This information comes from Nintendo’s financial results briefing, which took place last week…
“Regarding the format you referred to as ‘tablet’ which has a certain big screen and allows users to directly touch it, when we look at it from the viewpoint of ‘developing software which uses a touch screen,’ I think it is an interesting device if it creates an experience that is in line with the trend created by Nintendo DS. On the other hand, we have never abandoned the + Control Pad and buttons for our game systems because we think these functions are advantageous when creating highly reactive games. In this meaning, I do not think Nintendo hardware will take on any of the current tablet forms as they are without buttons, to make our game devices. However, this is only when we consider tablets as game devices and, for other purposes, I think tablets are very interesting, and they are a form of hardware that will continue to grow.” – Satoru Iwata
Microsoft’s Kinect add-on will always be compared to the Wii Remote because they both offer motion-controlled gaming. Even so, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata believes that sales of Microsoft’s latest controller are not greatly impacting the Wii. Iwata told investors at a financial results briefing last week:
“I think the image of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is largely different between Japanese citizens and U.S. citizens. I think I can say that the Xbox 360 business has been in a good condition since last summer. On the other hand, when we talk about whether Kinect contributed to significantly expanding the number of Xbox users, as I have previously shown you the data on the graph, the number of Wii users has grown to about 10 million, but the growth in the number of Microsoft users is much smaller. Therefore, we feel that it would be rather unusual if Nintendo’s Wii market was taken over by the launch of Kinect, or if the users who were playing with Wii quit playing with it and started to play with other consoles. Of course, many users in the U.S. have multiple consoles at their homes. Many Wii users also have Xbox 360 and vice versa, so I am not saying that there is completely no effect in terms of use rate. However, hit titles are not being released continually every month for Kinect software, so we don’t believe Wii sales are being seriously affected.”
It’s pretty much a well-known fact that third-parties haven’t been able to find success on the Wii. Sure, a few titles have performed beyond expectations – such as Just Dance – but on the whole, third-party releases just haven’t sold well.
Satoru Iwata was asked to comment on Nintendo’s inability to attract third-parties for the Wii at the company’s financial results briefing last week. Iwata explained that poor sales of previous games was a factor, as was the console’s graphical limitations and competition among other platforms. He also said that Nintendo is interested in cooperating with software developers for the Wii’s successor and admitted that third-parties are important to maintain the market.
“Regarding your analysis that cooperation with third-party software developers didn’t go as well for Wii as it went for Nintendo DS, there actually are some arguments which attribute the reason to the system’s ‘performance,’ but in terms of ‘performance,’ Nintendo DS did not overwhelm other devices by its performance. However, it proposed what other devices could not, and that value was recognized, and as a result the software sold well, which is the most important point. Unfortunately, there are very few success stories of third-party software in Japan on Wii. This lowered the motivation of the software developers, and at a time when these software developers should have been running their businesses on the platform with the biggest installed base, this wasn’t the reality. On the contrary, in the U.S., several titles sold well. Not only ‘JUST DANCE,’ which I introduced today, but for some titles, such as ‘Guitar Hero,’ even if the titles were released for multiple platforms, the Wii version sold the most, and in such a situation, the developers did not completely lose motivation for development on Wii. However, Wii is good in some areas but not in others, so especially for games like ‘Call of Duty,’ the Wii version sold pretty well, but the unit sales were very different from the versions of other platforms, and I assume that one of the reasons is the issue with the graphical representations which you mentioned before, and also, the consumers who like that kind of game will have other platforms at home as well, which led to this result. Of course, we would like to cooperate with software developers for Wii’s successor, and as I am repeatedly saying, I don’t believe Nintendo can carry out everything alone. I am saying that we are responsible for building up the market, but I don’t think that Nintendo can maintain the market alone; We are aiming for creating a situation where software publishers will be willing to cooperate. As for commenting on such things as the performance, I already stated in the beginning that I would not mention any specific plans. Thank you for your understanding.”
Spring flowers aren’t the only new arrivals you’ll want to savor as May gets underway. The latest downloadable games for the Wii™ and Nintendo DSi™ systems include action-packed fare that’s sure to keep your adrenaline pumping. For the WiiWare™ service, a new demo version of BIT.TRIP RUNNER invites players to discover the fast-paced, retro-flavored platforming fun of the BIT.TRIP series for zero Wii Points™. On the Virtual Console™ service, RIVAL TURF! delivers classic street-fighting kicks from the Super NES™ era. And for the Nintendo DSiWare™ service, Anonymous Notes Chapter 2 – From The Abyss – plunges hand-held gamers deep in the heart of a rich dungeon-based adventure.
Nintendo of Europe made a surprising announcement about a month ago that Xenoblade Chronicles will be hitting store shelves this year. Gamers in North America, however, are still waiting for a localization confirmation.
If Nintendo of America is planning on releasing the title, we won’t be hearing anything official until E3. There is a small hint, though, that it will be brought stateside. Peter Dickson, a voice actor working on the European release, posted the following information on his website:
“Peter has been cast as the Emperor Sorean – the leader of the High Entia in the cult Nintendo RPG Xenoblade Chronicles. The game will be released Autumn 2011 in UK, Europe and USA. Peter is thrilled to have played such a leading role in a massively successful Nintendo title.”
Keep in mind that nothing has been confirmed yet, and it’s certainly possible that Dickson simply assumed that the game will ship in North America. Again, we’ll have to wait until E3 before we know the fate of Xenoblade in North America.
In other news, Dickson said on his Twitter account a few weeks ago that Xenoblade will launch in Europe this September. Adam Howden, voice actor for Shulk, seems to be in agreement. Nintendo of Europe has yet to confirm the game’s release date.
Tales of the Abyss 3DS was confirmed for North America just a few days ago, so it would be a shame if Namco Bandai neglected to bring the game over to Europe as well. Fortunately, the game will indeed see a worldwide release. The PS2 port has been given a general “Spring 2012” timeframe for release in Europe according to NGamer. That’s quite a bit later than the game’s launch in North America, though I suppose we should be pleased that Namco Bandai is localizing the game for all territories.
01. / 00. [NDS] Battle & Get! Pokemon Typing DS (Pokemon Co.) {2011.04.21} – 59.363 / NEW
02. / 03. [NDS] Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 – Professional (Square Enix) {2011.03.31} – 45.397 / 337.166 (-47%)
03. / 01. [PSP] Dai-2-Ji Super Robot Wars Z: Hakai-hen (Bandai Namco) {2011.04.14} – 44.973 / 351.992 (-85%)
04. / 04. [PSP] Pro Baseball Spirits 2011 (Konami) {2011.04.14} – 27.931 / 99.195 (-61%)
05. / 02. [PS3] Pro Baseball Spirits 2011 (Konami) {2011.04.14} – 24.365 / 110.851 (-72%)
06. / 00. [NDS] Detective Conan: Aoki Houseki no Rinbukyoku (Bandai Namco) {2011.04.21} – 19.786 / NEW
07. / 00. [PSP] GachiTora! Abarenbou Kyoushi in High School (Spike) {2011.04.21} – 13.560 / NEW
08. / 00. [PS3] SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs 4 (SCE) {2011.04.21} – 12.613 / NEW
09. / 06. [3DS] Pilotwings Resort (Nintendo) {2011.04.14} – 10.675 / 37.228 (-60%)
10. / 00. [360] Otomedius X (Konami) {2011.04.21} – 10.502 / NEW
11. / 05. [PSP] Persona 2: Innocent Sin (Atlus Co.) {2011.04.14} – 10.400 / 73.122 (-83%)
12. / 00. [360] Monster Hunter Frontier Online (Forward .1 Premium Package) (Capcom) {2011.04.20} – 10.393 / NEW
13. / 13. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom 3 (Capcom) {2010.12.01} – 8.558 / 4.446.505 (+2%)
14. / 00. [NDS] Original Story from Fairy Tail: Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidou (Hudson) {2011.04.21} – 8.376 / NEW
15. / 08. [PSP] Earth Defence Force 2 Portable (D3 Publisher) {2011.04.07} – 8.207 / 88.900 (-51%)
16. / 00. [PS3] Clannad (Prototype) {2011.04.21} – 7.466 / NEW
17. / 12. [PSP] Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection (Square Enix) {2011.03.24} – 7.369 / 171.311 (-18%)
18. / 11. [PSP] Amagami (EBKore+) (Kadokawa Shoten) {2011.03.31} – 7.016 / 109.463 (-25%)
19. / 16. [WII] Wii Party (Nintendo) {2010.07.08} – 6.748 / 1.860.133 (-3%)
20. / 15. [3DS] Nintendogs + Cats: French Bulldog / Shiba / Toy Poodle & New Friends (Nintendo) {2011.02.26} – 6.303 / 196.242 (-15%)
Much of the speculation surrounding Project Cafe indicates that the system’s controller will contain a screen, which could be used to stream games and other content. E3 is still a few weeks away, so we’re going to have to wait just a bit longer for Nintendo’s unveiling of the console. Be sure to check out a new round of Project Cafe mockup images below – most of which feature the console’s controller – as we continue to count down to E3.
