A new rumor using unnamed sources claims that Nintendo is thinking about changing the name of its next generation game console the Wii U before it is shown again at E3 2012. Read more…

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Nintendo has announced plans to launch the Nintendo Network, a new online gaming service for its 3DS portable game console and the upcoming Wii U console that could rival Xbox Live and the PSN. Read more…

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Nintendo announced today that it has now sold over 4 million units of its 3DS console in the US in 2011 after the portable game console stumbled in its few months of sales. Read more…

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A new rumor claims that Nintendo will be offering a more extensive app store for its upcoming Wii U console with more than just games available to download for the next generation console. Read more…

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Five years ago when you talked about portable or mobile gaming it meant you were talking about Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable. Today, mobile gaming means Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja and other extremely popular and free or very inexpensive smartphone games. iOS and Android have tripled their market share in games since 2009. But it’s not just number of individual game sales on iOS and Android devices that’s growing. The two platforms’ games are affecting the bottom lines of the biggest names in gaming.

On Wednesday, analytics company Flurry Mobile released statistics that show that games on the top two smartphone platforms combined, iOS and Android, are bringing in more U.S. revenue than traditional portable gaming leaders Sony and Nintendo, for the first time ever. Games on Apple and Android mobile platforms will bring in $ 1.9 billion in U.S. sales this year, while Sony and Nintendo’s games will account for $ 1.4 billion.

It’s a drastic change that’s happened pretty rapidly in the space of just two years, as the chart below shows:

In 2009, portable gaming revenue in the U.S. was worth $ 2.7 billion. Sony and Nintendo, whose portable devices play games that can cost between $ 5 and $ 40, accounted for over 80 percent of mobile game revenue. Android and iOS games are usually free, 99 cents or, occasionally, a few dollars more. They made  pretty big dent in 2010 by grabbing 34 percent of the revenue of $ 2.5 billion, but the major damage was done this year. By the end of 2011, Flurry says mobile game revenue in the U.S. will equal $ 3.3 billion, and iOS and Android will account for 58 percent of that, compared to Sony’s 6 percent, and Nintendo’s 36 percent.

Sony and Nintendo’s sources of revenue are not limited to portable games since they still have console gaming. However they should probably be a little nervous: Apple and Google both have entered the living room space, with Apple TV and Google TV. And it’s probably not too long before each device gets a gaming strategy of some kind.

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Nintendo is currently losing tons of money and may have its first annual loss in at least 30 years. Can the company turn itself around in the face of increasing competition? You bet it can. Read more…

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Nintendo has predicted that it will have a net loss of $ 264 million for its current fiscal year which could be the first time the game publisher has an annual loss for the first time in 30 years. Read more…

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Nintendo has announced that the Hulu Plus movie and TV show streaming service will be made available on Nintendo’s Wii and 3DS game consoles by the end of 2011. Read more…

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Nintendo’s president claims that the company has no plans to offer any of its games on smartphones, saying it will stick to its plans to offer games on its own hardware. Read more…

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The iPad gaming community is big and getting bigger, according to a new report from market research firm Interpret. Total iPad gamers number 8 million out of 11.4 million iPad owners in the U.S. alone, according to Interpret. It’s a growing community in terms of both straight numbers and also in terms of percentage of the overall iPad owner pool, according to the firm, but at least one game maker seems firmly committed to ignoring the opportunity inherent in that growth.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata reiterated Thursday that his company is not interested in making software for iPads or iPhones. He told Japanese news site Nikkei (via The Loop) that in fact, such a plan “is absolutely not under consideration,” because in doing so, “Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo.”

Yet preserving what it means to be Nintendo may be giving up a key position in the future of gaming. “Collectively, iPad gamers are showing slightly decreased involvement with gaming on home consoles, mobile phones, and Nintendo handheld consoles,” said Interpret analyst Jason Preston in a press release. “These facts imply that iPad game developers and publishers can definitely reach a new audience on the iPad.”

The iPad’s appeal extends not only to traditional console gamers, but also to a growing portion of people new to digital gaming, says Interpret. People who use their iPads for gaming are increasingly older, with 40 percent falling into the 35-to-65 age group category during its second quarter 2011 survey vs. just 31 percent from its first survey period last year. Many more women are playing, too. Interpret found that the share of female iPad gamers was up to 48 percent during its most recent poll, vs. just 40 percent in 2010.

iPad gamers who are also console gamers also represents a shrinking percentage of the overall group.

It’s understandable sentiment that Iwata would want to preserve Nintendo as-is, as he’s been Nintendo’s president since 2002 and saw it through the flush years of the Wii and DS, both of which were massive successes for the Japanese-based game-maker. Nintendo has also been in the gaming hardware business since 1977, so it has a long history of making both systems and games.

But there are a number of sound business reasons why Nintendo should consider making software for Apple, including flagging sales of its own hardware, a shaky future for new and upcoming devices like the 3DS and Wii U, and the successful example of other companies who’ve followed the same path in the past, like one-time rival Sega.

Nintendo wants a comeback, and I’d like to see it get one, but with the release of 3DS peripherals that correct obvious oversights in the original design, and reports that the Wii U is facing serious technical problems, Iwata’s outright refusal to even consider iOS development seems like yet another backwards step.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Vincent Diamante

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