Last month, we asked: has Nintendo abandoned its core community? Evidently, the answer is a resounding "no." According to the big N, they are currently developing core gaming franchises that are set to be released in the future. Ok, they're not coming anytime soon, but they are coming. More details in the full article.

Sony's John Koller may have claimed that the Nintendo DS should be wary towards the iPhone and its new high-profile games, but Nintendo's CEO Satoru Iwata begs to differ, saying that the Apple handheld does not pose a threat to the best-selling Nintendo DS. More in the full article.

Ok, honestly, I felt that Ninty's press conference at E3 felt a little... lacking. Oh sure, the new Wii Speak peripheral and new details on Wii Music got me hyped, but still, something was missing. Two words. Mario. Zelda. At the event, Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata commented that there are indeed Mario and Zelda projects in the works, but chose not to elaborate. The man Shigeru Miyamoto though, was a bit more accommodating. More after the link!

If there are two words that can bring a smile to a gamer's face, it would be the words "price cut." Unfortunately, Nintendo apparently has no plans to offer that to buyers this year. There's a reason why, though. Find out what it is in the full article after the jump.

So what does Nintendo President Satoru Iwata have in store for the future after the company's successful venture with both its current gaming platforms (asides from ruling the world, that is)? In an interview conducted on the Japanese site Yukan Fuji, he talks about how Nintendo plans to expand the gaming population with some new strategies they plan on implementing in the near future.

For more details on this interview, check out the full article!

When Satoru Iwata announced that Nintendo wanted "to create a platform that no one could hate", he did just that with the release of the Nintendo DS in 2004. A couple of years later, this was followed up with the the launch of the Wii to households everywhere. The Nintendo CEO talks about the successful gaming platforms and their future development.

Read more about the interview with the big man of Nintendo in the full article!

Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's president and CEO had a meeting with the gaming company's investors, going over topics that included details about the Wii's new gift-giving feature and many others. Some of the points that were discussed were about the possible new incarnations of the DS, and the future of the Wii.

Iwata emphasized that Nintendo has no plans of producing new hardware for the DS, as they already have a large install base dedicated to the DS and they "could not leverage that if (Nintendo) introduced new hardware". The Nintendo bigwig also squashed all talks of a DS phone in the near future.


Read more about Nintendo's future in the full article!

It's one thing to get non-gamers into the hobby, and it's quite another to keep them interested. Nintendo Company Ltd. has achieved getting non-gamers to notice, and now the oldest company in the business is looking to put more emphasis in keeping them interested - in terms of making sure that the Nintendo DS isn't seen merely as a gaming device, but as a multi-functional handheld device.

Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, revealed that the company will be unveiling new features for the DS next year, in an effort to expand its functionality beyond that of a portable gaming device. The features to be revealed will focus on practical uses, utilizing the Nintendo DS' wireless functionality in places like train stations, museums, and amusement parks.

It's not the first time that Nintendo has dabbled with the idea of making the DS more useful - in fact, the touch-sensitive handheld is already being used in some of Japan's museums, as a medium from where people can download and view information about exhibits. No more printing costly brochures or flyers, all it takes is a short download.

What about the Nintendo Wii, then? While Satoru Iwata admits that it will take some time before the Wii reaches the widespread influence that the DS has, the company is already looking for ways to also increase its functionality. This includes online television programming features and downloadable game gift-sending.

Certainly very good news coming from the president of Ninty himself. We can only wonder what sort of other features for its consoles Nintendo will be revealing in the near future - we can only wait.

Despite the looming production problems for this coming holiday season, Nintendo has no plans of stepping up their monthly Wii production output, according to Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata. Nintendo will keep the current 1.8 million unit monthly output for the meantime, even if Nintendo of America's president Reggie Fils-Aime reported a possible Wii shortage in the US at the end of this year.

Iwata also said that there are no plans of a price cut for the Nintendo Wii, with the motion-sensing console still maintaining a high revenue return in the current console race. In order to compete with its rivals Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo is planning to sell the Wii Fit game and accessory come the holiday season.

Just about a year ago, we reported about Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata's intention to market the Wii and the DS to mothers, the elderly, and to young women, saying that "It's a challenge, like trying to sell cosmetics to men."  Well what do you know, Nintendo managed to fulfill that promise, just a little more than a year after they made the announcement.

Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter said that Nintendo's new diverse games such as Wii Sports helped the motion sensor-driven console to capture the new gaming market, and leaving its rivals Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox chasing in its wake. "It really is fun," said Pachter about Wii Sports. "Anyone can do it."

Avid Wii gamers (and there's a lot of them) constantly hold Wii parties, and even recruited the help of party planning online service Evite in starting up even more Wii parties from birthdays to family reunions.

Nintendo's handheld, the DS, is also basking in its own share of success. Games such as Brain Age were targeted towards senior citizens, while Nintendogs became a main staple of DS-toting pre-teen girls.

Even Pachter's wife is addicted to Nintendo's pet dog simulation. According to the analyst:

I know before the girls got Nintendogs, my wife had never played a video game in her life and she was completely opposed on moral and educational grounds to my kids even picking up a DS. Now she thinks it is the cutest thing she has ever seen.

With that kind of success in their hands, the idea of Nintendo being able to sell cosmetics to men doesn't sound as impossible as before.