Reggie Fils-Aime Talks Nintedo's Future...

[Soulquarian]

There's a 5 page article on Reggie's (Nintendo's executive vice president of sales and marketing) report on Nintendo's upcoming strategy at ign.

In the report, Reggie talks about Nintendo's approach to the industry, stating that they want to be a "disrupting force" in the gaming market. He alluded to Apple with their ipod and itunes format. While everyone was still trying to make CD-players better than the ones before, Apple created a new market and caused a shift in the industry. That is their plan for the the DS and the Revolution.

Reggie talked about how they are going to start marketing towards the female gamer, and how well Nintendogs is doing in all markets. He also talked about the new teal and pearl pink DS that will be bundled with Nintendogs. By creating a game that has no real ending, gamers are likely to have more fun.

He also began talking about the DS online strategy and how games like Mario Kart and Animal Crossing will continue Nintendo's unique approach to the industry.

Very little was given on the Revolution.

However, the most important information was during the Q & A session. Reggie says a lot of stuff to hype up the consumer. He always has, and before he's even been a bit boastful and arrogant. He's the famous Nintendo exec that said gamers didn't want to play games online. Oddly enough, that's their biggest strategy today...

Reggie revealed that the Micro is not an ongoing series. Whether that be three months, 6 months, or a year, it is unknown. When asked to elaborate, he said that from the beginning it was not meant to be a continuing system, it was made for those that wanted a gaming system to put in their pockets....

Basically meaning that once again Nintendo has released another version of the gameboy that fanboys have eaten up for no reason...

Another interesting tidbit is that Nintendo's online strategy isn't as complete as everyone may have thought. The wireless hotspots will be at McDonald's restaurants. If you want to play online from your home, you will need to buy a $35 wireless adapter. Even then, you still can't access wifi from other sources like a coffee house, or Downtown Disney....

http://ds.ign.com/articles/664/664482p1.html

[Jspider]

actualy from what I've heard the wifi is competly compatable with pre existing wireless networks assuing my have the info on it

check out some of IGN's other info on the setup Soulquarian it would appear that you can in fact enter WEP information into the game should it be needed for wireless networking so it would in fact work fine with Downtown disney or most other wireless networks


from what I've read Nintendo seems to be aiming at selling the wireless USB thing to people who for some reason or another don't want to install a wireless router and don't have one at least that's what IGN and most other sites say that have had experience with the system

I think Nintendo probably will sell these adaptors just fine which I will find sad but there are some people who actualy think they don't need a wireless router even though it costs just a little more and does ALOT more then that USB key will do



I'm not suprised about the Micro, I don't think it's just fanboys it'll pretty much sell to anyone who wants to have collectors faceplates or like the sleek design

my cousin is the king of buying all things unnecisary and bought one and loves it, I have to admit it's a nice little machine and is pretty small (my other friend who is more of a Sony fanboy wanted to get one too because it was so shiny) but I do agree the market for that product has got to be limited



as far as that whole online thing went I have no idea what was going on there, he's boastfull but not anymore or then any of the other execs really that's pretty much his job (shrugs) Nintendo did try online before with the Xband modem but why they didn't do more with the gamecube is beyond me but at least this time their stratagy is much more unified

[MickeyMania]

I don't know how you plan to be a "disrputive force" with multiple variations of colored plastic on the casing of your video game systems. That's business as usual for Nintendo.

"By creating a game that has no real ending, gamers are likely to have more fun."
Will Wright could have told you this 10 years ago. He gave Electronic Arts a license to print money thanks to The Sims, which is nowhere near as complicated than SimEarth but more involved than Nintendogs. "Feed doggy, pet doggy" isn't as enjoyable as "build house, make relationships." Everybody's favorite part of the Sims isn't the tedious work, like feeding pets or getting everybody to work on time, they're forming relationships and building up their abode.

[Jspider]

I don't know how you plan to be a "disrputive force" with multiple variations of colored plastic on the casing of your video game systems. That's business as usual for Nintendo.

"By creating a game that has no real ending, gamers are likely to have more fun."
Will Wright could have told you this 10 years ago. He gave Electronic Arts a license to print money thanks to The Sims, which is nowhere near as complicated than SimEarth but more involved than Nintendogs. "Feed doggy, pet doggy" isn't as enjoyable as "build house, make relationships." Everybody's favorite part of the Sims isn't the tedious work, like feeding pets or getting everybody to work on time, they're forming relationships and building up their abode.

kind of like Animal Crossing?

(shrugs) who knows it's always fine to build new concepts around old ideas

no real ending could also apply to MMORPG's which are very popular right now

[Soulquarian]

I don't know how you plan to be a "disrputive force" with multiple variations of colored plastic on the casing of your video game systems. That's business as usual for Nintendo.

That's how I feel. The ipod was completely different ad revolutionary. It was sleek, simple, new technology, and fulfilled a need. Nintendo's Revolution only fufills the simple and sleek category.

It's not going to impact the market and creating legions of new gamers. That's false. More than ever, people, gamers included, want to have systems that multi-task. The PS2 was great because it offered DVD playback out of the box. Instead of having to machines, a person now could use one. For many people it was their first DVD player. The same thing is going to happen with Blu-Ray.

Nintendo seems to be taking steps backward. Instead of making games that look better and push the envelope graphically, they make small improvements and are content. Obviously gameplay is more important that graphics, but when looking at may DS titles... especially the more conventional titles, it's just plain ugly.

Nintendo continually uses the same tactics that they always have, and their fans praise them like gods. How many versions of the Gameboy have been released? How many have had significant techical improvements? They've already released ANOTHER version of the GBA SP that has a brighter backlit screen. Nevermind the fact that it washes out the colors...

And then you have Reggie come out and say stupid stuff like the Revolution's graphics will look similar to that of the PS3 and Xbox 360... WTF? Has he seen the MGS4 trailer? And of course, there are no specs and numbers to provide truth to their claims either....

[MickeyMania]

kind of like Animal Crossing?

Exactly. I meant to mention Animal Crossing in my first post but forgot to.

Nintendo treats it like a quirky afterthought game, though. They seem to think that Wario Ware and, more recently, Nintendogs are some kind of wave of the future. The problem is that Wario Ware and Nintendogs are simply too weak in the gameplay department to be able to support more than a couple sequels.

[MickeyMania]

More than ever, people, gamers included, want to have systems that multi-task.

Maybe, it has to be done well. The PS2 did DVD well at the time (progressive scan was something limited to geek-dom when it came out), but we'll see if iPod Videos take off and we already know that PSP as an MP3 player failed to bite into the iPod market at all due to cost and lack of efficiency.

The same thing is going to happen with Blu-Ray.

I'm predicting Blu-Ray is a bit of a dud as far as formats go, because the discs are incredibly fragile. Finding out that the game fell off it's spindle and was knocked around inside the case a bit during delivery is critical enough to make an unplayable disc. And rentals... Well, don't get me started on how badly THOSE discs are treated.

HD-DVD isn't taking off too well either though, so we'll probably see a compromise by both sides. This happens before, such as 56K modems when they were new. There was a 56K technology called X2 by USRobitics and one called K56Flex by Lucent. They eventually merged together to form what is the dial-up standard of today, V.92. I expect an eventual standard that will hold a little bit less than Blu-Ray, but will be more sturdy.

Nintendo seems to be taking steps backward. Instead of making games that look better and push the envelope graphically, they make small improvements and are content.

I don't mind if it's something innovative like the Revolution is shaping up to be. I kind of wish the Rev and X360 could switch launch times, myself. All the X360 and PS3 want to do is the same damn game with graphics that more resemble realism.

And then you have Reggie come out and say stupid stuff like the Revolution's graphics will look similar to that of the PS3 and Xbox 360... WTF? Has he seen the MGS4 trailer?

In Reggie's defense, have you seen Revolution? Maybe he hasn't either, but I think there's a good chance that he has.

[Jspider]

That's how I feel. The ipod was completely different ad revolutionary. It was sleek, simple, new technology, and fulfilled a need. Nintendo's Revolution only fufills the simple and sleek category.

It's not going to impact the market and creating legions of new gamers. That's false. More than ever, people, gamers included, want to have systems that multi-task. The PS2 was great because it offered DVD playback out of the box. Instead of having to machines, a person now could use one. For many people it was their first DVD player. The same thing is going to happen with Blu-Ray.

Nintendo seems to be taking steps backward. Instead of making games that look better and push the envelope graphically, they make small improvements and are content. Obviously gameplay is more important that graphics, but when looking at may DS titles... especially the more conventional titles, it's just plain ugly.

Nintendo continually uses the same tactics that they always have, and their fans praise them like gods. How many versions of the Gameboy have been released? How many have had significant techical improvements? They've already released ANOTHER version of the GBA SP that has a brighter backlit screen. Nevermind the fact that it washes out the colors...

And then you have Reggie come out and say stupid stuff like the Revolution's graphics will look similar to that of the PS3 and Xbox 360... WTF? Has he seen the MGS4 trailer? And of course, there are no specs and numbers to provide truth to their claims either....

I don't know about that, by some deffentions Nintendo is right about the revolution in other ways they're wrong, the ipod deffinatly was a different approach to portable music and combined with their other services it worked out great, while I'm not sure that new controls are the same as what the Ipod did their gaming service is deffinatly taking on a structure similar to Itunes and other services that helped the Ipod

it's a bit to early to really guess at what will work but it seems that Nintendo has set up good measures on which to test their success, if it doesn't sell more then the gamecube it's a failure? that's what they've said and it makes since because if it still sells less it shows their market share is decreasing and that Nintendo does in fact still only get buisness from it's dwindling supply of fans


as far as Nintendo taking a step backwords goes I'm going to point out that graphics have NEVER given Nintendo a real advantage, heck the last two generations the LEAST powerful system has won out, the only system I can think of that did win by being the most powerful was the SNES.

I could also point out that it's good for Nintendo to be different because the market has never been to kind to products taht are too similar in nature SNES vs Genesis lasted the longest but faded out because the SNES had the most exclusives ontop of all the ports. Playstation vs Saturn meant the playstation won because it was much cheaper. We already know how the current scheme has basicaly thrown Nintendo out of the loop because they only had first party to sell cubes with because Sony had the most third party support and the Xbox had taken over the N64's old market area of being the most powerful.

as far as bringing up DS vs PSP goes I think it's all about trade offs the PSP sacrifices much battery life for graphical powers and it sacrifices a bit of durability for style, to me the DS is a much better portable device because it's more rugged then the PSP. It's really all about what you really want in a portable system, both are getting good games but I will concede that there are quite a few DS third party's that just don't try (since most of them are former GBA developers it's not suprising since the GBA has so many quick cash in titles it isn't funny)


as far as GBA's go there is a certain sector of people in the market that would actualy complain that the US doesn't recieve more of this because the japanese tend to get so many limited eddition colors and schemes for their systems (shrugs) if people want to collect things who's to complain at least the faceplate idea is more resonable then buying an entire system. As far as the brigher screen goes it actualy doesn't wash out the colors more, if you play a origional edition GBASP you'll actualy find that the type of lighting that they use on it isn't true backlit and is the real reason why the colors look washed out and kind of bluish, play a micro or a new GBASP and you'll find the colors are bolder and less washed out, it's not so much that it's brigher then it is just plain better lighting.




now as far as the old graphical comparisons go not only have you not seen the Revolution but you've left out a key part of his phrase "at standard resolutions" he's talking about normal TV's here which have terrible resolutoins, I've seen it a ton has I've built several computers that plug into TV's for friends and relatives of mine plus I've plugged my video game systems directly into my computer before, I can tell you that the standard TV scanlines really fudge detail together and movies that would look terrible on my computer with all the codec errors on them will run just fine on a TV and look like it's VHS quality

[Jspider]

Exactly. I meant to mention Animal Crossing in my first post but forgot to.

Nintendo treats it like a quirky afterthought game, though. They seem to think that Wario Ware and, more recently, Nintendogs are some kind of wave of the future. The problem is that Wario Ware and Nintendogs are simply too weak in the gameplay department to be able to support more than a couple sequels.

that's true

I'm actualy hoping they don't look to make sequals to those to quickly or too soon

I am however happy with what they've been saying about this two way approach

I mean keeping old franchises and strengthening them to attract gamers while putting new franchises and titles out for the non gamers sounds fine to me

if they can advertise brain training to older people who will enjoy it that's great for them and my g/f does enjoy Nintendogs much more then me (yeah I need to play it more to catch up with her because I said I would but I actualy tired of it after it's niftyness faded)

but the work they're doing with the old franchises looks great, Animal Crossing sounds like everything it should be and the online mode looked fun in the presontation video I downloaded, combine that with the fact that they've basicaly added back every single stratagy to Mario Kart that they got rid of for double dash and it's looking really good. the new Mario Brothers is also looking great

seems they're ditching their cube strategy of oversimplifying their old franchise games and are returning these games to their roots and expanding upon them which is something I think alot of us longterm fans have wanted all along

I really can't wait for the new Mario Brothers since it's been forever since Nintendo has made a platformer on level with Mario brothers 3 (my fav of them all )

[Soulquarian]

I think the whole PSP battery life issue is a copout by fans of other portable devices. I've watched UMD movies until the battery ran out, and it lasted for about 5 hours. Longer than most laptops and portable DVD players. I've played games until the battery died, and it lasted 7. It's a PORTABLE device. Unless you're taking trans atlantic flights across the world, you don't really need a whole lot of game time. It's not like the ipod where you are only listening. You're playing a game. I have yet to run out of battery power in a time of need.

As for the durability... It's ot for kids. Nintendo knows that kids buy its systems. So they make them damage proof. I'm not a kid, and I take care of all my gadgets and gizmos. I don't even have a hardcase for my PSP and it still looks brand new. The screen is scratch free because I bought a 5 dollar screen protector the same day.

Everyone's heard these excuses before, but I believe they are unfounded. I have yet to hear of a PSP owner complaining of battery life, and ot being able to play hack sack with one in their pocket.

As for Nintendo's strategy... I'll just let the system speak for itself. I've long sinced learned to never believe what Game companies say. Sony included. I'll let the software speak for itself.

Nintendo will occupy a niche market in the next generation war. It's games will be fun and different no doubt, but the inability to play conventional games, and the longer time needed to adapt everything for its controller is going to turn off a lot of people. Everyone does't like to play mini-game style games. Everyone doesn't like to play games with cutesy characters. People want variety. And Nintendo doesn't deliver on that, and hasn't in the past two generations.

[Jspider]

I think the whole PSP battery life issue is a copout by fans of other portable devices. I've watched UMD movies until the battery ran out, and it lasted for about 5 hours. Longer than most laptops and portable DVD players. I've played games until the battery died, and it lasted 7. It's a PORTABLE device. Unless you're taking trans atlantic flights across the world, you don't really need a whole lot of game time. It's not like the ipod where you are only listening. You're playing a game. I have yet to run out of battery power in a time of need.

As for the durability... It's ot for kids. Nintendo knows that kids buy its systems. So they make them damage proof. I'm not a kid, and I take care of all my gadgets and gizmos. I don't even have a hardcase for my PSP and it still looks brand new. The screen is scratch free because I bought a 5 dollar screen protector the same day.

Everyone's heard these excuses before, but I believe they are unfounded. I have yet to hear of a PSP owner complaining of battery life, and ot being able to play hack sack with one in their pocket.

As for Nintendo's strategy... I'll just let the system speak for itself. I've long sinced learned to never believe what Game companies say. Sony included. I'll let the software speak for itself.

Nintendo will occupy a niche market in the next generation war. It's games will be fun and different no doubt, but the inability to play conventional games, and the longer time needed to adapt everything for its controller is going to turn off a lot of people. Everyone does't like to play mini-game style games. Everyone doesn't like to play games with cutesy characters. People want variety. And Nintendo doesn't deliver on that, and hasn't in the past two generations.

I could easily say that PSP gamers argue that it is always satisfactory when it isn't but it really depends on your needs, and actualy 7 hours might be more easy to do then you think, a flight from my town to Seattle might take something like an hour then a seattle to chicago flight is between 3-4 hours and if I'm just going to another small town outside of chicago that's another hour but if I'm going to say Alabama then we're looking at another 2-3 hour flight and when you add in the fact that you'll at least have an hour if not more in between flights well it really builds up (basicaly direct flights almost never happen)

and if your a person like me you'll be using whatever gaget you have almost the entire duration

you are right though the PSP is much better then a laptop and of course it makes sacrifices to be as such (it really can't do all that a laptop can do and obviously there is many things a laptop can do better but at the cost of more battery life)


on the subject of durability I think it varies from person to person, I tend to be very careful with my computer and gaming equipment however this summer with all the traveling I did alot of things that normaly look to be in perfect condition (like my cell phone) ended up being shaken up and scratched a ton, I also managed to drop my DS on the asphalt but it only left a few scratches (it fell out of my pocket, both systems are really a bit big but that's a sacrifice I'll make for bigger screen space, I do like devices that are more in line with what the GBA line was origionaly)

I've also seen that many adults and teens can be alot more careless then you'd think, the majority of the market doesn't treat things that well or buy screen guards (yeah still angry at my friend for scratching up his PSP a bit) anywho there I'll agree a bit, if you don't leave it sitting out on the floor it'll probably be ok (yeah a week ago he broke his analog nub)


anywho next generation will deffinatly be interesting to watch

games like brain training worked for attracting older gamers in japan but I'm thinking it will take some creative marketing to convince americans to buy such a game, they've deffinatly succeeded at getting more girl gamers to play by adding in Nintendogs and Animal Crossing

I'm still going to dissagree on the niche market thing I think Nintendo may be learning many things, in praticular they seem to be listening to their fans a bit more and taking devloper concerns into account

I think we could both agree that Nintendo wouldn't do good in the next generation if they built a system that was exactly like say Sony's? I mean it'd be a great media center but no third party would support it since Nintendo's own first party support would dominate the system


I'm really looking to continuing debates in January Soulquarian it'll be pretty fun to see how the Holiday season effects the sales of both the DS and the PSP

if the GBA is still in the lead when the next numbers come out I'm going to be a bit annoyed o_o though I suppose playing FF4-6 will be great next year

[Soulquarian]

Nintendo doesn't need to listen to its fans. Nintendo fans follow whatever decision Nintendo makes, despite any logical reason not to. That's why the Gameboy family can have so many different models ad still sell well.

Nintendo needs to try to win back all the people they lost during the N64 and Gamecube years. Nintendo turned me off with the N64, and I have no real reason to turn back. The Revolution will be my second choice in a system. And if you look at any polls, many people feel the same way. Nintendo has disenchanted its customer base. We all grew up playing Nintendo games. By logic, Nintendo should be ruling the market. They have the most experience and (had) the best reputation. They lost that and now they are trying to win over people who don't even play games at all.

The Female market may shift, with more games like the Sims, Animal Crossing, and Nintendogs... but is that enough to appease all gaming types? Not at all. I outgrew the tamgotchi phase a long time ago...