Iwata says Nintendo plans to go easy on the accessories for now

Apparently not willing to let things get to the point that someone has to step in and say, "enough already," Nintendo president Satoru Iwata recently told The Wall Street Journal that the company will be easing up on the number of accessories it releases for the Wii. More specifically, he said that, with the upcoming release of the Wii MotionPlus and Wii Speak add-ons, "most of the ideas for accessories that we had initially come up with are out now," and that while they "might think up some more," they "don't have any plans to release a whole lot more." Of course, we're guessing that's not a sentiment echoed by third-party manufacturers, who we're sure we can count on to keep on cluttering up the living rooms of Wii owners the world over.

[Via Joystiq]

[John H. @ Aug 4th 2008 6:07PM]

If he took off those glasses, put on a dark scowl, and moved his right bangs over his eye, Mr. Iwata would look quite emo.

[Liam @ Aug 4th 2008 6:14PM]

The glasses are essential, he just needs to swap them out for ones with giant black plastic frames.

[Lowest Ranked @ Aug 4th 2008 6:20PM]

I think thats just an asian thing, man.

[mike @ Aug 4th 2008 7:45PM]

soooooo agree with John on this one

[HOOPER @ Aug 4th 2008 9:57PM]

Uh, I think you just described anybody trying to be emo

[The Dude @ Aug 4th 2008 11:31PM]

Apparently being prez at Nintendo doesn't pay enough for a hair-cut and an eye-brow waxing. I mean his hair does cover more than half of his ears. Come on.

[Ridgecity @ Aug 5th 2008 12:56AM]

Eyebrow waxing is NOT for men. At least men that like women. that's for klingons and latin baseball players.

[John H. @ Aug 4th 2008 6:09PM]

If he removed his glasses, swished his hair in front of his left eye, and put on a dark scowl, Mr. Iwata would look quite emo.

[Aguiluz @ Aug 4th 2008 6:10PM]

This would be a win if it wasn't a double post. :\

[Flashpoint @ Aug 4th 2008 6:46PM]

You can say that again !!!!!

[vulgardaclown @ Aug 4th 2008 8:50PM]

actually its not a double post, they are different which means he typed it out twice.

[John H. @ Aug 4th 2008 6:10PM]

curse you, engadget posting system, I double posted. I forfeit my right to live as punishment.

[Eric @ Aug 4th 2008 6:20PM]

Except it's not Engadget's posting system, because you posted twice with the same message, but in a different order.

And why exactly would he look emo? Because he has dark hair?

[Aguiluz @ Aug 4th 2008 6:12PM]

How about the Wii Underwear?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQNKRDFanQE

[James B. @ Aug 4th 2008 6:12PM]

THANK YOU! I don't wanna pay for another piece of plastic with a tiny little circuit inside that I'll eventually throw away after a few years. They ARE fun though :/.

But I'm glad. This won't stop innovation but it'll definitely fill my wallet :D

[lowdef @ Aug 4th 2008 6:15PM]

was mr iwata driving you down to your local wal-mart, taking your wallet, swiping your card, and signing your name at checkout??

[Liam @ Aug 4th 2008 6:13PM]

As long as they continue to fly off the shelves, Nintendo will continue putting out random extra accessories. Wii Fit and the balance board have been a massive success, so why the hell not.

As for things such as "gold club attachment", I will continue to use my own imagination, thank you very much.

[John H. @ Aug 4th 2008 6:17PM]

If it was genuine gold, I would pay 20 bucks for it :)

[localteklinkdotcom @ Aug 4th 2008 6:16PM]

don't stop...I have plenty of room for useless crap!

[John H. @ Aug 4th 2008 6:24PM]

@eric

he would look emo because of his haircut, not the color. ive seen more than 1 blond of the emo-folk

[thenumber81 @ Aug 4th 2008 6:32PM]

Why are we talking about how he looks? Anyway, it's a good thing somebody stepped-in and said enough already. I mean come on, how many accessories are you going to make? The Wii may be the cheapest console, but they make you throw down some bucks for a bunch of accessories that you really don't even need.

[Deez @ Aug 5th 2008 5:39AM]

then....dont buy the accessories?

[V.I. @ Aug 4th 2008 6:37PM]

I had no room to play the Wii at my house, so I let my lil cousin borrow mine for the summer since she got straight A's. Less clutter for miiiiiiiiiii!

[teej @ Aug 5th 2008 6:12PM]

thanks for letting us know

[SirPasta117 @ Aug 4th 2008 6:38PM]

They plan to go easy now? you mean the 5 or 6 they have now arent enough? they plan on making more, but not as often? Wow Nintendo I will not be buying any of your products this generation if it costs me $250 + another $300 in controller add ons

[o29 @ Aug 4th 2008 6:38PM]

So essentially they're slowing down on the production of accessories, not for the benefit of us consumers, but because they're running out of ideas?

[Christian @ Aug 4th 2008 6:46PM]

Wait! They still need to release a Wii-Hard Drive or something, and also when's a keyboard coming out that's not third party or maybe an attachment to the wiimote?

[Phoenix @ Aug 4th 2008 7:21PM]

2 words (or a word and an acronym)

USB Keyboards

[AJ in the East Bay @ Aug 4th 2008 6:57PM]

The rest of the interview was actually more interesting than the part about accessories.

[Kevin L @ Aug 4th 2008 7:16PM]

Now if ASUS would do the same for their line of EEE Netbooks...

[Erik @ Aug 5th 2008 1:13AM]

Man, every time I hear about ASUS's EEE stuff I pronounce it 'Eeeeee'... It disrupts my inner monologue...

[ShinyaAoki @ Aug 4th 2008 9:28PM]

How bout cutting down the granny games?

[Michel S. @ Aug 4th 2008 10:09PM]

It does make sense, actually: better to have fewer official accessories, and have more chance of game developers targeting them, than have too many accessories, each of them sporting only a handful of compatible games -- avid gamers might snap them all up, but as some other commenters have noted, it might turn a lot of their customers (or their parents) off.

[AJ @ Aug 4th 2008 11:33PM]

USB LAN adapter to support 802.11n (draft) please.

[Eric @ Aug 5th 2008 12:14PM]

I guess that means some form of external storage is out of the question.

[Able-X @ Aug 5th 2008 1:09PM]

How bout 1 more? A FREAKING HARD DRIVE