Satoru Iwata on GBA and GC Successors, Online Gaming, etc

[Natoma]

http://www.gamerfeed.com/index.php?story=3409

Nintendo Looks For Mario and Pokemon Replacements, and Free Online Gaming
By Thomas Lane -- Staff Writer
Published 5:59 PM CDT May 30, 2003

Nintendo has some big plans to come soon. Get the lowdown inside.

It looks like Nintendo is ready to put aside their formula franchises and branch off in a completely new direction -- a direction that includes free online gaming, and brand new franchises to take over in the next generation of Nintendo's home console.

Satoru Iwata, the current Nintendo president, recently made some interesting comments:


Nintendo is not going to join the other console manufacturers in making gamers pay extra for online games.


Nintendo is investing some of their $6 billion pool towards the development of the successors to the GameCube and Game Boy.


Nintendo's developers are hard at work, trying to make next-generation stars to replace Mario and Pokemon.

It looks as if Iwata-san is attempting to steer the company in a different direction. Could this be in response to the comments that a Microsoft official recently made when he said, "I don't think Nintendo is here for the digital-entertainment revolution. They are a toy company"?

Wow. Looks like Nintendo is finally taking the market a little more seriously. It's about time they used that $6 Billion pot o' cash for something other than hoarding. I'm really stoked to see what they can come up with.

 

[Almasy]

Probably another game with cute, cuddly characters...

Sorry for my pessimism, but Nintendo has been saying they´re changing ever since GCN was unveiled, and so far it´s been mostly the same thing we´ve seen ever since the N64.

 

[zurich]

Agreed, actions speak louder than words.

 

[Magnum PI]

Probably another game with cute, cuddly characters...

Sorry for my pessimism, but Nintendo has been saying they´re changing ever since GCN was unveiled, and so far it´s been mostly the same thing we´ve seen ever since the N64.

if you don't see the change between GCN and N64 i advise you to see your doctor...

 

[Ooh-videogames]

Probably another game with cute, cuddly characters...

Sorry for my pessimism, but Nintendo has been saying they´re changing ever since GCN was unveiled, and so far it´s been mostly the same thing we´ve seen ever since the N64.

I would agree with you to if Yamauchi was still the president of Nintendo, but he's not. So i'm more optimistic about Nintendo's future than most Xbox gamers which seem to be more pessimistic about Nintendo's future.
Let say Nintendo makes the necessary changes to show they are ready to compete for the #1 spot. Would you be optimistic about Nintendo's future or would you just say its far to late now. Or does it really matter because you don't plan on buying any Nintendo consoles in the near future.

 

[Blade]

I'd buy a game with cute, cuddly characters.. if it was fun.

 

[Josiah]

Mostly this is non-news...OK, they're working on new hardware, great, so are MS and Sony...they're working on new franchises, awesome, but they already have great first party content, that's not a problem...the only interesting bit is about the free online gaming, however this has been available on PCs for decades...

 

[CeiserSöze]

Mostly this is non-news...

Maybe, but what makes this non-news interesting is the fact that it shows how Iwata has realized that Nintendo needs to change if the company wants to remain successful in the long run and is willing to carry out these changes. There was a time when Nintendo seemed to be virutally oblivious to what was going on outside its offices.

On a related note: Nintendo Power did an excellent interview with Denis Dyack of Silicon Knights:
http://www.nintendo.com/games/gamepage/developerinfo.jsp?gameId=1803
He speaks about Iwata and the changes going on at NCL too and it's a must read imo.

 

[Qroach]

What irks me is that nintendo has said they weren't interested in online gaming since it wasn't profitable. Now they are saying they don't want to charge for online play? Excuse me if this isn't a contradiction, but how can it be profitable if you don't charge for it?

The free online gaming was the same thing Sony was touting, but Sony is just going to switch to the same format MS is using in the future in order to prevent almost every game out there being a pay for play (as it is in japan already). Anyway this just confirms what that other article screwed up on. Nintendo wasn't spending 6 billion on the next game cube, they were dipping into that cash for the next console.

...and btw, Nintendo has referred to themselves as a toy company many times in the past. They also referred to the gamecube as a toy early in it's life. there's alot of pepple out ther emaking a big deal over that comment. They should really remember these things. You wouldn't see a non toy company create and market something as big as pokemon (games, toys, cards, cartoons, movies) and not be labled a "toy company"

 

[Blade]

Quincy: Yeah, that's right.

Not the best move, IMO; maybe Iwata thinks differently.. we'll see.

 

[Cyborg]

Excuse me if this isn't a contradiction, but how can it be profitable if you don't charge for it?

By not spending a dime on it? So game sales related to online content would go in their pockets while they dont have to bother with server maintenance, bandwidth or any online service problems.

 

[Teasy]

Quincy

On the subject of Nintendo calling GC a toy in the past. I'd just like to point out that those comments came from Nintendo under Yamauchi's. You only need to look at the first peice of hardware released under Iwata (GBA-SP) to see the difference in approach from the two men. Yamuachi's GBA looks very much like a toy, while Iwata's version is obviously designed to look like anything but a toy. I think that single comparison (GBA to GBA-SP) is indicitive of the large difference between Yamuchi's vision of Nintendo and Iwata's vision of Nintendo. We're already starting to see this difference in GC's game lineup, and I think that will continue to develop in the future (contrary to some of the XBox fan-boys here I wouldn't be suprised if the new flagship characters weren't all sweet and cudley). I think we'll truely see the real difference in 2005-2006 when Nintendo's next gen console is released. I expect it to look cool (like a high tech peice of electronics.. certainly not purple ) and have a very competitive spec compared to XBox 2 and PS3.

 

[zurich]

NP: Um…no.

DD: It’s basically a mech movie. There’s a Front 242 video that had this robot running across the screen…

Haha, Denis Dyack rules if he knows about the Head Hunter video

 

[zurich]

By not spending a dime on it? So game sales related to online content would go in their pockets while they dont have to bother with server maintenance, bandwidth or any online service problems.

Yaaay, Nintendo profits at the consumer's expense and this makes A_Nintendo_Fan001 happy how?

 

[Qroach]

Teasy

I'd just like to point out that those comments came from Nintendo under Yamauchi's.

Yes that's correct, but just because they switched people in charge doesn't take nintendo out of the toy market, or change them from being a toy company so quickly.

You only need to look at the first peice of hardware released under Iwata (GBA-SP) to see the difference in approach from the two men. Yamuachi's GBA looks very much like a toy, while Iwata's version is obviously designed to look like anything but a toy.

Teasy, I think you're giving a little too much credit to iwata in the time he was president. I'm sure nintendo was looking into making a back lit version of the GBA and redesigning it long before iwata was in charge.

We're already starting to see this difference in GC's game lineup,

With which games that weren't already in development when the previous president was in charge? He's only been gone a single year.

and I think that will continue to develop in the future (contrary to some of the XBox fan-boys here I wouldn't be suprised if the new flagship characters weren't all sweet and cudley).

Well, this "xbox fan-boy" is taking a wait and see approach like the other xbox fan-boys instead of jumping to conclusions like some of the "gamecube fan-boys". Nintendo said they were developing new franchises, but they didn't say they were developing them to target a specific audience. I do agree with iwata in that the need some new franchises. It was part of the reason I was more interested in xbox and the possible new franchises on it.

The proof is in the pudding. We haven't seen any pudding yet...

-Q

 

[Almasy]

I think the biggest evidence of the lack of truth in Nintendo´s words, is E3. They basically state that they needed to change, that their long-time franchises are not enough to gain back market from their competitors, third parties, etc.

That sounded pretty nice, however, when looking at what they were actually going to release this year, it was their usual lineup, Mario and Pokémon spinoffs. So, I believe that if they actually had learned from their past mistakes, something tangible that demonstrated their claims would exist.

GBA SP? Well, it´s a redesigned GBA with a feature it should have had 2 years ago, that´s once again $99 (and it´s not even backlit). I hardly find that praisable.

 

[Qroach]

That's why we'll have to wait and see. I think I'll toss the latest idea of nintendo targetting a older audiece in the basket with the same ideas of nintendo targetting an older audience with the release of the game cube, them having solid online plans, and thier big franchises causing them to out sell or over take xbox outside of japan.

Techincally I think you can call it back lit if you can play it in the dark and still see everything (and you can). I thought the SP was spretty cool (I bought a silver one), although Nintendo scamed people by not including a head phone jack! man I was so pissed to find that i had to buy an adapter or their special head phones.

 

[Almasy]

The design is quite good, don´t get me wrong, but I don´t think that the backlight and new design justify the new price. I may be wrong, though, and the light, or the new components may be very expensive. Still, praising a company for fixing something that should have been included 2 years ago is not my style.

 

[Qroach]

Agreed. It was the main reason i didn't pick up a gba in the first place. that and all the games I'd want I had played before on my snes. At least there's the new mario kart...

 

[PC-Engine]

GBA SP? Well, it´s a redesigned GBA with a feature it should have had 2 years ago, that´s once again $99 (and it´s not even backlit). I hardly find that praisable.

The design is quite good, don´t get me wrong, but I don´t think that the backlight and new design justify the new price. I may be wrong, though, and the light, or the new components may be very expensive. Still, praising a company for fixing something that should have been included 2 years ago is not my style.

Why are you contradicting yourself? If Nintendo released GBA SP equivalent 2 years ago it would've cost at least $200! Now that they've released it for $100 you say it's still expensive???? Make up your mind man

You think Nintendo wanted to sell YOU a $200 GBA SP equivalent 2 years ago when you wouldn't have even considered buying it??? Great logic boy...

Please stop spewing excuses out of your @ss!