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GameCube (Games) Entertainment Games

Nintendo's Iwata Talks European Neglect, DS Origins 52

Posted by simoniker from the continentals-out-of-luck-no-more? dept.
Thanks to Kikizo for its transcript of an interview with Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata, also available in video form on the site. When asked, Iwata "apologise[s] to the fans of Nintendo products in Europe" over repeated delays, presumably including games such as Animal Crossing, finally out this September in Europe, mentioning "we are now putting our energies so that the European version of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes will be launched in Europe by the end of this year, at the sacrifice of the Japanese launch by the end of this year." He also discusses the origin of the Nintendo DS, "Talking specifically about the DS, [legendary 76-year old Nintendo president Hiroshi] Yamauchi specifically hit upon the idea, and proposed, 'Why not have the two screens?'"
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Nintendo's Iwata Talks European Neglect, DS Origins More

Nintendo's Iwata Talks European Neglect, DS Origins

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  • Processing power is harmful? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by JonBob ( 556956 ) on Friday May 21, 2004 @08:51AM (#9213904)

    Iwata says...

    Well I really don't believe that there will be a bright future waiting for the so-called next generation consoles that Sony and Microsoft are advocating right now. As you may know I was developing games until quite recently myself, I know how it is, and if any of these developers come to me and say, look, CPU or processing power is ten times as much as today, graphic capability is twenty times, then I will say, that means more workload and slight difference with the current system in terms of letting people understand how improved the graphics shall be.

    Nintendo's laid-back approach to upcoming generations worries me. I think the problem he cites is a real one; sheer processing power is only helpful if you have something to process, which can often mean longer development time. But he proposes that instead of beefing up the processing power they should be looking at alternate user interfaces (like they did with the DS). While there can be cool innovations this way, I'd prefer to see the company attack the problem head-on by aggressively working to make better tools for the developer. Microsoft appears to be working on this, and it just may pay off for them.

    • Re:Processing power is harmful? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 21, 2004 @09:02AM (#9213997)
      Microsoft isn't working on easier more efficient tools, it is working on a simpler cross-platform API. So the game of the future that requires 50people to make the content can have more of a chance of recouping the expense as it will be more likely to get on more platforms. Producing the game will still be a mamoth effort.

      What Iwata is getting at is that it is costing more and more money to produce games on more and more powerful hardware. Yet, the WOW factor is getting less and less. 2d->3D gives a big WOW, 1000 polys in a scene -> 10,000 gives a slightly smaller WOW, 10,000 -> 30,000 gives a tiny meow. PS3 with 100,000 a frame - who cares?

      It is also becoming more and more difficult to come up with totally new titles, add that to the shocking cost of development and marketing. You would be mad to go out on a limb with something weird (i.e. viewtifulJoe - lost its publisher a ton of money).

      Where can you innovate next to catch the punters imagination -> stick all your old gaming favourites on a twin screen portable with added stylus control. It's certainly different, the games aren't any harder to make and the twin-screen and stylus should prompt a few new ideas. Average punter can't fail to notice the difference, whether he likes it or not is another matter.

      • They are also working on easier more efficient tools (read XNA)
      • i.e. viewtifulJoe - lost its publisher a ton of money

        Source? I've heard the exact opposite - which would be the reason for both the re-release (out in Japan) and a sequel in the works for GC and PS2.

        • The game didn't sell well, that's true, but the initial shipments in both Japan and North America seem to suggest Capcom expected this to happen (VJ sold out in both markets, apparently Capcom was too pessimistic). From what I understood, P.N. 03, Viewtiful Joe and Killer 7 were produced on relatively small budgets, which is why they went with styles that would require less work (i.e. money). Joe probably was profitable, or at least Capcom saw enough potential in the game to warrant a re-release (new eature
      • I think just adding more polys to individual assets is kind of a waste, but when it comes to populating the game scenes with more assets and more effects such as detailed shadows more polys can go pretty far.

        It will probably not be as great an evolution as genesis/snes to saturn/playstation or even playstation to ps2/ngc/xbox but with more items to interact with and more dynamic effects I think games can take a little step further.

    • Re:Processing power is harmful? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by torpor ( 458 ) <ibisum AT gmail DOT com> on Friday May 21, 2004 @09:06AM (#9214024) Homepage Journal
      But he proposes that instead of beefing up the processing power they should be looking at alternate user interfaces (like they did with the DS).

      I see nothing wrong with this approach. The fact is, there are an awful lot of crap, boring games being written, and if you trace it back, kinetically, in the end it could be simply because of the limitations of control.

      Consumers ability to control things - touchy feely things like mice and keyboards and such - has definitely been proven to be pretty oblique. On one end of the scale, you have the 8-yr old button-smasher, and on the other end you've got the 33 year old vi-using console jockey. Games have to be good for both ends of that scale, or at least hardware games systems do ...

      It tends to be a little more significant than the 'raw specs' of hardware, whether or not the box you intend to mass-produce is going to work for -all- control scenario's that might be required for the truly imaginative games of the future which might be possible with these mega-GPU's ...

      Again, I don't think its A vs. B, here. Sure, its great that we're getting great silicon from the Next Gen game wars, but it is also true that there is a lot left to be done on the human interface, control side of things ...

      • Re:Processing power is harmful? (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        I think there's still plenty of room to grow within the typical Screen+Controller interface.

        Look at board games. Everyone thought they had seen it all but starting in the early 90's the Germans revolutionized board games with new mechanisms and the golden age continues. They didn't need motion detection cameras or holographic tables to do it, they just changed the way a group of people sat around some cardboard and wooden tokens.

        I think the problems of innovation are more deep-rooted and incestuous than m

  • I wounder what the next... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Gamecube will look like if they keep lisenning to the 76 year old.

    "Why not fuzzy?"
    "Why not eadible?"

  • Two Screens?? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by ihtagik ( 318795 )
    I really don't see what the all the fanfare surrounding the two screens is. The idea had been milked by Nintendo for years before they decided to dump it in favor of the Gameboy. Not sure what I mean? Check these out: Donkey Kong, LCD game [brainiac.com] Zelda, LCD game [brainiac.com] and there were a multitude more. So when legendary 76-year old Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi specifically hit upon the idea, and proposed, 'Why not have the two screens I think he was just having a flashback to the good old days of 2 screen gam

    • Re:Two Screens?? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by SuperMo0 ( 730560 ) <supermo0@gmail. c o m> on Friday May 21, 2004 @10:26AM (#9214818)
      You're comparing a nearly 30 year old series of games (it was never a console, it was more like Tiger Electronic's games) to the Nintendo DS? Sure, the Game and Watch had two screens. But LCD isn't hard to program at all, and those games were rather simplistic. I fail to see how Game + Watch having two screens indicates that Nintendo is losing ideas. Because Sony didn't make an all new controller for the PS2, did that indicate they were running out of ideas? Re-using concepts later on is not a bad thing, as long as it's done well.

    • Touch Screen? Mic In? Low-power Wireless? (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I think you're missing the perhaps more important features in the DS. It has a pen-based touch screen which will undoubtably improve many turn-based games and allow some very interactive and unique action games. There is also a microphone jack on the DS which could evolve into some interesting, although probably not compelling, game features. And finally, the greatest feature in my opinion, up to 16 player wireless in a 100-foot area. Not 4 players and you had to have it so every person had a cable to playe
    • The "2-screen" game and watch games were not 2 different screens. For all intents and purposes (if you ever played them), they were basically 1 big screen, divided in 2. The 2 screens did exactly the same thing, albeit with the pre-printed LCD sprites in different places.
  • I think he should appologize to americans too. We often get the short end of the stick (not as bad as europe however) It sometimes takes Nintendo to translate games for us as well. We still haven't received the Nintendo Puzzle Collection. And Sony should appologize for territorial lockout
    • The American game market is vastly different from Japan's. A game like Puzzle Collection may have gotten fanfare from the gaming press and hardcore fans, but for the average kid/casual gamer, it may not have been an appealing choice. Not EVERYONE enjoys thinking when they play their games, at least in America.

      It's really up in the air, in the end, whether a game will sell in any market. However, the money required to take it into a second market and translate it is considerable, and they need to focus t
      • As someone who imported Puzzle Collection, I can assure you it would've sold well. Afterall, Tetris sold the first gameboy
        • But the gameboy was a portable system. Puzzle games seem to do better on portable systems because they foster short playtimes, like 10-15 minutes, such as when you're waiting in line or on a plane. However, consoles are more prone to sitting down and longer gaming sessions.
    • Now apologize for the tax hike.
  • He's comparing the numbers (16 million to nil) of the GBA vs the PSP. So what? There was millions of NESs when the Genesis took over, and millions of SNESs when the PSX started dominating, even if it was expensive at the time.

    I don't think they understand the threat of the PSP, this is the 2D->3D jump in handhelds, and they look like they'll be over in the corner preaching to the Nintendo choir as Sony again grabs the attention of mainstream gamers.
    • There was millions of NESs when the Genesis took over

      I don't remember this happening. I may be off base on this one but I can't think of any time that Sega "took over" anything. They were the Pepsi of the Nintendo generation.
    • You're absolutely right. Nintendo had a massive installed user base and then Sony came out of seemingly nowhere and got a stranglehold on the market. I see a very similar situation here: Nintendo, currently number one with no real innovation in years, facing competition from someone with a technical edge over them. Interestingly enough, it's the same company challenging them. If you question whether or not Nintendo has innovated in the last... 15 years or so that the gambeboy has been available, just th

      • Re:GBA is the last generation (Score:5, Insightful)

        by GaimeGuy ( 679917 ) on Friday May 21, 2004 @06:19PM (#9220921) Journal
        "You're absolutely right. Nintendo had a massive installed user base and then Sony came out of seemingly nowhere and got a stranglehold on the market. I see a very similar situation here: Nintendo, currently number one with no real innovation in years, facing competition from someone with a technical edge over them. Interestingly enough, it's the same company challenging them. If you question whether or not Nintendo has innovated in the last... 15 years or so that the gambeboy has been available, just think about it: up until about a year ago there was *still* no light and you had to hold the damn thing at an awkward angle sometimes. Color took forever and they were still pushing ugly graphics on expensive media. The battle over handheld dominance will be very interesting as we know Sony has a track record for taking hold in the video game market"

        Wait a minute, adding a light source to a handheld is innovative? Waiting to add color is uninnovative? What the heck? First of all, color pretty much was nonexistant in any portable device until the mid to late 1990s. And even so, color handheld games is more of a technological upgrade than an innovation. Same with the frontlight on the GB. What portable devices do you remember having an internal lighting source when the GBC came out? While I admit, Nintendo should have included a light in the GBA, at least they corrected that mistake with the GBASP, and they didn't sacrifice performance or battery life for it, the way it should be done. These things have NOTHING to do with innovation: They have to do with the technological limitations of the time. I mean, look at how the Game Gear performed with the color it had. Technologically, none of this: a game boy with color and/or a backlight/frontlight couldn't be done until six or seven years ago. Don't confuse that with lack of innovation.

        Nintendo has not innovated? Wtf? Why is it that people say that? Just because Nintendo often uses the same characters in its games does not make them uninnovative. Mario Kart was innovative in that it started the kart racing subgenre. Mario Party: What games were like it beforehand? It made a board/minigame hybrid party game. How about Pikmin, a game in which you play as a guy and control an army of small plants which have special abilities and powers? Or how about Wario Ware? How in the world is THAT not innovative? Nintendo, just like everyone else, uses brand names, because people love what they are familiar with. It's human nature. Not only that, but when people see a game with Mario in it, they're pretty sure it will be high quality, because that's what mario games usually are. Brand names help inform a consumer of what to expect from a product, like that.

        The Playstaion got more support than the N64 because it was, in order of most importance: Cheapter to develop for, easier to develop for, and had more storage. Now, let's look at the DS and the PSP: The DS allows developers new ways to make games, and appeals to video game developers' creative side. the DS will use a cheap semiconductor memory unit, 128 Megabytes and beyond. Now, Mario 64 was 16 Megabytes. 16 megabytes was the typical maximum for an N64 game, although there was one game that was 24 Megabytes (Ogre Battle 64), and two games that were 32 Megabytes (Pokemon Colloseum 2, and Resident Evil 2). 128 megabytes should be plenty for developers, unless they want to use a bunch of pre-renders and high poly models, which don't really matter on a handheld. The price of the DS looks to be pretty cheap, too.

        And the PSP? Well, it uses 1.8 GB disks, so, again, it has the memory advantage of an optical format over a cartridge. But that's the only advantage that the PSP has over the DS that the PS had over the N64. It looks like games will have the production costs of Playstation 2 games, and higher prices disencourages innovation and risky moves by developers. That's one reason
        • I'm not quite sure that two screens is so special either. Dreamcast had this a while back, and while it didn't have a touch sensitive screen, it was done.

          Also, Nintendo was not innovating as they should have. Look how long the Gameboy sat there as the king. With no competition, they didn't feel the need to innovate. Maybe this attitude is justified, but resting on their laurels may come back to haunt them.

          But like I also said, we'll just have to wait and see. We didn't expect the PSX to take over, bu
        • Note:

          In Japan, there was a small run of the Game Boy Light - a GBPocket with a backlight.
          • Yeah, I know that, but, if I remember correctly, it wasn't exactly the best technical model for the GB, at that time. Costs and battery life, I believe, were worsenned due to the light. Though, I could be wrong.
        • What portable devices do you remember having an internal lighting source when the GBC came out?
          The Sega GameGear had decent games, a backlit colour display, and an optional (but hard to find) AM/FM/TV tuner.
    • I bet this first PSP will be a flop but it won't deter sony. Sony will strike back with a better device that is cheaper ($99-$150) and actually has 10 hours of gameplay battery life. Price and battery life are the things that will hold back the PSP.

      The DS is as powerful as a N64 and has the battery life of a GBA, but will only cost a little more than a SP.

  • Quite honorable... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by GaimeGuy ( 679917 ) on Friday May 21, 2004 @06:21PM (#9220943) Journal
    It takes a lot of guts for a company to apologize to the consumer for its mistakes. I salute you, Iwata-san.

    • Re:Quite honorable... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Rallion ( 711805 ) on Friday May 21, 2004 @11:36PM (#9222844) Journal
      This is why I like Nintendo over their competitors. They truly seem to want to create a better gaming experience, and get the profits from that, rather than getting the profits and then seeing what they can do about gameplay. That means they must admit their mistakes and problems, whether they be creative (like, let's say, the Virtual Boy) or business (like the Europe issue), in order to fix them and provide a better gaming experience for everybody.

      I saw this in the press conferences, too. Nintendo's was focused on their games, and the future of their games. This was much nicer than an hour straight of talk about marketshares and profits and install bases. It seems like Nintendo is about "games making money" while the others are more about "making money through games," if you understand what I mean. It's to be expected, I suppose, with Nintendo being solely focused on games, but that doesn't dull my preference.
      • You also noticed Sony and MS talking about how technologically powerful their next consoles would be, while nintendo was talking about broadening the industry, with the Nintendo Revolution, of which Iwata has said, "It won't simply be a box that connects to your TV," and the Nintendo DS. Even if the gaming audience doesn't like this at first, the developers DO like it, so they'll put their support into the Nintendo Revolution and DS. Gamers will be "forced" to try out these new systems due t

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