Here's an I've written for another website, www.emmainteractive.com may as well put it about the place a bit eh?!

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said despite the global downturn, the home gaming giants have no plans to cut the prices of their consoles.

Nintendo have been one of the major home entertainment success stories in recent years with their Wii and DS consoles, both managing to break into hitherto untapped markets, such as females and the over 50’s. Mr Iwata told the Game Developers Conference: “it’s a cliché but it’s not just the 18 year old kid, it’s the mom on the train, it’s the high-school girl after she’s done with her homework, everyone plays games.”

While addressing the conference, Iwata mentioned that 47% of Wii and DS owners were women.

The recently launched DSi hand held system sold 600,000 in its first two days of release in Europe and N America, while the DS has already reached sales of over 100m, compared to the PSP’s sales of 50m. BBC news reported on March 26th of this year that the Wii is now the fastest selling console in history, beating the PlayStation 2.

Many expect Nintendo to outperform other Japanese manufacturers, and this is partially because of the downturn. People traditionally spend more on home entertainment compared to going out when in the midst of a recession, in the same vein as restaurants reporting a downturn in trade yet Domino’s pizza reporting a rise.

Not even Nintendo is completely free from the effects of the economic troubles blighting the globe however; according to gamesindustry.biz, yearly game sales in Japan have fallen 18%, while at the same time, Sony’s Playstation 3 is gaining ever stronger footholds in the market there.

One of the things in Nintendo’s favour is the constant stream of new software that is being made available for the Wii and there are plans for the DS to be used more in the manner of a life tool, as opposed to a gaming platform. Associated Press say the DS could be used to receive maps and further interactivity at places such as museums. It may even be used in the Japanese schooling system.

While rivals in the console market have been cutting prices in a bid to stimulate demand, the Wii’s price has never been reduced. The reverse has actually occurred in Britain. Gamesindustry.biz reported back in March that Nintendo had stated that “due to the severe and continuing depreciation of the pound, we are, unfortunately, having to raise our trade price to UK retailers of Wii hardware”.

Whether this price increase will affect the popularity of the Wii is another matter, but with the successful launch of the DSi and bold plans for the future, Nintendo seem sure of surviving the economic climate; in fact, they may even come out of it stronger.