Satoru Iwata
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Nintendo launching 'Misty Pink' 3DS handheld on October 20th
You heard right -- The Big N's own Satoru Iwata just announced that a "Misty Pink" Nintendo 3DS console would be shipping (at least in Japan) on October 20th. Funnily enough, that was just after showing a chart proving that right around half of all DS gamers are ladies. (But Iwata -- what if the dudes dig pink, too?) At any rate, no specific price was mentioned, giving us some level of certainty that no premium will be attached. %Gallery-133313% %Gallery-133315%
Nintendo CEO responds to 3DS price drop backlash
Post-purchase price drops are one of a number of curses that plague early adopters. Generally, however, such shifts take time, so Nintendo caught us all a bit by surprised when it announced that it will be cutting the cost of the 3DS from $249 to $169 in mid-August. The gaming giant was quick to mend fences, offering 20 free virtual console games to those who got burned by the discount. Nintendo's CEO Satoru Iwata followed up the announcement with a more formal apology to consumers, noting that they may well feel "betrayed" and "punished" for their early adoption. Iwata added that early buyers are still "important" to the company, and that the decision to drop the price was due to concerns on the part of retailers and designers that Nintendo hasn't released a worthy followup to the ultra-popular DS.
Iwata apologizes to early Nintendo 3DS adopters
If the angrier half of the comments on our post about the Nintendo 3DS' massive, uncharacteristically early price drop was any indication, those who bought the handheld at its original $250 price point are miffed. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata understands these frustrations, which he addressed in an apologetic statement yesterday, as translated by Giant Bomb. "If the software creators and those on the retail side are not confident that the Nintendo 3DS is a worthy successor to the DS and will achieve a similarly broad (user) base," Iwata explained, "it will be impossible for the 3DS to gain popularity, acquire a wide range of software, and eventually create the product cycle necessary for everyone to be satisfied with the system." Iwata added, "Those customers who purchased the 3DS at the very beginning are extremely important to us." He further said, "We know that there is nothing we can do to completely make up for the feeling that you are being punished for buying the system early." Perhaps Iwata is right on this account, though twenty free games is certainly a step in the right direction. Almost as good as thirty free games!
Paid DLC functionality coming to 3DS, Wii U
3DS and Wii U developers will have the option to sell digital items in-game, Satoru Iwata revealed during an investor Q&A (summarized by Andriasang). Developers will have the option to sell extra content on 3DS by the end of the year; naturally, it won't arrive on Wii U until, like, the Wii U exists. For reference, both Wii and WiiWare games can offer paid DLC right now. Iwata said that the use of paid DLC would increase Nintendo's own short-term profits, it wouldn't have a positive affect on the company's "relationship with customers," suggesting that this option will be used by third parties only. He also mentioned that Nintendo had no interest in free-to-play games. Apparently, the 3DS internet connection is much more widely used than that of the DS. Iwata expressed an interest in promoting the purchase of downloadable software, an initiative that, according to Andriasang's translation, will be "a major point" for Nintendo in the next three years. Step one: actually offer a selection of downloads.
Iwata taking 50% pay cut over 3DS performance
Nintendo is dropping the price of the 3DS next month. In addition, the company has announced plans to institute a price cut on president Satoru Iwata. At a conference in Tokyo, Iwata told investors that he was taking responsibility for the 3DS's slow sales, along with a 50 percent reduction in pay as a result. Iwata's last annual compensation was ¥137 million, or $1.8 million (including salary and performance-based "variable compensation"). He didn't announce specifics of the cut, but we can expect both the base salary and the bonus to be lower, since lower performance is the whole reason for this exercise. Other "representative directors," including Senior Managing Directors Shigeru Miyamoto and Shinji Hatano, will take 30 percent pay cuts, and other execs will lose 20 percent off their salaries. Analyst David Gibson tweeted from the conference that Nintendo cited a missed opportunity to cut the GameCube's price as motivation to jump on the 3DS price cut.
Iwata Asks how Miyamoto learned English
Beyond founding Q-Games and helping to father the PixelJunk series, Dylan Cuthbert has done some other extraordinary things in his years working in the game industry. He recounts some of those adventures in a recent Iwata Asks column, woefully exclusive to Japanese readers for now, but thankfully summarized by Andriasang. But why is Cuthbert appearing in an Iwata Asks ... you ask? Because he helped create several of Nintendo's major Star Fox titles, of course (including the original), and he's heading up development of Star Fox 64 3D as director. Cuthbert actually didn't work on the Nintendo 64 title, as he had left Nintendo and was busy working on Blasto for Sony's PlayStation at the time. Also detailed in the piece is an interesting fact about how Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto learned how to speak English. When Cuthbert began working at Nintendo, he had only a rudimentary grasp on the Japanese language -- after initially impressing staff during a visit when he was 18 to show off a 3D Game Boy engine, he was hired on, regardless of language skills. Miyamoto had an equally unimpressive grasp on English at the time, and it seems that the two worked together to help each other out. Miyamoto is said to have had a particularly hard time in by of with prepositions. We feel your pain.
Nintendo says one Wii U controller per console, robs player two of extra screen
Nintendo's tablet-esque Wii U controller raised a few questions when it was announced at E3. Questions like, "What kind of crazy games are going to use that thing," and "How much will a second controller cost me?" The latter, at least, has been answered. Nothing. You don't need one. Nintendo's Satoru Iwata recently said in an interview that games enlisting more than one Wii U controller aren't being considered just yet -- although they are possible. Our very own Ittousai tells us that Iwata told Diamond Online that the Wii U can technically support multiple screen-controllers, but that additional slabs would be too expensive to sell on their own. Iwata went on to say that the console would ship with only one, and that game developers should design titles under the assumption that each console will use a single Wii U controller. Player two will have to settle for a good 'ol Wiimote, and even Satoru himself admits that there are plenty of those around.
Iwata: 'Nintendo is not interested' in free-to-play
Nintendo has never shown interest in free-to-play games in the past, likely due to their requirement of support from sophisticated online infrastructure. And ... that is unlikely to change. Speaking to AllThingsD, Satoru Iwata said flatly that "Nintendo is not interested" in freemium games, alluding to the same discussion of maintaining the "value" of games that he mentioned at GDC. "I'm not interested in offering software for free of charge," he said. "That's because I myself am one of the game developers, who in the future wants to make efforts so the value of the software will be appreciated by the consumers." Although freemium games can make money through ads and microtransactions, Iwata expressed concerns about "[destroying] the value of game software." So, uh, don't expect that Wii U version of Ghost Recon Online to be free-to-play, even though the PC version is.
Wii U won't have DVD or Blu-ray playback, will include social media functionality
We already knew that the Wii U's games wouldn't be coming on DVD (like the Xbox 360) or Blu-ray (like the PlayStation 3), but we didn't know that Nintendo's next console wouldn't be able to play video from either format. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata confirmed as much in a recent investor Q&A, flat out stating that "Wii U does not have DVD or Blu-ray playback capabilities." He explained the reasoning behind this as -- unsurprisingly -- the cost, and the notion that "enough people already have devices that are capable of playing DVDs and Blu-ray." Something that Nintendo will apparently be including in the Wii U, though: social media functionality. When asked about the new console's online experience, Iwata deftly avoids providing direct information, admitting only that "we are no longer in a period where we cannot have any connection at all with social networking sites." How this will be applied seems to still be up in the air, with Iwata later in the Q&A elaborating, "We're looking at ways that will convey to this audience which games are fun and, ideally, in a way that will enable people who are playing those games with others, to share that information socially." He also said that the console's online infrastructure needs to be more flexible for developers, repeatedly citing third-party studios as the drive for Nintendo's new stance. Worryingly, he never speaks to the necessity of online persistence or the company's messy past with online functionality.
Wii U will not play DVDs or Blu-ray, Iwata says
Planning to replace that aging Blu-ray player with a Wii U? Not so fast. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says the gaming console won't play DVD or Blu-ray discs, due to patent licensing fees. Wii U does not have DVD or Blu-ray playback capabilities. The reason for that is that we feel that enough people already have devices that are capable of playing DVDs and Blu-ray, such that it didn't warrant the cost involved to build that functionality into the Wii U console because of the patents related to those technologies. So there you have it. Iwata doesn't want to hand over a bag of cash for baby Blu's "bag of hurt." By the time the Wii U hits store shelves in 2012, we may be buying Blu-ray players just for their Netflix capabilities, so here's to hoping the console at least carries over that functionality from its predecessor.
Nintendo's Iwata talks about Wii U's place in the living room
Nintendo took some inspiration from the TV remote for its Wii controller, and it apparently thinks its new Wii U controller could well be the "TV remote of the future." That's just one tidbit from All Things D's sitdown with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who also talked more broadly about the Wii U's new role in the living room. As evidenced by E3, that will include catering to more hardcore gamers than the Wii did, but Iwata says the Wii U is also an effort to take some of the couch time back from folks playing games on tablets, smartphones or laptops. To that end, Iwata says that Nintendo's mission is to "shorten the distance between people and gaming" and remove some of the barriers involved with console gaming, further adding that it's also trying to "reach out to the people who are not interested in video games." Though it's not saying much about it, Nintendo's no doubt hoping to win back a few investors as well. As you may have noticed, the company's stock slipped significantly following its E3 announcement and, while it's bounced back a bit since, it's still well off its Wii-fueled heights of recent years.
Ubisoft's Wii U roundtable, now on video
Remember the second developer roundtable that Nintendo held during E3 2011? The one that featured Killer Freaks From Outer Space? First and foremost, it's rude to refer to Nintendo head Satoru Iwata and Ubisoft head Yves Guillemot as killer freaks, not to mention accuse them of being from other outer space. Oh, right, yes, the game. That one. Anyway, the full HD video of that roundtable discussion has been uploaded by Ubisoft, showing the entirety of what we saw, previewed, and broke out in its original presentation. Interested in watching foreign men struggling with the English language in front of dozens of journalists? Or in live gameplay of Ghost Recon Online and Killer Freaks? Here's your chance!
Nintendo Wii Vitality Sensor still coming to a hand near you, says Iwata
For a product with the word "vitality" in its name, Nintendo's forthcoming Wii peripheral doesn't seem to have much of a pulse these days. The oddball controller certainly piqued our interest when the gaming giant showed it off way back in 2009, but aside from some false alarms and an uncovered patent application, we haven't heard a peep. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata addressed the Vitality Sensor's conspicuous absence during a financial presentation, chalking the delay up to "differences in biological information in humans." The peripheral is still coming, according to Iwata, but it won't be released until the company can make it work well with 99 percent of consumers -- a tall order indeed. And what about the other one percent? Well, perhaps they can try these on for size.
Iwata: Vitality Sensor delayed until it works with 99% of customers
In the recent investor Q&A, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed that no, the insane Vitality Sensor peripheral hasn't been cancelled. Nintendo just ran into a small problem -- human bodies are weird and unpredictable. "This is a totally new type of entertainment," Iwata told investors, "and there are large individual differences in the biological information of humans. For example, if it was acceptable that only 80% of the users thought the result was natural, then we could propose this to consumers right now. However, we are aiming for a level of quality in which 99% percent of consumers feel comfortable, and that is why this project is taking time to complete." We suppose that the Vitality Sensor would be even less fun than most of us imagine if it didn't even sense properly. The variation in feedback is apparently a major hurdle. While Nintendo's not giving up, Iwata warned investors that "now I cannot clearly say when we will be ready to put this on the market." And though he didn't mention it, Nintendo will likely face another hurdle thanks to the delay -- having to adapt the Vitality Sensor to work with a new console.
Iwata: Nintendo to plan first-party game launches around third-party publishers
Nintendo clearly understands the importance of the international economy's fragile supply and demand formula, as evidenced in statements made during a recent investor call. Italian plumbers and pocket monsters are, in the case of Nintendo games, highly sought after properties that are somewhat constrained in supply. The result of this, of course, is high demand for Nintendo's games -- such high demand, in most cases, that third-party game sales on Nintendo's consoles are outstripped by first-party. Nintendo, however, hopes to appear mindful of stepping on toes. When asked about potential release dates for 3DS versions of Super Mario and Mario Kart, Nintendo head Satoru Iwata noted, "We want the other companies to be successful." He continued, "In order to accomplish this goal, we would like to decide on the dates after we know the release plans of other companies' games so that we are able to consider how we can maximize the sales of our titles without affecting the sales of other companies in the short term." It's also possible that Iwata is just blowing smoke to avoid answering specific questions about release dates for major franchises, though our mothers always told us not to expect the worst in people.
Star Fox 64 3D will use 3DS gyroscope to fly the Arwing
According to the notes of a financial results briefing presented today by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, the upcoming remake of Star Fox 64 for the 3DS will make use of the console's gyroscope, allowing players to tilt the handheld to control Fox's Arwing as it explores 3D space. It sounds neat, but there's one big drawback: tilting the 3DS while playing totally kills the 3D effect. We didn't get to use the gyro controls when we played the game last year at E3 but, of course, back then the official features weren't yet announced. Star Fox 64 3D is due out in Japan on July 14, so soon after that we'll be able to see just how precisely we can fly by tilting the 3DS around. Spoiler: there will no doubt be barrel rolls involved.
Iwata: 3DS launch sales below expectations
For Nintendo, 3.61 million just isn't enough. That's the number of 3DS systems sold since launch, and it's approximately 400K short of Nintendo's launch goal, says company head Satoru Iwata. Speaking to investors today in Osaka, Japan, Iwata specifically noted (in an official translation), "Nintendo 3DS started very well but, on the other hand, did not perform as expected after the second week." Iwata cited the massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan earlier this year as a factor, but added, "I should not blame this situation just on the impact of the earthquake. There are other challenges that have shown up." Without being specific, he said that the company is "making efforts to get the popularity of Nintendo 3DS back on track for the upcoming summer season." How about, you know, some games we'd want to play? Nintendo has a followup earnings briefing scheduled for next Tuesday in Tokyo, so perhaps we'll find out more about the company's plans then.
Excitebike 3D Classic to be offered free with 3DS eShop update
When Nintendo finally flips the switch on the 3DS eShop, it's got a pretty solid plan for enticing users into the service. During an investor briefing, president Satoru Iwata announced that Nintendo plans to offer a free downloadable version of Excitebike through the eShop, for a limited time starting at launch. It won't just be Excitebike -- it'll be 3D Excitebike. This freebie will be 3DS owners' first experience with the "3D Classics" line, in which classic games are updated with new 3D effects. So when some anonymous racer knocks you off your bike, it'll be more ... exciting. Iwata didn't specify a region for this release, so there is a possibility that it might be restricted to Japan.
Nintendo confirms next Wii coming in 2012, will preview it at E3
Nintendo has just announced it plans to introduce a successor to its Wii console next year, a "playable model" of which will be shown off at the E3 gaming expo in Los Angeles coming up on June 7th. No details are available as to how the next Wii will improve on the first one, though we imagine Nintendo will be happy if it simply matches the success of its current-gen home entertainer -- the brief note publicizing the new roadmap also comes with a total of Wii sales accumulated between its launch in '06 and the end of last month: 86.01 million. That's said to be on a "consolidated shipment basis," so maybe Nintendo is mixing its definitions of sales and shipments the way Sony likes to, but it's a mighty big number either way. Bring on E3, we say! Update: Bloomberg has provided the first official hint about Nintendo's next console with a quote from company President Satoru Iwata. Nintendo will "propose a new approach to home video game consoles," though it won't be a simple move to 3D, as Iwata notes "it's difficult to make 3-D images a key feature, because 3-D televisions haven't obtained wide acceptance yet." Given that motion gaming is no longer new and 3D is off the table until 3DTVs go mainstream, we're now left facing only one potentiality -- Nintendo is planning on bringing genuine innovation to our living rooms. We suppose it also adds fuel to the rumor of a crazy next-gen controller to go with this next-gen console.
Rovio's Vesterbacka defends mobile games, calls out Nintendo's '$49 pieces of plastic'
"A lot of people in the games industry, they think the 'real' games are on consoles. You're only a 'real' games company if you do a big budget game. But we don't have that inferiority complex," Rovio head Peter Vesterbacka told MCV in a recent interview. Vesterbacka was defending against Nintendo's latest criticisms of the mobile market -- both Nintendo of Japan head Satoru Iwata and Nintendo of America head Reggie Fils-Aime have argued that low-priced smartphone apps are degrading the value of games. "If I was trying to sell a $49 piece of plastic to people then yes, I'd be worried too," Vesterbacka added, with a tinge of vitriol, alluding to the standard retail price of a Wii game disc. "But I think it's a good sign that people are concerned -- because from my point of view we're doing something right." Rovio's Angry Birds and its spin-offs are just a $1 each for iPhone and are offered as free, ad-supported apps on the Android Market. Still, the company has plans for more console development, having already released Angry Birds as a PlayStation Mini, with additional console ports in the pipeline -- even Nintendo's 3DS is getting an Angry Birds port. "Games consoles for us are just like launching on a new smartphone platform," Vesterbacka said nonchalantly. After all, he's probably more concerned with the movie tie-in, the planned US IPO, and, uh, having an Angry Bird etched into the Moon. Okay, that last one probably isn't happening. Yet.
