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Iwata continues to deny Wii price drop
Following its quarterly financial report, Nintendo released an investor Q&A with president Satoru Iwata. It has yet to be released in English, but Andriasang translated a few key excerpts. Most notably, Iwata's continued denial of any plans for a Wii price drop. "At present, we're not thinking of doing anything with the price," he said. Not that he'd announce it beforehand. Iwata didn't mention it, but we suspect the black Wii will reinvigorate sales in Japan, even at the original price.Iwata also admitted that last holiday's Wii lineup, specifically Wii Music and Animal Crossing: City Folk, didn't have the long-term sales Nintendo expects from its big titles. He has high hopes for this year's big three games: Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit Plus, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. In fact, he expects all three of these to break ten million sold by March 2010, the end of Nintendo's fiscal year.
Nintendo's 'Demo Play' planned for handheld games as well
The controversial "Demo Play" feature devised by Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo won't just be limited to New Super Mario Bros. Wii and other console-based adventures. A blurb in Japan's Nikkei newspaper notes that the feature, which allows players to skip difficult areas and watch them played automatically, will also be used in portable games in the future. Nikkei referred to it as a "skip functionality" or "skip feature."Nikkei notes that this feature is designed for "high-speed action games," so presumably you won't be able to let Dr. Kawashima step in and count the number of people who just ran out of the house (we hate that one), nor will you be able to make the Pokémon start choosing themselves mid-battle.[Via Kotaku]
New Super Mario Bros. Wii, future titles will play themselves
Are games too hard for you, Johnny? Don't worry -- Shiggy's got your back. Starting with upcoming New Super Mario Bros. Wii, future Nintendo Wii titles will be shipping with the ability to, well, play themselves. In an interview with USA Today, the man who birthed Mario confirmed the existence of "demo play" for the next Mario game and "future games, too" -- essentially an option to allow the game to play itself when the player encounters an area too difficult for them to handle.Savvy Joystiq loyalists will remember the patent filed by Nintendo earlier this year, roughly outlining the feature. The idea behind this, Miyamoto explains, is to reduce the barrier to entry for younger players and casual alike. Last we checked, the whole point of games was the challenge but, ya know, who needs that? "Demo play" remains the tentative title for now, but we expect some Wii-ification by New Super Mario Bros. Wii's release later this year.
E3 2009 highlights: The Nintendo roundup
Nintendo E3 2009 checklist: Mario? *check* Zelda? *check* Metroid? *check* Are we missing something? Head past the break to find out!
Insights on Nintendo's new games from the Miyamoto developer event
Shigeru Miyamoto didn't appear at Nintendo's big E3 conference, but he did appear at what Nintendo called a "developer event" later that evening, in a "very relaxed mood" from his morning off. This discussion/Q&A event was the location of last year's Pikmin 3 reveal, and this year Miyamoto came prepared to surprise everyone again at the end, with art from the next Zelda game. "To be honest with you, I really wanted, at this E3, to announce a Zelda game for Wii," he said. "But, we've already shown you a Zelda on Wii, and rather than try to think of something to bring here to show you, we really wanted to focus on actual game development."However, I didn't want to come empty-handed, so I did bring the main illustration for the next Zelda title."
New look at New Super Mario Bros. Wii
New Super Mario Bros. Wii seems like such a simple thing -- more Mario platforming, with some multiplayer this time, but the simple fact of more Mario platforming is almost intolerably wonderful. Maybe it's because we're super-tired from E3, but just look at the footage. Look at the adorable propeller suit. Look at that cloud enemy. The giant, friendly air manta rays. There's all kinds of crazy new Mario stuff happening, even without the multiplayer.The trailer shows the game's casual mix of coop and competitive gameplay -- sure, you can jump on each other's heads and stuff, but Luigi is also seen carrying Mario around on some moving platforms.%Gallery-64968%
Top 5: Resolutions for Nintendo
After being MIA last week, it's nice to be back. I hope you were able to get your fill of inflammatory statements and grammatical errors from another blogger. And most importantly, I'm glad you're back. While I was away with loved ones, I did like many other of my countrymen and did not hold back on food and drink. Though I try to watch what I eat, the lure of freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies and egg nog were a siren's song I could not ignore. And when I make my way to the gym tonight for my semi-daily swim, I know that it will be infested with the dreaded "January Joiners." This is a term which refers to the large influx of people attending the gym in the early part of the year in a futile attempt to fulfill their weight-loss resolutions. Although maneuvering around the larger number of bodies is an inconvenience, I have no ill feelings towards this people. In fact, I wish that they'd stay all year. Sadly, I know better: they'll be gone before February. So if you've made resolutions, try your best to stick with them. Whether fitness-related or not, setting goals is a great way to improve our lives. Write notes on a calendar, set Google alerts to remind you of goals, and keep your eye on the prize. While your resolutions will best be decided by yourself, we can all agree on a few for Nintendo. Here's the Top 5 resolutions that the Big N should set for themselves. Unlike the January Joiners, let's hope these goals aren't abandoned by Valentine's Day. NEXT >> #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.
