Topic: DS and Wii Designed to Change Stereotypes

[Kairon]

Nintendo CEO reveals that Nintendo's handheld was intended as "a platform that no one could hate," that he was chosen as CEO for an "outsider's perspective," and more.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=15058

 At the 2007 Game Developer's Conference, Nintendo Designer Shigeru Miyamoto talked about using his wife to gauge how successful his latest games would be. But in a recent interview with the Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata uses mothers as a barometer, predicting that "if we manage to get even the mothers who hated games to buy in, it marks a bright future for our industry."    

In order to pursue this expanded market, Iwata said that they would need to reverse a decline that he claimed was "driven by negative images such as 'interferes with study' and 'causes crime'." Accordingly, Nintendo designed the DS portable gaming system to be "a platform that no one could hate." And the idea behind the Nintendo Wii home console was to "create a 21st-century lifestyle where the family can come together to laugh and converse." Additionally, Nintendo sought to produce a variety of software aimed beyond the typical gaming consumer and re-cast games as a family activity. "We formed a new company image with Brain Training," stated Iwata, referring to the hit Nintendo DS title, known outside Japan as Brain Age, that focuses on daily mental exercises.    

Iwata also responded to comparisons between Nintendo and "iPod-era Apple" by calling the similarities between the companies "simply necessities" that have grown out of "an inward-looking focus." And when asked whether cell phones might affect Nintendo's market, he touted his company's superior ease-of-use, remarking that cell phones have so many different features that "even someone with engineering training such as myself finds it difficult."    

Additionally, Iwata was asked about being the first Nintendo President and CEO not related by blood or marriage to the Yamauchi family, which founded the company. "That era's board of directors looked outside the company for a replacement," he confessed, "there was hope of increasing Internet support, and changing to reflect the era and circumstances more." However, Iwata was also mindful of over-extending his mandate, acknowledging that there was "also the potential to damage Nintendo's image with too many changes."    

Thanks to Mandoric at NeoGAF for the translation!

[UncleBob]

Quote
Nintendo CEO reveals that Nintendo's handheld was intended as "a platform that no one could hate,"

Obviously, he didn't count on Sony Fanboys and Ian.

[NWR_pap64]

Quote
Originally posted by: NewsBot
Nintendo CEO reveals that Nintendo's handheld was intended as "a platform that no one could hate

I beg to differ...

[Caliban]

I hope Iwata stays there for a long time.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

So the solution to expanding the market is CORRUPTING MOTHERS.  I get it.

[Kairon]

Are you a fan now Pro?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Of what?

I'm the HARDTIME LONGCORE Gamer.  I've risen above technology fads and internet animosity.

[darknight06]

This should be a big DUH to anyone who's actually been paying attention the last few years.  This isn't news.

[Kairon]

T_T

I personally think that Nintendo is playing a dangerous game with their ignorance of the cell-phone resurgence. Are they right in pooh-poohing the threat? I hope so, because cellphones are really just gettimg more amazing every minute in capabilities and cultural dominance.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Ewww, I hate Cell phone gaming it is so cramped and not fun. The only cell phone that had decent button setup for gaming was the Nokia Taco, and we all know how that turned out.

[BlackNMild2k1]

they should embrace te widespread DS adoption in Japan and release a cellphone attachment.
The DS would then be the best gaming phone on the market and even has a touchscreen for for a full qwerty keyboard.  

[bubicus]

Cell phones won't be a major threat until they can standardize on operating systems, capabilities, and interfaces. At one company I worked for, cell phone games had to be tested on dozens of different, popular models. Nintendo's testing requirements are very stringent. It would cost them way too much in both money and quality to test a single game for many of the most popular cell phone configurations. Nintendo's about profit, after all. So are many other companies, and that's why many companies won't make serious investments in high-quality software until the development and testing becomes easier. (Disclaimer: I am not implying that company I worked for didn't make a high-quality game... ;-) )

Think of it this way: if you're going to make a mass-market cell phone game cheaply, you have to make a game that is playable on a phone that is two or three years old. The people with the newest cell phones won't care about your game unless you spend more money to develop an improved version for the new phones. And other than the iPhone, there are no high-end cell phones that exist in large enough quantities to make a decent profit with after applying development costs. On the other hand, the DS is a single worldwide platform, and there are tens of millions of them on the planet now. I can't see any reason why Nintendo would have to be worried about the loss of market share to new cell phone models unless the iPhone or some other model (or a group of models that share an operating system and specifications) hits 15+ million units sold. It's simply a matter of available population vs. quality control vs. development cost.

Of course, Nintendo is based in Japan, where cell phone specifications are probably more standardized. Developing Japan-only cell phone games could be slightly profitable for them. However, doing so won't bring help bring them much profit in a worldwide cell phone market compared to the money factory that is the DS.

[Kairon]

Oh, I know that the lack of standardization for cell-phones makes development and testing almost nightmarish, but if that and a few other hindrances are overcome, cell phones will become a major force to be dealt with. Whether or not that will ever happen is a good question, but it's still a striking scenario.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Why wait for a threat to arise from the cellphone business, why not be proactive and preemptively remove the threat by making the DS a cellphone with the help of an attachment.
Now everyone would have a reason to always carry their DS around with them and a reason to turn it on everyday.

edit: guess I need to start spell checking, since my keyboard doesn't seem to be working right.

[ShyGuy]

The cellphone threat is real. How many DS games could transfer to an iPhone? Once screen size, interface and platform standards come to cellphones, they will take off for gaming devices just like the Personal Computer did. They are currently a closed platform too, so they don't have to worry about piracy like the PC platform does and they don't have the system requirement warz to kill them either.

[Plugabugz]

Here's me thinking for a second his idea of CHANGING STEREOTYPES meant europe/australia would be treated fairly.

Oh now the naive children of the world get sucked into false hope

[Ian Sane]

I guess I'm in the minority in that the idea of playing videogames with my whole family turns me off.  I only ever wanted my parents to tolerate gaming in that they would let me play without giving me a hard time about it.  I wanted them to have a basic understanding of save points so they wouldn't get all upset when I couldn't put the game down right this damn second.  I never cared about mainstream acceptance (though I wanted Nintendo to be the market leader) because the mainstream is full of idiots.  Gaming was an escape.  I could seek refuge in a sub-culture that was more on par with my tastes.  Companies catering to the mainstream could ruin music, ruin TV and ruin movies but for a while videogames were pretty safe even if the threat was always there.  This all had been a long time coming though I never expected Nintendo to initiate it.  Companies act like aggressively targeting the mainstream means making something everyone loves and money-wise it may appear that way.  But sub-cultures and niches hobbies exist for a reason and there is a group of people that ultimately get excluded when you include everyone else.

I normally wouldn't be concerned about cellphones because cellphone games suck balls.  You can't have a small cellphone with full phone functionality that also has the suitable control options for games.  I think the lack of a decent controller is the biggest reason why those games all blow.  But then we're talking the mainstream here where quality doesn't mean anything.  So maybe it is a threat but mainstream tastes are so illogical I can't think of exactly what to do.  I figure the phone people think is the coolest would sell the most and games for that would win regardless of quality.  The best fashion accessory will win.

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
I guess I'm in the minority in that the idea of playing videogames with my whole family turns me off.  I only ever wanted my parents to tolerate gaming in that they would let me play without giving me a hard time about it.  I wanted them to have a basic understanding of save points so they wouldn't get all upset when I couldn't put the game down right this damn second.  I never cared about mainstream acceptance (though I wanted Nintendo to be the market leader) because the mainstream is full of idiots.  Gaming was an escape.  I could seek refuge in a sub-culture that was more on par with my tastes.  Companies catering to the mainstream could ruin music, ruin TV and ruin movies but for a while videogames were pretty safe even if the threat was always there.  This all had been a long time coming though I never expected Nintendo to initiate it.  Companies act like aggressively targeting the mainstream means making something everyone loves and money-wise it may appear that way.  But sub-cultures and niches hobbies exist for a reason and there is a group of people that ultimately get excluded when you include everyone else.

I normally wouldn't be concerned about cellphones because cellphone games suck balls.  You can't have a small cellphone with full phone functionality that also has the suitable control options for games.  I think the lack of a decent controller is the biggest reason why those games all blow.  But then we're talking the mainstream here where quality doesn't mean anything.  So maybe it is a threat but mainstream tastes are so illogical I can't think of exactly what to do.  I figure the phone people think is the coolest would sell the most and games for that would win regardless of quality.  The best fashion accessory will win.

I actually understand where you're coming from, but I'm sure you also realize that Nintendo is doing this out of necessity.

With the GC, they learned that if you're going to win a fight against two charging bulls, you don't do it by running at them straight on. You go around them and attack from the side, which is a pretty apt analogy for what they're doing right now.