heaven forbid- passing on a few big name titles to play something more worth your hard earned cash. How can you choose one from the other? Let’s find out after the jump. (more…)
Editor’s note: Devin is the latest member of the SG writing taskforce. He spent long enough annoying us that we figured we’d give him a shot and hey — whaddya know — he’s pretty damn good. Devin’s Gaelic for “poet” or “bard” and so we’re hoping this bodes well for the future. Be nice to him!
One year ago today all the young whippersnappers were asking for an Xbox 360 for Christmas. PS3s were far too expensive, Wiis weren’t hip enough or hardcore enough, so everyone and their brother wanted a 360.
Today, everyone is going to be asking for Modern Warfare 2, Mass Effect 2, and Assassins Creed 2. This is the year of software.
Next year at this time, everyone will be adding Project Natal to their wish list. Well, listening to a podcast the other day brought to my attention the similarities between Project Natal and the EyeToy. One thought led to another, and well, prepare to have your mind blown.
Okay, someone walk with me on this one, because I’m a little confused.
I was under the impression that the reason that Harmonix was cranking out a Lego Rock Band was to appeal to the “casual” crowd. You know, Billy and Suzie and the soccer moms of the world, signing along to Hannah Montana and Taylor Swift songs.
So what in the holy double stuff Jesus Christ is the reasoning behind Harmonix’s inclusion of Iggy Pop to the Lego Rock Band lineup?
Nintendo recently revealed its holiday software lineup for the Wii, claiming to have “something for everyone.” Admittedly, there is a lot of variety to the list, which includes Need for Speed Nitro, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up, A Boy and His Blob, Dead Space Extraction and Wii Fit Plus. Still lots of refuse to wade through, but the 2009 offerings look a bit healthier than the garbage Nintendo peddled last year. Then again, holiday 2008 was beyond pathetic – save for Wario Land: Shake It!, de Blob and Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars, so the bar wasn’t set very high. A beached manatee could have cleared it.
Scanning through the schedule though, I can only find two titles of interest: New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. And, honestly, I’m not really salivating over them either.
The Beatles first conquered England, then America, next up was LSD and finally… rhythm based music video games. The Beatles conquered them all. How did this happen? How did a game that contains only 45 tracks, all from one band, that is not particularly difficult so thoroughly rip apart everything we new about the genre and throw it out the window?
