The Next Wii Will Innovate

[Vidboy10]

In the wake of this week's unveiling of Sony's take on motion-controlled video gaming, and Microsoft's push for their motion-controlled gaming well under way, Kotaku sat down with Nintendo of America's president Reggie Fils-Aime to ask if these high-def entries into a market Nintendo so dominates is concerning.

Do the coming of Xbox 360's Project Natal and Playstation Move mean that Nintendo should start thinking about their next console? Is it time for a Wii HD?

"For us high definition by itself is not the next frontier," Reggie Fils-Aime, president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America told Kotaku. "For us we need to provide a whole new compelling experience in our next generation."

And that moment won't be tied to an arbitrary lifespan for their current console, he added.

"When Mr. Miyamoto goes to Mr. Iwata and says. 'I have this great idea and I can't do it on the Wii,' that's when there will be a next generation console. What that includes we'll see," he said. "I think Mr. Miyamoto himself has said that he is very interested in a high-definition experience, but to be 120 percent crystal clear, HD by itself in our view is not enough to go for a new console past the Wii."

Instead Nintendo's next console will need to be something "consistent with what we brought to market with Wii and with DS."

"It will be mainstream. It will be encouraging more and more consumers to get into this category that we love. It will provide new, unique, compelling experiences that are meaningful to that large potential consumer base.

"Those are the principles that drive us."

Nintendo made a splash in 2005 when company president Satoru Iwata unveiled the console to gaming press at the Tokyo Game Show. The concept that drove Nintendo to concentrate on control mechanics over faster, more powerful processing power and graphics was the idea of the Blue Ocean. There are plenty of consumers in the sea, the logic goes, why get into a tooth-and-nail fight for them over one specific area, like who has the most powerful gaming system?

But Nintendo's move into motion gaming, and the company's successes in those mostly uncharted waters, could be interrupted now that both Sony and Microsoft are trying to once more compete directly with the console maker.

I asked Fils-Aime if Nintendo's next generation console would be an iteration of the Wii, a move back to the pursuit of more-muscled gaming machines or another attempt at reinventing what people view as important to gaming.

"I think a hallmark of Nintendo is that we are constantly trying to innovate," he said. "I think we would have been embarrassed to do what our competitors are currently doing.

"So, all I can tell you is that we will innovate. We will provide something new. Something that the consumer and the industry will look at and say 'Wow, I didn't see that coming.'"

And despite last month's relatively weak showing in hardware sales, Nintendo doesn't feel like a new console will be coming anytime soon, Fils-Aime said.

"We just celebrated our fourth holiday," he pointed out. "During that December we sold over 3.8 million units just in the United States. We sold so well in the holiday that we are now in a position of once again chasing consumer demand.

"What I can tell you is that that seems to suggest that the Wii still has a very long, very vibrant life in front of it."

Source

 

[Raika]

Why did I think of "Wiinnovate"?

 

[UltyBomber77]

sounds interesting

 

[syko5150]

thats what i love about Nintendo they're more concerned about making games fun for people rather then trying to make something pretty to look at and no game play.

 

[Hop2089]

I'm ok with this if it cuts down on shovelware.

 

[syko5150]

I'm ok with this if it cuts down on shovelware.

shovelware will always exist as long as companies are more concerned with making a quick buck off doing practically nothing lol

 

[nutella]

Move and Natal will fail. That is all.

 

[Bladexdsl]

that's why i love big n their always willing to give you something new instead of just slapping hd, a better GPU and CPU into a box

 

[zuron7]

Nintendo has always innovated and will innovate.
It's stupid companies that have no brains that copy ie.Sony
Microsoft is much better compared to even sony.

 

[B-Blue]

"I think a hallmark of Nintendo is that we are constantly trying to innovate," he said. "I think we would have been embarrassed to do what our competitors are currently doing.

Nice one, Reggie

 

[mrfatso]

"I think a hallmark of Nintendo is that we are constantly trying to innovate," he said. "I think we would have been embarrassed to do what our competitors are currently doing.

Nice one, Reggie

dont u mean nice comeback line

?

 

[Maikel Steneker]

Nice, but the Wii hasn't convinced me yet. When I look at the number of good games on PS3 vs Wii, the PS3 is the obvious winner. With the price difference there is now, I can't see a lot of hardcore gamers buying a Wii.

Still, I was talking about quantity here. If you're looking for pure quality, I think Nintendo is still the way to go. The problem is that their best Wii games were released in 2006/2007, and 2008/2009 didn't have that many great games.

It's nice to see they innovate, but I also want to see a really strong launch and lineup after launch. The good thing is that the Wii is really popular, so they can afford to release a next Wii a bit later and make it really good.

But hey, why are we even talking about the next Wii? Give us a new DS Nintendo!

 

[syko5150]

Nice, but the Wii hasn't convinced me yet. When I look at the number of good games on PS3 vs Wii, the PS3 is the obvious winner. With the price difference there is now, I can't see a lot of hardcore gamers buying a Wii.

Still, I was talking about quantity here. If you're looking for pure quality, I think Nintendo is still the way to go. The problem is that their best Wii games were released in 2006/2007, and 2008/2009 didn't have that many great games.

It's nice to see they innovate, but I also want to see a really strong launch and lineup after launch. The good thing is that the Wii is really popular, so they can afford to release a next Wii a bit later and make it really good.

But hey, why are we even talking about the next Wii? Give us a new DS Nintendo!

how is PS3 the clear winner? until recently the PS3 has sucked really bad they are FINALLY starting to come out with good games on PS3 sure they had a few but the Wii has a ton of good titles but maybe its that YOU dont like them? but yeah the PS3 is at the bottom with having the most good games...

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Hi-definition isn't "the next frontier", it's pretty much a standard nowadays. They're competing with two consoles who can offer HD and eventually what the Wii is "unique" for. They need HD and something new.

I'm getting sick of Nintendo trying to pawn off HD as "unimportant". I put graphics after gameplay, but I'm getting sick of playing games that look like crap. I want games that look good and play well. It's annoying.

"Innovative" to me here seems like basically what the Wii does plus all its add-ons (WM+, Vitality Sensor, etc) built in and maybe something else.

 

[House Spider]

I'm sick of motion controls. :\

 

[Acetic Orcein]

Hi-definition isn't "the next frontier", it's pretty much a standard nowadays. They're competing with two consoles who can offer HD and eventually what the Wii is "unique" for. They need HD and something new.

I'm getting sick of Nintendo trying to pawn off HD as "unimportant". I put graphics after gameplay, but I'm getting sick of playing games that look like crap. I want games that look good and play well. It's annoying.

"Innovative" to me here seems like basically what the Wii does plus all its add-ons (WM+, Vitality Sensor, etc) built in and maybe something else.

Agreed, I do like Nintendo to be thinking of different ways to innovate! But it would be nice for them to move into HD and stuff... it's just kind of expected now
So innovation + HD would really be the way to go in my opinion. I really think Nintendo are short sighted in this regard. I absolutely want my games to play better! I mean after all, super special eyelash rendering technology won't make a game any good. But... I really think they are limiting themselves to games that have 'great artistic design', fairly decent gameplay but lacks features that the PS3 and 360 have due to being a much weaker console.

Innovation for Nintendo nowadays appears to be having slightly larger screens anyway...

So Yeah. I'd like to see HD and some decent innovation.

 

[B-Blue]

Hi-definition isn't "the next frontier", it's pretty much a standard nowadays. They're competing with two consoles who can offer HD and eventually what the Wii is "unique" for. They need HD and something new.

I'm getting sick of Nintendo trying to pawn off HD as "unimportant". I put graphics after gameplay, but I'm getting sick of playing games that look like crap. I want games that look good and play well. It's annoying.

"Innovative" to me here seems like basically what the Wii does plus all its add-ons (WM+, Vitality Sensor, etc) built in and maybe something else.

He didn't say the next Nintendo console won't have HD graphics. I think what he meant by "HD isn't the next frontier" is that HD isn't the top priority on Nintendo's "to-do list".

In other words:
New gameplay experience >>>> graphics.

 

[Acetic Orcein]

Hi-definition isn't "the next frontier", it's pretty much a standard nowadays. They're competing with two consoles who can offer HD and eventually what the Wii is "unique" for. They need HD and something new.

I'm getting sick of Nintendo trying to pawn off HD as "unimportant". I put graphics after gameplay, but I'm getting sick of playing games that look like crap. I want games that look good and play well. It's annoying.

"Innovative" to me here seems like basically what the Wii does plus all its add-ons (WM+, Vitality Sensor, etc) built in and maybe something else.

He didn't say the next Nintendo console won't have HD graphics. I think what he meant by "HD isn't the next frontier" is that HD isn't the top priority on Nintendo's "to-do list".

In other words:
New gameplay experience >>>> graphics.

Yes that's what Reggie said, but I think Guild's main point is that they always downplay graphics. Gameplay should of course always be better than graphics but I mean... graphics should play a fairly large role right? It irritates me that Nintendo doesn't really acknowledge this. HD won't make a next gen console (as stated by Reggie), that's probably because it's fairly standard now lol?

Noone really argues against innovation/good gameplay always being the main sort of drive for a game (or console perhaps), but graphics shouldn't be ignored (which Nintendo aren't ignoring entirely... they just downplay it all the time as if it's not important... when actually it is for many people).

Also I'm not really 'wowed' anymore when it comes to Nintendo and innovation. So really, if they're going for that whole approach, it should be bigger than a blood pressure wrist strap for example.

 

[Forstride]

Move and Natal will fail. That is all.

You can say that now, but when you see them being a big success, and the Wii failing, I hope you'll take those words back. No one knows what Natal and Move will be like, but I'm hoping it's better than the Wii's motion controls, seeing as most of the games that come out don't even use them, when that was one of the biggest selling points for the Wii.

 

[Uzumakijl]

I'm getting sick of Nintendo trying to pawn off HD as "unimportant". I put graphics after gameplay, but I'm getting sick of playing games that look like crap. I want games that look good and play well. It's annoying.

^ I can't get enough of this quote.

QUOTE(B-Blue @ Mar 13 2010, 09:58 AM) [...]
In other words:
New gameplay experience >>>> graphics.

But, Isn't Natal a new gameplay experience with GOOD graphics?

I'm not saying graphics make the game, But nintendo needs to find a way to balance both.