SEGA – We’ll still support Wii with hardcore content
Posted on 14 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments
“You will see more — I wouldn’t say Mature as in M — but you will see more definitely more hardcore games from us on the Wii platform.” -Mike Hayes
I couldn’t care less if games were M rated or not. The terms “hardcore” and “mature” get used so interchangeably sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference, but I’m glad to see that SEGA isn’t stuck in the mindset of “M rating = Quality”.
Capcom and Nintendo working to strengthen their relationship
Posted on 14 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment
Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, Zack and Wiki, Resident Evil 4, Monster Hunter 3; All of these are great Wii titles released by Capcom, and it looks as if the Wii-love from the company won’t stop there. Not only has the next Devil Kings game been confirmed to be on Wii, but an article on Nihon Keizai Shimbun today revealed that Nintendo and Capcom are going to begin working closer together than every to bring anything from fantastic game launches (like the one we saw in Japan for Monster Hunter 3) to game demos and much more. No word on how Nintendo is going to be helping out with all of this, but you can be sure that with their tendency to do fantastic game launches and promotions for their own games, whatever they have cooking is something big.
Iwata: Bad reactions to new announcements are good
Posted on 14 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments
During a recent Investors Q&A session, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has discussed his feelings on the negative reaction to the Wii Vitality Sensor, outlining that it’s a good sign, contrary to popular belief.
“When we make some new announcement and if there is no positive initial reaction from the market, I try to think of it as a good sign because that can be interpreted as people reacting to something groundbreaking.”
He goes on to say that “if the employees were always minding themselves to do whatever the market is requiring at any moment, and if they were always focusing on something we can sell right now for the short term, it would be very limiting. We are trying to think outside the box.”
Nintendo gets a lot of hate for doing just this, and I can’t help but feel it’s entirely undeserved. In the second statement especially, Iwata brings up a fantastic point: Nintendo is doing something groundbreaking that reaches many more people than video game have ever done in the past. They’re thinking outside the box and delivering in areas that other game developers haven’t even begun to think about yet, and they’re doing all of this while still delivering their core franchises to the gamers that have been with them for so long. I can’t think of any other company that has done that, nor of any other company that could.
Iwata – We’re trying to make games that can please 2 types of gamers
Posted on 14 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments
“General marketing wisdom says that customers need to be segmented. For product planning, the target audience needs to be identified and narrowed down… The fact of the matter is, [Shigeru] Miyamoto is the head of one R&D division, which can only launch a few titles each year. To maximise the result, we have decided to counter the common marketing wisdom and go anti-segmentation if everyone else is segmenting everything. This is easier said than done. It is a huge challenge to make a game that will please and be fun for both veteran gamers with the expected depth and novice gamers who say ‘I don’t get it’ but provide them with particular depth that can lead them to deeper points just as they become eager to play longer. Nintendo would like to tackle this enormous challenge.” – Satoru Iwata
This is one thing that I think Nintendo is doing extraordinarily well. If you look at Mario Galaxy, it was clearly a core title, yet it was accessible and easy to play. You can even date back to the days of the original Mario Bros. and see that (even though they seem to flaunt it more-so now) Nintendo has always been making titles that are both accessible and hardcore, which is something very few developers have achieved in the past.
Majesco – Casual gamers find Wifi a barrier for gaming
Posted on 14 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment
“I would say that particularly with digital download, you’re finding that there’s a sharp drop-off in the participation — particularly on console download that requires some kind of WiFi connection — by demographic. But at the same time, it would seem that the statistics of downloading Netflix videos on Xbox are pretty broad. And there’s a reason to believe that maybe it’s not the primary consumer in the household that sets up the WiFi, but that there is sort of a watershed sharing of that technology among all the consumers that might participate on it.” – Majesco EVP Gui Karyo
I couldn’t agree with this statement more, especially relating to the Wii. Setting my Wii up to get online was tedious enough, and I consider myself a very core gamer. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for some casual gamers to get online.
From Software begins new teaser
Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment
The developer of titles such as Demon’s Souls, Armored Core, and Tenchu: Shadow Assassins have begun to tease a new game on their website. Unsurprisingly, there isn’t much too it right now. More concrete news will be released in eleven days, which is when the countdown is expected to end.
Iwata: Next Nintendo console won’t be releasing in the near future
Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment
With Wii sales at their current state, it almost seems silly to be discussing the next Nintendo console. Of course, the Wii isn’t at its highest demand as it once was, but overall sales have remained stable. Even so, Satoru Iwata was asked about the possibility of a new console at the first quarter financial results briefing. Don’t get too excited – Nintendo has no plans of releasing a new console in the near future.
“…Numerically there is still a possibility to even double the current user population of Wii and DS. Thus we do not believe at all that the expansion has come to an end nor do we need a new console any time soon. So we have not set specific years for the lifespan of current game systems. Of course our employees are researching hardware and those in charge of hardware are already working on developing it. When our internal ideas and trend in the world match up, and when it’s clear that we would be able to manufacture an abundant amount at an affordable price, we will be able to publicly speak about next hardware. At this time, we do not think that is in the near future.”
Iwata: We know our E3 briefing wasn’t good, still trying to improve
Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 44 Comments
Without a doubt, Nintendo’s E3 2009 media briefing saw a rather large change over the year before. Hardcore gaming had a larger focus with announcements such as Golden Sun DS, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and Metroid: Other M. However, there were still a number of issues that were present at the conference. Specifically, the overall presentation was unorganized and dull.
Satoru Iwata seems to agree that there is room for improvement, though. Iwata was asked about Nintendo’s perception of their latest conference at the first quarter financial results briefing and said he understands that it is important “to look into finding a better way to demonstrate the products’ appeal better.”
“As for the media briefing at E3, of course we had many internal discussions after that. Honestly speaking, none of us at Nintendo thought that our presentation at E3 was as good as it could have been. It is apparent that we could not fully convey the charm of our products. In the past, Wii Sports and Wii Fit were naturally able to convey their appeal on stage since it was something no one had ever seen or imagined before. People seemed to capture the appeal of Wii Sports instantly and although there was some initial confusion with Wii Fit, its appeal did get through to the audience afterwards. This year, however, with the New Super Mario Bros. Wii, four people lined up with Wii Remotes was not a scene that no one had ever seen. Those who actually had the chance to play understood how the game would change with four people playing simultaneously, but we could not address that fun sentiment at the media briefing. Now we strongly feel that we need to look into finding a better way to demonstrate the products’ appeal better at E3 in these times where more people are watching it online via web cast not only in the U.S. but all around the world, than the number of audience who actually watch it in the theatre. In that sense, we learned many lessons from this year’s E3 show. After the media briefing, we had a domestic trade briefing in Japan. There we disclosed the black Wii console and red Nintendo DSi, which made a big buzz among game fans. It is also an important lesson for next year.”
Legend of Neil, episode 7
Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
The next Legend of Neil episode will be available on Monday, and additional episodes will follow on every other Monday.
Thanks to Kate for the news tip!
New SEGA teaser website
Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 6 Comments
We don’t know much about this title other than it is indeed an RPG. More information will be released on August 20.
