Tag Archives: ntdoy

Virtual reality goggles are a hot topic again with gamers

Virtual reality goggles are hip again, with Sony (SNE) and Microsoft (MSFT) developing headsets for their newest video game consoles. A staple of science-fiction movies since the 1980s, VR goggles have yet to break through to the consumer market. Now, major video game companies are jumping into the segment for the first time since Nintendo (NTDOY) flopped with its Virtual Boy goggles. Those goggles were launched in July 1995, but then discontinued within a year. Late Tuesday, Sony Computer Entertainment (SNE) announced the development of Project Morpheus, a virtual reality system for its PlayStation 4 game console. The device is in the prototype stage and the company is planning a future commercial launch, Sony said in a press release. Morpheus represents an opportunity “to push the boundaries of play,” Shuhei Yoshida, president of SCE Worldwide Studios, said in a statement. “Project Morpheus is the latest example of innovation from SCE, and we’re looking forward to its continued development and the games that will be created as development kits get into the hands of content creators.”  

‘Flappy Bird’ shows Nintendo’s missed phone games opportunity

The curious case of “Flappy Bird,” a successful yet controversial smartphone game, shows a missed opportunity for Nintendo in mobile games. The Vietnamese developer of “Flappy Bird” pulled the game from the Apple (AAPL) App Store and Google (GOOG) Play store over the weekend, despite its apparent smash success. Developer Dong Nguyen announced on Saturday that he was yanking the game, apparently fed up with the intense criticism about it. “Flappy Bird” was knocked for being frustratingly hard to play and for looking like it copied the design of Nintendo ‘s (NTDOY)popular side-scrolling “Mario Bros.” games. Nguyen claims legal issues did not factor into his decision to withdraw the game. However, two friends of his told Reuters that Nintendo had sent him a warning letter about the game. But the Wall Street Journal says Nintendo has denied that it had complained to Nguyen. Nguyen told the Verge that his free-to-play…

EA scores, Nintendo misses in December video game report

U.S. retail sales of new video game products rose for the fifth consecutive month in December, but sales for the full year declined. Strong sales of Microsoft ‘s (MSFT) Xbox One and Sony ‘s (SNE) PlayStation 4 video game consoles, released in November, helped push overall sales into positive territory last month. But Nintendo ‘s (NTDOY) Wii U console continued to suffer from weak demand. The NPD Group reported late Thursday that U.S. retail sales of new video game hardware, software and accessories rose 2% year over year in December to $3.28 billion. For the full year, sales fell 2% to $12.97 billion, the research firm said. Video game hardware sales rose 28% in December from a year ago to $1.37 billion. But game software sales dropped 17% to $1.28 billion. For the full year, game hardware sales fell 9% to $6.12 billion. Software sales rose 5% to $4.26 billion. Sales of new…