Analyst Believes Wii 1.5 on the Way

With Nintendo sales cooling off (but still slaughtering the competition), could the company be prepping a modestly upgraded version of the Wii to boost sales? At least one analyst believes that’s the case. According to Industry Gamers, Screen Digest analyst Piers Harding-Rolls said:

Our forecast actually incorporates the idea that there will be an upgraded version of the Wii available. There is potentially significant movement to come from Wii pricing in the future. If you look at the handheld strategy they’ve got the DSi and the 3DS, so I think they’ve got room to have to this iterative version before a 2012 or 2013 release.

On one hand, his argument makes a lot of sense and it seems like sound strategy to give the Wii a boost with PlayStation Move and Xbox Kinect coming. On the other hand, dude’s an analyst. They’re right about 33 percent of the time. That’s great for baseball, but for industry analysis…not so much.

Seriously though, I’ve never heard of this particular analyst and I’m probably thinking less of his comments due to the inaccuracies of other analysts. He could be spot on. What do you think? Is Wii 1.5 on the way? What would you like to see in such a console?

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Michael Pachter Says Activision is Teh Doomed!!!

Your favorite gaming industry analyst, Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter, believes that tough times are ahead for Activision. After posting extremely impressive financial results during a (long) stretch of time where most publishers were struggling, Activision’s Q2 financials weren’t the best. According to Industry Gamers, Pachter said:

The Q2 results reinforce Activision’s dependence on a handful of franchises, and calls into question whether its future franchises will contribute meaningfully to the bottom line as performance of additional IP seems uncertain at best.

We fear that after so many years of near-flawless execution, Activision has begun to slip a bit, perhaps in the process becoming overly reliant on the parts of the business that are phenomenally successful.

Do you agree with Pachter’s assessment? Is Activision on the decline? Or is his analysis along the lines of his awesome estimate where he allowed himself a two-million unit margin of error?

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Emma Watson Cuts Off Her Hair — Why?!?

Harry Potter actress Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) has lopped off all her hair in favor of a pixie haircut. This is majorly depressing. Hermione has developed into quite the hottie. The pixie look…doesn’t quite work for her. People has posted a photo of her with the new haircut. Check it out.

Why Emma, why?!? You were so sexy before! Now you look like…an angry high-school student that’s questioning her sexuality. *sigh* Here’s a picture of Emma in bathtub. That should cheer me you up.

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More Apple Rumors: 3″ iPod Touch and 7″ iPad Mini?

Jer at iLounge posted a slew of Apple rumors the other day. Some of them will surely pan out, while others seem like a stretch (he admits this too). The two rumors I found particularly interesting had to do with screen size changes. Here’s the skinny:

There’s also continued chatter about a three-inch touchscreen that could make its way into an iPod, shaving half an inch off the diagonal of the current iPod touch.

A seven-inch-screened version of the iPad is substantially finished and will be ready for announcement either later this year or early in 2011. Apple has been prototyping devices with screens of this size for a long time—quite possibly predating the original iPhone.

It sounds odd for the iPod Touch to be getting a smaller screen. If it used Retina Display, that would be sorta kinda acceptable, but purported prototypes show that the next iPod Touch looks more like last year’s model than the iPhone 4.

A seven-inch iPad has the potential to shake up the market. Apple has sold millions of iPads, but some people — especially those that don’t understand the difference between data-consumption and data-creation devices — are turned off by the price. A cheaper iPad — I’m thinking $249 to $299 — would be killer. It would also take some of the shine off of Amazon’s recently price slashed Kindle. What I really want is an iPad with a camera and Retina Display…but I don’t see that happening until Q2 2011, at the earliest.

Let me know what you think of this batch of Mac rumors (please!). Any of ’em you find particularly juicy?

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Masato Akamatsu’s Legendary Catch

The Hiroshima Carp’s Masato Akamatsu made one of the most ridiculous catches in baseball history. Robbing the Yokohama Baystar’s Shuichi Murata of a home run, Akamatsu scaled the wall in a way that…well really, you have to see this for yourself. I’m going to watch this video several times today just to marvel at Akamatsu’s brilliance. Amazing.

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

After watching Batman: Under the Red Hood, my PlayStation 3 has been busy playing other DC Universe Blu-ray movies. I’m going to keep going with the PS3 this weekend. Hopefully I can make some progress in Final Fantasy XIII. I haven’t played the game in so long that I have no idea what chapter I’m in. Oops. I’m probably going to pick up some games from Sony’s PSN summer sale; echoshift and Lunar: Silver Star Harmony are calling to me. I’ll play some echoshift now, but I’ll probably save Lunar for the end of the month — there might be another super secret project in Asia for me.

How about you people (what do you mean you people?) What’s on you weekend playlist?

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Screens

Square Enix sent over a batch of new screens for Deus Ex: Human Revolution…and they’re hot! Check ’em out and let me know what you think (please)! As some of you know, I was bummed that I missed out on a demo for this game at E3 2010. Even though I didn’t get to see the hotness that many of my friends saw, this game is still on my radar.

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Clear iSpot Offers Cheap 4G WiMax to iPhone, iPad, and iPod Users

Clear has announced the iSpot, a WiMax router that offers wireless high-speed Internet access for up to eight devices…as long as those devices are iPhones, iPads, and iPods. The device normally costs $99.99, but the company is running a special and offering it for $29. Monthly service costs $25, which is $15 cheaper than Clear’s cheapest plan that covers all devices.

If you live in an area that’s covered by Clear and are a Machole, the iSpot is an interesting device. The hardware and service are cheap, while the data rates are fantastic (though easily mucked with by buildings). Any of you intersted in the iSpot?

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Guillermo del Toro to Sign with THQ?

Renowned writer/director Guillermo del Toro is close to signing a development deal with THQ, according to the Los Angeles Times. Moviegoers have dropped serious dough to see del Toro’s works, which include Pan’s Labyrinth and the Hellboy movies. According to LA’s paper:

Guillermo del Toro is finalizing a deal to bring his creative vision to the video game world — and the company is THQ, the Agoura Hills-based game publisher previously known mainly for kid-focused games based on licenses from Pixar and Nickelodeon and its WWE wrestling titles.

The 45-year-old native of Guadalajara, Mexico, did not reveal the name of the company, but people familiar with the matter confirmed to The Times that he was finalizing a deal with THQ, an outfit that recently began focusing on more ambitious games aimed at adults.

By Del Toro’s own prediction, his deal should close within the next few weeks, at which point THQ may provide some details about the projects.

I have a few thoughts on the matter. Firstly, I’m reminded of the comic-book industry. Starting in the late ’80s and booming in the late ’90s, comics became hip with movie and television writers. A flood of popular scribes crossed over to comics — J. Michael Straczynski and Joss Whedon come to mind — which was good and bad. It gave the industry more exposure and led to increased sales. It also made work harder to get for lifelong comics writers. I see the same thing happening to the games business.

Secondly — and more importantly — del Toro better respect my writing for the SmackDown vs. Raw series. If he doesn’t, he’s totally getting a Rock Bottom from me.

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LittleBigPlanet 2 Story Mode Trailer

Sony has posted a trailer for LittleBigPlanet 2…and I’ve posted here. Take that! Nah nah na nah nah!!! Seriously though, the latest trailer covers the game’s story mode. Gamers that didn’t dig the platforming in the original (I’ve heard so many complaints about the floaty jumping) should check this out. There are a lot of new features and the action looks much tighter.

Let me know if you’re interested in LBP2. Oddly enough, after watching the launch trailer for Create, I became more excited about this game. I’m pretty sure that’s not what EA intended.