Iwata speaks...people listen

[Razer]

from IGN.com-

April 27, 2007 - You've probably heard by now the story of how Nintendo kicked serious ass and took many names in 2006 with record sales and profit figures. Today in Tokyo, company president Satoru Iwata met with the press to discuss the numbers and shed some light on the Big N's future plans for the Wii and DS.

First off, to alleviate any worries on the matter, Nintendo has no plans on stopping development of games for the Wii and DS. As mentioned in an earlier report here at IGN Wii, Iwata revealed at the press conference that Nintendo is currently developing 45 Wii titles and 79 DS titles.

The president clarified that he's not sure if all these games will necessarily see release. However, the number does include some of the big Wii games that are set for release between the end of summer and fall, including Super Mario Galaxy and Smash Bros. Iwata hinted that these are real gamer games, rather than the casual stuff that we're seeing a lot of on the DS.

Nintendo's new console doesn't appear to be having trouble at retail. In fact, like the DS, there's been much concern over supply issues. Iwata noted that Nintendo has already increased production of the Wii. He expects the effects of this increase to be felt starting next month.

As for the DS, the company is producing 2.5 million systems per month. Noted Iwata, "In the past, we produced 2.3 million Game Boy Advance units in a month just once. However, the DS has crossed that and continues with 2.5 million units."

Nintendo's goal isn't just expanding hardware sales, though. In one of his more interesting comments, Iwata noted, "We're asked about our targets for hardware shipments, but selling hardware isn't our goal. Users purchase hardware in order to enjoy games. Our purpose in expanding hardware is to add life to our software business. As a mid to long term final goal, we've set out to sell enough hardware to sell 300,000,000 pieces of software."

This large software figure, Impress Watch later reported, includes software from both Nintendo and third parties.

Iwata also touched upon a few other points of interest for Nintendo. Noting the success of the Wii in international markets, he discussed the use of the Wii-mote and nunchuk as a controller for first person shooters. "Metroid Prime is not out yet, so this is just the opinion of testers, but it's being rated close to the keyboard and mouse control that's the standard for PC games," Iwata disclosed. He went on to suggest that perhaps Electronic Arts will be able to use the Wiimote in new ways for its sports games.

Nintendo hasn't been too forthcoming with figures form its online Virtual Console service, but today Iwata at last revealed just how well the service is performing. 3.3 million games have been downloaded worldwide through the service thus far. Sadly, he did not provide breakdowns for titles and virtual platforms.

Iwata was asked if Nintendo plans on offering software for cell phones and other platforms. "About five years ago," responded Iwata, "there was talk that portable game machines would be wiped out by cell phones. However, looking at the state of things now, that's not the case." As expected, Nintendo plans on continuing to make software for its own hardware. "One of our strengths is that hardware development and software development take place in the same building, and we can have close communication. We develop both together in order to create surprising products. By offering software to other companies, we could probably do good in terms of short term sales, but we'd lose Nintendo's strong point."

Iwata also made a slight reference to future Nintendo hardware. "It's possible that the market will suddenly change. This is why our hardware development team is considering a variety of things."

I'm sure the number of games covers the next three years or so. That would be around 3-4 games a month on average. Also, I hope to God Nin is working on a World Of Pokemon Online game. I would gladly pay a monthly fee and the Wii would be a perfect place for it. Why can't I have anything I want?

[Girkon]

Heh you can tell Ninten is really rolling with the momentum they have been getting as of late.

As for an online Poke World. You'd think the idea is plausable. The real trick to it is adding some substance to give it some real meat like the games thusfar without turning it into a spam fest or a very shallow game like most of the other Poke RPG's they have made for the big systems.

I have no doubt that such a things is just within their grasp. I think with Battle Revolution, it will become the testing ground for their future plans.

[Razer]

Well seriosuly, how hard can it be when you have Nintendo money? You contract someone with the knowhow to do this (like Snowblind, if you want a hack and slasher, or Blizzard if you want it done right) just like they've done with the many Kirby games. Now all you have to do is sit back and watch the money roll in. Site maintenance (You could even let Sega or Square run it) would be your cost. You have a ten year history to pull from with new TV and movie content coming out weekly. Keep it simpler than something like WoW if for no other reeason than you don't have the amount of keys and that's not your target audience. Stick with the "win gym badges" idea but run a tracker board and actually have someone able to become a Pokemon Master.
It seems so simple, user created content (storywise) would keep it running. I believe it would be the next Half-Life. The only real problem I see is that you HAVE to keep it PG13 in order to amintain the integrity so you have to find a way to keep out the assholes who would use pornorifici names and disallow skins of any type. I would happily be on board. Plus with the Everybody Votes Channel you could get up-to-the-minute feedback every freakin' day if you wanted it.