How did I not know about these replica Ezio gauntlets with spring-loaded blades? http://t.co/DSvitHZW

Nintendo dominates home country

Strong performances from 3DS software and hardware saw the Japanese games market grow for the first time in two years.

Between 26th December and 24th June, the Japanese market was worth 193.4 billion Yen, a 0.07% increase from 191.98bn over the same period last year. 63% of that figure came from software sales, up from 112.17bn to 122.67bn, while hardware revenues dropped from 79.81 to 70.73bn.

Nintendo ran the show on hardware and software. 3DS sold 2.22m units over the six months, bringing its lifetime sales in the country to 6.36m. Wii sold 265k to reach 12.43m, and DS chipped in with 20,239 sales and now stands at 32.86m.

Titles on Nintendo formats took four of the top five software slots, with Pokémon Black and White 2 topping the chart with double the sales of the second place title. The most impressive part? The Pokémon game was only released the day before tracking ended, a very smart (or perhaps just coincidental) move from Nintendo, Game Freak and the Pokémon company.

Here's the Japanese hardware and software charts from 26th December to 24th June. Life-to-date sales are in parentheses:

• Nintendo 3DS: 2,219,548 (total 6,355,287)
• PlayStation 3: 695,465 (total 8,112,613)
• PlayStation Portable: 500,333 (total 18,737,441)
• PlayStation Vita: 353,657 (total 756,451)
• Nintendo Wii: 265,578 (total 12,433,321)
• Xbox 360: 33,809 (total 1,554,547)
• Nintendo DS: 20,239 (total 32,855,741)

1. Pokémon Black & White 2 (DS, Pokémon, 23rd June 2012): 1,618,621
2. One Piece Pirate Warriors (PS3, Namco Bandai, 1st March 2012 2012): 806,578
3. Dragon Quest Monsters Terry's Wonderland 3D (3DS, Square Enix, 31st March 2012): 743,967
4. Mario Kart 7 (3DS, Nintendo, 1st December 2011): 665,573 (total 1,747,964)
5. Monster Hunter 3 G (3DS, Capcom, 10th December 2011): 665,394 (1,474,716)

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Writing about a 3DS firefighting game. The temptation to squeeze in a Burning Rangers quote is too strong to overcome.

Madden-ing wait

EA Sports will lift the lid on its Wii U titles next month, says IGN.

The publisher is hosting an open house in the middle of July where it will make Wii U-related announcements. Back in May EA Sports announced FIFA 13 for Wii U and at E3 2011 EA's John Riccitiello mused about Madden NFL on Wii U, so you can expect to hear details of both football games next month.

Last year EA and Nintendo announced an "unprecedented partnership", but so far the only EA title we know of is Mass Effect 3. Expect that to change next month.

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Also, looks like Monster Hunter is real: http://t.co/EPkoupFt

How is a review score of 50% "below average"? What would "average" be in this scale?

Looks like Sabarasa's ambitious first-person shooter Protocol won't make it to WiiWare after all.

Sabarasa yesterday updated its site with this message:

PROTOCOL TO BE RELEASED IN A NEW TO-BE-CONFIRMED PLATFORM

For all those expecting Protocol for WiiWare, we announce that it will be released directly in a new to-be-confirmed platform.

We got our first glimpse of the game 18 months ago, so it's disappointing it still hasn't materialised on WiiWare. Here's hoping its new home is on the Wii U eShop; we'll keep you posted.

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Kicking off what should be an amazing Friday with the Wind Waker symphonic movement from the Zelda concert. Adventure, here I come!

The Wii is pretty goddamn awesome when you think about it.

Meet Duncan Orrell-Jones

To show it's serious about a digital future, Nintendo of America has created a role — senior vice president of network business — and appointed Duncan Orrell-Jones to the new position.

Orrell-Jones will lead the company's digital strategy for 3DS and Wii U in North America, reporting directly to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. Before joining Nintendo, Orrell-Jones spent nearly 20 years at the Walt Disney Company, where his responsibilities included spearheading digital opportunities for Disney-owned IP.

Orrell-Jones takes up the role on 1st July. Here's hoping that date signals the start of a big improvement in Nintendo's online strategy.

Nintendo of America Hires New Senior VP of Network Business

Duncan Orrell-Jones to Lead Nintendo’s Online Efforts

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Nintendo of America announces the hiring of a new senior vice president of Network Business. Effective July 1, Duncan Orrell-Jones will take on the newly created position and spearhead the development and evolution of Nintendo of America’s digital strategy for the company’s Nintendo 3DS and Wii U video game systems. Orrell-Jones will work at Nintendo’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash., and report to Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime.

“Duncan Orrell-Jones brings knowledge and hands-on experience to Nintendo that will help us develop and implement long-term digital initiatives for our systems,” Fils-Aime said. “By creating this new position we’re demonstrating our commitment to the expansion of our online business, and Duncan is the perfect person for the job.”

Orrell-Jones comes to Nintendo from The Walt Disney Company, where he has worked since 1993, most recently as senior vice president in the Disney Interactive Media Group. In that role, he was responsible for identifying opportunities to expand Disney’s games business outside North America across a variety of platforms. Prior to that he also served as the senior vice president and general manager for the Disney Interactive Media Group in Tokyo, where he led a 140-person team to drive the company’s digital properties on various platforms.

Orrell-Jones holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from UCLA and an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.

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