Nintendo has Billions, Multiplayer in Zelda U?, Shovel Knight is a Winner – Week in Review 6/28/14

Welcome to the latest edition of Nintendo Enthusiast – Week in Review. Join Shawn Long as he breaks down all the Nintendo news of the past week including Nintendo sitting on billions, Shovel Knight being awesome, Multiplayer in Zelda U, and much more. Be sure to check out the Retro Game of the Week and stick around for a very special ending as well.

[Metallox]

But it's losing money, so I'd be worried :D

[ptownjbo]

Not sure if joking or not....

[Cindy-rella]

I know in this day and age that speaking the truth gets you massive disagreements even when it's not meant to disparage but to carry on conversations.

Nintendo has billions and they made a lot off of the wii. Fans such as myself supported them and they made a terrible gaming system with the wii u with terrible game support. To each there own but the wii u is a waste of time and doesn't deserve to be supported. Other game companies make better systems with a lot of gaming support bringing out a steady stream of games.

Nintendo makes a weak system with terrible controls with barely any game support. The wii u is only being supported by 1st party companies with barely any 3rd party support. The wii u is a waste of time to core gamers. The fanatics can buy it and wait months and years to play something compelling

The disagreeing fanatics are at it again but I welcome the disagrees . These fanatics prefers playing mostly mediocre games or the waiting game. The vita isn't selling well even though it's a very good system. The wii u isn't selling well because it's rubbish.

[herbs]

Really Cindy-really
You sure like the word fanatic and apparently you're fanatical about hating video games. That is the only logical conclusion you can get from your extremely biased rant that contains no substance. Like how are the controls terrible could you explain maybe? Is it the superior D-pad or being able to choose between motion controls or traditional ones? Is it because the controllers don't have pointless light bars that reflect off your TV screen and hemourage battery life? Mediocre games only do you not read reviews do you not care for great gameplay? I don't understand how someone who is obviously passionate about gaming writes comments in gaming message boards can have such a narrow view. All I can say is it must suck to be someone who has a hobby but can't enjoy it to the fullest because of their own mental blockage. You need to get over yourself and broaden your horizons...

[randomass171]

@Cindy-rella Actually Wii U is having a much better month in sales right now, mostly because of Mario Kart. Your comment is also full of other inaccuracies. Nintendo has some third party support with games like Bayonetta, Devil's Third, even Disney Infinity and Skylanders. Also "bad controls"? I don't think you've ever used a Wii U.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

A lot of its money has likely gone into their recent expansions.
Remember that Retro got an entirely new building and they've even opened up another HQ?
They're likely hiring a lot of people as well, for new projects and the like.
The huge advertisement campaigns they're running for MK8, and planning to run for future games, have also probably taken a toll.

All in all, the losses will be recovered and make dividends for Nintendo in the long run.

[Dan_scruggs]

So your worried about Sony then? Right? Nintendo's losses are in the hundreds of millions but Sony's losses are in the Billions.

[Concertoine]

Its important to note that SPENDING money is not the same as losing it.

Companies have to spend money to make money.

[Metallox]

They're spending money on Wii U, isn't that the same to losing money? #BaDumTss

Ok, ok, I'm calming down myself, no more ridiculous comments for a while.

[modesign]

nintendo is spending the money and not making it back. thats the problem.

[Concertoine]

@modesign

Their software almost always returns a big profit, but it cant do so until the game arrives on shelves. They've also been making tech aquisitions and heavy advertising that'll only benefit in the long run.

[randomass171]

That makes a lot of sense actually. Nintendo has made a number of large scale acquisitions and are approaching new methods of advertisement. Not to mention QoL is probably an investment in and of itself. They will probably see some hardship for a little while and then get profitable returns in the years to come.

[hduce]

Actually, they are the only company out of the big three that their consoles are being sold at a profit.

[LOL_WUT]

That's a lie Sony recently said they just started making a profit for each ps4 sold don't know about the X1 though ;)

[hduce]

@Lol_ Wut I'm pretty sure my statement said consoles as in every system the company makes is profitable. I have a hard time believing the PS4 is profitable for Sony this early on. I'm not sure about the Vita but I know Nintendo now makes a profit on the Wii U and every 3DS variant it sells. Nintendo rarely takes a loss on hardware. The 3DS was their first system in a long time to do so which they resolved that quickly. The Wii U followed at being sold at a loss but they fixed that as well. At the next quarterly meeting, I can Nintendo returning to black.

[randomass171]

I believe the PS4 is being sold at a profit or at the very least a minor loss so it makes its money back on software. Wii U is somewhere in the same boat where it's taking a minor loss and making back on software. After Mario Kart 8's success, I don't see Nintendo taking a massive loss at the end of the fiscal quarter.

[hduce]

The information is available to be searched that the Wii U is being sold at a profit and has been for a few months. That is why they refuse to do a price drop. Add this to them being able to move some units with Mario Kart 8 and I can easily see them making a quarterly profit.

[N4g_null]

Buildings cost money. Development of games that are not crippled upon release cost money. Advertising cost money. Combining handheld and console cost money.

Throwing some chips in a box and slapping your brand on it is cheap. The power of the wiiu gpgpu is in how you really can create your own graphical style. Yet we all know the xbone and ps4 will not surpass what it can do now. They are both using the tech wrong. That will continue though. You can't port tech from the current pc market to the ps4 and xbone unless you simply make inferior pc games.

Also nintendo has the better assets. They make actual games. It's almost like sony knows they can get their gamers to keep buying story based games rather than game play based games.

What happens when nintendo goes out and buys a mature gritty studio who can produce great game play?

Then you have real rpg being made like x, last story, pans tower, zelda, and 3rd party support like fatal frame. Very solid games like shovel knight. Actual support of their innovation with real games.

[Summons75]

Zelda should NEVER have online or voice acting. We don't need crap shoehorned into an amazing single player experience. That being said, I did enjoy the streetpass battles on A Link Between Worlds and the Tingle Bottles of Wind Waker HD....that should be the only intrusion of multiplayer on Zelda U.

[DivineAssault]

They know how to make money... If they lose out for a while, its no biggie... Gamecube didnt do well yet they still survived w/o a scratch.. they can lose the console war for many more generations to come & still be fine financially.. However, that doesnt mean companies LIKE losing money so theyre going to keep pushing for the best...

I trust that nintendo will make zelda & all their other titles JUST FINE.. I have yet to be disappointed in their work... Best devs in the industry are on their team so whatever they do will be cool..

[LightDiego]

Shovel Knight looks great, i will try it, but i can't stop playing Mario Kart 8. :3

[leahcim]

is shovel knight exclusive to nintendo?

[SirNintend0]

Wii U, 3DS, Steam

[CloudRap]

(generic nintendo doom and gloom/sony superiority comment)

[thehobbyist]

Zelda U better sell pretty well because it's reportedly Nintendo's most expensive game to date

[gedden7]

Expsensive by Nintendo's standards... Meaning many close to a Million in production. Unlike other 3rd party game that cost in the 10s or 100 millions to make and market.

[thehobbyist]

Hey, if you make a game with $1 million and make $120 million(Using MK8 as an example) that's damn good.

[gedden7]

@thehobbyist I'm sure the Mario Kart production costs was less than $1 million to make and market.

[Geekman]

This article needs to be posted billions of times before it stays in peoples heads.

[jholden3249]

Man I love the Wii U. Such a fantastic console, with one of the highest quality libraries I've seen in a long time, especially with all the E3 games on the way.

It's like every major release is my new favorite game of all time lol. Even the digital games are better than most retail releases. Most recently being Pushmo World and Shovel Knight.

I don't care what anybody says. I think the Wii U is one of the best consoles ever made. Good price, unique gamepad controller, Wiimote support when needed (Pikmin 3, Wii Sports Club), backward compatibility, and one of the best libraries of any Nintendo console to date (keeping in mind it's only 18 months in- by the time this generation is over I don't think any Nintendo console will be able to best the Wii U's library).

So talk crap about the Wii U all you want people. I won't hear you though. Too busy playing Mario Kart 8, Pushmo World and Shovel Knight ;)