News

According to Bloomberg.com, Nintendo has two new consoles lined up for market release during 2003 and 2004.

The first release, Nintendo's iQue system, a console designed specifically to facilitate Nintendo's introduction into the Chinese gaming market, will be released in Shanghai this month. The controller-size iQue is designed primarily with portability and minimal power consumption in mind; games for the system, which will include popular N64 releases like Zelda 64: Ocarina of Time, come in the form of 64MB Flash memory cards. Upon release, iQue will also come packaged with a library of games and demos.
Nintendo has discussed, but not officially announced, release of the iQue outside of China.

The second release will supposedly target Nintendo's current markets, starting with sales in Japan during 2004 and eventual release in America and Europe. However, specifics about the console have yet to be released. Nintendo hopes to make up for a reported $26.6 million loss during mid 2003, blamed on low GameCube sales and the rising strength of the Japanese Yen currency, and also hopes to increase market share against competitors Sony and Microsoft.

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That iQue controller looks as large and as uncomfortable to use as the X-Box controller to me... However, since Nintendo essentially packed an entire N64 unit into that size, they're certainly more warranted. As for the second system, I can't say whether or not I'm excited yet, as nothing has been released about it.
However, Nintendo's attempt at establishing a Chinese gaming market and its push for increased revenue even while performing well against its competitors sound to me as if Nintendo is intent on establishing -- and dominating -- a global market.

Nintendo of America has announced that the US market share of the GameCube has almost doubled according to NPD TRST data since the price of the console was dropped from 149 dollars US to 99 dollars thirty five days ago.

This is remarkable in its own right, but even more so with the current state of the US economy. The system does have an 80 dollar price advantage against the Playstation 2 and X Box. Nintendo of America is banking the market share continuing to grow with the upcoming holiday season, the release Mario Kart: Double Dash and the upcoming Zelda compilation that will be bundled free with new GameCubes starting November 17th. (Those who already own the GameCube can also get it while supplies last by purchasing two of the following: Mario Kart: Double Dash, Mario Party 5, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, or 1080: Avalanche

Source: Games_Are_Fun

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I figured Nintendo would move more units with the price cut, but it still is surprising. I'd love to pick one up once the Zelda compilation comes out. I'll just wait to play Hikaroo's though.

Shinichi Okamato, Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of Sony Computer Entertainment, recently released a timetable for mass production of the Playstation 3 microprocessor in late 2005.
Assuming production remains on schedule, projected release dates for the Playstation 3 may be as early as Christmas 2005.

The PS3 microprocessor, nicknamed "Cell" (and also more recently nicknamed as "Grid"), will supposedly surpass speed of current console technology 200-fold, and is fabled to have some 1000 times the processing power of Sony's current console on the market, the Playstation 2, or some 125 times the processing power of Intel's new Itanium 2 processors.
Several companies are assisting Sony in Cell's design, including IBM and Toshiba, and an estimated $400 million will be collectively invested into its development.

To explain this intense research and development, Sony has stated that they intend for the Playstation 3 to reach far beyond use as merely a video gaming system: Mr. Okamoto announced in early March 2003 that the PS3 would be a "nexus of home entertainment."
Manufacture of Cell would not only blow away Sony's major gaming competitors, Microsoft and Nintendo, but could even place Sony as a direct competitor to Intel for cutting-edge processing technology.

More information may be obtained at:
BBC News
Playstation Reporter
Impact Sites 2000
GameBiz

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As some of what I read online seems a little far-fetched, I tried to remain as conservative as possible, and to cross-reference with as many authoritative sources as I could find.
It all sounds simply astounding -- a potential leap forward in computing technology, assuming it can work as well in reality as it does in theory...

Sony announced today that it would be cutting 20,000 jobs worldwide. The 20,000 jobs constitue 13 percent of the company's total employees. It is not certain where the jobs will be cut, but it is known that the first 7,000 will be from Japan.

Poor sales of the Playstation 2 and Trinitron TV sets are being blamed for contributing to Sony's declining revenue and its thus needed restructuring.

Source: Gamestop

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It's never good to hear about job cuts. Hopfully, those who are getting layed off will find new employers quickly.

Common video games have the potential to treat and cure phobias, according to a study published in the CyberPsychology and Behavior Journal on October 17.

The study was conducted in Quebec, Canada at the Universite du Quebec en Outaouais. It involved several patients diagnosed with phobias, each treated through exposure therapy.

(Exposure therapy utilizes gradual exposure to a fear. For example, an arachnophobe undergoing exposure therapy might initially be seated in a room with a tarantula at the room’s opposite end; as the patient became more comfortable with the spider’s presence, the therapist would move the spider closer and closer to the patient until finally, the patient would ideally be able to sit next to or hold the spider in his or her hand without fear. Early exposure therapy often involves virtual reality equipment.)

One test group in the study received their initial treatment via expensive virtual reality equipment commonly used for exposure therapy in medical labs, while another test group began their treatment through use of inexpensive, low-end personal computers, head-mounted displays, and common first-person video game software, such as Half-Life and Unreal Tournament.

Surprisingly, the study indicated that PCs running video game software produced similar therapeutic results in patients to the standard medical equipment.

The full study can be read at Ingenta Select.

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I’m glad to see this bit of news; video games don’t get enough credit for their potential uses and benefits, in my opinion.
For one thing, I believe they can teach young kids all kinds of useful things. I’m quite convinced that Final Fantasy VI supported my basic math skills in elementary school and first taught me how to spell "ghost," for example. I also distinctly remember looking up the word "maintain" in the family dictionary because of that game. (Yet I still don’t know exactly how that dang Dispel thing works.)
So, it’s nice to read about a concrete scientific study being performed and indicating practical benefits of video game software.

Gamestop and Electronics are offering a $100 dollar rebate on Nokia's handheld unit until November 2nd.

The rebate is an instant one, not mail-in as well. Because of this, it is not known whether Nokia is behind this price cut, or if it is the two retailers trying to unload their massive inventories. Interestingly, the N-Gage rebate is not mentioned on the official N-Gage website If it is mentioned, it is very well hidden. This tends to point to the latter that pushed for the cut.

Is the N-Gage heading the way of the Jaguar?

Source: Gamespot

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This is still not enough to save the system in my eyes. One can still get both a Gameboy SP AND a Gamecube for that price. This is just a company and some retailers trying to spare what little they can of their investment before it becomes another E.T. from the Atari 2600 age.