By Liana b. Baker and Isabel Reynolds Liana b. Baker and Isabel Reynolds - Wed Jun 8, 4: 53 am and
LOS ANGELES, Jun (Reuters) - the launch of the console Wii from Nintendo Co. Ltd. next generation did not at the investor concerns that the firm is missing shift social networking games market, sending its shares plummeting to a minimum of five years.
U Wii, complete with a new touch screen controller, is aimed at the reconquest of rivals such as the Xbox from Microsoft Corp. hardcore players and won early praise from critics of the industry at its launch at E3 videogame expo Tuesday.
But Nintendo shares closed 5.7% at Japan on Wednesday, reaching levels not seen since before the original Wii was launched to rave reviews late 2006.
Investors saying they were worried about Nintendo remained too focused on equipment, such as the market shifts more and more to a battlefield on the software, with games played on networks Internet linking millions of players.
"Even if some experts seem like new device, I expected Nintendo to move more in the business of social networking," said Mitsuo Shimizu, Deputy General Manager at Cosmo Securities in Tokyo.
"This is a warning to investors that the company should revise its commercial strategy and move more aggressively in the operations of social game."
The President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata dismissed questions about lack of the new console to focus on the capabilities of network and said that success sets has always been social.
"Is not that we are negative on the network, but if we ignore clients that bind their game consoles to the Internet, contrary to our strategy of expansion of the market for games," he told journalists at a round table. "We're simply not to reduce our own market."
Critics of the industry in early reviews praised innovation incorporated by separate devices, larger than the Apple Inc. iPhone, but smaller than the iPad.
The new controller has camera and video-call capability, more an array of buttons and functions that could encourage the players who play more and more intensely.
"Nintendo is before curve for once, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said." He can do everything that can make a Tablet and could ask people, why my iPad 2 does this kind of game too? ?
Nintendo keeps head in game equipment, but it is difficult to win users of Microsoft and Sony Corp. after the disappointing introduction of 3DS portable device.
Executive Gaming hopes that the new Wii can jumpstart an industry of $ 65 billion video games - surpassing Hollywood in size - still struggling to recover from the recession.
The entire console is still in development, but it is scheduled for sale between April and December 2012.
Investors are waiting for more details on the specifications and prices, but some believe that he could move to $299, or about the same as an Xbox with a Kinect motion detection system.
"The controller is a breakthrough," said analyst Sterne Agee Arvind Bhatia. "Overall, Wii U looks good, but I must say that I was not found."
It is far from how the Wii has the industry by storm, control of the movement of players accustomed to joysticks of game with the mouse. If his last gadget can win a notoriously finicky market remains to be seen.
Although it cannot repeat the first Wii bonanza, the new Nintendo device, however, put pressure on traditional console rivals like Microsoft and Sony to come with the new systems.
"It is intelligent to a number of reasons." "There are two levels of interface, touchscreen buttons for several types of core and casual players," said Ricardo Torres, editor in Chief for the games popular site GameSpot. "They have a lot of games core gamers care about."
"It is like a sandbox for developers." It is for them to decide the experience that works best. ?
But any game risk of manufacturers of console drowning in a flood of game-capable phones. In 2010, the deliveries of these smart phones were more than 1 billion units compared to only about 50 million of home and portable devices of nearly $ 40 million game consoles, according to iSuppli firm research.
"Their nearly universal presence gives them the potential to become a viable competitive threat," said iSuppli.
STEALING THE SPOTLIGHT
The new console is the first Nintendo device supporting graphics high definition and will wear a microprocessor or a brain of International Business Machines Corp. and graphics processors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc..
But it was the controller who stole the spotlight Tuesday.
His works 6.2 inches touch screen as a second display and can show the same images on the TV screen or provide players with additional information, giving them a step ahead of competitors.
U of the Wii controller can also be used to make voice calls and run old Nintendo Games. It has capacity of motion sensor and works in collaboration with the existing Wii controllers.
The device also acts as a stand-alone gaming gadget. It may, for example, running a game on a touch screen, while someone else watches TV. But it works only in a Wii U console wireless connection.
The initial game line-up suggests that Nintendo is trying to woo hardcore gamers into the fold, with gunmen first popular person as Ghost Recon of Ubisoft Entertainment SA, Sega Aliens and battle field 3 of Electronic Arts Inc. on slate.
"There are so many developers already responding to the creation of new games for the video game system that we propose with Wii U," Iwata said. "It can satisfy all tastes with deeper gameplay actions."
At least nine months on the market, Nintendo may still make changes and slate of game is likely to change.
This week, Sony announced its intention to start selling a device games handheld, 3D-enabled for $299 - that critics immediately judged too expensive.
(Other reports by Tim Kelly and Antoni Slodkowski Tokyo;) (Editing by Edwin Chan, Joseph Radford and Lincoln day)
