Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Iwata's interview yesterday definitely sparked some debate within our little community here, but it would seem a lot of you didn't exactly chime in with your own thoughts on 'very affordable.' So, what price point would you like to see Wii MotionPlus set at? Is $20 a sweet spot? Would you mind paying as much as $30? Weigh in!

The Wii has long been heralded as the cheapest console out there, but that claim soon weakens if you want to own every add-on that is available for the platform. Nintendo seems to recognize that Wii ownership is getting increasingly pricey, and now company bossman Satoru Iwata has said: no more add-ons!

Okay, so he didn't quite make that promise. But Iwata has told the Wall Street Journal that "most of the ideas for accessories that we had initially come up with are out now." If you can hear sighing, that'll be our wallets, though don't get comfy right away: Iwata has warned that Nintendo might think up more, presumably once the company's bank balance has dipped below the danger level of one trillion-gazillion* dollars.

Iwata also confirmed that Nintendo would try and make the Wii MotionPlus "very affordable," an attainable goal considering that the add-on is apparently cheap to make. There will also be games that can only be played with a MotionPlus plugged in -- beginning, we'd assume, with Wii Sports Resort.

* Possibly not a real number.


[Via Edge; thanks, supa_s!]

During a Forbes piece that takes a look at the future of gaming, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed that Nintendo is already working on their next console. The likelihood that we could actually see or be told anything concrete about it is nonexistent, however. Nintendo's current console is both selling far too well and, we imagine, development of their newest console is in the earliest stages, considering the Wii hasn't been on store shelves for two years yet.

"We are always preparing for the next hardware," Iwata said. "We are under development. ... But the hardware is a kind of box that consumers reluctantly buy in order to play our games." Well, we wouldn't say reluctantly, because most people seem to be more than happy to pick up a Wii.

In terms of future specs, Iwata commented that every new piece of hardware "needs some revolutionary features." He also added that "This time around, it happened to be we had a revolutionary user interface. Will it be the same for the next generation? I really can't tell." Considering what the company did with the Wii, we're totally expecting bigger and better things from Nintendo.

President Iwata also went on to comment about how hard it is for them to innovate beyond what they've done this generation. "It's natural for the current customer to expect Nintendo is going to once again do something different. If the people are expecting so many different things from Nintendo, it's going to be difficult for us to go beyond that expectation again."

[Thanks, Joe!]

Whether or not you've been able to find Wiis in stores as of late, the holiday season is a completely different beast. Even now, in July, company president Satoru Iwata can't promise that there will be enough Wiis stocked to meet demand this Christmastime. If Wiis are scarce, this will be the third holiday season in a row that people in the U.S. and UK have had difficulty locating the console.

Iwata promises that the company is doing everything in its power to avoid this situation, and is on schedule to develop 2.4 million units for 2008 by the end of the year.

We can imagine only that some other Nintendo stock (we're looking at you, Wii Fit) will be a nightmare to find this holiday season, too.

[Thanks, Thomas!]

You know you hate them. No matter how much you love Nintendo, there's no way you can justify those vile things known as friend codes.

Nintendo (the company) might not despise them as much as we do (or at all), but at least some of the higher-ups are willing to acknowledge that they're not the best EVAR. In fact, you really don't get much higher up than President Satoru Iwata, who recently admitted in an interview with GameDaily that the friend code system isn't perfect. He then spouted the usual company line when he said, "However, if it's an online world where you can get access to anybody without any restrictions, I as a father do not feel like allowing my daughter be engaged in that kind of world."

Iwata said that the purpose of friend codes is to create a harassment-free environment for people less familiar with online video gaming, but we can't help but feel like friend codes are a different kind of harassment that tirelessly bothers those who are experienced online gamers. The prez also said that the company is working on improving the system, though, while keeping it safe.

[Via CVG]

By now, you've read about the new city in Animal Crossing: City Folk. The itinerant characters like Gracie and Lyle now have their own shops in the new "City" area. Two new locations in the city, as I found in my hands-on session, combine to form a shortcut to hilarity.

A theater in town offers stand-up performances from Wild World's Dr. Shrunk, which (through his reactions more than his actual terrible jokes) teach your new avatar an emotion. You can then trigger these emotional responses with an icon on the onscreen keyboard or an icon located at the top of the gameplay screen. I got "sorrow," which causes the character to cry briefly. Heartbreaking!

The Nintendo rep then led me into the new beauty shop, where you can give yourself a makeover in the form of a Mii mask. I chose the Iwata mask for my avatar Sarah, which replaced her Crossing-style head with Iwata's. This odd sequence of events left me in a position to make a cartoon version of Nintendo's president, clad in a dress, weep. You can see a picture of said crying jag after the break.

You've read the drunken ramblings of the Fanboy team as they stumbled through the revelations of the Nintendo press conference. Now it's time to have your say, and let us know just how impressive the lineup of presentations was. Is Cammie a decent enough public speaker with the whole world watching? Will Wii Music stink out concert halls worldwide, or receive a standing ovation? Is Iwata cooler than you? Absolutely.

Go on, Nintendo can take your punishment. If you hated it, let fly with reasons why. If you loved it, gush about your favorite game (aside from the default selection of Animal Crossing). All in all, was E3 2008 a success or a blunder for Nintendo? You decide.

Never mind the wicked -- there's no rest for anybody at Nintendo. Speaking at the company's E3 2008 press conference, whip-cracking president Satoru Iwata insisted that the Mario and Zelda teams were "both hard at work" on "new titles."

And? Um ... and that's it. No further hints, clues, or suggestive winks, though we're placing our money on Link and/or Mario being involved somehow (duh), and with good reason -- a future that lacks a Zelda game with 1:1 swordfighting really doesn't bear thinking about.

It's been a very very very very very crazy ride for the Wii in regards to DVD playback. It's still not certain if the general public really cares anyway, on account of owning about six hundred devices that play DVDs already, so it's no big deal that Nintendo still isn't doing much about their planned movie-ready console.

IGN picked up a report from a stock-holders meeting, and Satoru Iwata said outright that "With supply constraints [of the Wii] continuing worldwide, the priority is on the current model." Guess they won't be rolling out a DVD unit anytime soon. It's hard enough to get the existing console to customers as it is, let alone turn around and start dilly-dallying around by making up a new model!

Now that Link's Crossbow Training is coming out in the region that matters (Japan), Nintendo has begun promoting it with one of their "Iwata Asks" interview series. This time, Shigeru Miyamoto is back in the hot seat -- and at the beginning of the interview, he expresses surprise that producers Takashi Tezuka and Eiji Aonuma aren't there as well.

Right away, the surprises begin. Describing his motivation for Link's Crossbow Training, which he sees as an introduction to the FPS genre, Miyamoto reveals himself to be an FPS fan: "I've always been into first person shooter (FPS) style games, 3D games in which you can walk around freely and see things from your own point of view. " He describes the perspective as "more comfortable, more natural," and then upturns the interview's tea table, saying that he originally wanted The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time to be in first-person.

Since this is an interview between Iwata and Miyamoto, you know that can't be the only awesome quote. There's a bit in there about explaining Link's gun use with a Terminator-esque story. You should really just go read the whole thing.

Speculation that Microsoft may be about to launch a rival to the Wii Remote started early last month, yet Nintendo President Satoru Iwata's thoughts on the matter have only publicly emerged now. His verdict? A resounding, distinctly unimpressed "Meh."

Well, we're paraphrasing a bit there, but it's more or less what he meant. "We are not concerned about what other companies may do," Iwata told an audience of investors. "[We're] rather more concerned with presenting [...] new ideas to our customers based on the prospect that our existing customers will surely get tired of [gameplay] enabled by the Wii Remote if we do not try to improve the experience."

Rather than fret over what Microsoft and Sony get up to, Iwata says he'd prefer that Nintendo concentrated on producing more "new surprises" for consumers. Or, to put it another way, keep one step ahead of the competition, and they'll never catch you.

[Via Develop]

Yes, you read that title correctly. The dire situation regarding every Wii owner not having enough storage space is being considered by the Big N, so you can all bet we're happy campers. While Nintendo president Satoru Iwata doesn't come out and say that Nintendo is working on a hard drive for the console, or some other solution, he does say enough to get our hopes up for some sort of memory expansion (or support for external hard drives through USB).

"Statistically speaking, it is true that there are a small number of customers who feel that the flash memory is too small, while many others find that they have plenty of memory," says Iwata. "However, because this small number of people are none other than the most avid players, we know we have to review the best possible solution to eliminate their inconvenience." Interesting bit in that last line, if we may say so.

We all know that being able to re-download something just isn't a good enough solution because, well, it's a total pain. But, if Nintendo can come up with a solution to our storage space issues that doesn't provide us with a hard drive to buy or support for USB external drives, we'll be fine with it. We just need something to help us eliminate the chore of moving things around each and every week.

[Via IGN; Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Looks like we'll be waiting a little while longer for any price cut on the Wii. As in, until 2009. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has revealed to analysts that no price cut is planned for either the Wii or DS this year, and while both consoles are selling out pretty much everywhere, we can't say we're bowled over by that decision.

As yesterday's financial report demonstrated, Nintendo's practically bathing in money, and it expects to make plenty more over the coming twelve months -- $5.14 billion of it, to be precise. If you are still searching for a Wii, looks like you won't even have the consolation of paying a non-launch price!

[Via Joystiq]

After Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii has become the latest title to appear in the excellent "Iwata Asks:" series of interviews. Featuring producer Hideki Konno, Wii Wheel project leader Kenichiro Ashida, and Shigeru Miyamoto (in fully relaxed, shirt-open mode) getting grilled by Satoru Iwata, it's a treasure trove of information for Mario Kart enthusiasts.

Alongside an enjoyably lengthy dissection of the series' history, there's also discussion about Mario Kart Wii's online play. The online matchmaking in particular sounds a treat, in that it allows players to join a race once it's finished, thus avoiding races becoming one-on-one affairs (as so frequently happened in Mario Kart DS). Players can use the Mario Kart Channel to check which of their friends are currently playing online, and even join them instantly.

Producer Konno and Miyamoto also explained the decision to include bikes in this game, with Konno admitting that his own hobbies influenced the choice, and Miyamoto stating that the bikes are there to "make the world of Mario a little more for boys [by] adding an extreme-like element to the game." (Apparently, the title was originally known as "Mario Kart X," with the "X" taken from "extreme")

Finally, we hear more on the Wii Wheel, and the reasoning behind it. As expected, the peripheral is designed to make Mario Kart more approachable than ever before, and project leader Kenichiro Ashida reportedly created "about thirty" prototypes (many of which you can see in our gallery). Oh, and he even made gold and black versions -- just for the hell of it. Do want!

The fourth and final segment of Iwata Asks deals with an often overlooked part of gaming -- sound. The interview also focuses on the design and planning of Wii Fit.

Three of the people Iwata questioned had previously worked on Zelda games, which (as you can imagine) are completely different than Wii Fit. Toru Minegishi talks about the challenges when making music for Wii Fit as opposed to Zelda, which was our favorite part of the interview.

For some interesting anecdotes, and to know what some of the developers' favorite things about Wii Fit are, make sure to hit up the last Iwata Asks, Wii Fit edition.