Nintendork

The sealed ones look official, but they wouldn't put discs on the shop floor without a security box. Must be dummies.

Aim. Good music, skateboarding and social scene. Minor details. Must not be a shit University, must not speak Northern (no offence but I don't understand you guys.. I was open minded to Manchester before going there) Probably end up in London and in huge debt, oh well. I will probably study science, perhaps Chemistry if I bother going. I might just be a simpleton.. working for alcohol and skateboards until I'm 30 with my friends. University is the key to a nice big house, fancy car and lots of things you want. It's the key to middle class. Not sure if it's for me personally. I am smart.. but lots of smart people are fuckers.. and I wouldn't want to spend 3 years with them. It would change me or depress me, I don't want to end up like 'them'. My local institute teaches vocational stuff, pretty good for arts too. Might be a photographer. Conclusion- I have no fucking idea.

CHRONO TRIGGER IS NOT HIDDEN.

Haha I knew that was a bad example but it's true.. it had over 6,000 downloads on a ROM site. I couldn't think of another example.

pestneb who is going to buy Superman for the N64 again? NOBODY. There are more flops that 'classics' and I imagine only classics or huge sellers will make it to the console. Your numbers are irrelevant to your point.

Huge interview, I will bold some interesting points if you can't be arsed to read it all. Basically Iwata is interviewed to cover some unanswered territory. Not up for the size? Original interview can be found here. Nagata So, why did you originally decide to undertake this particular project? Iwata As I wrote in my introduction, I felt that we should accurately document the course that led to the creation of Wii. With Wii, Nintendo has taken the idea of breaking with the past and made a console with the somewhat overblown code name "Revolution", all in the hope of dramatically changing the way things are done. This was definitely not an easy path, and we often worked without being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I felt very strongly that I wanted to document this process. Of course, for people that want to know what ideas were behind the creation of Wii, this kind of record might be valuable and interesting, but I didn't want to force it upon other people that might not be interested in hearing it. That's why we decided to put it on Nintendo's homepage, so it would always be available to everyone who wants to read about it. We thought that this would be the ideal format to inform people about the history of Wii and the ideas that went into its development. Nagata What made you decide to interview your own employees? Iwata Put simply, I thought that the current structure of Nintendo would enable me to do it. As the president, I am involved in all of the final decisions regarding every aspect of the Wii project. Therefore, in objectively telling our readers how Wii was created, I thought it would be the most expedient option for me to lead the discussions. Although there are not many precedents for this kind of undertaking, I thought it would be possible with Nintendo's current structure. The biggest hurdle to overcome was taking all of the important points from our conversations and turning them into understandable, readable articles. I would like to make this point clear, so please leave it in the final draft! (laughs) I normally write all of my own speeches, and I don't feel comfortable unless I've prepared all of the materials for a presentation myself. But for this series of interviews, there was no way I could find the time to put together the articles myself. However, it isn't possible for myself or the people I am interviewing to always speak in a way that is clear and easy for the readers to understand. So I realised that we would need someone with good writing and composition skills in order to get this project off the ground. Well, I've known you since the time you worked at a gaming magazine, and since we still keep in touch with your work at the "Hobo Nichi"2, the first person that came to mind was you, Nagata-san. Nagata Well, thanks for thinking of me! (laughs) I'm finding the whole experience fascinating. Iwata If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you a question. What's it like to be present at these interviews? Nagata Well, firstly, I'd say that I was surprised to find out that in addition to the details of the Wii project, you also know the personalities of all your employees very well. Iwata I think that might be a bit of an overstatement! (laughs) With over 1300 employees here at Nintendo, it wouldn't be possible to remember everyone! Nagata Well, at least with the people involved in these interviews, I can sense that you have a mutual understanding of each other's personalities. Iwata That might be because Nintendo deals with a relatively limited range of products. Also, since I myself come from a development background, I think I understand the minds of developers better than most executives. Nagata I also got that impression. Iwata In addition to that, we brainstormed with each other from square one. We were all running into the same walls, and we made the critical decisions together. I talked with a lot of people, such as Takeda-san and (Shigeru) Miyamoto-san, along the way at each juncture. In that sense, I think the fact that I have been centrally involved in the creation of Wii is the biggest factor in explaining why my staff and I understand each other so well. Nagata You used to make games by writing programs, and with Wii you have worked to create a piece of hardware. Comparing these two experiences, have you noticed any differences in your approach to the creative process? Iwata Well, of course, the sheer number and types of issues to be considered are vastly different, but my basic mindset didn't change that much from one to the other. Since I don't have the time to write programs myself anymore, of course I am not directly involved in that way, but I feel that I can clearly call myself one of the creators. When I am discussing things with the developers here, I am not just a bystander, and I discuss it as such. Nagata Once, during an interview with Shigesato Itoi for the "Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun", you said that you never wanted to be a bystander. Iwata That's right. Nagata In that sense, the interesting thing - which is perhaps unprecedented - about these interviews is the fact that someone who has been involved in the project is interviewing other people who were also involved. Iwata That's a good point. One of the reasons I am doing it this way is because it's possible to discuss the project more deeply than would be possible if we called in an outside interviewer. Even though I know a lot about the development and was in fact involved in all of the major decisions, there are still a huge number of interesting stories I am hearing here for the first time from people that were more deeply involved in specific matters than myself. For example, stories about what was causing difficulties, what was the key to a certain problem, or what ideas led to a certain feature are extremely interesting to me. Nagata Those stories are really intriguing for me too, even though I am just sitting here listening to them. Iwata Well, you've been sitting pretty close to me, I think you can sense how much I've been enjoying these interviews, can't you? Nagata I really can. You already know about most aspects of the project at a surface level. If the project were a plant, then you would know about everything visible from the soil up to the top of the plant. Then you ask a question about one of the leaves or flowers, and as a result part of the root is revealed. You always seem so pleased when something unexpected is discovered like this. Iwata Well, you're certainly right about that! (laughs) Nagata And it's not just you, either. All of the developers taking part in these interviews are also smiling. Iwata It might seem a little odd to say this about my own employees, but I would say it's the look of satisfaction on their faces after knowing they've done a good job! (laughs) Nagata (laughs) They probably look so satisfied because they are in a place where age and rank don't matter, working with other people that share the same values in order to complete a major project. Iwata That might be it. Nagata You know, normally when I interview game developers, it is after the product has already been completed and many of them are starting to have some regrets. Iwata Because it has already been released, right? Nagata Right. The more earnest a developer is regarding their work, the more likely they are to start feeling regrets, that they should have done something differently. Since I do so many interviews in that context, I hear a lot of the same comments and rarely get to see the satisfied looks I have seen here. With this project, I find it very interesting that I am able to hear you talk about the project just before its final completion, and all of you are so excited that you are just about to cross the finish line, so to speak. Iwata There is definitely that kind of excitement. But I think the reason that everyone has this content look is because the creation of Wii has been so completely different from the development of previous hardware. Nagata I see. Is that, for example, completely different compared to the development of the GameCube? Iwata It goes without saying, but I don't mean to imply at all that there was no value in making the GameCube or the other products that were made for it. But in the end, the GameCube was built as an extension of its predecessors. With Wii on the other hand, I feel as if we have broken with tradition, taking a jump to a different dimension. I think we feel such excitement, as well as a sense of achievement, precisely because we have made this leap. Once Wii is actually released and we have a chance to see the reactions and criticisms of the consumers though, I am sure that everyone, myself included, will feel as if we should have done some things a little differently. Really, there is no such thing as a product that everyone is completely satisfied with. But with Wii, I have a feeling that the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that has come with developing something so new and unusual will not dissipate even after its release. That's what the mood is like around here. Nagata Maybe this isn't the best way to say it, but when you challenge yourself to do something new and try to make that leap, it's a kind of gamble, isn't it? Iwata It is. When you try to do something that has never been done before, it goes without saying that there is no guarantee of success. It also becomes more difficult to defend your efforts by saying that you know they will result in at least a certain amount of success. For all you know, it might turn out to be a complete failure. Nagata That's true. But the people I have heard in these interviews don't seem to have any sense of gloom or pessimism. Iwata I think that's because they're already beyond that stage at this point. Nagata Ah, I see. Iwata As was mentioned in previous interviews, everyone had their own misgivings at the beginning of development. I am sure that people were concerned about technical issues, the fact that they didn't know what they were working towards, and even their inability to understand the company's strategy. It's frightening to take a different path than everyone else. Nagata Of course. Iwata Even though it is an accepted part of life in modern society to find security in facing the future together, everyone has to do something different from everyone else. And even though it is a part of Nintendo's culture to praise people for doing something different, this time around the nature and scale of the difference was huge. In one sense, we were even going in the opposite direction. Nagata If that's the case, I suspect that the one most strongly affected by the fear of going in the opposite direction would be you, Iwata-san. How did you deal with that fear? Iwata Let's see... For me, I actually found that it would have been more frightening to take the conventional path. Of course, no one knows the most ideal time for change. When we decided to change the direction of the ship, so to speak, we didn't know how long it would take people to understand what we were trying to achieve. Would it be in one year? Or would it be two, three, or five years down the road? We knew that there was no future on the conventional path. That path would eventually lead to a battle of sheer brute force with our competitors, and fewer and fewer consumers would be able to keep up. So the only thing we were sure of at first was the fact that we wanted to point the company in a different direction. But we weren't sure how much change the consumers were willing to accept. In any case, we knew there was no future on the path straight ahead of us, and we realised that there would be no meaning to our efforts if we were just slowly plodding towards the end of that path. So we decided to do something about it. We were convinced that if the number of people playing games increased, there would definitely be a future ahead of us. Nagata I see. So, you changed the direction of the company even before the Nintendo DS became a smash hit. Iwata That's right. At that time, I wasn't so blissfully optimistic to think that the Nintendo DS would be so well received to the point that it would become a social phenomenon even in Europe and America. And the same is true now just before the launch of Wii. As the developers have mentioned several times in these interviews, we are anxious about how the world is going to react to something so unconventional. But at the same time, that's also the reason why we have this burning desire to tell the world about it. Nagata I see. Everyone else who has been a part of these interviews says something similar to what you have just said yourself. I think it's pretty incredible that everyone here shares the same values, that there is such consistency in the mindset of the organisation as a whole. Iwata It is remarkable, isn't it? I think we've made a lot of progress in this area over the last three years. Nagata So, specifically, how did it come to be this way? Iwata Well, I would have to say that it's the result of a lot of small steps forward over time. Just because on one occasion the president tells everyone what he wants to do doesn't mean that everyone accepts it immediately. Nagata I see. Iwata That's why after being told about the vision for Wii time and time again, a few people at a time were able to understand what I was getting at and began to support the idea once parts of it started to become a reality. The idea that certain things must be done in order to accommodate this vision eventually spread to everyone in the company. This is what led to everyone sharing the same vision of the near future. So I suppose it was the result of continually repeating the same mantra. Nagata Well, I think you would have had a hard time achieving these results by just repeating your message. Do you think it was facilitated by the fact that you had some clear results to accompany what you were saying? Iwata Well, there was also an element of luck in producing those results. Taking the right path doesn't necessarily guarantee good results. It's just like trying to second guess what people will find enjoyable. It's even more true when releasing a new product: whether it's going to be a hit or not lies beyond our control to a large extent. Nagata That's true. Take Brain Training, for example. Before it was released, you could have said that it was fun, but no-one could have predicted that it would sell 6 million copies! Iwata "It's a lot of fun!" can quickly become: "Well, it's a lot of fun, but..."! (laughs) In truth, it's not like everyone at Nintendo who saw Brain Training said "This will be a hit!" What I'm trying to say is, we might be able to raise our batting average through our own efforts, but we can never guarantee we'll get a hit 100% of the time. Nagata That's true. To sidetrack a little, with relation to "hitting it", the example that Mr. Shigesato Itoi often uses is that of Tsurube Shofukutei3. When you wonder why such funny things always seem to happen to him, it's not because his "batting average" is high. Rather, it's got to do with the fact that he steps up to the plate more often than other people, so to speak. What I mean is that Tsurube-san is the kind of guy who if someone is handing out free samples or flyers in the street, he'll always stop to take one. When people say hello to him, he'll generally stop to have a chat. Iwata Ah! I see what you mean! (laughs) Nagata So, rather than sitting around thinking about their batting averages, it's the people who just keep going up to the plate who have more chances to get a hit. It's pretty obvious advice, but it isn't that easy to keep putting yourself out there. However, if you have something to aim at, I think the persistence with which you work towards your goal becomes more important. If you have a goal, but it doesn't go well at the first attempt and you never step up to the plate again, well, nothing's ever going to happen. For instance, if (Shigeru) Miyamoto-san had given up on the concept of putting the player inside the game on Mario Artist: Talent Studio4, there would never have been a Mii Channel. Iwata Absolutely. Without Miyamoto-san's persistence, it would never have happened. To be honest, I don't think Talent Studio was a perfect piece of software when we released it. This is something that I think will come up in the interview about Wii Sports, but we had some software called "Manebito Camera" (there were plans to put this out as Stage Debut, but it was never released). Here he also doggedly tried to pursue the same goal. In spite of the fact that this was never fully realised either, Miyamoto-san still wanted to implement the kokeshi5 idea when we worked on Wii. If we hadn't had his persistence - dare I say, obsession - then, when I laid eyes on the prototype software for the DS which became the model for the Mii Channel, I never would have thought: "Wait a minute! This is what Miyamoto is after!" I would never have shown it to him. Nagata Without that, perhaps the Wii would have turned out very differently. Iwata Wii would most certainly not be the same console we have today. It wouldn't have the Mii Channel, and Wii Sports would be very different as well. Nagata Then all those fans around the world wouldn't have been grinning from ear to ear when you and the others were playing tennis at the E3 presentation. Iwata Right. This is something that I've said throughout these interviews, but in developing Wii, we didn't work to a fixed plan. Rather, we had to improvise a lot, and the finished product is the result of a lot of groping in the dark for what was a workable solution at a given time. I think the reason we arrived at where we are now is that, even when there was uncertainty, we never wavered from pursuing the clear goal we had in mind. Nagata May I ask a rather blunt question? Imagine you were, plainly speaking, far and away the market leader, as you were at the peak of the Super Nintendo's success, and let's say that you felt "there is no future down this path." Would you still have been able to steer the ship as you are doing now? Iwata Well, let me see...To be sure, the way the ship is steered was not the same when we had the biggest market share as it is now. But although the way you steer may change, as market leader, you have to go forward with a sense of urgency. Time passes very quickly, and if you are complacent, you'll be too late. If you feel that the course you are on has no future, then you have to change your direction even if you're the market leader and everyone is telling you "You're at the top, so there's no need to change. Just keep going along as you are." But the way you would go about it does change depending on whether you're market leader or not. Nagata I understand. I apologise for asking such a difficult hypothetical question! Iwata Not at all! (laughs) I've also got a question for you. As a game fan who has observed Nintendo over the years, how do you feel about the recent developments? Nagata Well, I'm very excited. What more can I say? But a statement like that isn't much good to anyone! (laughs) Hmmm...I think there are game fans out there who are a little concerned. Iwata Do you think they are worried that in the future we won't give priority to making the kind of games they have come to expect? Nagata Yes, those kinds of concerns. As a gamer, there is a side of me that likes to stay up at night, playing alone, silently, head-to-head with the game. Of course, Zelda and Mario will come out, and listening to your speeches, I understand that you don't intend to neglect your core fans. I understand all that, but even so... Iwata Although we're putting a huge amount of energy into Mario and Zelda, since those games don't feature that much at the Wii Preview events, they don't seem to be the main pillar of Nintendo's strategy. Is that what people are saying? Nagata Yes, it seems so. How can I put this? I understand it on an intellectual level. When I hear you say that there is no future in simply continuing in the same way, I think you're right. But even though I can see that, the more a gamer understands that reasoning, the more they feel excluded by it. It's not that they don't understand what you are doing, it's simply how they feel on an emotional level. (laughs) Iwata It does seem that there is a level of misunderstanding among some people. I am concerned about this. It's true that Nintendo is reaching out to non-gamers, but this does not mean that we are ignoring game fans. I believe that if we don't make moves to get people who don't play games to understand them, then the position of video games in society will never improve. Society's image of games will remain largely negative, including that stuff about playing games all the time badly damaging you or rotting your brain or whatever. If that happens, then even people who enjoy games will start to feel a strange guilt when they play them. If people who haven't played games up til now start playing them, and appreciate how enjoyable they are, it is highly likely this situation will change. Society will be more accommodating towards people who play games, and it will become even easier to produce "traditional" games. In reality, while Nintendo is looking to reach out to people who don't play games, it's not as if we've become less committed to Zelda. On the contrary, we've invested four years and a huge amount of effort into developing the new Zelda. There's no question that we are passionate about it. For the people who are willing to wait for them we will absolutely continue to produce games like that. But I think if we don't also develop things for non-gamers, the future for game fans will become bleak. Nagata I see what you're saying. Iwata Now going back to that "but..." you mentioned... (laughs) Of course, I know exactly the sort of emotion you're describing... Nagata (laughs) Iwata But having said that, we don't develop games with two categories in our mind: "This one's just for people who don't play games..." or "This one's just for gamers..." Take Wii Sports, for instance. I think gamers will enjoy the Target Practice mode more than anyone else. Even with something like Brain Training, which generally isn't seen as being a game, lots of users recognised that there was the same excitement in trying to beat the clock, as there is in a racing game, to put it in very basic terms. Nagata Ah, yes. It's the same feeling of enjoyment. On the calculation problems, searching for numbers on the edge of your field of vision...that thrill when your hand movements have become almost robotic...it's very much like that of a puzzle game. Iwata It's exactly the same. I think the place in your brain where this feeling comes from is the same in both cases. That's why, even in Touch! Generations software, the core elements have all the original fun of a game. Nagata You've simply expanded the scope of what a game can be. That is to say, ever since the DS came out, everything you have done has ultimately boiled down to broadening the dynamic range of video games. You are not trying to replace, or reject, the games that have come before. Iwata You're exactly right. Nagata All of the developers who have been featured here have been unanimous in saying that they believe they are expanding this scope. But if you stop to think about it for a moment, this broadening of the dynamic range by Nintendo has come with no reduction in the number of products you release, or drop in quality. Normally, that is not something that can be done easily, or to put it simply, it is going to present problems relating to manpower. Listening to everyone speak, that is not the case...but perhaps there are screams emanating from the Nintendo R&D section as we speak? (laughs) Iwata Well, everyone is busy...! (laughs) People have a certain amount of potential within them. Ensuring that this potential is used as productively as possible greatly helps an organisation. To put it another way, there is a vast amount of energy which disappears inside organisations, or is expended going in directions which don't end up leading anywhere. If all that energy is properly directed, it can add up to a huge amount of power that can be used to produce visible results. That's why I think that over the last three years, as the level of awareness shared by the staff has increased, each individual's understanding has also developed. I believe this has meant that the total amount of energy in the company has increased more than it would have by simply increasing the number of staff. That is to say, the overall potential within the company has become more fully realised. Nagata I see. Iwata The fact that the number of developers who can sit here and give clear and precise opinions has increased may well be proof of that. In fact, one of the motivations behind doing these interviews was my desire to push these developers more to the forefront. Nagata Yes, I got that impression. Iwata To be more precise, I thought it would be good if there was an opportunity for people besides Miyamoto-san to speak about their work in detail. Needless to say, Miyamoto-san remains Nintendo's linchpin, and it is essential that he continues to work at the very heart of our production. But it is precisely because there are others beside Miyamoto-san that we are able to put out such a large number of products. While it's impossible to get everyone involved to speak about their work, by making the public even just a little more aware of the existence of such people, I hope to help Nintendo look like an interesting, diverse group of people. Nagata But one thing I found really interesting sitting in on these interviews, was that even when Miyamoto-san wasn't present, his name would always come up. Iwata It does always come up, doesn't it? (laughs) Nagata It's an interesting phenomenon. Also, whenever the conversation turns to Miyamoto-san, you always seem somewhat happy. Iwata Well that's because, as you can imagine, I have learned a vast amount about making video games from Miyamoto-san. It might be better to say that I didn't learn from him, but rather stole from him! From the early days of working at HAL Laboratory6, I was always watching and learning from him. From outside of Nintendo I used to observe him, my eyes like saucers, wondering: "Why does Miyamoto-san always succeed?" Now, by a curious twist of fate, we've ended up in these relative positions to each other...it really is funny how things turn out! (laughs) Nagata I get the impression that your experiences outside Nintendo are really useful to you now, making decisions as Nintendo's president. Iwata I would say that, of the things I have experienced up to now, there is very little that has not proved to be useful. Nagata Well, I don't know all of the details, but I think that in your old job there were a lot of cases where you turned dead-end situations around and found a way forward. The rebuilding of HAL Laboratory is one example, Mother 27 is another... Iwata Yes, there are a lot of experiences that still carry a lot of relevance for me. The decision to temporarily call off Mother 38 is one of them, as is the process which gave birth to Kirby and made him into a star. Another is when Smash Brothers was released, after a lot of twists and turns, and was well-received worldwide. There are a lot of examples. Nagata Do you have any experiences of being unsuccessful, as opposed to something simply not being quite as successful as you had envisioned? Iwata Well I think you could say that Mother 3 fits into that category. (laughs) Nagata But Mother 3 was finished, eventually. Iwata Well, in the end, I suppose so. Nagata Ultimately, I think you could say it was a success. Iwata Well, as long as you have chances... Hmmm...well, it's about always looking for the chance to realise your vision, but there's more to it... Nagata You have to stop being a bystander, and just step up to the plate! Iwata (laughs) Well, we've spoken at length, so to recap, Wii was a product where we were not able to see how things would end up from the start. The only thing that was clear was the fact that there were no answers along the path we were on, so we decided to change our direction. Of course, time is limited, and we have to keep releasing products, just as we always have. Looking back on what we have done - releasing a new portable console while preparing for the release of this new hardware - during that process, there are plenty of small things about which I could say: "If only we'd done it like that!" But, strangely enough, there is nothing about the completed Wii about which I could say: "We should have done that differently!" I can say with absolute conviction that, even if we turned the clock back, we would end up making the same console. I think that's why everyone has looked so content during these interviews. Nagata Yes, I think you're right. Iwata And that just about wraps it up. Ummm...in the end, it certainly didn't turn out to be another "Iwata Asks" feature, even though I had planned for this to be a special edition where I asked you all the questions. Nagata No! This is a special interview. I'm sure the readers will be more satisfied with the "Asking Iwata" style of this feature. Iwata (laughs) (Next time, the interview on Wii Sports begins) 1 Shigesato Itoi is a famous Japanese copywriter and game designer. He is most well known for his work with Nintendo's Mother series (known as EarthBound in the United States). Itoi voiced the father in the Japanese version of the My Neighbor Totoro anime film. 2 Hobo Nichi is another term for the Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun. 3 Tsurube Shofukutei is a famous Japanese comedian, most well-known as a teller of comic stories in the rakugo tradition. 4 Mario Artist: Talent Studio is an animation production studio which lets the user insert captured images such as human faces onto 3D models and then animate the models. It was released exclusively in Japan in February of 2000 as part of a bundle with the Nintendo 64 Capture Cartridge. 5 Kokeshi are traditional wooden Japanese dolls. They are cylindrically-shaped, with no arms or legs. 6 HAL Laboratory, Inc. is a Japanese video game developer. The company's most famous character is probably Kirby, but it is also well known for the Super Smash Bros. series. Mr Iwata began working as a games programmer there. 7 MOTHER 2, developed by HAL Laboratory, was a game released for the Super Nintendo as Earthbound in the US in 1995. 8 MOTHER 3 was originally scheduled for release in 1996 on the Nintendo 64. However, this was cancelled in 2000, before being released this year in Japan for the Game Boy Advance. Edit. After reading it, there's nothing actually that interesting in there. sorry for wasting your time.

Not badly priced, I was expecting the discs to be in the region of £30 to start.. perhaps it will differ when dual layers come out.

No, that is stupid. However I think internally within the muslim community it will become the norm. Not because of legislation.. but because Jack Straw has a fucking point. It makes community relations much easier, it gives the muslim female community an identity and makes everything a lot more open. If there are some arrogant fuckers who don't want to then they will be part of some kind of dieing generation and will be seen as outsiders. The benefits of being more approachable will certainly outweigh their dedication to their religion- this is entirely open to interpretation. This is what should be respected. By banning them we are forcing interpretation of their religion which is fundamentally wrong. Is it wrong to ask someone to take it off? Hell no.. is it wrong to force them? Yes. No debate is taboo, Jack Straw has done a good job raising this debate. edit- with regard to the Jedi's I think it is 5,000 to create a religion and about 7,200 replied with Jedi. Not entirely sure.. there might be another 0 on those numbers.

Steal from charity bins, put it on eBay. That is probably illegal.

That is true.. DVDs are relatively cheap these days.. perhaps we'll get demo discs with magazines. However 360 demos are a bad comparison as there will be lots of high definition textures making up that demo. Wii could be half that, but even then.. it's too big.

The cover lacks trauma. I won't buy it unless they rectify this fact.

If Nintendo wanted to make money SD wouldn't be supported.. it would be proprietary. It is about making it user friendly, cheap and thus accesible.

I like it for certain party games and team games. But for something vaguely serious I would get proper annoyed. Good game design would suggest yes, capitalist ways would suggest no.. as it results in the purchase of more controllers. I thought you meant like in Micro Machines where you use half a controller each to control your own car. That is a laugh.

Hard drives are a bit extreme, flash is very simple. If it is true that the OS is based on linux then in theory either could and should be supported. But really external hard drive to save games? That's a bit overkill. I might not have any blood relatives but I have a lot of friends on our Smash Bros file, we have over 400 humanoid hours clocked up on some characters. The idea of sharing is not alien to me. But yeah I can see why you'd need to back it up if you've got little'ns playing and they'll gladly click any button for 30 minutes until they get a game on screen. I didn't say save files would be seperate from downloadable content.. but save files haven't really taken a huge leap forward in file size through the generations. Even with an entire family playing a range of games it's not going to take a substantial amount of save space. If it is true that once you buy something, your profile has that content unlocked for life then the risk of losing virtual content is irrelevant.. as you could just re-download it. With GMail giving away upwards of 2.5gb for free, who is to say Nintendo won't let you store everything online in a save file, and you merely (re)download whenever you want or need it. I am verging on speculation now, but this seems logical to me. Wiimotes only have 6kb of memory, enough to store a Mii character.. but if that Mii is instantly linked to your save files online courtesy of Connect24 then you always have your content with the Wiimote being the key. It's not as if this system is being built on Windows XP and you'll lose it every couple of months. Obviously I have made an assumption, I consider it to be reasonable. USB thumb drives work on flash. The Wii has 2 USB slots Perrin Kaplan says flash will work, only gives the example of SD. I assume that by plugging in a USB drive it will initiate in the same way. It's a reasonable assumption, especially as Iwata spoke of it.

Seven hundred and fifty dollars (USD), 25 N64 games, 31 Snes games, 50 NES games, 358MB! What? N64 games are huge! Then again, I suppose its not bad that you have 106 games on there. And you had to work your wallet hard to get it filled that much. Remember, new games are 50 to 60. You’d only get 5 Wii games at best from that $250. Even with siblings you are going to an extreme I think. Considering Nintend Europe will be releasing these games in episodic formats at a couple a month. Demo content is typically quite spontaneous and wears off after a few hours, easily deleted.. save files are no doubt going to be efficient in size so you could have plenty. 32mb thumb drives which you get in crackers would do the job for taking save files around your mates.

Lots of threads around at the moment claiming get ready for Wii, like it's Y2K or something. Lots of shops claimed you 'needed' a big old 2gb card to get the most out of your PSP.. which was true and the scare factor made lots of people buy it. But with Wii you get 512mb on board, for a reason.. to store stuff. Have a read of this story which details the Wii virtual console in number of hypothetical situations to put it into perspective. Of course ontop of Virtual console goodies, you'll have save files which could easily take a few Mbs, and downloadable original content such as demos for your DS and Wii. http://web.mac.com/stewart.lawrence/iWeb/wii/VC%20Stuff.html Personally I think the on board 512mb will be safe, and sufficient for your average gamer. With rumours of an online database to store your details and purchases.. do we really need to worry so early? We've all got USB thumbdrives and stuff that will no doubt work. It's a pretty good read, well presented stuffs. It was digged.

Regetables. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA.

Yay people aren't blowing their wads before they know what sizes the games are! Good plan people. I think it could cost £200 plus to fill a 2GB cartridge, and it might take up to 2 years judging on the speed of their releases. What happens if that one card corrupts indeed. I'll probably make a backup on CD of every game I buy. I lost my iTunes library because I didn't back it up.

No need to bulk quote all the time Solitanze. Especially when you are far short of a newspaper from the future stating all the crap you spout actually happened. Sony are good at copying.. Shoulder pads.. lets put two on each shoulder Analog sticks, lets put two on Rumble... how about the dual shock? Wii works on 3 axis? Well lets call it the sixaxis, it sounds cooler.. If it feels cheap and light, that's because cheap has been associated with light in the past. iPod nano is light, the sixaxis is light. But are they cheap? Hell no.. they're two of the most desirable gadgets on the market. Cheap was associated with light.. but as technology adjusts and becomes better the focus can be switched and that assumption that light things are cheap will be broken. I've still got my PSone controllers.. they're well built and work well. Sony has some okay build quality on their controllers. I think they'll be good.

Wow those crazy Japanese yuppies with their gadgets. PSX systems were really pricey, even by Japan's standards.. which means uber pricey. It had a DVD burner, PS2, digital recorder for hard drive, decoded satelite signals and generally acted as the ultimate media hub. It was pretty much a media centre before it's time. Kinda nice to have one of those things, but also we've had the GameCube Wii comparison from IGN so it's nothing majorly new.

Beat me to it, was just gonna post it. I missed out on Zelda. So I found it intriguing and informative.. you guys will be like "Yeah whatever" if you've played them all.

USB thumb drives are flash in my eyes. No different from SD being flash. Thumb drives are easier to use than SD, slightly cheaper usually too. By the way the GUI is very very uninspiring, I was expecting nice blue accents and white styling.

I'm relatively certain Iwata said they will be including generic drivers for these devices. I see no reason why they wouldn't.

It would need more than forum support in my experience. I got a few hundred signatures on the 'keep the Revolution codename' and you really need blog support. If Matt C. Joystiq, Kotaku. and I can get 4cr to help. The you'd probably get a few thousand from sympathetic Americans too. However a forum alone can't do much. You need contacts to get that support. First we should really wait for a confirmation and/or reason from Nintendo Europe. If it's for legal reasons don't expect much sympathy from the world.. but if it's pure laziness or 'complications' that could easily be sorted than I'm up for it.

Vice City, Black, Metroid, Shadow of the Collosus, Katamari, Electroplankton, Brain Training, Loco Roco, Guitar Hero, meh i'm bored.