Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

So I was reading my Inside Gamasutra newsletter and these two headlines stuck out like two people who thought they were going to a dress-up party but turned up at a cocktail reception:

- Sony Profits Plunge 94% As PS3 Costs Bite

- Nintendo Profits Up 72% As DS Soars

Just like that, one after the other, both huge percentages, but in different directions! Here’s a summary of the two articles:

The profits these articles talk about are for the last quarter (ending September 30, 2006). Sony was hit hard by those faulty batteries (provided by Sony for a number of Apple, Dell, and other laptops); the recall cost them US$429.9 million. (Yikes!) The cost of developing and preparing the PS3 also hit very hard; to the tune of a US$366.6 million loss for the games division. That said, the combined profit for the PS2 and PSP was “relatively unchanged”.

Nintendo on the other hand is swimming in the success of the Nintendo DS which has sold a total of around 26.82 million units so far. Net profits for the quarter were $326.8 million, and Nintendo made an additional $203 million as a result of the weak yen (driving up the relative price of their overseas investments). New Super Mario Bros. is their sales leader, with the Touch! Generations series of games also doing incredibly well.