Yet another Nintendo interview for you guys to look over. The funny thing is, the second question in this interview from GameSpot was regarding Pikmin. Shigeru Miyamoto actually revealed that he’s going to be putting the franchise on Wii U instead of Wii, but this was before his roundtable.
Miyamoto on whether there has been a philosophy or a direction that Nintendo is taking in bringing titles to the 3DS…
“Well, I’m really seeing a couple of different tendencies in 3DS software, and one is that the system itself is, I think, a great system, where games that we’ve released in the past can be remade and really take on new meaning, and there are new ways to make them fun. But on the other hand, at this point, what we’re also looking at of course is creating new installments in existing franchises. And so that’s, I think, where the system is right now.”
For Nintendo, releasing their systems with the most powerful technology available has never been their intention. Instead the company has focused on creating entertaining experiences while pricing their consoles reasonably.
So it comes as no surprise that Nintendo is considering this approach once again for Wii U. Shigeru Miyamoto understands the need to incorporate technology that has progressed over the years, but also realizes that Nintendo still needs to have the console come in as a reasonable price “because people have generally only a certain amount of their spending that they’ll devote to entertainment.” In the end, Nintendo will be looking to balance the price of Wii U with what can be included in the hardware.
Nintendo is an entertainment company. We’re very sensitive to pricing because people have generally only a certain amount of their spending that they’ll devote to entertainment. And if you’re talking about parents buying something for kids, there are certain price points where parents may be willing to or not willing to purchase a certain product.
But at the same time, you have these technological advances, and you have the needs of being able to take advantage of that technology, and those result in increasing costs and things like that. And so I think that in terms of companies that really look very carefully at what is the best balance between price and possibility in terms of the hardware, Nintendo is the company that’s going to probably pay the most attention to striking that right balance.
So when you look at what we’re trying to do this time, which is I think maybe to a certain degree somewhat reckless, because we’re trying to include this somewhat kind of tablet-like device–this controller with the screen. We’re trying to do that by finding the right balance between the CPU and the GPU, the graphics processor, and bringing all of that together with the ability to take advantage of the HD capabilities of the system, and wanting to do the most that we can on that front as well.
We’re very sensitive, of course, to trying to do all of this at an appropriate price. So I don’t know that we would be able to sit here and say that it’s going to necessarily dramatically outperform the systems that are out now. It’s part of the balance that we strike in terms of trying to find entertainment that is new and unique.
Eiji Aonuma on what he thinks the best way is for Nintendo commemorate Zelda’s 25th anniversary…
“Zelda has always been a series known for its high-quality music, so we’ve planned an orchestral concert to help people celebrate the 25th anniversary. Music is a passion of both myself and Mr. Miyamoto, and that passion connects to gameplay elements such as Link’s playing of instruments. I would like to give people an opportunity to enjoy music while following the history of the Zelda series with us all the way up to Skyward Sword.”
Aonuma on whether Nintendo considered further altering Ocarina of Time 3D beyond interface and graphics, similar to Super Mario 64 DS…
It looks like Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios, has been keeping track of some of the Wii U rumors over the past few months. Yoshida told IGN that he was “surprised” by the console and that the system was “pretty close to what was being rumored.” One of his expectations is that Nintendo might consider making “a giant DS”, though that obviously didn’t happen!
“I was surprised to see the final product for what Nintendo was showing. It’s pretty close to what was being rumored. Lots of media had different interpretations of the rumors, and something I thought Nintendo might be doing was like a giant DS in your house. I was expecting them to do some demos, like Nintendogs coming from the big screen to the small screen where you can then pet the dog on the tablet controller. And finally they are going to HD graphics, which must please third-party publishers judging from what they were saying at the press conference. It’s interesting.”
Yoshida also responded to a statement made by IGN in which the publication said that “Nintendo seems to be blurring that by having a tablet controller where you can play console games both on a TV and portably.”
“We still don’t know much about the Wii U. It seems like the controller can only work with one console. When they show multiplayer they are using the Wii remotes. How games will be developed for that console we still don’t know. As I understand, the Wii U remote has to be in proximity of the console so it’s not a true portable device in a sense that you can bring it with you outside the room or house. I still can’t get my head around what it is.”
Cambridge, Mass. – Harmonix today announced that packs from Maroon 5 and Puddle of Mudd will be available beginning June 21 in the Rock Band 3 Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and Wii.
Rock Band provides the deepest and best selection of artists, songs and albums through the Rock Band music platform, which features more than 900 artists and more than 2,700* tracks via disc and download purchase (complete list of tracks at www.rockband.com/songs). Rock Band’s gigantic music library dwarfs that of any other rhythm video game on the market. More than 100 million songs have been sold through the Rock Band Music Store since its launch Nov. 20, 2007.
Rock Band DLC Additions for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 system and Wii
Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure – October 14th
Spider-Man: Edge of Time – October 28th
Generator Rex – October 28th
X-Men: Destiny – September 30th
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – November 8th
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…
