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http://www.nintendojo.com/infocus/view_item.php?1081793468
Iwata Tells All, Proposes GCNext
In conducting research for a new book on the gaming industry, Steven Kent
(of Newsweek/MSNBC) has just released a lengthy article on Nintendo focusing
on President Satoru Iwata-san. GameSpy is publishing Kent's reports in a
series of specials that are certainly worth checking out.
Among other things said in the interview, Iwata-san (and primarily for the
sake of illustration, mind you) asked Kent to consider their next console
the GCNext, or GCN for short. [Editor's note: Obviously, this raises a bit
of a dilemma for us fansite writers as the new acronym is identical to the
official GameCube one.] This select mention makes GCNext the closest thing
we have to an official project name at this time (barring third party
documentation tossed around months ago).
Iwata-san shared the following key points of his business philosophy:
a.. A portable GameCube/Game Boy hybrid system, while a fun concept, would
not be considered by Nintendo until the price, weight, and battery life were
low enough to make it appropriate to bring to market.
a.. Sony and Microsoft have been much more formidable competition for
Nintendo than companies founded on gaming (e.g. Sega) ever were. Iwata-san
admitted that the GameCube's mediocre performance relative to the other
consoles has resulted in a decline of profitability.
a.. He asserted that as long as people play games on TVs, and as long as
Nintendo's software development is top-notch, Nintendo would continue to
make money off its current business model of producing its own hardware.
a.. Microsoft is only concerned on releasing a technologically "beefed-up"
version of its console, whereas Nintendo hopes to focus on making the
process of game development easier and cheaper with its next machine. (This
line is very similar with what was said during the GameCube's development as
well.)
a.. On the topic of the growing adult market of game players and its
immediate effect on Nintendo's revenues: "To answer your question, in the
short term, there is some impact [from Nintendo's inability to reach older
audiences]; but in the long term, I think it is most important for Nintendo
to reach the widest variety of customers. That is our main emphasis right
now, and it will be in the future as well." Again, the company line hasn't
changed radically from years' past.
a.. Third party support, while once a way for console makers to line their
pockets with licensing fees, are now crucial to a console's success.
Iwata-san reiterated Nintendo's dedication to building relationships with
established third parties (though so far they have primarily been
exclusively Japanese) with collaborations like F-Zero GX and Donkey Konga
a.. As opposed to Sony, who is trying to develop new semiconductor
technology for its game systems that no one knows how to program for,
Nintendo would be best off cooperating with and investing in the best
hardware available and thus already familiar to designers and programmers.
a.. Nestled into the third page of the story was Iwata-san finally gives us
something to call what up until now has colloquially referred to as N5:
"Nintendo is working on its next-generation system. Allow me to call it
GCNext or GCN. The abilities of GCNext will be different from what you have
seen from consoles in the past. What Nintendo is currently discussing is not
about state-of-the-art technology for enhancing processing power. But what
I, Miyamoto, and Mr. Takeda [engineering leader Genyo Takeda] are discussing
is what should be done to entertain people in a new way; and in order to
achieve this, what functionality must be added to our current technology."
Perhaps the most important quote in the article was Iwata's closing
concession that while inexpensive and easy to develop games for, GameCube
did not succeed because PS2 beat it to market.
"I think that its biggest shortcoming was that we were late in launching
it," says Iwata. "Because of that delay, our competitors were able to create
a large install base for their consoles. Even though it was easier for
software developers to create games for GameCube, because of the delay, the
developers had a chance to learn more about our competitors' machines. In
the end, we could not match that advantage."
Iwata-san promised that next time around, Nintendo would launch "GCNext"
alongside its competition to prevent the same problems GameCube has faced in
the market. (js)
http://www.nintendojo.com/infocus/view_item.php?1081793468
Iwata Tells All, Proposes GCNext
In conducting research for a new book on the gaming industry, Steven Kent
(of Newsweek/MSNBC) has just released a lengthy article on Nintendo focusing
on President Satoru Iwata-san. GameSpy is publishing Kent's reports in a
series of specials that are certainly worth checking out.
Among other things said in the interview, Iwata-san (and primarily for the
sake of illustration, mind you) asked Kent to consider their next console
the GCNext, or GCN for short. [Editor's note: Obviously, this raises a bit
of a dilemma for us fansite writers as the new acronym is identical to the
official GameCube one.] This select mention makes GCNext the closest thing
we have to an official project name at this time (barring third party
documentation tossed around months ago).
Iwata-san shared the following key points of his business philosophy:
a.. A portable GameCube/Game Boy hybrid system, while a fun concept, would
not be considered by Nintendo until the price, weight, and battery life were
low enough to make it appropriate to bring to market.
a.. Sony and Microsoft have been much more formidable competition for
Nintendo than companies founded on gaming (e.g. Sega) ever were. Iwata-san
admitted that the GameCube's mediocre performance relative to the other
consoles has resulted in a decline of profitability.
a.. He asserted that as long as people play games on TVs, and as long as
Nintendo's software development is top-notch, Nintendo would continue to
make money off its current business model of producing its own hardware.
a.. Microsoft is only concerned on releasing a technologically "beefed-up"
version of its console, whereas Nintendo hopes to focus on making the
process of game development easier and cheaper with its next machine. (This
line is very similar with what was said during the GameCube's development as
well.)
a.. On the topic of the growing adult market of game players and its
immediate effect on Nintendo's revenues: "To answer your question, in the
short term, there is some impact [from Nintendo's inability to reach older
audiences]; but in the long term, I think it is most important for Nintendo
to reach the widest variety of customers. That is our main emphasis right
now, and it will be in the future as well." Again, the company line hasn't
changed radically from years' past.
a.. Third party support, while once a way for console makers to line their
pockets with licensing fees, are now crucial to a console's success.
Iwata-san reiterated Nintendo's dedication to building relationships with
established third parties (though so far they have primarily been
exclusively Japanese) with collaborations like F-Zero GX and Donkey Konga
a.. As opposed to Sony, who is trying to develop new semiconductor
technology for its game systems that no one knows how to program for,
Nintendo would be best off cooperating with and investing in the best
hardware available and thus already familiar to designers and programmers.
a.. Nestled into the third page of the story was Iwata-san finally gives us
something to call what up until now has colloquially referred to as N5:
"Nintendo is working on its next-generation system. Allow me to call it
GCNext or GCN. The abilities of GCNext will be different from what you have
seen from consoles in the past. What Nintendo is currently discussing is not
about state-of-the-art technology for enhancing processing power. But what
I, Miyamoto, and Mr. Takeda [engineering leader Genyo Takeda] are discussing
is what should be done to entertain people in a new way; and in order to
achieve this, what functionality must be added to our current technology."
Perhaps the most important quote in the article was Iwata's closing
concession that while inexpensive and easy to develop games for, GameCube
did not succeed because PS2 beat it to market.
"I think that its biggest shortcoming was that we were late in launching
it," says Iwata. "Because of that delay, our competitors were able to create
a large install base for their consoles. Even though it was easier for
software developers to create games for GameCube, because of the delay, the
developers had a chance to learn more about our competitors' machines. In
the end, we could not match that advantage."
Iwata-san promised that next time around, Nintendo would launch "GCNext"
alongside its competition to prevent the same problems GameCube has faced in
the market. (js)
.
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