Nintendo has admitted that it put too much emphasis on the controller for the newly revealed Wii U console, noting that it "should have made more effort" to explain the console better.
The company has seen its share price fall two days in a row to the lowest in five years, as analysts said that "market expectations [for the console] had been far too high".
Talking to the London Evening Standard, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata admitted that the company should have shown off the console first, rather than jumping straight to the controller, although he made the point that "Wii U is about the controller".
"Because we put so much emphasis on the controller, there appeared to be some misunderstandings," he said. "We should have made more effort to explain how it works."
"We haven't made any kind of blunder, but I should have shown a single picture of the new console, then started talking about the controller," he continued. "The console is not drastically different, and Wii U is about the controller. The console itself will be almost invisible."
Iwata said that the press was also to blame, noting that it's not possible to see how important the Wii U console is unless you've actually given it a try.
"There have been two groups of people writing about our announcement - those who have been able to experience the Wii U, and those who have not, and are simply writing about it from wire stories and pictures," he mused.
"They cannot see how this can be a game changer. It reminds me of 2006, when we introduced the Wii for the first time. Here in LA, people enjoyed it, but in Japan, the atmosphere was very different. It seems to be the same this year."
"What Wii U will offer is very different, but I believe we have the strong potential to change the entire format of videogames and of entertainment," he concluded.
Iwata needs to let the press in Japan get some hands on time with the console and show off third party games that the Japanese gamers will care about. He should have learned from the Wii experience instead of repeating it.
wait for game designers to use that controller and then tell me if its not cool or u think that konami capcom etc will not take advantage of that tech if you have no imagination then wait for the masters to do their magic
My wife watching the press conference and commented that she thought they would be releasing a new console instead of just a new controller, so yeah, you kind of let the ball drop there Nintendo.
'"What Wii U will offer is very different, but I believe we have the strong potential to change the entire format of videogames and of entertainment," he concluded.'
And that difference is? He obviously goes out of his way to identify the error he made, but then fails to correct it. How is it supposed to be different? What is it that he thinks make the Wii U a game changer over the Wii, and something more than a "Wii HD", if it's not just a different controller.
I think the idea is interesting, but it doesn't seem that much different than when you could plug the Gameboys into the Gamecube. Nintendo has a history of producing exciting peripherals for their system and then failing to exploit them. I hope they don't repeat that pattern.
key difference is that this will launch with the system. (so developers will be able to look at WiiU sales and KNOW that everyone one has the wacky peripheral). so they will feel comfortable developing games for the wacky peripheral. THis will make the difference between a handful of gameboy connection cable games, and a torrent of WiiU games.
(unless nobody buys it and nintendo goes out of business or something)
I would love to see Wii U expanding the concept behind the Gamecube and Gameboy conectivity. Four Swords was an impressive multiplayer experience that no other game compared. If Wii U can replicate this, then it's a winner. However, if the rumours that say that only one tablet can work with the console at a time is true, then it limits the experience to the Pacman VS experiment, which was amazing but not as powerful as Four Swords conectivity.
Can't wait for more details. As I said into gamesindustry.biz, all negativism reminds me of the announcements for DS and Wii. Everyone was anticipating the decline of Nintendo's weird ideas, and nowadays, they have become once again the leaders of this industry. Apple came to the industry too with a few innovation cards on the table and changed the game industry, just like Facebook is doing on the social/casual game industry. Kinect is expanding further Xbox's market too (however, still there's a need for good games to satisfy the demand) meanwhile Sony's rip of the Wii is not moving more consoles from shelves.
Innovation has lead always to expansion of the gaming industry, and right now we don't know what's all about of the Wii U concept. We all should be positive, for the sake of the gaming industry.
I was excited for the Wii but this new console looks like an overly-complicated and contrived system. I typically reserve judgment but in general I feel that the traditional games industry has lost it. Apple, Google, Facebook, and OnLive are the future of the industry. I simply cannot see the point in a dedicated game console in this day of multiple device usage. Adding multiple devices to a single console is not making anyone's life better. If anything I would prefer to have fewer devices. If I have to use multiple devices though, the dedicated gaming hardware will be the first to get cut. I love what they make but evolution is about to take prescedance.
Nintendo should have created an app that allowed mobile phones and tablets to connect to the Wii HD instead of adding yet another touch screen device to my already crowded coffee table. That would have been innovative and refreshing like the Wii was.
For the next three years Nintendo will have three big advantages over any other tablet/console hybrid:
1. Ergonomics. a) It has buttons and analogue sliders; and b) as a controller it is way lighter than a stand-alone product.
2. Dependability. Every Wii U will have a TV screen and a tablet. As a developer you can count on that. Your coffee table may be crowded but most aren't crowded enough to rely on it, it is not at all a mature market. You can't design an ipad game right now and count on an apple tv or an iphone being next to it (the same problem have move and kinect).
3. Old retail model. That seems paradoxical on first sight, but content sells hardware. As a big publisher would you invest 100 million in a ipad game? You need the 60$ at retail (or 30$ with digital distribtion) to cover your marketing and development costs, for blockbuster content the app store is not an option. Onlive might be a real contender, but not at the moment (think small user base, datacaps, psn-outage).
"Nintendo could have won E3 so easily with all the hype that was built up." But they failed to deliver in my opinion. I truly think that they need some people hired in their company that have not been blinded by the "Nintendo culture" or "Nintendo way of doing things" because quite frankly their behind the times.
Here is what they should have done in my opinion, and an 11 year old gamer could have told them this.
1.First talk about the console and brag about the specs a little bit. After all that's what everyone wants including Nintendo fans. Nintendo once you have an HD system its ok to reveal a little bit of that and brag about it. Whats all this lame deeper and wider talk. We want dual this, and shaders, and Unreal engine games in the works, and everything else that PS3 is doing and better. And we want it rubbed in our faces.
2.Change the name. Wii U is horrible and it sounds like one of those kids toy consoles that you see at Walmart for $30 dollars (but wait that's maybe who they are going after:) They could have easily though up of something more edgy and cool. This was supposed to be the new Nintendo. Come on guys.
Also make the console look cooler. Nintendo, listen! You can still make the console a little more edgy and cool, but it wont scare away the casual gamer. I mean this is your new baby, show some effort and stop worrying about your dang profits.
3.Show some dang games already! They don't have to reveal too much but they did not reveal enough.
People (gamers and investors) needed to hear that "YES, that ZeldaHD that you just watched IS coming out. And its gonna be just as bad !@#$!@ as the demo was. Instead we got Nintendo ruining the coolest thing it had by saying, oh, that's just a demo, and it probably wont come out that way, by the way remember what we did with Windwaker, well that might happen again. Its all about the story, and the graphics must fit that. That's about the worst thing you can say or do at this point Nintendo. You should have rubbed and flaunted the fact that you are working on a Zelda HD that will even look better then the demo. Then sit back and watch your investors smile. They also should have had at least 4 new Nintendo Titles with 2 of them being like Zelda and Mario or something, and then also show ..drum roll please..., 2 actual NEW IP's!!! Remember the Nintendo of old where they were the ones creating new game experiences that were mind blowing and edgy and fresh? Well we haven't seen that since the SNES days or NES days. Now all we get is the same old re hashes over and over. I'm a huge Nintendo fan and have been since birth, but I am starting to get upset at their way of doing things, especially the lack of new actual game ideas, and I'm not talking Pikimin, but where are the new ideas that they used to create from scratch like Metroid and Kid Icarus. This is what all the Nintendo fans keep hoping for, new IP's that are mind blowing. We want the Nintendo of old that had no limits. They should have also shown way more 3rd party support as well.
4.Make the system work with 2 controllers. End of story. I don't believe I even have to go into this. Listen Nintendo if you want some more fans and hardcore folks. Give up some of your greedy profit for once. I'm sure even if you added an extra CPU to handle the streaming for 2 controllers, you guys would still not lose in your profits. Perhaps you wont make the greedy amount that you guys are used to making, but you will still profit. By doing something like this, it shows that like the PS3(where Sony actually lost profit at first) that you care so dang much about your fans and about pushing the tech, that you are willing to do this. And believe me, then you will make a lot of fans. I know they still might do this, because I think that honestly, the public wont let them get away with this. The Wii was cool and all, but when you release a new console, the fans want "all new" not "use the old Wiimotes" That's a bunch of lazy bad thinking on their part, and honestly folks, gamers should not let them get away with this because of too many reasons to even list.
5.Make the system compatible with iPhones, iPads and other devices that are similar. Could you imagine how much that would "open" up the console and make it more "relevant" with the times?
6.Nintendo you keep talking about reinventing your Online experience, but we see no proof. They should have told way more about their online strategy and even revealed a few pics of a new online dashboard and system to wet our appetites. Investors mentioned that they were upset about a lack of their direction "again" in this area. Come on Nintendo it's 2011 and people are becoming too savvy to get tricked into another gimmick. The world has moved on, and it's time that you did as well. Your a billion dollar company. It takes a few calls to the right people and your Online experience can be way better then it is now. I'm sure there is more news to come on this, but they better not do some half !@#$!@ thing with it again,. We are done with that Nintendo. Its time to grow up.
7.Make the Wii U able to play movies in some way or another, and talk more about that. It seems Nintendo is saying they are trying to appeal to the Hardcore, but let me tell ya, the Hardcore loves movies, online, all of that coming together really nice and fresh (hint, PS3) so you need to prove that your movie support will be more robust. Even with the 3DS they talked about having films,yet hear we are AGAIN, way after launch, and I don't even see one movie trailer! Come on guys, give people what they want!! Stop wasting time remaking things and start creating things again.
----
Closing:
I'm a huge Nintendo fan. Don't get me wrong. That's why I'm so upset. I'm also aware that the big N has time to change things (which I hope they will) But lets be real, if they are seriously talking about appealing to the hardcore and casual, they need to wake up, smell the "cafe", and make some serious adjustments. When I watched the E3 conference, it was evident that the crowd was sort of let down. When Miyamoto would say something about Zelda, he would pause and expect applause, but ..in an awkward way, it never really came from the audience when he thought it would. And that's exactly how I feel. Even Nintendo fans are becoming tired of the same old Nintendo doing things the same old way, unwilling to change to modern times. And their stock shows it. I hope the Wii U is successful and there is a lot of time to make changes, but if they don't, I really don't see the Wii U becoming even close to how big the Wii was. Modern gamers and now even Modern social and casual gamers wont let them get away with these child like missteps.
Just my opinion...........I Hope they get it right. They could have easily won E3, and easily established themselves back with their hardcore fans, and I believe anyone could have told them these things, that's whats so sad. Are they that disconnected from whats going on around them?
What you said there about "opening" up the platform to support the Ipad is ridiculous. the Ipad is a closed platform. . . the Wii is a closed platform. This would be like Sony allowing Windows phones to be used as controllers . . . If the device in question were running an open source OS then I might give it a snowballs chance in hell.
However, supporting the 3DS/DS/DSI as optional controllers is far far more feasible. In fact, I'd argue that not supporting them as controllers for the Wii U is
This is the first year, I felt, Nintendo was unprepared. All game demos, no games, a huge emphasis on a new controller, but nothing about the console itself. No pictures, no video, no specs, no huge reveal to capitalize on all their hype (I really though that when the orchestra was playing the "new item" music, they were going to reveal the Wii U)!
Why can't Nintendo just say they messed up, apologize, fix it, and move on? Do they not get 21st century PR? You can't hide or cover up anything so you might as well embrace it. Own your mistakes. It makes you look more human, and thus more likeable. If they continue trying to be perfect, people will continue expecting that and being disappointed because they cannot be.
That being said, Nintendo always does well with their consoles and games. They don't always do 3rd party support well, but whatever. There's Sony, MS and Apple for that.
They were avoiding price right now. My personal guess is $300 but some estimates are as high as $500. It certainly isn't going to be the same price as the Wii at launch.
The iPhone, Pad or other tablets would be an inferior controller if you released a streaming controller app.
The reason is that you have to be looking at what you touch. This has been discussed before, I don't know why it isn't blindingly obvious to more people, but if you want to stare at a large screen, you need buttons you can feel.
Nintendo decided however that a touch screen has value and stuck one in between actual buttons.
Then there is, again, the hardware support and likelihood of someone having the combination.
It's been pointed out that Sony could join the PS34 with the NGP in the same way, but what % of customers have both kits?
If you design software, you're either restricted to selling to a cross section of two markets (of unknown size!) like the few (six?) folks who released Sega CD 32X games, or accept the possibility that the customer might not have the combination and restrict your game design to treating the controller screen as a mere spice.
So if there is value in a screen controller, something I will not go into because I'm about to bugger off, this is the most correct way to do it.
I was embarrassed watching G4TV host strongly asking Reggi with some rudeness about the HD graphics of the WiiU. Reggi repeatedly told him "HD for WiiU, check!, I want to talk about experience, came on."
And that difference is? He obviously goes out of his way to identify the error he made, but then fails to correct it. How is it supposed to be different? What is it that he thinks make the Wii U a game changer over the Wii, and something more than a "Wii HD", if it's not just a different controller.
I think the idea is interesting, but it doesn't seem that much different than when you could plug the Gameboys into the Gamecube. Nintendo has a history of producing exciting peripherals for their system and then failing to exploit them. I hope they don't repeat that pattern.
(unless nobody buys it and nintendo goes out of business or something)
Can't wait for more details. As I said into gamesindustry.biz, all negativism reminds me of the announcements for DS and Wii. Everyone was anticipating the decline of Nintendo's weird ideas, and nowadays, they have become once again the leaders of this industry. Apple came to the industry too with a few innovation cards on the table and changed the game industry, just like Facebook is doing on the social/casual game industry. Kinect is expanding further Xbox's market too (however, still there's a need for good games to satisfy the demand) meanwhile Sony's rip of the Wii is not moving more consoles from shelves.
Innovation has lead always to expansion of the gaming industry, and right now we don't know what's all about of the Wii U concept. We all should be positive, for the sake of the gaming industry.
Nintendo should have created an app that allowed mobile phones and tablets to connect to the Wii HD instead of adding yet another touch screen device to my already crowded coffee table. That would have been innovative and refreshing like the Wii was.
1. Ergonomics. a) It has buttons and analogue sliders; and b) as a controller it is way lighter than a stand-alone product.
2. Dependability. Every Wii U will have a TV screen and a tablet. As a developer you can count on that. Your coffee table may be crowded but most aren't crowded enough to rely on it, it is not at all a mature market. You can't design an ipad game right now and count on an apple tv or an iphone being next to it (the same problem have move and kinect).
3. Old retail model. That seems paradoxical on first sight, but content sells hardware. As a big publisher would you invest 100 million in a ipad game? You need the 60$ at retail (or 30$ with digital distribtion) to cover your marketing and development costs, for blockbuster content the app store is not an option. Onlive might be a real contender, but not at the moment (think small user base, datacaps, psn-outage).
Here is what they should have done in my opinion, and an 11 year old gamer could have told them this.
1.First talk about the console and brag about the specs a little bit. After all that's what everyone wants including Nintendo fans. Nintendo once you have an HD system its ok to reveal a little bit of that and brag about it. Whats all this lame deeper and wider talk. We want dual this, and shaders, and Unreal engine games in the works, and everything else that PS3 is doing and better. And we want it rubbed in our faces.
2.Change the name. Wii U is horrible and it sounds like one of those kids toy consoles that you see at Walmart for $30 dollars (but wait that's maybe who they are going after:) They could have easily though up of something more edgy and cool. This was supposed to be the new Nintendo. Come on guys.
Also make the console look cooler. Nintendo, listen! You can still make the console a little more edgy and cool, but it wont scare away the casual gamer. I mean this is your new baby, show some effort and stop worrying about your dang profits.
3.Show some dang games already! They don't have to reveal too much but they did not reveal enough.
People (gamers and investors) needed to hear that "YES, that ZeldaHD that you just watched IS coming out. And its gonna be just as bad !@#$!@ as the demo was. Instead we got Nintendo ruining the coolest thing it had by saying, oh, that's just a demo, and it probably wont come out that way, by the way remember what we did with Windwaker, well that might happen again. Its all about the story, and the graphics must fit that. That's about the worst thing you can say or do at this point Nintendo. You should have rubbed and flaunted the fact that you are working on a Zelda HD that will even look better then the demo. Then sit back and watch your investors smile. They also should have had at least 4 new Nintendo Titles with 2 of them being like Zelda and Mario or something, and then also show ..drum roll please..., 2 actual NEW IP's!!! Remember the Nintendo of old where they were the ones creating new game experiences that were mind blowing and edgy and fresh? Well we haven't seen that since the SNES days or NES days. Now all we get is the same old re hashes over and over. I'm a huge Nintendo fan and have been since birth, but I am starting to get upset at their way of doing things, especially the lack of new actual game ideas, and I'm not talking Pikimin, but where are the new ideas that they used to create from scratch like Metroid and Kid Icarus. This is what all the Nintendo fans keep hoping for, new IP's that are mind blowing. We want the Nintendo of old that had no limits. They should have also shown way more 3rd party support as well.
4.Make the system work with 2 controllers. End of story. I don't believe I even have to go into this. Listen Nintendo if you want some more fans and hardcore folks. Give up some of your greedy profit for once. I'm sure even if you added an extra CPU to handle the streaming for 2 controllers, you guys would still not lose in your profits. Perhaps you wont make the greedy amount that you guys are used to making, but you will still profit. By doing something like this, it shows that like the PS3(where Sony actually lost profit at first) that you care so dang much about your fans and about pushing the tech, that you are willing to do this. And believe me, then you will make a lot of fans. I know they still might do this, because I think that honestly, the public wont let them get away with this. The Wii was cool and all, but when you release a new console, the fans want "all new" not "use the old Wiimotes" That's a bunch of lazy bad thinking on their part, and honestly folks, gamers should not let them get away with this because of too many reasons to even list.
5.Make the system compatible with iPhones, iPads and other devices that are similar. Could you imagine how much that would "open" up the console and make it more "relevant" with the times?
6.Nintendo you keep talking about reinventing your Online experience, but we see no proof. They should have told way more about their online strategy and even revealed a few pics of a new online dashboard and system to wet our appetites. Investors mentioned that they were upset about a lack of their direction "again" in this area. Come on Nintendo it's 2011 and people are becoming too savvy to get tricked into another gimmick. The world has moved on, and it's time that you did as well. Your a billion dollar company. It takes a few calls to the right people and your Online experience can be way better then it is now. I'm sure there is more news to come on this, but they better not do some half !@#$!@ thing with it again,. We are done with that Nintendo. Its time to grow up.
7.Make the Wii U able to play movies in some way or another, and talk more about that. It seems Nintendo is saying they are trying to appeal to the Hardcore, but let me tell ya, the Hardcore loves movies, online, all of that coming together really nice and fresh (hint, PS3) so you need to prove that your movie support will be more robust. Even with the 3DS they talked about having films,yet hear we are AGAIN, way after launch, and I don't even see one movie trailer! Come on guys, give people what they want!! Stop wasting time remaking things and start creating things again.
----
Closing:
I'm a huge Nintendo fan. Don't get me wrong. That's why I'm so upset. I'm also aware that the big N has time to change things (which I hope they will) But lets be real, if they are seriously talking about appealing to the hardcore and casual, they need to wake up, smell the "cafe", and make some serious adjustments. When I watched the E3 conference, it was evident that the crowd was sort of let down. When Miyamoto would say something about Zelda, he would pause and expect applause, but ..in an awkward way, it never really came from the audience when he thought it would. And that's exactly how I feel. Even Nintendo fans are becoming tired of the same old Nintendo doing things the same old way, unwilling to change to modern times. And their stock shows it. I hope the Wii U is successful and there is a lot of time to make changes, but if they don't, I really don't see the Wii U becoming even close to how big the Wii was. Modern gamers and now even Modern social and casual gamers wont let them get away with these child like missteps.
Just my opinion...........I Hope they get it right. They could have easily won E3, and easily established themselves back with their hardcore fans, and I believe anyone could have told them these things, that's whats so sad. Are they that disconnected from whats going on around them?
so I'll just paste some quick non-emotional 2010 stats (from wikipedia)
Sony has 167,900 employees -> 188.694 bln assets
Microsoft has 89,000 employees -> $56.113 bln assets
Nintendo has 4,425 employees -> 19.8 bln assets
However, supporting the 3DS/DS/DSI as optional controllers is far far more feasible. In fact, I'd argue that not supporting them as controllers for the Wii U is
That being said, Nintendo always does well with their consoles and games. They don't always do 3rd party support well, but whatever. There's Sony, MS and Apple for that.
(that is why they don't try say much beyond "oops?")
The reason is that you have to be looking at what you touch. This has been discussed before, I don't know why it isn't blindingly obvious to more people, but if you want to stare at a large screen, you need buttons you can feel.
Nintendo decided however that a touch screen has value and stuck one in between actual buttons.
Then there is, again, the hardware support and likelihood of someone having the combination.
It's been pointed out that Sony could join the PS34 with the NGP in the same way, but what % of customers have both kits?
If you design software, you're either restricted to selling to a cross section of two markets (of unknown size!) like the few (six?) folks who released Sega CD 32X games, or accept the possibility that the customer might not have the combination and restrict your game design to treating the controller screen as a mere spice.
So if there is value in a screen controller, something I will not go into because I'm about to bugger off, this is the most correct way to do it.