wii u

Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime stopped by CNET's New York office on Thursday to talk about the company's upcoming console launch, the Wii U. The system marks the first new home gaming hardware introduced to the U.S. market in six years.

The Wii U also represents a major shift in strategy for Nintendo, deviating from the strict games-only design of previous systems. The Wii U will not only be just for playing games, but also controlling your TV and discovering and streaming other content from the Internet.… Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Another reason not to buy books: Hackers installed credit card readers at 63 stores across the country, New York City included.

- Attention New Yorkers: It's officially time to freak out about Hurricane Sandy.

- SDSU study confirms that five-second rule is pretty much bull.

- A license plate frame that defeats red light camera flashes.… Read more

Nintendo won't make a dime when it starts selling its Wii U next month. In fact, it may lose a few.

Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata said yesterday in an earnings call with investors that the Wii U "will be sold below cost." Iwata didn't say how much of a loss Nintendo is taking on the hardware, though the device's more powerful components and GamePad controller likely drove costs up.

The Wii U will launch on November 18. A basic set featuring the hardware and GamePad will cost customers $299.99. A deluxe set that adds … Read more

Nintendo reported (PDF) a 6.8 decline in revenue to 201 billion yen ($2.6 billion) in the six months ended September 30. It also lost 28 billion yen during the period, though that was actually better than the 70.3 billion yen it lost a year earlier.

Nintendo's troubles were caused mainly by the Wii, whose sales fell off a cliff. Last year, Nintendo sold 3.4 million Wiis during the six-month period; this year, sales plummeted to 1.3 million. Wii software sales slumped to 23.7 million units -- a steep decline from the 36 million … Read more

Nintendo last night unveiled its first Wii U television commercial for the U.K.

The commercial, which aired during the country's "Homeland" show, offers a lighthearted look at the console and how Nintendo aims to change gamers' experience with its new hardware.

The commercial first demonstrates how the GamePad controller -- which, as you can see in the image above, resembles nothing so much as a medium-sized tablet with joystick buttons -- can extend gameplay by letting users virtually throw items to the television screen and see more of a game's surroundings. Nintendo was also quick … Read more

If you're a gamer or at least marginally interested in videogames, today's show is for you. With Justin Yu out of town for the day, Jeff invited gaming industry all-stars Russ Frushtick (Polygon) and Scott Jones (EP Daily) to take on a handful of gaming-related topics. Laughs were had, tears were shed, but at the end of the day we all got a little closer.

Topics from today's show:

- Scott is really digging Fieldrunners 2.

- If there's one thing we're all in agreement on, it's that Dishonored is already a top 3 game of 2012 -- and that Russ' new nickname is "Ghost."

- Will Need For Speed: Most Wanted finally give us the Burnout-esque game we've been asking for?

- What the hell is going to happen with the Wii U?

- Just how Assassin's Creed-y will Assassin's Creed III be?… Read more

The video game industry had a rough time in stores last month.

During September, total U.S. video-game industry sales, including physical game discs, consoles, and accessories, hit $848.3 million, down 24 percent compared with the $1.1 billion the industry generated during the same period last year, research firm NPD Group announced yesterday.

The hardware sector of the industry suffered through a similarly troubling period as sales slumped 39 percent year-over-year to end the month at $210.9 million. Software sales were down 18 percent from $609.7 million last year to $497.4 million this year. Accessories … Read more

Nintendo Chief Executive Satoru Iwata recently sat down with a handful of engineers to discuss what went into his company's Wii U. And before long, the discussion turned into a teardown.

Dubbed "Wii U: The Console," the discussion centers on the technologies that make the Wii U tick. And chief among those technologies might just be the device's multicore CPU. According to Nintendo, this is the first time it has used a multicore CPU, though the company stopped short of saying how many cores are actually in use.

The Wii U is based on a multichip … Read more