To make that title less than 500 words, I had to make it a bit more vague than I had wanted. But I highly suggest reading the interview that Game Informer conducted with Shigeru Miyamoto below, since there’s a significant amount of information. Miyamoto discusses topics including the Wii U, why the time is right for Zelda concerts and Four Swords on DSiWare, some initial concerns about Skyward Sword and how it’s a “very open world”, and a whole lot more.
The other two characters in the shot above are shown wearing Link’s tunic, albeit in different colors. It’s a bit hard to make out since the image appears briefly in an off-screen video, but you can clearly make out the hats. Nintendo hasn’t said anything about this yet, so it makes you wonder why the other characters are wearing the tunics. It could turn out to be an important story element…
One aspect of the Wii U controller that has been a concern for some fans is its analog nubs. It almost seemed as though Nintendo took a step backward by implementing sticks that are more comparable to the 3DS rather than what we’ve seen on the GameCube and Wii.
However, Shigeru Miyamoto is confident that consumers will get used to the circle pads. He says that they “are of a more advanced state than the one we created for Nintendo 3DS” and that they might be slightly more precise.
“The circle pads that we’re using for the Wii U controllers are of a more advanced state than the one we created for Nintendo 3DS. They will perhaps have a bit more precision. The mechanism that allows those circle pads to work is still very different from, for example, the mechanism we used for the control stick on the Gamecube controller. In that sense it’s very tough to compare the precision or how the circle pads will work in that sense, but personally I feel that we’ve gotten them to a point that when you sit down and play with them you get used to them very quickly and they feel very nice.”
Jimmy Fallon’s “Video Game Week” is concluding tonight with a look at The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Like last year, Reggie Fils-Aime will be on air to show a few minutes of footage. We’ll likely see just a snippet of the E3 demo, but it’s always fun seeing Reggie in action. The show kicks off at 12:30 AM EDT.
Contained below is the first round of charts available for data on the eShop. Nintendo technically doesn’t say what the software chart is, but I’m assuming it’s comprised of the most downloaded titles. The second chart considers recently popular videos.
Software
1. 3D Classics: Excitebike
2. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX
3. Super Mario Land
4. Plants vs. Zombies
5. Cave Story
6. Donkey Kong
7. Shantae: Risky’s Revenge
8. Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!
9. Alleyway
10. Photo Dojo
11. Anonymous Notes Chapter 2 – From the Abyss –
12. Tetris Party Live
13. Dr. Mario Express
14. Mario Clock
15. Anonymous Notes Chapter 1 – From the Abyss –
16. Dark Void Zero
17. Extreme Hangman
18. WarioWare: Snapped!
19. Army Defender
20. Bomberman Blitz
Videos
1. Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!
2. Dragon Quest Wars
3. Game & Watch: Mario’s Cement Factory
4. Dragon’s Lair
5. Tetris Party Live
6. Little Red Riding Hood’s Zombie BBQ
7. Need for Speed Nitro-X
8. Mighty Milky Way
9. Dark Void Zero
10. Bomberman Blitz
11. Photo Dojo
12. Dr. Mario Express
13. Mario Calculator
14. Airport Mania: First Flight
15. Army Defender
16. Rayman
17. G.G Series Dark Spirits
18. Bejeweled Twist
19. Battle of Giants: Dragons – Bronze Edition
20. Cosmo Fighters
The Wii launched at a fairly reasonable price. Users received a new console, Wii Sports, and a Wii Remote controller. The price did seem right for the company, as the system sold remarkably well in its first few years on the market.
Nintendo is hoping to see a repeat success story with the Wii U. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said that the company is looking to sell the console at a price point where they can sell a significant amount of units while maintaining the price for “an extended period of time.”
Fils-Aime said in a recent interview:
“So, I’ll use real numbers from this current generation with Wii. We sold over 25 million units at a price point at $200 or above. Never been done before in our industry. Typically, systems might launch at $300 and then very quickly start falling off. Our philosophy is to launch a system at a price point that we want to maintain for an extended period of time. And so when we launch Wii U, what we’ll do is we’ll identity a price point that we think we can get 25, 30 million units sold. And ideally look to stay at that for quite some time. We think that gives the consumer the best value, that helps consumers understand that ‘Boy, I outta buy in today’ versus wait for the future when the price might drop. And from our perspective, it really helps us manage our production, manage our inventory situation, manage our suppliers.”
Also, when asked if price is one of the most critical decisions Nintendo can make with the introduction of the console, Fils-Aime said:
“Well again, I would modify your statement to say it’s critical that we set the right value. When we look back at the Wii, yes, a $250 price point was key. But also the pack-in of Wii Sports was a critical decision. It gave the consumer something to play right out of the box. It gave the consumer a fantastic range of experiences. So for the launch of Wii U, similarly, yes, we’ll look at price, but we’ll also look at what are the experiences, what is it that the consumer will get when they buy, and make sure that’s really compelling.”
Just a couple of months ago, Sony was forced to deal with a significant intrusion on the PlayStation Network. The network was shut off for many weeks before services gradually returned. But despite the attack on PSN, Nintendo’s future plans for online gaming will not be affected.
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime reiterated to the Wall Street Journal that the company plans on offering a “flexible” and “robust” online system for the Wii U and will be working with third-parties to bring their interests to the platform.
Regarding the PSN intrusion specifically, Fils-Aime said that they will not change their approach as a result of Sony’s security breach. Nintendo will continue to stress testing and monitoring while still trying to offer a robust experience.
“It hasn’t [changed our approach] in that from a Nintendo perspective, we greatly value the trust that consumers give us in sharing their personal information. We hold that very dear. We constantly test ourselves, we are always looking to make sure that the information is safe. The experience by our competitors really just highlights that we have to be ever vigilant. And we have to be constantly thinking about how do we make our systems as robust as possible from a security standpoint… We don’t see it as a tradeoff. We will continue to push the envelope in terms of features, but what we’ll also do is invest heavily in testing ourselves, monitoring ourselves, making sure that our systems are secure as possible.”
Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime will always be remembered by the gaming community for one reason. Back in 2004, Reggie made his first appearance at E3. He joined the company just a few months prior.
As the Nintendo executive took the stage for the first time, he provided a legendary quote that set the tone for the conference: “My name is Reggie, I’m about kicking ass, I’m about taking names, and we’re about making games.”
Seven years later, Reggie has recounted that experience with the Wall Street Journal. He provided some backstory as to how the whole thing happened:
“A little bit of backstory. So this was my very first time in front of this type of audience. Really, people didn’t know much about me other than my employment history working on. really. fighter brands and brands that were going through reinvention. And I brought my personality into the presentation and essentially said, ‘My name is Reggie. I’m about kicking ass, and taking names, and we’re about making games.’ And the croud erupted, it was a fun experience. But more than the words, really what I think it captured was for me as an executive, a very competitive individual, someone who really wants to drive the business forward. And luckily for us, we had the products, that was the year we announced the original DS, a number of great software titles. We’ve had the product since then back in 2004 to have a pretty great run since then.”
I’ll go around picking out some quotes from this interview if I find anything particular noteworthy. For now, you can watch the full interview. Listen to the way the interviewer pronounces Reggie’s full name, it’s kind of funny!
