Topic: Revolution May Have Twenty Launch Titles

[Jonnyboy117]

NOA exec George Harrison says a third of them could be from Nintendo itself.

In an interview in the May issue of Game Informer (yes, the same one with the Red Steel exclusive), George Harrison talks about the Revolution in greater detail than ever before.  Harrison is Senior Vice President, Marketing and Corporate Communications at Nintendo of America.    

Harrison admits that the Revolution is targeted at the Japanese market first and foremost, where the video game industry has been in a steady decline for years (at least until the booming success of the Nintendo DS).  However, the company is aiming to launch the Revolution worldwide in 2006.  He also reiterates that the system will cost less than Xbox 360, similar to comments from Reggie Fils-Aime last year.  As for software prices, he says the standard game price will be $50, though some games could cost $60.  (It is not clear whether this statement would apply to all Revolution software or only Nintendo's own games.)    

Harrison admits that Nintendo has learned many lessons from the success of the PlayStation 2.  They now understand that the system with the greatest variety of software does not need technical superiority.  They have also learned that it's important to keep software flowing throughout the first year on the market, as opposed to what happened with GameCube and DS (big launches and then several months with few or no games released).  The marketing challenges for Revolution are similar to the challenges Nintendo faced when marketing the Virtual Boy in the 90s.    

Finally, Harrison predicts that the Revolution could launch later this year with as many as twenty launch titles, although Nintendo is still not sure which third-party games will be ready for that timeframe.  Of that number, he says one-third (six to seven titles) could be from Nintendo itself.  This would easily be the largest number of Nintendo-published launch titles in the history of Nintendo's hardware releases.    

For the full interview, be sure to pick up the May issue of Game Informer magazine.    

Thanks to reader PhoenixDark for the tip!

[MaleficentOgre]

20 launch titles would be awesome, but I have the feeling that the 20 launch titles would actually be in the launch window so we'd have to wait a few feeks for those seven nintendo titles.  I'm guessing the majority of those have to be original IPs or smaller known things like a geist sequel.

[Karl Castaneda #2]

Thinking it over, I figure seven Nintendo games in the launch window could be the following:

-Super Smash Bros. Online
-Original Miyamoto IP
-Mario Revolution
-Metroid Prime 3
-Camelot RPG (They've probably been working on it for a while, I'm assuming)
-Something from Intelligent Systems (This is more of a wish than something likely, but they're not doing a whole lot right now that we know of)
-Twilight Princess acting as a bridge from the GameCube to the Revolution with Revmote capabilities

Nothing concrete in that, but I think it's possible if Nintendo's really been keeping themselves busy. And man, wouldn't it be awesome? There could really be something in there for everyone, and that's what'll matter long-term.

[PaLaDiN]

Oh good, looking forward to Nintendo's 6 and 2/3 games.  

[blackfootsteps]

I think that some of them would be the quirky Revmote promoting games like that cooking game. More importantly though is that Nintendo will still be taking up shelf space with tons of titles. People shopping in stores won't be able to miss twenty titles plus accessories.

[vudu]

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Originally posted by: PaLaDiN
Oh good, looking forward to Nintendo's 6 and 2/3 games.

Shame it's not 1/3--then we could assume it's the last part of Golden Sun.  Perhaps it's four times bigger than any one of the GBA games?

[trip1eX]

I know what five of the titles are.

Madden 2k7
Tiger Woods 2k7
NBA Live 2k7
NHL 2k7
Need for Speed:  Outlaw


 

[JonLeung]

I say one of them could be a Revolution version of Brain Age.

[Djunknown]

That's the thing I like about Harrison: He shoots straight from the hip so to speak. No spin, no bull, no delusions of grandeur, just the facts (That he can give...)

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They have also learned that it's important to keep software flowing throughout the first year on the market, as opposed to what happened with GameCube and DS (big launches and then several months with few or no games released).

So no 6 month drought of nothing to play this time? Though it'll be allivieated with backwards compatibility.

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Of that number, he says one-third (six to seven titles) could be from Nintendo itself.

Now out of those, how many of them will be playable via Wi-Fi Connection? Any guesses?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Phantasy Star Kaitos: Card Battle 2 will.

[Caliban]

The system being the cheapest? I already expected that, I just wanna know how much.

1st party games have been for the GC $59.99CAD, which is around $49.99US, and most 3rd party are $69.99CAD, so that price statement is just them assuring us that games won't cost more because it is a new generation.

I would rather have maximum 3 1st party games at launch and the rest coming out every month or so (even every 3 weeks). Still that would be alot of games, and including 3rd party games? Crikes, that will kill my wallet. I'm still getting the sytem though and I might be able to get all the 1st party games and have a little left for 1 or 2 3rd party games.

[18 Days]

Yeah nothing makes a good game better than throwing cards into the mix.

[BigJim]

Very refreshing interview.

"Harrison admits that Nintendo has learned many lessons from the success of the PlayStation 2. They now understand that the system with the greatest variety of software does not need technical superiority."

"They have also learned that it's important to keep software flowing throughout the first year on the market, as opposed to what happened with GameCube and DS."

"...as many as twenty launch titles."

I'm really happy to see Nintendo is paying attention! Ok... We'll have up to 20 games to choose from? Jeez, my family is going to have a crappy Christmas.

[Avinash_Tyagi]

Let's see, I'll get Mario, Metroid Prime 3, (Twilgiht Princess also), Smash Bros., Red Steel depending on how it turns out.

Wow, thats already over $200 in games, and who knows how many of the other ones will be good.

Curse You nintendo...i'm not made of money!!!!

Also one thing to note from the interview not mentioned, Nintendo is still up in the air about adding in another controller into the system.

In addition to launch discussion, Harrison touched on a number of other topics. Concerning what will be packed in with Revolution, Harrison said Nintendo is still deciding; one free-hand unit and nunchucku will be available, but a second controller is being considered. As for price of the console, Harrison said, "our goal is to come in at a slightly more mass market price", speaking in comparison to the Xbox 360.

Revolution Report

[Ian Sane]

"They have also learned that it's important to keep software flowing throughout the first year on the market, as opposed to what happened with GameCube and DS (big launches and then several months with few or no games released)."

YES!  Easily the most important thing Nintendo could have ever learned about last gen.

"Harrison admits that Nintendo has learned many lessons from the success of the PlayStation 2. They now understand that the system with the greatest variety of software does not need technical superiority."

That's a really weird lesson to learn.  I'd say the PS2 succeeded despite having the weakest hardware.  That's like having only two controller ports because the PS2 didn't need four.  Nintendo should look more at what helped the PS2's success instead of what could have screwed them over but didn't.

Six or seven first party launch titles sounds nice though I wouldn't be surprised if some of them were "non-games" with short dev times which would make it easier to crank out games like that.  But as long as some of those games have some meat to them that'll still be fine.  The DS took like six months to get that many first party games.  I feel those initial DS games were pretty weak but if all of them were available at launch it wouldn't have been so bad.  The Cube only had four "launch window" games so more would generally be better.

I wouldn't pay any attention to the overall 20 number though.  trip1eX listed some of the sort of third party titles that would be included with the 20.  With third party support a number isn't good enough.  It's important to know who is on board and what they're making.

[Rize]

all I want is metroid prime 3, the rest can wait

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
"They have also learned that it's important to keep software flowing throughout the first year on the market, as opposed to what happened with GameCube and DS (big launches and then several months with few or no games released)."

YES!  Easily the most important thing Nintendo could have ever learned about last gen.

Yeah, when I saw that quote, I thought of you...

[IceCold]

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That's a really weird lesson to learn. I'd say the PS2 succeeded despite having the weakest hardware. That's like having only two controller ports because the PS2 didn't need four.

I agree wholeheartedly. However, I don't think he meant it in the way you think; it was just awkward wording. I think that he meant that the PS2 succeeded despite its technical limitations, and with the Revolution's controller, it will also succeed despite the hardware.

[GoldenPhoenix]

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Originally posted by: IceCold

Quote
That's a really weird lesson to learn. I'd say the PS2 succeeded despite having the weakest hardware. That's like having only two controller ports because the PS2 didn't need four.

I agree wholeheartedly. However, I don't think he meant it in the way you think; it was just awkward wording. I think that he meant that the PS2 succeeded despite its technical limitations, and with the Revolution's controller, it will also succeed despite the hardware.

Yeah that is how I viewed his statements, he was basically stating that there is more to a system's success than hardware.

[TrueNerd]

6-7 first party games? Screw THAT. They better have, like, 15 first party games at launch. They sure as hell haven't been making GameCube games the last year and a half. They better have been spending that time making 15 ass-kicking Revolution games. In fact, it better be like SMB3, OoT and Metroid Prime times FIVE on launch day. I would forgive Nintendo for the GC drought if it was like that.

As for the PS2 parallels, Harrison simply means that the system with the most varied and highest quality library wins, not the system with the best graphics. And it's true, as Sony has proved the last two generations and Nintendo is currently proving with the DS. Not a bad lesson to learn. Too bad they didn't learn it six years ago after the PS1 kicked their asses.  

[Smash_Brother]

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Originally posted by: TrueNerd Too bad they didn't learn it six years ago after the PS1 kicked their asses.

I agree, but I think the GC wouldn't have had the necessary support even if it had 3X the number of 3rd party titles.

It's the Revmote which is bringing about 3rd parties this time around. It even inspired Ubi to try something new and different. Clearly, Nintendo was onto something when they insisted that developers would like to take gaming in new directions.

[wandering]

Quote
In addition to launch discussion, Harrison touched on a number of other topics. Concerning what will be packed in with Revolution, Harrison said Nintendo is still deciding; one free-hand unit and nunchucku will be available, but a second controller is being considered.

Interesting that they're still deciding. It says to me that none of the third party games are planning on using the shell.

Or else the shell has some hidden function that, when we see it, well go "Oh, so THAT'S why Nintendo was hesitant to pack it in." Though I have no idea what that hidden function might be.

[Hocotate]

I just know I'm going to go nuts once E3 rolls around and we see what kind of games are planned. 20 launch titles is an insane amount if he means games that launch the same day as the console itself. I'm sure he means games to be released within the first few weeks/month of launch.

[ruby_onix]

20 games, what a rush.

[stevey]

WOW!... and e3 not even here yet.