Iwata still wants to create big Wii games
Good news for everyone who still has hope in the current Wii – myself included; I do want to see just how much further it can go now that it’s relying solely on awesome software to sell. Iwata feels that the Wii is currently still far from the limits of its full potential, and wants to continue developing great games for it.
Of course, we want to release original titles, but in order to release new games, we must continue developing them.
At Nintendo, we have not come to the stage where we need to give up on the developments of such unique titles at all. We do not feel that Wii has come to its limit. (source)
As Kotaku put it, to create a good, original game), Nintendo needs to “thread a needle between ‘interesting’ and ‘easy to understand.'” So far, they’ve been doing admirably in that regard with hit after big hit on the Wii.
Nintendo has already brought out all the big guns like Mario and Zelda on the Wii.
But games like these, which form the lifeblood of the Wii, apparently take a long time to develop. I imagine that coming up with a unique game concept in the first place must be difficult, so for Iwata to say that he wants Nintendo to continue to create big Wii games might mean that won’t see the Wii’s successor quite as soon as I thought.
The Wii's "surprise"?
On the other hand, Nintendo has already pushed out far more big console games this generation than usual – by the middle of next year, the Wii will have played host to three main-series Mario platformers, two complete Zelda adventures, the first console Kirby game in years, six sales record-setting games in the Wii series, and all the generational staples like Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros., among lots of other great stuff. With an all-star library like that, one has to ask: is there really anything Nintendo hasn’t done on the Wii yet? Iwata claims there is, but I find that just a little hard to believe.
The only Wii-related thing I can think of that fits the bill is the Vitality Sensor. Nothing has been heard about that since E3 ’09, but there are signs that Nintendo is working on something with it – namely, the “WiiRelax” trademark and a suspicious patent filing. But let’s face it: Nintendo has been sidestepping every question anyone’s asked them about the Vitality Sensor, leading me to believe the concept was abandoned.
What are your thoughts? Does the Wii still have a trick or two up its sleeve?
Source: Kotaku via GoNintendo
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I really like the whole Vitality Sensor concept, for added interactivity. It will certainly prove useful in exercise gaming. But I don’t like Nintendo’s particular implementation of it – the whole finger sensor idea seems clunky. I wish they had one of those wrist-strap pulse monitors, which could be connected to the nunchuk port on the Wiimote. This could serve the same purpose as the regular Wiimote wrist-strap, while also taking sensory feedback on pulse rate, blood pressure, body temperature, etc. This would be much superior to the finger thingy.
I agree with you. What we know as the Vitality Sensor right now really is a little hard to imagine working in a real game. There’s no way to use a Nunchuk with it, or any kind of game that requires two hands, for that matter (like ones that make you hold the Wii Remote sideways).
I really like your idea of integrating the Vitality Sensor into the wrist strap. If Nintendo still really wanted to put it on your finger, I’m sure they could also shrink it down into a small finger-strap sorta thing, too.
When they asked Steve Jobs if he was going to release a phone, he completely denied it. Then of course Apple released their iPhone, which became a huge hit. Nobody likes to reveal their true business plans, especially when their competitors are listening.
I’m hoping that Iwata is behaving the same way. Given Nintendo’s steadily dropping sales, due to competition not just from rival consoles, but even from iPhone against Nintendo DS, it’s imperative that Nintendo bring in something new to reclaim its market position.
We need Wii-2!!
Nintendo has gone on record before saying that they’ll reveal the Wii 2 (and whatever its big new feature is) “as close to launch as possible.” If Nintendo is being that secretive about it, it means they must’ve cooked up something truly amazing with the Wii’s successor.
Whatever it is, I highly doubt it’s gonna disappoint. If the 3DS turns out to be able to reclaim the handheld gaming spotlight from the iPhone, I’m sure Nintendo will take some cues from their strategy with that and use them to utterly dominate the console gaming space again, too.
Does this mean Nintendo will localize The Last Story soon?
Perhaps. I know as much about whether that’ll happen or not as you do. The Last Story would certainly qualify as a “big” game, though…