New Nintendo hardware coming when the company finds a 'very interesting idea'

by Ben Gilbert on May 22nd 2009 2:15PM

At least, that's according to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, speaking to a sharp-tongued investor during the company's quarterly financial results briefing question and answer session. When asked about the longevity of the current Nintendo hardware on the market, Iwata said, "As soon as a new hardware is completed and introduced to the market, a team is established within the company which starts reviewing what the next hardware will be."

He claims entire hardware pieces have been scrapped in favor of finding a "very interesting idea that can make people all over the world to feel like purchasing [it]," rather than releasing products all willy nilly -- like a few items from Nintendo's past. Interestingly, the man also admits to lacking Japanese third-party support for Wii, saying, "Nintendo thought that the situation would change in about two years after launch [for the Wii and third party software support] ... While our assumption turned out to be correct with the portable system, it did not progress as we anticipated for the domestic home console market." Considering the considerable Monster Hunter support Capcom has thrown into the proverbial ring, we imagine that next year's third-party support for the Wii in Japan has been bolstered just a bit.

[Via Eurogamer]

Source

Tags: capcom, DS, hardware-sales, japan, Nintendo, satoru-iwata, software-sales, third-party, Wii

Reader Comments (70)

Interesting new idea for Nintendo....a hard drive.

Here's a few more:

Next gen graphics.
A more solid online interface.
More teen-mature rated games.
A DVD Player.

@Storm

I fear if Nintendo did all that, they would sell like crazy, again, leading to Nintendo to ultimately ruling the world.

On second thought, I wouldn't mind having Mario as my lord and savior...

And this new world shall be called... Mario world.

and the new world would be called super mario world

fixed

A DVD player? thats stupid. that would have been like putting a VCR in my 360. everything should at least have a BR player and im sure sony will be pushing their next media format

But its obvious that only a small part of the market cares about those features, so there's no real reason to call them "compelling"

Is there a particular reason I got downvoted?

A Blu-Ray player can play DVDs, so either way you can play DVDs.

@ ArchGamer
It was probably because you said Nintendo will rule the world again. I think other fanboys take objection to that. Other than that, the last thing you said was downright blasphemous.

Why? because he said Mario?

Not everyone is from a religion, and what he said is a joke, take it easy.

I think is clear that Nintendo's next console will have HD and HDD, plus that unique something that nintendo's consoles always have (hoping for head tracking or some expanded reality stuff, I'd love to see some of that).

lets see....

4 Wii's + 32GB HDD= Wii 2

You need some sort of adhesive somewhere in that equation...

pssst, you forgot the duct-tape.

no no no....do it like they did the PS3...networking millions of PS3s cures cancer......

I wonder how many Wiis that would take

TEN TRILLION

Every game online and voicechat throughout...

Now, if only someone would have the bright idea to think of that, oh wait...

"Every game online and voicechat throughout..."

Unnecessary. Two games right off the top of my head to prove my point: Resident Evil and Final Fantasy (not including Crystal Chronicles). Please tell me why either of those franchises would require online components.

Never played either of those games, but here's a thought:
Online co-op and downloadable... stuff, you know,levels, weapons etc.

@cody

Resident Evil 5 + Online = Awesome game
4 player FFCC would be much easier to accomplish online rather than meeting up

Horrible examples bro.

Wouldn't that be why he said "not includding FF CC"? Also, echoes of time is online.
I'd be amazed if anyone really thought ALL games should be online...

I predict the singular title that is MH3 will garner more Japanese 3rd party sales and support for Wii than all PS3 and 360 3rd party games combined.

Sony HAS to be kicking themselves for losing the exclusivity (is that a word?) to this game.

No mistake, MH3 will be huge. If it was 360 exclusive it'd still be huge. Hell, they could release it on Sega Genesis and it'd be huge. That and Dragon Quest.

However, no way in hell it'll reach the levels you're saying... There are many PS3 3rd party games that have sold 100,000's in Japan. Hell, there are 360 3rd party games that have sold 100,000's in Japan...

How bout some HD, Nintendo?

What would/should a new Gameboy have?

Or did the DSi effectively kill the Gb range?

Arguments below please.

I'm pretty sure they said that the popularity of the DS meant the gameboy line was over.

you mean the DS isn't a gameboy?

I bet "making a shit-ton" of money constitutes a 'very interesting idea'.

"Very interesting idea" run through a corporate BS filter comes out with "When the Wii stops printing money".

So 2014?

What happens when you run through the Sony BS about a 10 year life cycle?

While "when the Wii stops printing money" is the obvious answer to when we'll see the next Nintendo system, it's not necessarilly the translation of "very interesting idea". Of course, they're not going to release a new system while there's still life in the old system. That's just stupid; the systems would compete with each other and they'd lose money. However, that doesn't meant hey can't also be looking for interesting new hardware ideas for Wii's successor.

Ps 1 and 2 lasted 10 years. How is ps3 doing so bs? Quit being a fantroll

Hopefully with their next system they will take to their third party developers and see what features they would like to see so we can actually have some descent, highly polished games that aren't made by Nintendo.

Or if they don't, they might as well call their next system the "Smash Brothers Adapter".

*talk

That would be a very ass-backwards way to do it. Nintendo develops hardware around software, they do not listen to the dictates of the industry

@khan

Ummmm, ass backwards? Why do you think developers love working with the 360? Companies like Epic, Ubisoft, EA and THQ were all inquired about what they would like to see in the next generation Xbox. The biggest thing everyone wanted was more RAM. What did Microsoft do? They gave them more RAM. Why do you think the 360 has the highest third party attachment rate? Because third party companies actually make money off their games on the 360 as opposed to the ones they release on the Wii. Nintendo maybe "winning" at retail with hardware sales and first party software sales, but they have been losing the third party software ground since the Gamecube days.

No. Wii sells the most 3rd party software, and more 3rd parties make profit off of Wii software than anything else

look it up

Okay, you obviously don't understand numbers. Console to console, the Wii has the LOWEST third party attachment rate, PERIOD. Example, Guitar Hero World Tour sold 4x as many units on the 360 than it did the Wii. This can be said for other multiplatform games as well. The third party games sold on the Wii is misleading because they are accounting for total units sold, for every third party game released for the Wii, multiplatform AND exclusive. If you break the numbers down, any game that sold on the Wii that was multiplatform, sold 3-4 times more on the 360 and/or the PS3.

Look it up.

True, but that makes little difference to 3rd parties. Attach Rates only matter to the console manufacturers, and it only really matters to Sony and Microsoft ultimately, because attach rates show if you're making up for the loss on the individual console with appropriate software sales for that console.

Attach rates only concern console manufacturers? Are you mental? If I was a developer and saw that the Wii had the lowest third party software attach ratio, would I really want to make a game for it?

HELL NO.

Capcom, Ubisoft and EA all learned from this which is why they have changed their Wii software forecasts for their next fiscal year. Something a lot of people forget is that yes, the Nintendo moves first party hardware/software but they surely as hell do not move third party ANYTHING. Do you really think the Wii can survive forever with first party titles? *cough* Gamecube *cough*

NPD, GameIndustry.biz and Reuters has all the numbers, I suggest you do some more research.

And why does attach rate matter in the face of profit? With Wii, you sell more units overall, and rake in a better profit per unit. Not necessarily more of a single game, but when you can break even with 1/4th the sales (or less), when compared to opposing consoles, there's no reason not to.

*decent

Damn Google Chrome.

I've always worried about the Wii's life cycle. What's the advantage of a long life cycle when you're already raking in money from the first sale? They can follow Apple's iPhone model where they just upgrade it every year rather than Sony's ten-year model. I wonder if that's keeping third party developers from sinking time/money into it. On the bright side, it shouldn't cost that much more to retain backwards compatibility if they upgrade it.

The GB micro is not such a bad idea anymore in this GBA-less world the DSi is carving out.

I totally agree.

It'll see a 2011 release, whatever it is. I really think it would be a mistake for Nintendo to go with conventional wisdom (which, thankfully, is something they never do anyway), and hold on to Wii for as long as it will make money.

Everybody talking about HD, harddrives, etc: I'm sure a lot of that's being considerd in the plans for any new console they make, but it doesn't necessarily constitute a "very interesting idea". Those are obvious advances that probably will follow, but not enough alone to justify an entirely new console. If that's all they added, the new device should simply be a new version of the old one (i.e. Wii would be to WiiHD as DS is to DSi). What I _think_ they're talking about is something else, something unique to their system that will make it worthwhile for the customer to update from Wii, or buy their console instead of MS or Sony's, basically the same logic behind making the Wii in the first place.

Personally, I think it'll be exciting to see how they do that after motion controls.

Pretty much. They understand that their audience won't buy a new console if they say "Now with a 2.4 Ghz multicore processor instead of that dinky old 729 Mhz single core!" so they have to come up with something more compelling, something more visceral and visible

It should be interesting, anyway.

By 'Very interesting Idea' they mean gimmick.

or http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gimcrack

You know Shag, I frequent this sight and I think you might be one of like eight people who doesn't get moist at the very mention of Wii or Nintendo. I salute you. It's nice to know someone else shares some of my opinions.

Zero we sir are true gaming patriots. Be proud.

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New Nintendo hardware coming when the company finds a 'very interesting idea'

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