Some new information has arisen about the latest installment in the Zelda franchise. Firstly, series producer Eiji Aonuma has said that Wii MotionPlus is incorporated and is adding great realism to the controls, not only that it will be compulsory to use the add-on to play the game:
“After actually making it compatible, it just feels so natural. Link’s sword and the controller that you’re holding become one.”
There’s some useful tidbits of information that have surfaced from Nintendo’s financial results briefing this week:
- Golden Sun DS will be released this year;
- Iwata described The Last Story and Xenoblade as “full-scaled RPGs”;
- Nintendo will show software for the Wii Vitality Sensor at E3;
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be released this year;
- Zelda Wii will be at E3;
Nothing really new or unexpected there. However, Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata did seem a little unimpressed with Apple’s iPad (me too!), hit the link…
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.”
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…
It seems Nintendo boss, Mr Iwata, is confident that gamers wil be happy following this coming holiday season and wants to hear gamers say “Holiday 2009 was the best one ever for Nintendo!“
“In September, which people overseas call ‘back-to-school,’ people start to pay more attention to home consoles. If we can convey the appeal of Wii Sports Resort to existing customers then, it will surely contribute to the sales of hardware and generate good momentum toward the holiday season. So we feel that Wii Sports Resort will drive hardware sales mainly in Q3 from October to December.
Last year, we had some internal discussions about the close launch period of Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit but we ended up launching them with the hypothesis that several major title launches in close proximity can produce a synergetic effect. As a result, it went very well. This year we hope to do well again as we will be launching three ten-million class titles consecutively, and would love to hear that ‘Holiday 2009 was the best one ever for Nintendo!’”
One way they can definitely go about succeeding with that is by releasing more than one ‘triple A’ quality title at Xmas. Many Nintendo gamers were unhappy with the lack of choice last year, with Wii Music falling short on depth and fun and Animal Crossing on Wii not really adding anything new since the first game on the N64.
To me it feels like Nintendo are increasingly trying to drag-out the life of their games. For example they are still airing TV commercials for Mario Kart Wii which launched over a year ago! That’s fair enough as it’s still selling well, but the old Nintendo faithful need new games and on a more frequent basis.
/Rant
This years E3 show in Los Angeles was one of the biggest in many years. Not only was the show back to the physical size and capacity of E3 of old, but Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft had some massive announcements at their respective conferences.
While Microsoft wowed crowds with Project Natal and a string of AAA titles and Sony showed of their motion sensing tech along with quality games, Nintendo looked overshadowed by both. True Nintendo had a much better conference than the previous year, but one of the biggest talking points came from a single piece of Zelda artwork which wasn’t officially even supposed to have been shown!
Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata realises that they need to do better in future:
Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata has stated that the Wii’s recent decline in sales is mainly to do with a lack of quality software. Frankly we agree with him. First party AAA titles have been very thin on the ground so far in 2009 an we hope this is a sign Nintendo are hard at work rectifying it.
“It’s not the case of the quality of hardware moved, the feeling of missing strong competitive power, lacking its luster or poor sales. Consistently, big time titles will be released in the marketplace for this hardware. When that stops, to reinvigorate the console, or to put it another way, I think the current decline in hardware sales is due to the fact that there aren’t many big titles (at the moment).” Says Iwata.
Software shortage or not, the recession has also helped slow sales and the fact that the Wii has sold so many for so long probably made the drop in sales look worse than it was. Of course the Wii is still selling very well overall and outselling competition, the console just set a high bench mark to compare itself with.
So does that mean Nintendo are planning a price cut to boost sales again?
“Right now, there aren’t a lot of discussions going on about what exactly to do about hardware pricing.”
When the Wii and the wiimote first made their debut in 2006, rivals Microsoft and Sony stated that the new motion controls were a “gimmick” and a “fad” that people would soon get bored of.
In a very short time Nintendo proved both of their competitors wrong as month after month the Wii outsold both Xbox 360 and PS3 worldwide. In fact it was only Christmas 2008 that supply finally met demand which was an unprecedented achievement for a video game console.
Not surprisingly because of this success and the expanded audience the Wii created, Microsoft and Sony have announced their own take on motion controls, albeit 3 years after the Wii debuted.
Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata is not surprised by their competitors actions though he is surprised it has taken them this long to announce motion controls, let alone them being near market release:
“To tell the truth, I expected them to come up with stuff like this last year. So in my mind they’re later than expected. I’d like to say to them, ‘Welcome to the motion-control world!”
With E3 approaching faster than a speeding bullet, Nintendo have made public their Expo media details.
Before we get into that, Nintendo have said they are not limiting employees travelling to L.A. like Square Enix due to swine flu. While they are continuing to monitor the situation and advise to wear masks and wash hands regularly, all employees will be attending the show from Japan at the time of writing.
As far as the media briefing itself is concerned, Satoru Iwata, Reggie Fils-Aime and Cammie Dunaway will be this years speakers (no Miyamoto) and the focus is “all about the games” which is pleasing!
Head inside for full E3 details. Read more…
Following on from Nintendo’s recently released financial report where the company posted record financial results despite the worldwide economic crisis, comes an investor relations interview with the company CEO, Satoru Iwata.
In this question and answer breifing, Iwata provides an in-depth insight into the problems that challenge the company and how Nintendo go about overcoming them.
Grab yourself a coffee and hit the link for the full Q&A. Read more…
Just a quick note to inform you that Nintendo’s conference at this years E3 trade show will begin at 9:00am PST/12:00pm EST/5.00pm GMT on Tuesday 2nd June in L.A.
Expect some big announcements (hopefully!) from Nintendo exec’s Satoru Iwata, Reggie Fils-Aime and Cammie Dunaway on this years big games for Wii and DS.
Many were disappointed with Nintendo’s showing at last years E3, so this year Reggie has promised to “raise the bar” and not disappoint. If you want up-to-the-minute live updates of exactly how far the bar will be raised, keep an eye on nin-ten-do.com to find out!
Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata, yesterday announced in a video interview that the new video on demand service for Wii - Wii-no-Ma - will indeed be launched outside of Japan in the future. Head inside to see what Iwata has to say on the matter. Read more…
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