According to the NPD Group's results for November, the Nintendo Wii sold 981,000 units for November, but analyst James Lin observes that they "could easily sell double" but furthers that they could also lose as much as US$ 1 billion due to the shortage this holiday season. More in the full article.

The Nintendo Wii and DS both have a solid fanbase in the U.S. In spite of this success, it doesn't seem that Nintendo has any plans of increasing video game development in the country.

Nintendo senior vice president George Harrison said that, "I'm not aware of any plans to push for more software development here in the U.S." Want to find out more? Head on over to the full article.

There's now another reason why the popular internet meme "It prints money!" is attributed to Nintendo. Super Mario Galaxy, reportedly sold a remarkable number of 500,000 copies on its first week in the US. It's not even Black Friday or the holidays yet, and that number doesn't include sales figures from other regions. Read on to get more details!

So the analysts were right on the money as Nintendo once again took first (and second) place in hardware sales in October. What's Nintendo's take on it? George Harrison - Nintendo of America Market Chief - talks about sales, shortages and the competition. Details in the full article.

Nintendo's first-party Wii title Battalion Wars 2 is now available in retail stores across the U.S. This sequel to the GameCube original Battalion Wars adds new features such as online multiplayer through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The Wii's Wiimote-and-Nunchuk controller combo also makes it easier for players to take control of their units as they blaze through the single-player missions and the game's multiplayer modes. Read more about it at the full article.

After receiving the "Marketer of the Year" award from Advertising Age, Nintendo of America's vice president for marketing and corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan said that Nintendo noticed that gamers were already getting bored with their games, "even though they didn't know it yet."

Nintendo of America's senior director of consumer marketing, Robert Matthews agreed, saying that gamers are now no longer playing games for longer stretches of time, just like they did before. "Just look at the way people consume entertainment today. The idea that you would spend hours playing videogames is just not real anymore," Matthews said.

As for Nintendo's marketing campaign, Nintendo of America's executive George Harrison revealed that they did not use more resources in reaching out to non-gamers, and depended on the media to pick up on the more interesting tidbits about Nintendo consoles and disseminate them to the market.

So far, Nintendo is doing a good job in reaching out to both gamers and non-gamers alike. Proof? The fact that the Wii won a T3 award due to its unisex appeal.

Here's some good news for you shoppers looking to score one of Nintendo's motion-sensing wonders, the Wii, for a holiday present or gift for a very special someone: not only will the console be staying at its affordable price, the big N is currently hard at work in making sure that everyone who steps into a store to buy one will walk out a happy customer (meaning, being able to purchase one). Awesome!

This news comes directly from George Harrison, head of marketing for Nintendo's US operations, during an interview about what the marketing arm of Ninty would do to satisfy demand this holiday season. He says that negotiations are already being made so that the US branch gets its fair share of consoles, or "more than [its] fair share."

He also reassures potential owners of the Wii's price point - which will not be seeing any changes any time soon. "We'll stay at $249 for the foreseeable future. We are still selling everything we can make. We think we're in a great position. Both our competitors took price reductions and it hasn't stalled our momentum at all."

And for added security, George also revealed that the company's goals extend beyond the holiday season itself - saying that it was an aim of Nintendo's to try and have reasonably steady production over the course of the year. He also noted that the suppliers themselves don't want to shut down and do nothing at the early part of the year, which could mean that Wii stock will come pouring in even after the holiday shopping craze is over.

Certainly good news indeed from the guys over at Nintendo. Updates as we get them!

Remember the dark tales of wii-njuries and wii-ncidents caused by Wiimote missiles from some video gamers' clumsy hands? A good number of TV sets, as shown in our previous reports, were among the casualties prompting Nintendo to promise that they'll be coming up with a workaround address ing the said wii-sue.

Well our friends from the Big N hasn't remained idle as they are now announcing the release of anti-slip Wii Remote Jackets, for free. Here's the product description straight from Nintendo Wii PR folks:

Nintendo announces the Wii Remote Jacket, a durable, silicone cover for the Wii Remote that provides a variety of benefits for the player. The Wii Remote Jacket provides cushioning for the Wii Remote for people who might accidentally throw or drop their Wii Remotes while playing games.

The said grip-enhancing Wiimote jacket will be packaged along with the next batch of Wii hardware systems and retailed Wiimotes. The first set of Wii Remote Jacket-equipped units should hit video game stores on October 15. Those who have already purchased their Wiis need not worry as Nintendo is giving them the option of preordering the said accessory over Nintedo's support site or by calling 1-866-431-8367. Nintendo will begin taking orders on Oct. 2, and Wii Remote Jackets will begin shipping the week of Oct. 15.

Reaching out to its growing userbase is a great move by the company behind the motion-sensing wonder to. Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications George Harrison says it best in saying "we're always looking for ways to improve our products and make sure everyone has a safe and fun experience."

In a staggering contrast with the commercial success of Wii and DS consoles, it seems that Nintendo of America (NoA) is having some problems on the corporate level. All of these began when the company announced its decision to move its headquarters either in San Francisco from Redmond.

A couple of months ago, we learned that NoA is looking for someone to replace VP Perrin Kaplan. Then a suspicious retirement leak for Harrison circulated around the Internet. Well, it turned out that the leak is not at all suspicious because George Harrison has just confirmed that he is indeed leaving the Nintendo family behind.

"I have confirmed to all employees that I will be leaving at the end of December and not making the move to California," Harrison told Reuters via phone. The VP first joined Nintendo back in 1992 as Director of Advertising and Promotions.

And we are sure, that he will be missed by Nintendo and its fans.

Nintendo of America Ltd. has come out with a press release stating that the strong sales of both the Wii and Nintendo DS have helped strengthen one of their major franchises, namely Pokemon. This isn't a one way thing though, as the popularity of the franchise also helped in the selling of consoles.

 

As a testament to the the franchise's popularity on both consoles, DS exclusives Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl have already sold three million copies in the U.S. while Pokemon Battle Revolution is currently the fifth best selling game on the Wii. Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications George Harrison commented on this symbiotic relationship:

These hard numbers show that the Pokemon franchise and Nintendo's systems are striking a chord with players of all ages and drawing in huge numbers of new players year after year. But anecdotally we're also seeing that these new Pokemon games are appealing to older players, the same ones who played the original Pokemon games when they debuted in the United States almost 10 years ago.

Historically speaking, Pokemon has always had a strong following ever since it debuted in Japan. The numbers have swelled since then as more countries have been invaded by the Pokemon craze. The number of fans are still climbing as of this article's writing so it's pretty safe to assume that we can expect to hear more good things from this franchise.