Well, there go our dreams for a PokéMMO; Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has confirmed that Nintendo has no interest in developing an MMO at this time, possibly putting to rest the rumor of a massively multiplayer version of Animal Crossing, as well as any hope for Nintendo further broadening their online offerings.

Specifically, Iwata stated that Nintendo would only pursue MMO development if the title could appeal to people of all ages, from "5 to 95." Looking at Second Life, Iwata belives that MMOs aren't yet accessible to people without a fair degree of computer literacy, and that Nintendo would want to successfully cross that bridge before considering going the MMO route.

The answer bums us out a bit, but at least it shows that Nintendo isn't entirely close-minded to the possibility. Maybe we'll someday get a PokéMMO after all?

[Via Massively]

When Nintendo president Satoru Iwata refuses to "do the easy," you may think he's merely declining to perform some sort of elaborate dance maneuver. Given its name, we imagine such a dance move simply entails lying face down on the floor and remaining motionless until everyone else has gone home. It makes perfect sense really, as Iwata isn't going to take things lying down (see the connection there?) when it comes to a Wii Sports sequel.

Simply adding new sports isn't good enough, he explained in an on-going series of discussions posted on Mother designer Shigesato Itoi's news blog, Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun. "We're not going to take such an easy way, not by including seven new sports in the game since Wii Sports has five," said Iwata." We're not closing our doors to the possibility of a sequel, but it's definitely not coming out soon." He goes on to say that if Nintendo hopes to continue expanding its audience, the element of surprise is vital.

And what affords Nintendo the opportunity to explore new things and have unexpected games pop out of their little white box? "But realistically, I think we can say 'we won't do the easy' because we are currently making profit."

When your system is flying off shelves faster than you can produce them, it's easy to simply lean back and play some Phantom Hourglass on your delightful money printer. Speaking to Newsweek's N'Gai Croal during E3, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has expressed some concern about lapsing into just such a state. While he's obviously pleased with his company's mainstream success thus far, he feels Nintendo should avoid just laughing to the bank on autopilot.

"That's probably Nintendo's next obstacle is to not lose its internal energy and internal momentum," said Iwata. "I believe my most important role right now is to prevent Nintendo from being in a company where people say, 'Oh, Nintendo is arrogant,' 'Nintendo has let its guard down,' or 'Nintendo has lost its challenging spirit.' We want to avoid all of the pitfalls that can come from losing one's momentum." The introduction of Wii Fit and resolution of inadequate Wii production should keep the wrecking ball swinging through the casual gamer barrier -- but what of the longterm Nintendo fans?

Listing games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy, Iwata explains that Nintendo has no intention of abandoning core players. "Still, we really believe that part of our mission is to make traditional games for our traditional audience." Just so long they don't involve carpenter tools.

Not content with his company's record earnings, Nintendo's Satoru Iwata dropped the smack on Nintendo of America's lackluster sales, citing a unique inability to unload copies of DS phenom Brain Age. Said Iwata, "When I received a report from the U.S. that they sold 1 million Pokémon Diamond & Pearl already, I asked them, 'why did you sell only 10,000 Brain Age last week, when Europe sold through 30,000?' This is a typical example of how I communicate with our people in the U.S." Typical? Instantly, our image of NoA's towering Reggie Fils-Aime simultaneously kicking asses while jotting down names (in cursive, mind you) has been replaced with one of Iwata flipping over boardroom desks while asking ... nay, demanding to know why Nintendo can't seem to make a dent in America!

Mr. Iwata, if we may be so bold as to make a suggestion that we feel may help contribute to even higher record earnings and additional piles of cash to swim in: make more consoles. You see, the DS Lite and Wii have been relatively scarce since last December! Don't worry folks, Iwata's on top of it. He says, "a small increase [in production] is expected at the retail outlets from next month." Wait, that's this month. Don't blow it, Reggie or you know who's gonna come knocking.

[Thanks, Josh; via DS Fanboy]

The latest issue of Japan's Weekly Famitsu contains gory details of the magazine's annual Japanese industry awards, and it's little surprise that renowned industry savior Satoru Iwata is cited as the figure who made the greatest impact on videogames in 2006. NCL's friendly President (there's a French brand of cheese called Président, you know) received 201 votes to pip Ken Kutaragi, of all people, to the title. What "Big Ken" was even doing in the listings we fail to fathom, but there you have it. And here you have Famitsu's top five Japanese industry cheeses:

1. Satoru Iwata (Nintendo) -- 201 votes
   
2. Ken Kutaragi (Sony Computer Entertainment) -- 181 votes
   
3. Hironobu Sakaguchi (Mistwalker) -- 126 votes
   
4. Shigeru Miyamoto (Nintendo) -- 41 votes
   
5. Hideo Kojima (Konami) -- 33 votes
   

After punching out a rampaging E3 hopped up on sex, drugs and caffeine and sending it to conference rehab, the ESA is already preparing plans to welcome a more discreet and otherwise polite press gathering in 2007. The change has garnered much discussion, with one of the central points revolving around the kind of support the major industry players will provide to a significantly smaller event.

According to Gamesindustry.biz, Nintendo is the first of the major three platform holders to confirm involvement with next year's Min-E3, though the level of said involvement is still up in the air. A couple of Super Mario Galaxy posters on the wall of a barren hotel room would likely fail to generate the massive lines Nintendo enjoyed at the last E3, though it certainly would help alleviate the problem of getting trampled by an army of wand-waving nerds (always a plus).

Microsoft and Sony have been less decisive in their response, though it should only be a matter of time before they reveal intentions to join the officially dubbed "E3 Media Festival" or simply bulldoze the proceedings with conferences of their own.

[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

The words of CNN Money's Chris Morris, which suggest a Wii launch in late September or early October, are certainly tantalizing and not entirely unrealistic. Getting the machine onto store shelves and into our loving, embarrassingly weak arms would give Nintendo a healthy lead on the PS3 and Microsoft's glut of holiday titles, not to mention the joy it would grant fans of intergalactic bounty hunters and pointy-eared archers. Morris cites an earlier analyst report by P.J. McNealy of American Technology Research which notes that Nintendo already began manufacturing final retail consoles on 21 June, providing ample time until a prospective September launch.

Further evidence comes in the less sturdy form of past release dates of Nintendo consoles, with only the Gamecube missing an October or September release window. Of course, if the Wii launches worldwide immediately, one would expect a strategy similar to that of the DS launch -- that one happened in November as well. While it's not entirely unfeasible, Morris' suggestion is still swathed in speculation. With no details available on manufacturing, Nintendo may have simply started up the production line early (if they did so at all) to avoid launch shortages which plagued the Xbox 360 and are sure to plague Sony's machine.

Unfortunately, it looks like the only words we can fully trust right now are the ones from official (and sober) Nintendo men and women.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

[Update 1: Nintendo has (predictably) put the kibosh on this one, with a spokesperson stating, "There's no change in our plan to release the console in the last quarter of this year."]

Whether it's the backing of an unorthodox console or just the sight of an opponent stumbling over a price tag, Iwata exudes a good deal of confidence in the interview where he shrugs off the PS3's knee-jerk addition of motion sensing capabilities. Mr. Iwata points out that having to hold the DualShake with both hands makes for a noticeably different experience. "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."

Though gamers will be pointing and yelling "thief" for a while to come, Iwata's calm reaction is probably the best illustration of what's really happening here. The PS3 controller has an extra feature (at the expense of rumbling) that, judging by the games we've seen so far, is unlikely to become the primary form of input as it has with the Wii. The types of games on the two systems are thus likely to be different enough to dismiss any sort of suggestion that Sony is somehow stealing from and encroaching upon Nintendo's market. It's important to keep in mind that the functions of a controller, whether they be motion sensing or sensual massaging, are pretty worthless without games that make proper use of them. (That excludes the original Xbox controller. It made for an exceedingly effective blunt weapon.)

During a recent conversation with CNN (focused on cheaper game prices), Nintendo President Satoru Iwata suggested that the Revolution would support a multitude of storage options. Referring to the console's USB ports, Iwata confirmed that "practically any storage method can be used."

The Nintendo Revolution will not feature an internal hard drive. Instead, the unit will utilize 512 MB of flash memory and built-in SD memory card support. In addition, Iwata's remarks imply that Nintendo intends to, ultimately, leave the best storage solution up to the consumer's discretion — a freedom that could give Nintendo an edge (in terms of consumer satisfaction) over Sony and Microsoft. For example, a quick search on Circuit City's website yields Seagate's 160 GB external drive for only $60 (with rebate). Compare that to Microsoft's $100, 20 GB 360 HDD (also manufactured by Seagate). No contest.

Memory options will be important for gamers looking to stockpile the Revolution's Virtual Console titles. Iwata noted that aside from classic games, Nintendo plans to issue new titles through the download service as well. But does the storage freedom mean a loss of security for Nintendo? That is, will this decision increase the prevalence of homebrew apps, including emulators that already run all of those classic games, on the Revolution? It's a tough call.

[Thanks for the artwork & additional info Rosco!]

Speaking with CNN, Nintendo's Satoru Iwata revealed his company's plan to undercut the $60 price tag carried by standard Xbox 360 titles (and expected for PS3 games). "I cannot imagine any first party title could be priced for more than $50," says Iwata. However, Nintendo's president was careful to note that the company could not control the retail values suggested by 3rd party publishers of other Revolution titles.

Iwata also added that in-game advertising will not significantly influence Nintendo's future revenue (and likely, its games), and therefore, does not affect the decision to maintain the $50 price tag for 1st party titles.

UPDATE: As noted in the Comments section, current 1st party 360 titles also retail for $50.

Nintendo gave away copies of their upcoming DS title, Brain Age, following Satoru Iwata's keynote Thursday morning. Included in the special GDC edition* was the above note, urging all of us to be ambassadors, if you will, of Nintendo's ideology of inclusive gaming.

Having only been back in Philly for a half day now, my girlfriend has already logged a couple hours training her brain: math puzzles, drawing, reading aloud, and--of course--sudoku. The goal is to achieve the ideal "brain age" of 20; I began at 30 (not far from my real age of 26), my girlfriend encountered a slightly steeper learning (not being a lifelong gaming-nerd) giving her an unrepresentative brain age of 74. After retrying the test, she achieved the more accurate score of 34.

I plan on continuing my daily training in Brain Age, charting my progress, competing with my girlfriend, and reporting it all here. First impressions: Nintendo has another hit on their hands.

*see below for the specially embossed package. Actually, it's really just a sticker. Brain Age is due to be released April 17th at the discount price of $20.

Waiting in the San Jose Civic Auditorium for Nintendo's Satoru Iwata to begin his keynote presentation titled "Disrupting Development." The music is a trendy mix of The White Stripes, Gorillaz, Beck, and some others I'm not cool enough to recognize. Reggie is standing in the front deflecting fans. He deflects my request for a picture: "I don't want to take the spotlight away from Mr. Iwata's keynote."

Fair enough, Reggie. Fair enough. But we'll still get a picture of your presence, to document it, for posterity.

The video display keeps teasing us with shots of Iwata's slides, flashing up and disappearing before my eyes can deliver the pertinent information to my brain to process. Something about Ninte... gone.

There are a series of rectangular, metal blue devices on stage labeled "IS Nitro Capture." Nitro was the DS code name if I'm not mistaken; are these DS capture units, to display games on the screens? We'll find out. Another song that I don't recognize.

They ask us to turn off all cell phones and pagers (who still uses those?) but they don't mention cameras. I've filed a mental note.

According to CVG, there's "a strong whisper that the Revolution's real name will finally be confirmed this week" at GDC.

Satoru Iwata's disruptive GDC keynote, scheduled for Thursday at 10:30 AM PT (1:30 PM ET) to 11:30 AM PT, would be the perfect opportunity to reveal the new name for Nintendo's next console.

The other rumor--regarding a highly unlikely June launch for the machine still code-named Revolution--was a lot less believable. Then again, this week's events could simply confirm that the Big N's going with its hardware code name for the Rev as it did for the DS. Questions, questions... hopefully we'll have some answers this Thursday.

[Via Gamecloud]

See also:

• Joystiq @ GDC: In the beginning... [a few upcoming GDC highlights]
• Revolution's real name and final form to be revealed in May
• Revolution still just a "codename?"
• Nintendo overhauls the DS [but keeps the code name]

It was a year ago, to the day, that the president of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, was confirmed as a keynote speaker at the 2005 Game Developer's Conference. His speech, called "The Heart of a Gamer," was considered a heartfelt plea that stood in stark contrast to J Allard's hyperactive giveaway.

Additional details of his presence at GDC have been revealed. Iwata-san will resume the battle-cry for innovation in video games with his keynote speech, titled "Disrupting Development." Topics will include Brain Age, NiWiFi, and the Revolution.

Iwata's keynote will be held on March 23rd, from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM.