Topic: Iwata Interview

[BlackNMild2k1]

Quote
Originally posted by: GameDaily.com
BIZ: Yeah, I must say, from what I played at the Wii booth, I found it to be very intuitive and the motion sensing was responsive; I really enjoyed it. Is there one game of the Wii titles so far that you have really enjoyed playing yourself?

Iwata: Well, among other things of course, I would have to say Tennis, because everybody I believe was expecting Zelda to be the very last demonstration to be shown at the media briefing. Instead, I insisted on having Tennis simply because I thought that Tennis should have great potential for the Wii console and Tennis can be enjoyed by anybody very intuitively, so I should say that I like Tennis.

About 20 years ago when Super Mario Bros. hit the market, it was just the time when people were getting very interested in video games. And when one player is playing with a Super Mario Brother... and as soon as the player makes [a mistake and loses his turn] others say, "Ok, let me try. I really want to do that." But now when some players are playing with a video game, and there are some people surrounding them, even though the player himself or herself might say, "Why don't you do that?" The surrounding people say, "No I cannot do that; that's not for me." But with games like Tennis I think that we can change that situation. When people see somebody playing with Tennis, I believe other people immediately can understand what the player is supposed to do and say, "Let me try it."

So I think that kind of situation is really encouraging in order to expand the gaming population.

BIZ: I know that Nintendo has not officially announced a price for the Wii, but a rumor we spotted this week in EGM suggests a $249 price tag. Do you want to comment on that?

Iwata: [Laughs] As you know, that is speculation and we did not comment on the price point at all. What we've been repeatedly saying is that it's going to be an affordable price point, and when we say affordable, you may want to check our past records of price points, launching price points for any past hardware... I think you'll agree that we always come up with an affordable price point. So when we announce the Wii price point in the near future, I believe you are going to say, "That's an affordable price point."

BIZ: Speaking of Sony, I wanted to know what your reaction was to their media briefing, especially their expensive price and the fact that they now announced motion sensing for the PS3 controller.

Iwata: As for the latter part of the question, actually we were anticipating that Sony would make that kind of announcement, so I had to make a kind of wry smile at the time. Having said that, however, putting the motion sensing technology into the classic [PS3] controller, which is going to be held with two hands, is pretty much different from the motion sensor being incorporated into the Wii remote or the combination of the Wii remote and the nunchuk controller... There's a huge gap between the two, I can tell you, with that whole experience, so I really don't think that the inclusion of motion sensing into Sony's classic type of controller can affect in one way or the other the advantage that we have with the Wii controller.

So in summary, Iwata wanted to re-create that "Hey, Let me try" attitude that everyone had way back on the NES whenever someone's would lose a life.

Iwata hints at a $199.99 launch price for Wii (see past console launch prices)

Iwata also knew ahead of time that Sony would attempt to copy the Wiimote motion sensors, but feels it was a pretty poor implementation compared to the Wiimote functionality (see Miyamoto comment)  

[Avinash_Tyagi]

Quote
As you know, that is speculation and we did not comment on the price point at all. What we've been repeatedly saying is that it's going to be an affordable price point, and when we say affordable, you may want to check our past records of price points, launching price points for any past hardware... I think you'll agree that we always come up with an affordable price point. So when we announce the Wii price point in the near future, I believe you are going to say, "That's an affordable price point."

Sounds like they're going for as close to $199 as possible.

[getter77]

This interview is encouraging.  Let this be the death knell for those 299 rumors at the very least..

[stevey]

I dont like the fact that Iwata hasn't said the price yet. With the piii at 600 dollars, anything under that could be affordable, I hope he keep dodging the price point because the hardware not finnished and not because cause it the next micro.

[Nick DiMola]

This is some very encouraging news from Iwata. It seems like there was a lot of strain on the $199.99 price point in a roundabout kind of way. I am also hoping that Wii Sports or some game is packaged with the system to push the concepts Nintendo has been advertising.

[IceCold]

Quote
Iwata hints at a $199.99 launch price for Wii (see past console launch prices)

Well, not really.. he just said that whenever a Nintendo console has launched, at the time it was a reasonable price. Right now $250 or even $300 is reasonable compared to the competition, so I don't think he really meant a $200 launch. Although it is still a possibility..

[mantidor]

More important than the price is what will come in the package, if it has two remotes or just one, or two with only one nunchuk, or even if the VC controller is packed in. I hope that if its a standard package with just one remote that they will keep the price at $200.

[BlkPaladin]

Well if you want to get technical the Gamecube came out in Japan at around $225.00, $199.00 in the US. I think the N64 had the same price point. The SNES had a $150.00 price point if I remember correctly and my second NES cost about $125.00 with the powerpad.

People were guessing $200.00 for the DS, and it came first to the US at $150.00. Before that each iteration of the Gameboy was between $60-to-$100.

So I doubt there was enough inflation to bring up the price that much so my guess would be between 200 and 225.

[Arbok]

Quote
Originally posted by: BlkPaladin
So I doubt there was enough inflation to bring up the price that much so my guess would be between 200 and 225.

Well just recall that there is a huge difference between something that costs $199.99 vs. something that costs $224.99 to the normal consumer. Of course the difference isn't all that much, but you will be amazed if you ever study consumer behavior how much of a difference that "$X99.99" price point range has over just a cent more. I imagine if it's going to be over $200, it will be $250 though.

[Frozen Atlantic]

Well, here's the big dillema I see Nintendo up against. The hardware itself is cheap, it's the pack in stuff that's going to cost them more.

Controllers are obviously expensive. One controller? Not if you're going for casuals. I guess in theory, the gamer buys the system those first months, and uses the second controller to get a non-gamer. You need two controllers. Most of the games use the nunchuck.

If you need it to play Madden NFL, it's mandatory. Two controllers, two nunchucks. Do you want people to use the VC on day one? Well, that means old school controllers. Are those core gamers going to buy something nongamer friendly? Do you need a pack-in game to get them beliveing? How about a demo disc? See how this could get expensive?

Part of this blue ocean thing is... people don't buy accessories for appliances. So, the Wii is going to have to come standard with stuff that impresses a first time player, and Nintendo's not big on sucking up losses for this kind of thing. It'll be interesting to see how they tow that line.

[Avinash_Tyagi]

Well I could see a couple of price points at launch:

Version one: Wii & one controller W/ Nunchuk and possible game disc (Wii Sports maybe) $149-199

Version two: Wii & two controller W/ Nunchuk and one classic controller and possible game disc (Wii Sports maybe) $199-250  

[slacker]

I think it would be a mistake for Nintendo to release the Wii with two different packages. They need to streamline and think about releasing another package further down the road. A non-gamer or casual will require two controllers (nunchuck and remote) because based on what Nintendo has been saying, the Wii needs to be played with others. It defeats the whole point of inclusive gaming when you only include 1 set of controller. This is a new concept, and Nintendo needs to include almost everything its target audience will need to get started without purchasing extras.  They need to return to what they did with the NES, a pack in game, controllers, and the zapper or in the case of the Wii, 2 nunchucks and 2 remotes with a demo disc at $199- 249.  Nintendo needs to execute well down the stretch and why not make the packaging of the Wii all inclusive right out of the box. They can worry about releasing different packages down the road.

[Nick DiMola]

I believe slacker has it right here. Its all about a return to the NES. I think Nintendo has been taking a serious look at what made them so popular to begin with. Iwata hints around this with the original SMB and the let me try theory.

A Wii package with 2 nunchucks and 2 wiimotes with a pack in game at a reasonable price ($199-249) has alot of attracting power IMO. If Nintendo can put together this package the blue ocean idea has a ton of potential and can bring back the people who have left gaming as of the days of the NES. Even though most of are just curious as to the price and package details, I think that Nintendo's biggest announcement for the Wii will be these details. Let's hope the path Nintendo has chosen for the Wii is a suitable one and Nintendo's actions mirror the ideas put forth to this point.

[mantidor]

If they include other controller they will charge $250, Im sure, and thats too close to my budget limit. I have to also get a game, thats $300, which somehow end up being $400 here because Nintendo hates us

[Michael8983]

Nintendo would not include a second controller if it meant going over $200 IMO.
I'm hoping it will have two remotes and still be just at $200 though.
I think they could get away with packaging it with two remotes and a single nunchuck.
It seems to me that most multiplayer party-type games are going to use the remotes exclusively anyway and having two remotes packaged with every system would make developers more comfortable with making dual-remote games too. Just as long as additional controllers include the nunchuck to avoid segregating the user-base.

[Nephilim]

Australian distrubution prize is now listed at 450
yes 450 lol

[couchmonkey]

I could see Nintendo going either way on this...the price has to be low to capture the nongamer market, but two controllers does seem to be in the spirit Nintendo is going for.

Frankly, I think the reason Nintendo hasn't announced the price is because they haven't decided yet.  Just like us, Nintendo's marketing and executive groups are probably tossing around various bundles and prices and thinking about what will grab consumers.  It probably also depends on how Nintendo envisions the expansion of the market happening.  You could argue that, even with a low price point, non gamers won't be interested until they get to play the system at a store, a fair, or a friend's home.  That could be months after the launch.  If you go this route, it makes sense to sell it with multiple controllers so the hardcore gamers can play with the non-gamers and catch their interest.

I like Iwata's comments on the PS3 controller, and I totally agree: it isn't really a threat because Nintendo's controller was designed from the ground up for playing motion-based games.  It would be impossible to perfectly emulate the Wii versions of Wii sports, Mario Galaxy, Red Steel, Wario Ware and Madden on the PS3 controller.

[mantidor]

" It would be impossible to perfectly emulate the Wii versions of Wii sports, Mario Galaxy, Red Steel, Wario Ware and Madden on the PS3 controller."

But it can be ported the other way around, I dont see any problems in translating that Warhawck (sp?) demo to the rev, it only needs a graphical downgrading.

[ShyGuy]

I wonder if Tony Hawk Downhill Jam or Excite Truck could be ported to the PS3.  

[couchmonkey]

Good question, ShyGuy, that's why I left them out...it could be done, but I'm not sure if it would be as good.  I'm assuming those games don't use the pointer technology, and I don't know how just the tilt technology compares between PS3 and Wii, but obviously it's not impossible, maybe just hard.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Didn't SUper Monkeyball: Banana Blitz get announced for PS3 after the Sony conference, or was that just a joke?

[Athrun Zala]

Quote
Originally posted by: mantidor
If they include other controller they will charge $250, Im sure, and thats too close to my budget limit. I have to also get a game, thats $300, which somehow end up being $400 here because Nintendo hates us

400? lucky you.....here it'll be $550 at the least