Towards the end of the European Wii U Virtual Console trailer we added to the site yesterday, Nintendo gave a brief look into the future of the service.
Mega Man, Xevious, Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, Super Mario Bros., Street Fighter II and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past are just some of the titles planned for the Virtual Console. Balloon Fight, already available through the North American eShop, is also on the way.
Shin’en is kicking off a new sale across the North American 3DS and Wii U eShops today. All of the studio’s games will be discounted by 30%, including Art of Balance TOUCH! and Nano Assault Neo.
The “Shin’en Spring Sale” lasts until May 9. Shin’en tells us that the sale is “A little spring present to our fans.”
EarthBound is kind of seeing a renaissance. Earlier this month, Nintendo announced that it would finally be re-releasing the game overseas through the Wii U Virtual Console after it originally launched close to two decades ago.
Let’s say EarthBound was a huge success on the eShop. Perhaps then a new entry would be possible, knowing that the series still has a big following worldwide.
Not so fast. EarthBound/Mother creator Shigesato Itoi, when asked about the possibility of a new installment, responded with just one word: “Impossible.”
Surely Nintendo can’t keep EarthBound/Mother dormant forever, right? Maybe one day we’ll see a complete revival, much in the same way that Kid Icarus came back after a 20-year hiatus.
A common topic came up continuously during the Q&A session of Nintendo’s recent financial results briefing: Wii U game delays.
Iwata first commented specifically about games that will finally release starting with Pikmin 3. Its arrival will mark the start of new and significant first-party software releases for Wii U. However, Iwata explained that delays of first-party titles was necessary, otherwise “The brand of a franchise would be completely degraded without customer satisfaction.”
The video game industry has been in the slump over the past couple of years, Satoru Iwata has acknowledged. Some say that the US has specifically seen a downturn. Why is this so?
Iwata did offer two possible reasons during Nintendo’s most-recent financial results briefing Q&A.
First, Iwata commented on consumers’ “higher psychological hurdle to paying a certain sum of money for software.”
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s global president, is now the CEO of Nintendo of America. What will that mean for business operations overseas?
Speaking during Nintendo’s latest financial results briefing Q&A, Iwata provided some insight into the situation. There are plans to increase communications “with those working for our overseas subsidiaries” in order “to make their marketing strategies and tactics more aligned with the management decisions at the headquarters.” Iwata will additionally inform such employees “about the products under development on a more timely basis so that they can take advantage of the sales potential of such products in their business territories.”
I decided to refer to our plan to place our overseas operations under my direct control here because, in evaluating the notice regarding changes of directors, I thought that you might wonder who will replace the retiring general manager of the International Division and who will supervise our business in the U.S. after Mr. Kimishima, current chairperson and CEO of Nintendo of America Inc., comes back to Japan to replace Mr. Mori as a managing director.
I already communicate very frequently with those working for our overseas subsidiaries, but I will try to intensify the communications with them to make their marketing strategies and tactics more aligned with the management decisions at the headquarters. I will also inform them about the products under development on a more timely basis so that they can take advantage of the sales potential of such products in their business territories.
Nintendo’s Hiro Yamada is currently supervising Monster Games on the development of Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D. However, he’s also in the know when it comes to Retro Studios’ new game for Wii U.
Fans want to know: what the heck is the Metroid Prime creator working on? Yamada wouldn’t divulge any details when asked by ONM, but did tease that he hopes to “introduce it to you in the not so distant future.”
“I wonder what kind of game it is? I hope to introduce it to you in the not so distant future.”
Nintendo won’t be holding a press conference at this year’s E3, but the publisher still intends to show games at the show. Perhaps Retro’s new project will be one of them?
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata was asked to discuss cloud gaming during a previous financial results briefing. At the latest meeting, Iwata commented on the topic once again.
Iwata has expressed concern about cloud gaming’s latency, which wouldn’t work well with Nintendo’s titles due to the company’s “strict requirements in terms of real-time responsiveness”. While Nintendo plans to monitor how the technology progresses, Nintendo has no plans to acquire a cloud gaming company.
As for your remark about cloud gaming, I believe that there are games that have an affinity with cloud gaming and games that do not. Of course, we constantly pay attention to the advances and changes in cloud gaming technology and Internet infrastructure. On the other hand, I don’t think that our games, particularly the types that have strict requirements in terms of real-time responsiveness, can offer high-quality services using cloud gaming technology because of unavoidable network latency, which I mentioned last time. We will of course continue to see how this technology develops, but in order to decide whether cloud gaming is something that we should be interested in, we will need to closely follow the changes in technology and also the business environment. However, at this point in time, I do not think that acquiring a cloud gaming company will in any way improve our performance, so we are not moving in that direction.
One investor at Nintendo’s recent financial results briefing Q&A suggested that the company “abandon the strategy of the expansion of the gaming population and instead focus its business efforts on children and families”. In response, president Satoru Iwata promised that Nintendo has no plans to abandon this demographic, adding: “Families and children are indeed very important audiences for Nintendo. This policy will never change.”
Iwata said:
“First, families and children are some of the most important consumer groups for Nintendo with whom we have been trying to expand the gaming population, and Nintendo has shown and would like to continue to show a strong presence among these groups. Families and children are indeed very important audiences for Nintendo. This policy will never change.”
