In a recent interview with Forbes, Reggie has been clearing the air about where the company stands in relation to Apple as a competitor, new technology for their hardware such as HD and 3D and plenty of other topics.
Reggie Fils-Aime on Apple and their technology…
“There’s been no data to suggest an encroachment on our business. The iPhone has been out on the marketplace for just a couple of years. In the last two years we’ve set two records on our DS business, last year selling over 11.2 million units. So there’s been no evidence that we’ve lost any business to that competitor.
On the other hand, we recognize that consumers have a limited amount of entertainment time, and anything that takes entertainment time away from the Nintendo DS, DSi and Wii is a competitor. And so from that standpoint, we need to build experiences that are compelling and sticky, and that consumers can get excited about. That’s our challenge.”
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Neogaf have uncovered a few new juicy details for the upcoming “Sonic 4: Episode 1” courtesy of Game Informer’s recent interview with Takashi Iizuka.
- “Fans will be very pleased with the cast in episode 2.”
- There will be moves such as Spin Dash, Rolling Attack, homing attack, unknown move
- Izuka on homing attack: “I wanted the user to enjoy an easy-to-play feeling by the attack sequence that this [homing attack] allows, and find the fun routes in the air.”
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Nintendo of America exec Cammie Dunaway (above) has been very vocal recently about Nintendo’s current position in the market and she is understandably excited about this years software line-up for both Wii and DS.
Venturebeat had a recent interview with her where she talks about all of these subjects in more detail including “Metroid: Other M“, Mario on Facebook, digital downloads, E3 and Wii price drops.
Dunaway on the appeal of Metroid: Other M…
“Well, you can’t get access to Samus and the Metroid franchise on the other platforms. And this experience isn’t about the graphics at all. It is a shooting game. But it is a much more emotional experience with story to it.”
Continues after the break.
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Wired recently snagged an interview with NOA executive, Cammie Dunaway, where she talks about where Nintendo are going forward with respect to new hardware, new games, localization and much more. Grab a coffee and have a read…
Dunaway on other motion controllers…
“We created motion control and we’ll continue to be in motion control. Consumers don’t care about technology; they care about how the game feels. We’ll continue to focus on that. We’ve got 60 million Wii Remotes out there, and 10 million MotionPlus. Consumers today are having a blast playing with the Wii Remote and Wii MotionPlus. We’re pretty darn good at creating experiences that are about more than just technology; they’re about great feel, great gameplay.”
Continues after the break.
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According to CVG, The Pokemon Company could already be tinkering away with development for the DS’s successor and were supposedly the first third party to be offered the kits. However if you are holding out hope that this is the rumoured news that Nintendo will be revealing at their press conferences next week then you mght be disappointed. The source speaking with CVG said “Any kind of March announcement wouldn’t fit with the timeline I understand the second DS to be on,”, he of course is speaking of GDC in March so if it is unlikely to be revealed at that event, next week is most likely out too.
Also the DS is still selling like hot cakes around the world and while that remains true, Nintendo won’t rush to market with any new hardware.
Head inside to read what CVG have to say about DS2.
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In an interview with High Voltage Software, Matt Casamassina of IGN discovered that the developers next shooter for the Wii, which was revealed around E3 time last year, ‘The Grinder’, has lost its exclusivity to the console and will now be appearing on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC too.
The developers claim that they want their talent to reach the widest audience as possible, which is fair enough, they produce quality games. However we are pretty sure that they were secretly crapping themselves with the thought that the game may sell as poorly as ‘The Conduit’ did.
Excerpt of the interview after the break.
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Last year we heard via FT.com that Nintendo president Satoru Iwata turned down Xbox 360 Natal-like technology for the Wii which featured a camera to detect motion and speech recognition. Now C&VG have been told that in 2007 “Israel firm 3DV Systems showed an early demo of the technology to Iwata and other Nintendo bigwigs at the end of 2007″ and though Iwata was impressed with the tech itself, he was concerned about the price and had concerns over latency.
“Iwata-san only ever invests in something he can guarantee will work for a Nintendo audience. 3DV showed off a camera that detected motion in 3D, and had voice recognition - but Iwata-San was unconvinced he could sell it at a Nintendo price point. He also had some worries around latency during gameplay.”
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‘Last Flight‘ executive producer, Marcin Kawa of Bloober, talks a lot of sense in a recent interview with Eurogamer, regarding the Wii audience and believes that there is room for mature content on Wii. He also mentions Capcom’s “bitching” about recent game sales and frankly we completely agree with everything he says!
“With such a strong install base it’s hard to believe that there’s not enough people to appreciate mature, core content. It’s all about games and quality. I’m not surprised that another shooter on rails doesn’t sell well. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that people expect something more than that..I bet No More Heroes 2 will do pretty good, as well as the new Metroid and Capcom’s Monster Hunter. I hope that Last Flight will be successful and that’s because we’re making a game that was thought out as a Wii game. Instead of bitching, we’d rather create something that has value and doesn’t feel like a third-rate port put together to make a quick buck.”
Continues after the break.
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Wedbush Morgans top videogame analyst, Mr Michael Pachter, has been talking Nintendo again and more specifically the “lot of crap” and “shovelware” that resides on the Wii.
We have to agree with Mr Pachter. The Wii with its new motion controls and the success of Wii Sports spurned a huge amount of cheaply developed games by all kinds of developers wanting to jump on the bandwagon. Of course there are some great titles on Wii too and all popular consoles are flooded with cheaply produced games that receive poor ratings by critics, however the Wii may set a new record for the console with the highest amount of shovelware ever!
In an interview with Gamasutra the Pachter says:
“The housewives who thought Wii Fit looked like fun, the grandmas who thought that Wii Sports would be a fun thing to play with their grandkids, and the 20-somethings who only wanted to play Guitar Hero or Rock Band… none of them people who you’d call ‘gamers’. They are not buying much more software. They bought what they wanted and don’t feel the need to buy more – nor are they aware of what other Wii games are out there. They’re oblivious.”
More on Pachters thoughts after the break.
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In an interview earlier this week with Capcom’s Antoine Seux, the executive touched on the subject that the company are unlikely to develop much for the Wii, or atleast mature titles for the Wii and said that “the future is the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.”
But now seems that their PR department is trying to cover their tracks somewhat and have sent a press release stating their commitment as a multi-platform developer. To us it sounds likely they will continue Wii development, but at a minimum, while focusing more on PS3 and Xbox 360.
“Further to comments made in a recent article on French website Gamekult, Capcom would like to confirm its commitment as a multi-platform developer and publisher of interactive software.”
More inside.
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In a recent interview with the Asahi Shimbun paper, Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata sheds some light on when we can expect to see the latest iteration of the Zelda franchise and also what to expect from the company’s generation handheld console.
Thanks to Kotaku’s English translation, Iwata’s interview revealed that the DS’s successor will boast much better graphics and possibly even Natal-style motion capture:
“[It will have] highly detailed graphics, and it will be necessary to have a sensor with the ability to read the movements of people playing.”
Head inside for more…
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Grab yourself a cup of coffee, sit down and relax for a few minutes while you read Antoine Seux from Capcom (France) spill the beans on game sales, supporting the DS, Darkside Chronicles, Monster Hunter 3 and what the company will be focusing on in 2010.
The original interview was in French and because the translation came via Google, it might read a bit funny in places.
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