This information comes from Koji Taguchi, a senior executive officer at Square Enix Holdings…
“Because we merged with Eidos and had games like Tomb Raider, Deus and Hitman, as a company we were able to keep face. But the decline in Japanese titles was almost humiliating. This has been a week where I worried daily about how we can fix this.”
I was absolutely shocked by the lack of Japanese Square Enix titles at E3. I figured that Kingdom Hearts 3D would be a shoe-in for the show, at least!
This information comes from Satoru Iwata…
“Because we put so much emphasis on the controller, there appeared to be some misunderstandings. We should have made more effort to explain how it works. We haven’t made any kind of blunder, but I should have shown a single picture of the new console, then started talking about the controller. The console is not drastically different, and Wii U is about the controller. The console itself will be almost invisible. There have been two groups of people writing about our announcement – those like the Evening Standard, who have been able to experience the Wii U, and those who have not, and are simply writing about it from wire stories and pictures. They cannot see how this can be a game changer. What Wii U will offer is very different, but I believe we have the strong potential to change the entire format of videogames and of entertainment.”
Those who weren’t aware that Nintendo was going to show a new console at E3 could have been very easily confused over the announcement. The console was practically absent in most of the pictures shown on stage. Heck, even some of the more hardcore gamers were confused as to whether the controller was just an add-on for Wii.
Ah well… Nintendo still has well over a year before this thing ships, so they have time to get their point across.
I admit, I was among those who let out a bit of a chuckle when I heard the name of Nintendo’s next home console. I mean, come on. “Wii U”? It has less flow than the hoover dam when it has no water in it. Or anything else that has no water, I guess. But that’s beside the point. I wasn’t going to pass judgement on an entire console simple because the name sounded like an ambulance passing by, or a cowboy who just wrangled a large stallion. I wanted to play it first, and so I waited in line for three hours, moved to another line, and then waited in line for another hour before the Nintendo representative opened the gate and I headed into the designated area to get my hands on what could be called the most revolutionary gaming device since the 3DS.
