Nintendo’s 
announcement on Thursday that the Wii U would come in two flavors costing either $300 or $350 instantly sparked a lot of arguments.
Some thought it was too high a number. Some felt it fair. Few, it’s worth noting, vowed to boycott the system, so any objections fell short of the ones Sony faced when the PlayStation 3 was initially priced at an astronomical $500.
Nintendo 
has more than just videogames in mind with the Wii U, its next-generation console, which goes on sale Nov. 18 in North America. The company unveiled Thursday a new initiative dubbed Nintendo TVii aimed at improving discoverability for both over-the-air and online programming.
“It has always been our goal to maximize consumer value with what we include in the hardware purchase,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America. “It’s not just a high-definition console that will change the way people play. Wii U is the only game console with a seamlessly connected, fully integrated second screen.”
Nintendo 
went for a big splash Thursday morning, revealing launch details for its Wii U. Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris looks at the highlights and low-lights of the event in this op-ed.
So now a lot of the mysteries about the Wii U have been solved. Nintendo wasted no time Thursday morning announcing the system’s launch date and price — and spent the rest of its press event talking features and games.
It was a solid event with lots of information, but it wasn’t quite the home run the company was likely hoping it would be. (Call it a stand-up double, if you want to stick with the baseball metaphor.) While Nintendo certainly wooed its audience with some of the Wii U details, it attracted a lot of grumbling from other corners of the video game world.
Nintendo’s 
next generation will kick off November 18.
That’s the day the Wii U will go on sale in North America, with two versions for consumers to choose from. But neither is going to be dirt-cheap.
It’s 
game over for the oldest existing video game magazine.
Nintendo Power, once considered required reading for gamers, is calling it quits, a victim of the Internet age and a lack of support from the company whose name it bore.
Nintendo 
seems to once again be winning the battle of the handheld gaming systems.
Sony reports it has sold 2.2 million PlayStation Vitas worldwide through June 30th. That’s not a bad figure, but it falls woefully short of the 17 million 3DS units that have been sold.
Another 
month, another batch of bad news for the game industry.
July continued the industry’s ugly retail decline, with sales of video game software falling 23 percent compared to last year, according to The NPD Group.
When 
it comes to collecting video games, JJ Hendricks knows his stuff.
Earlier this week, he completed a two-year quest to obtain one of the rarest of Nintendo cartridges in existence, shelling out over $12,000 to do so. But the story of how he finally got the collectible is even more fascinating than object itself.
When 
Nintendo reported a $533 million annual loss in late April, it was the first time in the company’s 30-year history as a publicly traded company that it had fallen into the red.
Even though the loss was expected at that point, it was a mark of shame for Nintendo — and investors battered the stock. Now, as the company’s next generation console system prepares to launch later this year and the handheld 3DS device starts to get its legs under it, it’s hoping to get back to black. But not everyone’s convinced it will manage to do so.
The 
3DS is getting supersized.
Nintendo announced plans in an online video early Friday to roll out a new version of its 3D handheld system — called the 3DS XL — which will effectively double the system’s screen size. The handheld will go on sale in the U.S. on Aug. 19 for $200.
Chris Morris: Journalist 