Four Wii units sold for every PlayStation 3 in Japan

PS2 also outselling Sony's next-gen console

Enterbrain's Hirokazu Hamamura has predicted a price cut for PlayStation 3 after new figures revealed that the console is being outsold by both Nintendo Wii and PS2 in Japan.

According to Media Create, more than 80,000 Wii units were sold in the territory between January 22 and 28. During the same period Sony sold 21,000 PS2 consoles and 20,000 PS3s. Just 7000 Xbox 360 units were shifted as Microsoft continues its struggle to secure a foothold in the Japanese market.



Wii sales for the entire month of January stood at 400,000 units, while 150,000 PlayStation 3 consoles were sold.

The PS3 launched in Japan on November 11, followed by the Wii on December 2. Since then Sony has sold 614,000 consoles while Wii sales have topped 1.4 million.

According to Hamamura, who is president of Famitsu publisher Enterbrain, "There could be a price cut for PS3 by the end of the year, and more software titles will hit the market."

He said he expected PS3 "to be doing better after a while," but added, "Of course, the Wii will keep running ahead."

New casual games studio opens doors

Two industry veterans have established a new development studio in New York City which will specialise in producing casual games.

Operating under the name of Rebel Monkey, the new studio has been co-founded by Margaret Wallace. She formerly helped to set up and run San Francisco-based casual games studio Skunk Studios and will take on the role of CEO at RM.



Wallace has established the company together with Nicholas Fortugno, whose design credits include Diner Dash and Plantasia.

"Rebel Monkey came about as a meeting of like-minds - with a common goal of taking casual games to the next level," said Wallace.

"Both Nicholas Fortugno and I have been involved in casual games since the beginning, so we are bringing a lot of experience to the table."

Rebel Monkey has yet to announce details of its first project.

September launch date for new N-Gage

Nokia-sponsored blog has revealed that the next-gen N-Gage platform is set to launch this autumn, with two major publishers already committed to releasing a range of new titles.

"We expect EA Mobile and Gameloft to bring a number of top-selling, award winning titles to our platform between our launch in September and the end of 2007," a statement on the blog reads.



"They aren't the only ones, as throughout the year we will continue to make exciting announcements of other leading publishers adding their titles to our games catalogue."

The news comes just days after reports emerged that Nokia has begun showcasing its new N-Gage technology at a secret meeting in Santa Monica. The technology will be used in a series of phones rather than a single dedicated handset.

According to Nokia's blog, the "biggest franchises and hottest mobile games" will be available to N-Gage users "by early 2008".

Nintendo dismisses accusations of failing to deliver Wii units

Nintendo has refuted claims that it failed to deliver the number of Wii units promised to Virgin Megastores for the console's launch on December 8.

The claims emerged after Virgin began taking pre-orders for PlayStation 3 last week. As GamesIndustry.biz discovered after contacting stores across the country, customers enquiring about the pre-order system are told that they can secure a console for GBP 50 - but are warned that they won't neccessarily receive their machine on March 23.



They're told that they may have to wait days or even weeks for their machine to arrive, with one customer service representative stating, "We can't make a commitment to the 23rd because Sony hasn't made a commitment to us."

All the representatives GI.biz spoke to said that Virgin was keen to avoid a repeat of the situation which occurred with the launch of the Wii, claiming that Nintendo failed to deliver the number of consoles promised for day one.

"It's because there was an issue with the Wii. Some stores didn't get the allocation they were promised until the next day after launch," one representative said.

Another claimed, "The full amount of stock we were promised never turned up," while other representatives said that the total launch allocation wasn't received until several weeks after launch.

Nintendo has disputed the claims with a spokesperson telling GI.biz, "All UK retailers were notified of their initial day one Wii allocations in October 2006, some six to eight weeks before launch.

"Nintendo delivered exactly what we said we would to retailers for day one and in many instances over delivered against the initial numbers retailers were expecting."

In addition, the spokesperson said, "Nintendo made multiple and regular deliveries to retailers across the UK in the days following launch to try and meet the huge demand for Wii as much as possible."

Virgin Megastores has yet to respond to requests for comment.

HMV refuses PS3 pre-orders unless consumers agree to buy PSP too

HMV's online store is now taking pre-orders for PlayStation 3 - providing consumers are also willing to purchase a 4GB PSP pack for a total price of £675.

An email sent out to customers today says the deal will enable them to become one of the "lucky few" who will be able to pick up a PS3 at launch. It reads: "At HMV.co.uk, we've been working with Sony to offer up to 5000 customers an incredible deal when you buy the new Sony 4GB PSP.

"Anyone who takes advantage of this offer will get priority over other HMV.co.uk customers for the PlayStation 3." The deal also includes two PSP games - Killzone Liberation and Gangs of London - and the price for the bundle is listed as £674.99.



According to the terms and conditions of the promotion, all consumers who buy the bundle "will take precedence over any other online HMV customers".

However, it's difficult to see who these other customers might be as a paragraph at the end of the email states, "PlayStation 3 solus console is currently unavailable to order from HMV.co.uk by itself, and we kindly ask customers not to contact us with regards to this." HMV's high street stores are not currently accepting PS3 pre-orders either.

There's no assurance that customers who sign up for the bundle will get their PS3 when the console launches on March 23. The terms and conditions of the offer state: "Delivery of any PS3 is subject to Sony's delivery to HMV Guernsey. Accordingly, HMV cannot guarantee that registration on the Priority List means that you will receive your PS3 on the estimated release date, nor that your order will be fulfilled within any given time frame."

The offer is not likely to be well received by those consumers who feel that the price of the PlayStation 3 alone is already too high at £425 - or by those who want to purchase a PS3, but already own a PSP.

A Sony spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz, "This is just one of a number of value added incentives that retailers will be offering to mark the launch of PS3.

"Consumers are free to shop around to find a package that best suits their own needs, and offers the greatest value for money."