Ahead of the  NPD Group’s release of official market data this week, game industry analysts have weighed in with their own sales predictions for the month of April, in the US.

Analyst firms Wedbush and EEDAR both predict that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 will be named the month’s top-selling console, with the “It only does everything, except go online” PlayStation 3 tipped to edge out the Wii.

Wedbush’s Micheal Pachter said in a research note that things aren’t looking great for the 3DS. “The long-awaited introduction of the 3DS has so far had a smaller impact than we originally expected,” he wrote.

“The handheld is off to a slow start, as a lack of compelling software has kept many consumers on the sidelines for the expensive hardware.”

Mostly because Nintendo have released an expensive piece of hardware with almost zero first-party application support. Well fucking played, guys…

On the software front, Pachter expects April sales to be dominated by everyone’s favourite puzzle-orgy, Portal 2, and everyone’s favourite guts-orgy, Mortal Kombat.

Here are the actual numbers for those who are interested:

Hardware sales estimates, Wedbush / EEDAR (year-over-year change):
360 – 315,000 (+70%) / 315,000 (+70%)
DS – 300,000 (-32%) / 325,000 (-26%)
PS3 – 210,000 (+16%) / 215,000 (+19%)
Wii – 215,000 (-22%) / 200,000 (-28%)
3DS – 200,000 (N/A) / 250,000 (N/A)
PSP – 90,000 (+37%) / 80,000 (+22%)
PS2 – 15,000 (-66%) / N/A
Total – 1,345,000 (+13%) / 1,385,000 (+16%)

The Wii had a virtual console, yes, but Nintendo themselves seemed to forget that they put it there. That’s not the case with the 3DS. The company revealed at its 2010 press conference that it plans to keep the 3DS’s virtual console alive with users being able to download both Game Boy and Game Boy Colour games.

No mention was made of pricing or which games will be available for download but expect Metroid, Super Mario, Kirby, Zelda and other usual suspects to be made available.

The following was difficult to obtain, but with a few strings pulled here and there we were successful in getting close to their recent meeting and this is what we heard.

The following are the thoughts collected from the Made Men of the secret Japanese “Commission” of the gaming world regarding the 3DS.

The Commission:

Atsushi Inaba (Bayonetta, MadWorld)

“I’m being struck with the intense desire to make something on it. It’s the same sort of excitement I had when I first saw the Wii and DS in Nintendo’s office, but now it’s at a whole new level. This may the first time in the industry where the terms ‘next generation’ and ‘personal dream’ were so appropriate. I’d gladly throw away everything else for a shot at touching the 3DS.”

Keiji Inafune (Mega-Man, Dead Rising)

“Video games need three things to be successful: a concept, a technology platform, and good marketing. The Nintendo 3DS is a perfect example of those three things bundled into one.”

Hideki Kamiya (Okami, Bayonetta)

“3D on a large screen has an impact on you and gets you that much closer to the game or movie you’re watching, but 3D on the 3DS’s smaller screen is interesting in its own right. Instead of feeling like you’re ‘really there,’ you feel like it’s ‘really in the palm of your hand,’ so to speak. Having these dynamic home 3D titles is great and all, but personally, I want to take a different approach and make games that take advantage of what a 3D portable has to offer.”

Hiroyuki Kobayashi (Resident Evil 5, Devil May Cry)

“Our own Resident Evil was shown on the show floor and was well received, but when I saw Metal Gear, I felt the new potential of the 3DS. I’d like to make something.”

Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear, Metal Gear Solid)

“I wear glasses, so I’m happy that 3D glasses are not needed. I directed the E3 demo. It was based off Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater, but the backgrounds and character modeling were all redone in high polygon. It’s not finalized, but we’re thinking about CO-OPs and other things — elements fitting of a 3D and portable game machine.”

Toshihiro Nagoshi (Super Monkey Ball, Yakuza)

“Nintendo has been re-examining the concept of game consoles as ‘toys’ ever since the Wii, and I think the 3DS is the final result of those efforts. If you believe that gamers will demand more social features and immersiveness in their portable single-player or multiplayer experiences, then Nintendo certainly has that covered with the 3DS’s Wi-Fi and 3D features. There’s a lot of ideas I’d like to work with.”

Yoshinori Ono (Street Fighter IV, Super Street Fighter IV)

“We’d like to put in some ideas that make effective use of the portability.”

Goichi Suda (No More Heroes, Killer 7)

“It really makes me feel the speed at which the history of video games is unfolding — like, ‘We’ve really made it this far, huh?’ You have a living, breathing world you can touch right in your hands. I think we’ve finally gone from an era of constructing virtual worlds from pixels to one where the world is truly, honestly there. If I had to sum up the sort of game I’d like to make, I would simply call it ‘the next game,’ because the 3DS marks the arrival of the ‘next platform.’”

Shu Takumi (Phoenix Wright, Ghost Trick)

“As a creator, I feel that a new challenge has started…I’d like to show a mystery in a 3D space.”

There you have it. Straight from the Made Men on the “commission.”

What do you think?

[Source: Kotaku]

THQ’s publishing boss Ian Curran said that the Nintendo 3DS will in fact help ‘combat piracy’.

“What excites me even more [than 3DS games] is that there’s technology built in that device to really combat piracy,” Curran said to CVG.

“The problem with the DS market in the last few years, particularly with the DS Lite, is that it’s just been attacked by piracy. It’s made it almost impossible to shift any significant volume. The DSi combated it a little bit, but the 3DS has taken that a step further.”

Apparently when asked about the technology, and how it might work, Nintendo said that it’s too complicated to explain. Therefore all the information is pretty much locked away in their secret Japanese vault under the sea.

The 3DS piracy-war falls in line with previous reports from Nintendo.

[via:cvg]

Nintendo and Sony are apparently in talks with major wireless phone carriers about incorporating 3G technology into the 3DS and next PSP.

Japanese wireless carrier giant NTT DoCoMo Inc’s president, Ryuji Yamada, told the Wall Street Journal that “videogame makers know that in order for portable game machines to take the next step forward, they need wireless communication.”

He followed up by saying “we are discussing this with various players.” Although Yamada was unclear as to who these ‘players’ are. It should be mentioned that Nintendo has already expressed interest in wireless improvements for the 3DS and Nintendo CEO, Satoru Iwata, has shown great interest in Amazon’s Kindle e-reader which bundles 3G costs in with downloadable purchases so that users never have to pay a monthly subscription fee. Sony already incorporates 3G technology into its netbooks and e-readers but both companies declined to comment on Yamada’s statements.

It does however seem as if both companies are intent on keeping up with Apple’s ever-more popular iPad and iPhone.

[Source: CVG]

It has come to attention that the 3DS has an internal memory, which allows multiple games to be stored on it at once.

This is according to Japanese financial paper Nikkei, who says that although the feature didn’t get any air time at E3, players will be able to copy games onto the internal memory.

What does all this mean some of you might wonder?

Answer: This means that you’ll be able to switch between games by selecting the desired game from the system’s main menu, so there will be no need to swap cartridges or carry games.

[Source: CVG]

Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo America President, has said that the Nintendo 3DS  has “no health-issues” …except for children under the age of 7.

“We will recommend that very young children not look at 3D images,” Fils-Aime said at E3 yesterday.

“That’s because, [in] young children, the muscles for the eyes are not fully formed.”

“This is the same messaging that the industry is putting out with 3D movies, so it is a standard protocol. We have the same type of messaging for the [1990s Nintendo virtual reality machine] Virtual Boy, as an example.”

Much of Nintendo’s products are “kid friendly”, therefore this may come as a shock to some.

[Source: CVG]

This is the full list of down and dirty specs for the Nintendo 3DS. Everything from dimensions to battery details and whatever’s in btween. The above colours are the colours that the console will be available in at its release.

DIMENSIONS (when closed)

5.3 inches x 2.9 inches x 0.8 inches

WEIGHT

8 ounces

TOP SCREEN

3.52 inch widescreen display / 800×240 resolution (400 pixels for each eye during 3D gameplay)

BOTTOM SCREEN

3.02 inch touch-screen display / 320×240 resolution

CAMERAS

Three cameras, two on outer casing, one above top screen / 640×480 resolution (0.3 megapixel)

STORAGE MEDIUM

Cartridge slot for both 3DS and DS cards (3DS cards have a 2GB capacity “at launch”, suggesting larger sizes to come) / SD memory card slot

WIRELESS

2.4ghz / 802.11 wi-fi / Can communicate with other consoles or internet when in sleep mode / wireless can be switched off to preserve battery life

CONTROLS / INPUT

Touch-screen / D-pad / 360-degree “Slide Pad” (the analog stick) / motion sensor / gyro sensor / 3D “depth slider” can reduce (or even disable) 3D effects in games

STYLUS

4-inch stylus (when full extended)

AUDIO

Stereo speakers (includes stereo headphone out jack)

BATTERY

Lithium ion battery (lifespan details TBA)

PARENTAL CONTROLS

The 3DS will include parental controls

This is actually not what most would expect. Most would think that GTA or that plumber guy Mario would top these lists, right? Wrong!

According to the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA) of Japan, it would appear that neither cardboard gangsters or plumbing fans are the ones who have been ripping off the most games.

It’s…

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Final Fantasy and Pokemon fans.

According to CESA’s figures, Pokemon Platinum is the most pirated game on the DS with around 2,071,006 illegal downloads, but the cake for most pirated handheld game in the current generation goes to PSP for about 5,281,223 downloads of Dissidia: Final Fantasy.

Phantasy Star Portable 2, Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite are also quite high on the PSP list. With Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies sits just above Mario Party DS, New Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart DS on the DS list.

It seems “Core” Games are the most targeted, with the non-hardcore titles not as widely downloaded.

PSP is dead though.

[Source:CVG]

A possible Nintendo 3DS platform was filed with the FCC about half a month ago. The new board reveals parts from the Nintendo DS which includes two screens, a controller and a camera. These components have been added to a rather large motherboard.

So, this is probably a test unit. Or someone has pimped their DS.

Interesting parts seem to include a dual screen, where one is a wide unit.

The wider screen on top also looks similar to that of Sharp’s auto-stereoscopic 3D technology, the technology choice for Nintendo’s 3DS.

Nintendo should reveal their 3DS at E3 next month. We’ll find out more then.

[via:vg247]

Core, a local distributor for technology, has announced that the Nintendo DSi XL will hit the market in the April month. The new gaming device will arrive during late April, where it will have 4.2-inches of gaming LCD, and this means a 93% larger viewing area when compared to the DS Lite.

Similar to the DS Lite, there will be a stylus pen along with touch screen technology. The XL, on the other hand, will have a bigger pen — because well, XL.

Different colours will be available, in case you’re sensitive about these kinds of things. Then again, no boy wants to be running around with a pink DS — right?

Pre-installed software includes Dr Kawashima’s: Little Bit of Brain Training: Arts Edition, as well as a Dictionary and Nintendo’s DSi browser.

We’ll release the pricing soon.