It has been made clear that Nintendo was unable to deliver all of its intended software for Wii U on time. Nintendo has cited a number of reasons for development days, such as the difficulties in making the jump to the HD era. It’s also true that more time than usual was needed to bring some 3DS content to market.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata also pointed out during the Q&A portion of Nintendo’s E3 2013 analyst briefing that the company must polish its games to the highest level. With the popularity of games on smart devices and other recent trends, Iwata feels that “it is becoming increasingly more difficult to have consumers understand and appreciate the value that a particular game offers than ever before.”
Putting out the highest-quality products is therefore essential. Nintendo feels the need to “improve and re-polish any game that we feel is still lacking in quality.” If Nintendo were to release poor software, consumers’ trust could be lost and the brands of popular franchises could be damaged.
Nintendo has some free-to-play software in the works. What exactly the company has planned is unclear, but we do know that it will have nothing to do popular franchises such as Mario and Pokemon.
Putting out free-to-play software provides Nintendo with “greater flexibility in terms of how we offer our products to consumers and how to monetize them”, president Satoru Iwata explained during an E3 2013 analyst briefing. However, Iwata warned that unbalanced such software “could result in some consumers paying extremely large amounts of money, and we can certainly not expect to build a good relationship with our consumers in this fashion.” Balanced and reasonable free-to-play games are needed so that Nintendo can maintain “a favorable long-term relationship” with consumers.
Iwata estimates that we’ll be seeing Nintendo’s first free-to-play title this fiscal year.
Asymmetric gameplay was intended to be one of the Wii U’s key features. Yet, it hasn’t caught on with consumers just yet.
This is something that Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata acknowledged during Nintendo’s E3 2013 analyst briefing Q&A. Iwata also feels that Nintendo Land hasn’t been able to step into the same role as Wii Sports did for the Wii.
To remedy the situation, Nintendo will continue to release titles in order “to show how convenient and delightful it is to have the Wii U GamePad controller, and how it changes the gaming experience.” The company hopes that will games such as Pikmin 3, consumers will begin to think, “Indeed it is good to have a GamePad.”
Last week, Nintendo held an analyst briefing at E3 2013. It was led by Nintendo global president Satoru Iwata. Following the presentation, Iwata conducted a brief Q&A, and one analyst pressed the CEO further about third-party support on Wii U.
Iwata iterated two points: the plan to bring Nintendo games to the console one after another to create momentum for the platform and that “third-party software developers actively working on software for Wii U right now.”
Iwata also pointed out how, if the Wii U gains momentum and other third-parties do well, people will begin to “definitely question” those who do not support the system.
Austin put together this neat little booth tour video from this year’s E3. Watch it below!
System: Nintendo Wii U
Release Date: 2014
Developer: Nintendo EAD Group No. 1
Publisher: Nintendo
Author: Austin
The differences between titles in the Mario Kart series are perhaps only noticeable to those with a lengthy history with the franchise. The subtle focus of Mario Kart 7, for instance, feels much different than the marshmallow-y approach taken by Mario Kart Wii, and the slippery controls in Mario Kart 64 mean you need more focus to pull off power-slides than the game’s DS counterpart. It’s a series long-accepted for its rigidity, and the recently announced Mario Kart 8 does not appear to do anything to change up that formula.
When Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara will be launching on the Wii U eShop has been a mystery. Although Capcom has been able to confirm dates for other platforms, the publisher hasn’t had much luck getting a concrete answer from Nintendo.
A listing on the Big N’s own website suggests that Chronicles of Mystara is coming out tomorrow. Whether it can be trusted remains to be seen, but I guess we’ll know if it’s valid in a few hours.
