Some people don't get it -- AP's Lou Kesten & Nintendo profit forcast drop

[mike_intellivision]

Lou Kesten is the Associated Press's video game writer. His columns appear in newspapers and publications in (at least) the US and Canada. He also seems to have a typical gaming journalists' view of the Wii. The only problem is that he is much more widely available to the general public than your typical gaming journalist.

In the paragraph below, he seems to have misinterpreted the reason for Nintendo lowering its profit forecast (the Yen). He also makes the obligatory statement about the Wii not being played (which objective data shows it is being played).

While I realize that Nintendo is in a lull of releases (speculated on this forum to be awaiting Wii Motion Plus final release), it makes you wonder what others know ... of think they know ... or want to believe they know ... or if they know anything.

 

http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=e020208A

Mario's blues: The video-game industry has been battered by the economy and Nintendo, whose Wii and DS have dominated the current generation of game hardware, isn't immune. Nintendo slashed its profit forecast for the year ending in March by one-third. That led to a slide in Nintendo stock and questions about whether Wii sales have peaked. The question for gamers: When is Nintendo going to shift its focus toward producing more Wii software? The company's U.S. release calendar for the first half of 2009, led by its "Punch-Out. " remake, is awfully thin, and many of those once-elusive Wii consoles are starting to gather dust.

Example of the typical perspective on the Wii from Kesten.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/12/29/entertainment/e052637S71.DTL

With so little happening in the video-game industry this week, there's no better time to conduct an Airing of Grievances. So, in honor of "Seinfeld" patriarch and Festivus creator Frank Costanza, here are the worst games of 2008. No soup for them.

2. "Wii Music" (Nintendo, for the Wii): In the age of "Rock Band," using the Wiimote to mime playing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" or "Yankee Doodle" just doesn't cut it. It's the most ill-conceived and poorly timed game in the stellar career of designer Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the Mario and "The Legend of Zelda" franchises. He'll come back.

Hot Christmas item most likely to be all over eBay by February: "Wii Fit."

 

Mike from Morgantown