New reggie interview wii60 backstabbed

[immy]

There's a new reggie interview at usatoday

 

Q: What made Nintendo try to do something dramatically different with the Wii?

 

A: Our focus is interactive game play, a whole new way to play, that puts fun back into this business. It allows everybody to pick up and play and isn't focused on the core gamer.

 

Q: The Wii seems to emphasize the controller, not heavy attention on graphics. Is that by design?

 

A: That is exactly by design. Our visuals for Wii will look fantastic, but in the end, prettier pictures will not bring new gamers and casual gamers into this industry. It has to be about the ability to pick up a controller, not be intimidated, and have fun immediately. The trick is being able to do that, not only with the new casual gamer, but do it in a way that the core gamer gets excited as well.

 

Q: Microsoft has made the comment that people can buy an Xbox 360 and Wii for about the same price as a PlayStation 3. Would you mind terribly if that happened?

 

A: I'd much rather have the consumer buy a Wii, some accessories, and a ton of games, vs. buying any of my competitor's products.

 

Q: A few years ago, Nintendo made a conscious decision to lie low when Microsoft introduced Xbox Live and began promoting its subscription online gaming service. In retrospect, does that look like a good decision?

 

A: I wasn't here. What I can tell you is the way we've approached online play now is really with a view to the masses. With Nintendo DS (a dual-screen handheld player), for example, we offer free Internet play in a wide-ranging series of games. Our focus is getting as many consumers to enjoy that online experience as possible. And we've done that.

 

Q: You're not pursuing a subscription model?

 

A: We view online gaming as essentially an enhanced way to enjoy the gaming experience and drive more sales of hardware and software.

 

Q: How do you extend your online strategy to Wii?

 

A: It's the same premise. We will offer online-enabled games that the consumers will not have to pay a subscription fee for. They'll be able to enjoy that right out of the box. The Wii console is going to be Wi-Fi enabled, so essentially, you'll be able to plug it in and go. It won't have hidden fees or costs.

 

Q: What is your plan for getting folks who aren't normally interested in video games to try the Wii?

 

A: We need to get the consumer to admire what we've done. We need them to say to themselves, "Wow, this new Wii console by Nintendo is really interesting!" And they need to try it. They need to get bought into the proposition.

 

Q: Your background is in marketing. Without divulging competitive secrets, can you characterize your marketing plan?

 

A: It's going to be massive amounts of hands-on activity, as well as showcasing exactly how Wii games are different. We're going to create advocacy. We're going to make it so that everyone who tries the Wii experience talks to their friends and neighbors. It's going to be a really provocative sight to be seeing teens and 20-year-olds and 40-year-olds and 50-year-olds talking about how different this experience is.

 

Q: What can you tell us about timing and price?

 

A: We're well on our way to sharing all of that information with our retailers and our licensees. We'll be sharing that information publicly later on.

 

Q: Can the Wii take Nintendo back to the top of the mountain?

 

A: Our goal is to have as many teens and young adults as we have 40-plus-year-olds excited about the platform. We're trying to expand this business here in the U.S in a way that it really hasn't been expanded ... for the health of this industry.

 

Q: Sounds like you're more focused on new customers and not necessarily taking share from the other guys.

 

A: The interesting thing is if you do expand the market, you do both. You grow the category, but you'll also dramatically increase your market share. As an example, Nintendo DS in Japan outsells all of our competitors by a factor of five to one. We are so far in advance of our handheld competitors that they're not even on the map. That's all based on a market expansion strategy. And that's what we're looking to do with home consoles.

 

Q: How do you handicap your competitors; what worries you most about them?

 

A: Our competitors are both going down the same path. Both believe that more and more performance with a higher and higher price tag are their keys to success. So what do I see? I think our two competitors will trade share between them, while we go off and grab share in a completely different way.

 

 

link http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2006-08-14-nintendo-qa_x.htm?POE=TECISVA

[Jamba]

Backstab my ass. Did you really think that he was going to ask people to go get a 360? Plus that would be ganging up on Sony and that isn't NIntendo's style.

 

Backing the wii60 concept would be retarded buisiness strategy for either Microsoft or Nintendo so stop whining about it.

[Raven]

wouldnt call it a backstab. he is a nintendo man, and has to promote his company! i cant remember who said 'buy both consoles', but if they were an xbox person, they are completely insane.

 

they are simply trying to find justification for people buying the xbox console over the sony one, but in the riskiest way possible.... plugging the 3rd console!

[mcj metroid]

wouldnt call it a backstab. he is a nintendo man, and has to promote his company! i cant remember who said 'buy both consoles', but if they were an xbox person, they are completely insane.

 

they are simply trying to find justification for people buying the xbox console over the sony one, but in the riskiest way possible.... plugging the 3rd console!

 

That would be Peter Moore but i think he was just trying to show how over priced the ps3 was at the time

[Nick]

Groan. Nothing new. Just the same old useless 'information', and reaffirming the stupid online mode Nintendo wishes to adopt.

 

Nintendo's perception of 'not directly competing' with the other two is a joke.

 

They obviously don't see the lack of shelf space at stores for their products. They obviously don't see their products being sold in the same stores as the competition.

 

I know there is a substantial difference in the Wii and the other two consoles, but the retailer doesn't care. To him, it's a DVD in a case that looks the same as any other $100 piece of software. He thinks that one DVD is in competition with another, and so, they are marketed by the retailer in the exact same way.

[immy]

wouldnt call it a backstab. he is a nintendo man, and has to promote his company! i cant remember who said 'buy both consoles', but if they were an xbox person, they are completely insane.

 

they are simply trying to find justification for people buying the xbox console over the sony one, but in the riskiest way possible.... plugging the 3rd console!

 

Yeah well I had to make the interview more intresting some how now didn't I!

[mcj metroid]

ya i suppose u did!i mean

question 1:What made Nintendo try to do something dramatically different with the Wii?

UGH!How many times will this be asked?

[Raven]

Yeah well I had to make the interview more intresting some how now didn't I!

heh, dont get me wrong, it was really good work digging up that interview! it is nice to see that reggie is out and about... shame that there was nothing overtly new in it.

 

hey mcj, cheers on the 'peter moore' name confirm thing!

but you do have to admit, what he said was very risque.

[Jamba]

Because they want Nintendo to give the real answer: We were getting beat on heavily by M$ and Sony so we had to change our strategy or we'd do a Sega.

[KKOB]

least reggie is finalling calling PS3 and 360 Competitors, i'd rather see this attitude from Nintendo. as long as they dont get too bullish and arogant before the Wii launches.

 

i'm glad to hear that they're definatly looking at a huge hands on fest and it should start from the date announcement till a month after the console is launched in each teritory.

 

the whole Wii60 thing is due to Peter Moores E3 comments after he saw how massive the console has the potential to be.

[mcj metroid]

heh, dont get me wrong, it was really good work digging up that interview! it is nice to see that reggie is out and about... shame that there was nothing overtly new in it.

 

hey mcj, cheers on the 'peter moore' name confirm thing!

but you do have to admit, what he said was very risque.

 

lol no problem,yes it was very risky,in fact it probably was very stupid of him seen as the wii is cheaper than core 360 model too.....hmmm

[Nick]

Because they want Nintendo to give the real answer: We were getting beat on heavily by M$ and Sony so we had to change our strategy or we'd do a Sega.

 

That is by far the lamest excuse ever. Nintendo will not become a Sega, for many very good reasons, as well as some stupid ones. It’s been stated it will never happen. It won’t happen.

 

There are two distinct differences between the Sega scenario and the Nintendo one. Sega had a vast number of consoles to attempt to support and far worse 3rd party relations with both the Saturn and Dreamcast than the GameCube or Nintendo 64 ever had. As a result, Sega dried up all liquid assets and amassed a large amount of debt.

 

Which leads to the second, money.

 

Sega went to all the effort of developing the ridiculous Sega CD 32X add on crap that they almost immediately pulled support for. 3rd parties were at a loss. Why should third parties support a console the parent company won’t? Then came the issue with the Saturn and Sony’s entrance. Sega may not have been running on dry yet, but funding was draining fast, and there just wasn’t any income Sony had stolen the bulk, and Nintendo the leftovers.

 

Then there was the Dreamcast abomination. Don’t confuse this by suggesting the Dreamcast was a good console. I don’t disagree, but it was the worst piece of hardware in terms of the business strategy behind it (Until the Xbox, that is).

 

Sega drove a dagger into this thing before it was even at the R&D stages. They deliberately set up two teams to develop the hardware in order to invite ‘friendly’ competition and have the two teams vying for supremacy by providing the most cost effective and powerful machine.

 

As a result, they wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars, or perhaps even millions, because of this deliberate faction. Retailers were already having issues with the Saturn, which had met a premature death, and now had to strongly consider the ramifications of supporting Sega once again.

 

Retailers couldn’t shift consoles. People were waiting in anticipation of the PS2 and Nintendo GameCube (and the later announced Xbox).

 

As units weren’t moving, neither were games, then began the mass canning, halting and porting of projects. Sega was in the pits. Furthermore, they could no longer maintain debt, and so had to fold all hardware operations and scale back.

 

Nintendo doesn’t have any of these issues, or, in the case of 3rd parties, not as severe. There is one R&D team on the Wii, they have one console to support. They work TOGETHER.

 

Furthermore, despite the shift of third parties from GCN, it maintained a relatively stable array of games, despite long periods between releases.

 

Second, Nintendo has more than $6 billion, or rather, correctly termed, $6,000 million dollars in reserves. No debt. And a promising, budding new console.

 

Nintendo will not do a Sega.

[mike-zim]

AMEN TO TAHT AND GOOD FIND ON THE STORY. sorry about caps.

[Patch]

Backstab my ass.

 

Erm...

Maybe later.

 

As far as going the way of Sega is concerned, it's difficult to say. Cash reserves and making a profit are one thing. Market share is another.

 

SNES sold great. N64 sold OK. Gamecube sold not so great. Without the controller, presumably the next Nintendo console would have done worse than the Gamecube. And that is very much going the way of Sega.

[SpinesN]

Erm...

Maybe later.

 

As far as going the way of Sega is concerned, it's difficult to say. Cash reserves and making a profit are one thing. Market share is another.

 

SNES sold great. N64 sold OK. Gamecube sold not so great. Without the controller, presumably the next Nintendo console would have done worse than the Gamecube. And that is very much going the way of Sega.

If a company does nothing but make video games and is turning a profit I dare say it need not leave it's business.

[Kazzahdrane]

I know there is a substantial difference in the Wii and the other two consoles, but the retailer doesn't care. To him, it's a DVD in a case that looks the same as any other $100 piece of software. He thinks that one DVD is in competition with another, and so, they are marketed by the retailer in the exact same way.

 

Maybe to general retailers, but the game store chain I work for certainly won't be marketing the Wii the same as the PS3.

 

Mostly because you don't have to market the PS3, it's the known name that there's a big public buzz about. In fact, we're actually recommending people buy a Wii instead of a PS3 when they ask about them. Much cheaper, great looking games at launch - versus an expensive status symbol with almost nothing exciting coming for about 6 months after launch.

[Nick]

Maybe to general retailers, but the game store chain I work for certainly won't be marketing the Wii the same as the PS3.

 

Mostly because you don't have to market the PS3, it's the known name that there's a big public buzz about. In fact, we're actually recommending people buy a Wii instead of a PS3 when they ask about them. Much cheaper, great looking games at launch - versus an expensive status symbol with almost nothing exciting coming for about 6 months after launch.

 

That may be all very well and true, but the majority of games are sold through high street retailers, not video game stores, even with the mass influx of video game only stores. It's obvious that even they have troubles with games alone, and so there is this diversity of selling walkthroughs, magazines, hardware, DVDs and accessories.

 

Also, I must admit, I must have missed something here... There is actually going to be something to look forward to AT LAUNCH for PS3?

 

I suppose the Wii hype has been too overpowering.

[Kazzahdrane]

Yeah wasn't disagreeing with your point about retailers in the slightest mate, just pointing that at least one knows the Wii is here to expand the market so I hope will be supporting it as best they can while it's still economically feasible.

 

My last post used to not have the word "almost" in there but I added it because I couldn't remember if Assassin's Creed is going to make launch for the PS3

[Nick]

...just pointing that at least one knows the Wii is here to expand the market so I hope will be supporting it as best they can while it's still economically feasible...

 

These are the kinds of people we need more of. I'm sure there are plenty of them, but they are too few and far apart.

 

Our local EB is full of ill informed zombies. Can't even pin up a poster correctly.

[mike-zim]

Wii has nothing to worry about. thats it.

[Jamba]

That is by far the lamest excuse ever. Nintendo will not become a Sega, for many very good reasons, as well as some stupid ones. It’s been stated it will never happen. It won’t happen.

 

There are two distinct differences between the Sega scenario and the Nintendo one. Sega had a vast number of consoles to attempt to support and far worse 3rd party relations with both the Saturn and Dreamcast than the GameCube or Nintendo 64 ever had. As a result, Sega dried up all liquid assets and amassed a large amount of debt.

 

Which leads to the second, money.

 

Sega went to all the effort of developing the ridiculous Sega CD 32X add on crap that they almost immediately pulled support for. 3rd parties were at a loss. Why should third parties support a console the parent company won’t? Then came the issue with the Saturn and Sony’s entrance. Sega may not have been running on dry yet, but funding was draining fast, and there just wasn’t any income Sony had stolen the bulk, and Nintendo the leftovers.

 

Then there was the Dreamcast abomination. Don’t confuse this by suggesting the Dreamcast was a good console. I don’t disagree, but it was the worst piece of hardware in terms of the business strategy behind it (Until the Xbox, that is).

 

Sega drove a dagger into this thing before it was even at the R&D stages. They deliberately set up two teams to develop the hardware in order to invite ‘friendly’ competition and have the two teams vying for supremacy by providing the most cost effective and powerful machine.

 

As a result, they wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars, or perhaps even millions, because of this deliberate faction. Retailers were already having issues with the Saturn, which had met a premature death, and now had to strongly consider the ramifications of supporting Sega once again.

 

Retailers couldn’t shift consoles. People were waiting in anticipation of the PS2 and Nintendo GameCube (and the later announced Xbox).

 

As units weren’t moving, neither were games, then began the mass canning, halting and porting of projects. Sega was in the pits. Furthermore, they could no longer maintain debt, and so had to fold all hardware operations and scale back.

 

Nintendo doesn’t have any of these issues, or, in the case of 3rd parties, not as severe. There is one R&D team on the Wii, they have one console to support. They work TOGETHER.

 

Furthermore, despite the shift of third parties from GCN, it maintained a relatively stable array of games, despite long periods between releases.

 

Second, Nintendo has more than $6 billion, or rather, correctly termed, $6,000 million dollars in reserves. No debt. And a promising, budding new console.

 

Nintendo will not do a Sega.

 

:shock: Ahhh over response!!! :shock:

 

It wasn't meant to be a serious comment, more of a joke really. I agree with everything you say and know those points well.

[mike-zim]

lol you did ask for it should have used one of these or:hehe: or

[Jamba]

True true... sorry to stress you out nick

[Blue_Ninja0]

That, and nintendo has incredible income in his handheld division.

Pokémon has been enough to fill in Nintendo's pockets.

[mike-zim]

yay to pokemon if not for them there would be no Wii.