Nintendo\'s new hardware to debut at E3

I hope they know what the hell they\'re doing.  This quote has me worried that Nintendo is having a change in philosophy, and I might speculate it\'s for the worst.  As long as they don\'t abandon the home console market and give up on third parties, I\'ll be alright with it...

Iwata Discusses New Product

Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata, in an interview with the Kyoto Shimbun newspaper revealed some interesting tidbits regarding Nintendo’s “new product”. When asked what kind of product it was, Iwata-san replied, "Game creation has in various ways, met a deadlock," Iwata said. "Over the past twenty years, games have followed a straight path in development that have made them more complex and good looking. This law of growth and success is no more. Put frankly, games have stopped selling."

He continued saying, "We want to offer to customers a play experience that they\'ve never had before. We\'re not expecting everyone to cheer following the announcement. It\'s okay if ten percent of the people say the product is \'interesting\' and word spreads with people finding themselves wanting to try it."

Regarding the new products exact purpose, he declared: "We want to make a game that returns to the point that anyone can play it. However, our company does not support a product that combines software and hardware into one. The product uses a platform, but it does not fit into the specifications of the current hardware platforms."

Those are definitely some interesting quotes regarding Nintendo’s new baby. E3 can’t come any quicker. Feel free to head on over to the Dojo Forums and speculate. (zp)

Source: IGNcube, Kyoto Shimbun

What is he talking about? A new system where the controller has one button? I have no idea. Is it a system at all? I\'m curious, but I\'m also worried.

-Eik

ugh, i had hoped they would give up after the lackluster gamecube and go the route of sega

One button controller... just about the same image i had when i read that -- the somethingawful.com controller with the start and win game buttons to be more precise.

Or probably an original peripheral that requires next generation technology?

Originally posted by mm
ugh, i had hoped they would give up after the lackluster gamecube and go the route of sega

I\'d hate to see that. Instead, I\'d like to see them be more aggressive and solidify some stronger market share next time around.

I\'m just hoping this thing Iwata is talking about, isn\'t the next console. I hope it\'s some side project for shits and giggles.

Just when Nintendo\'s management was making progress, I\'m afraid its stance on "appeal to everyone!" is going to have the company taking giant steps backward.

If Unicron is right and it\'s just some peripheral then that\'s fine by me. Unless Nintendo ends up supporting it at the expense of other things like online support (see: connectivity).

-Eik

The creation of a few  top quality Nintendo Game cube exclusives would help them.

But at the moment they are a little thin on the ground .

They pumped out all their major franchises at once and now there\'s a void.  2004 looks to be the year of sequels, as long as they don\'t see delays.

We might have Resident Evil 4 for Cubes by Christmas, and you never know if Pikmin 2, Metroid Prime 2, or one or two other games might pop up.

I think they should release Doshin the Giant in the States and Donkey Konga outside of Japan. Couldn\'t hurt at this point.

But where\'s the edge? Hopefully Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes can keep out from the shadow of MGS3: Snake Eater. That, RE4, and Metroid Prime 2 would make for a good 2004 in that regard.

-Eik

Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes  need (pardon the pun) more substance.

At the moment it looks dman fine but from i have read its just a update.

Could do with a few new features.

Konami is really running the show it seems.  Silicon Knights basically just does what it\'s told.  So we\'ll see how Kojima\'s vision takes the title. I\'m expecting a pretty looking port a la RE1, but I\'d be surprised if they didn\'t change it up some.

Really, I\'m good either way since I\'ve practically missed the entire MGS series up to this point. I\'m not sure which of the two games is going to get my dollar yet...

-Eik

GameCube.. lackluster? Ehhhh, maybe compared to PS2 which is getting the most 3rd-party support..

He needs to head to the US if he thinks games have stopped selling.  Tell him to go look at EB when Halo 2 comes out.

Japan sales have been on a slow decline as of late.  There\'s no real explanation for it and blaming all the "complex" games as the cause of it just isn\'t going to fly.  If he guages the whole world by judging the Japanese\'s interest in them, then he is making a huge mistake.

[clips]

how can he say .."games aren\'t selling?" does he mean gamecube titles aren\'t selling? In any case nothing against nintendo i still feel they need to be in the game to keep sony & microsoft honest. I can\'t put my finger on nintendo i don\'t want to sound like a broken record but maybe nin. can\'t shake this kiddie image it has ..yea it has res. evil and a couple of other mature titles but whenever it comes time to promote a big game,it\'s always mario golf ,mario cart ,mario party etc etc. they need to promote more older mature games.

what i cant figure out is nintendo has the biggest in house franchises, yet they are 3rd in world sales

IGN posted a better translation of Iwata today.

We will be satisfied if 10% of people find the product interesting (from the get-go), those that are unsure eventually develop an interest in trying it, and then general interest in the product ensues from there. We\'d like to bring gaming back to that stage in which it can be enjoyed by anyone. However, a hardware/software-in one unit would not be a viable for our company from a business perspective. In other words, we will be utilizing a platform of some kind, but this platform will not be limited to the nature of the workings of existing game consoles.

Seems like he just wants to get creative with the next console.  EyeToys? Motion sensors? Download ROMs? I don\'t know what kind of creativity you can do with hardware, but I guess it\'s all eyes on E3 until we know some more.

-Eik