Joystiq

Rumor: Reggie promises 'storage solution' -- not a hard drive?

Christopher Grant — 2008-09-08T15:19:00+00:00

The saga of the Wii hard drive continues. While "geeks and otaku" everywhere wonder - often aloud - why Nintendo hates them so much, Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime tells Latin American Nintendo magazine Club Nintendo (roughly translated by Nintendo Everything and corroborated by GoNintendo), "We are working on a storage solution ... We have never said that it will be a hard drive nor have we mentioned how we will fix this issue, but we are going to deliver a better way to store the games."

If it's not a hard drive, then what is it? Super futuristic holographic storage mayhaps? Or USB mass storage support, so you can use that external HDD you've already got? Hell, we'd settle for enabling game playback from the totally under-utilized SD slot. Then all Nintendo needs are some halfway decent WiiWare titles, and we've got ourselves a deal.

Source - Reggie: We never said the Wii storage solution is a hard drive
Source - Reggie says no hard drive...but a better solution

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Readers pick best webcomic: Impressions of Nintendo's E3 conference

Ross Miller — 2008-08-06T07:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Online, Polls

Let's be honest: Shigeru Miyamoto would never post on Joystiq, and if he would, we'd like to think our response would be something wittier than ":(". So while we object to The Slackerz' totally false characterization of us, we are required by Blogger Law to award it webcomic of the week.

A very close second (as of this writing) goes to Dueling Analogs, with Digital Unrest in third. Thanks to everyone who voted, and be sure to let us know of any game-related webcomics you stumble upon this week!

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Reggie believes Wii storage is a 'mainstream' problem

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-07-24T11:45:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Business

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime acknowledged, "from an Americas-centric perspective," that the Wii's storage capacity is becoming a "mainstream" problem as the regional consumer base embraces WiiWare and the Virtual Console. He tells MTV there is an "urgency" to finding a storage solution, and even states that Nintendo is working on a solution, albeit one that isn't ready to be announced yet.

Meanwhile, we can't help but notice that USB external hard drives with plenty of space are pretty cheap, but would that solution be too simple? We wouldn't to want make things easy ... that's just too complicated.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Nintendo of America 'passionately upset' about Wii supply

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-04-24T14:25:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Business

On a trip to the Wired.com offices, Nintendo of America pres. Reggie Fils-Aime told the site that a Wii lasts about one hour in the wilds of retail and that makes him a little miffed. Most of the conversation dealt with Nintendo's FY08 profits, but Reggie did say that Nintendo of America is "passionately upset about the lack of product relative to demand."

Fils-Aime explains that production is determined by Japan and NoA does its best to remind the folks across the Pacific that there are "missed opportunities" when there isn't enough product. He further points out that North America receives 40% of the 1.8 million Wii consoles manufactured every month, and that NA is the only territory where Wii supply and demand don't match up.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Nintendo: No 'complete' DS games via Wii, only demos

James Ransom-Wiley — 2008-01-04T15:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii

While The New York Times was busy correcting the spelling of Reggie's surname (twice!) - it's 'Fils-Aime' - Nintendo got to work righting the Business Day article's bigger blunder, which claims, "Complete games ... will be able to be downloaded into the Wii using its broadband connection, and then transferred wirelessly to the DS." In a statement released today, Nintendo corrected the bogus announcement, explaining that "in the future, the Nintendo DS will be able to receive demo versions of some DS games from Wii, but not the entire game." These demos, like all content that can be beamed to DS currently, will be erased once the handheld is switched off.

Mr. Taub penned a real lemon for The NY Times on Monday. The article has a growing list of edits appended to the end and still contains the major error cited today, along with this beautifully muffed sentence: "Mr. Fils-Aime said that future DS device will be more tightly integrated with its Wii console."

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Download 'complete' DS games through Wii, NY Times reports

James Ransom-Wiley — 2008-01-02T12:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii

In addition to demos, "complete" DS games will be made available for download onto Wii, Reggie has told The New York Times. It's the first time Nintendo has confirmed plans to offer full, Wii-channeled DS games, but the revelation lacks details.

In late November, "Everybody's Nintendo" channel launched for Wii in Japan, highlighted by wirelessly transferable DS demos. While this technology has yet to be released in other regions, it's apparently on the agenda. DS will be more "tightly integrated" with Wii in the future, reports The NY Times - and that could include portable extensions of Virtual Console, WiiWare and Wii Shop Channel too. But how will Nintendo reconcile the obvious limitations? DS can only temporarily store and play downloaded content, which is fine for demos (or single cart multiplayer), but what about so-called "complete" games? Perhaps Nintendo is also developing a memory expansion cart in conjunction with the proposed service. That's one way to re-sell old Game Boy games...

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Nintendo: Wii shortage causing planning problems

Kyle Orland — 2007-12-20T19:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Business

When Reggie Fils-Aime talked to Reuters a few days ago, we were so focused on the Nintendo of America president's displeasure with unofficial Wii bundles that we didn't even notice the Reggginator acknowledging the business problems Wii shortages are causing his company. "The level of demand we are facing complicates all of our future business planning," Fils-Aime told Reuters. "All of that becomes a much tougher exercise until we have supply and demand curves that intersect."

The hard-to-predict hardware supply complicates other company decisions, Fils-Aime said, such as how many units of Wii Fit to produce. "We at Nintendo America are focused on getting to the point when any consumer can walk into any of our retailers and find a Wii," he said. "Then we can plan, on an ongoing basis, the rest of the business."

It might seem a little ridiculous for Fils-Aime to be complaining about the problems the shortages are causing Nintendo. After all, if this was really a concern, couldn't they just spend whatever it takes to turbo-boost the supply chain? Then again, that added expense could become a liability down the road if and when the current Wii mania eventually starts its downturn. Whatever the case, we're pretty sure that any supply problem so dire that it forces a company to pull advertising is less than ideal. We're just saying, is all.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Unofficial Wii bundles make Nintendo unhappy

Scott Jon Siegel — 2007-12-18T10:27:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Business

Nintendo sure loves talking about things it dislikes. Recently we learned that Wii shortages were on the company's ever-growing list of pet peeves. Now, Reuters reports that Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime is speaking up against unofficial Wii bundles, which force customers to buy the console with additional games and peripherals not of their own choosing.

We're all too familiar with Wii bundles, which artificially increase the price of the relatively cheap console. GameStop does it. Wal-Mart does it. Now, Reggie is expressing distaste over the practice, claiming that it masks the console's price advantage over its competitors, and forces customers to buy things they don't want.

Though Reggie states that Nintendo has contacted specific retailers to express their feelings, he does not address Reuters' question as to whether Nintendo threatened those retailers with fewer shipments. Reggie recently announced a plan to guarantee Wii consoles in 2008 to purchasers who pick up rain check certificates at GameStop retail locations later this week.

[Via GamesIndustry.biz]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Notes from Reggie's Wii shortages conference call

Christopher Grant — 2007-12-14T13:04:00+00:00

Filed under: Features, Nintendo Wii, Business

Reggie Fils-Aime, big cheese at Nintendo of America, held a rather short-notice conference call this morning to discuss - what else? - the incredible success of the Wii and DS as evidenced by the November sales figures released last night (or: Hey Reggie, why the crap can't I find a Wii for my kid/parents/uncle/loved one?).

Most importantly for those of you still hunting Wii: six national retailers will be running ads in their weekend circulars promoting shipments of the console for this weekend. Keep your eyes peeled at Best Buy, Kmart, Sears, Target, Toys 'R Us, and Circuit City. Super-retailer Wal-Mart will be "pushing out massive amounts" all week long. So, Reggie wants you to know that they're making as many as they can produce, which is currently 1.8m consoles a month. With over 50% of that amount being sold in the US alone last month, it's clear that the North American shortage is getting attention from Japan. Still convinced they're withholding demand? Reggie says, "This shortfall benefits no one."

To further help ameliorate shortages, they've tripled their distribution workforce in North Bend, WA (pictured above) to help meet consumer demand. As for DS Lite shortages around the holidays (remember last year?), Reggie said there are "no reported shortages" of the insanely popular little bugger, but that they did expect inventory to get "tight" around December 24th. This doesn't mean it'll be impossible to find, but that you can expect some stores to be sold out as we get closer to Christmas.

Regarding software sales on the Wii platform, Reggie painted a pretty bright picture, noting Super Mario Galaxy's strong November sales. Over 6m pieces of Wii software were sold in November - nearly a 6:1 software/hardware sales rate - pushing the console's attach rate above that of the PS2's in the same period in that console's lifespan (yeah, but where is the PS2 now ... oh, yeah). Leading up to November, the Wii enjoyed a tie ratio of 3.4 games for each console and Reggie chirped, "we expect that our attach rate will continue to increase over the life of the system."

When a caller brought up the lingering issue of shovelware on the Wii platform and wanted to know if Nintendo will do anything to curb the number of poorly made titles on the system, Reggie responded by essentially saying the market will work itself out. Citing Guitar Hero III specifically he said, "The fact is, those publishers that do a great job enjoy fantastic sales and the quality shows." As much as we believe you Reggie, our copy of Capcom's excellent Zack & Wiki doesn't.

Accessory sell through is similarly positive, as Reggie cited reports of Wii Zapper shortages, and strong Wii Fit sales in Japan. Speaking of accessories, Reggie hinted strongly in an answer to a question that a headset peripheral enabling voice chat in Wii games would be available. "I would not be surprised to see that capability come on our system."

"The fact that we've sold through over 6m units in just over a year is unheard of in our industry," Reggie gloated. A caller asks if they're air freighting systems over from their production facilities in the Far East, which Reggie skips past saying, "In terms of our distribution systems, I really don't want to comment on that ... We are doing some unique things that are proprietary." Proprietary? Like warp pipes?

Other interesting tidbits from the opening of the call: Reggie noted that the average age of a Wii owner was 29, perhaps slightly higher than the average age of other console owners, while lower than industry-wide figures published by the ESA (which include older, casual PC gamers). He also said the "vast majority" of Wii console owners are "Core" players, willing to wait in line before retailers open to get one (note: these gamers also answer to "mom").

Permalink | Email this | Comments

BrandWeek crowns Nintendo's Fils-Aime marketer of the year

Ross Miller — 2007-10-10T07:56:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Business

Nintendo of America's ass-kicking, name-taking president Reggie Fils-Aime (pronounce it properly, please) earned top honors this year by being named marketer of the year according to BrandWeek. It's not too surprising, given the console maker's rather storied rise to the top - how many more articles are we going to see about grandparents playing Wii bowling?

Other honorees include executives from NBC, Geico and Crocs. The BrandWeek article can be viewed online (.pdf file); Reggie's article starts on page four.

[Via Gamasutra]

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Say it with us: Reggie "FEE-SUH-MAY"

Christopher Grant — 2007-10-01T16:02:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii

Finally! With Nintendo of America's executive washroom looking emptier and emptier these days, it's increasingly important that we not mangle the surnames of the few execs who remain. We're pretty sure we've got Perrin Kaplan down (though we're still not sure if she's sticking around), but Reggie Fils-Aime's last name has always presented something of a problem. Everywhere, gamers and journalists have ... paused before uttering his unique name. "Did I just say that right? PHILS-AMY?"

Well, MTV's Multiplayer blog went right to the source and asked Reggie, How the crap do you pronounce your last name? Watch as Reggie kicks ass and enunciates names. "It's not PHILS-AIM. It's not PHILS-AMY. It's FEE-SUH-MAY." Really? Fils-Aime is pronounced "fee-suh-may"? Yeah, err, that's totally how we've always pronounced it.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Wii can't meet demand for holiday season, says Reggie

Scott Jon Siegel — 2007-10-01T09:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Business

Faster than we could say "Nintendo," the Wii has once again slipped back into questionable supply for this holiday season. Where previously Reggie Fils-Aimé appeared confident in the "unprecedented" number of Wiis in stock this Winter, now the Nintendo of America President seems convinced that demand will still far exceed supply, with shortages through the end of 2007 meaning crummy Christmases and half-baked Hannukahs two years in a row for some gamers.

In an interview with Mercury News, Fils-Aimé goes "on the record" to state that the Wii can't possibly meet demand by the end of the year. He strongly emphasizes that this is not a production issue, and has to do merely with the incredible demand for the product, which production has been unable to keep up with (though that does sound like a production issue to us).

Still, Reggie promises that the Wii will be appearing in retail locations at an almost constant flow, and urges potential buyers to call stores persistently to ask when future shipments are arriving, and to get to stores early.

[Via GamesIndustry]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments