Koei executive laments Revo's lack of hard drive
While speaking at the recently held Asian Online Game Conference in Tokyo, Kenji Matsuhara, an executive overseeing Koei's online gaming endeavors, expressed some disappointment in the Revolution's hardware design. He noted that the decision to implement Flash memory, as opposed to a large hard drive, would create difficulties when creating Massively Multiplayer Online RPGs for the system. While this statement hardly rules out the possiblitly of the genre making a revolutionary appearance, one has to wonder whether or not it ever had a place on the console to begin with.
One of Nintendo's primary aims with the Revolution is to eliminate unnecessary complexity, wiping the slate clean and inviting casual gamers back into the fold. Games that are easy to understand, pick up and play are what you're likely to find on the Revolution, not adventures that require considerable time and dedication before bearing numerical fruit. This isn't to say that traditional MMORPGs aren't fun or welcome, only that they don't quite match up with Nintendo's aspirations and intended audience. Of course, there's no reason to think that we won't eventually see a game in the genre adapted to fit the both the Revolution's technical capabilities and its gameplay philosophies. A more robust Animal Crossing, anyone?
(Note to Koei: Make a Guitaroo-Man sequel for the Revolution. Do it now.)
[Via Revolution Report]
